Role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in spinal cord injury of rabbits with decompression sickness / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the pathological changes in rabbits with spinal cord injury induced by decompression sickness (DCS), and to investigate the role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in spinal cord injury induced by DCS.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Rabbits were randomly divided into normal control group, DCS group, and safe decompression group. The rabbit model of DCS was established. Light microscopy, real-time PCR, and immunohistochemical method were used to observe the pathomorphological changes in the thoracolumbar spinal cord and the mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α, respectively. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to observe the apoptosis in the spinal cord.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the DCS group, cavities formed in the white matter of spinal cord and gliosis occurred around necrotic areas. Moreover, the mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α was significantly higher in the DCS group than in the normal control group and the safe decompression group (P<0.01). The results of TUNEL showed that the number of positive apoptotic cells was significantly larger in the DCS group than in the normal control group and the safe decompression group (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Apoptosis plays an important role in spinal cord injury induced by DCS. In the early stage of DCS, the massive release of TNF-α initiates apoptosis and contributes to the pathological changes in spinal cord injury induced by DCS.</p>

Expression and clinical significance of Wnt-5a gene in primary hepatocellular carcinomas / 中国医师杂志

Objective To investigate the expression of Wnt-5a gene in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to expose its role and clinical significance in the development of HCC.Methods Real time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed in 26 fresh HCC samples and the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues to detect mRNA expression of Wnt-5a gene.Wnt-5a protein was detected with immunohistochemical method in paraffin embedding tissues of 85 cases of HCCs and the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues,and 15 cases of hepatic cirrhosis.Results RT-PCR analysis showed that Wnt-5a mRNA (0.102 127 ±0.158 620) in the HCC tissues was more than that (0.020 106 ±0.022 075) in the para-carcinoma tissues (P＜0.05).The positive expression rate of Wnt-5a protein in HCC,para-carcinoma,and hepatic cirrhosis tissues were 21.2％ (18/85),81.26％ (69/85),and 86.7％ (13/15),respectively.The positive rate of Wnt-5a was significantly lower in the HCC than in the para-carcinoma and hepatic cirrhosis tissues (P ＜ 0.01).The expression of Wnt-5a was significantly associated with lower tumor node metastasis (TNM) stages and small alpha fetoproteins (AFP) content of blood serum (P ＜0.05).Conclusions The high expression of Wnt-5a mRNA was found in the gene transcription of HCC,while Wnt-5a protein was absent or low in HCC.It was suggested that the roles of Wnt-5a was interfered at the protein level rather than the transcriptional level in the HCC.

Changes in levels of TNF-α and GFAP in brain and spinal cord of rabbits with decompression disease / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the changes in expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in rabbits with decompression disease (DCS), and to investigate the functioning mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 21 healthy adult rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups: normal control group, DCS group, and safe relief group, with 7 rabbits in each group. A rabbit DCS model was established by quick decompression. The changes in pathological morphology and mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α and GFAP in the brain and spinal cord of rabbits with DCS were determined by light microscopy, real-time PCR, and immunohistochemistry, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Cavity formation was observed in the white matter of spinal cord in DCS group. The mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α and GFAP was significantly higher in the DCS group than in the normal control group and safe relief group (P < 0.01), while no significant differences were observed in the brain (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Spinal cord is the main part of central nervous system injury in DCS. Activation of TNF-α and GFAP genes accompanied by increase in their protein expression can be observed at the early stage of DCS. The astrocytes and TNF-α play important roles in the process of spinal cord injury in DCS.</p>

Screening for Lynch syndrome in colorectal cancer / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the application of mismatch repair (MMR) genes proteins expression to screen for Lynch syndrome in colorectal cancer patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred consecutive colorectal cancers cases collected from 2012 to 2013 were tested immunohistochemically for the protein expression of MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2, and also by the ARMS method for the mutation status of BRAF genes in those cases lacking protein expression for MLH1.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The result of MMR immunocytochemistry showed that nine of 100 cases lacked MMR protein expression, including three cases each that were MLH1-/PMS2- and MSH2-/MSH6- respectively, two cases were MLH6- and one case was PMS2-; overall, the majority of these cases lacked protein expression of MLH1 and MSH2. The BRAF genes mutation test showed one case of mutation, indicating that the patient might have MLH1 gene methylation as a result of the mutation of BRAF genes, and that was a sporadic case. The age of onset for patients lacking MMR protein expression was lower than patients with sporadic colorectal cancer (P = 0.011). Colorectal cancers associated with the lack of MMR protein expression mostly occurred in the right colon (P = 0.001), and histomorphologically were often accompanied by mucinous adenocarcinoma (P = 0.010) and tumor lymphocytic infiltration.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Immunohistochemical staining for MMR proteins in patients with colorectal cancer, accompanied by testing for BRAF genes mutation, may be an effective approach to screen for Lynch syndrome.</p>

Anti-tumor effects of chemotherapeutic drugs on human gastric cancer cells / 中华消化外科杂志

Objective To evaluate the anti-tumor effects of chemotherapeutic drugs on human gastric cancer cells. Methods From April 2006 to February 2007, 84 patients with gastric cancer underwent surgical resection at General Hospital of Jinan Military Command. The single-cell suspension of these gastric tumors was prepared. The gastric cancer cells were cultured with hydroxycamptothecin, cisplatin, adriamycin, 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin for 48 hours, and changes in activity of the gastric cancer cells were studied via MTT assay. The expression of survivin and PTEN was detected by immunohistochemistry. Data were analyzed by chi-square test, rank sum test and Fisher exact test. Results The anti-tumor effects of different chemotherapeutic drugs were different, and the poorly-differentiated gastric cancer cells were more sensitive to the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapeutic drugs than the well-differentiated gastric cancer cells. The expression levels of survivin in the signet ring cell carcinoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma and other poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma were significantly higher than those in papillary carcinoma and tubular carcinoma (χ~2 = 10.625, P <0.05), while the expression of PTEN was inverse to that of survivin (χ~2 = 6.060, P < 0.05). The expression of survivin was related to the resistance of the gastric cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil and adriamycin (χ~2 = 6.609, 6.350, P < 0.05). Conclusions In vitro chemosensitivity assay is helpful in selecting the chemotherapeutic regimen for specific types of gastric cancer. Survivin may contribute to the chemotherapy-resistance of certain types of gastric cancer cells, and its expression is related to that of PTEN.