Objective To evaluate the effects of hyperbaric oxygen on the expressions of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) in the formation of hyperplastic scar in rabbit ears.Methods The ears of 20 New Zealand rabbits were used to construct an animal model for hyperplastic scar by operation.After the establishment of scar models,the rabbits were randomly divided into 4 experimental groups and one control group with 4 mice (48 wound surfaces) in each group.The mice in the 4 experimental groups were treated with hyperbaric oxygen for 7,14,21 and 28 days,respectively,and those in the control group remained in normoxic environment after operation.Scar tissues were resected from all the rabbit ears on day 29 after operation.Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was conducted for the observation of morphological changes and calculation of scar elevation index,and immunohistochemistry to measure the expressions of HIF-1α and IGF-1R.Statistical analysis was carried out by one-way analysis of variance followed by least significant difference t-test.Results HE staining showed that both the number of fibroblasts and amount of collagen fibers were significantly reduced in the experimental groups compared with the control group.Scar elevation index was 4.28 ± 0.22 in the control group,3.64 ± 0.29,3.46 ± 0.21,3.29 ± 0.21,3.16 ± 0.15 in the 7-,14-,21-and 28-day experimental groups respectively,with significant differences among these groups (F =77.70,P ＜ 0.05).The expressions of HIF-1α and IGF-1R were significantly lower in these experimental groups than in the control group (all P ＜ 0.01),lower in the 14-day group than in the 7-day group (P ＜ 0.05),and lower in the 21-day group than in the 14-day group (P ＜ 0.05),with no significant differences between the 28-day group and 21-day group (both P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Hyperbaric oxygen can effectively down-regulate the expressions of HIF-1α and IGF-1R in scar tissue,and significantly inhibit the formation of hyperplastic scar in rabbit ears.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation of the fertilization strategy and embryo transfer (ET) time with the incidence of ectopic pregnancy.

METHODSWe selected 3,331 fresh and 2,706 frozen-thawed ET cycles for the patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The fresh transfers included 2 546 IVF-ET and 785 ICSI-ET cycles and 2,220 day-3 embryo and 1,111 day-5 blastocyst transfers, while the frozen-thawed transfers included 2,080 IVF-ET and 626 ICSI-ET cycles and 741 day-3 embryo and 1 965 day-5 or -6 blastocyst transfers. We compared the incidence rate of ectopic pregnancy associated with different fertilization strategies and ET time.

RESULTSThe incidence rate of ectopic pregnancy was 1. 41% (36/2 546) in the IVF-ET cycles and 3.44% (27/785) in the ICSI-ET cycles of the fresh transfers, significantly lower in the IVF-ET than in the ICSI-ET cycles (P < 0.01), and it was 1.01% (21/2,080) in the IVF-ET cycles and 0.80% (5/626) in the ICSI-ET cycles of the frozen-thawed transfers, with no remarkable difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The IVF-ET and ICSI-ET cycles included 2,220 fresh day-3 (F-D3) embryos, 1,111 F-D5 blastocysts, 741 frozen-thawed day-3 (T-D3) embryos, and 1,965 T-D5/6 blastocysts. The incidence rate of ectopic pregnancy was 1.71% (n = 38) in the F-D3, 2.25% (n = 25) in the F-D5, 1.35% (n = 10) in the T-D3, and 0.81% (n = 16) in the T-D5/6 group, respectively, significantly lower in the T-D5/6 than in the other three groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe incidence rate of ectopic pregnancy is associated with fertilization strategies, which is significantly lower in frozen-thawed than in fresh embryo transfers.

Blastocyst ; Embryo Transfer ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Incidence ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy, Ectopic ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data

