ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its association with the prognosis of postoperative patients. METHODS: Surgical specimens were obtained from 102 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing radical resection in our hospital from 1996 to 2006. Immunochemistry was employed to examine EZH2 protein expressions in the specimens, including 102 carcinoma tissue specimens, 30 adjacent tissue specimens and 30 normal esophageal tissue specimens. The expression levels of EZH2 were analyzed in relation to the clinicopathological parameters of the patients including gender, age, tumor differentiation, TNM, and lymph node metastasis. The postoperative patients were followed up to analyze the association of EZH2 expression with the clinical outcomes. RESULTS: The esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue showed a higher EZH2 expression than the adjacent and normal esophageal tissues. EZH2 expression was higher in poorly differentiated carcinoma than in well differentiated tissue, and also higher in cases with lymph node metastasis than those without; the expression was higher in TNM stage II/III patients than in stage I patients but lower than in stage IV patients. The patients with low EZH2 expression was found to have a longer survival time than those with high EZH2 expression (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: EZH2 plays an important role in the differentiation and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and a high EZH2 expression is associated with a poor outcome in the the postoperative patients.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism , Esophageal Neoplasms/metabolism , Polycomb Repressive Complex 2/metabolism , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/diagnosis , Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Protein , Esophageal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma , Humans , Lymphatic Metastasis , Postoperative Period , PrognosisABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Some reports suggest mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have immunosuppressive properties. However, conflicting evidence regarding the role of MSCs has emerged. OBJECTIVES: To gain a better understanding of the immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a rat heart transplantation model. MATERIAL AND METHODS: MSCs were obtained from the femoral and tibial bone marrow of Sprague-Dawley rats and cultured. Heart-transplanted rats were allocated into a MSC-treated group and 2 control groups. On postoperative day 7, 1 rat was sacrificed and the pathological changes of heart tissues were assessed. Serum proteomic spectra were generated by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). RESULTS: Rat MSCs displayed the typical spindle-shaped morphology in culture and significantly prolonged the graft survival up to 33.25 ± 2.54 days compared with controls (19.75 ± 1.56 and 11.16 ± 1.34 days, respectively). Pathological analysis showed the inflammatory cell infiltration in the MSC-treated group was significantly reduced. SELDI analysis showed that 5 protein/peptide peaks with M/Z 1272.33, 1986.65, 2323.42, 5375.59 and 12968.11 were up-regulated in the MSC-treated group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Donor-derived MSCs clearly alleviate acute rejection following heart transplantation in rats and significantly prolong the isograft survival time.
