Clinical Significance of Endothelin-1 And C Reaction Protein in Restenosis After the Intervention of Lower Extremity Arteriosclerosis Obliterans.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in restenosis after intervention of lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans. METHODS: The present prospective observational study included a total of 251 patients with arteriosclerosis obliterans in the lower extremity. All patients were treated with balloon dilatation, stent-assisted angioplasty or balloon dilatation, and stent-assisted angioplasty. Furthermore, these patients received a CTA examination at one and three months after surgery. The serum ET-1 and CRP levels were determined using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: In non-restenosis patients, both the CRP and ET-1 levels were significantly upregulated after surgery, reached a peak level at one week, and decreased at one month after surgery. However, for restenosis patients, the serum ET-1 and CRP levels did not decrease to the baseline at one and three months after surgery, but were remarkably higher than the levels for non-restenosis patients. Serum ET-1 levels were positively correlated with serum CRP levels at both one and three months after surgery. Both ET-1 and CRP levels after one week and one month, and CRP at three days, one week, one month and three months after surgery were risk factors for restenosis after intervention surgery of arteriosclerosis obliterans. CONCLUSION: Both serum ET-1 and CRP levels were elevated after one and three months of intervention for lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans in patients with restenosis. These might be the risk factors for restenosis of lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans patients.

Vimentin significantly promoted gallbladder carcinoma metastasis.

BACKGROUND: The precise molecular mechanisms underlying the gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) metastasis has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: In the present study, metastasis-associated proteins were identified by comparative proteomic analysis. The functional study of the candidate protein vimentin was further investigated. First, a pair of higher and lower metastatic sublines (termed GBC-SD/M3 and GBC-SD, respectively), originated from the same parental cell line, was screened by spontaneous tumorigenicity and metastasis in vivo in animal study and further characterized by metastatic phenotypes analysis in vitro. Subsequently, a proteomic approach comprised two-dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis and mass spectroscopy was used to identify and compare the protein expression patterns between higher metastatic GBC-SD/M3 and lower metastatic GBC-SD cell lines. Then twenty-six proteins were identified. RESULTS: Among the 26 proteins identified, fourteen proteins were up-regulated and 12 proteins were down-regulated in GBC-SD/M3. Vimentin was identified and found to be overexpressed in GBC-SD/M3 as compared with GBC-SD. This result was further confirmed by quantitative PCR and Western blotting analysis. Furthermore, the cell migration and invasion potency of GBC-SD/M3 in vitro was remarkably suppressed after small interference RNA-mediated knockdown of vimentin. Moreover, immunoblot and immunohistochemical analysis on 12 human GBC specimens showed consistently increased vimentin expression in metastases compared with primary tumors. CONCLUSION: Tumor vimentin level may reflect the pathological progression in some GBC and may be a useful marker for predicting tumor metastasis and a therapeutic target for the treatment of GBC patients with metastases.