Association of DNA methyltransferases 3A and 3B polymorphisms, and plasma folate levels with the risk of urothelial carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Interindividual genetic variations of human DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), which involve the methyl donor from the folate-related one-carbon metabolism pathway, are hypothesized as a risk factor for urothelial carcinoma (UC). Therefore, we evaluated the role of gene-environment interaction in UC carcinogenesis. METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted by recruiting 192 patients with UC and 381 controls. Their plasma folate levels were measured using a competitive immunoassay kit. In addition, DNMT3A -448A>G and DNMT3B -579G>T genotyping was evaluated using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Multivariate logistic regression and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to estimate the UC risk. RESULTS: We observed that patients with UC exhibited a higher prevalence rate of folate insufficiency (folate levels ≤6 ng/mL) compared with the controls (35.94% and 18.37%, respectively). Furthermore, folate levels were higher in the prevalent UC patients than in the incident UC patients. However, folate insufficiency was similarly associated with a nearly two-fold increase in the risk of UC regardless of the UC patient group. In addition, the frequencies of the variant alleles for DNMT3A and DNMT3B were 0.80 and 0.92, respectively, and no association was observed with UC risk. However, participants with a variant homozygous genotype of DNMT3B -579G>T and folate insufficiency or with high cumulative cigarette smoking exhibited an increased risk of UC. CONCLUSION: Overall, environmental factors may contribute more significantly to UC carcinogenesis compared with genetic susceptibility. Future studies should investigate other polymorphisms of DNMT3A and DNMT3B to determine genetic susceptibility.

The in vivo biodistribution and fate of CdSe quantum dots in the murine model: a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry study.

Understanding the cytotoxicity of quantum dots strongly relies upon the development of new analytical techniques to gather information about various aspects of the system. In this study, we demonstrate the in vivo biodistribution and fate of CdSe quantum dots in the murine model by means of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). By comparing the hot zones of each element acquired from LA-ICP-MS with those in fluorescence images, together with hematoxylin and eosin-stained images, we are able to perceive the fate and in vivo interactions between quantum dots and rat tissues. One hour after intravenous injection, we found that all of the quantum dots had been concentrated inside the spleen, liver and kidneys, while no quantum dots were found in other tissues (i.e., muscle, brain, lung, etc.). In the spleen, cadmium-114 signals always appeared in conjunction with iron signals, indicating that the quantum dots had been filtered from main vessels and then accumulated inside splenic red pulp. In the liver, the overlapped hot zones of quantum dots and those of phosphorus, copper, and zinc showed that these quantum dots have been retained inside hepatic cells. Importantly, it was noted that in the kidneys, quantum dots went into the cortical areas of adrenal glands. At the same time, hot zones of copper appeared in proximal tubules of the cortex. This could be a sign that the uptake of quantum dots initiates certain immune responses. Interestingly, the intensity of the selenium signals was not proportional to that of cadmium in all tissues. This could be the result of the decomposition of the quantum dots or matrix interference. In conclusion, the advantage in spatial resolution of LA-ICP-MS is one of the most powerful tools to probe the fate, interactions and biodistribution of quantum dots in vivo.