Clinical significance of heterozygosity loss at Mfn2 gene in hepatocellular carcinoma / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinicopathological significance.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Four high polymorphic microsatellite markers flanking Mfn2 were selected for LOH analysis in 29 cases of HCC.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The frequencies of LOH on D1S2667, D1S2740, D1S434 and D1S228 were 21%, 23%, 21% and 22%, respectively. LOH at Mfn2 was closely correlated with tumor size, age, capsule, differentiation and t HBV infection (P<0.05), not with gender, thrombosis, cirrhosis and serum AFP levels (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>LOH at Mfn2 gene in HCC is associated with the clinicopathological features of patients.</p>

Serum cytokine profiles in stable survivors with clinical liver transplantation / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To elucidate the profile of serum cytokines and adhesion molecules in stable survivors with clinical liver transplantation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Flow cytometric analysis was used to analyse the phenotype of T cell subsets in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from group of liver transplantation (LTx) (n = 22), primary liver carcinoma (PLC) (n = 13) and healthy control (n = 12). Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the serum cytokines and adhesion molecules profiles in stable survivors with clinical liver transplantation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Percentage of CD3(+) T cell and CD8(+) T cell, as well as ratio of CD4(+) to CD8(+) revealed no difference among three groups. The percentage of CD3(+)CD25(+) T cells in LTx group was found higher than that in healthy group (P = 0.022). Th1 cytokines (IL-2, IFN-gamma) and Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-10), as well as TNF-alpha displayed no significant difference among three groups. The levels of IL-6, ICAM-1 and P-selectin in serum were not found any difference between LTx group and PLC group, while the levels of IL-6, ICAM-1 and P-selectin in serum shown significant difference between LTx and healthy groups (P = 0.048, 0.000 and 0.025, respectively).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Our data demonstrates that effector T-cells can also be activated and exert immunoresponse to grafts permanently under the treatment of immunosuppressant. Adhesion molecules (ICAM-1, P-Selectin) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-alpha) might be involved in the process of chronic graft damage induced by allo-immunoresponse.</p>