[Clinical significance of serum levels of endostatin in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To assess serum levels of endogenous endostatin in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) and to determine the relationship of these levels to tumor stage, grade. METHODS: From March 2004 to October 2008, preoperative serum were obtained from 138 consecutive patients with CCRCC (73 patients in T1, 39 patients in T2, 20 patients in T3, and 6 patients in T4) and 40 healthy controls. Serum levels of endostatin were measured by sandwich-ELISA. Associations between circulating endostatin levels and clinicopathologic factors and clinical outcome were determined. RESULTS: Endostatin levels did not differ significantly between the patients with CCRCC (93.1 microg/L) and healthy controls (78.9 microg/L, P > 0.05). Serum levels of endostatin were significantly higher in the T2-4 CCRCC patients (107.2 microg/L) than those of the T1 patients (80.4 microg/L, P < 0.01). No significant difference was found in the endostatin levels among the T2-4 patients, or between healthy controls and the T1 patients. The serum endostatin concentration was significantly higher in the metastasis group (118.4 microg/L) than in the no metastasis group (89.5 microg/L, P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between patients with distant metastasis group (122.0 microg/L) and lymph nodes metastasis (110.0 microg/L, P > 0.05). Patients with G3-4 tumors had significantly higher endostatin levels (111.8 microg/L) than those of patients with G1 (80.4 microg/L) and G2 tumors (86.2 microg/L, P < 0.01), but endostatin levels did not differ significantly between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Preoperative serum levels of endostatin elevated in patients with CCRCC and associated with higher stage and grade.

Enhanced sensitivity to mitomycin C by abating heat shock protein 70 expression in human bladder cancer cell line of BIU-87.

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is a relatively common tumor in the urinary system, in which mitomycin C (MMC)-based chemotherapy or combination chemotherapy has been mainly used to treat patients with advanced bladder cancer. The prognosis of patients with advanced bladder cancer is still extremely poor in spite of recent therapeutic advances. To improve the prognosis, the sensitivity of tumor cells to mitomycin C by the induction of apoptosis with the abating heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression in human bladder cancer cell lines of BIU-87 was investigated. METHODS: HSP70 expression was abated in BIU-87 cells by HSP mRNA antisense oligomers. MTT assay and the clone-forming test were used for evaluating the sensitivity of cells to MMC. Apoptosis was assessed using both fluorescent microscopy after staining the cells with Hoechst 33258 and DNA fragment ladder agarose electrophoresis. Thirty-two male six-week-old BALB/c nude mice, at the beginning of the experiment, were used to evaluate the effect of antisense oligomers (ASO) on the tumor formation in vivo. RESULTS: HSP70 expression in BIU-87 was effectively abated by HSP70 mRNA antisense oligomers. The percentage of apoptotic cells in ASO group was greater than in sense oligomers (SO) [P < 0.05, (18.31 +/- 2.89)% vs (1.89 +/- 0.74)%], nonsense oligomers (NO) [P < 0.05, (18.31 +/- 2.89)% vs (1.78 +/- 0.92)%] and blank groups [P < 0.05, (18.31 +/- 2.89)% vs (1.87 +/- 0.84)%], while the sensitivity of tumor cells to mitomycin C was enhanced. The in vivo tumor inhibition rate of ASO plus MMC (> 50%) was more than that of ASO or MMC group alone (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The abating level of HSP70 expression can strengthen the sensitivity of BIU-87 to MMC. One of this effect might be related to the induction of apoptosis by abating HSP70 expression.

