[Expression and clinic pathological significance of survivin mRNA and protein in salivary gland tumors].

PURPOSE: The study is aimed to determine the expression of survivin mRNA in salivary gland tumors and its significance in the development and progress of salivary gland tumors. METHODS: The expression of survivin mRNA both in benign and malignant salivary gland tumor tissues and in peripheral tissues was identified by in situ hybridizations assay with the prepared tissue chips. The data were analyzed by Chi-square test and rank sum test using SPSS10.0 software package. RESULTS: The difference in the expression of survivin mRNA was significant between benign and malignant salivary gland tumors (P<0.05). But not significant between the gland tissues around the tumors and malignant tumors (P>0.05). The difference in the expression of survivin mRNA in malignant salivary gland tumor was significant in the pathological grade, lymph node status and relapse of the tumor (P<0.05), but not significant in gender, age of the patients and size of the tumors (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of survivin mRNA is associated with clinic pathological characteristics of the malignant salivary gland tumors. Survivin mRNA may play a crucial role in earlier diagnosis and prognosis of the malignant salivary gland tumors.

Effects of emodin and baicalein on rats with severe acute pancreatitis.

AIM: To investigate the therapeutic effects of emodin in combination with baicalein on severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) rats and to explore the mechanism of SAP. METHODS: A total of 112 SAP rats induced by retrograde injection of 5% sodium taurocholate into the biliary-pancreatic duct, randomly assigned to a untreated group and three treated groups emodin group, combined emodin and baicalein group, and sandostatin group. Meanwhile, another 28 other rats were selected as sham operation (SO) group. There were 28 rats in each group, 8 rats were in 3 and 6 h groups respectively, and 12 rats in 12 h group. At each time-points, survival rates, ascites volumes, pathological lesion scores of pancreas tissues, serum amylase, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and IL-6 levels were determined as the indexes of therapeutic effects. RESULTS: The survival rate at 12 h was significantly higher in three treated groups than in untreated group. The ascites volume at 12 h was remarkably less in combined and sandostatin groups than in emodin group, but there was no difference between combined group and sandostatin group (P>0.05). Serum amylase levels at all time-points were significantly lower in three treated groups than in untreated group. However, they had no difference among treated groups (P>0.05). Serum TNF-alpha were lower in three treated groups than in untreated group at all time points. Among the three treated groups, at 6 h, the TNF-alpha levels of combination and sandostatin groups were lower than those of emodin group. These was no difference between combined and sandostantin. Serum IL-6 concentration at 3 h were lower in combined and sandostatin groups than in untreated group, but at 6 and 12 h they were lower in all treated groups than in untreated group and the combined and sandostatin groups and in emodin group, no difference was found between combined and sandostatin groups at all time-points (P>0.05). The pathological scores of pancreas at all time points were significantly lower in three treated groups than in the untreated group, and at 6, 12 h, the scores of combined and sandostatin groups were lower than in emodin group. There was no difference between combined and sandostatin groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Combination of emodin with baicalein has significant therapeutic effects on SAP rats.

Relationship of gastric Helicobacter pylori infection to Barrett's esophagus and gastro-esophageal reflux disease in Chinese.

AIM: To evaluate the relationship of Helicobacter pylori infection to reflux esophagitis (RE), Barrett's esophagus (BE) and gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM). METHODS: RE, BE and gastric IM were determined by upper endoscopy. Patients were divided into 2 groups; those with squamocolumnar junction (SCJ) beyond gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) > =3 cm (group A), and those with SCJ beyond GEJ <3 cm (group B). Biopsy specimens were obtained endoscopically from just below the SCJ, gastric antrum along the greater and lesser curvature. Pathological changes and H pylori infection were determined by HE staining, Alcian blue staining and Giemsa staining. RESULTS: The prevalence of H pylori infection was 46.93%. There was no difference in the prevalence between males and females. The prevalence of H pylori infection decreased stepwise significantly from RE grade I to III. There was no difference in the prevalence between the two groups, and between long-segment and short-segment BE. In distal stomach, prevalence of H pylori infection was significantly higher in patients with IM than those without IM. CONCLUSION: There is a protective role of H pylori infection to GERD. There may be no relationship between H pylori infection of stomach and BE. H pylori infection is associated with the development of IM in the distal stomach.

Barrett's esophagus and its correlation with gastroesophageal reflux in Chinese.

AIM: To study the prevalence of Barrett's esophagus in Chinese and its correlation with gastroesophageal reflux. METHODS: This study was carried out in a large prospective series of 391 patients who had undergone upper endoscopy. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to the position of squamocolumnar junction (SCJ). Reflux esophagitis (RE) and its degree were recorded. Intestinal metaplasia (IM) in biopsy specimen was typed according to histochemistry and HE and alcian blue (pH2.5) staining separately. Results correlating with clinical, endoscopic, and pathological data were analysed. RESULTS: The prevalence of IM endoscopically appearing Long-segment Barrett's Esophagus (LSBE) was 26.53%, Short-segment Barrett's Esophagus (SSBE) was 33.85% and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) was 34.00%. IM increased with age of above 40 years old and no difference was found between male and female. Twelve were diagnosed as dysplasia (7 low-grade, 5 high-grade), 16 were diagnosed as cardiac adenocarcinoma and 1 as esophageal adenocarcinoma. The more far away the SCJ moved upward above GEJ, the higher the prevalence and the more severe the RE were. CONCLUSION: There was no difference of the prevalence of IM in different places of SCJ, and IM increased with age of above 40 years old. It is important to pay attention to dysplasia in the distal esophagus and gastro-esophageal junction, and adenocarcinoma is more common in cardia than in esophagus. BE is a consequence of gastroesophageal reflux disease.

In situ expression and significance of B7 costimulatory molecules within tissues of human gastric carcinoma.

AIM: To explore the role and significance of costimulatory molecules B7H1,B7H2 and ICOS within tissues of human gastric carcinoma and the possible mechanisms in tumor escape. METHODS: mRNA expressions of costimulatory molecules including B7H1,B7H2,ICOS and B7-1 in tissues of human gastric carcinoma were investigated by in situ hybridization using digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotide-probes. The tissue of chronic gastric ulcer was used as a control. All data were analyzed by SPSS statistic software. RESULTS: At the site of gastric carcinoma, mRNA expression levels of B7H1, B7H2 and ICOS were much higher than that of B7-1. Their mRNA positive expression indexes were 0.512+/-0.333, 0.812+/-0.454, 0.702+/-0.359 and 0.293+/-0.253, respectively. The positively stained cells were mainly tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and some tumor cells. The difference between them was greatly significant P<0.005. The mRNA expression levels of four molecules were not correlated to the pathological grade and matastasis of gastric carcinoma. CONCLUSION: ICOS-B7H costimulatory pathway may be predominant at the site of gastric carcinoma. B7-1mRNA might be the basis of ICOS-B7H interaction. ICOS-B7H interaction induces the production of IL-10 which inhibits the antitumor immune responses. Therefore, it is supposed that ICOS-B7H costimulatory pathway may be involved in the negative regulation of cell-mediated immune responses.