Objective To investigate the role of pre-chemotherapy hemoglobin and platelet levels in the effect of chemotherapy and prognostic outcome in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics(FIGO) stage Ⅰ b2 - Ⅱb cervical cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy.Methods From January 1999 to December 2010,111 patients with FIGO stage Ⅰ b2 - Ⅱ b who underwent chemosurgical treatment at the department of obstetrics and gynecology in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were reviewed.The median age of patients was 42 years (range:21 -68 years).The median level of prechemotherapy hemoglobin and platelet levels was 127 g/L and 266 ×109/L,respectively.Chemotherapy response was evaluated according to the WHO criteria,including complete response (CR),partial response (PR),arable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD).Patients who achieved CR or PR were defined as responder.Rates of clinical response were compared with the clinicalpathological variables using chi-square test.Multiple logistic regression was carried out to evaluate the relationship among the probability of achieving an optimal clinical response and the variables.The log-rank test was used to compare the homogeneity of progression-free survival and overall survival functions across strata defined by categories of prognostic variables.The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the significance of potential prognostic factors for progression-free survival and overall survival.Results All patients received one to three cycles of chemotherapy.After the neoadjuvant chemotherapy,9 patients achieved CR,77 patients PR,23 patients SD, 2 patients PD.The overall response rate was 77.5％(86/111).By univariate analysis,the clinical response rate was associated with tumor grade( P =0.026),deep cervical stromal invasion ( P =0.029 ) and positive lymph nodes ( P =0.048 ).By multiple logistic regression,deep cervical stromal invasion ( P =0.015 ) and positive lymph nodes ( P =0.031 ) were independent predictors of optimal clinical response.By log-rank test,5-year overall survival rate and 5-year progression-free survival rate were associated with lymph nodes metastases status and lymphovascular invasion ( P =0.000),but not with hemoglobin and platelet levels( P ＞ 0.05 ).By Cox regression model,lymph nodes metastases status and lymph-vascular space involvement ( P ＜ 0.01 ) were independently prognostic factors of 5-year overall survival rate and 5-year progression-free survival rate.Conclusion Pretreatment hemoglobin and platelet levels were neither predictors of clinical response to chemotherapy nor prognostic factors.

Objective To investigate the distribution, clinical diagnosis and treatment methods of the extrapulmo-nary complications in children with mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP). Methods The clinical data of 1 100 patients confirmed the diagnosis of mycoplasma pneumonia and with the positive serum MP-IgM test were collected in this study. The distribu-tion and clinical characteristics and MP-DNA detection rates were compared between 417 patients with extrapulmonary com-plications and 683 cases without complications. The occurrence of various complications in a four-year period was analyzed. Clinical data were compared between fiberoptic bronchoscopy lavage group and non-surgical group. Results The MP-DNA detection rate and the length of hospital stay were higher in patients with pulmonary complications than those of patients without complications. The most common types of extrapulmonary complications were liver damage, skin rashes and gastrointestinal reactions , but less severe. Encephalitis, nephritis and myocarditis were rare complications, but severe and occult. The fatal hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) was also visible in patients. Bronchoscopy lavage was conducive to the recovery of the disease. Conclusion MP pneumonia showed high incidence and risks of extrapulmonary complica-tions, which required careful clinical observation and inspection, the dynamic monitoring laboratory markers and comprehen-sive treatment as well.

Objective To compare the diagnostic value of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and 64 multi-slice spiral CT (64-MSCT) for coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods Fifty-two patients with suspected or known CAD were included in the study. Each patient underwent both stress and rest MPI,MSCT as well as conventional coronary angiography (CAG) within 1 month. The stress and rest MPI were scored by a 5-grade criteria (0 ～ 4) based on 17 coronary artery segments. The difference between summed stress and rest scores ＞ 1 was defined as myocardial ischemia. Stenosis in one main vessel or one main branch of the main vessel ≥50% was defined as myocardial ischemia by MSCT. CAG was used as the reference for comparison. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 13. 0 software. Kappa value was used to test the accordance of MPI and MSCT results. X2 test was used to evaluate the difference between MPI and MSCT results. Results The patient-based sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of MPI and MSCT for the diagnosis of CAD were 86.7% (26/30), 77.3% ( 17/22),83.9% (26/31), 81.0% ( 17/21), 82.7% (43/52) and 83.3% ( 25/30), 86.4% ( 19/22), 89.3%( 25/28), 79.2% ( 19/24), 84.6% (44/52), respectively. The vessel-based sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of MPI and MSCT were 74.5% (38/51), 81.0% (85/105 ), 65.5% (38/58), 86.7% ( 85/98), 78.8% ( 123/156 ) and 90.2% (46/51 ), 88.6% ( 93/105 ),79.3 % (46/58), 94.9% (93/98), 89.1% ( 139/156), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between MPI and MSCT for either patient or lesion-based diagnosis (X2 =0.44, 0.21, both P ＞0.05 ). 96.0% (24/25) patients with both abnormal MPI and MSCT positive were valified by CAG while 83.3% (15/18) patients with both MPI and MSCT negative were excluded by CAG. Conclusions Both MPI and MSCT are reliable diagnostic modalities for CAD. They also provide complementary diagnostic value to each other.

