OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of mesothelin (MESO) mRNA and protein and its significance in ovarian carcinomas.

METHODSSemi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression level of MESO mRNA and protein, respectively, in 124 samples of ovarian tumor and normal tissues, including 84 epithelial ovarian carcinomas, 12 borderline ovarian tumors, 16 benign ovarian tumors and 12 normal ovarian tissues.

RESULTSThe expression of MESO mRNA and protein in epithelial ovarian carcinomas (1.4005 +/- 0.4646, 2.7857 +/- 2.2712) and borderline ovarian tumors (1.0650 +/- 0.3100, 2.9167 +/- 2.391) were significantly higher than that in benign ovarian tumors (0.6463 +/- 0.2419, 1.2500 +/- 1.6125) and normal ovarian tissues (0.6439 +/- 0.2729, 0.9167 +/- 1.2401) (P < 0.05), and also significantly higher in serous cystadenocarcinoma (1.5255 +/- 0.4151, 3.3036 +/- 2.6141) and endometrioid carcinoma (1.5250 +/- 0.5419, 3.0000 +/- 2.3094) than that in mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (1.0675 +/- 0.3149, 1.0556 +/- 1.9242) (P < 0.05). The expression of MESO mRNA and protein in stages II and IV carcinomas (1.5100 +/- 0.4142, 3.6087 +/- 3.3959) was significantly higher than that in stages I and II carcinomas (1.1190 +/- 0.4909, 1.7895 +/- 2.6320; P < 0.05), and also significantly higher in grade 3 carcinomas than that in grade 1 and 2 ones (P < 0.05), but was not correlate with age or serum CA125 of the patients (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe results of this study demonstrated that the expression of MESO mRNA and protein is increased in ovarian carcinomas and borderline ovarian tumors, and MESO may play a role in the adhesion and dissemination of ovarian carcinomas.

Carcinoma, Endometrioid ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; GPI-Linked Proteins ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Ovary ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in children with acute pyelonephritis. Methods A total of 104 children with urinary tract infection admitted to Tianjin Children's Hospital from December 2016 to May 2017 were selected in this study, including 61 cases with acute pyelonephritis (group APN) and 43 with lower urinary tract infection (group non-APN). The serum levels of beta 2-Microglobulin (β2-MG), cystatin C (CysC), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and urine levels of NGAL were compared between two groups.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were drawn to evaluate the diagnostic values of serum β2-MG,CysC,CRP,PCT and urine NGAL.Results The serum levels of CRP,PCT,β2-MG and urinary NGAL were significantly higher in APN group than those in non-APN group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in serum CysC level between two groups(P>0.05).The areas under the ROC curve(AUC)for serum CRP,PCT,and urinary NGAL were 0.838,0.898 and 0.963.The optimal cutoff value of serum CRP was 22.6 mg/L,the sensitivity was 75.4% and the specificity was 83.7%. The optimal cutoff value of serum PCT was 0.285 μg/L, the sensitivity was 77.0% and the specificity was 93.0%.The optimal cutoff value of urine NGAL was 473 μg/L,the sensitivity was 82.0% and the specificity was 97.7%.Conclusion Urinary NGAL has high diagnostic value for APN in children,and which is helpful for the early identification of APN.

Many bacterial pathogens can produce hemolysins to lyse erythrocytes,but recent studies revealed that bacterial hemolysins could cause injury and death of many nucleated cells and platelets.According to the difference of molecular structure,cell-binding manner and membrane pore-forming mechanism,most of bacterial hemolysins are classified into the toxins belonging to either repeats in toxin family (RTX) or cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family (CDC).Bacterial hemolysins play important pathogenic roles during infection of bacteria through membrane damage,cell lysis or disruption,ion disequilibriumassociated pathological changes,cell apoptosis or cell necroptosis as well as through TLR2/4-mediated NF-κB,p38MAPK,JNK signaling pathways and NLRs-mediated NLRP3 inflammasomes to cause powerful inflammatory reaction and inflammatory tissue injury.

