Objective To investigate the characteristics and diagnostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in patients with secondary malignant peripheral nerve lesions. Methods 18F-FDG PET/CT studies of 8 cases of secondary malignant peripheral nerve lesions confirmed by histopathology or follow-up were analyzed retrospectively. The maximum standardized uptake value ( SUVmax ) of infiltrating peripheral nerves and contralateral normal peripheral nerves was measured and compared with their morphological appearances on CT. Paired student t-test was performed by SPSS 10.0. Results Twelve secondary malignant peripheral nerve lesions with high 18F-FDG metabolism were found in 8 cases. On PET imaging,the lesions distributed along the neurovascular tissues or intervertebral foramina with appearances resembling those of fibre bundles,radices or nodes on PET but no density differences with the surrounding soft tissue or fat planes on CT. The SUVmax was 6.86 ± 3.87. The contralateral normal peripheral nerves showed no abnormal 18F-FDG uptake with a SUVmax of 1.10 ±0.46,which was significantly different from that of the secondary malignant peripheral nerve lesions (t = 9.231,P ＜ 0.001 ). Conclusion 18 F-FDG PET/CT may be useful in locating the secondary malignant peripheral nerve lesions and in assessing its regional infiltration.

OBJECTIVE12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13 acetate (TPA) plays an important role in precipitating cell differentiation for various tumor cells, especially leukemic cells. Changes of many genes may be involved in this process. The purpose of this study was to observe the relationship between the EGR1mRNA expression and cell differentiation during TPA-induced K562 cell differentiation.

METHODSIncubation of human K562 cells in vitro was applied to cultivate K562 cells. The cells were treated in two different ways. K562 cells of experiment group were treated with TPA and those of control group were treated without TPA. Using morphology (Wright's staining and NSE staining) and flow cytometry (FCM), the investigators observed the differentiation characteristics of K562 cells, cell-cycle and the differentiation antigen expressions of CD33 and CD14 on cell membranes. RT-PCR was carried out to assay EGR1 mRNA expression.

RESULTSAfter treated with TPA for 7 d, the morphology of K562 cells obviously tended to mature differentiation, like monocytes. The differentiation rate of induced K562 cells was up to 95% in experiment group and 4.5% in control group, respectively. Using SPSS software, the above result showed statistical significance (P < 0.01). Using NSE staining, K562 cells showed positive reaction. Some of them were densely stained. The positive rate was up to 86%. More than half of the positive cells could be inhibited by NaF. The inhibiting rate of NaF was up to 58.72%, showing statistical difference when compared with that of control group. FCM analysis showed that most of K562 cells stimulated by TPA underwent G1/S phase cell-cycle arrest. The composing rate of cell-cycle in TPA-treated group showed that (53.7 +/- 1.25)% of cells were at G0 + G1 phase and (44.3 +/- 1.32)% were at S phase (P < 0.05). The level of CD33 expression on cell membranes was mildly decreased from 0.997% to 0.893% (P > 0.05). However, the level of CD14 expression was significantly increased from 0.049% to 0.387% (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONK562 cells could express EGR1mRNA during TPA-induced differentiation, which suggested that EGR1mRNA might participate in the process of K562 cells differentiating into monocyte/macrophages, and might play an important role in precipitating and maintaining cell differentiation for leukemic cells.

Antigens, CD ; metabolism ; Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic ; metabolism ; Carcinogens ; pharmacology ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; genetics ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; genetics ; Cell Membrane ; chemistry ; drug effects ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Early Growth Response Protein 1 ; Flow Cytometry ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; drug effects ; Humans ; Immediate-Early Proteins ; genetics ; K562 Cells ; Lipopolysaccharide Receptors ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sialic Acid Binding Ig-like Lectin 3 ; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate ; pharmacology ; Transcription Factors ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics of RET/PTC and H47PTEN rearrangement and the association between gene rearrangement and clinicopathological properties of thyroid carcinoma.

METHODSRearrangement of RET/PTC-1, RET/PTC-2, RET/PTC-3, ELKS-RET and H4-PTEN (H4/PTEN and PTEN/H4) was analyzed in 139 thyroid tumor tissues by using RT-PCR and sequencing.

RESULTSTwelve RET/PTC-1, 6 RET/PTC-3, 6 H4/PTEN and 7 PTEN/H4 were detected in 126 papillary thyroid carcinomas. In 3 cases, both RET/PTC and H4-PTEN were identified simultaneously. However, repeated experiments did not give the same results of H4-PTEN rearrangement. The overall frequency of rearrangement was 21.4% (27/126). The patients with gene rearrangement were younger (P = 0.02) and had a higher frequency of lymph node involvement (P = 0.02). High frequency of lateral neck lymph node involvement was detected in RET/PTC positive PTC (P < 0.01). PTEN/H4 rearrangement could also be detected in medullary thyroid carcinoma (2/5).

