OBJECTIVETo explore the possible mechanism of curcumin in inducing the apoptosis of breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231.

METHODCurcumin of different concentrations at 0, 10 25, 50, 100, 150, 200 micromol x L(-1) were used to intervene breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 for 24 hours. MTT was used to observe its effect on the proliferation of breast cancer cells. The flow cytometry was used to detect its effect on the cell apoptosis. The real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot was used to assess the expression levels of GRP78 and CHOP in breast cancer cells.

RESULTCurcumin could inhibit the proliferative ability of breast cancer cells by inducing them in a concentration-dependent manner. Curcumin could significantly increase the expression levels of GRP78 and CHOP in breast cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONCurcumin could induce the apoptosis of breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 by activating endoplasmic reticulum stress.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Curcumin ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress ; drug effects ; Female ; Heat-Shock Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Transcription Factor CHOP ; genetics ; metabolism

In order to explore the possibility of Xihuangwan (XHW)'s application in assistant therapy in patients with breast cancer, short- and long-term clinical efficacy were assessed in this study. Eighty and four patients with advanced breast cancer were selected in this study. They were divided into control group and treatment group randomly and evenly. All patients received surgical treatment followed by chemotherapy regimen composed of PTX + EPI + CTX (TEC regimen). Treatment group received additional assistant treatment of XHW. Short-term clinical efficacy was assessed by KPS, lesion stabilizing rate and side effects in 3-month follow-up study. Long-term clinical efficacy was assessed by overall survival (OS) and free-progression survival (FPS). KPS increased significantly after treatment in all patients (P < 0.05), more significantly in treatment group than in control group after treatment (P < 0.05); lesion stabilizing rate in treatment group increased significantly in treatment group than in control group (92.86% vs. 85.71%, P < 0.05); there was no significant difference between control group and treatment group in occurrence of side effects. Compared with control group, OS and FPS increased significantly in treatment group. Data in this study showed that XHW was suitable in treatment of advanced breast cancer due to its satisfactory short-term and long-term therapeutic effects.
Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Retrospective Studies ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of hepatitis C virus core antigen(HCV-cAg),hepatitis C virus(HCV-IgG) and hepatitis C virus(HCV-RNA) in the laboratory diagnosis of Hepatitis C.Methods HCV-cAg and HCV-IgG were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),HCV-RNA was detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) in 84 suspected HCV patients and 87 healthy control subjects.Results In 84 suspected HCV patients,the HCV-IgG positive rate was 84.5%,HCV-cAg positive rate was 13.1%,HCV-RNA positive rate was 52.4%.Among 71 cases of HCV-IgG positive patients,there were 35 cases with negative HCV-RNA,the false positive rate was 49.3%.In 11 cases of HCV-cAg positive patients,there were 5 cases with negative HCV-RNA,the false positive rate was 45.5%.In 44 cases of HCV-RNA positive diagnosis of hepatitis C patients,HCV-IgG false negative rate was 18.2%,HCV-cAg false negative rate was 86.4%.The false negative rate of combined detection of HCV-cAg and HCV-IgG was 13.6%,and the true positive rate was 100.0%.Conclusion HCV-cAg and HCV-IgG have certain false negative and false positive in laboratory diagnosis of HCV,combine these two methods,or joint with HCV-RNA detection,could reduce the rate of missed diagnosis.

