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Xiao-yun Song,1,* Bo-yan Li,2,* En-xiang Zhou,3 Feng-xia Wu4 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China;2Department of Breast Surgery, Inner Mongolia Forestry General Hospital, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China;3Department of General Surgery, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Breast Surgery, Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Abstract: Aberrant promotermethylation of RUNX3 has been reported in several tumors including human breast cancer (BC). However, the association between RUNX3 hypermethylation and incidence of BC remains elusive. In this study, a detailed literature search was performed in Medline and Google Scholar for related research publications. Analysis of pooled data were executed. Odds ratios with corresponding confidence intervals were determined and summarized, respectively. Finally, 13 studies were identified for the meta-analysis. Analysis of the pooled data showed that RUNX3 hypermethylation was significantly higher in both ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) than in normal breast tissues. Inaddition, RUNX3 methylation was significantly higher in IDC than in benign tumor. However, RUNX3 methylation was not significantly higher in IDC than in ductal carcinoma in situ. Wealso determined that RUNX3 hypermethylation was significantly higher in ER positive BC than in ER negative BC. In addition, high RUNX3 mRNA expression was found to be correlated with better overall survival and relapse-free survival for all BC patients. Our results strongly support that RUNX3 hypermethylation may play an important role in BC incidence. RUNX3 methylation is a valuable early biomarker for the diagnosis of BC. Further large-scale studies will provide more insight into the role of RUNX3 hypermethylation in the carcinogenesis and clinical diagnosis of BC patients. Keywords: breast cancer, estrogen receptor, RUNX3, meta-analysis, methylation, odds ratio

Rubusparvifolius L. and R. coreanus Miq. are the two morphologically distinct, endemic wild brambles in East Asia that may be useful in raspberry breeding and cultivar development. In this study, genetic relationships among a total of nine populations of these two species, collected from Sichuan Province in southwestern China, were investigated by cytological and RAPD analyzing. With the exception of ploidy levels, R. parvifolius and R. coreanus had similar cytological features. Six R. parvifolius populations included diploids, triploid, tetraploid, and mixed diploid-tetraploid cytotype plants; among them, the population that produced the fewest seeds was the triploid, while the three R. coreanus populations were all diploid. But obvious genetic differentiation between R. parvifolius and R. coreanus was revealed by RAPD markers, the Euclidean’s GS coefficient generated by UPGMA cluster analysis between R. parvifolius and R. coreanus was only 0.442, about half of that observed within species. Both genetic relationships among these populations and the origin of polyploidy in R. parvifolius populations are also discussed.

Twelve taxa belonging to two subsections of section Idaeobatus in Rubus L. from southwestern China were characterized by karyotypic, palynological, and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data as follows: (1) The 12 taxa were all diploid species (2n = 2x = 14), among which the chromosome counts for R. mesogaeus var. oxycomus, R. subtibetanus, R. ellipticus var. obcordatus, R. inopertus var. echinocalyx, and R. stans were reported for the first time; (2) All taxa except for R. ellipticus and R. pinfaensis could be distinguished from each other by karyotype, pollen morphology, and RAPD markers. Karyotypes were mainly characterized by the difference in numbers and positions of submetacentric chromosomes and chromosomes with satellited pair, the index of the karyotypic asymmetry, and the ratio of the longest to the shortest chromosome. Pollen morphology were mainly characterized by the discrepancy in specific pollen size, P/E ratio, colpi width, distance between the apices of two ectocolpi, and exine ornamentation characters. The cluster results based on RAPD markers were consistent with morphology classification except for R. pinfaensis; (3) Based on the general data of karyotypic, palynological, and RAPD, R. ellipticus var. obcordatus should be treated as a species R. obcordatus, R. ellipticus and R. pinfaensis should be combined as R. ellipticus, and it was more reasonable to place the combinants and R. obcordatus into subsection Stimulantes rather than into subsection Pungentes.