Expressions of nuclear factor-kappa B p50 and p65 and their significance in the up-regulation of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 mRNA in the nasal mucosa of allergic rhinitis patients.

The purpose of the study was to investigate expressions of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 mRNA (ICAM-1 mRNA) in the nasal mucosa of allergic rhinitis (AR) patients. Expressions of NF-κB and ICAM-1 mRNA were studied using immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) in AR tissues and corresponding normal nasal mucosa. The correlation between NF-κB and ICAM-1 mRNA was studied using linear correlation analysis. The results of immunohistochemistry showed that expression of NF-κB was significantly up-regulated in the nasal mucosa of AR compared with that in normal tissue (P < 0.01), over-expression of NF-κB p50 was found in the cytoplasm and nucleus (P < 0.01), and NF-κB p65 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm (P < 0.01). ICAM-1 mRNA was strongly expressed in the nasal mucosa of AR compared with that in normal tissue as shown by RT-PCR (P < 0.01). Up-regulation of ICAM-1 mRNA was significantly correlated with over-expressions of NF-κB p50 and NF-κB p65 (r = 0.8995, P < 0.01; r = 0.7601, P < 0.01). In conclusion, NF-κB plays a key role in AR. Excessively activated NF-κB promotes the transcription of ICAM-1 mRNA. ICAM-1 is related to the pathogenesis and development of AR.

[Shengjing prescription improves semen parameters of oligoasthenozoospermia patients: efficacy and mechanism].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy of Shengjing prescription for oligoasthenozoospermia and its action mechanism. METHODS: We equally assigned 120 patients with oligoasthenozoospermia to receive Shengjing prescription (treatment group) and vitamin E (control group), respectively, for 12 weeks. Before and after the treatment, were obtained sperm concentration, sperm motility, the percentage of morphologically normal sperm, the levels of serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T) and luteinizing hormone (LH), sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), the percentage of hypotonic swelling sperm, and the levels of seminal plasma elastase, x-glucosidase, fructose, zinc and acrosin. RESULTS: Compared with vitamin E, Shengling prescription significantly improved sperm concentration, motility and morphology (P < 0.01), decreased the serum FSH level, elevated the serum T level (P <0. 01) , reduced DFI and seminal plasma elastase, and increased the percentage of hypotonic swelling sperm as well as the levels of seminal plasma cx-glucosidase, fructose, zinc and acrosin. CONCLUSION: Shengjing prescription improves semen parameters of patients with oligoasthenozoospermia at multiple levels and through multiple channels.

Expressions of VEGF and Ki-67 in eutopic endometrium of patients with endometriosis and effect of Quyu Jiedu Recipe on VEGF expression.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of Quyu Jiedu Recipe (, QJR) in treating endometriosis (EM), and to explore the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cell proliferative nucleoprotein antigen (Ki-67), their changes before and after treatment and the clinical significance in the trial. METHODS: Fifty patients of EM were randomly assigned to two groups. The 26 patients in the QJR group were treated with QJR, and the 24 patients in the gestrinone (GT) group with gestrinone. Besides, a normal control group with 20 healthy women was set up. The therapeutic effects in the two treated groups were compared. Expressions of VEGF and Ki-67 in eutopic endometrium of all subjects (with both patients and healthy women at the median secretive phase) were determined with immunohistochemical stain before treatment, and the determination in the two treated groups was repeated after 3-month treatment in the same phase. RESULTS: Before treatment, the VEGF and Ki-67 expression positive rates and their mean optic density (MOD) were higher in patients than in healthy women (P<0.05). After treatment, the positive rate and MOD of VEGF expression lowered significantly than before treatment (P<0.05), but those of Ki-67 changed insignificantly, and comparison between the two treated groups showed no significant difference (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: QJR could markedly improve the symptoms of menorrhagia and menstrual disorder, and its mechanism might be related with the lowering of eutopic endometrial VEGF expression. VEGF and Ki-67 show a high expression in eutopic endometrium of patients with EM.

Systematic module approach identifies altered genes and pathways in four types of ovarian cancer.

The present study aimed to identify altered genes and pathways associated with four histotypes of ovarian cancer, according to the systematic tracking of dysregulated modules of reweighted protein­protein interaction (PPI) networks. Firstly, the PPI network and gene expression data were initially integrated to infer and reweight normal ovarian and four types of ovarian cancer (endometrioid, serous, mucinous and clear cell carcinoma) PPI networks based on Spearman's correlation coefficient. Secondly, modules in the PPI network were mined using a clique­merging algorithm and the differential modules were identified through maximum weight bipartite matching. Finally, the gene compositions in the altered modules were analyzed, and pathway functional enrichment analyses for disrupted module genes were performed. In five conditional­specific networks, universal alterations in gene correlations were revealed, which leads to the differential correlation density among disrupted module pairs. The analyses revealed 28, 133, 139 and 33 altered modules in endometrioid, serous, mucinous and clear cell carcinoma, respectively. Gene composition analyses of the disrupted modules revealed five common genes (mitogen­activated protein kinase 1, phosphoinositide 3­kinase­encoding catalytic 110­KDα, AKT serine/threonine kinase 1, cyclin D1 and tumor protein P53) across the four subtypes of ovarian cancer. In addition, pathway enrichment analysis confirmed one common pathway (pathways in cancer), in the four histotypes. This systematic module approach successfully identified altered genes and pathways in the four types of ovarian cancer. The extensive differences of gene correlations result in dysfunctional modules, and the coordinated disruption of these modules contributes to the development and progression of ovarian cancer.

Effect of Quyu Jiedu granule on microenvironment of ova in patients with endometriosis.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Quyu Jiedu Granules (, QJG) on the micro- microenvironment of ova in patients with endometriosis (EM). environment METHODS: Twenty EM patients who received in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) were randomized equally into a treated group and a control group. Further, 20 patients who received IVF-ET due to oviduct factors were enrolled into a non-endometriosis group. The dosage of gonadotrophic hormone used, the number of ova attained, fertilization rate and clinical pregnancy rate were all observed, and the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-right harpoon over left harpoon) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in follicular fluid as well as their mRNA expressions in ovarian granular cells were detected by RT-PCR on the very day of ovum attainment. RESULTS: The ova attainment (13.80+/-6.87) and fertilization rate (0.69+/-0.31) in the treated group were all higher than the corresponding values in the control group (9.80+/-5.32 and 0.47+/-0.22); the follicular fluid contents of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in the treated group were 1.38+/-0.21 ng/mL and 130.56+/-12.81 pg/mL, respectively, which were lower than those in the control group (1.98+/-0.34 ng/mL and 146.83+/-17.65 pg/mL, respectively). Further, the treated group showed much lower mRNA expressions of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in ovarian granular cells. CONCLUSIONS: The elevation of TNF-alpha and IL-6 contents in follicular fluid and their mRNA expressions in ovarian granular cells are possibly related to the low quality of ova in EM; QJG might raise the ova quality by reducing TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels to improve the living micro-environment for the ova.