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In the context of Rastall gravity, the shadow and observation intensity casted by the new Kiselev-like black hole with dust field have been numerically investigated. In this system, the Rastall parameter and surrounding dust field structure parameter have considerable consequences on the geometric structure of spacetime. Considering the photon trajectories near the black hole, we investigate the variation of the radii of photon sphere, event horizon and black hole shadow under the different related parameters. Furthermore, taking into account two different spherically symmetric accretion models as the only background light source, we also studied the observed luminosity and intensity of black holes. For the both spherical accretions background, the results show that the decrease or increase of the observed luminosity depends on the value range of relevant parameters, and the promotion effect is far less obvious than the attenuation effect on the observed intensity. One can find that the inner shadow region and outer bright region of the black hole wrapped by infalling accretion are significantly darker than those of the static model, which is closely related to the Doppler effect. In addition, the size of the shadow and the position of the photon sphere are always the same in the two accretion models, which means that the black hole shadow depend only on the geometry of spacetime, while the observation luminosity is affected by the form of accretion material and the related spacetime structure.

In this paper, we study the shadows and observational appearance of the Ayón-Beato-García (ABG) black hole, which is surrounded by a thin disk accretion. For a four-dimensional ABG black hole, as the charge q increases, the event horizon r +, radius r p and impact parameter b p of the photon sphere decrease, while the maximum value of effective potential V eff increases. However, as the term γ associated with nonlinear electrodynamics increases, the related physical quantities r +, r p and b p increase, but the maximum value of V eff decreases. When the light ray reaches the vicinity of the ABG black hole, one can observe the trajectories of the light rays appearing as three types, i.e., direct emission, lens ring and photon ring. Furthermore, the shadows and the observational appearance of the ABG black hole are studied. The results show that the charge q and the term γ have a great influence on the shape and intensity of the black hole shadow. When the relevant state parameters change or the emission model changes, it can be argued that it is the direct emission that plays a decisive role in the total observed intensity of the ABG black hole, while the contribution of the lens ring to the total observed intensity is small and the photon ring makes almost no contribution.

Objective We have previously demonstrated that human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) can be differentiated into lymphatic endothelial-like cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of utilizing the induced lymphatic endothelial-like cells and decellularized arterial scaffold to construct the tissue-engineered lymphatic vessel. Methods The hADSCs were isolated from adipose tissue in healthy adults and were characterized the multilineage differentiation potential. Decellularized arterial scaffold was prepared using the Triton x-100 method. ADSCs were differentiated into lymphatic-like endothelial cells, and the induced cells were then seeded onto the decellularized arterial scaffold to engineer the lymphatic vessel. The histological analyses were performed to examine the endothelialized construct. Results The decellularized arterial scaffold was successfully obtained, and was able to maintain its vessel morphology. The isolated ADSCs can be differentiated into osteocytes and adipocytes. After seeding onto the scaffold, the seeded cells attached and grew well on the decellularized arterial scaffold. Conclusion Our preliminary results demonstrated that the induced lymphatic endothelial-like cells combined with decellularized arterial scaffold could be utilized to successfully engineer the lymphatic vessel. Our findings may be helpful for the development of tissue-engineering of the lymphatic graft. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Doxycycline, a tetracycline-based antibiotic, has been reported to attenuate melanoma cell migration through inhibiting the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling pathway. However, it remains to be elucidated whether doxycycline exerts this effect on leukemia cell migration. The present study aimed to examine the role of doxycycline in leukemia cell migration. The invasion capacities of the human leukemia cell lines KG1a (acute myelogenous leukemia) and K562 (chronic myelogenous leukemia) were evaluated using Matrigel® matrix-coated Transwell® chamber assays; leukemic cell lines treated with doxycycline (1 µg/ml) or anti-β1-integrin antibodies were added to the upper chamber, while untreated cells were included as controls. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed in order to further understand the influence of doxycycline treatment on the expression of FAK and gelatinases in the KG1a and K562 leukemic cell lines. In addition, FAK protein expression and phosphorylation were determined using western blot analysis in order to investigate the mechanism by which doxycycline inhibited leukemic cell migration. The results revealed that doxycycline treatment significantly attenuated the migration of KG1a and K562 cells, which was demonstrated to be associated with inhibition of the expression and phosphorylation of FAK. In addition, doxycycline treatment inhibited matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 expression. Furthermore, incubation with blocking anti-β1-integrin antibodies had an analogous inhibitory effect on leukemic cell migration to that of doxycycline. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that doxycycline attenuated leukemic cell migration through inhibiting the FAK signaling pathway. Therefore, doxycycline may have potential for use as a novel strategy for the treatment of leukemia.

