Low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil for late-onset hypogonadism accompanied with ED / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical effect of low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil on late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) accompanied with ED.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety cases of LOH accompanied with ED who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a control group and a combination therapy group, the former treated with tadalafil and the latter with low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil. The LOH symptoms, IIEF-5 scores, sexual encounter profile (SEP) scores, prostate volumes, and the levels of total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT) and prostatic specific antigen (PSA) were recorded and compared between the two groups before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The IIEF-5 and SEP scores and the TT and FT levels were 20.6 +/- 3.8, 4.02 +/- 1.08, (15.4 +/- 3.4) nmol/L and (0.391 +/- 0.062) nmol/L, respectively, in the combination therapy group after treatment, significantly higher both than 15.7 +/- 3.9, 1.49 +/- 0.82, (10.1 +/- 1.2) nmol/L and (0.200 +/- 0.045) nmol/L before treatment (P < 0.01) and than 8.6 +/- 3.6, 3.50 +/- 1.21, (10.2 +/- 1.2) nmol/L and (0.210 +/- 0.051) nmol/L in the control group after treatment (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil has a definite clinical effect and no obvious adverse reactions in the treatment of LOH accompanied with ED.</p>

Clinical efficacy of Yangjing Decoction on idiopathic asthenozoospermia / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the clinical effect of the Chinese medicine Yangjing Decoction on idiopathic asthenospermia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study included 62 patients with idiopathic asthenospermia diagnosed with the computer-assisted semen analysis system and other methods based on the WHO guidelines. The patients were equally randomized to a trial and a control group, the former treated with Yangjing Decoction at the dose of 400 ml bid, and the latter with Yougui Capsules tid, both for a course of 6 months. Then we analyzed the changes in sperm concentration and percentage of grade a + b sperm in the patients, as well as the pregnancy in their wives.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the controls, the patients of the trial group showed a significantly elevated percentage of grade a + b sperm after 6 months medication (P < 0.01), though no statistically significant differences were observed in sperm concentration (P > 0.05). The total rate of effectiveness was 87.09% and 7 pregnancies were achieved in the trial group, as compared with 66.74% and 3 pregnancies in the controls (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Yangjing Decoction can significantly improve sperm vitality, and has a desirable effect on idiopathic asthenospermia.</p>

Over-expression of HIF-1alpha induces EMT of human prostate cancer cells / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine whether human prostate cancer cell lines undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and become more invasive when induced by HIF-1alpha, and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The cell line LNCaP, appropriate for the HIF-1alpha induction test, was screened out from 4 different EMT-negative prostate cell lines through vimentin gene detection by RT-PCR. The recombinant plasmid pCDNA3. 1(-)/HIF-1alpha was constructed and transfected into LNCaP with the Lipofectamine 2000 system. The control plasmid pCDNA3.1 (-) was transfected by the same method. The positive clone cells were selected by G418 and confirmed by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining. Then a Transwell polycarbonate filter, coated with 100 micol Matrigel at 1:20 dilution in the serum-free medium, was used to analyze the invasive potency. The expression of E-cadherin and vimentin was detected by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 4 different EMT-negative cell lines, LNCaP was the only one that expressed the vimentin gene but not protein. The expression of HIF1alpha was obviously higher in LNCaP/HIF1alpha than in LNCaP/pCDNA3. 1 (- an LNCaP. The number of the LNCaP/HIF1alpha cells that penetrated through the Transwell polycarbonate filter was significantly larger than that of the LNCaP and LNCaP/pCDNA3. 1(-) cells. Compared with the LNCaP/pCDNA3.1(-) and LNCaP cells, the expression of vimentin was up-regulated, while that of E-cadherin down-regulated, in LNCaP/HIF1alpha.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The over-expression of HIF-1alpha could induce EMT in the human prostate carcinoma cell line LNCaP and enhance its invasiveness through E-cadherin and vimentin regulation.</p>

