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The article has been written for the occasion of 25 Anniversary of Gliwice Scientific Meetings (GSN). For this reason, I am going to present scientific contacts of the Institute of Oncology at Gliwice with the Institute of Human Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences at Poznań not only at conference occasions but also in regular research manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Etiology of Méniere's disease recognized over 150 years ago and known as pathology of inner ear has still not been sufficiently explained. The key symptoms include recurrent vertigo, tinnitus and fluctuating hearing loss and ear fullness. Biological studies on its pathophysiology were focused on formation of hydrops followed by damage of inner ear structure and incorrectness in electrolyte transportation. Genetic studies identified a number of genes and their polymorphic variants associated with particular symptoms of Méniere's disease. The findings indicate for disease heterogeneity connected with multigenic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absolute pitch is an ability to recognize and correctly name the pitch without external reference. The studies on absolute pitch incidence in families have shown familial association indicating further on significance of genetics factor connected with non-Mendelian inheritance. The finding was derived from population and molecular studies. The latter studies indicated for chromosome region 8q24.21 and for to a lower extent on 7q22.3, 8q21.11 and 9p21.3. Absolute pitch incidence depends on ethnicity and as such is more frequent in Far East Asia then in Western World. Then a frequency of absolute pitch declines with an age. Early musical training appears to consolidate absolute pitch in further life. Altogether, absolute pitch seems to be dependent both an genetic and environment factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the review was to compare molecular and health effects of tobacco smoking using cigars, cigarillos, pipe and water pipe in relation to the effects of cigarette smoking. In this review we will focus on the upper respiratory tract. Mechanisms of interaction of tobacco smoke constituents after products other than cigarettes are similar to these associated with cigarette smoking. Carcinogenic activity was demonstrated for any type of tobacco smoking, although the risk of developing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains lower in users of cigars, traditional pipe and water pipe as compared to cigarette smoking. Nevertheless, there is no way of safe tobacco smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years a number of cigarette smokers is declining. A part of ex-smokers decided to use e-cigarette nit containing tobacco. We provide a comparison of tobacco smoke and e-cigarette aerosol in respect to chemical composition, toxicity and carcinogenicity. It is stressed that all thy studied parameters were considerably lower in aerosol. The publications dealing with cancer risk following e-cigarettes smoking are not supported by broad epidemiologic data. Altogether, there appeared a hope for reduction of tobacco-smoke associated cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hearing loss is having a complex etiology with a considerable impact of genetic factor. Narrowing the field to genetics a background still remains heterogenous as over 100 loci and 60 genes associated with hearing loss were already identified. The same is applicable for mutation patters in particular genes with several mutation having a variable impact. However, besides the mentioned genetic heterogeneity the 35del5 mutation of GJB2 gene coding connexin 24 is being found in more than a halve of the studied case. A knowledge seems to be sufficient enough to provide genetic counseling concerning hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have turned our attention to CEACAM6 gene, already described as deregulated in various types of cancer. By using the expression microarrays performed on the set of 16 laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) samples: 11 cell lines and 5 primary tumors we have shown downregulation of CEACAM6 gene as compared to non cancer controls from head and neck region. CEACAM6 gene downregulation, further confirmed by quantitative PCR on 25 LSCC cell lines, was observed in cell lines derived from recurrent tumors in comparison to controls. A significant gene downregulation was observed in cell lines derived from advanced, high grade tumors in comparison to controls. Intrigued by the recurrent transcriptional loss of CEACAM6 we searched for the mechanism potentially responsible for its downregulation and hence we analyzed DNA copy number changes (a-CGH), promoter DNA methylation status and occurrence of gene mutations ( in silico ). Neither the analysis of gene copy number, nor the mutation screen has shown recurrent deletions or mutations, that could contribute to the observed downregulation of the gene. However, by using bisulfite pyrosequencing, we have shown DNA hypermethylation (mean DNA methylation > 78%) of CEACAM6 promoter region in 9/25 (36%) LSCC cell lines. Importantly, the 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine-induced inhibition of DNA methylation resulted in restoration of CEACAM6 expression in the two LSCC cell lines on mRNA level. In summary, we have shown that recurrent downregulation of CEACAM6 in LSCC is dependent on the gene's promoter DNA methylation and is observed predominantly in large, poorly differentiated tumors and recurrences., Competing Interests: None.