BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study is to screen for multi-drug resistance-related genes of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and provide the evidences for drug-sensitive predicting genes of different NSCLC patients treated with chemotherapeutic drugs.

METHODSSensitivity and inhibition ratio of five antitumor drugs (NVB, GEM, TAL, DOC, CDDP) on 75 fresh NSCLC samples from different individuals were studied by means of culturing primary tumor cells and MTT assay. After the five chemotherapeutic drugs were used, multi-drug resistance-related genes of NSCLC with cDNA microarry on the samples which were all high sensitive and those resistant were screened.

RESULTScDNA microarray analysis screened out 212 genes, 168 of which were up-regulated while the other 44 were down-regulated in the group of highly sensitive compared with the group of resistance.

CONCLUSIONThe multi-drug resistance of NSCLC may be correlative with the 212 genes screened by cDNA microarray; the detailed mechanisms of the genes still need to be detected in the future.

Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; genetics ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis

OBJECTIVETo study the active ingredients in liver protection from Erzhi Wan (AIEP) on acute hepatic injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in mice.

METHODSixty Kunming mice were randomly divided into six groups: the normal group, the model group, bifendate group (150 mg x kg(-1)), high AIEP group (19.8 g x kg(-1)), middle AIEP group (13.2 g x kg(-1)) and low AIEP group (6.6 g x kg(-1)). The treatment groups were orally administered once per day for 7 d separately, whereas the normal and model groups were orally administered with saline. Except normal rats, all the other rats were injected intraperitoneally CCl4 20 mL x kg(-1) once. The rats were sacrificed 16 h after CCl4 administration. Serum and liver samples were collected for analysis. The acute hepatic injury model was prepared by CCl4 injected intraperitoneally. Then, the therapeutic effects of AIEP on the model were evaluated by the activity determination of serum alanine aminotransferase and aspirate aminotransferase (ALT and AST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver,and the hepatic pathohistological changes following the treatment.

RESULTThe activities of ALT and AST and the MDA content in liver was significantly increased and the activity of SOD was largely inhibited in the animals of modeling group. Following the treatment with AIEP, ALT and AST activities and MDA content were significantly reduced and SOD activity was obviously increased in the mice of treatment group. Furthermore, AIEP could ameliorate the hepatic pathological changes.

CONCLUSIONAIEP have protective effects on acute hepatic injury induced by CCL4 in mice, and are the effect of the liver protecting active sites.

Alanine Transaminase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; physiology ; Carbon Tetrachloride Poisoning ; drug therapy ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Liver ; drug effects ; injuries ; metabolism ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Mice

OBJECTIVETo evaluate percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) and testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in the diagnosis and treatment of azoospermia.

METHODSWe examined 385 azoospermia patients using the techniques of PESA and TESE.

RESULTSOf the total number of the azoospermia patients, 64 (16.62%) had sperm in the epididymis and 45 (11.69%) in the testis. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was applied to 64 of the patients with sperm in the epididymis or testis. The pregnancy rate after the embryo transfer was 39.07%.

CONCLUSIONPESA and TESE, as an effective therapy for azoospermia, can further the classification of azoospermia and provide chances of procreation to azoospermia patients with partial obstruction.

Adult ; Azoospermia ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Cell Separation ; methods ; Epididymis ; cytology ; Humans ; Male ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; methods ; Testis ; cytology ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo explore the inhibitory effect of alantolactone on the proliferation of adriamycin-resistant human chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line K562/ADR cells and its mechanism.

METHODSK562/ADR cells were treated with various concentrations of alantolactone (0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 μmol/L) for different time points. Cell viability was analyzed with MTT assay. The effect of alantolactone on the apoptosis of K562/ADR cells was measured by flow cytometry. The expression of apoptosis-related proteins after treatment with alantolactone was analyzed using Western blot.

RESULTSAlantolactone could effectively inhibit the proliferation of K562/ADR cells in dose- and time- dependent manner, the IC50 value of alantolactone treatment of K562/ADR cells for 24 h was 4.7 μmol/L (P<0.05). Flow cytometric analysis displayed that the apoptotic rates were 1.35%, 16.91%, 29.61% and 46.26%, respectively, after treatment with alantolactone at 0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 μmol/L. Meanwhile, the expression of Bcl-2 and BCR-ABL proteins were significantly decreased and that of Bax, cytochrome C, cleaved-caspase-9, cleaved-caspase-3 and cleaved-PARP increased by alantolactone treatment.

CONCLUSIONAlantolactone had obvious inhibitory effect on the proliferation of K562/ADR cells through the caspase dependent mitochondrial(or intrinsic)apoptotic pathway.

Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 9 ; metabolism ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl ; metabolism ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Lactones ; pharmacology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Sesquiterpenes, Eudesmane ; pharmacology ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism