Age-related macular degeneration is one of the major causes of blindness in the elderly.As an important pathway of cell metabolism,autophagy maintains intracellular homeostasis through the degradation and recycle of damaged organelles and macromolecules.Understanding its mechanism may promote discoveries to delay aging process,reduce the incidence of age-related diseases.In mammals,silent information regulator protein 6 (SIRT6) plays its deacetylase and ribonucleotransferase activity in multiple signaling pathways,including inhibition of cellular senescence,tumorigenesis,metabolic diseases,regulating cellular lifespan.It has a significant impact on the structure and function of tissues and organs.SIRT6 regulates intracellular autophagy mainly through the insulin-like growth factor-protein kinase B-mammalian target of rapamycin,reducing the accumulation of toxic metabolites and cellular senescence.The function of SIRT6 in age-related macular degeneration need to be combined with the genetic background,pathogenesis,clinical manifestations and other aspects of the disease,and it is expected to be further studied in subsequent studies.

Objective:To investigate the clinicopathologic features and differential diagnosis of ureteral fibroepithelial polyps.Methods:The clinicopathologic features and prognosis of ureteral fibroepithelial polyps with complete data retrieved from the pathology database of the Institute of Urology, Peking University from January 2013 to December 2021 were collected and analyzed. All HE staining sections were reviewed by a senior urologic pathologist. Immunohistochemical analysis was done in some cases for differential diagnosis. The clinical, imaging and outcome data were collected, and discussed together with relevant literature.Results:There were 45 patients with complete clinicopathologic data, including 34 males and 11 females (male: female=3.1∶1.0), with a median age of 36 (range 13-80) years. Preoperative diagnosis included polyp in 23 cases, tumor in 19 cases and calculi in 3 cases. The main clinical symptoms were hematuria (13 cases), low back and abdominal pain (9 cases) and no symptoms (9 cases). There were 29 cases of multiple polyps, 16 cases of single polyp; 32 cases were on the left side, 13 cases were on the right side; 29 cases of upper polyps, 9 cases of middle polyps, and 6 cases of lower polyps. Twenty-seven patients had no related urologic history, 10 patients had history of urolithiasis, and the rest had history of stents, strictures or tumors. Local ureteral resection and anastomosis were the most common treatment (20 cases), followed by ureteroscopic polypectomy (12 cases). The patients were followed up from the pathological diagnosis to the cut-off time: 4 cases were lost to follow-up, and the remaining 34 cases were followed up for 3 to 85 (mean 60 months). One case had polyp recurrence after 3 months, and the other case had polyp recurrence after 2 years. Fibroepithelial polyps had a variety of gross manifestations, ranging from elongated polyps or small papillary and polypoid to large papillary masses. Microscopically, they were divided into type 1, type 2 and type 3, and the type 3 was the most common type (28 cases). In this study, there were 41 cases of simple fibroepithelial polyp, 2 cases of malignant transformation of polyps into urothelial carcinoma, one case of polyps with urothelial carcinoma, and one case of polyp with surface urothelial carcinoma in situ; the stroma showed myofibroblastic proliferation.Conclusions:The clinical manifestations and morphologic characteristics of ureteral fibroepithelial polyps are diverse. The three microscopic types are easily confused with many benign and malignant ureteral diseases, such as inflammatory polyps, adenocystitis, papilloma, etc. Awareness of the key differentiation points and judicious use of immunohistochemistry will be helpful for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis.