To evaluate the value of automatic breast volume scanner (ABVS) and mammography (MG) in differential diagnosis for small breast lesions with breast imaging reporting and data system ultrasound (BI-RADS-US) 4.
 Methods: ABVS and MG were performed for 103 patients with 109 breast lesions, which were classified as BI-RADS-US 4 by conventional ultrasound (US). Postoperative pathological diagnosis served as gold standard. The diagnostic efficacy for US, US combined with MG, US combined with ABVS and the combination of three methods were compared.
 Results: The sensitivity of US, US combined with MG, US combined with ABVS and the combination of three methods were 85.5%, 86.8%, 94.7% and 96.0%, respectively. The specificity for them were 66.7%, 69.7%, 81.8% and 84.9%, respectively. The accuracy for them were 79.8%, 81.6%, 90.8% and 92.7%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for them were 0.76, 0.78, 0.88 and 0.90, respectively. The accuracy and AUC for US combined with ABVS in differential diagnosis of BI-RADS-US 4 small breast lesions were significantly higher than those of US and US combined with MG (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in sensitivity and specificity among these 3 groups (P>0.05). No significant difference was found in sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC between US combined with ABVS and the combination of three methods (P>0.05).
 Conclusion: Combination of US with ABVS can improve the diagnostic efficacy of conventional US in differential diagnosis for BI-RADS-US 4 small breast lesions, and it is superior to US combined with MG.
Breast ; diagnostic imaging ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Mammography ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography, Mammary

As a member of the AFF (AF4/FMR2) family, AFF4 is a transcription elongation factor that is a component of the super elongation complex. AFF4 serves as a scaffolding protein that connects transcription factors and promotes gene transcription through elongation and chromatin remodelling. Here, we investigated the effect of AFF4 on human dental follicle cells (DFCs) in osteogenic differentiation. In this study, we found that small interfering RNA-mediated depletion of AFF4 resulted in decreased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and impaired mineralization. In addition, the expression of osteogenic-related genes (DLX5, SP7, RUNX2 and BGLAP) was significantly downregulated. In contrast, lentivirus-mediated overexpression of AFF4 significantly enhanced the osteogenic potential of human DFCs. Mechanistically, we found that both the mRNA and protein levels of ALKBH1, a critical regulator of epigenetics, changed in accordance with AFF4 expression levels. Overexpression of ALKBH1 in AFF4-depleted DFCs partially rescued the impairment of osteogenic differentiation. Our data indicated that AFF4 promoted the osteogenic differentiation of DFCs by upregulating the transcription of ALKBH1.
Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Dental Sac ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Osteogenesis ; genetics ; Repressor Proteins ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transcriptional Elongation Factors ; metabolism

The dorsal lingual epithelium, which is composed of taste buds and keratinocytes differentiated from K14⁺ basal cells, discriminates taste compounds and maintains the epithelial barrier. N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most abundant mRNA modification in eukaryotic cells. How METTL3-mediated m⁶A modification regulates K14⁺ basal cell fate during dorsal lingual epithelium formation and regeneration remains unclear. Here we show knockout of Mettl3 in K14⁺ cells reduced the taste buds and enhanced keratinocytes. Deletion of Mettl3 led to increased basal cell proliferation and decreased cell division in taste buds. Conditional Mettl3 knock-in mice showed little impact on taste buds or keratinization, but displayed increased proliferation of cells around taste buds in a protective manner during post-irradiation recovery. Mechanically, we revealed that the most frequent m⁶A modifications were enriched in Hippo and Wnt signaling, and specific peaks were observed near the stop codons of Lats1 and FZD7. Our study elucidates that METTL3 is essential for taste bud formation and could promote the quantity recovery of taste bud after radiation.
Animals ; Epithelium/metabolism* ; Homeostasis ; Methylation ; Methyltransferases/metabolism* ; Mice ; RNA ; Taste Buds/metabolism*