Proteomics and bioinformatics analysis of altered protein expression in the placental villous tissue from early recurrent miscarriage patients.

INTRODUCTION: Recurrent miscarriage (RM) affects 5% of women, it has an adverse emotional impact on women. Because of the complexities of early development, the mechanism of recurrent miscarriage is still unclear. We hypothesized that abnormal placenta leads to early recurrent miscarriage (ERM). The aim of this study was to identify ERM associated factors in human placenta villous tissue using proteomics. Investigation of these differences in protein expression in parallel profiling is essential to understand the comprehensive pathophysiological mechanism underlying recurrent miscarriage (RM). METHODS: To gain more insight into mechanisms of recurrent miscarriage (RM), a comparative proteome profile of the human placenta villous tissue in normal and RM pregnancies was analyzed using iTRAQ technology and bioinformatics analysis used by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software. RESULTS: In this study, we employed an iTRAQ based proteomics analysis of four placental villous tissues from patients with early recurrent miscarriage (ERM) and four from normal pregnant women. Finally, we identified 2805 proteins and 79,998 peptides between patients with RM and normal matched group. Further analysis identified 314 differentially expressed proteins in placental villous tissue (≥1.3-fold, Student's t-test, p < 0.05); 209 proteins showed the increased expression while 105 proteins showed decreased expression. These 314 proteins were analyzed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) and were found to play important roles in the growth of embryo. Furthermore, network analysis show that Angiotensinogen (AGT), MAPK14 and Prothrombin (F2) are core factors in early embryonic development. We used another 8 independent samples (4 cases and 4 controls) to cross validation of the proteomic data. DISCUSSION: This study has identified several proteins that are associated with early development, these results may supply new insight into mechanisms behind recurrent miscarriage.

[Significance of carbonic anhydrase IX protein expression in molecular subtyping of breast cancers].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of carbonic anhydrase (CA) IX and its significance in molecular subtyping of breast carcinomas. METHODL MaxVision immunohistochemical staining was used to examine the expression of ER, PR, HER2, CK5/6, EGFR, and CA IX in 117 cases of breast invasive ductal carcinomas. RESULTS: The patients' age ranged from 25 to 71 years (mean 49.6 years). All the 117 cases were subclassified into five subtypes, with 66 (56.4%) luminal A, 6(5.1%) luminal B, 10 (8.6%) HER2 positive, 20 (17.1%) basal-like, and 15 (12.8%) unclassified tumors. The expression of CA IX in luminal A and basal-like breast cancers was 13.6% (9/66) and 8/20, respectively, with a significant difference (P < 0.05). Among the luminal A cancers, the expression of CA IX in tumors > 2 cm (7/27, 25.9%) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of tumors ≤ 2 cm (2/39, 5.1%). The expression of CA IX in grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma (18/50, 36.0%) was significantly higher than that in grade 1 (2/21, 9.5%) and 2 (7/46, 15.2%) tumors (both P = 0.006). In CA IX-negative of invasive ductal carcinoma, the expression of ER and PR was 61.1% (55/90) and 55.6% (50/90), respectively; whereas in CA IX-positive cancers, the expression of ER and PR was 37.0% (10/27) and 29.6% (8/27), respectively. The expression of hormone receptors in CA IX-negative tumors was significantly higher than that in CA IX-positive tumors (for both ER and PR, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of CA IX correlates not only with molecular subtypes of breast cancer, but also with the grading, hormone receptors and diameter of mammary invasive ductal carcinoma. CA IX is a relative independent marker of poor prognosis in breast cancer.

Preparation and morphology of polyethylene/clay nanocomposite with novel MgCl2/montmorillonite (MMT) bi-supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst.

In the present article, the spherical and high activity TiCl4/MgCI2/MMT intercalated catalyst was successfully prepared. The active centers of obtained catalyst well dispersed in the MMT through electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA). The d-spacing of MMT was broadened from 0.97 nm to 1.42 nm after addition of MgCl2 and the space between MMT layers was 1.60 nm after treated with excess TiCl4. In addition, the catalyst shows a very high activity toward ethylene polymerization. During the ethylene polymerization, the MMT layers were exfoliated by the polymerization force arising from the propagation of ethylene chain. Interestingly, the macro-scale morphology of the obtained polyethylene (PE)/MMT nanocomposite still retained the spherical shape of precursor catalyst; while the PE particles contain MMT platelets take the shape of "flower petal" in the micro-scale. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) photographs showed that the MMT homogeneously dispersed in the PE.

Preparation of superhydrophobic cross-linked syndiotactic 1,2-polybutadiene membranes by electrospinning.

In this study, syndiotactic 1,2-polybutadiene (s-PB)/azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) membranes were prepared via electrospinning. The obtained membranes were intensively investigated by contact angle analyzer, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). With increasing the concentration of spinning solution, the obtained membranes were changed from hydrophobic to surperhydrophobic and the contact angle (CA) as high as 157 degrees at higher s-PB concentration. In addition, the s-PB/AIBN membrane cross-linked completely through heat treatment and superhydrophobic property of s-PB/AIBN membrane has not changed. The diameter of cross-linked fiber-based membrane was much thinner than that of the uncross-linked fibers.

[SSR linkage map construction and QTL mapping for leaf area in maize].

Maize (Zea mays L.) leaf is the main organ for photosynthesis. The area of leaves (especially the ear-leaf and the two leaves above and below the ear-leaf) plays a vital role in dry matter accumulation and grain yield. Therefore, genetic information on leaf area has a theoretical significance for breeding maize with high yield. In this study, a genetic linkage map composing of 184 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers was constructed based on an F8 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population, which was derived from a cross between 478 and W312. The parents showed a significant difference in leaf area. The map covers 2084.1 cM with an average interval of 11.3 cM. QTLs for leaf area were identified under two-year's field experiments. Totally 7 QTLs were detected in two years, among which 4 QTLs were detected in 2006 and 3 QTLs in 2007. A major QTL on chromosome 2 (between umc1542 and umc1518) were detected in both 2006 and 2007. It explains 12.5% and 17.3% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. This locus can be used as a potental marker for improving maize leaf growth through marker assisted selection (MAS) approach.