Pathological features and clinical managements of nasopharyngeal angiofibroma / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the pathological features of nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (NA) and the principles for clinical managements.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-five patients with NAs were treated in First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University from Oct. 1981 to May 2007. The pathological changes, sites of origin, causes of intraoperative bleeding and the experiences of managements were retrospectively analysed. Using Fish stage: 6 cases were in stage I, 8 cases were in stage II, 17 cases were in stage III, 4 cases were stage IV. Two cases via endoscopic surgery, 2 cases via palatal approach, 19 cases via midfacial degloving approach, 9 cases via lateral rhinotomy approach, 3 cases via craniofacial combined approach.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In nasal cavity and paranasal sinus, the tumor was covered by squamous or columnar epithelium. The tumor extensions such as in pterygopalatine fossa and infratemporal fossa were covered by fibrous pseudocapsule. All cases of this series originated in the lateral wall of posterior portion of the nasal cavity. Fifteen of thirty-five cases confidentially originated near sphenopalatine foramen. Large and thick vessels in the pedicle region were the exact sites of serious intraoperative bleeding. Thirty-one cases were totally removed. Four cases were subtotal resected. Visual loss revealed in 6 cases, 4 cases visual acuity improved postoperatively. Three cases revealed postoperative dry eye due to surgical involvement of the sphenopalatine ganglion.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is covered by epithelium or pseudo-capsule, it does not infiltrate the surrounding tissue. Dissecting along the surface of tumor might decrease bleeding and facilitate removal of tumor. An ideal surgical management should be done according to actually size and image examination, to the greatest extent keeping normal facial appearance. Attention should be paid to the complications such as visual loss and dry eye.</p>

Primary functional analysis of CK13 gene 5' flanking region / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the mechanism of cytokeratin 13 (CK13) gene expression control and the effects of different motifs of CK13 gene 5' flanking region on its transcriptional activity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The molecular clone technique and reporter gene analysis were used to assay the effects of different motifs of 513 bp of CK13 gene 5' flanking region on its transcriptional activity. The pCAT enhancer vectors with different motifs of CK13 gene 5' flanking region were constructed and transferred to HeLa cells with the help of lipofectin. The instant CAT expression of different clones was detected and the effects of different motifs of the CK13 gene 5' flanking region on its transcriptional activity were evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>119 bp from -nt.325 to -nt.207 upstream of the first ATG of CK13 gene 5' flanking region included a silent element. 113 bp region from -nt.206 to -nt.94 included an enhanced element.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>513 bp of CK13 gene 5' flanking region includes a silent element and an enhanced element. Further locating these cis elements and detecting the related trans reaction factors may unveil some important clues to the details of the mechanisms for the CK13 gene expression and tissue-specific expression.</p>