The highly expressed secreted phosphoprotein 1 gene in prostate cancer metastasis: a microarray-based bioinformatic analysis / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the composition, function, and regulatory mechanisms of the secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1) gene in metastatic prostate cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We obtained the data about the whole genomic expression profiles on prostate cancer metastasis from the GEO database, and performed data-mining and bioinformatic analysis using BRB-Array Tools and such softwares as Protparam, MotifScan, SignalP 4.0, TMHMM, NetPhos2.0, PredictProtein, GO, KEGG, and STRING.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Totally, 73 co-expressed differential genes in prostate cancer metastasis were identified, 21 up-regulated and 52 down-regulated (P <0.01). Bioinformatic analysis indicated that the highly expressed SPP1 gene encoded 314 amino acids and contained 2 N-glycosylation sites, 8 casein kinase II phosphorylation sites and 3 protein kinase C phosphorylation sites, playing essential roles in extracellular matrix (ECM) binding, ossification, osteoblast differentiation, cell adhesion, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, focal adhesion, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, and ECM-receptor interaction.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The bioinformatic method showed a high efficiency in analyzing microarray data and revealing internal biological information. SPP1 may play an important role in prostate cancer metastasis and become a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of prostate cancer metastasis and a new target for its treatment.</p>

Clinical study on effect of Erzhi Tiangui Granule in improving the quality of oocytes and leukemia inhibitory factor in follicular fluid of women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Erzhi Tiangui Granule (ETG) on the concentration of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in follicular fluid (FF) and quality of oocytes/embryos after in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Women undergoing IVF-ET were randomly assigned to two groups: the treated group (42 cases) treated with ETG combined with Western medicine and the control group (38 cases) treated with Western medicine alone. Syndrome of Shen-deficiency, amount of oocytes, rates of mature oocytes, fertilization, cleavage, high-quality embryos and pregnancy, as well as LIF level in FF were observed and compared between the two groups. The relationship of LIF level with mature oocyte rate and high-quality embryo rate was analyzed, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the treated group after treatment, the syndrome of Shen-deficiency and the above-mentioned indexes tested were improved better than those in the control group, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the LIF level in FF was positively correlated with the rate of mature oocyte, high-quality embryo and the outcome of pregnancy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ETG can distinctively increase the amount of oocyte, elevate the quality of embryo and raise the successful rate of IVF-ET. The mechanism maybe correlated to the increase of LIF level in FF and the activating of microenvironment for its full expression.</p>