This study examined the effects of a recombinant adenovirus Ad-PTEN-EGFP on the proliferation of A549 cells, a human lung carcinoma cell line, in vitro and on the growth of the implanted tumors in the nude mice in vivo, explored the underlying mechanisms and evaluated the in vitro transfection efficiency of Ad-PTEN-EGFP into A549 cells. The expression of Ad-PTEN-EGFP in the A549 cells was determined. The proliferation and the apoptosis rates of the A549 cells with Ad-PTEN-EGFP transfection or not was detected by MTT and flow cytometry. Ad-PTEN-EGFP at different doses was injected intratumorally to the tumor-bearing mice induced by the A549 cells. Tumor sizes were measured on an alternate day. After all the mice were sacrificed, the implanted tumors were removed for routine histological examination, weight test, HE staining and immunohistochemical staining. The expressions of Bax, P16 and P53 in the tumor tissues and those of caspase-3, CD34 and VEGF in the mouse sera were detected. Tumor cell apoptosis was measured by TUNEL method. The results showed that the vitality of the A549 cells after transfection with Ad-PTEN-EGFP declined. The expression of green fluorescent protein was observed under fluorescent microscope. The transfection rate was in excess of 50%. The mRNA and protein expression of PTEN in the transfected cells was confirmed. The proliferation rate of the transfected cells was significantly decreased when compared with that of the non-transfected cells (P<0.05). The number of the apoptosis cells was increased in the transfected cells (P<0.05). The models of implanted tumors were successfully established by injection of the A549 cells in the flank of Balb/c nude mice. Administration of Ad-PTEN-EGFP to the tumor-bearing nude mice resulted in a suppression of tumor growth. There were statistically significant differences in the tumor weight and tumor volume between the Ad-PTEN-EGFP-treated group and the control groups (P<0.05). In contrast to those in the control groups, tumor tissues in the Ad-PTEN-EGFP-treated group were shown to have typical extensive vacuolar degeneration and massive hemorrhagic necrosis. Apoptotic bodies were also observed in the tumor cells. The expressions of Bax, caspase-3 and P16 were increased (P<0.05) while those of CD34, VEGF and P53 decreased (P<0.05) in the Ad-PTEN-EGFP-treated group. It is concluded that Ad-PTEN-EGFP could induce the apoptosis of the A549 cells and inhibit their proliferation. And it could also substantially suppress the tumor growth in the tumor-bearing nude mice and induce apoptosis of the tumor cells as well. These findings carry significant implications for adenovirus vector-based PTEN gene therapies for lung cancers.

Lysyl oxidase-like protein 2 (LOXL2) is one of the lysyl oxidases (LOX) families.At present,most of scholars consider that LOXL2 is a neoplasm metastasis gene,whereas some others belleve that LOXL2 is a neoplasm suppressor gene.Studies found that LOXL2 gene combined with other oncogenes promotes neoplasm invasion,metastasis and indicates a poor prognosis.Related researches provide new ideas for judging tumor metastasis and prognosis and looking for new targets for cancer therapy.

The correlation between the expression of COX-2 and p53 protein in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of eyelid and apoptosis was investigated. Specimens of BCC were collected from 40 cases (aged 28-68 y) at the Department of Pathology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, and Department of Pathology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University during from 1999 to 2006. Five specimens of paracancerous tissues served as control group. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression of COX-2 and p53 in the tissues. The average absorbance (A) and the average positive area rate of COX-2 and p53 protein were measured by image analysis. The positive area rate of COX-2 and p53 protein was analyzed by linear correlation analysis. It was found that COX-2 and p53 proteins were highly expressed in BCC of eyelid, and weakly expressed in paracancerous tissues. Image analysis revealed that the expression of COX-2 and p53 proteins in BCC of eyelid was significantly higher than that in paracancerous tissues (P<0.01). Spearman rank correlation analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between the expression of COX-2 and p53 (r=0.113, P=0.421). It was concluded that COX-2 can increase the expression of p53 protein, therefore suppressing apoptosis.
Apoptosis ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell/*metabolism ; Cyclooxygenase 2/*metabolism ; Eyelid Neoplasms/*metabolism ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/*metabolism

