OBJECTIVETo explore the feasibility of burn denatured acellular dermal matrix (DADM) as dermal substitute in repairing wounds.

METHODS(1) Nine Wistar rats received a deep partial-thickness scald on the back. Full-thickness wounded skin was collected on post scald day (PBD) 1, 2, and 3 (with 3 rats at each time point), and it was treated with 2.5 g/L trypsin/0.5% Triton X-100 to remove cells to prepare DADM, respectively called DADM-1 d, DADM-2 d, and DADM-3 d. Another 3 rats without scald injury were treated with the same method as above to prepare acellular dermal matrix (ADM) to serve as control. Gross and histological observations and microbiological and biomechanical tests, including ultimate tensile strength, maximum tension, stretched length at breaking, stress-strain relationship, were conducted for the resulting ADM and DADM. (2) Another 64 rats were divided into ADM group and DADM-1 d, DADM-2 d, and DADM-3 d groups according to the random number table, with 16 rats in each group. A skin flap in size of 2.0 cm×1.8 cm was raised on the back of each rat. The above-mentioned ADM, DADM-1 d, DADM-2 d, and DADM-3 d were cut into pieces in the size of 1.8 cm×1.5 cm, and they were respectively implanted under the skin flaps of rats in corresponding group. At post surgery week (PSW) 1, 3, 5, or 9, 4 rats in each group were used to observe wound healing condition and change in implants with naked eye, and histological observation of the implants was conducted. Data were processed with one-way analysis of variance and t test.

RESULTS(1) The freshly prepared DADM was milky white, soft in texture with flexibility, but poor in elasticity as compared with ADM. No epithelial structure or cellular component was observed in ADM or DADM under light microscope. Collagen fibers of DADM were seen to be thickened unevenly and arranged in disorder and eosinophilic. All microbiological results of DADM were negative. There was no statistically significant difference among DADM-1 d, DADM-2 d, and DADM-3 d in levels of ultimate tensile strength, maximum tension, stretched length at breaking, and stress-strain relationship (with F values from 0.088 to 3.591, P values all above 0.05). Values of the above-mentioned four indexes were the highest in DADM-3 d, they were respectively (13.0 ± 2.4) MPa, (61 ± 4) N, (173 ± 7)%, (45.7 ± 2.0)%. Values of the four indexes of ADM were respectively (19.0 ± 2.6) MPa, (95 ± 4) N, (201 ± 5)%, (62.5 ± 2.2)%, which were higher than those of DADM-1 d, DADM-2 d, and DADM-3 d (with t values from 6.424 to 17.125, P values all below 0.01). (2) No exudate or swelling in the wounds of rats, and no contraction or curling of implants were observed in every group at PSW 1, but inflammatory cells infiltration and Fbs inward migration were observed in the wound. At PSW 3, the growth of hair was normal in the wound in DADM-1 d, DADM-2 d, and ADM groups, but few and scattered hair grew in DADM-3 d group. The inflammatory cells decreased, while Fbs increased, and new capillaries were found to grow inwardly in each group. The decrease in inflammatory cells was slightly delayed in DADM-3 d group. At PSW 5, hair growth became normal, and implants shrank and thinned with fiber membrane wrapped densely and bundles of ingrowing large caliber blood vessels in all groups. The dermal matrix in each group merged with the surrounding normal tissue. At PSW 9, ADM and DADM became white, thin, and soft tissue sheet which was closely connected with the inner side of the flap. There was no infiltration of inflammatory cells in implants in either group. The collagen fibers arranged regularly and densely, and they were integrated with normal collagen tissue.

CONCLUSIONSThe burned DADM does not have obvious immunogenicity, but with good biocompatibility. It is prospective to become as a dermal substitute in repairing wounds.

Acellular Dermis ; Animals ; Burns ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Skin ; injuries ; Skin Transplantation ; methods ; Skin, Artificial ; Wound Healing

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of compound qizhu granule (CQG) on cellular immunity of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

METHODSTotally 103 CHB patients treated with lamivudin (LAM) for 6 months, who had partial virological response (HBeAg positive) were randomly assigned to two groups, 50 in the treatment group and 53 in the control group. All patients took LAM 100 mg (once a day) plus ADV 10 mg (once a day). Patients in the treatment group additionally took CQG, one dose per day. After one-year treatment hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA negative rates, HBeAg seroconversion, levels of HBV specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), non-specific CTL and natural killing (NK) cells were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSAfter 1-year treatment, HBV DNA negative rate of the treatment group was 88: 0% in 44 cases, slightly higher than that of the control group (41 cases, 77.4%), but with no statistical difference (P >0.05). HBeAg seroconversion of the treatment group was 32.0% in 16 cases, higher than that of the control group (8 cases, 15.1%), with statistical difference (P <0.05). Levels of HBV specific CTL (0.79%±0. 07%), non-specific CTL (19.4%±1.8%) and NK cells (14. 1%± 1.5%) of the treatment group were higher than those of the control group (0.58% ± 0.08%, 17.5% ± 1.7%, and 11.1%±1.5%, respectively; allP <0.01).

