[Cefoxitin plus levofloxacin for prevention of severe infection after transrectal prostate biopsy].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of cefoxitin prophylactic in reducing the incidence of severe infection after transrectal prostate biopsy (TRPB). METHODS: This retrospective study included 155 cases of TRPB with a 5-day administration of oral levofloxacin at 200 mg bid (the control group) and another 167 cases with a 3-day administration of oral levofloxacin at the same dose plus intravenous cefoxitin at 2.0 g 2 hours before TRPB (the experimental group) according to the distribution characteristics of drug-resistance bacteria in our department. The patients of the control and experimental groups were aged (68.68 ± 8.12) and (68.72 ± 7.51) years, with PSA levels of (19.78 ± 21.57) and (21.15 ± 42.63) µg/L, involving (11.68 ± 1.44) and (11.77±1.02) biopsy cores, respectively. Comparisons were made between the two groups of patients in the incidence rate of severe infection, which was defined as lower urinary track symptoms plus the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) within 7 days after TRPB. RESULTS: The incidence rate of postoperative severe infection was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control (0.6% ï¼»1/167ï¼½ vs 5.8% ï¼»9/155ï¼½, P < 0.05). Blood cultures revealed positive E-coli strains in 6 cases in the control group, including 5 ESBL-positive and 4 quinolone-resistant and amikacin-sensitive cases, all sensitive to cefoxitin, cefoperazone/sulbactam and imipenem. The only one case of severe infection was shown to be negative in blood culture. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative intravenous administration of cefoxitin according to the specific distribution characteristics of drug-resistance bacteria can significantly reduce the incidence of severe infection after TRPB.

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a new approach for improvement of early diagnosis and risk stratification of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common male cancer worldwide and the fifth leading cause of death from cancer in men. Early detection and risk stratification is the most effective way to improve the survival of PCa patients. Current PCa biomarkers lack sufficient sensitivity and specificity to cancer. Metabolite biomarkers are evolving as a new diagnostic tool. This review is aimed to evaluate the potential of metabolite biomarkers for early detection, risk assessment, and monitoring of PCa. Of the 154 identified publications, 27 and 38 were original papers on urine and serum metabolomics, respectively. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a promising method for measuring concentrations of metabolites in complex samples with good reproducibility, high sensitivity, and simple sample processing. Especially urine-based NMR metabolomics has the potential to be a cost-efficient method for the early detection of PCa, risk stratification, and monitoring treatment efficacy.

[Circumcision versus the foreskin-deglove plus shaft-fix procedure for phimosis or redundant prepuce in obese adult patients].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical effects of circumcision and the foreskin-deglove plus shaft-fix (FDSF) procedure in the treatment of phimosis or redundant prepuce in obese adult males (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 28 kg/m²). METHODS: Forty-four obese adult men with phimosis or redundant prepuce underwent circumcision (n = 24) or FDSF (n = 20) according to their own wishes. The patients in the circumcision and FDSF groups were aged (26.38 ± 4.24) and (26.90 ± 3.14) years, with BMIs of (27.77 ± 0.77) and (28.07 ± 2.28) kg/m² and penis lengths of (3.51 ± 0.46) and (3.50 ± 0.59) cm, respectively. The operations were performed under local anesthesia with lidocaine plus ropivacaine mesylate. RESULTS: The operation time of circumcision was (28.04 ± 2.65) min and that of FDSF was (45.45 ± 3.49) min. At 6 months after surgery, normal penile erection was found in all the patients, the penis length was significantly longer in the FDSF than in the circumcision group ([5.01 ± 0.73] vs [3.70 ± 0.47] cm) , and the rate of satisfaction with penile appearance was markedly higher in the former than in the latter group (3.25 ± 0.71 vs 2.83 ± 0.56). CONCLUSION: The foreskin-deglove plus shaft-fix procedure under local anesthesia with lidocaine and ropivacaine mesylate may achieve desirable penile erection and appearance in the treatment of phimosis or redundant prepuce in obese adult patients.

