Relationship between hedgehog signaling pathway molecules and HPV16 infection in uterine cervical cancers / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the significance of sonic hedgehog (Shh), indian hedgehog (Ihh), smoothened (Smo) and patched (Ptch) expressions in uterine cervical lesions and their relationships with HPV type 16 infection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 183 cases of cervical lesions, including 32 non-neoplastic cervix, 71 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (28 CINI, 18 CINII, and 25 CINIII) and 80 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) were selected from the Department of Pathology, Yanbian University Hospital, Yanbian Women Hospital, and Yanbian Tumor Hospital. Shh, Ihh, Ptch and Smo proteins expression were investigated by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarry platform, and the presence of HPV type 16 was detected by PCR method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Immunohistochemical staining showed that the frequencies of Shh, Ihh, Ptch and Smo expression were rare in normal cervical epithelium, but were strongly expressed in cervical cancer and its precursor lesions (CINII/III) (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.05, P < 0.05, respectively). In cervical cancer, the expression rate of Shh (95%) was higher than that of CIN (CINI to CINIII) (46.4%, 61.1%, 80.0%, respectively, P < 0.05). HPV16 was positive in 77.5% of SCC. In cervical cancer, the expression of Shh was related with HPV16 infection (P < 0.05), and the expression of Smo was correlated with lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Shh, Ihh, Ptch, and Smo genes may play important roles in the development of cervical cancer. Detection of Hedgehog signaling pathway molecules seems helpful for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer and its precursor lesions, and are potentially therapeutic targets as well.</p>

The Expression of G1-S Cell Cycle Inhibitors in Normal Placenta and Gestational Trophoblastic Diseases

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to determine the expression pattern of G1-S inhibitor molecules in normal trophoblasts and gestational trophoblastic diseases, including hydatidiform moles and choriocarcinoma. METHODS: A total of 157 cases comprising 47 normal placentas and 110 gestational trophoblastic diseases such as choriocarcinoma (19 cases) and hydatidiform moles (91 cases of which 58 were complete, 12 were partial and 21 were invasive mole) were immunohistochemically analyzed on paraffin blocks using anti-p21, antip27, anti-p16, anti-p53, anti-pRb antibodies. RESULTS: The results revealed that in the normal placenta, all the G1-S cell cycle inhibitors were maximally expressed by the first-trimester trophoblasts and these levels decreased with gestational age. The expression of p21 and p53 was greatly enhanced in the gestational trophoblastic diseases, particularly in invasive mole and choriocarcinoma, whereas the p27 expression was significantly downregulated in choriocarcinoma. Especially, Rb expression was typically enhanced in the invasive mole, but not in choriocarcinoma. The expression level of p16 was low in all the cases, and particularly in choriocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we demonstrated that the expression of G1/S cell cycle inhibitors correlates well with normal trophoblast differentiation, and these expressions are considerably altered in the gestational trophoblastic diseases, including complete/partial/ invasive hydatidiform mole and choriocarcinoma.

Genetic polymorphisms of short tandem repeat loci D4S2368, D6S1043, D9S925 from Korean ethnic group of JiLin / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To understand the allele structure and genetic polymorphism at D4S2368, D6S1043, D9S925 short tandem repeat (STR) loci in Korean ethnic group of Jilin, and to construct a preliminary database.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The allele frequencies of the three STRs loci in 310 unrelated individuals from Korean ethnic individuals were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Seven, thirteen, and nine alleles were observed at D4S2368, D6S1043, and D9S925 loci, respectively, and all loci met Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (except D6S1043). The statistical analysis of 3 STR loci showed the heterozygosities were more than 0.717, the polymorphic information contents (PIC) were more than 0.670; the combined power of discrimination (PD) and the power of exclusion (PE) were more than 0.9995 and 0.952 respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The three loci in this study are found to have high heterozygosity and polymorphic information content, so they can provide useful markers for genetic purposes. These results could serve as valuable data to enrich the Korean ethnic group genetic database and play an important role in Chinese population genetic application.</p>