Multiple signaling pathways are involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation in odontogenesis and dental tissue renewal, but the details of these mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we investigated the expression patterns of a transcription factor, Krüppel-like factor 6 (KLF6), during the development of murine tooth germ and its function in odontoblastic differentiation. KLF6 was almost ubiquitously expressed in odontoblasts at various stages, and it was co-expressed with P21 (to varying degrees) in mouse dental germ. To determine the function of Klf6, overexpression and knockdown experiments were performed in a mouse dental papilla cell line (iMDP-3). Klf6 functioned as a promoter of odontoblastic differentiation and inhibited the proliferation and cell cycle progression of iMDP-3 through p21 upregulation. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation showed that Klf6 directly activates p21 transcription. Additionally, the in vivo study showed that KLF6 and P21 were also co-expressed in odontoblasts around the reparative dentin. In conclusion, Klf6 regulates the transcriptional activity of p21, thus promoting the cell proliferation to odontoblastic differentiation transition in vitro. This study provides a theoretical basis for odontoblast differentiation and the formation of reparative dentine regeneration.
Animals ; Cell Differentiation/physiology* ; Cell Proliferation ; Mice ; Odontoblasts/metabolism* ; Odontogenesis ; Tooth Germ

Objective To evaluate the effect of modified Huangqi decoction combined with routine western medicine on acute exacerbation chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Methods A total of 84 patients with AECOPD who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into 2 groups, 42 in each group. The control group was treated with conventional Western medicine, while the observation group was treated with Huangqi decoction on the basis of the control group. The TCM symptoms and signs of the two groups were scored from cough, sputum expectoration, shortness of breath, wheezing and moist rale. The forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and the percentage of FEV1 in FVC (FEV1％) of the two groups were measured by automatic lung function analyzer. The blood oxygen partial pressure (PaO2), arterial blood carbon dioxide partial pressure (PaCO2) and arterial partial pressure oxygen (SaO2) were measured by gas analyzer. The serum CRP was detected by ELISA, and the serum procalcitonin (PCT) was detected by immunoluminescence. Results The total effective rate was 90.5％ (38/42) in the observation group, which was 73.8％ (31/42) in the control group, with significant difference between the two groups (Z=-3.225, P=0.004). After treatment, the scores of cough, sputum expectoration, shortness of breath,wheezing and moist rale in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (t values were 3.225, 3.587, 3.552, 3.421, 3.785, all Ps<0.05), and the levels of FEV1, FVC and FEV1％ in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (t values were 3.586, 3.021, 5.026,all Ps<0.05). After treatment, the PaO2 and SaO2 levels in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (t values were 4.022 and 4.251 respectively, all Ps<0.05), and PaCO2 levels in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (t=4.572, P=0.018). The CRP and PCT in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (t=4.635, 3.028, P<0.05).Conclusions The modified Huangqi decoction can improve the pulmonary function and clinical symptoms of AECOPD patients, reduce the levels of CRP and PCT, and improve the clinical efficacy.

Objective To compare biomechanical properties between the anatomical clavicle plate and the reconstructed clavicle plate, and investigate the influence of pre-bending or repeated bending process on biomechanical properties of the reconstructed clavicle plate, so as to provide biomechanical evidence for treating midshaft clavicle fracture in clinic. Methods The reconstructed clavicle plate was bent by 1, 2, 3, 5 times respectively based on shape of the anatomical clavicle plate. The biomechanical differences in anatomical plate group, reconstructed plate group and pre-bending plate group were compared by static compression test. Results The fixation stiffness and strength of the anatomical plate were better than those of the reconstructed plate. There was no significant difference in stiffness and strength between the anatomical plate group and one-time bending group. Pre-bending had a great effect on mechanical properties of the clavicle plate, and stiffness and strength of the clavicle plate were obviously improved after one-time bending. The mechanical properties of the clavicle plate were obviously reduced by bending of the clavicle plate after one-time bending. Conclusions The stiffness and strength of the anatomical plate and one-time bending plate are higher than those of the normal reconstructed plate. It is recommended that surgeons should perform bending appropriately according to the patient’s clavicle anatomy when using the reconstructed clavicle plate for fracture fixation, and minimize the number of repeated bending to maintain stiffness and strength of the clavicle plate.