Insights into Chemoresistance of Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains the most prevalent malignancy among males in the western world. Though hormonal therapies through chemical or surgical castration have been proposed many years ago, heretofore, such mainstay for the treatment on advanced PCa has not fundamentally changed. These therapeutic responses are temporary and most cases will eventually undergo PCa recurrence and metastasis, or even progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) due to persistent development of drug resistance. Prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs) are a small population of cells, which possess unlimited self-renewal capacities, and can regenerate tumorigenic progenies, and play an essential role in PCa therapy resistance, metastasis and recurrence. Nowadays advanced progresses have been made in understanding of PCSC properties, roles of androgen receptor signaling and ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2), as well as roles of genomic non-coding microRNAs and key signaling pathways, which have led to the development of novel therapies which are active against chemoresistant PCa and CRPC. Based on these progresses, this review is dedicated to address mechanisms underlying PCa chemoresistance, unveil crosstalks among pivotal signaling pathways, explore novel biotherapeutic agents, and elaborate functional properties and specific roles of chemoresistant PCSCs, which may act as a promising target for novel therapies against chemoresistant PCa.

UBE3C promotes growth and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma via activating Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the kidney and one of the most lethal genitourinary malignancies. Clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) has an extremely poor prognosis because of a high potential for tumor growth, vascular invasion, metastasis and recurrence. Unfortunately, the mechanism of RCC growth and metastasis is not well understood. In this report, we for the first time demonstrated ubiquitin protein ligase E3C (UBE3C) as a driving factor for RCC growth and metastasis. UBE3C expression was increased in ccRCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. ccRCC patients with high UBE3C protein expression in tumors were associated with significantly worse postoperative survival. Knockdown of UBE3C expression in ACHN cells inhibited cell proliferation, migrations and invasiveness in vitro while overexpression of UBE3C in 786-O cells exerted the opposite effects. UBE3C up-regulated ß-catenin protein levels and promoted ß-catenin nuclear accumulation, leading to the activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin signal pathway in RCC cells. Collectively, these observations suggest that UBE3C plays an important role in RCC development and progression, and UBE3C may be a novel target for prevention and treatment of ccRCC.

Silencing the expression of Cbl-b enhances the immune activation of T lymphocytes against RM-1 prostate cancer cells in vitro.

BACKGROUND: The ubiquitin ligase Cbl-b potently modulates T lymphocyte immune responses and is critical in modulating tumor-induced immunosuppression. The influence of Cbl-b in modulating T lymphocyte activity against prostate cancer remains ill defined. We have determined the effects of silencing Cbl-b expression in T lymphocytes and their subsequent cytotoxic activity against prostate cancer cells. METHODS: T lymphocytes were isolated from the spleens of C57BL/6 mice. Lipofectamine-directed transfection of T lymphocytes with specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) silenced Cbl-b expression, which was confirmed by Western immunoblotting. The siRNA species were chosen that promoted the greatest transfection efficiency and dampened Cbl-b expression in T lymphocytes. The expression of CD69, CD25, and CD71 by the transfected T lymphocytes was determined by flow cytometry. T lymphocyte proliferation was assessed by CCK-8 assay. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the secretion of interleukin (IL)-2, interferon (IFN)-γ, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-ß. The objective was to compare the cytotoxic activity of transfected T lymphocytes and nontransfected (i.e., negative control) T lymphocytes against the murine prostate cancer cell line target RM-1 in vitro. RESULTS: We selected a specific siRNA that decreased T lymphocyte Cbl-b expression to 15%. The siRNA-transfected T lymphocytes showed higher proliferation; higher CD69, CD25, and CD71 expression (p < 0.001); and higher IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-ß secretion (p < 0.05), compared to the nontransfected cells. Transfected T lymphocytes were also more potent at killing RM-1 prostate cancer cells, compared to the negative control in vitro. CONCLUSION: Silencing Cbl-b significantly enhanced T lymphocyte function and T lymphocyte cytotoxicity activity against a model prostate cancer cell line in vitro. This study suggests a potentially novel immunotherapeutic strategy against prostate cancer.

Chrebp regulates the transcriptional activity of androgen receptor in prostate cancer.

