Serum peptidome patterns of hepatocellular carcinoma based on magnetic bead separation and mass spectrometry analysis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The only hope for a cure from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rests on early diagnosis. The present study aims to determine serum peptidome patterns for early diagnosis of HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To identify novel peptidome patterns for diagnosing HCC, serum from31 healthy volunteers and 32 HCC patients were subjected to a comparative proteomic analysis using a ClinProt Kit combined with mass spectrometry (MS). This approach allows the determination of peptidome patterns that are able to differentiate the HCC from healthy volunteers. For further validation, the diagnostic and differential diagnostic capabilities of the peptidome patterns were verified blindly by an independent group of sera consisted of 31 HCC, 23 liver fibrosis and 33 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: A Quick Classifier Algorithm was used to construct the peptidome patterns for the identification of HCC from the control samples. One of the identified peaks at m/z 7771 was used to construct the peptidome patterns with almost 100% accuracy. Furthermore, the peptidome patterns could also differentiate the validation group with high accuracy. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the ClinProt Kit combined with MS achieves significantly high accuracy for HCC diagnosis and differential diagnosis.

[Comparative study of recurrent colon cancer and recurrent rectal cancer after radical resection].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the difference in tumor biological behaviors and prognosis between recurrent colon cancer and recurrent rectal cancer after radical operation. METHODS: Complete clinical and follow-up data of 132 patients with colorectal cancer developed recurrence,including 36 colon cancers and 96 rectal cancers, after curative resection were retrospectively analyzed and compared with respect of clinical pathological features and prognosis between colon and rectal cancer. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in primary tumor gross type, histological type, tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis between colon and rectal cancer(P<0.05). Colon cancer recurred earlier than rectal cancer after radical surgery with the median time to recurrence being 14.0 months and 21.5 months, respectively(P=0.028). The difference in multiple sites recurrence was also found between colon(n=16, 44.4%) and rectal cancer(n=65, 67.7%)(P=0.014). The 3-year survival rate of recurrent rectal cancer was better than that of colon cancer (24.8% vs 15.6%, P=0.026). CONCLUSION: There are some differences in tumor biological behaviors between colon and rectal cancer, and the prognosis of rectal cancer with recurrence is better than that of colon cancer.

[Effects of irrigation amount on leaf structure, photosynthetic physiology, and fruit yield of Lycium barbarum in arid area].

Lycium barbarum is an important traditional medicinal plant in China. Under controlled condition, a field experiment was conducted to study the effects of different monthly irrigation quota on the leaf structure, photosynthetic physiology, and fruit yield of L. barbarum, aimed to determine an appropriate irrigation amount for the plant. When the monthly irrigation quota was less than 900 m3 x hm(-2), the leaf area, leaf thickness, palisade tissue thickness, cell tense ratio (CTR), net photosynthetic rate (Pn), intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE), stomatal limitation value (Ls), and fruit yield of L. barbarum all increased significantly with monthly irrigation quota, while leaf stoma density and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) showed a reverse trend. When the irrigation quota was more than 900 m3 x hm(-2), the Ci increased with irrigation quota, the leaf area, stoma density, and fruit yield had no obvious change, whereas the other indices showed a reverse trend. The leaf transpiration rate and Gs were the highest at irrigation quota 450 m3 x hm(-2), being 8.02 and 324 mmol x m(-2) x s(-1), respectively; whereas at other irrigation quota, these two indices were lower than the control. In terms of saving water, the monthly irrigation quota 900 m3 x hm(-2) was more appropriate for Lycium barbarum.

[Screening and expression of tumor markers in colorectal carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To screen the tumor markers of colorectal carcinoma and to investigate their expression in preoperative and postoperative serum. METHODS: The distinct proteins in serum were detected in 87 cases of colorectal carcinoma, 68 cases of benign colorectal diseases and 56 healthy people by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). The distinct proteins in serum were detected in 87 cases of colorectal carcinoma pre-operation and within 15 days post operation with the same methods. RESULTS: Two proteins with mass-to-charge ratios of 5955 Da and 5972 Da were screened. Compared with benign colorectal diseases and healthy control, the expression of the two proteins was obviously up-regulated in colorectal carcinoma (P < 0.01). Compared with pre-operation, the expression on the 1(st) day post operation was obviously up-regulated (P < 0.01), and the expression decreased to pre-operative level on the 4(th) day post operation. The expression of the two proteins turned out to be a descendent tendency form the 4(th) to 15(th) day post operation, but did not reach the normal level as found in healthy control. CONCLUSIONS: Two proteins with mass-to-charge ratios of 5955 Da and 5972 Da could be regarded as tumor markers in colorectal carcinoma, the expression may has some regularity.