Involvement of potential pathways in malignant transformation from Oral Leukoplakia to Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma revealed by proteomic analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common forms of cancer associated with the presence of precancerous oral leukoplakia. Given the poor prognosis associated with oral leukoplakia, and the difficulties in distinguishing it from cancer lesions, there is an urgent need to elucidate the molecular determinants and critical signal pathways underlying the malignant transformation of precancerous to cancerous tissue, and thus to identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic target.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have utilized two dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by ESI-Q-TOF-LC-MS/MS to identify proteins differentially expressed in six pairs of oral leukoplakia tissues with dysplasia and oral squamous cancer tissues, each pair was collected from a single patient. Approximately 85 differentially and constantly expressed proteins (> two-fold change, P < 0.05) were identified, including 52 up-regulated and 33 down-regulated. Gene ontological methods were employed to identify the biological processes that were over-represented in this carcinogenic stage. Biological networks were also constructed to reveal the potential links between those protein candidates. Among them, three homologs of proteosome activator PA28 a, b and g were shown to have up-regulated mRNA levels in OSCC cells relative to oral keratinocytes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Varying levels of differentially expressed proteins were possibly involved in the malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia. Their expression levels, bioprocess, and interaction networks were analyzed using a bioinformatics approach. This study shows that the three homologs of PA28 may play an important role in malignant transformation and is an example of a systematic biology study, in which functional proteomics were constructed to help to elucidate mechanistic aspects and potential involvement of proteins. Our results provide new insights into the pathogenesis of oral cancer. These differentially expressed proteins may have utility as useful candidate markers of OSCC.</p

Islands and holes as measures of mass balance in growth of the (√3×√3)R30° phase of Ag on Si(111)

It is well known that conversion of Si(111)-(7×7) into the (√3×√3)R30° phase of adsorbed Ag requires a change in the Si density, and causes formation of islands and holes at the surface. By mass balance, the ratio of areas of islands and holes (RIH) should be approximately 1. However, we find that the ratio is significantly higher, depending on preparation conditions. A possible explanation would be that there are different types of (√3×√3)R30° structures. However, neither scanning tunneling microscopy nor density-functional theory (implemented as a genetic algorithm search) supports this explanation. We propose that the edges of the islands contain excess Ag which becomes available to expand the holes, when the island perimeter decreases. Under certain conditions, excess Ag is also made available by dissolution of small islands that are Ag rich

Patients\u27 Acceptance of Smartphone Health Technology for Chronic Disease Management: A Theoretical Model and Empirical Test

Les quatre textes ont en commun de présenter certaines évolutions récentes de l’histoire politique en Allemagne. Ils prennent tous position face à trois tournants historiographiques. La notion d’histoire culturelle du politique peut servir d’emblème au premier de ces tournants : le politique est envisagé non plus comme une succession d’événements ni comme le fruit de déterminations structurelles dont il serait la superstructure ou l’écume, mais comme l’expression de valeurs et de procédures o..

Increased plasma apoM levels in the patients suffered from hepatocellular carcinoma and other chronic liver diseases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To determine plasma apolipoprotein M (apoM) levels and other lipid profiles in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients compared to other chronic liver diseases and normal subjects.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>36 HCC, 68 chronic hepatitis, 29 liver cirrhosis patients and 64 normal controls were subjected in the present study. Serum lipids, lipoproteins, apolipoprotein AI (apoAI) and apoB were determined by the conventional methods. Plasma apoM levels were semi-quantitatively determined by both dot-blotting and western blotting analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum levels of triglycerides (TG), HDL-cholesterol, apoAI and lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) were significantly lower in the HCC patients than in the normal subjects, whereas there were no obvious differences on serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and apoB between HCC patients and normal subjects. However, plasma apoM levels in HCC patients were significantly increased than those in the normal subjects, but lower than those in the chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is concluded that serum TG, apoAI, HDL-C and Lp(a) were significantly decreased in HCC patients than in controls, whereas plasma apoM levels were significantly increased in the HCC patients. Decreased serum TG, apoAI, HDL-C and Lp(a) may reflect the liver damage in HCC patients, whereas the clinical significance of increased plasma apoM levels in relation to HCC is not clear.</p

Evaluation of tumor response to cytokine-induced killer cells therapy in malignant solid tumors

CIK cells therapy has been evaluated as an adoptive cell immunotherapy for cancer patients, but there still have not been any standardized systems for evaluating the antitumor efficacy yet. The WHO and RECIST criteria have already been established for a few years but not sufficient to fully characterize the activity of immunotherapy. Based on these two criteria, the irRC was proposed for evaluating the efficacy of immunotherapy. A variety of bioassays for immune monitoring including the specific and non-specific methods, have been established. We recommend detect levels of various immunocytes, immune molecules and soluble molecules to find the correlations among them and clinicopathological characteristics to establish criteria for immunological classification. We also recommend a paradigm shift for the oncologists in the evaluation of immune therapies to ensure assessment of activity based on clinically relevant criteria and time points

Accuracy of the Short-Form Montreal Cognitive Assessment Chinese Versions

Background: There is a strong need for short and effective methods to screen for cognitive impairment. Recent studies have created short forms of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (s-MoCA) in English-speaking populations. It is also important to develop a validated Chinese short version to detect cognitive impairment.Methods: Item response theory and computerized adaptive testing analytics were used to construct abbreviated MoCAs across a large neurological sample comprising 6,981 community-dwelling Chinese veterans.Results: Six MoCA items with high discrimination and appropriate difficulty were included in the s-MoCA. The Chinese short versions (sensitivity 0.89/0.90, specificity 0.72/0.77) are similar in performance to the full MoCA in identifying cognitive impairment (sensitivity 0.91, specificity 0.82).Conclusions: These short variants of the MoCA may serve as quick and effective instruments when the original MoCA cannot be feasibly administered in clinical services with a high patient burden and limited cognitive testing resources

Effect of Oat β-Glucan on Gel Properties of Low-Salt Mutton Mince

Oat β-glucan (OG) was used to replace salt in mutton mince at levels of 0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.2% and 1.6%. To determine the appropriate level of OG replacement, the cooking loss, water-holding capacity (WHC), water distribution and content, color, gel strength, texture, secondary structure of myofibrillar protein, scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of mince samples with 2.0% salt, 0.4% OG + 1.6% salt, 0.8% OG + 1.2% salt, 1.2% OG + 0.8% salt and 1.6% OG + 0.4% salt were measured. The results showed that with increasing level of OG replacement, the cooking loss of mutton mince gels decreased first and then increased gradually, while the WHC showed the opposite trend. A significant decrease in the WHC was observed when 1.6% OG was added (P 0.05). The secondary structure of myofibrillar protein in the gel with high levels of OG replacement (> 0.8%) was similar to that in the control (P > 0.05), and the SEM image showed more loose structure with increased porosity. Through correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA), it was found that the synthetic score of the gel with 0.4% OG was higher than that of the other groups, which could ensure further reduction of salt intake while maintaining the gel quality of mutton mince