Percutaneous injection of platelet-rich plasma to treat atrophic nonunion after internal fixation of ulnar fracture: a case report.

Non-union is a serious postoperative complication of fracture. Early detection and intervention can avoid revision surgery. Platelet-rich plasma releases many active tissue factors and has potential to promote fracture healing. Percutaneous injection of platelet-rich plasma at the fracture site may avoid surgical treatment when non-union occurs. We present a case of atrophic non-union of an ulna fracture treated conservatively with percutaneous injection of platelet-rich plasma.

The BH3-only protein Puma plays an essential role in p53-mediated apoptosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells.

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and functions of BH3-only proteins Puma, Noxa and Bim in the prognosis, therapy and drug resistance of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Puma, Noxa and Bim mRNAs were evaluated by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and correlations between their expression levels and CLL prognostic markers were analyzed. Primary CLL samples were treated in vitro with fludarabine to investigate the role of Puma, Noxa and Bim in the response to chemotherapeutic drugs which act through activation of the p53 pathway. We found that a low expression level of Puma was associated with some markers of poor prognosis. However, the level of Noxa or Bim was not different in patients with CLL with variant clinical features and prognostic factors. Puma expression was up-regulated after fludarabine treatment in primary CLL cells, but there was no significant difference for Noxa and Bim. Up-regulation of Puma occurred only in CLL cells with functional p53. CLL cells with p53 abnormalities were deficient in the activation of Puma by chemotherapeutics. These results suggest that a lack of Puma induction may contribute to the development of resistance to anticancer agents in CLL.

[Detection of puma mRNA levels by real-time quantitative RT-PCR in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and its clinical significance].

This study was aimed to investigate the expression level of puma (p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis) mRNA in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and its significance in evaluation of CLL prognosis. The puma mRNA expressions in 100 CLL patients and 11 normal controls were measured by relative quantification RT-PCR with fluorescent dye SYBR Green I, the beta-actin was used as internal reference. The difference of puma expression rate between groups with different prognostic factors was described using the Mann-Whitney U test. The relative quantitative value of puma expression was calculated by means of 2 (-ΔCt). The results indicated that the correlation coefficients of the standard curves in qRT-PCR were ≥ 0.99. The coefficients of variations (CV) within group or between groups were < 5%, and the sensitivity reached 10² copies/microg RNA. The median puma mRNA expression level was 1.038 x 10⁻³ (4.106 x 10⁻4 - 2.806 x 10⁻³) in CLL patients, which was 1.220 x 10⁻³ (7.233 x 10⁻4 - 1.405 x 10⁻³) in normal controls. There was no difference of puma mRNA expression between CLL patients and normal controls (U = 544.5, p = 0.957). Puma expression was significantly correlated with Binet stages (p < 0.001), expression of CD38 (p = 0.002), ZAP-70 protein (p = 0.012), LDH levels (p = 0.009) and beta2-MG (p = 0.046). The puma expression level in patients with earlier Binet stage (Binet stage A) was obviously higher than that in patients with later Binet stage (Binet stage B, C). The puma expression levels in patients with positive expression of CD38 and ZAP-70 protein, elevating levels of LDH and beta2-MG were sharply lower than those in patients without above-mentioned unfavorable factors. The puma expression was also correlated with molecular cytogenetic abnormalities, the puma expression levels in patients with trisomy 12 (p = 0.003) and 14q32 translocation (p = 0.045) detected by FISH were significantly lower than those in patients without above-mentioned molecular cytogenetic abnormalities. It is concluded that the qRT-PCR assay is reliable and sensitive. Puma mRNA expression is significantly correlated with a great deal of prognostic factors, and may be a prognostic marker of CLL.