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Studies on polymorphisms of Xeroderma Pigmentosum Group D Protein (XPD) and breast cancer risk are inconclusive. To elucidate the role of XPD genotypes, all available studies were considered in this meta-analysis. The study provided 11,362/10,622 cases/controls for XPD K751Q and 9010/9873 cases/controls for XPD D312N, respectively. Overall, no apparent effects of 751Q allele compared to 751K on breast cancer risk was found in all subjects [RE OR = 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.97-1.10), P = 0.28]. Insignificant effects were also found under other genetic contrasts (homologous contrast, dominant model, and recessive model). However, the 751Q allele showed significantly increased risk in Caucasians [FE OR = 1.05, 95% CI (1.00-1.11), P = 0.035]. In addition, insignificant risk effects of D312N polymorphism on breast cancer susceptibility were observed in all subjects under any genetic contrast, but protective effects of 312NN genotype were observed under recessive model [P = 0.02, OR = 0.53, 95% CI (0.32, 0.90)] and homozygote contrast [P = 0.03, OR = 0.55; 95% CI (0.32, 0.96)] in Asians. In summary, our meta-analysis suggested 312N allele might act as a recessive allele in its association with breast cancer and the 751Q allele may play a plausible role in breast cancer development whereas the ethnic background should be carefully concerned in further studies.

Colorectal cancer has a high cure rate if it can be detected early. Identifying and understanding the genes involved may enable early diagnosis and reduce mortality. The aim of our study was to investigate the correlation between the expression of ING4 and the pathological features in patients with colorectal cancer. We assayed ING4 protein expression levels in tumor samples from 97 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer between January 2001 and January 2002. The patients received no other treatments except surgery. ING4 protein expression was downregulated in adenoma relative to normal mucosa and further reduced in colorectal cancer tissues. Furthermore, the suppression of ING4 expression was also related to the more advanced Dukes’ stages. We observed that ING4 expression levels in patients with lymphatic metastasis were lower than those without metastasis. Together, our results indicate that ING4 play a role in colorectal carcinoma progression.

This article introduces the advantages of new material PHAs (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) and its application in the medical domain, expatiates on the weaving method and machining technology of weaving the tube blank of 4mm artificial blood vessel by this material, and the measures to improve the penetrability according to the porosity.

AIM: To investigate the inhibitory effect of phosphorothioate anti-sense oligodeoxynucleotides (PASODN) on colorectal cancer LS-174T cells in vitro and the mechanism of inhibition of telomerase activity in these cells. METHODS: PASODN were used to infect LS-174T cells and block human telomerase RNA (hTR) through anti-sense technology. The inhibitory effect of PASODN was evaluated by colony-forming inhibition assay and growth curve. Changes of telomerase activity in LS-174T cells were detected by polymerase chain reaction-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (PCR-ELISA), and the level of apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM) assay. RESULTS: PASODN showed a dose and time-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation. The optimal dosage of PASODN was 10 μmol/L. The colony-forming efficiency was 10.3% in PASODN group after 10 d, whereas that in phosphorothioate mis-sense oligodeoxynucleotides (PMSODN) group with the same concentration and in PBS group (blank control) was 49.1% and 50.7%, respectively. PCR-ELISA results indicated that telomerase activity in the PASODN group was obviously inhibited in comparison with in the control groups (P < 0.01, t = 3.317 and 3.241, t0.01(20) = 2.845). Meanwhile, before the number of cells was decreased, the morphological changes were observed in the cells of PASODN group. The cells in PASODN group showed the apoptotic peak at 72 h after infection, whereas the control group did not show. CONCLUSION: Specific sequence oligonucleotides can inhibit telomerase activity and lead to cell apoptosis, suggesting a novel treatment strategy for malignant tumors induced by telomerase.