[The significance of the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in bladder transitional cell carcinoma tissues].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in bladder transitional cell carcinoma tissues, and understand its clinical significance. METHODS: Reversal transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to assess the expression of COX-2 mRNA in 52 cases of bladder transitional cell carcinoma tissues and 17 cases of normal bladder tissues far from neoplasm; Western blot was used to assess the expression of COX-2 protein in 49 cases of bladder cancerous tissues and 17 cases of normal tissues. RESULTS: Positive expression of COX-2 mRNA was detected in 83% (43/52) of bladder cancer tissues and in 29% (5/17) of normal tissues by RT-PCR and there was significant difference in expression of COX-2 mRNA between cancer tissues and normal tissues. Western blot analysis showed that expression of COX-2 protein was correlation with the stage and grade of cancer. CONCLUSION: COX-2 is overexpressed in bladder transitional cell carcinoma. COX-2 maybe play a certain role in carcinogenesis and progression of bladder cancer and turn into a useful target of chemoprevention of bladder cancer.

[Detection of serum levels of MMP-9 and VEGF in patients with bladder cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To detect serum levels of MMP-9 and VEGF in patients with bladder cancer. METHODS: Serum levels of MMP-9 and VEGF in 58 patients with bladder cancer and 45 healthy controls were measured by sandwich-ELISA. RESULTS: Serum levels of MMP-9 and VEGF (737.12 micro g/L and 1148.88 ng/L) were significantly higher in the cancer patients than those of controls (423.51 micro g/L and 846.96 ng/L, P < 0.01). The serum levels were associated with tumor stage and grade. In patients with invasive cancer, the levels were significantly higher than those of superficial cancer (P < 0.01). Patients with distant metastasis had significantly higher levels of MMP-9 and VEGF than those with localized invasion (P < 0.01). But there was no significant difference between patients with superficial cancer and controls. Patients with G(3) tumors had significantly higher levels of MMP-9 and VEGF than those of patients with G(1) and G(2) tumors (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated MMP-9 and VEGF levels are associated with a high stage and grade of bladder cancer and they may serve as markers of tumor progression in the future.

Serum levels of endostatin and matrix metalloproteinase-9 associated with high stage and grade primary transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the preoperative serum levels of endostatin and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in patients with primary transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder according to tumor stage and grade and to evaluate their clinical diagnostic application. METHODS: Preoperative serum levels of endostatin and MMP-9 were determined in 52 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (13 with superficial carcinoma and 39 with advanced carcinoma) and 32 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The serum levels of endostatin and MMP-9 were significantly greater in the 52 patients with bladder cancer than in the healthy controls (endostatin 46.8 ng/mL versus 30.6 ng/mL, P <0.001; MMP-9 786 ng/mL versus 417 ng/mL, P <0.001). The endostatin level correlated positively with the MMP-9 level (R = 0.55, P <0.01). Furthermore, the levels of endostatin and MMP-9 were associated with the tumor stage and grade. Patients with distant metastasis (n = 7) had significantly greater levels of endostatin and MMP-9 than patients without metastasis (n = 45) (endostatin 69.8 ng/mL versus 43.3 ng/mL, P <0.001; MMP-9 1529 ng/mL versus 674 ng/mL, P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated endostatin and MMP-9 levels are associated with a greater stage and grade of primary transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

[The effects of antisenes oligodeoxynucleotide on the cyclic nucleotide monophosphates in smooth muscle cells of human corpus cavernosum].

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of antisense oligodeoxynucleotide(ASON) on the cyclic nucleotide monophosphates (cNMP) in smooth muscle cells of human corpus cavernosum, and provide experimental groundwork for the gene therapy of erectile dysfunction. METHODS: PDE5 gene ASON(containing exon 1) was transfected into the corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells with the presence of liposome DOTAP. Another sense oligodeoxynucleotide(SON) and 1% of bovine serum were also transducted into the cells as controls. Two of cNMP, cAMP and cGMP, were probed and measured by ELISA at 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 24 and 48 h after transfection. RESULTS: After transfection, the level of cGMP(1-6 h) in human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells was significantly higher than that in controls(P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The PDE5 gene ASON had been showed to manifest stimulative effect on the cGMP in smooth muscle cells of human corpus cavernosum in vitro, and it provides experimental groundwork for the gene therapy of erectile dysfunction.