Human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) may provide a suitable number of progenitors for the treatment of lymphatic edema; however, to date the protocols for inducing hADSCs into this tissue type have not been standardized. We wished to investigate the induction of hADSCs into lymphatic endothelial-like cells using vascular endothelial growth factor-C156S (VEGF-C156S) and other growth factors in vitro. hADSCs from healthy adult adipose tissue were purified using enzyme digestion. Differentiation was induced using medium containing VEGF-C156S and bovine fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Differentiation was confirmed using immunostaining for lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor (LYVE-1) and fms-related tyrosine kinase 4 (FLT-4), two lymphatic endothelial cell markers. The expression levels of LYVE-1, prospero homeobox 1 (PROX-1), and FLT-4 throughout induction were assessed using reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction. hADSCs were successfully obtained by trypsin digest and purification. Flow cytometry showed these cells were similar to mesenchymal stem cells, with a high positive rate of CD13, CD29, CD44, and CD105, and a low positive rate of CD31, CD34, CD45, and HLA-DR. Induction to lymphatic endothelial-like cells was successful, with cells expressing high levels of LYVE-1, PROX-1, and FLT-4. Adipose-derived stem cells can be induced to differentiate into lymphatic endothelial-like cells using a medium containing VEGF-C156S, bFGF, and other growth factors. This population of lymphatic endothelial-like cells may be useful for lymphatic reconstruction in the future.

To investigate the effect of valproate treatment on the K562 cell line, a model for chronic myelogenous leukaemia, the growth and survival of the K562 cell line were investigated using the Annexin-V/PI dual staining method, and global profiles of gene expression and alternative splicing in K562 cells were assessed using exon microarrays. A significant increase in cell apoptosis was observed in valproate-exposed K562 cells using flow cytometry. A total of 628 transcripts were identified as being significantly differentially expressed. The number of genes demonstrating increased expression levels was greater than the number of genes demonstrating decreased expression levels (445 genes vs. 183 genes, respectively). The significant enrichment analysis of GO terms for the differentially expressed genes revealed that these genes are involved in many important biological processes such as apoptosis. Six of the genes observed to be differentially expressed that might be involved in apoptosis were selected to undergo qRT-PCR validation. In total, 198 candidates of alternative splicing variants were identified. Among them, three alternative splicing events were selected for validation, and CBLC and TBX1 were confirmed to be alternatively spliced by semi-nested PCR. In conclusion, valproate exposure facilitated cell apoptosis, altered mRNA expression and alternative splicing events in the K562 cell line.

The delivery of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) for promoting tissue repair has become a potential new therapy, while hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is an important growth factor with angiogenic, antifibrotic, and anti-inflammatory benefits. Therefore, transplantation of ADSCs into acute myocardial infarction (AMI) may improve cardiac function through angiogenesis and anti-fibrosis, and that hHGF may enhance these effects. ADSCs were isolated from human subcutaneous adipose tissue. Lentivirus vector encoding human HGF (lenti-hHGF) was constructed and infected into ADSCs. Results indicated that transplantation of ADSCs led to improvement of left ventricular function, explained partly through their ability to differentiate into endothelial cells, resulting in increased blood flow and decreased fibrosis. Furthermore, hHGF enhanced these effects. This suggests that ADSCs combined with HGF gene transfer may be a useful strategy for the treatment of patients with ischemic heart disease.

Vapor-solid-solid (VSS) process has recently received continued attention as an alternative to grow Si nanowire. In comparison with common vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth with liquid catalyst, VSS growth can prevent the catalyst species from incorporating into nanowires with deep-level impurity, and achieve the compositionally abrupt interfaces by restraining the so-called "reservoir effect". However, despite the huge advances in experimental observations with in situ electron microscopy, VSS growth still remains much less understood in theory. Here, we developed a general mass-transport-limited kinetic model to describe the VSS growth process of Si nanowires by considering three surface diffusion processes and a slow interface diffusion process, where the former determines the atoms supplies way, while the latter dominates the growth of nanowires. The present model is not only well consistent with the available experimental data of Si nanowire, but also gives a clear physical image for the successive side-to-side ledge flow VSS growth.