CONCLUSIONTreating CHB patients with partial virological response by ADV plus CQG could improve specific and non-specific cellular immunity, thereby elevating HBeAg seroconversion rate.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; immunology ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer.

METHODSThe expression of guanylin was examined by RT-PCR and semiquantitative analysis in 20 cases of colorectal cancer, and its relationship with clinical characteristics was analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive expression of guanylin in normal tissue (80%, 16/20) was significantly higher than that in tumor tissue (35%, 7/20) (P<0.01). The same result was found in the semiquantitative analysis of 14 cases with differential expression. Differential expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer was associate with TNM stage (P<0.05), not with sex, Borrmann type and degree of differentiation (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThere is differential expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer, and this kind of differential expression is associated with tumor TNM stage.

Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hormones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Natriuretic Peptides ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Staging

ECM is a supporting structure for stabilizing the location of cells and preserving the structure of tissues. Recently, it has been discovered that ECM and its degradation products may exert profound influences on tissues and cells, such as activities of inflammatory cells and immune cells. Angiogenesis may be stimulated or inhibited by degradation products of ECM. Matrikines, liberated by partial proteolysis of ECM macromolecules, are found to regulate cell functional activities and play a significant role in wound healing or tumor invasion. Post-burn denatured dermal matrix is being studied in burn healing now. The study of post-burn denatured or necrotic dermal matrix should be emphasized in future.
Animals ; Extracellular Matrix ; metabolism ; Humans ; Inflammation ; metabolism ; Wound Healing

OBJECTIVETo investigate the anti-tumor effect of adenovirus-mediated Bcl-XL shRNA on colon cancer cells in vitro.

METHODSA recombinant Bcl-xl adenovirus was constructed, amplified, and purified. The effect on mRNA expression of Bcl-XL was assessed by RT-PCR, and the effect on apoptosis-induction of colon cancer(Lovo cell line) in vitro was assessed by MTT assay and cell clonogenic assay.

RESULTSRT-PCR showed that Ad/Bcl-XL shRNA significantly down-regulated the mRNA expression of Bcl-XL in Lovo cells. Ad/Bcl-XL shRNA suppressed the proliferation of Lovo cells in a dose-dependent as well as a time-dependent manner compared with Ad/GFP (P<0.05). Treatment with Ad/Bcl-XL shRNA dramatically suppressed the colony formation of Lovo cells in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). Ad/Bcl-XL shRNA showed no effect on normal human fibroblast.

CONCLUSIONAd/Bcl-XL shRNA exhibits cytotoxic effect on Lovo cells and may have the potential value in the treatment of colon cancer.

Adenoviridae ; genetics ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Colonic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; bcl-X Protein ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To discuss the molecular mechanism of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in tumor and to assess its value to identify pathologic type and cancer staging in patients with earlystage nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Forty patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma of early-stage,including 12 cases with T1 stage and 28 cases with T2 stage, underwent FDG PET imaging.The maximum standardized uptake value ( SUVmax ) and mean standardized uptake value ( SUVmean ) of FDG uptake of each patient were measured and compared between T1 and T2 stage by t-test.The expression of glucose transport protein 1 ( Glut1 ) and hexokinase- Ⅱ ( HK- Ⅱ ) of each case was measured in paraffin sections by streptavidin-perosidase (SP) immunohistochemistry.The positive expression rate of Glut1 and HK- Ⅱ was calculated and compared between T1 and T2 by x2 test.Meanwhile, the correlation between the expression of Glut1 or HK-Ⅱ and the SUVmax was tested by Pearson analysis.Results The SUVmax and SUVmean in 40 patients were 9.45 ± 1.87 and 6.04 ± 1.09, respectively.The SUVmax of patients with T1 stage (8.95 ± 1.91 ) was significantly lower (t =4.46, P＜0.001 ) than that of patients with T2 stage (11.55 ± 1.70), and the SUVmean of patients with T1 stage (5.61 ± 1.08) was significantly lower ( t = 6.76, P ＜ 0.001 ) than that of patients with T2 stage (7.98 ± 1.10) too.Among 40 patients, all patients showed positive expression of Glut1 and HK-Ⅱ , and the positive expression rate of Glut1 and HK-Ⅱ was ( 45.2 ± 10.9 )% and ( 68.3 ±9.5)%, respectively.The positive expression rate of Glut1 was (38.4 ±8.1)% in T1 stage and (49.7 ±12.6)% in T2 stage, which displayed no difference (x2 =40.58, P＞0.05), but the HK-Ⅱ positive expression rate showed significant difference (x2 =58.71, P＜0.05) between T1 stage (60.1 ±11.1)% and T2 stage (77.9 ± 14.7 )%.The correlation analysis indicated that there was low-degree positive correlation (r =0.369, P=0.019) between the SUVmax and Glut1 expression, and there was medium-degree positive correlation (r = 0.549, P = 0.001 ) between the SUVmax and HK-Ⅱ expression.Conclusion Expression of Glut1 and HK-Ⅱ was positively correlated with FDG uptake in patients with early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

OBJECTIVETo study the overexpression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and evaluate their relationship.

