Int J Clin Exp Patho
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2015
Role of growth differentiation factor-5 and bone morphogenetic protein type II receptor in the development of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration.
The present study was designed to evaluate the role of growth differentiation factor-5 (GDF-5) and bone morphogenetic protein type II receptor (BMPR-II) in the development of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). A total of 24 patients with lumbar IDD (experiment group) and 6 patients with lumbar vertebral fracture (control group) were enrolled in the study. Tissue samples of IVD from the experiment group and control group were obtained during lumbar fusion operation, respectively. ⋯ According to the immunohistochemical results, the positive expression rates of GDF-5 and BMPRII in NP were higher than those in AF of the non- and minimal degeneration group, moderate degeneration group and severe degeneration group (all P < 0.05). However, no significant difference in GDF-5 or BMPRII positive expression was observed among the normal, non- and minimal, moderate and severe degeneration groups in neither NP area nor AF area (all P > 0.05). In conclusion, our results showed that GDF-5 and BMPRII expressed both in normal and degenerated IVD tissues, and GDF-5 might have an inhibition effect on degenerated lumbar IVD, suggesting that gene therapy may be a useful approach in producing physiological effects during early- and late-phase of lumbar IDD.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2015
N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide as a marker of blunt cardiac contusion in trauma.
Cardiac contusion is usually caused by blunt chest trauma and, although it is potentially a life-threatening condition, the diagnosis of a myocardial contusion is difficult because of non-specific symptoms and the lack of an ideal test to detect myocardial damage. Cardiac enzymes, such as creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase MB fraction (CK-MB), cardiac troponin I (cTn-I), and cardiac troponin T (cTn-T) were used in previous studies to demonstrate the blunt cardiac contusion (BCC). Each of these diagnostic tests alone is not effective for diagnosis of BCC. ⋯ A relation between NT-Pro BNP and BCC was shown in this study. Serum NT-proBNP levels significantly increased with BCC after 5 hours of the blunt chest trauma. The use of NT-proBNP as an adjunct to other diagnostic tests, such as troponins, electrocardiography (ECG), chest x-ray and echocardiogram may be beneficial for diagnosis of BCC.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2015
Downregulation of NUF2 inhibits tumor growth and induces apoptosis by regulating lncRNA AF339813.
Recent studies have shown that NUF2 (Ndc80 kinetochore complex component) play important roles in multiple human cancers. In our previous report, NUF2 expression was stronger in tumor tissues than in normal pancreatic tissues. However, whether and how NUF2 play a role in pancreatic cancer progression remains largely unknown. ⋯ We further demonstrated that knockdown of AF339813 by siRNA in PC cells significantly reduced cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis. Thus, we conclude that NUF2 is consistently overexpressed in human PC and NUF2 is closely linked with human PC progression through the meditator LncRNA AF339813. Our studies may contribute to understand the molecular mechanism of PC pathogenesis and clinical therapy.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2015
Changes of Th17/Treg cell and related cytokines in pancreatic cancer patients.
To explore the mechanism of Th17 cells and Treg cells in the peripheral blood of patients with pancreatic cancer through analyzing the changes of the related genes and cytokines expression. 40 patients were divided into three groups based on clinical staging, and 20 healthy subjects were treated as normal control. Proportion of Th17 cells and Treg cells were detected by flow cytometry. RORα, RORγt, FoxP3, and CTLA-4 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were detected by RT-PCR. ⋯ Following the progression of disease, patients in advanced stage exhibited higher level of IL-10 and TGF-β, and lower levels of IL-23 and INF-γ. Pancreatic cancer patients exhibited Th17/Treg balance disorders with higher Treg and lower Th17 cells. They affect cytokine IL-10, IL-23, INF-γ, TGF-β, and IL-17 expression changes mainly through regulating transcription factors such as RORα, RORγt, FoxP3 and CTLA-4, suggesting that Th17/Treg balance disorders plays an important role in the tumorigenesis of pancreatic cancer.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2015
Prognostic significance of preoperative C-reactive protein: albumin ratio in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
We undertook a retrospective analysis to evaluate the C-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio for its prognostic value in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC). The study comprised 406 CCRCC patients undergoing nephrectomy between 2003 and 2012 in our hospital. The correlations among the pretreatment CRP/Alb ratio, clinicopathological parameters, and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. ⋯ At last, we evaluated the prognostic value of the CRP/Alb ratio compared with the similar inflammation-based prognostic scores GPS and mGPS using the area under the curve (AUC). Although the differences were not statistically significant, the AUC value of the CRP/Alb ratio (continuous, categorical) was higher compared with the GPS and mGPS, except that the AUC value for the CRP/Alb ratio (categorical) at 3 years was lower than that for the GPS. The CRP/Alb ratio could take the place of the GPS and mGPS in terms of predicting prognosis in CCRCC.