Objective To investigate the regularity and predictors of weight loss during concurrent chemo-radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Methods A retrospective study was carried out on 82 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ,with average age of 45 years ,who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy at the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University. Paired t-test was used to analyze the weight loss pattern during chemoradiotherapy. The Spearman′s rank correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between high weight loss(HWL)and the clinical factors. Results The paired t-test showed that the weight of the patients decreased continuously every week during chemoradiotherapy(P < 0.05),and the value dropped most significantly during the 4th week. Among these 82 patients,32 were determined as HWL(weight loss > 10%). Spearman′s rank correlation analysis showed that HWL was associated with older age,female,higher T and TNM stage,3D-CRT technology,the higher dose of radiotherapy in nasopharynx and in neck lymph node,and decreases of leukopenia and hemoglobin over degree Ⅱ(P<0.05). Conlousions Weight may decrease continuously every week during chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Age,gender,T stage,TNM stage,radio-therapy dose,and leukopenia and hemoglobin decreases may be predictors for weight loss degree during concurrent chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

Objective To investigate the present status of early diagnosis and misdiagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods A total of 50 patients diagnosed as NPC were recruited at the department of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in our hospital. The time from that patients felt discomfort to be diagnosed of NPC was determined bydifferent symptoms and signs. Furthermore , the status of misdiagnosis were also investigated. The spearmans rank correlation was used to analyze the correlation between the cancer stage and the time of confirmeddiagnosis , and the relationship between the rate of misdiagnosed and the rank of the hospital they visited. The χ2 test was then used to analyze the cancer stage with the time when they were diagnosed. Results Results indicated that the time when patients were diagnosed significantly correlated with pTNM stage (P < 0.05). Patients diagnosed in one month were most at stage Ⅱ, diagnosed in six months were stage III, and diagnosed after twelve months were stage Ⅳ(P < 0.05). Furthermore, we found that the rate of misdiagnosis of NPC was 12%. Moreover,the misdiagnosed rate was associated with the rank of the hospital patients visited. Discussion In conclusion , the present status of the early diagnosis of NPC is not optimistic. Most of the patients with NPC were misdiagnosed in basic medical institutions , especially in town or village health center. Thus, it is important to popularize the health knowledge about the secondary prevention of NPC and train the doctor in basic medical institutions.

Objective To identify the role of miR-124 in regulating the radiosensitivity and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods Transient transfection of cells with miR-124 mimic or inhibitor was performed and wound-healing assay was used to investigate the role of miR-124 in the EMT of NPC. The apoptosis affected by miR-124 was also measured after irradiation , followed by investigating the cell proliferation by EdU assay. Finally , proteins of Akt and ERK associated with EMT and radiosensitivity, were measured by western blot. Results The migration index from NPC cell line indicated that miR-124 repressed the EMT. The results from caspase-3 activity assay showed that caspase-3 activity after irradiation significantly increased in miR-124 mimic group compared with the control group (P < 0.01). It was also confirmed that irradiation led to a higher percentage of apoptosis in miR-124 group compared with the control group in NPC cells. Cell proliferation after irradiation was significantly decreased in MiR-124 group as compared with control group . MiR-124 inhibited the protein expression of p-Akt . Conclusion MiR-124 may repress the EMT and decrease radio-resistance of NPC via p-Akt signaling pathway , which may provide a new insight into radio-resistance in NPC.