In this work, thermogravimetry–differential scanning calorimetry–mass spectrometry (TG–DSC–MS) coupling techniques were used to make a simultaneous characterizing study for the metallic iron-organic coordination compounds formed by iron ions and organic solvent glycol during the sol–gel process of preparing the iron oxide nanometer films. The positive ion mass spectra [Fe(OCH 2 CH 3 ) 3 ] + (mass to charge ( m / z )=191) and [Fe(OCH 2 CH 2 OH) 3 ] + ( m / z =239) of the organic iron coordination compounds were obtained by experimental methods for the first time. Through the comparison analysis with the results of the TG–DSC–MS for the glycol, it can be found that the thermal decomposition temperature for the metallic iron-organic coordination compounds formed with glycol is higher than that of pure glycol. The results in this research work show that the simultaneous TG–DSC–MS coupling techniques can be applied to characterize some of the metallic-organic coordination compounds appeared in the gas state at lower temperature.

Previous studies reported that estrogen receptor β (ERβ) is localized to mitochondria, whereas little is known about the physiological functions of mitochondrial ERβ. In the present study, we explored the role of mitochondrial ERβ in regulating apoptosis using stable ERβ-expressing and ERβ knockdown cells lines. We found that exogenous ERβ was mainly expressed in mitochondrial but not in nuclear after ERβ overexpression and protected cells from apoptosis induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), ultraviolet (UV), and staurosporine (STS). Moreover, overexpression of ERβ prevented Bax activation, cytochrome c release, caspase-3 activation, and PARP cleavage during apoptosis. Furthermore, knockdown of ERβ significantly suppressed the expression of ERβ in mitochondrial and promoted cell apoptosis induced by H₂O₂, UV, and STS. Downregulation of ERβ also enhanced Bax activation, cytochrome c release, caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage. In addition, our study discovered that mitochondrial ERβ interacted with proapoptotic protein Bad in a ligand-independent manner, which suggests that mitochondrial ERβ inhibits Bad, and prevents Bax activation and cytochrome c release. Collectively, the results of this study support that mitochondrial ERβ prevents cell apoptosis via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in a ligand-independent manner.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effect of zoledronic acid (ZOL) in the NB4 human acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cell line and explore the potential mechanism of action of this compound. NB4 cells were exposed to various concentrations (0-200μM) of ZOL. Cell viability was measured by MTS assay. The extent of cell apoptosis and distribution of cells in the different phases of the cell cycle were analyzed with flow cytometry. The expression of apoptosis- and cell cycle-related proteins was assayed by Western blot. The combined effect of ZOL and arsenic trioxide (ATO) on the proliferation of NB4 cells was also determined. The results of this study indicate that ZOL inhibits cell proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent fashion and also induces apoptosis and S phase arrest in a dose-dependent manner. The Western blot analysis confirmed the induction of apoptosis and S phase arrest, revealing that the pro-apoptosis proteins Bax, Puma and activated caspase-9 were upregulated and the anti-apoptosis proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL were downregulated. ZOL at a concentration of 50μM synergized with 0.5μM ATO on the growth inhibition of NB4 cells. Taken together, our data indicate that ZOL exerts a potent antitumor effect on NB4 cells by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, and that ZOL can synergize with the traditional chemotherapy drug ATO.

Objective Aberrant expression of miRNA (miR)-96 is associated with tumorigenesis and tumor progression in several solid cancers. However, little is known about the expression and prognostic value of miR-96 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of miR-96 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis of AML. Methods Real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay was performed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-96 in mononuclear cells from bone marrow or peripheral blood specimens in 86 patients with newly diagnosed AML. Results Compared with normal controls, miR-96 expression was significantly downregulated in patients with newly diagnosed AML (P

