MicroRNA-181a-5p suppresses cell proliferation by targeting Egr1 and inhibiting Egr1/TGF-ß/Smad pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Early growth response factor 1 (Egr1) plays a crucial role in cancer progression. However, its precise role in HCC has not been clear. Here, we identified the aggravating role of Egr1 in cell proliferation of HCC firstly. The expression of Egr1 was significantly increased in HCC tissues. Functionally, overexpression of Egr1 enhanced, whereas silenced Egr1 expression attenuated HCC cells proliferation in vitro. Mechanistically, up-regulated Egr1 induced cell proliferation through activating Transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1/Smad signaling pathway concomitantly with upregulation of p-Smad2 and p-Smad3. Secondly, miR-181a-5p was down-regulated in clinical HCC specimens and its expression was inversely correlated with Egr1 expression. Functionally, overexpression of miR-181a-5p inhibited, whereas decreased expression of miR-181a-5p promoted HCC cells proliferation in vitro. Furthermore, we demonstrated that miR-181a-5p overexpression directly suppressed Egr1, resulting in a down-regulated TGF-ß1/Smad pathway. Besides, the silenced Egr1 expression could rescue the enhanced cell proliferation induced by miR-181a-5p inhibitor. Thus, we concluded that miR-181a-5p is a negative regulator of Egr1 that can suppress tumor proliferation in HCC through targeting Egr1/TGF-ß1/Smad pathway, which may be a potential therapeutic approach of HCC.

Clinicopathological characteristics of xeroderma pigmentosum associated with keratoacanthoma: a case report and literature review.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, and treatment of xeroderma pigmentosum associated with keratoacanthoma in an infant. METHODS: The clinical manifestations of xeroderma pigmentosum associated with keratoacanthoma were assessed in an 18-month old boy. The morphological and histological features of the lesions were examined by light microscopy. RESULTS: An 18-month old boy was admitted with unequal size, irregularly shaped brown spots, patches and depigmentation spots on his face. A well-circumscribed hemispherical mass measuring 3 cm × 3 cm with smooth surface and brown patches was observed beneath his left lower eyelid. Light microscopic examination of the skin lesions revealed epidermal hyperkeratosis, chronic inflammatory infiltration of the superficial dermal layer, and increases in melanocytes and melanin in the basal layer. Scanning microscopy showed that the mass beneath the left lower eyelid was cup-shaped, consisting of proliferating squamous cells with a central keratin plug. The squamous epithelium was acanthotic with hypergranulosis. The adjacent epidermis formed exophytic projections resulting in a silhouette likened to lips. An associated inflammatory reaction was observed within the stroma surrounding the mass. The patient was treated with a combination of antioxidant drugs, keeping the child from light and surgical excision of the mass. No recurrence has been observed. CONCLUSIONS: Xeroderma pigmentosum of infancy is a rare disease, and association with keratoacanthoma is even rarer. This condition should be considered in the differential diagnosis of freckles, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome and porphyria.

[Primary neuroendocrine tumor of the testis: clinicopathological study of 7 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics, diagnosis, differential diagnosis and treatment of primary neuroendocrine tumor (NET) of the testis. METHODS: Using light microscopy and immunohistochemistry, we studied 7 cases of primary NET of the testis, reviewed relevant literature, and analyzed the clinical manifestations, histomorphologic and immunohistochemical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of the tumor. RESULTS: The 7 male patients, at the mean age of 40.6 years, all presented with testicular painless masses, none accompanied with carcinoid syndrome. Histologically, the uniform tumor cells were arranged in trabecular, island, solid and/or flake structures and locally in a tubulo glandular pattern, round and polygonal in shape, with a small amount of lipid vacuoles in the eosinophilic cytoplasm. The cells had round nuclei with fine chromatin and rarely identified mitosis. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the tumor cells were positive for Syn, CgA, NSE and CK, with a Ki-67 positive rate of < 2%. CONCLUSION: Primary NET of the testis is a rare and low-grade malignancy. Early diagnosis and surgical resection are essential for good prognosis. Immunohistochemistry helps its diagnosis and differential diagnosis from other metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma, teratomas with carcinoid, seminoma, and Sertoli cell tumor.

RPS8--a new informative DNA marker for phylogeny of Babesia and Theileria parasites in China.

Piroplasmosis is a serious debilitating and sometimes fatal disease. Phylogenetic relationships within piroplasmida are complex and remain unclear. We compared the intron-exon structure and DNA sequences of the RPS8 gene from Babesia and Theileria spp. isolates in China. Similar to 18S rDNA, the 40S ribosomal protein S8 gene, RPS8, including both coding and non-coding regions is a useful and novel genetic marker for defining species boundaries and for inferring phylogenies because it tends to have little intra-specific variation but considerable inter-specific difference. However, more samples are needed to verify the usefulness of the RPS8 (coding and non-coding regions) gene as a marker for the phylogenetic position and detection of most Babesia and Theileria species, particularly for some closely related species.

