Decreased level of osteopontin in children with allergic rhinitis during sublingual immunotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is proven to be very effective in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR), but its regulatory mechanism and biomarkers for predicting efficacy are still unknown. Osteopontin (OPN), as a recently described Th2 inflammation related protein, plays key role in the pathogenesis of AR. The aim of this study was to identify the expression and role of OPN during SLIT in children. METHODS: Fifty house dust mite (HDM)-sensitized children with AR were enrolled in this study. AR children received HDM allergen extract or placebo for SLIT. Serum of different time points during treatment was collected and used for enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) of OPN and related cytokines, respectively. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from children after SLIT or placebo treatment were collected and stimulated with HDM with or without OPN/anti-OPN after one year's treatment. RESULTS: Our results showed that expression of OPN protein was decreased after one year's therapy. The decreased OPN expression was positively related to decreased Th2 cytokines and negatively related to enhanced IL-10 and TGF-ß expression. In vitro experiments confirmed that children received SLIT treatment showed decreased production of Th2 cytokines by PBMCs after HDM stimulation. CONCLUSION: During SLIT, decreased OPN expression was related to low Th2 cytokine expression and enhanced IL-10 and TGF-ß expression. High serum OPN expression predicts poor treatment efficacy. OPN may be used as a biomarker for SLIT treatment.

MicroRNA expression profiles in supraglottic carcinoma.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded RNA molecules which regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and several miRNAs have been found to be associated with some types of cancer. We sought to identify the expression and involvement of miRNAs in supraglottic carcinoma tissues compared with normal tissues and to determine whether miRNA expression is predictive of disease. Unsupervised clustering shows that miRNA profiles can distinguish tumor from normal tissues. Analysis of miRNA contents in supraglottic carcinoma highlighted nineteen differentially expressed miRNAs, three upregulated miRNAs (miR-21, miR-19a, miR-33a) and two downregulated miRNAs (miR-206, miR-375). The microarray results of supraglottic carcinoma and related computer analysis may be beneficial for further analysis of cancer diagnosis and therapy.