Changes of histopathology and molecular indicators in breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy / 临床与实验病理学杂志

Purpose To observe the changes of histopathology and expression levels of ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki-67 in breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NTC), and to evaluate the relationship between the curative effect and clinico-pathological characteristics of breast cancer. Methods 93 ca-ses of invasive breast cancer with NTC were collected and retro-spectively analyzed. Pathologic evaluation of chemotherapeutic effect were evaluated by Miller-Payne (MP) grading system. Results Tumor cells, tumor stroma and lymph nodes status presented different histopathological changes after NTC. There were significant relationship between curative effect and patients age (Z=-1.993, P=0.046 ), histological grade (χ2=7.261, P=0.027), molecular subtypes (χ2=8.289, P=0.040), while it had no statistical relationship between curative effect and tumor size (Z=-1.091, P=0.275) and lymph node status (Z=-1.107, P = 0.268). Expression of ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki-67 showed different degrees of change before and after NTC. The concordance rates of ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki-67 were 81.0％, 72.2％, 83.5％ and 55.7％, respective-ly. And there was no significant difference in expression of these four molecular indicators before and after NTC (χ2 =0.428, P=0.934). Conclusion The histomorphology of tumor cell, tumor stroma and lymph node status can be influenced by NTC. Objective evaluation of the changes of histopathology and molecular indicators after NTC may valuable in predicting clinical prognosis and guiding individual treatment of breast cancer.

Roles of Rho/Rock signaling pathway in silica-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human bronchial epithelial cells / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the roles of Rho/Rock signaling pathway in silica-induced Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human bronchial epithelial cells (BEC) in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Human BEC were incubated with silica with various concentrations for indicated times. Cell viability was assayed by MTT test. Morphologic Changes were observed by microscope. Mesenchymal marker α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), vimentin (Vim), and epithelial marker E-cadherin (E-cad) were analyzed by Western Blot. The pull-down assay was used to measure Rho activity. In the prevention experiments, the specific inhibitor for Rho effector ROCK (Y27632) was used to inhibit the activity of Rho.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Human BEC stimulated with silica were converted from a "cobblestone" epithelial structure into an elongated fibroblast-like shape structure. Incubation of human BEC with silica induced de novo expression of α-SMA and Vim, and loss of E-cad. Also, silica treatment resulted in Rho activation in human BEC. Y27632 up-regulated the E-cad expression but attenuated α-SMA and Vim expression in silica-stimulated cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The activation of Rho/ROCK signaling pathways is most likely involved in Silica-induced EMT in human bronchial epithelial cells.</p>

The influence of SiO2 on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human bronchial epithelial cells / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate SiO2-induced EMT in human bronchial epithelial cells HBE in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HBE cells were cultured and then stimulated with indicated doses of SiO2 (0, 50, 100, 200, 300 µg/ml). The morphological changes were observed by microscope. In addition, Western blot was per-formed to detect the expression of E-cad, α-SMA and Vim. The changes of migration ability were examined by wound-healing assay in vitro.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) After exposure to SiO2, HBE cells lost contact with their neighbor and displayed a spindle-shape, fibroblast-like morphology. (2) Compared with the control, the E-cad (300 µg/ml group) expression downregulated 2.98 fold (P < 0.05), and the Vim (300 µg/ml group) and α-SMA (200 µg/ml group) expression upregulated 4.46 fold and 3.55 fold (P < 0.05). There were significant differences between 100, 200, 300 µg/ml groups and the control group (P < 0.05). (3) In the test group, the percentage of wound-healing areas/wound areas were larger than those in control group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>SiO2 could induce EMT in human bronchial epithelial cells.</p>