Int J Med Sci
-
Chemotherapy is typically used to treat choriocarcinoma, but a small proportion of tumors develop resistance to chemotherapy. Similarly, methotrexate (MTX) is a first-line chemotherapy used to treat choriocarcinoma; although ~30% of patients are drug-resistant for MTX mono-therapy. Thus, we sought to elucidate the mechanism of chemotherapeutic-resistance of MTX. ⋯ Data show that AKR1C3 is critical to the development of methotrexate resistance in choriocarcinoma and suggest that AKR1C3 may potentially serve as a therapeutic marker for this disease.
-
Discussing a protocol involving xylene-ethanol deparaffinization on slides followed by a kit-based extraction that allows for the extraction of high quality DNA from FFPE tissues. ⋯ Silica-based commercial kits and deparaffinized on slides should be considered for DNA extraction from FFPE.
-
Several studies indicate that plasma adiponectin levels are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) or T2DM risk factors in diverse populations. In addition to the adiponectin gene, several other genes have been postulated to influence plasma adiponectin levels. In this study, we investigated two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs4311394 and rs4783244, located intronically in the ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 15 (ARL15) and the T-cadherin (CDH13) genes, respectively. ⋯ However, neither allele nor genotype frequencies for rs4783244 were associated with T2DM (χ² = 0.33, P = 0.56 and χ² = 2.35, P = 0.31 respectively). The SNPs did not exhibit significant association with individual metabolic traits in the T2DM and NDM groups. Our results indicated that the G allele of the rs4311394 might be a susceptibility factor for T2DM in the Han Chinese population (odds ratio: 1.20; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.41).
-
Galectin-3 (Gal-3) shows the ability of survival prediction in heart failure (HF) patients. However, Gal-3 is strongly associated with serum markers of cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover. The aim of this study is to compare the impact of Gal-3 and serum markers of cardiac ECM turnover on prognostic prediction of chronic systolic HF patients. ⋯ The prognostic strength of MMP-2 to clinical outcome prediction in HF patients is stronger than Gal-3.
-
The present study investigated the correlation among genetic polymorphisms of the proximal promoter region of apolipoprotein M (apoM) gene, the polymorphisms in relation to apoM expressions and the susceptibility to coronary artery diseases (CAD) in a Han Chinese population. Four common polymorphic sites, i.e., T-1628G, C-1065A, T-855C and T-778C, were confirmed, and a new deletion mutation C-724del was found, in 206 CAD patients and 209 non-CAD patients using direct DNA sequencing analyses. Occurrences of alleles T-1628G, T-855C and C-724del were significantly higher in CAD patients compared to non-CAD patients. ⋯ It demonstrated that constructs -855C and 724del showed obvious decreased luciferase activities, i.e., (0.93±0.15 vs. 2.11±0.15; P=0.012) and (1.13±0.25 vs. 2.11±0.15; P=0.009) respectively, which indicates these two polymorphisms could confer decreased apoM expressions. Meanwhile the occurrences of these two SNP were also significantly higher in the CAD patients than in non-CAD patients. It is therefore reasonable to speculate that down-regulated apoM expressions in relation to these polymorphisms may affect HDL and cholesterol metabolism in vivo and further influence the susceptibility to CAD, although the underlying mechanisms need further investigation.