Based on GC-MS and network pharmacology, the active constituents, potential targets, and mechanism of essential oil from Gleditsiae Fructus Abnormalis(EOGFA) against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) injury were explored, and the effective constituents were verified by experiment. To be specific, GC-MS was used identify the constituents of the volatile oil. Secondly, the targets of the constituents and disease were predicted by network pharmacology, and the drug-constituent-target network was constructed, followed by Gene Ontology(GO) term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment of the core targets. Molecular docking was performed to investigate the binding affinity between the active constituents and the targets. Finally, SD rats were used for experimental verification. The I/R injury model was established, and the neurological behavior score, infarct volume, and pathological morphology of brain tissue were measured in each group. The content of interleukin-1β(IL-1β), interleukin-6(IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α) was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), and the protein expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) by Western blot. A total of 22 active constituents and 17 core targets were screened out. The core targets were involved in 56 GO terms and the major KEGG pathways of TNF signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, and sphingolipid signaling pathway. Molecular docking showed that the active constituents had high affinity to the targets. The results of animal experiment suggested that EOGFA can alleviate the neurological impairment, decrease the cerebral infarct volume and the content of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, and down-regulate the expression of VEGF. The experiment verified the part results of network pharmacology. This study reflects the multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway characteristics of EOGFA. The mechanism of its active constituents is related to TNF and VEGF pathways, which provides a new direction for in-depth research on and secondary development of Gleditsiae Fructus Abnormalis.
Animals ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Network Pharmacology ; Oils, Volatile ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Interleukin-6 ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; Reperfusion Injury ; Cerebral Infarction

OBJECTIVETo investigate the reversal effect of dihydromyricetin(DMY) on drug resistance of K562/A02 cells to adriamycin and explore its possible mechanism.

METHODSK562 and K562/A02 cells were treated with DMY (5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg/L) and ADM (100-0.05 mg/L) for 48 h. The viability of K562 cells and K562/A02 cells was tested and the reversal effect of DMY on drug resistance of K562/A02 cells to adriamycin was analyzed by MTT. The relative concentration of ADM in cells was measured by flow cytometry. Protein expressions of drug resistance related genes including P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance associated protein 1 (MRP1), glutathione transferase π (GSTπ) and BCL-2 were measured by Western Blot.

RESULTSThe proliferation of K562 and K562/A02 cells was significantly decreased by DMY in dose-dependent manner as compared with control group (r1=0.37, r2=0.38). The ICof ADM on K562 and K562/A02 cells were 71.23±6.51 and 72.88±5.49 mg/L respectively. DMY (5, 10 and 20 mg/L) was low cytotoxicity. DMY (5, 10 and 20 mg/L) enhanced the sensitivity of K562/A02 cells to ADM in dose-dependent manner (r1=-0.62, r2=-0.71) and the reversal multiples was from 1.38 to 28.591. The relative concentrations of ADM in K562/A02 of DMY (5, 10 and 20 mg/L) group cells were significantly increased in dose-dependent manner compared with the control group (r=0.34). Compared with the control group, the expressions of drug resistance related protein P-gp, MRP1, GSTπ and BCL-2 were significantly decreased in dose-dependent manner in DMY (5, 10 and 20 mg/L) group (r1=-0.41, r2=-0.37, r3=-0.58, r=-0.46). Compared with the ADM group, the protein expressions of drug resistance related genes P-gp, MRP1, GSTπ and BCL-2 in DMY (5, 10 and 20 mg/L)+ADM group were significantly decreased in dose-dependent manner (r1=-0.55, r2=-0.41, r3 =-0.38, r4=-0.44).

CONCLUSIONDMY enhances the sensitivity of K562/A02 cells to ADM, its mechanism may be related with decrease of P-gp, MRP1, GSTπ and BCL-2 expressions.