In order to establish diagnostic criteria for hypocellular acute leukemia (HL), we have reviewed 32 cases selected on the basis of hypothetical 40% or less cellularity, by focusing on morphology, immunophenotype, karyotype and response to low dose Ara-C (LDAC) regimen and compared them with 40 cases of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and 66 cases of overt acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The onset age ranged from 44 to 75 years (median 67 years). Bone marrow (BM) cellularity ranged from 12.4 to 39.8% (mean 29.8%) in HL, being significantly lower than in MDS (mean 80.7%) or AML (mean 86.4%) (P < 0.001). All reviewed cases characteristically showed smoldering clinical course, bi-or pancytopenia with rare leukemic blasts in the peripheral blood (PB), proliferation of type I leukemic blasts in the BM and markedly reduced background hematopoietic cells with some dysplastic changes in 1232 cases (37.506). Blast percentage (blast %) in the BM ranged from 38.2 to 93.7% (mean 57.3%) in all nucleated cells (ANC). Although a considerable number of cases had blasts with negative or very low myeloperoxidase activity, immunophenotyping revealed that the leukemic blasts in HL had only myeloid markers. Karyotyping revealed non-random chromosome abnormalities in 30% of cases analyzed, which were considerably different from those seen in MDS. With LDAC regimen, a significantly higher CR rate (1320 cases: 65.0%) was gained in HL than in RAEBRAEB-t (0%) and overt AML in the elderly cases (27.3%) (P < 0.05). In CR, most cases showed recovery to normocellular BM with an apparent normalization of PB parameters. However, 12 CR cases relapsed 4–12 months later; most of which again showed hypocellular BM. These results indicate that HL is a distinct subtype of AML characterized by slow but distinct proliferation of immature myeloid blasts and by unique hematological features distinct from MDS or overt AML in the elderly. We propose the following diagnostic criteria: (1) pancytopenia with rare appearance of blasts in PB; (2) less than 40% BM hypocellularity; (3) more than 30% blasts in BM-ANC; and (4) myeloid phenotypes of leukemic blasts by MPO staining and/or immunophenotyping.

Adult T cell leukemia (ATL) cells show a mature helper-inducer T cell phenotype and are thought to secrete many kinds of cytokines in vivo, complicating the clinical features in these patients. In an attempt to specify the cytokines produced by ATL cells, we measured the cytokine concentration in the culture supernatants of three ATL cell lines, all of which were confirmed to be true peripheral blood ATL cell in origin. All these cell lines showed the same cytokine production profile, secreting IL1-alpha, IL1-beta, LD78(MIP-l alpha), TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, and GM-CSF, but not secreting IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1 Ra), IL-4, IFN-alpha, and G-CSF irrespective of the stimulatory agents used. Such limited cytokine production may indicate the specific origin of ATL cells within the helper-inducer T cell subtypes. Moreover, these results explain some of the unusual clinical features of ATL patients.

To evaluate the clinical effect and safety of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs) in the treatment of lung injury caused by acute paraquat poisoning.Thirteen patients with lung injury caused by acute paraquat poisoning, who were admitted to Guangzhou No. 12 People's Hospital from December 2008 to December 2012, were divided into HUCMSC group (n = 5) and control group (n = 8). All patients received conventional treatment, while the HUCMSC group was treated with HUCMSCs as an addition. Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) system, which was created by the Infection Section of European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II were used to acquire the SOFA scores of patients. The lung injury was evaluated with lung injury score (LIS). The two groups were compared with respect to maximum SOFA scores at 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 15 days after paraquat poisoning.The HUCMSC group showed significantly lower maximum SOFA scores than the control group at 15d after poisoning (1.80 ± 2.05 vs 13.50 ± 7.59, P0.05). The LISs of the HUCMSC group after treatment (0.45 ± 0.27) were significantly lower than those of the HUCMSC group before treatment (1.15 ± 0.34) and those of the control group after treatment (2.94 ± 1.20) (P0.01). In the HUCMSC group, all patients survived, and they complained no discomfort and showed normal liver, kidney, and lung functions in reexamination; one patient showed incompletely absorbed shadow in the posterior segment of the left lower lobe of the lung during lung CT scan, and no abnormal findings were seen in other patients. In the control group, one patient survived, and others died. No adverse reactions, such as chill and fever, were presented in the HUCMSC group.HUCMSCs show promise for clinical application in the treatment of lung injury caused by acute paraquat poisoning.

To date, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) shows very poor outcome for conventional chemotherapy. Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) are insensitive to conventional chemotherapeutic drugs and play a central role in the pathogenesis of AML. Failure to effectively ablate these cells may lead to AML relapse following chemotherapy. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is constructively activated in LSCs. This pathway can be inhibited by PI-103, a novel synthesized molecule of the pyridofuropyrimidine class, resulting in the apoptosis of LSCs. Therefore, we investigate the influences of PI-103 in combination with daunorubicin (DNR) on the LSCs. Our data indicate that PI-103 synergistically sensitizes LSCs to DNR-induced cytotoxicity. In addition, the PI-103/DNR co-treatment can induce significant apoptosis in LSCs, but sparing hematopoietic stem cells. The synergistic effect and the LSCs-specific apoptosis mechanism may be associated with the inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Our results suggest that PI-103 in combination with DNR may be a potent and less toxic therapy for targeting LSCs and deserve further preclinical and clinical studies in the treatment of AML.

