Nucleolin expression is correlated with carcinogenesis and progression of cervical squamous cell carcinoma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the differential expressions of nucleolin in invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma, cervical intraepithelial neoplasms (CIN) and normal cervical epithelial tissues and explore the role of nucleolin in the carcinogenesis and progression of cervical squamous cell carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty specimens of invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma, 65 specimens of CIN, and 60 adjacent normal cervical epithelial tissue specimens were examined immunohistochemically for nucleolin expression. The correlation of nucleolin expression levels with histological grades of invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma and CIN were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The specimens of invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma showed a significantly higher positivity rate for nucleolin expression than CIN and normal cervical epithelial tissues, and the rate in CIN tissues was significantly higher than that in normal cervical epithelial tissues (P<0.01). The expression level of nucleolin was significantly higher in invasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma than in CIN and normal cervical epithelia tissues, and higher in CIN than in normal cervical epithelia tissues, whose immunostaining scores were 7.6±0.3, 6.1±0.2, and 3.0±0.2, respectively (P<0.01). The mean nucleolin immunostaining score was significantly higher in poorly and moderately differentiated than in highly differentiated cervical squamous cell carcinoma (7.9 vs 7.1, P<0.01), and higher in high grade CIN than in low grade CIN tissues (6.0 vs 4.0, P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Overexpression of nucleolin plays an important role during carcinogenesis of cervical squamous cell carcinoma and is positively correlated with tumor progression of CIN and cervical squamous cell carcinoma.</p>

Downregulation of cell-surface-expressed nucleolin inhibits the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect the cell-surface-expressed nucleolin and investigate its tumor suppressing effect on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To detect cell-surface-expressed nucleolin in the hepatocellular carcinoma cells by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. To down-regulate the nucleolin expression level in hepatocellular carcinoma cells by RNA interference. The tumor-suppressing effect of cell-surface nucleolin on hepatocellular carcinoma cells was assessed by MTT and transwell chamber assays.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Nucleolin was expressed in the nuclei, cytoplasm and on the cell surface of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. ShRNA markedly decreased the nucleolin expression level in the cytoplasm and on the cell surface (P < 0.01), but the nuclear nucleolin remained unchanged. After downregulation of cell-surface nucleolin, MTT assays showed that the cell growth rate of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in the shRNA interference group was significantly inhibited as compared with that in the control group (P < 0.01). The transwell chamber assay showed that the mean transmembrane cell number in the shRNA interference group was significantly lower than that in the control group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results of this study show that downregulation of cell-surface nucleolin expression inhibits the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro.</p>

Myofibroblastic sarcomas: a clinicopathological study of 20 cases / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Myofibroblastic sarcoma was used to be a controversial neoplasm. This study investigated the clinicopathological features of 20 cases of myofibroblastic sarcoma arising in different locations.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 20 cases of patients with myofibroblastic sarcoma were stained immunohistochemically, and 5 cases examined by electron microscopy. Student's t test was used to analyze the difference of Ki-67 labeling index between grade 1 and grade 2 myofibroblastic sarcomas.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Histologically, the tumors were composed of slender spindle cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm, and fusiform, tapering, wavy, or plump ovoid; vesicular nuclei and a small central eosinophilic nucleoli. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells expressed smooth muscle actin (18/20), muscle specific actin (16/20), fibronectin (20/20) and desmin (2/20). Ultrastructurally, the tumor cells revealed abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum and longitudinally arranged fine filaments with focal densities in the cytoplasm. A clinical follow-up of 19 patients showed that 2 cases experienced local recurrence and distant metastasis 6 months to 4 years after the initial operation. Nine cases recurred locally 17 to 46 months after the initial excision, and 9 cases were alive with no evidence of disease.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Myofibroblastic sarcomas, which exhibit diverse histological appearance, can easily be misdiagnosed as benign tumors. Myofibroblastic sarcomas are local destructive lesions with frequent recurrence, and may metastase distantly.</p>