Background and purpose:P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (P38MAPK) signal transduction pathway is involved in occurrence, development and transfer process in a wide variety of tumors. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) plays an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis. This study aimed to explore the clinical signiifcance of the P38MAPK signaling pathway and the expression of uPA in ovarian cancer.Methods:The expressions of uPA, P38MAPK, ERK and AKT were detected in 49 cases of cervical adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemistry. The expressions of uPA and P38MAPK were detected by Western blot in ovarian cancer cell lines HO8910, HO-8910PM, SKOV3 and CAOV3. The changes of uPA and P38MAPK were detected by SB203580, a speciifc inhibitor of P38MAPK signal transduction pathway.Results:The result of immunohistochemical method showed that positive expression rates for uPA, P38MAPK, ERK and AKT were 61.22%, 57.14%, 53.06% and 55.10%, respectively. The expression of the uPA was positively correlated with the P38MAPK (r=0.865,P=0.001), and related with clinicopathologic stage, differentiated degree, lymph node metastasis, but not related with age and histologic type (P>0.05). The expressions of AKT and ERK were related with the lymph node metastasis and greater omentum metastasis(P<0.05), but not related with age and histologic type (P>0.05). The expression of uPA in HO-8910PM was higher than that in ovarian cancer cell lines HO8910, SKOV3 and CAOV3, and the expression of uPA reduced when the P38MAPK signal transduction pathway was cut off by the SB203580. The expressions of P38MAPK and uPA were negatively correlated with the prognosis of ovarian cancer (Log-rank=3.897 and 11.044,P=0.048 and 0.001). Conclusion:The P38MAPK signal transduction pathway was activated in ovarian cancer. The activated P38MAPK signal transduction pathway can raise the expression of uPA, which may contribute to the development of ovarian cancer. The result indicates that the P38MAPK signal transduction pathway and uPA might play an important role in the invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer. P38MAPK and uPA might be useful markers for evaluating prognosis of ovarian cancer.

ObjectiveTo study the clinicopathological features of endometrial cancer patients diagnosed during or after tamoxifen (TAM)treatment for breast cancer and to evaluate the relevance between the clinicopathological features and the cessation time of TAM treatment. Methods42 TAM-related endometrial cancers patients in the Affiliated Hospital of Medical Collage of Qingdao University were divided into 2 groups according to the cessation time of TAM.Group B were 20 past TAM users who were diagnosed as endometrial cancer 12 or more months since the cessation of TAM.Group A included the rest 22 patients.The clinicopathological features of the 2 groups were analyzed retrospectively.ResultsThe age of patients was ranging from 32 to 85 years when they were diagnosed endometrial cancer.There was no significant difference in terms of the age at which breast cancer was diagnosed, BMI, HRT, single dose of TAM, duration and cumulative dose between the 2 groups.However, the difference of the age at which endometrial cancer was diagnosed, menopausal status, the interval between diagnostic date of the 2 cancers, histological types, pathological stage, myometrial invasion, and cervical invasion had statistical significance between the 2 groups ( P ＜ 0.05 ). Conclusion Compared with group A, group B have a higher pathological stage and more invasive histological features, which may be because group B include more elderly and postmenopausal patients.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of combining electrical stimulation with manual massage in treating women′s myofascial pelvic pain (MPPS). Methods: A total of 93 MPPS patients were recruited and randomly divided into an infrared irradiation group (n=30), an electrical stimulation group (n=31) and a combination group (n=32). Those in the infrared group and the electrical stimulation group were given 30 minutes of infrared irradiation or electrical stimulation daily for 10 days, while the combined group was given a manual massage with electrical stimulation. The response to treatment was evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS) to rate discomfort, plus a physical examination, and surface electromyography results using Glazer′s protocol. The treatments′ efficacy and the recurrence of pain were evaluated 1 month after the treatment. Results: The average VAS ratings, resting potentials and their variability of the three groups all improved significantly after the treatment. The average VAS scores of the combined and electrical stimulation groups after the treatment were significantly lower than that of the infrared group. Moreover, the total effective rates of the combined group (96.87%) and the electrical stimulation group (80.65%) were significantly higher than that of the infrared group (56.67%), and the resting potential and variability of the former two groups were also significantly better. All of the above measurements among the combined group after the treatment were significantly better, on average, than in the electrical stimulation group. A month later the recurrence rate in the combined group (6.25%) was significantly lower than in the electrical stimulation group (25.81%) and the infrared group (56.67%). Conclusion Electrical stimulation combined with manual massage is effective in relieving myofascial pelvic pain.