The thermal-mass spectroscopy coupling technique (TG-DTA-MS) was used to study the thermal decomposition behaviour of the transition from xerogels to glasses for the gradient refractive index materials SiO2PbOB2O3 with added dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). Compared with the TG-DTA-MS results for C2H5OH-system xerogeles, the MS curves for DMSO-system xerogels show (in addition to CH+3( m z , 15)) the CH3O+ ( m z , 31), C2H5O+ ( m z , 45), [(CH3)2SO]+ ( m z , 78), etc., positive-ion mass spectrum peaks. This indicates that adding DMSO enables many residual OR groups to remain in the forming xerogels. This was beneficial for the condensation of the incompletely hydrolysed product and for preventing cracking of the xerogels. A preliminary study on the mechanism of thermal decomposition for DMSO-system xerogels is also given in this paper.

The criterion of forming the carbon layer on the interface of the SiC fiber reinforced lithium alumino-silicate (LAS) composite studied by thermodynamic and mass spectrometric thermal analysis was presented for the first time in this paper.

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) usually develops after age 40 in Japan, suggesting a long latency since HTLV-I is considered to be transmitted mainly from mothers to babies via breast milk. Our previous studies had suggested that HTLV-I carriers who have a monoclonal integration of HTLV-I proviral DNA in the peripheral blood cells, designated pre-ATL, account for about 2% of healthy carriers and are at high risk of developing ATL. Their ages ranged from 32 to 80 (median 57). Nevertheless, many cases of pre-ATL showed a long-lasting carrier state (10-year probability around 90%). In the present investigation we conducted a large-scale molecular detection of monoclonal integration in a population (481 cases) of healthy carriers with ages ranging from 16 to 82 (median 49) for the purpose of clarifying the earliest onset of this pre-ATL state. Southern-blot analysis of DNA extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed 6 cases (1.2%) with a monoclonal band. All of these 6 were older than 40; no single positive case was found in 220 carriers under age 40. These results indicate that the molecularly detectable pre-ATL state also develops after a long latency. Thus the pre-ATL state seems to be a subtype of ATL showing an extremely indolent course of disease development, but not merely an early phase of all subtypes of ATL. We propose that, in order to reveal a promoter(s) responsible for the development of ATL from the pre-ATL state, intensive epidemiological investigation of life style, eating habits, occupation and exposure to carcinogens must be conducted on this unique group prone to ATL. It is also important to perform such an epidemiological study on the general population of carriers by paying special attention to the first 3-4 decades of each carrier's life in Japan and by comparing the data with those from carriers in different geographical areas of the world.

To explore the mechanism underlying antileukaemia effect of sodium valproate, the growth and survival of the K562 cell line were investigated. Global profiles of gene expression in K562 cells exposed to sodium valproate were assessed and validated. The differentially expressed genes identified were further used to query the connectivity map database to retrieve a ranked list of compounds that act on the same intracellular targets as sodium valproate. A significant increase in cell apoptosis and a change in gene expression profile were observed in valproate-exposed K562 cells. The significant enrichment analysis of gene ontology terms for the differentially expressed genes showed that these genes were involved in many important biological processes. Eight differentially expressed genes involved in apoptosis were verified by quantitative real-time PCR. The connectivity map analysis showed gene expression profile in K562 cells exposed to sodium valproate was most similar to that of HDACi and PI3K inhibitors, suggesting that sodium valproate might exert antileukaemic action by inhibiting HDAC as well as inhibiting PI3K pathway. In conclusion, our data might provide clues to elucidate the molecular and therapeutic potential of VPA in leukaemia treatment, and the connectivity map is a useful tool for exploring the molecular mechanism of drug action.

To study the incidence of PTEN, Mdm2 and p53 expression in different histopathological grades of astrocytoma and the signal transduction mechanism through which PTEN affects Mdm2 and p53 expression.Surgical specimens from 68 brain astrocytoma patients were analyzed to detect PTEN, Mdm2 and p53 expression by immunohistochemical method.The incidence of PTEN, Mdm2 and p53 expression was 54.4% (37/68), 41.2% (28/68) and 45.6% (31/68). The positive incidence of Mdm2 was 24.3% (9/37) in 37 cases with PTEN expression and 61.3% (19/31) in 31 cases without, which had a negative correlation between Mdm2 expression and PTEN expression (P0.01). Eighteen cases showed Mdm2(+)/p53(+) and 27 cases showed Mdm2(-)/p53(-). A significant correlation was found between Mdm2 and p53 expression (P0.05).The histopathological grade of astrocytoma is correlated with the loss of PTEN expression, Mdm2 amplification and p53 mutation. Mdm2 amplification, being in accordance with p53 mutation, can be inhibited by PTEN expression.