Androgen receptor (AR), a member of nuclear hormone receptor, plays an essential role in the initiation and progression of prostate cancer (PCa). In the present study, by way of immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry (IP/MS) system, we found that carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (Chrebp), a glucose sensor in normal and cancer cells, interacted with AR in LNCaP cells. The interaction was further confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation analysis. Besides, Chrebp is required for the optimal transcriptional activity of AR in promoting the transcription of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) promoter and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression. Consistently, knockdown of Chrebp using small interfering RNA (siRNA) in LNCaP cells reduced endogenous PSA levels. Together, our study demonstrates that Chrebp interacts with AR and regulates its transcriptional activity.

Role of DNA repair-related gene polymorphisms in susceptibility to risk of prostate cancer.

AIM: We assessed the association between genetic variants of XPG, XPA, XPD, CSB, XPC and CCNH in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway and risk of prostate cancer. METHODS: We genotyped the XPG, XPA, XPD, CSB, XPC and CCNH polymorphisms by a 384-well plate format on the MassARRAY® platform. Multivariate logistical regression analysis was used to assess the associations between the six gene polymorphisms and risk of prostate cancer. RESULTS: Individuals carrying the XPG rs229614 TT (OR=2.01, 95%CI=1.35-3.27) genotype and T allele (OR=1.73, 95%CI=1.37-2.57) were moderately significantly associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer. Subjects with XPD rs13181 G allele had a marginally increased risk of prostate cancer, with adjusted OR(95%CI) of 1.53 (1.04-2.37). Moreover, individuals carrying with CSB rs2228526 GG genotype (OR=2.05, 95% CI=1.23-3.52) and G allele (OR=1.56, 95%CI=1.17-2.05) were associated with a higher increased risk of prostate cancer. The combination genotype of XPG rs2296147 T and CSB rs2228526 G allele had accumulative effect on the risk of this cancer, with an OR (95% CI) of 2.23(1.37-3.59). CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that XPG rs2296147 and CSB rs2228526 polymorphisms are significantly associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, and that combination of XPG rs2296147 T allele and CSB rs2228526 G allele is strongly associated with an increased risk.

Effect of mycophenolic acid and bortezomib on purified human B cells: an in vitro study of long-term functionally stable MICA-sensitized renal recipients.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to develop a B-cell in vitro culture system and test B cells isolated from sensitized kidney recipients and healthy controls, and assess the effectiveness of proteasome inhibitors and mycophenolic acid on antibody secretion and cell apoptosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CD19(+) B cells and CD19(+)CD27(+) memory B-cell subsets were detected from peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from 6 MICA-sensitized kidney recipients and 6 healthy controls. Peripheral blood B cells were isolated and cultured with CpG2006, PMA, MICA antigen, B-cell activating factor, CD40 ligand (CD40L), human recombinant IL-2 (rhuIL-2), rhuIL-10, rhuIL-4, and rhuIL-21. After culturing for 7 days, we tested several variables of B-cell activity including differentiation, apoptosis, and IgM production. We also assessed the effects of 2 immunosuppressive drugs (mycophenolic acid and bortezomib) on antibody secretion and cellular apoptosis. RESULTS: Kidney recipients had a lower ratio of CD19+ B cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells than did healthy controls. However, the percentage of CD19(+)CD27(+) B cells was higher in kidney recipients than in healthy controls. In the cell stimulation culture system, the ratio of CD19(+) B cells, CD19(+)CD27(+) B cells, and CD19(+)CD138(+) B cells increased after culturing for 7 days compared with unstimulated controls. In addition, the percentage of apoptotic B cells decreased, and antibody production increased in sensitized transplant patients and healthy controls. Treatment with bortezomib or mycophenolic acid induced B-cell apoptosis and inhibited secretion of antibodies. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes establishment of a B-cell in vitro culture system, showing that B cells may be stimulated to secrete antibodies. The study also provides an assay for studying B cells in vitro. This study provides information suggesting that bortezomib and mycophenolic acid can inhibit B-cell antibody secretion.