Objective The radiotherapy resistance is one of important causes for nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) treatment failure.Junctional adhesion molecule A(JAMA)is closely correlated with the tumor poor prognosis.Thus this experiment is to in vestigate the relationship between JAMA expression and the radiosensitivity of NPC.Methods To overexpress or interfere the JAMA expression in CNE2 and HONE1 cell lines.Then different doses of X-ray were adopted to conduct irradiation.The cell clone formation capacity and cellular apoptosis change were detected after 24 h.The role of JAMA in the NPC radiotherapy was understand.The related signal pathway protein in cell lines with different JAMA expression was detected by Western blot.Results The cell lines with low JAMA expression were more sensitive to radiotherapy:After low JAMA expression,the D0 value in the CNE2 cell line was decreased from 3.26 ±0.78 to 1.92 ± 0.23;the Dq value was decreased from 46.51 ± 4.27 to 32.12 ± 3.19.The radio therapy induced apoptosis was significantly increased in the cell lines with low JAMA expression,after low JAMA expressing,thcellular apoptosis was elevated from 6.9 ％ ± 0.9 ％ to 13.7 ％ ± 1.3 ％;the HONE1 cellular apoptosis was elevated from 6.5 ％ + 1.1 ％ to 12.3 ％ ± 1.7％;JAMA overexpression cell lines were significantly decreased.The preliminary mechanism research results showed that JAMA played the effect via Akt signal pathway.Conclusion This research results verifiy that JAMA expression level is closely correlated with the radiosensitivity of NPC cell line:JAMA can increase the radiotherapy resistance of NPC cell lines,which provides a new feasible research direction for NPC enhancing radiosensitivity.

Objective To explore the condition of MYC/BCL2 protein coexpression in 245 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)and to find the correlations among MYC/BCL2 protein coexpres-sion,the germinal center B-cell-like (GCB)subtype and non-GCB subtype.Methods Paraffin-embedded lymphoma samples from 245 patients with DLBCL were studied using immunohistochemistry for MYC,BCL2, CD10,BCL6,MUM1 and KI67.And the protein expressions of them were analyzed.Results In the speci-mens of 245 patients with DLBCL,the patients with non-GCB were 163 (66.5%),and the patients with GCB were 82 (33.5%).The group of MYC/BCL2 protein coexpression comprised 35.9% (88/246)of the all patients.Non-GCB subtype group had a significantly higher frequency of MYC/BCL2 protein coexpression than the GCB subtype group (41.7%∶24.4%;χ2 =7.116,P=0.008).Conclusion The data shows that MYC/BCL2 protein coexpression occurs significantly more commonly in the non-GCB subtype.We can predict prog-nosis and choose therapeutic regimen base on the assessment for MYC and BCL2 protein expression.

Objective To set up a real-time quantitative PCR approach for detection and quantification for bcr-abl transcripts in CML patients,and detect minimal residual disease (MRD) in CML by real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR)and evaluate the significance of MRD detection.Methods The ber-abl.fusion gene expression in 80 patients with CML was analyzed by RQ-PCR. The patients were divided into three groups according to the different treatment, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation group,imatinib group and hydroxyurea group. The change of bcr-abl fusion gene was monitored in CML patients before and after treatment.Results The average of RQ-PCR detection on newly diagnosed patients with CML in chronic phase was 6847.67 copies / 104 cells,the accelerated phase was 306 176.08 copies / 104 cells,and the average results were 944.33, 2.37, 0.29, 0 copies / 104 cells after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation one month,6 months,12 months or 24 months respectively.The average of RQ-PCR detection after use imatinib mesylate 3 months was 3720.23 copies / 104 cells and not be detected after one year. The average was 7290.11 and 3143.24 copies / 104 cells after hydroxyurea treatment 0 and 9 months respectively.The difference in first two groups was not significant (t=1.74,P=0.17), but the difference between the third group and the first two groups was significant (t=3.74,P=0.01.t=2.97,P=0.02). The upregulation of bcr-abl transcript levels could be detected when disease progression. The transcripts level in accelerated phase was significantly higher than that in chronic phase. Conclusion RQ-PCR can be used to detect the MRD,monitor the treatment outcome,predict disease recurrence and give early intervention.