Differential expression of toll-like receptors in chronic suppurative otitis media and cholesteatoma / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the differential expression of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and their potential role in the pathogenesis of chronic suppurative otitis media and cholesteatoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Normal canal skin of 30 patients with tympanosclerosis were enrolled as control, 30 cases with chronic suppurative otitis media and 30 patients with cholesteatoma were studied. Real-time PCR, Western blot and Immunohistochemistry were preformed to detect the expression of TLR2/TLR4 in normal canal skin, mucosa and granulation tissue of chronic suppurative otitis media, mucosa, granulation tissue, cholesteatoma epithelium of cholesteatoma, and the differential expression were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) the mRNA and protein expression of TLR2 and TLR4 were detected in all normal canal skin, mucosa and granulation tissue of chronic suppurative otitis media, mucosa, granulation tissue, cholesteatoma epithelium of cholesteatoma. (2) Both mRNA and protein level of TLR2/TLR4 in mucosa of chronic suppurative otitis media and cholesteatoma were higher than those in normal canal skin, but lower in cholesteatoma epithelium, there was no significant difference in mucosa of the two otitis media groups. (3) The mRNA and protein expression of TLR2/TLR4 in granulation tissue of chronic suppurative otitis media and cholesteatoma were significant increased when compared with normal canal skin, and TLR2 expression level was higher in granulation tissue of cholesteatoma than in chronic suppurative otitis media. (4) TLR2/TLR4 positive cells mainly infiltrated in granulations, significantly more than in normal skin, while fewer in the epithelium of cholesteatoma.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Differential expression of TLR2 and TLR4 in mucosa suggests middle ear is a TLR2/TLR4 participated functional modulation of the innate immune system and also suggests that they may play a different role in the pathophysiology of chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma.</p>

Prognosis of 980 patients with gastric cancer after surgical resection / 癌症

<p><b>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE</b>Although surgery is the only possible means to cure gastric cancer, the prognosis is often discrepant. The American Joint Committee on Cancer / International Union against Cancer (AJCC/UICC) published the TNM classification of Malignant Tumors (seventh edition) for gastric cancer recently. This study aimed to use this new edition staging system to investigate the prognostic factors for gastric cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinicopathologic data of 980 patients with gastric cancer treated by surgical resection in our hospital between January 2000 and December 2006 were analyzed retrospectively. The overall survival rate was determined by using Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test was used to determine significance. The prognosis was analyzed using univariate analysis and multivariate analysis with the Cox proportional hazards model. The 6th and 7th edition AJCC/UICC TNM staging systems were used to compare the survival outcomes for the cohort of patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The overall 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rates for the whole group were 82.5%, 58.7%, and 52.6%. The 5-year survival rates for patients with pTNM stage I, II, III, and IV disease classified by the 7th edition staging system were 93.2%, 72.4%, 39.1%, and 5.2%, respectively. In both univariate analysis and Cox multivariate analysis, age, tumor site, tumor size, histological type, resection type, radical resection, lymphatic/venous invasion, depth of invasion, nodal status, metastasis, retrieved lymph nodes, metastatic lymph node ratio, and adjuvant chemotherapy were prognostic factors with these patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compared with the 6th edition system, the new edition of TNM staging system for gastric cancer can accurately predict the survival after operation.</p>

Correlation analysis between loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 18q and prognosis in the stage-II colon cancer patients / 癌症

<p><b>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE</b>Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers in the world. Although the clinicopathologic staging is the golden criterion for the prognosis at present, the optimum prognostic criteria for colorectal cancer should be a combination of the clinicopathologic staging and the molecular markers. However, there are currently no molecular markers available for the prognosis of colorectal cancer. Several tumor-suppressor genes associated with colorectal cancer have been mapped at the 18q21-23 region. In this study we detected the frequency of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at chromosome 18q and investigated the relationship between LOH and clinicopathologic features and its prognostic value for patients with stage II colon cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 106 samples of tumor tissues and corresponding normal mucosa from patients with sporadic stage-II colon cancer were included in this study. All the samples were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded. DNA was extracted from tumor tissues and LOH of D18S474, D18S55, D18S58, D18S61 and D18S64 at chromosome 18q was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), polyacrylamide gel-electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing method. Multivariate analysis for association between LOH and prognosis in colon cancer patients was performed with Cox proportional hazards regression model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The median follow-up time was 68 months. For 106 patients, 5-year survival rate was 83.6%, which was associated with age and gross tumor type (P = 0.011 and 0.034, respectively). Among 102 patients who were eligible for LOH information, the overall frequency of LOH is 49.0% (50/102), and that of LOH at 5 microsatellite loci of D18S474, D18S55, D18S58, D18S61, and D18S64 was 30.2% (26/86), 23.4% (18/77), 28.6% (20/70), 35.0% (28/80), and 20.8%(15/72), respectively. The occurrence of LOH was significantly associated with tumor location and histopathologic grade (P = 0.023, 0.016 and 0.005, respectively). LOH was more frequent on the left-side, poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma, and nonmucinous colon cancers. The occurrence of 18q-LOH was significantly associated with 5-year overall survival rate and disease free survival rate (P = 0.008 and 0.006, respectively). The occurrence of 18q-LOH at the loci of D18S474 and D18S61 was significantly associated with 5-year overall survival rate (P = 0.010 and 0.005, respectively). The multivariate analysis showed that only the occurrence of 18q-LOH was significantly associated with prognosis (P = 0.021).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There is a high occurrence of LOH at the loci of 18q. The expression of LOH is significantly associated with tumor location and histopathologic grade. The occurrence of 18q-LOH is an independent poor prognostic factor for the patients with stage-II colon cancer.</p>