Total pelvic exenteration and a new model of diversion for giant primitive neuroectodermal tumor of prostate: A case report and review of the literature.

The present study reports a rare primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) of prostate. A 27-year-old male was admitted to Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital (Harbin, China) for dysuria and dyschezia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a large mass that may involve the bladder and rectum next to the prostate. Histopathological analysis of biopsy of prostate indicated mesenchymal origin tumor, and immunohistochemistric staining confirmed diagnosis of PNET of prostate. En bloc total pelvic exenteration and double barrel sigmoidostomy were performed. Double stomas in the skin incision were used for fecal and urinary diversion, respectively. Short-term outcome is satisfactory, while long-term efficacy remains to be poor. Clinical features of PNET of prostate should be paid much more attention and radical surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy should be recommended.

Down-regulation of CIT can inhibit the growth of human bladder cancer cells.

OBJECTIVE: Our study is to examine the citron rho-interacting, serine/threonine kinase 21 (CIT) in bladder cancer. METHODS: We examined CIT level in human bladder cancer tissues by immunohistochemical staining. To explore the impact of CIT on cell proliferation and apoptosis, we down-regulated its expression in two human bladder cancer cell lines, 5367 and T24. We examined cell growth in 5367 and T24. We also performed in vivo analysis using T24 cells. We further used microarray expression profiling to investigate genes differentially expressed in T24 cells with CIT down-regulated. RESULTS: In 100 human samples, CIT was expressed by only 2 of 30 (6.7 %) controls in bladder tissues, whereas by 64 of 70 (91.4 %) cancer patients in tumor tissues (p < 0.001). in vitro analysis demonstrated that CIT knockdown represses cell proliferation by 50 % in both cells and colony formation (77 ± 5 vs. 13 ± 2, p = 0.001 for T24, 58 ± 3 vs. 1 ± 1, p < 0.001 for 5637). We also found CIT knockdown could induce cell cycle arrest, and promote apoptosis in both cells. Tumor-volume monitoring and live in vivo bladder cancer imaging in human xenograft model confirmed that CIT knockdown reduces tumor volume (668.4 ± 333.0 vs. 305.7 ± 170.4 mm3, p = 0.02) and weight (0.27 ± 0.15 vs. 0.57 ± 0.32 g, p = 0.02). Microarray analysis revealed that CIT may regulate cell cycle signalling pathway through various cell cycle regulators. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we provided clinical and experimental evidence that CIT may promote bladder cancer through regulation of cell cycle pathway.

Role of the NOD1/NF-κB pathway on bovine neutrophil responses to crude lipopolysaccharide.

Cytosolic nucleotide oligomerisation domain (NOD)-like receptors play an important role in host defence against infection. Reduced NOD1 expression has been observed in dysfunctional neutrophils derived from periparturient cattle known to be most susceptible to coliform mastitis. However, whether impairment of NOD1 suppresses the immune responses of bovine neutrophils during bacterial infections remains unknown. Crude (phenol extracted) lipopolysaccharide (cLPS), which often contains other immunostimulatory molecules, including NOD1 agonist, is known to induce almost the whole bacterial response. This study was conducted to explore the role of NOD1/nuclear factor (NF)-κB pathway in the cytokine and functional responses of bovine neutrophils challenged with Escherichia coli-derived cLPS. Freshly isolated blood neutrophils from healthy heifers were pre-incubated for 2 h with ML130, a selective inhibitor of NOD1/NF-κB pathway. Cells were then exposed to cLPS for additional 4 h. Inhibition of the NOD1/NF-κB pathway resulted in a decrease in cLPS-induced phosphorylation of the inhibitor of NF-κBα (IκBα) in neutrophils. Impairment of the NOD1/NF-κB pathway tended to down-regulate mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1ß and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, chemokines IL-8 and C-X-C motif ligand 2 (CXCL2), and adhesion molecules CD11b and CD62L, in cLPS-challenged cells. Functional analyses showed that blocking the NOD1/NF-κB pathway inhibited neutrophil migration and phagocytic killing capacity, and promoted neutrophil death upon cLPS stimulation. The data presented here demonstrate that activation of NOD1/NF-κB pathway contributes to the functional responses of neutrophils to cLPS.

Effector responses of bovine blood neutrophils against Escherichia coli: Role of NOD1/NF-κB signalling pathway.

Neutrophils use a broad array of pattern recognition receptors to sense and respond to invading pathogens and are important in the early control of acute bacterial infections. Nucleotide-binding oligomerizing domain-1 (NOD1) is a cytoplasmic receptor involved in recognizing bacterial peptidoglycan. Reduced neutrophil NOD1 expression has been reported in periparturient dairy cows. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of NOD1 signalling in the early responses of bovine neutrophils to bacterial infections. Blood neutrophils from healthy heifers were preincubated for 2h with ML130, a selective inhibitor of NOD1-dependent nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. Thereafter, cells were cultured with live Escherichia coli for additional 30 min or subjected to Boyden chamber cell migration assay with E. coli in the lower chamber. Results showed that ML130 inhibited E. coli-induced NF-κB nuclear translocation. There was an indication, although not significant, that ML130 down-regulated gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1ß and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, chemokines IL-8 and C-X-C motif ligand 2 (CXCL2), and adhesion molecule CD62L, in E. coli-challenged neutrophils. Flow cytometry-based Annexin V staining revealed a considerable increase in neutrophil survival upon E. coli infection, an effect that was attenuated in the presence of ML130. Additionally, inhibition of NOD1/NF-κB signalling resulted in reduced migration of neutrophils to E. coli, and impaired phagocytosis, intracellular bacterial killing and reactive oxygen species production by neutrophils. These results indicate that NOD1/NF-κB pathway plays a crucial role in modulating neutrophil responses that are important for early control of infections. Approaches aiming at restoring neutrophil NOD1 function could be beneficial for prevention or treatment of coliform mastitis.

Isolation and characterization of peripheral blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells from broiler chickens.

Peripheral blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been extensively studied in mammals but the isolation and characterization of EPCs in avian species have not been reported. In this study, chicken peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) were cultured under conditions favoring endothelial-specific differentiation for 2 weeks. One heterogeneous cell population dominated by spindle-shaped cells (early EPCs) and one homogeneous cell population exhibiting cobblestone-like morphology (endothelial outgrowth cells, EOCs) appeared sequentially. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed the expression of several progenitor and endothelial cell markers such as CD133, VEGFR-2 and CD31 in both cell populations. However, CD34, another progenitor marker, was undetectable in either freshly isolated PBMNCs or cultured cells. The endothelial phenotype of the EOCs was further identified by acetylated low-density lipoprotein/lectin double staining, and in vitro tube formation. Collectively, these data demonstrate that chicken EPCs can be isolated and cultured from PBMNCs and suggest that EPCs obtained from peripheral blood may originate mainly from the CD34- subpopulation.