The aim of this project is to establish a fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) signaling pathway targeted cell model, for screening a class of FGF-21 receptor agonists as anti-diabetic candidates. FGF-21 requires beta klotho transmembrane proteins as co-receptor for the activation of tyrosine kinase FGF receptor (FGFR) signaling, thereby activating a series of intracellular signaling pathways and regulating gene transcription for glucose metabolism. Firstly a recombinant plasmid expressing co-receptor beta klotho and EGFP reporter genes was constructed. After introducing the recombinant plasmid into package cells, the cell culture supernatant was used to infect 3T3-L1 cells, which were then screened for stably expressing beta klotho gene. Administration of FGF-21 increased the expression of GLUT1 and stimulated GLUT1-mediated glucose uptake. This novel cell model can be conveniently used in high-throughput drug screening of FGF-21 or FGF-21 analogues.

With the development and application of microarray and high-throughput sequencing technology, it is possible to genomi-cally scan breast cancer associated CNV and SNPs. Multiple researches showed that the frequent aberrance of 8q24 was associated with breast cancer. Oncogenes such as MYC, PSCA and breast cancer associated loci are located in 8q24, and frequent amplification of 8q24 was proposed to be related with breast cancer development and prognosis. This review summarizes the association of the 8q24 amplification and SNPs with breast cancer by correlated genes on this locus.

Objective: To investigate the prognosis of patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) of the breast using a propensity score matching (PSM) method and to analyze the effects of NAC. Methods: Clinical and pathological data of a total of 251 cases of IMPC of the breast were collected for this study, from January 2011 to March 2014 in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, of which the NAC group comprised 67 cases and the non-NAC group comprised 184 cases. Tumor sizes before and after NAC were compared in the NAC group. Prognostic differences were compared between the NAC group and non-NAC group before and after PSM balancing the baseline. Results: The mean value of the maximum dimensions significantly reduced from 5.0cm to 4.2cm in the NAC group after NAC (P=0.035), but there was no statistically significant difference in T stage changes (P=0.064). A total of 49 pairs of patients were matched after PSM, and differences in the baseline data of the paired group were not significant. Univariate survival analysis showed no significant difference in the recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate between the NAC group (77.6% vs. 89.2%) and non-NAC group (72.1% vs. 91.0%) before and after PSM (all P>0.05). The 5-year distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rates in the NAC group before and after PSM were 53.4% and 50.0%, respectively, which were both significantly lower than those in the non-NAC group 69.1%, 59.2% (all P<0.05), and multivariate survival analysis showed that undergoing NAC was an independent prognostic factor of DMFS after PSM. Conclusion: Breast IMPC is a special type of tumor that is not sensitive to chemotherapy. Although some tumors decrease after NAC, IMPC patients do not benefit from NAC in terms of RFS; NAC may even increase the risk of distant metastasis. Therefore, IMPC patients should undergo surgical treatment as soon as possible, and NAC is not recommended.