Apical barrier technology to treat chronic apical periodontitis caused by type Ⅱ dens invaginatus: a case report / 华西口腔医学杂志

Dens invaginatusis a rare malformation of the teeth, resulting in frequent pulp necrosis and chronic apical periodontitis. In this paper, the apical barrier technology was used to treat a case of chronic apical periodontitis caused by type Ⅱ dens invaginatus.

Effect of miRNA-106a expression on the prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the expression of miRNA-106a gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its association with clinicopathological features and prognosis of ESCC patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used to determine the expression of miRNA-106a gene in esophageal cancer tissue and corresponding normal mucosa of 81 cases. Immunohistochemical technique was applied to detect the expression of p53, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2), DNA topoisomerase II (Topo II) and multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP). The association of miRNA-106a expression with clinicopathological features, expression of related proteins, and prognosis of the patients was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 81 cases, under-expression of miRNA-106a gene was found in 48 cases (59.3%), normal expression in 22 cases (27.2%), and overexpression in 11 cases (13.6%). The expression of miRNA-106 gene was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, pathological stage, and nerve invasion (all P < 0.05), significantly associated with expression of p53 (P = 0.006), and not significantly associated with expressions of HER-2, Topo II and MRP proteins (all P > 0.05). The expression of miRNA-106a gene was also significantly associated with progression-free survival (PFS, P = 0.032), but not significantly with overall survival (OS, P = 0.486). The results of Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that the PFS of ESCC patients was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.029), but not correlated with the age, gender, tumor length, T stage, degree of differentiation, nerve invasion, and miRNA-106a expression (all P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, the miRNA-106a gene is under-expressed, with tumor suppressor function, and may be regarded as a biological marker to assess the prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.</p>

Expression of a protein peak(3144 m/z) in serum and its clinical significance in patients with gastric cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of protein peak (3144 m/z) in serum and of its association with clinical pathological characteristics and prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Three hundred and twenty seven pathologically confirmed gastric cancer patients were recruited from February 2006 to October 2008 in the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. SELDI-TOF-MS was employed to detect the expression of protein peak (3144 m/z) in preoperative serum.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rate of 3144 m/z protein peak was 33.9% (111/327), significantly higher than that of CEA (21.1%,69/327), and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The positive rate of combined detection of protein peak (3144 m/z)and CEA was 45.6% (149/327). The expression of protein peak (3144 m/z) was associated with clinical staging (P<0.01), nervous invasion (P<0.01), tumor size (P<0.01), vascular invasion (P<0.05), lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), expression of CEA (P<0.05), and depth of infiltration (P<0.05). Significant difference was observed in 3-year survival rate between the patients with protein peak and patients without protein peak (44.7% vs. 64.4%, P<0.01). However, 3144 m/z protein peak was not an independent prognostic factor on multivariate Cox regression analysis (P=0.057).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Protein peak (3144 m/z) may be used as a diagnostic or prognostic marker of gastric cancer.</p>

Methylation status of CDH1 gene in preoperative abdominal lavage of patients with gastric cancer and its clinical significance / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the association between the progression of gastric cancer and the aberrant methylation of CDH1 gene in preoperative abdominal lavage fluid.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Real-time methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction(qMSP) was used to investigate the methylation status of the CDH1 gene promoter 5'-CpG islands from preoperative abdominal lavage fluid in 92 patients with gastric cancer. The associations between methylation of CDH1 genes and clinicopathologic features and prognosis were investigated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 92 patients with gastric cancer, aberrant methylation of CDH1 gene was detected in 45(48.9%) patients, including total aberrant methylation in 12(13.0%) cases and partly aberrant methylation in 33(35.9%) cases. Significant associations were found between CDH1 methylation status and tumor size, growth pattern, differentiation, lymphovascular invasion, infiltration depth, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and clinical staging(all P<0.05). However, there were no significant associations between CDH1 methylation status with gender, age, tumor location, or Helicobacter pylori infection(all P>0.05). The median progression-free survival was 20 months for CDH1 methylation group and 38 months for non-methylated group, and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.01). Cox model analysis revealed that CDH1 methylation status in preoperative peritoneal lavage fluid was an independent factor associated with postoperative survival in patients with gastric cancer(P=0.000, RR=332.88, 95%CI:21.71-5105.07).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The aberrant methylation of 5'-CpG of CDH1 gene promoter is common in gastric cancer. The examination of CDH1 methylation status of abdominal lavage should be considered in the progression of gastric cancer.</p>

Use of serum protein profiling for early diagnosis of gastric cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To identify serum biomarkers associated with early gastric cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Serum proteins or peptides were purified with weak cation exchange magnetic beads in 433 patients with gastric cancer and 120 healthy subjects. Distinct peaks were selected using Biomarker Wizard software. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) was generated to analyze discrimination capability of peaks between gastric cancers and health people.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Thirteen distinct peaks were identified between 42 gastric cancer and 42 health people matched by age and gender(P<0.001). There were 5 peaks (2745, 2768, 6629, 3402, and 6436 m/z) with AUC greater than 0.8. Peak of 6629 m/z was identified to be transthyretin. The sensitivity and specificity of 6629 m/z were 65.5% and 92.0%. The sensitivity of 6629 m/z was 59.4% in I(A gastric cancer.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Transthyretin precursor may be of value in the early diagnosis of gastric cancer.</p>