Differential analysis of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis profiles of spermatozoal protein in human normal semen and idiopathic asthenospermia / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To evaluate the application of two-dimensional electrophoresis in the research of differentially expressed proteins in human spermatozoa.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was performed on 4 sperm samples from normal healthy men and another 4 from asthenospermia patients. After silver staining, the differential expression proteins were analyzed by PDQuest 2D analysis software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Seven differential protein spots were identified, 2 expressed highly in the asthenospermia sperm but lowly in the normal spermatozoa, while the other 5 expressed just the opposite way.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The protein profiles of differential expression between the normal spermatozoa and idiopathic asthenospermia were established and some differential proteins were found. The data obtained in this study may help prepare the ground for further studies on the isolation and identification of differentially expressed proteins in human asthenospermia sperm.</p>

Expression and significance of metastasis-associated proteins in prostate cancer cell lines with different metastatic potentials / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the expression profiles between two metastasis-associated proteins in different prostate cancer cell lines and explore the molecular mechanisms of bone metastatic potentials.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Expressions of E-cadherin and vimentin in two prostate cancer cell lines (LNCaP and IA8) with different metastatic potentials were detected by Western blotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was remarkable difference in the expressions of E-cadherin and vimentin between the highly metastatic cell line and the lowly one. As one of the adhesion associated proteins, E-cadherin was detected with high level of expression in LNCaP cell line, which was well known as low metastatic potential. However, E-cadherin did not expressed in IA8 with high metastatic potential. And as one of the cytoskeleton proteins, vimentin expression was high in IA8, but not in LNCaP.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There is definitely difference in the metastatic phenotypes (E-cadherin and vimentin) among cell lines with different metastatic potentials. The expressions of E-cadherin and vimentin proteins may play important roles in promoting and inhibiting the metastasis of prostate cancer respectively, and may be considered to be valuable in evaluating the malignant degree, predictable metastasis and prognosis of prostate cancers.</p>

Clinical trials of combined therapy of an oral Chinese medicine with massage for chronic nonbacterial prostatitis / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the clinical effect of an oral Chinese medicine combined with massage of the prostate in treating chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (CNP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-two CNP patients were randomly divided into an experimental group (oral Chinese medicine with massage) and a control group (oral Chinese medicine only). The main parameters were compared before and two months after the treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Total efficacy rates of the experimental and control groups were 90.0% and 68.6%, respectively. Compared with the controls, patients in the experiment group had a lower score on NIH-CPSI, and the difference was significant statistically (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The combined therapy is more effective than oral Chinese medicine alone for the treatment of CNP.</p>

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha induces the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of human prostatecancer cells / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) is a transcriptional factor that could improve the stimulation of angiogenesis and the metabolic adaptation of tumor cells to hypoxia. A recent study showed that HIF-1alpha could induce colon cancer cells epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, no evidence indicates a similar correlation in human prostate cancer cells. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of HIF-1alpha over-expression on the EMT in human prostate cancer cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We selected the appropriate cell line for HIF-1alpha induction from those EMT negative prostate cell lines through vimentin gene detection by RT-PCR. As the result, LNCaP cell line is the best one for further experiment. LNCaP cells were transfected with recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1 (-)/HIF-1alpha and pcDNA3.1 (-) control vector by Lipofectamine 2000 system. The positive cell colonies were confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence labeling. Then Transwell polycarbonate filter was used to analyze the invasive potency. The expression of EMT associated proteins, E-cadherin and vimentin, was detected by Western blotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among four of the EMT negative cell lines, LNCaP was the only one expressed the vimentin gene but not the associated protein. The expression level of HIF-1alpha in LNCaP/HIF-1alpha was distinctly higher than that in LNCaP/pcDNA3.1 and LNCaP. The cell numbers of LNCaP/HIF-1alpha that penetrated through the Transwell filter were higher than that of LNCaP/pcDNA3.1 and LNCaP. Compared with the LNCaP/pcDNA3.1 and LNCaP cells, the expression of vimentin was up-regulated in LNCaP/HIF-1alpha, whereas the expression of E-cadherin was down-regulated.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Over-expression of HIF-1alpha stimulates the invasion potency of human prostate carcinoma cells through EMT pathway. The expression of E-cadherin and vimentin, playing established roles in EMT, could be regulated by HIF-1alpha in human prostate cancer cell line.</p>