Antineoplastic Agents ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Asparaginase ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Hypersensitivity ; prevention & control ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; chemically induced ; prevention & control ; Male ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; drug therapy ; Severity of Illness Index ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the value of vessel size index(VSI) in grading oligodendroglioma by vessel size imaging technique. Methods Twenty-four histologically confirmed oligodendroglioma cases were enrolled (13 gradeⅡand 11 gradeⅢ) . All patients underwent conventional MRI scanning, followed by multi gradient-echo spin-echo sequence from dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion to generate VSI maps. Region of interests were contoured on VSI color maps to obtain hot-spot value of mean VSI of microvasculature (VSImean) and maximum VSI of microvasculature (VSImax). Paraffin sections of each case was stained with CD34 to acquire microvascular caliber (VShis). Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between VSImean, VSImax and VShis respectively. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare VSImean, VSImax and VShis between grade Ⅱ and Ⅲ oligodendrogliomas. ROC analysis was performed to assess the effectiveness of VSImean, VSImax and VShis in grading oligodendrogliomas. Results Both VSImean and VSImax were strongly correlated with VShis (r=0.738, 0.705,P<0.05). For gradeⅡand Ⅲ oligodendrogliomas, VSImean were 38.93(17.96 to 81.18)μm and 91.49(36.94 to 144.68)μm, VSImax were 45.12(22.30 to 89.65)μm and 121.19(57.29 to 164.00)μm, VShis were 8.51(5.25 to 12.76)μm and 11.03(7.59 to 21.96)μm respectively. VSImean, VSImax, and VShis showed significant difference (Z=-3.505,-3.911, -2.729,P<0.05) between grade Ⅱ and Ⅲ oligodendrogliomas. ROC analysis revealed that the optimal cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity and AUC of VSImean was 52.58 μm, 90.91%, 92.31%, 0.923 respectively, 81.18μm, 90.91%, 100.00%, 0.972 for VSImax, and 9.01μm, 90.00%, 84.62%, 0.838 for VShis respectively. Conclusions Vessel size imaging derived VSI correlated well with histopathology. It could provide valuable information in the pre-operative grading of oligodendroglioma.

Objective:To evaluate the value of CT findings in the diagnosis of laryngeal carcinoma infiltration extent.Method:The data of comparison of CT findings and clinico-pathologic stages on 61 patients with laryngeal carcinoma were analyzed from 1995 to 1999.There were 58 males and 3 females ,ranging in age from 37 to 83 years old which stages were T1N0M0 in 11,T2N0M0 in 21,T2N1M0 in 9,T2N2M0 in 1,T2N3M0 in 1,T3N0M0 in 10,T3N1M0 in 2,T4N0M0 in 4 and T4N1M0 in 2,respectively.And the supraglottic cancer was 11(18.0%,11/61),glottic cancer 47(77.1%,47/61),transglottic cancer 3(4.9%,3/61),respectively.The CT examination and surgical treatment were made in all 61 patients.Results:The correct rate at CT findings was 91.8%(56/61),and the accurate rate of clinical stage was 73.8%(45/61).These results showed different significance (P＜0.05).Conclusion:The CT findings showed valuable in the diagnosis to infiltration extent of laryngeal carcinoma and clinical significance for surgical treatment of patients with laryngeal carcinoma.

Background Pterygium is a relatively common eye disease,but its aetiology and pathogenesis remain uncertain.At present,the study on pterygia focuses on understanding its underlying mechanism.Objective This study was to detect the expression of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguaine (8-OHdG),a marker of oxidative damage of DNA,and bcl-2,a gene related with apoptosis,on the pterygium tissue.Methods Thirty pterygium tissue specimens were obtained during the surgery with the primary pterygium 24 cases and recurrent pterygium 6 cases.In addition,20 normal conjunctival specimens from retinal detachment surgery and strabismus surgery were collected.The expressions of 8-OHdG and bcl-2 in pterygium tissue were detected using immunochemistry and compared with the normal conjunctival tissue.The difference in the expressions of 8-OHdG and bcl-2 among different specimens was compared by x2test,and the relationship between 8-OHdG expression and bcl-2 expression was evaluated by Kappa test.Results The positive expressing rate of 8-OHdG in the pterygium tissue was 62.5％ and 83.3％ in the primary and recrudescence pterygium tissue,respectively,but the expression of 8-OHdG was absent in the normal conjunctiva tissue.No significant difference was found in the positive expressing rate of 8-OHdG between primary and recrudescence pterygium tissue(x2 =0.938,P＞0.05).The bcl-2 expressing rate was 90.0％ and 87.5％ in the primary and recrudescence pterygium tissue,respectively.However,that in the normal conjunctival tissue was absent.No significant difference was seen in the bcl-2 expression rate between primary and recrudescence pterygium tissue (x2=0.833,P ＞ 0.05).Of the 27 pterygium tissue with bcl-2 positive expression,8-OHdG showed the positive expression in 20 specimens,and 3 specimens with the bcl-2 negative response were absent reactive to 8-OHdG,showing insignificant difference between them (P＞0.05).The relationship between 8-OHdG expression and bcl-2 expression was concord in a certein extent (Kappa =0.464).Conclusions The upregulation of 8-OHdG in the pterygium tissue indicates that oxidative damage of DNA plays a role in the development of pterygium.Oxidative damage of DNA caused by ultraviolet may be an upriver factor,which induces raising up of expression of bcl-2 and inhibits the apoptosis of normal cells and further proliferation of the conjunctiva tissue,resulting in the genesis and development of pterysium.

