Association between transforming growth factors-ß and matrix metalloproteinases in the aqueous humor and plasma in myopic patients.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between levels of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and tissue inhibitors of MMP (TIMP) in the aqueous humor (AH) and plasma (PL) of myopic patients. METHODS: Aqueous humor and plasma were collected intraoperatively from 37 myopic patients with various axial lengths (AL) during ICL surgery. The concentrations of TGF-ß1, TGF-ß2, TGF-ß3, MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9, MMP-10, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, TIMP-3 and TIMP-4 were measured using Luminex xMAP Technology kits (Milliplex xMAP kits). The association between TGFß and MMP/TIMP levels were analyzed based on the Spearman's correlation test or Pearson's correlation test. RESULTS: There was a negative correlation between TGF-ß1 and MMP-1, TIMP-2, TIMP-3 and TIMP-4 in the AH, and a positive correlation between TGF-ß1 and MMP-1 in the PL. In the AH, levels of TGF-ß2 were positively correlated with levels of TIMP-3 (r=0.441; P < 0.001). In the PL, levels of TGF-ß2 also correlated positively with levels of TIMP-3 (r=0.427; P < 0.001)). CONCLUSION: The level of TGF-ß2 was the highest among TGF-ßs in the AH. A consistent positive correlation between TGF-ß2 and TIMP-3 was found both in the AH and PL, indicating that systemic levels of TGF-ß2 and MMPs/TIMPs may also play a role in myopic progression.

Association of sperm source with miscarriage and take-home baby after ICSI in cryptozoospermia: a meta-analysis of testicular and ejaculated sperm.

BACKGROUND: Miscarriage and take-home baby are the most important issues to patients with cryptozoospermia in receiving intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The ICSI usually use ejaculated or testicular sperm. Unfortunately, no synthesized evidence reported miscarriage and take-home baby rate between the two sperm sources. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the miscarriage and take-home baby rate of ICSI using testicular and ejaculated sperm in patient with cryptozoospermia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted meta-analyses that were based on data from Cochrane library, Ovid, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science. The pooled analyses used risk ratio (RR) in random-effects model. Sensitivity analyses by subgrouping were completed to explore the associations between mean age and outcome. RESULTS: This study identified 331 potential citations and included four cohort studies for qualitative and quantitative synthesis. The four studies involved 331 patients with 479 ICSI cycles. The results showed no significant difference in miscarriage between testicular sperm group and ejaculated sperm group (RR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.48-2.35, p = 0.88). Yet, take-home babies per embryo transfer in testicular sperm group (53/226, 23.45%) was more than ejaculated sperm group (59/429, 13.75%) (RR = 1.72, 95% CI 1.21-2.44, p = 0.002). Similar results can be found in take-home babies per ICSI cycle (RR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.28-2.44, p = 0.0005), especially in younger couple (RR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.11-3.34, p = 0.02). No small study bias was detected in the analyses. DISCUSSION: This study found that testicular sperm has more advantage for ICSI in patients with cryptozoospermia, especially in younger couple. These findings may help guide us when deciding the optimal method of sperm harvest for men with cryptozoospermia. CONCLUSION: Comparing to ejaculated sperm, testicular sperm showed benefits for take-home baby rate, but not for miscarriage in patients with cryptozoospermia.

Unilateral segmentally arranged basaloid follicular hamartomas with osteoma cutis and hypodontia: a case of Happle-Tinschert syndrome.

Happle-Tinschert syndrome (HTS) is a rare syndrome characterized by segmentally arranged basaloid follicular hamartomas (BFH) associated with ipsilateral osseous, dental and cerebral abnormalities. Happle and Tinschert first reported this disorder in 2008, and three cases with similar presentations have since been reported. We report another case, that of a 40-year-old man, presenting with the characteristic clinical features of HTS.

Endoplasmic reticulum ribosome-binding protein 1 (RRBP1) overexpression is frequently found in lung cancer patients and alleviates intracellular stress-induced apoptosis through the enhancement of GRP78.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths and is the most occurring malignancy worldwide. Unraveling the molecular mechanisms involved in lung tumorigenesis will greatly improve therapy. During early tumorigenesis, rapid proliferating tumor cells require increased activity of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for protein synthesis, folding and secretion, thereby are subjected to ER stress. Ribosome-binding protein 1 (RRBP1) was originally identified as a ribosome-binding protein located on the rough ER and associated with unfolding protein response (UPR). In this report, we investigated the role of RRBP1 in lung cancer. RRBP1 was highly expressed in lung cancer tissue, as compared with adjacent normal tissues as assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using lung cancer tissue array (n=87). Knockdown of RRBP1 by short-hairpin RNAs caused ER stress and significantly reduced cell viability and tumorigenicity. This effect was associated with a significant reduction in the expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78). UPR regulator GRP78, an anti-apoptotic protein that is widely upregulated in cancer, has a critical role in chemotherapy resistance in some cancers. According to our results, cells with a higher level of RRBP1 were more resistant to ER stress. Ectopic expression of RRBP1 alleviated apoptosis that was induced by the ER-stress agent tunicamycin, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) or doxorubicin via enhancing GRP78 protein expression. A strong correlation was observed between the expression of RRBP1 and GRP78 in tumor biopsies using the database GSE10072. Our results also indicated that RRBP1 may involve in the regulation of mRNA stability of UPR components including ATF6 and GRP78. Taken together, RRBP1 could alleviate ER stress and help cancer cell survive. RRBP1 is critical for tumor cell survival, which may make it a useful target in lung cancer treatment and a candidate for the development of new targeted therapeutics.

Proliferation characteristics of canine transmissible venereal tumor.

Canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT) grows progressively (P-phase) in the host and then spontaneously regresses (R-phase). The mechanisms behind the transition from the P-to R-phases are not well understood. In this study, in order to determine the proliferation characteristics of CTVT, we evaluated telomerase activity and enumerated nuclear organizing regions (AgNOR) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). It was found that CTVT cells from the P-and R-phases were both positive for telomerase activity, although it was lower in the R-phase. Evaluations of telomerase activity should take into account the stage of mitosis. Although, in the majority of cases, telomerase activity can be used to differentiate between benign and malignant tumors in dogs, other factors or markers should also be used to obtain accurate diagnoses. The PCNA-positive rate and the number and area of AgNOR per cell increased much more in the P-phase than the R-phase. However, the AgNOR values were always higher. Thus, the AgNOR count can be used to distinguish the P-and R-phases of CTVT. In addition, mitotic figures were much higher in number in the P-phase as compared to the R-phase. We believe that, during spontaneous regression of CTVT cells, slow tumor cell proliferation must contribute to the decrease in tumor size. However, shortening of tumor cell telomeres is not directly involved in this process. Other factors, such as expression of MHC antigens on CTVT cells, humoral immunity, cytokines released by the inflammatory cells and, especially, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes may contribute to CTVT regression.