[Clinical analysis of percutaneous nephrolithotomy for staghorn calculi with different stone branch number].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of staghorn stone branch number on outcomes of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL). METHODS: From January 2009 to January 2013, the 371 patients with staghorn stones who were referred to our hospital for PNL were considered for this study. All calculi were showed with CT 3-dimentional reconstruction (3-DR) imaging. The computerized database of the patients had been reviewed. Our exclusion criterion was patients with congenital renal anomalies, such as horse-shoe and ectopic kidneys. And borderline stones that branched to one major calyx only were also not included. From 3-DR images, the number of stone branching into minor renal calices was recorded. We made "3" as the branch breakdown between groups. And the patients were divided into four groups. The number of percutaneous tract, operative time, staged PNL, intra-operative blood loss, complications, stone clearance rate, and postoperative hospital day were compared. RESULTS: The 371 patients (386 renal units) underwent PNL successfully, included 144 single-tract PNL, 242 multi-tract PNL, 97 staged PNL. The average operative time was (100 ± 50) minutes; the average intra-operative blood loss was (83 ± 67) ml. The stone clearance rate were 61.7% (3 days) and 79.5% (3 months). The postoperative hospital stay was (6.9 ± 3.4) days. A significantly higher ratio of multi-tract (χ(2) = 212.220, P < 0.01) and staged PNL (χ(2) = 49.679, P < 0.01), longer operative time (F = 4.652, P < 0.01) and postoperative hospital day (F = 2.067, P = 0.043) and lower rate of stone clearance (χ(2) = 10.691 and 47.369, P < 0.05) were found in PNL for calculi with stone branch number ≥ 5. There was no statistically meaningful difference among the 4 groups based on Clavien complication system (P = 0.460). CONCLUSION: The possibility of multi-tract and staged PNL, lower rate of stone clearance and longer postoperative hospital day increase for staghorn calculi with stone branch number more than 5.

[Expression of nucleostemin in prostate cancer tissues and its clinical significance].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression of the nucleostemin (NS) gene in prostate cancer (PCa) tissues and its clinical significance. METHODS: We detected the NS expression in PCa, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) tissues by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, and analyzed the correlation between the expression of the NS protein and the clinical variables of PCa. RESULTS: The NS mRNA level was markedly higher in the PCa than in the BPH tissues. The rates of strongly positive, positive and weakly positive expressions of the NS protein were 48.8%, 36.6% and 12.2% in PCa, 4.0%, 32.0% and 56.0% in BPH, and 5.0%, 25.0% and 60.0% in HGPIN, respectively. The expression level of the NS protein was significantly higher in PCa than in BPH and HGPIN (P < 0.05). The expression of the NS gene was negatively correlated with the degree of cell differentiation in the PCa tissues, the worse the differentiation, the higher the NS expression level. CONCLUSION: The NS gene is highly expressed in PCa tissues and may have an important role in the adverse differentiation and malignant proliferation of prostate cancer.

Expression of nucleostemin in prostate cancer and its effect on the proliferation of PC-3 cells.

BACKGROUND: Nucleostemin is essential for the proliferation and survival of stem and cancer cells, but it is unknown whether this newly identified molecule is involved in prostate cancer pathogenesis. METHODS: Total RNA and protein were extracted from prostate cancer tissues and PC-3, LNCap and DU145 cell lines. The nucleostemin mRNA and protein expression were measured by RT-PCR and Western blot. Immunohistochemistry was also used to detect the nucleostemin protein expression in prostate cancer tissues and PC-3 cells. A nucleostemin specific, short hairpin RNA, expression plasmid was used to transfect PC-3 cells. The changes of nucleostemin gene were detected and the proliferative capacity of the cells was determined. RESULTS: Nucleostemin was highly expressed in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines. Nucleostemin expression level in the silencer group PC-3 cells remarkably reduced. The proliferation rate of silencer group PC-3 cells decreased and the percentage of G1 stage cells increased. The neoplasm forming capacity in nude mice of the silencer group PC-3 cells decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Nucleostemin is highly expressed in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines. The proliferative capacity of PC-3 cells is remarkably reduced after silencing nucleostemin gene expression.

[Changes of dendritic cells in prostate cancer and dendritic cell-based immunotherapy].

As the potent professional antigen present cell, dendritic cells (DC) play an important role in the initiation for anti-tumor immunity. Prostate cancer (PCa) can reduce the number and function of tumor infiltrated dendritic cells (TIDC) by a series of complicated mechanisms, escaping from immunosurveillance. With the development of immunology, more and more studies focus on TIDC and DC-based vaccines for PCa. However, all these studies are still at the exploratory stage. Here is a review of the related literature.