Tumor immune checkpoint therapy is a clinical treatment strategy developed based on the new principle of the inhibition of negative immune regulation. In this article, the tumor immune checkpoint therapy and the drug delivery strategies were reviewed, mainly including immunity and tumor therapy, tumor immune checkpoint therapy and its mechanism of action, clinical application of tumor immune checkpoint therapy and therapeutic drugs, immune resistance of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PDL1) treatment and countermeasures, drug delivery strategies for tumor immune checkpoint therapeutic agents, etc. As a revolutionary new immunotherapy strategy, tumor immune checkpoint therapy has shown obvious superior therapeutic efficacy in a variety types of tumor. However, tumor immune checkpoint therapy is also faced with a big challenge, namely, immunotherapy resistance. With the discovery of new mechanism, the continuous development of new therapeutic drugs and delivery strategies, tumor immune checkpoint therapy is expected to further improve the clinical efficacy of tumor.

OBJECTIVETo isolate and clone the differentially expressed genes induced by epithelial growth factor (EGF) with inhibiting dosage in cultured glioma BT325 cells and understand the molecular mechanism that inhibits glioma cells growth.

METHODSUsing differential display reversed transcription polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR) method to analyze the differentially expressed cDNA in BT325 cells induced by EGF with inhibiting dosage. After sequencing and homology research, the differentially expressed cDNA fragments were further confirmed by Dot blot analysis and one of them by Northern blot.

RESULTSUp-regulated genes cDNA fragments were isolated in growth inhibited BT325 cells. It was found that five cDNA fragments were highly homologous to the known human genes, while one was a fragment of a novel genes. Among these genes, one has coding sequence homology with transaldolase (TAL), which has been proved to be associated with apoptosis in recently research.

CONCLUSIONSHigh-dose EGF could change the expression of many genes in BT325 cells. EGF can inhibit the growth of BT325 cell growth, which may be resulted from its potential role in promoting TAL gene expression and thus inducing cell apoptosis.

Base Sequence ; Brain Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Cloning, Molecular ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; drug effects ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Glioma ; genetics ; pathology ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

OBJECTIVECT120B gene is a splicing variant of CT120A, which deletes 96 nucleotides and leads to an in-frame loss of 32 amino acids between the codon 136 and 167 as compared with CT120A. This study was undertaken to assess the effects of CT120B expression on lung cancer cell growth and to explore the gene expression profiles.

METHODSCT120B cDNA was transfected into the human lung adenocarcinoma SPC-A-1 cells, and stable cell lines overexpressing CT120B were established. CCK-8 assay and tumorigenecity in a xenograft model were performed to analyze cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. The differential gene expression induced by overexpressed CT120B was investigated using Atlas cDNA expression array. Flow cytometry was performed to analyze cell cycle and cell apoptosis.

RESULTSOverexpression of CT120B in SPC-A-1 cells resulted in a reduced cell growth rate in vitro, and decrease of the tumorigenicity in nude mice. A total of 38 genes were identified as differential expressions with more than a 2.0-fold change by Atlas cDNA expression array analysis, including downregulated cyclin E1, cdk 2, c-kit, CXCR4 and upregulated caspase 8 gene. Overexpression of CT120B also induced G1 phase arrest, but had no effect on cell apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONThe G1 cell cycle arrest, but not apoptosis, underlay the growth inhibitory activities of CT120B. The down-regulation of c-kit and CXCR4 expression might also contribute to the suppressive effects on cell growth of CT120B.

Adenocarcinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; G1 Phase ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit ; metabolism ; Receptors, CXCR4 ; metabolism ; Transfection

ObjectiveTo evaluate the prognostic value of MTV on 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with esophageal cancer.MethodsForty-nine patients with esophageal cancer underwent 18 F-FDG PET/CT scan before surgery.The median follow-up time for the patients was 29 months (range,8- 57 months).The prognostic significance of MTV,age,sex,histologic grade,SUVmax of the primary tumor,tumor size measured on PET/CT,T stage,N stage,M stage,American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage,number and location of lymph nodes metastases were assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox model.ResultsIn the univariate analysis,AJCC stage (x2 =16.206,hazard ratio (HR) =1.177,P ＜0.001),N stage (x2 =9.536,HR =10.833,P =0.002),T stage (x2 =5.810,HR=2.397,P=0.016),number of lymph nodes metastases (x2 =11.423,HR =1.567,P =0.001 ),and MTV (x2 =3.872,HR =2.433,P =0.049 ) were significant predictors of survival.Multivariate analysis showed that MTV and AJCC stage were independent predictors of survival (x2 =4.525,HR1.170,P =0.033 ;X2=4.875,HR =3.071,P =0.027).Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed longer survival time of low-MTV group as compared to high-MTV group ( Log-rank,x2 =4.186,P =0.041 ).ConclusionMTV on 18 F-FDG PET/CT may be an independent prognostic factor in patients with esophageal cancer.

Humans ; Liver Transplantation ; Transplantation, Autologous