METHODSFDG positron emission tomography (PET) was performed in forty patients with stage I and stage II NPC. The maximum and mean standard uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean, respectively) were measured in each patient, and the expression of VEGF was measured on paraffin sections using immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThe FDG uptake in the patients were 9.45-/+1.87 (SUVmax) and 6.04-/+1.09 (SUVmean), 8.95-/+1.91 (SUVmax) and 6.04-/+1.09 (SUVmean) in stage I patients, and 11.55-/+1.70 (SUVmax) and 7.98-/+1.1 (SUVmean) in stage II patients. The FDG uptake of stage II patients was higher than that of stage I patients. The FDG uptake of non-keratinizing differentiated carcinoma was 9.74-/+1.82 (SUVmax) and 6.82-/+1.23 (SUVmean) and 10.44-/+2.16 (SUVmax) and 6.68-/+1.35 (SUVmean) in non-keratinizing undifferentiated carcinoma, showing no significant differences between them (SUVmax: t=1.230, P>0.05; SUVmean: t=0.346, P>0.05). The VEGF-positive cells were 60.80% in the tumor. A correlation between VEGF expression and FDG uptake in he tumor was noted (r=0.460, P=0.03).

CONCLUSIONVEGF overexpression is correlated to FDG uptake in patients with early-stage NPC. The SUV value reflects the glucose metabolism of NPC, and also shows the degree of oxygen insufficiency in the tumor tissue.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; pharmacokinetics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Staging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; methods ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; pharmacokinetics ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the type V phosphodiesterase (PDE-5) inhibitor erection-provoking test with audio-visual sexual stimulation in the diagnosis of erectile dysfunction.

METHODSA total of 853 out-patients diagnosed with erectile dysfunction were divided into an injury and a non-injury group. After scored on IIEF-5 questionnaires, all the patients received oral administration of PDE-5 inhibitors and, 30 minutes later, audio-visual sexual stimulation. The data on penile erection were recorded with Rigiscan Plus.

RESULTSThe patients with mild, moderate and severe ED accounted for 18.8, 31.9 and 49.3% in the injury group, and 50.6, 39.8 and 9.6% in the non-injury group, with statistic differences between the two groups in the mild and severe parts (P < 0.05). The rates of conspicuous effectiveness, effectiveness, ineffectiveness and total effectiveness of the combined method were 13.0, 14.5, 72.5 and 27.5% in the injury group, but 55.7, 20.7, 23.6 and 76.4% in the non-injury group, with significant differences (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe PDE-5 inhibitor erection-provoking test with audio-visual sexual stimulation is a simple, practical, safe and effective method for the differentiation of organic from psychological erectile dysfunction.

Adult ; Aged ; Erectile Dysfunction ; diagnosis ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Penile Erection ; physiology ; psychology ; Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors ; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors ; administration & dosage ; Photic Stimulation ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sexual Behavior ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Television ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the associations of guanylate cyclase C (GC-C) mRNA and cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA with metastasis and prognosis in early to moderate colorectal cancer patients.

METHODSGC-C mRNA and CK 20 mRNA in peripheral blood of 74 colorectal cancer patients without distant metastasis were detected by fluorescent quantitative PCR (FQ-PCR). Based on their clinicopathological and postoperative follow-up data, the relationship and clinical significance of these data with metastasis hazards and prognosis factors were analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive rate of GC-C mRNA in 74 colorectal cancer patients was 33.8% (25/74), and CK20 mRNA was 31.1% (23/74). The 1-, 2-, 3- year disease-free survival rates of patients were 94.6%, 82.4% and 78.4% respectively. There were significant differences in positive rates of GC-C mRNA and CK20 mRNA, tumor differentiation, mesentery lymph node metastasis, tumor embolus in vessel and postoperative chemotherapy associated with 3-year disease free survival rate by Kaplan-Meier analysis (all P<0.05). While mesentery lymph node metastasis and tumor embolus in vessel were independent risk factors of 3-year disease-free survival (P<0.05). CK20 mRNA and tumor embolus in vessel were independent risk factors of 3-year disease-free survival by analysis stratified with clinical stage (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSDetection of CK20 mRNA and GC-C mRNA in peripheral blood may be important for early detection of early metastasis of colorectal cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; blood ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Keratin-20 ; blood ; genetics ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger ; blood ; genetics ; Receptors, Atrial Natriuretic Factor ; blood ; genetics ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of deep sarcoma of the penis.

METHODSThe pathological and clinical data of 2 cases of deep sarcoma of the penis were analyzed retrospectively and the literature reviewed.

RESULTSBoth of the cases were treated by total penectomy. Epithelioid angiosarcoma of the penis was confirmed by postoperative pathology in one patient, who died of pulmonary metastasis in the eighth month after the operation; and epithelioid sarcoma of the penis was confirmed in the other, who died of brain metastasis in the second month after the operation.

CONCLUSIONDeep sarcoma of the penis is rare but can be diagnosed pathologically. Total penectomy is the main option for its treatment. Node dissection, with poor prognosis, is not recommended unless adenopathy is palpable.

Fatal Outcome ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Penile Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sarcoma ; diagnosis ; surgery