BACKGROUND: Tumor spinal metastasis is often complicated with pain,limitations in movement, paralysis and poor prognosis.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors affecting the recovery of the spinal functions in patients with spinal metastatic carcinoma and its therapeutic methods so as to improve the living quality of the patients with a terminal cancer.DESIGN: A case-controlled observation.SETTING: The Department of Tumor and Department of Radiotherapy of the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College.PARTICIPANTS: We selected 162 patients with spinal metastatic carcinoma with different degrees of paralysis who received treatment at the Department of Oncology and the Department of Radiotherapy of the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College between March 1992 and June 2001. They participated in this experiment voluntarily.METHODS:①Radiotherapy and chemotherapy; All the patients were given symptomatic treatment with simple radiotherapy or a combined therapy of simple radiotherapy and chemotherapy, in which the dose of chemotherapy was 2 Gy/time,5 times a week,3 weeks in total. A combined method was used for chemotherapy according to the nature of the different primary tumors. The chemotherapy was conducted for 3 therapeutic courses in average ranging from 2 to 6 courses of treatment with 21 days for each course. ② Physical rehabilitation therapy included exercise therapy, massage (twice/day), functional electrical stimulation (once a day),bladder training and toilet training (once or twice every day), 10 days as a therapeutic course, 3 successive therapeutic courses in total. After the treatment, analgesic pain, muscle power of the limbs and the recovery of defecation function were observed.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain-alleviating, muscle power of the limbs and the recovery of defecation function after the operation. RESULTS: Totally 162 patients with spinal metastasis carcinoma were recruited, and all the patients entered the stage of result analysis at the end of therapy with no loss in the midway. ① Pain complete alleviating was in 97 cases (59.88%); no alleveclting in 0 case. ② The condition was remarkably improved in 127 cases(78.40%), and it was not improved in 35 cases (21.60%). The improved rate of muscle power of the patients with one focus and 2 adjacent focuses was 92.98%. The improved rate of the patients with multiple foci was 64.59%. The muscle power of the patients with a disease history of less than 2 weeks was improved remarkably, but there was no change in muscle power in patients with a disease history of more than 2 months. CT or MRI showed that spinal cord at the affected segment of the 21 patients suffered severely compression before the treatment, and only 2 cases were improved in muscle power, with no other changes.③The defecation function of 162 patients all became normal.CONCLUSION: Patients with spinal metastatic carcinoma complicated with paralysis have different degrees of relief and amelioration in pain,muscle power of the limbs and defecation function after radiotherapy,chemotherapy and synthetic rehabilitation therapy. Factors affecting the recovery of spinal function mainly included the length of disease course,compressed degree of the spinal cord, the quantity of metastatic focus, the health status of the patients and therapeutic time and the quality of primary rehabilitation and so on. Mental help to the patients should be paid attention to so as to improve the quality of life at the same time.

The resistance mechanism of gliomas to chemotherapy and radiotherapy is a complex network of many signaling pathways. It remains unclearhow the pathways interact with each other and how they were regulated. Recent studies have shown that DNA damage checkpoint pathway ( ATM、 ATR、 Chk1、 Chk2、 Rad17、 Radl 、Rad9、Hus1 et al. ) plays an important role in cell proliferation、genomic stability、tumorigenesis and the resistance to chemoradiotherapy of tumors. Inhibiting DNA damage checkpoint can increase tumor sensitivity to chemoradiotherapy and therefore improve the therapeutic effect. We review here the role of ATM in chemoradiotherapy resistance of gliomas and its associated mechanisms.

Serum KL-6 is a category of glycoprotein coded by the epithelium of sticky protein 1(MUC1) gene,which has already been regarded as an indicator of interstitial lung diseases,and later found highly expressed in part of malignant tumor patients.In recent years,studies has found that serum KL-6 is associated with the incidence of radioactive pneumonia,and monitoring serum KL-6 can predict the occurrence of radioactive pneumonia as well assess the severity and prognosis of disease.

MiR-494 involves in cell cycle regulation,differentiation and apoptosis processes of normal ceils.Recent study shows that abnormal expression of miR-494 is associated with oncogenesis closely,and it participates in the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells and so on.MiR-494 is not only a tumor suppressor gene,but also can be considered as a cancer-promoting gene.MiR-494 can regulate the oncogenesis and development of the tumor through a variety of target genes and signaling pathways.

