Yes-associated protein is an independent prognostic marker in hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Yes-associated protein (YAP), a downstream target of the Hippo signaling pathway, was recently linked to hepatocarcinogenesis in a mouse hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model. The objective of the current study was to investigate the clinical significance of YAP in HCC and its prognostic values in predicting survival and tumor recurrence. METHODS: The authors collected 177 pairs of tumor and adjacent nontumor tissue from HCC patients with definitive clinicopathologic and follow-up data. YAP expression was determined by immunohistochemistry, Western blot analysis, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Association of YAP with each clinicopathologic feature was analyzed by Pearson chi-square test, and HCC-specific disease-free survival and overall survival by Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank test. Multivariate Cox regression analyses of YAP in HCC were also performed. RESULTS: YAP was expressed in the majority of HCC cases (approximately 62%) and mainly accumulated in the tumor nucleus. Overexpression of YAP in HCC was significantly associated with poorer tumor differentiation (Edmonson grade; P = .021) and high serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level (P < .001). Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression data indicated that YAP was an independent predictor for HCC-specific disease-free survival (hazards ratio [HR], 1.653; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.081-2.528 [P = .02]) and overall survival (HR, 2.148; 95% CI, 1.255-3.677 [P = .005]). CONCLUSIONS: YAP is an independent prognostic marker for overall survival and disease-free survival times of HCC patients and clinicopathologically associated with tumor differentiation and serum AFP level. It is a potential therapeutic target for this aggressive malignancy.

WITHDRAWN: Novel missense mutation (Y24H) in the G6PT1 gene causing glycogen storage disease type 1b.

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The co-occurrence of serologically proven myasthenia gravis and Miller Fisher/Guillain Barré overlap syndrome: a case report.

The co-occurrence of myasthenia gravis (MG) and Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS) is uncommon with a few reported cases in the literature. There is only one reported case of MG and Miller Fisher variant of GBS. We described an 84 year old Chinese woman with underlying seropositive myasthenia gravis (MG) who presented with ophthalmoplegia, areflexia and acute neuromuscular weakness. She was proved to have co-occurrence of MG and GBS/Miller Fisher overlap syndrome with positive anti-GQ1b antibody. The unusual finding in this patient raises an interesting question on their pathogenesis with the possibility that prior activation of the immune system may predispose the development of autoantibodies against other antigens within the same set of muscles.

Novel missense mutation (Y24H) in the G6PT1 gene causing glycogen storage disease type 1b.

We describe a Chinese patient with glycogen storage disease type 1b presenting with failure to thrive and protuberant abdomen. The neutropenia was mild and the patient did not have fasting hypoglycemia. Direct DNA sequencing of the G6PT1 gene revealed the patient to be a compound heterozygote of a novel missense mutation, Y24H, and another missense mutation, P191L, which we had described previously. The mother is heterozygous for the Y24H mutation and the father is heterozygous for the P191L mutation. Y24H and P191L may be ethnic-specific mutations as they have not been reported in other populations. The DNA-based diagnosis of GSD 1b will enable us to make an accurate determination of carrier status and to perform prenatal diagnosis of this disease.