BACKGROUND: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is one of the most classic chemotherapy drugs. Nanoparticle drug delivery vehicles offer superiority over target effect enhancement and abatement of side effects. Little is known however as to the specific effect of nanoparticle on peritoneal dissemination of colon cancer. The aim of this study is to prepare one NPs (nanoparticles) loaded with 5-FU and investigate the characteristic of NPs and the role of it in peritoneal metastasis nodules formation of human colon cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Prepared the NPs (nanoparticles) loaded with 5-FU (5-Fluorouracil) by PEG-PLGA with the method of double emulsion. Then evaluate the characteristics of the NPs by scanning electron microscopy, analyzing the particle diameter distribution and determining the loading efficiency. Detect the release features of NPs in vitro and in vivo. Nude mice with peritoneal metastases were treated with 5-FU solution or 5-FU-NPs through peritoneal cavity. Count the nodules on peritoneum and mesenterium and survey the size of them. We got NPs with average-diameter of 310 nm. In vitro release test shows NPs can release equably for 5 days with release rate of 99.2%. In vivo, NPs group can keep higher plasma concentration of 5-FU longer than it in solution group. The number of peritoneal dissemination nodule below 1 mm in 5-FU-sol group(17.3 ± 3.5) and 5-FU-NP group(15.2 ± 3.2) is less than control group(27.2 ± 4.7)(P

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States. Almost 90% of the patients diagnosed with CRC die due to metastases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved molecules that modulate the expression of their target genes post-transcriptionally, and they may participate in various physiological and pathological processes including CRC metastasis by influencing various factors in the human body. Recently, the role miRNAs play throughout the CRC metastatic cascade has gain attention. Many studies have been published to link them with CRC metastasis. In this review, we will briefly discuss metastatic steps in the light of miRNAs, along with their target genes. We will discuss how the aberration in the expression of miRNAs leads to the formation of CRC by effecting the regulation of their target genes. As miRNAs are being exploited for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of cancer and other diseases, their high tissue specificity and critical role in oncogenesis make them new biomarkers for the diagnosis and classification of cancer as well as for predicting patients' outcome. MiRNA signatures have been identified for many human tumors including CRC, and miRNA-based therapies to treat cancer have been emphasized lately. These will also be discussed in this review.

The identification of human cancer-related microRNAs (miRNAs) is important for cancer biology research. Although several identification methods have achieved remarkable success, they have overlooked the functional information associated with miRNAs. We present a computational framework that can be used to prioritize human cancer miRNAs by measuring the association between cancer and miRNAs based on the functional consistency score (FCS) of the miRNA target genes and the cancer-related genes. This approach proved successful in identifying the validated cancer miRNAs for 11 common human cancers with area under ROC curve (AUC) ranging from 71.15% to 96.36%. The FCS method had a significant advantage over miRNA differential expression analysis when identifying cancer-related miRNAs with a fine regulatory mechanism, such as miR-27a in colorectal cancer. Furthermore, a case study examining thyroid cancer showed that the FCS method can uncover novel cancer-related miRNAs such as miR-27a/b, which were showed significantly upregulated in thyroid cancer samples by qRT-PCR analysis. Our method can be used on a web-based server, CMP (cancer miRNA prioritization) and is freely accessible at http://bioinfo.hrbmu.edu.cn/CMP. This time- and cost-effective computational framework can be a valuable complement to experimental studies and can assist with future studies of miRNA involvement in the pathogenesis of cancers.

AIM: To discuss the rationality of extended radical resection (ERR) and to guide the surgical treatment of rectal cancer. METHODS: Total 211 patients who underwent ERR from 1981 to 1987 (follow-up rate of 94.8%) were selected to study the patterns of lymphatic metastasis and therapeutic effect. The control group was made of 293 patients with rectal cancer who underwent conventional radical resection (CRR) and its follow-up rate was 98.5%. The lymph node specimens, obtained by the triple-approach lymph node resection during the radical resection of rectal cancer, were studied by conventional pathological method. The extended radical resection, guided by the patterns of lymphatic metastasis, was applied in the clinical practice. RESULTS: The incidence of lymphatic metastasis in Chinese patients with advanced rectal cancer was 43.6%, and that of the upper 2nd and 3rd groups and the lateral group was 14.2%, 10.9% and 11% respectively. The 5, 10-year-survival rates of the ERR were 68.0% and 47.0%, respectively, which were much higher than those of the conventional radical resection (42.9% and 25.3%). CONCLUSION: The ERR for rectal cancer removes all the lymph nodes, prevents possible metastasis and finally improves the survival rate.