BACKGROUND:At present,most general hospitals in China treat patients with neurosis and mental diseases merely by means of clinical psychological consultation,which cannot meet the requirements of social service for metal disorders. Is it feasible to establish open psychology wards?OBJECTIVE:To investigate the feasibility of establishing open psychology ward in general hospitals for patients with neurosis and mental diseases.DESIGN:Case analysis based on patients.SETTING:Department of Psychology of Guangdong Medical College Affiliated Hospital.PARTICIPANTS:Totally 900 patients with various types of neurosis were admitted to the Department of Psychology of Guangdong Medical College Affiliated Hospital between July 2000 and March 2003.There were 688 patients with different kinds of psychoneurosis and112 cases of mental diseases. Of them,there were 523 men and 377women aged from 11 to 80 years.with the mean age of (42±8) years and hospitalization duration of(17.0±6.5) days.METHODS:Open management consisting of open ward,supporting system,humanized restriction,collective physical exercise and psychological support was adopted.Symptom checklist (SCL-90) was used by trained psychological doctors to assess the therapeutic effects in the 900 patients with neurosis and mental diseases after two-month rehabilitation.Meanwhile,169 patients with depression were examined with Hamilton rating scale for depression(HAMD) at 2,4,8 weeks of treatment.patients.RESULTS:Open psychology ward could provide an environment for patients to live and make free contact with the outside world. Of the 900patients with various neurosis and metal diseases,531 (59.0%) had recovery to normal,264(29.4%) had obvious improvement,81(9.0%) had improvement,and 24 (2.6%) had no therapeutic effect,with the total effective rate of 97.4% .None of the patients had any accident. HAMD score of the 169 patients with depression was (32.3±3.6) before treatment,was obviously lower at 2,4 and 8 weeks of treatment [(17.4±4.2),(11.5±4.8) and(5.8±3.6),respectively](P ＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION:The therapeutic effect of the open psychology ward in the general hospital on various neuropathies and mental diseases was 97.4% in the 900 cases,with no accident occurring during hospitalization.Depression of the 169 patients was obviously improved,indicating that it isfeasible to establish open psychology ward in general hospitals.

Aim To construct eukarytic vector for rat endostatin(endos) cDNA and observe its expression in C6 cell.Methods cDNA encoding rat endostatin was amplified from newborn brain tissue with RT-PCR and inserted into the eukarytic vector pBudCE 4.1.Recombinant was identified with KpnI,XhoI double digestion,PCR and nucleotide sequencing of the target gene.After successful reconstruction of the genes of endostatin,the recombinants was transfected into C6 cells with lipofectintechniques.The positive clones were screened out through zeocin resistance test.The endostatin in supernate of the positive clones was identified with Western-blot and MTT method.With immunocytochemistry,the endostatin in the positive clones was located.The quantities of VEGF in supernate of the positive clones were quantified with ELISA assay.Results The size of the amplified endostatin gene fragment was in accord with that we expected.And the gene sequence inserted into the eukarytic vector pBudCE 4.1 was consistent with the known sequence.Endostatin was secreted from the positive clone.Down-requlation of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) was found in the positive clones.Conclusion The recombinant of rat endostatin gene clone had been established and inserted into the eukarytic vector pBudCE 4.1 successfully and endostatin was expressed in C6 cells.This provides a basis for further studies of endostatin effects in vivo,and creates the conditions for final clinical trial

Objective To explore the role of Color Doppler Flowing Imaging(CDFI) in assessing metastatic lymph node for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods Neck lymph node were detected by CDFI in 206 patients who received the initial course radiotherapy in our hospital. The characteristic of neck node, such as position, figure, number, size, its relation to surrounding soft tissue, the ratio of longitudinal diameter over trnsverses′(L/T) and blood flow resistance index (RI), were recorded detailedly. Fine needle aspiration biopsy was performed on some of patients under the guide of ultrasound. Results The clinical N-stage was changed markedly after CDFI plus biopsy, with up-staging in 25 from N0 to N1 , 6 N0 to N2, 20 N1 to N2, 3 N1 to N3, 4 N2 to N3; and down-staging in 14 from N2 to N1, 7 from N3 to N2. The misdiagnosis rate of node involvement by palpation was 38.3% (79/206). The sizes of lymph node detected by palpation were larger than those by CDFI (P0.6, and the value would reached to 92.9%(182/196) and 95.5%(107/112)when such criteria combined with the diameter and growth behavior of lymph node. Conclusion Color Doppler Flowing Imaging is useful in N-staging for nasopharyngeal carcinoma by providing more reliable evidence.