Expression and biological significance of human kallikrein 6 in gastric cancer tissues.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aims to investigate the expression of human kallikrein 6 (hK6) in gastric cancer, gastric ulcer and normal gastric mucosa tissues and its biological significance. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The expression of hK6 in 15 normal gastric mucosa (NGM) tissues, 15 gastric ulcer (GU) tissues and 55 gastric carcinoma (GC) tissues was respectively detected by immunohistochemistry. The correlations between the expression of hK6 and the clinical pathological parameters of gastric cancer were also analyzed. RESULTS: Human kallikrein 6 was mainly expressed in cytoplasm. The positive rate of hK6 was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than that in gastric ulcer or normal gastric mucosa tissues (70.9%, 40% and 20%, respectively, p < 0.01). With the increase of the invasion depth of gastric cancer cells, aggravation of TNM stage and development of lymph node metastasis, the expression of hK6 increased significantly (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). There was no obvious correlation between the expression of hK6 and sex, age, tumor diameter, histodifferentiation degree or primary pathological location of gastric cancer (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The overexpression of hK6 is related to the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage of gastric carcinoma, which suggests that hK6 may act as a new marker of gastric cancer biological behavior.

[Preliminary study on the MLVA genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Fujian province].

OBJECTIVE: To preliminarily understand the genotyping characteristics regarding the variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates so as to provide evidence for the development of tuberculosis control and prevention programs in Fujian province. METHODS: Fifteen VNTR locus sets were used to detect the clinical isolates from the fifth surveillance project on tuberculosis resistance, in Fujian province. BioNumerics version 4.5 were used to analyze the cluster from the results generated by genotyping. RESULTS: 313 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were divided into 9 clusters, including I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX, with the number of 220, 9, 48, 2, 1, 3, 10, 10, 10 isolates, respectively. Cluster I was the major lineage, accounting for 70.3% (220/313) of the total. Resistance rates of cluster I isolates to isoniazid, streptomycin, ethambutol and multi-drug-resistant were not statistically different from other clusters (P > 0.05). However, resistance rate to rifampicin (RFP) was significantly higher than that of other isolates of the clusters, 33.2% (73/220) vs. 20.4% (19/93) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The strains isolated from Fujian province showed significant polymorphism on genotyping. Cluster I seemed to be the dominant, calling for the close monitoring program on cluster I strains. RESULTS: from our initial studies demonstrated the existence of significant correlation between cluster I strains and drug resistance to RFP.

[Large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumor of the testis: a clinicopathological observation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumor (LCCSCT) of the testis. METHODS: We studied a case of LCCSCT by light microscopy, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, reviewed relevant literature, and analyzed the clinical, morphological and immunohistochemical features, treatment and prognosis of the tumor. RESULTS: The patient was a 25 years old man. Pathohistologically, the tumor was characterized by a mass of polygonal tumor cells in a tubular and trabecular growth pattern, with abundant acidophilic cytoplasm, enlarged vesicular nuclei, and extensive calcified debris in stroma. The tumor cells were positive for inhibin, S-100, vimentin and alcian blue, but negative for PLAP, SMA, CK, AFP and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) reaction. CONCLUSION: LCCSCT is a rare testicular sex cord stromal tumor. Its diagnosis is based on immunohistochemical staining, and it is to be differentiated from other lesions of the testis, including seminoma, Leydig cell tumor, Sertoli cell node, and androgen insensitivity syndrome. For the treatment of LCCSCT, surgical resection often has a good prognosis.

[Correlation of hK6 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To approach the relationship between the expression of hK6 in ovarian neoplasm and clinicopathological variables and prognosis in ovarian cancer patients for finding a new tumor marker of the ovarian cancer. METHODS: The expression of hK6 was detected by immunohistochemistry in 19 cases of benign, 11 cases of borderline and 45 cases of malignant ovarian neoplasms and statistically analyzed whether its expression correlate with clinicopathological variables and prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer. RESULTS: The expression of hK6 in ovarian cancer tissues (60.0%) was significantly higher than that in the benign (15.8%) and borderline (27.3%) ovarian neoplasm tissues (P < 0.01). The expression of hK6 in higher-grade ovarian cancer tissues (68.4% ) was higher than that in low-grade ones (14.3%, P < 0.05). The expression of hK6 in late-stage (stage III, 76.7%) was significantly higher than that in early-stage (stage I or II, 26.7%, P < 0.01). The expression of hK6 was significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastasis (77.8%) than that in patients without (33.3%, P < 0.01). The expression of hK6 in the cancer tissues in the patients died, or with reccurence or metastasis within 3 years after surgery was higher (75.0%) than that in the patients with stable disease (42.9%, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The expression of hK6 in ovarian cancer was higher than that in benign and borderline ovarian neoplasms. The expression of hK6 is higher in the ovarian cancer of late stage, higher-grade, with lymph node metastasis and is associated with a poorer prognosis. hK6 may become a new markers in prediction of prognosis of the patients with ovarian tumors.