Tumor Suppressor Role and Clinical Significance of the FEV Gene in Prostate Cancer.

Background: In our previous research, we developed a 32-gene risk index model that may be utilized as a robust prognostic method for predicting prostate cancer (PCa) recurrence after surgery. Among the 32 genes, the Fifth Ewing Variant (FEV) gene was one of the top downregulated genes in relapsed PCa. However, current understanding of the FEV gene and its involvement in PCa is limited. Methods: FEV mRNA expression was analyzed and correlated to clinical outcomes in PCa patients who underwent prostatectomy at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Specimens from tissue microarray (TMA) including 102 prostate cancer patients were analysis for the expression of FEV. Meanwhile, FEV expression profiles were also assessed in PCa cell lines and in BPH-1 prostate epithelial cells using western blotting and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR). Furthermore, we transfected LNCaP and PC-3 cells with either an empty vector or full-length FEV gene and performed in vitro cell functional assays. The part FEV plays in tumor xenograft growth was also assessed in vivo. Results: Of the 191 patients included in this study base on the DASL dataset, 77 (40.3%) and 24 (13.6%), respectively, developed prostate-specific antigen (PSA) relapse and metastasis postradical prostatectomy. Significant FEV downregulation was observed in PCa patients showing PSA failure and metastasis. The protein expression of FEV was significantly negatively correlated with the Gleason score and pathological stage in prostate cancer tissues. Similarly, FEV expression significantly decreased in all PCa cell lines relative to BPH-1 (all P < 0.05). Functional assays revealed that FEV expression markedly inhibited PCa cell growth, migration, and invasion, which in turn significantly repressed the growth of tumor xenografts in vivo. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest an association between downregulated FEV expression and PSA relapse in PCa patients. In addition, FEV may act as a tumor suppressor in PCa.

The Top 100 Highly Cited Original Articles on Immunotherapy for Childhood Leukemia.

Background: Childhood leukemia is one of the most common cancers in children. As a potential treatment for leukemia, immunotherapy has become a new research hotspot. This research aimed at exploring the status and trends of current researches on immunotherapy for childhood leukemia through bibliometric analysis. Methods: The Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science core collection database was searched for articles on immunotherapy and childhood leukemia using a computer. Time period for retrieval was from the beginning of the database to June 15, 2019. The top 100 highly cited articles were selected to extract their information on publication year, authors, title, publication journal, number of citations, author's affiliations, country, and so on. These general information and bibliometric data were collected for analysis. VOSviewer software was used to generate a figure for keywords' co-occurrence network and a figure for researcher's coauthorship network that visualized reference and cooperation patterns for different terms in the 100 articles. Results: The number of citations in the top 100 articles ranged from 17 to 471. These articles were published in 52 different publications. The top four journals in terms of the number of our selected articles were Leukemia (11 articles), Blood (10 articles), Bone Marrow Transplantation (6 articles), and Clinical Cancer Research. The most frequently nominated author was T. Klingebiel from Goethe University Frankfurt, and of the top 100 articles, 12 listed his name. These top 100 articles were published after the year 2000. Most of these articles were original (67%). The United States and Germany were the major countries researching immunotherapy for childhood leukemia and made significant contributions to the combat against the disease. Adoptive immunotherapy and stem cell transplantation appeared more frequently in keywords. Conclusions: This study analyzed the top 100 highly cited articles on immunotherapy for childhood leukemia and provided insights into the features and research hotspots of the articles on this issue.

[Construction of a mouse pDsRed2-N1-SDF-1alpha eukaryotic expression vector and its expression in mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells].

OBJECTIVE: To construct the eukaryotic expression vector pDsRed2-N1-SDF-1alpha and observe its expression in the mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. METHOD: SDF-1alpha gene sequence with XhoI, EcoRI restriction enzyme cutting site was amplified from the total RNA of mouse smooth muscle cells by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and inserted into the eukaryotic expression vector pDsRed2-N1 encoding red fluorescent protein gene, and the insertion was verified by endonuclease digestion and DNA sequencing. Mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells identified with immunofluorescence assay for vimentin expression were transfected with the constructed plasmid pDsRed2-N1-SDF-1alpha, and the expression of sdf-1alpha was detected using immunofluorescence assay. RESULTS: The DNA fragment amplified by PCR from the total RNA was identical to SDF-1alpha from the gene library, and an identical DNA fragment was also amplified from the recombinants. Sequence analysis confirmed the successful insertion of SDF-1alpha into the pDsRed2-N1 vector and the eukaryotic expression vector pDsRed2-N1-SDF-1alpha was successfully constructed. The cultured mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells positive for vimentin protein showed SDF-1alpha expression 24 h after transfection with the recombinant vector. CONCLUSION: The pDsRed2-N1-SDF-1alpha eukaryotic expression vector constructed is capable of expression of SDF-1alpha fusion protein in the mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.