Clinical and immunohistochemical study of eight cases with thymic carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Thymic carcinoma is a rare neoplasm with extremely poor prognosis. To evaluate the biological characteristics of thymic carcinoma, we reviewed 8 patients. METHODS: There were 2 men and 6 women: ages ranged from 19 to 67 years old (mean 54.8 years). None of these patients had concomitant myasthenia gravis and pure red cell aplasia. No patient had stage I disease, 1 stage II, 5 stage III, and 2 stage IV. The pathologic subtypes of thymic carcinoma included 5 squamous cell carcinomas, 1 adenosquamous cell carcinomas, 1 clear cell carcinoma, and 1 small cell carcinoma. Immunohistochemical study was performed using antibodies against p53, bcl-2, Ki-67, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), nm23-H1, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) and factor VIII. RESULTS: Curative resection could be done in 4 patients (50%). Our data indicates a trend toward an association between complete resection and patient survival. Expression of p53, bcl-2, CEA, EMA, nm23-H1, VEGF and FGF-2 was detected in 5/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 5/8 and 3/8, respectively. Mean Ki-67 labeling index and microvessel density was 7.01 and 34.36 (per 200× field), respectively. When compared with our previous studies, immunohistochemical staining of these proteins in thymomas, the expression rates of these proteins in thymic carcinomas were higher than those in thymomas. CONCLUSIONS: In this small series, it is suggested that a complete resection suggests a favorable result. Immunohistochemical results reveal that the expression of these proteins might indicate the aggressiveness of thymic carcinoma

Reduction in Phencyclidine Induced Sensorimotor Gating Deficits in the Rat Following Increased System Xc − Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Rationale: Aspects of schizophrenia, including deficits in sensorimotor gating, have been linked to glutamate dysfunction and/or oxidative stress in the prefrontal cortex. System xc −, a cystine–glutamate antiporter, is a poorly understood mechanism that contributes to both cellular antioxidant capacity and glutamate homeostasis. Objectives: Our goal was to determine whether increased system xc − activity within the prefrontal cortex would normalize a rodent measure of sensorimotor gating. Methods: In situ hybridization was used to map messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of xCT, the active subunit of system xc −, in the prefrontal cortex. Prepulse inhibition was used to measure sensorimotor gating; deficits in prepulse inhibition were produced using phencyclidine (0.3–3 mg/kg, sc). N-Acetylcysteine (10–100 μM) and the system xc − inhibitor (S)-4-carboxyphenylglycine (CPG, 0.5 μM) were used to increase and decrease system xc − activity, respectively. The uptake of 14C-cystine into tissue punches obtained from the prefrontal cortex was used to assay system xc − activity. Results: The expression of xCT mRNA in the prefrontal cortex was most prominent in a lateral band spanning primarily the prelimbic cortex. Although phencyclidine did not alter the uptake of 14C-cystine in prefrontal cortical tissue punches, intraprefrontal cortical infusion of N-acetylcysteine (10–100 μM) significantly reduced phencyclidine- (1.5 mg/kg, sc) induced deficits in prepulse inhibition. N-Acetylcysteine was without effect when coinfused with CPG (0.5 μM), indicating an involvement of system xc −. Conclusions: These results indicate that phencyclidine disrupts sensorimotor gating through system xc − independent mechanisms, but that increasing cystine–glutamate exchange in the prefrontal cortex is sufficient to reduce behavioral deficits produced by phencyclidine

Defining Developmental Potency and Cell Lineage Trajectories by Expression Profiling of Differentiating Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Biologists rely on morphology, function and specific markers to define the differentiation status of cells. Transcript profiling has expanded the repertoire of these markers by providing the snapshot of cellular status that reflects the activity of all genes. However, such data have been used only to assess relative similarities and differences of these cells. Here we show that principal component analysis of global gene expression profiles map cells in multidimensional transcript profile space and the positions of differentiating cells progress in a stepwise manner along trajectories starting from undifferentiated embryonic stem (ES) cells located in the apex. We present three ‘cell lineage trajectories’, which represent the differentiation of ES cells into the first three lineages in mammalian development: primitive endoderm, trophoblast and primitive ectoderm/neural ectoderm. The positions of the cells along these trajectories seem to reflect the developmental potency of cells and can be used as a scale for the potential of cells. Indeed, we show that embryonic germ cells and induced pluripotent cells are mapped near the origin of the trajectories, whereas mouse embryo fibroblast and fibroblast cell lines are mapped near the far end of the trajectories. We suggest that this method can be used as the non-operational semi-quantitative definition of cell differentiation status and developmental potency. Furthermore, the global expression profiles of cell lineages provide a framework for the future study of in vitro and in vivo cell differentiation

Biocompatibility of Common Implantable Sensor Materials in a Tumor Xenograft Model

Real-time monitoring of tumor microenvironment parameters using an implanted biosensor could provide valuable information on the dynamic nature of a tumor's biology and its response to treatment. However, following implantation biosensors may lose functionality due to biofouling caused by the foreign body response (FBR). This study developed a novel tumor xenograft model to evaluate the potential of six biomaterials (silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, Parylene-C, Nafion, biocompatible EPOTEK epoxy resin, and platinum) to trigger a FBR when implanted into a solid tumor. Biomaterials were chosen based on their use in the construction of a novel biosensor, designed to measure spatial and temporal changes in intra-tumoral O2 , and pH. None of the biomaterials had any detrimental effect on tumor growth or body weight of the murine host. Immunohistochemistry showed no significant changes in tumor necrosis, hypoxic cell number, proliferation, apoptosis, immune cell infiltration, or collagen deposition. The absence of biofouling supports the use of these materials in biosensors; future investigations in preclinical cancer models are required, with a view to eventual applications in humans. To our knowledge this is the first documented investigation of the effects of modern biomaterials, used in the production of implantable sensors, on tumor tissue after implantation. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B, 2018

Early glandular neoplasia of the lung

Although bronchogenic carcinomas progress through a very well defined sequence of metaplasia, dysplasia and carcinoma in situ, very little is known about the early progression of glandular neoplasms of the lung. In particular, the early precursor lesion from which fully malignant adenocarcinomas arise has effectively eluded recognition, at least until recently. Several lines of evidence now implicate atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) as an initial morphologic stage in multistep lung tumorigenesis. Despite its small size, AAH can be appreciated at the light microscopic level and characterized at the molecular genetic level. Indeed, the genetic characterization of AAH promises to further our understanding of lung cancer development and might facilitate the design of novel strategies for early detection of lung cancer

Terahertz imaging using quantum cascade lasers — a review of systems and applications

The terahertz (THz) frequency quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a compact source of THz radiation offering high power, high spectral purity and moderate tunability. As such, these sources are particularly suited to the application of THz frequency imaging across a range of disciplines, and have motivated significant research interest in this area over the past decade. In this paper we review the technological approaches to THz QCL-based imaging and the key advancements within this field. We discuss in detail a number of imaging approaches targeted to application areas including: multiple-frequency transmission and diffuse reflection imaging for the spectral mapping of targets; as well as coherent approaches based on the self-mixing phenomenon in THz QCLs for long-range imaging, three-dimensional imaging, materials analysis, and high-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging

Functional Heterogeneity of Embryonic Stem Cells Revealed through Translational Amplification of an Early Endodermal Transcript

Detection of low-level, lineage-specific transcription aids in the identification of lineage-primed populations of ES cells provides a new framework for pluripotency