Acute lymphocytic leukemia(ALL), which is sensitive to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is one of hematological malignances derived from lymphoid tissue. Genetic polymorphisms in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) locus can affect transcription and expression of TNF genes. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between -308 bp polymorphism in tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNFalpha) gene and +252 bp in lymphotoxin-alpha(LTalpha) gene and the pathogenesis, clinical course, and outcome of ALL.The single base mutation polymorphism in TNFalpha gene and LTalpha gene were analyzed among 29 Chinese patients with ALL and 72 normal controls using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restrictive fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The clinical data were collected and survival analysis was performed.The difference of distribution of genotypes, alleles of TNFalpha(-308), LTalpha(+252), and TNF/LT polymorphic extended haplotypes between the ALL patients and control group were not statistically significant (P0.05). In patients, no statistically significant association was found between the presence of a given TNF/LT haplotype status and clinical characters such as sex, white blood cell (WBC) counts, central nervous system involvement, and the response to therapy(P0.05). The estimated 1-year overall survival rates in the groups of patients carrying high-risk and low-risk haplotypes were not statistically significant (P0.05) using Kaplan-Meier method. In multivariate Cox regression models the TNF/LT haplotype status was not found to be a risk factor for outcome (P0.05).These data suggest that genetic polymorphisms in the TNFalpha(-308) and LTalpha(+252) are not crucial in the pathogenesis, clinical course, and outcome of ALL patients.

Cell proliferation and differentiation are directed by cell cycle mechanism. When tumor cells proliferate abnormally, cyclins, which are positive agents of cell cycle, may be expressed abnormally at the same time. Now many references proved that cyclins are highly expressed in solid tumors. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between expression of cyclins and prognosis of acute leukemia.Sixty-eight cases of acute leukemia were enrolled. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on tumor samples to examine the expression of cyclin A, cyclin D, cyclin E. All samples were divided into three groups: acute leukemia in complete remission (12 cases), newly diagnosed acute leukemia (16 cases) and refractory leukemia (40 case). Samples of benign hemopoietic patients were used as normal control (15 cases).All the 15 cases in the control group were negative of cyclin mRNA. No difference of cyclin A mRNA expression was shown between control group and the three experiment groups (P0.05). But expression of cyclin D and cyclin E mRNA was significantly different between them (P0.01). There was no difference of expression of cyclin D and cyclin E mRNA among CR patients with acute leukemia(P0.05), while the expression of cyclin D mRNA is significantly higher than that of cyclin E in refractory leukemia group. Furthermore the expression of cyclin D mRNA in recurrent refractory leukemia patients is significantly higher than that newly diagnosed cases (P0.05). All cyclins mRNA positive cases were divided into single cyclin gene expressed group and multiple cyclins gene expressed group. The positive rates of them were counted. No difference was found between complete remission group and refractory leukemia group (P0.05).Cyclin D may act as a prognostic marker for acute leukemia. The amount of cyclins expressed cannot be used as a prognostic factor for acute leukemia.

Patients with malignant tumor including hematological malignancies have high plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and excessive production of TNF is associated with polymorphic variation of TNF locus. TNF polymorphism affects TNF expression by affecting transcriptional regulation. The aim of this paper was to review the correlation between TNF polymorphism and hematological malignancies such as lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma and to make preparation for further research of their relationship.

To investigate the influence of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) ligand, 15-deoxy-12, 14-prostaglandin J2 (15dPGJ2) on the proliferation and apoptosis of MCG-803 human gastric cancer cell lines.Cell proliferation was measured by 3H-TdR assay. Apoptosis was determined by ELISA and TUNEL staining. Protein and mRNA level of bcl-2 family and COXs were measured by Western blotting and Northern blotting respectively. PGE2 production was examined by RIA.15dPGJ2 inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis of MCG-803 cells. The COX-2 and bcl-2/bax ratios were decreased following 15dPGJ2 treatment. The PGE2 production in supernatants was also decreased. These changes were in a dose-dependent manner.15dPGJ2 may be a useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of gastric cancer.