CONCLUSIONSH4-PTEN rearrangement can occur simultaneously with RET/PTC rearrangement in PTC. High predisposition to gene rearrangement is a characteristic of PTC. The patients of PTC with gene rearrangement are younger and have a higher frequency of lymph node involvement.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Child ; Female ; Gene Rearrangement ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; genetics ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; genetics ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of nano-TiO(2) intratracheal instillation on the progression of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-knockout mice.

METHODSThe nano-TiO(2) was ultrasound with phosphate-buffered saline solutions (PBS) into its suspension for exposure. A total of 46 specific pathogen free (SPF) level of 11-week-old male apolipoprotein E-knockout mice were randomly divided into groups by their body weights: non-treatment group (8 mice), PBS control group (9 mice), high dose group (1.0 mg/ml, 10 mice), medium dose group (0.5 mg/ml, 10 mice), and low dose group (0.1 mg/ml, 9 mice). Except the non-treatment group, mice from other groups were intratracheally instilled with 0.05 ml each time, twice a week. After exposure of 6 weeks, viscera index, blood TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, and organic lipid ratio were assessed as biomarkers. Artery and aortic root issues were assessed by histopathology.

RESULTSAfter 5 weeks exposure, mice body weights in high dose group ((29.7 ± 1.9) g) started to drop, compared to PBS control ((31.3 ± 1.9) g, t = -1.58, P < 0.05) and low dose group ((31.4 ± 1.4) g, t = -1.17, P < 0.05); after 6 weeks, high dose group ((28.8 ± 1.5) g) was lower than PBS control ((30.4 ± 1.9) g, t = -1.60, P < 0.05), non-treatment group ((30.2 ± 1.3) g, t = -1.43, P < 0.05) and low dose group ((30.6 ± 1.0) g, t = -1.83, P < 0.05). TC levels of non-treatment, PBS control, high dose group, medium dose group and low dose group were (2.92 ± 1.18), (3.12 ± 0.73), (4.19 ± 1.86), (3.46 ± 0.72) and (2.57 ± 0.64) mmol/L, respectively; TG levels were (0.39 ± 0.13), (0.39 ± 0.08), (0.60 ± 0.21), (0.55 ± 0.19) and (0.41 ± 0.11) mmol/L, respectively; HDL-C levels were (1.67 ± 0.45), (1.54 ± 0.67), (0.93 ± 0.50), (1.02 ± 0.48) and (1.31 ± 0.64) mmol/L; TG levels of high dose group were higher than that of non-treatment group (t = 1.27, P = 0.03) and low dose group (t = 1.62, P = 0.01); TG levels of medium dose group was higher than PBS control (t = 0.16, P = 0.04), and TC levels of high dose group were higher than PBS control (t = 0.22, P = 0.01), non-treatment group (t = 0.22, P = 0.04) and low dose group (t = 0.20, P = 0.03), and HDL-C levels of high dose group were lower than PBS control (t = -0.61, P = 0.04) and non-treatment group (t = -0.74, P = 0.04); organic lipid ratio of each group were (2.27 ± 0.51)%, (2.06 ± 0.53)%, (2.90 ± 0.50)%, (2.60 ± 0.23)%, (2.24 ± 0.45)%; high dose group were higher than PBS control (t = 0.85, P = 0.00), non-treatment group (t = 0.64, P = 0.03) and low dose group (t = 0.67, P = 0.01); medium dose group was higher than PBS control (t = 0.54, P = 0.02). The plaque lipid content and calcium content which showed the progression of atherosclerosis and plaque rupture were elevated in medium and high dose groups.

CONCLUSIONIntratracheal instillation of nano-TiO(2) can induce dyslipidemia and accelerate the development of atherosclerosis and plaque rupture in ApoE-/-mice.

Animals ; Apolipoproteins E ; genetics ; Atherosclerosis ; blood ; chemically induced ; Dyslipidemias ; blood ; chemically induced ; Instillation, Drug ; Lipid Metabolism ; Lipids ; blood ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Nanoparticles ; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms ; Titanium ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology

Gut microbiome sequencing studies have great potential to translate microbial analysis outcomes into human health research. Sequencing strategies of 16S amplicon and whole-metagenome shotgun (WMS) are two main methods in microbiome research with respective advantages. However, how sample heterogeneity, sequencers and library preparation protocols affect the sequencing reproducibility of gut microbiome needs further investigation. This study aims to provide a reference for the selection of sequencing technologies by comparing differences in microbial composition from different sampling sites. The results of three widely adopted sequencers showed that the technical repetition correlation (r= 0. 94) was high in WMS method, while the biological repetition correlation (r = 0. 69) was low. Bray-Curtis distance identified that dissimilarity from biological replicates was larger than that of technical replicates (P<0. 001). In addition, dissimilarity and specific taxonomic profiles were observed between 16S and WMS datasets. Our results imply that homogenization is a necessary step before sample DNA extraction. The sequencers contributed less to taxonomic variation than the library preparation protocols. We developed an empirical Bayes approach that " borrowed information" in calculations and analyzed batch effect parameters using standardized data and prior distributions of (non-) parameters, which may improve population comparability between 16S and WMS and provide a basis for further application to fusion analysis of published 16S and microbial datasets.