Expression of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 in endometrial carcinoma and its association with patients' outcome / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) and its prognostic value in endometrial carcinoma (EC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of PGK1 was detected immunohistochemically in 30 normal endometrium and 130 EC specimens. The relationship between PGK1 protein expression and the clinicopathological features of the patients was evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Immunohistochemical analysis revealed low PGK1 expression in 55.4% (72/130) and high PGK1 expression in 44.6% (58/130) of the EC specimens, as compared with the rates of 90% (27/30) and 10% (3/30) in normal endometrium, respectively (P<0.001). PGK1 expression was significantly correlated with FIGO stage (P<0.001), histological grade (P=0.002) and lymph node metastasis (P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that patients with a high PGK1 expression had a shorter overall survival rate than those with a low PGK1 expression (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that a high PGK1 expression was not the independent predictor of the prognosis of EC (P=0.077).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A high expression of PGK1 is associated with aggressive and metastatic behaviors of EC, and detection of PGK1 provides assistance in evaluating the prognosis of patients with EC.</p>

Coexpression of MAP2K4 and vimentin proteins in human endometrial carcinoma and its clinicopathological significance / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the expression of MAP2K4 and vimentin in human endometrial carcinoma (EC) and their association with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of the patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MAP2K4 and vimentin expressions were detected immunohistochemically in paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 128 patients with EC, and the correlation of MAP2K4 and vimentin expressions with the clinicopathological factors of the patients was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MAP2K4 and vimentin proteins were positively expressed in 49 (38.3%) and 83 (64.8%) of the patients, respectively. A positive expression of MAP2K4 was negatively correlated with FIGO stage of the tumor (P=0.010) and lymph node status (P=0.016); a positive expression of vimentin was positively correlated with FIGO stage of the tumor (P=0.025), histological grades (P=0.017), depth of myometrial invasion (P=0.044) and lymph node status (P=0.032). MAP2K4 was inversely associated with vimentin expression in EC(r=-0.598, P<0.001). Patients positive for MAP2K4 tended to have a higher overall survival rate (P=0.002), and those positive for vimentin tended to have a lower overall survival rate (P=0.007); patients positive for MAP2K4 but negative for vimentin had the longest survival time, while those negative for MAP2K4 and positive for vimentin had lowest survival rate (P=0.004).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Detection of MAP2K4 and vimentin might help in early diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of patients with EC.</p>

Role of specificity protein 1 in modulating radiosensitivity of cervical cancer cell lines / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the role of specificity protein 1 (Sp1) in regulating radiosensitivity of cervical cancer cell lines.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We analyzed Sp1 expression in 6 different cervical cancer cell lines (SiHa, HeLa, Caski, Me180, Ms751, and C33a) using Western blotting and real-time PCR. Clonogenic survival assay and curve fitting were used to assess the changes in radiosensitivity of Me180 cells transfected with lentivirus-mediated shRNA vector targeting sp1 and HeLa cells transfected with sp1 over-expression vector.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the 6 cell lines tested, the cellular expression levels of Sp1 decreased gradually in the order of Me180, Caski, C33a, SiHa, Ms751, and HeLa. SP1 knockdown with lentivirus-mediated shRNA significantly lowered the survival rate of Me180 cells following radiation exposure (P<0.05), and obviously lowered the values of SF2, D0 and Dq but significantly increased α/β of the cells. Compared with the cells transfected with the mock vector, HeLa cells with sp1 over-expression showed a significantly increased survival following radiation exposure (P<0.05) with obviously increased values of SF2, D0 and Dq but significantly lowered α/β.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Silencing Sp1 can increase the radiosensitivity while Sp1 overexpression enhances the radioresistance of cervical cancer cell lines, suggesting an important role of Sp1 in radiotherapy for cervical cancer.</p>

Effect of maternal BDE-209 exposure on the learning and memory ability of offspring rats and the dose-effect relation / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of maternal brominated diphenyl ethers-209 (BDE-209) exposure on the learning and memory ability of the offspring rats in prenatal and lactational periods.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>After confirmation of successful mating, female Wistar rats were randomized into 5 groups and subjected to daily oral gavage of peanut oil suspensions containing BDE-209 at the doses of 100 mg/kg (group A), 300 mg/kg (group B), 600 mg/kg (group C), and 1200 mg/kg (group D), or only peanut oil (group E, as control). From each group, 20 male weaning rats of the first generation were randomly selected to examine their learning and memorizing ability using Morris water maze. The histological alterations of the hippocampus were observed microscopically with HE staining after the test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>During the initial one or two days of water maze test, no significant difference was noted in the escape latency between the groups (P=0.068, P=0.104). On days 3 to 5, groups B, C, and D showed prolonged escape latency as compared with the control group (P<0.05), but group A showed no such changes (P>0.05). Under optical microscope, the hippocampus in groups A and B exhibited no significant variation from that of the control group, but in groups C and D, the neural cells were obviously reduced and presented disorderly alignment, with substantial cell nuclear shrinkage and interstitial edema.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Maternal BDE-209 exposure induces disturbance of the learning and memorizing ability and pathological changes of the hippocampus in the offspring rats, and these changes show a dose-effect relation.</p>

Effect of maternal BDE-209 exposure on the expression of GAP-43 and BDNF in the hippocampus of the offspring rats / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect of prenatal and lactational exposure to brominated diphenyl ethers-209 (BDE-209) on the expression of growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43) and brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) in the hippocampus of the offspring rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Peanut oil suspensions of commercial BDE-209 were administered daily at doses of 100, 300, 600, and 1200 mg/kg by oral gavage in pregnant Wistar rats (groups A, B, C, and D, respectively). The control group (E) only received peanut oil of an equivalent volume. The hippocampus was isolated from 10 offspring rats in each group to determine the expression of GAP-43 and BDNF using immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The GAP-43 in the BDE-209-treated groups were lower than that of the control group, and decreased with the increase of the dose of BDE-209 exposure. The groups C and D (P=0.013, P=0.000), but not the groups A and B (P=0.177, P=0.093), showed significant difference from the control group in GAP-43 expression. The positive expression of BDNF in the hippocampus was decreased as the exposure dose to BDE-209 increased, and significant differences were found between the groups B, C, D and the control group (P=0.033, P=0.005, P=0.001, respectively), but not between group A and the control group (P=0.066).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Maternal BDE-209 exposure can decrease the expression of GAP-43 and BDNF in the hippocampus of offspring rats, which may affect the axonal plasticity and regeneration of the neurons.</p>