AIM:To investigate the changes of visual development produced by monocular atropinization in rats.
METHODS: Twenty normal SD rats were randomly divided into two groups: control group ( n = 10 ) and atropinization ( experimental) group ( n=10 ) . All the left eyes were selected as the experimental eyes, and the right eyes served as the normal eyes. The left eyes in atropinization group was produced by 1% atropine, 3 times a day and the right eyes in control group was treated with normal saline, 3 times a day. The flash visual evoked potentials ( F-VEP ) and retinoscopy refraction of the rats'both eyes were detected at five time points:0, 7, 14, 21, and 28d after atropinization, respectively. After 28d, six rats were randomly selected from both groups and each group had three rats. The expression of the c- fos mRNA was observed in both visual cortexes. Another six rats were chosen for the same test after 2d dark environment with 2h light later. The expression of c-fos mRNA was detected again.
RESULTS: After 14d anisometropia was observed in experimental group, the difference was 3. 9D ( P<
0.0 5 ) , F-VEP P1 wave of the rats left in experimental group was reached to 88. 9±1. 889ms at 21d, there was statistical difference compared with the right eye ( P<0.05). After 28d, c-fos mRNA expression in the left visual cortex of rats in the experimental group was higher than that of the right side, but there was no significant difference. But when underwent 2h light stimulation after in the darkroom 2d, the c-fos mRNA expression in in the left visual cortex of rats in the experimental group was 5 times higher than that of the right side, there was a statistically significant difference (P<0. 05).
CONCLUSION: In the critical period of visual development, monocular chronic atropine in rats can form anisometropia, may delay the transmission of the optic nerve, hinder the normal development of the visual cortex. Monocular atropinization in rats can be used as the model of anisometropia.

Objective To study the value of lung window and soft tissue window in measuring colon diseases with experimental CTVC examination.Methods Twenty-four artificial polypoid diseases were placed with glue in a thoroughly cleaned porcine colon(overall length,150 era)that was distented with air and submerged in a water phantom and scanned 10 times on a 64-MSCT(GE Light speed)with identical scanning parameters.The data were reconstructed every 0.625 mm and reviewed using 2D images, navigation,MPR and 3D volume-rendered images on a GE AW 4.2 workstation.The maximum diameters of the artificial polypoids were measured by two radiologists with more than 10 years working experience in lung window(W = 1000,L =-700)and soft tissue window(W =400,L =40),respectively.The average value of maximum diameters of the artificial polypoids were measured for 10 times and were compared with the actual diameter.Results Twenty-four artificial polypoid diseases and their shape,size,loeation and relation of diseases with bowel wall were all showed excellently.The maximum diameter measured was close to the actual diameter.The average value was mostly less than actual diameter and a few of them more than the actual diameter.The maximum diameter measured in lung window was close to the actual diameter,and there was no difference between the two data sets(t =0.431,P =0.669).There was difference between the maximum diameter measured in soft tissue window and the virtual diameter(t = 2.691,P = 0.010). Conclusion In screening the colon diseases,CTVC is a good method of choice with no insult or less insult, and higher repeatability.The lung window should be chosen in measuring colon diseases in CTVC examination.