Sputasol (Dithiothreitol 0.54%) Improves the Detection of Human Papillomaviruses Using the Cobas 4800 System

Qing-Yong Wang,He-Rui Zhang,Yu Gao,Rong-Hai Li,Xiao-Hong Shang 대한진단검사의학회 2017 Annals of Laboratory Medicine Vol.37 No.5

Dear Editor, Persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. Screening of cervical specimens for high-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV) has become a routine part of patient care in most countries. The Roche cobas 4800 system (Roche Molecular Systems Inc., Pleasanton, CA, USA), a fully automated system that uses in vitro qualitative real-time PCR technology, displays high sensitivity and specificity for HR-HPV detection [1]. However, a small proportion of invalid results may occur in specimens showing mucopurulent discharge because of pipetting errors, clot formation, or failed amplification, which could cause a delay in the results and lead to additional waiting time for patients and extra work hours for staff, although most cases are resolved by vortexing the specimens and retesting. To the best of our knowledge, no researcher has tried to overcome this problem by pretreating specimens with an appropriate concentration of Sputasol (Oxoid Ltd., Basingstoke, United Kingdom); Sputasol (dithiothreitol 1.4%) has been used to aid culturing and DNA extraction from sputum specimens in some laboratories [2]. Here, we propose a standard method to improve HR-HPV detection without affecting the performance of the cobas 4800 HPV system.

Pemetrexed in Treating Patients with Metastatic Bladder Cancer

Li, Qing,Li, Jian-Zhang,Xu, Wan-Hai,Gao, Lin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.9

Background: This pooled analysis was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed based chemotherapy in treating patients with metastatic bladder cancer as salvage chemotherapy. Methods: Clinical studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed based regimens on response and safety for patients with bladder cancer were identified by using a predefined search strategy. Pooled response rate (RR) of treatment were calculated. Results: In pemetrexed based regimens, 3 clinical studies which including 105 patients with advanced transitional cell cancer of the urothelium were considered eligible for inclusion. Pooled analysis suggested that, in all patients, pooled RR was 26.7% (28/105) for pemetrexed based regimens. Major adverse effects were neutropenia, anorexia, fatigue, and anemia in pemetrexed based treatment. Two treatment related deaths occurred with pemetrexed based treatment. Conclusion: This pooled analysis suggests that pemetrexed based regimens are associated with mild activity and good tolerability in treating patients with metastatic bladder cancer.

Diagnostic value of Thyroglobulin Measurement with Fine-needle Aspiration Biopsy for Lymph Node Metastases in Patients with a History of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Zhang, Hai-Shan,Wang, Ren-Jie,Fu, Qing-Feng,Gao, Shi,Sun, Bu-Tong,Sun, Hui,Ma, Qing-Jie Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.24

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of FNA-Tg for detecting lymph node metastases in patients with a history of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Materials and Methods: A total of 58 patients with DTC diagnosis and evidence of single or multiple suspicious cervical lymph nodes were assessed. All underwent total or near-total thyroidectomy with (35 cases) or without (23 cases) radioiodine (RAI) ablation, followed by thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy. A total of 68 lymph nodes were examined by ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (US-FNA) for both cytological examination and FNA-Tg measurement. Serum Tg and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) levels were also measured. Diagnostic performance including sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of FNAC and FNA-Tg were calculated and compared. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to estimate the relationship between FNA-Tg and serum TgAb. Results: The FNA-Tg levels were significantly higher with DTC metastatic lymph nodes (median 927.7 ng/mL, interquartile range 602.9 ng/mL) than non-metastatic lymph nodes (median 0.1 ng/mL, interquartile range 0.4 ng/mL) (p<0.01). Considering 1.0 ng/mL as a threshold value for FNA-Tg, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of FNA-Tg were 95.7%, 95.5%, 95.6%, 97.8% and 91.3%, respectively. The sensitivity and accuracy of the combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg were significantly higher than that of FNAC alone (p<0.05). The diagnostic performance of FNA-Tg was not significantly different between cases with or without RAI ablation, and the serum TgAb levels did not interfere with FNA-Tg measurements. Conclusions: Measurement of FNA-Tg is useful. The combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg is more sensitive and accurate for detecting lymph node metastases in patients with a history of DTC than FNAC alone. Serum TgAbs appear to be irrelevant for measurement of FNA-Tg.

Low Expression of Tyrosine-protein Phosphatase Nonreceptor Type 12 is Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis and Poor Prognosis in Operable Triple-negative Breast Cancer

Wu, Min-Qing,Hu, Pan,Gao, Jie,Wei, Wei-Dong,Xiao, Xiang-Sheng,Tang, Hai-Lin,Li, Xing,Ge, Qi-Dong,Jia, Wei-Hua,Liu, Ren-Bin,Xie, Xiao-Ming Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.1

Background: Low tyrosine-protein phosphatase nonreceptor type 12 (PTPN12) expression may be associated with breast cancer growth, proliferation, and metastasis. However, the prognostic value of PTPN12 in breast cancer has not been clearly identified. Patients and Methods: 51 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients and 83 non-TNBC patients with a histopathology diagnosis from October 2001 to September 2006 were included in this study. Immunohistochemical staining for PTPN12 on tissue microarrays was conducted. Results: High PTPN12 expression was seen in 39.2% of TNBC and 60.2 % of non-TNBC cases. Low PTPN12 expression was associated with lymph node status (p = 0.002) and distant metastatic relapse (p = 0.002) in TNBC patients. Similarly, low PTPN12 expression in non-TNBC patients was significantly correlated with lymph node status (p = 0.002), stage (p = 0.002) and distant metastatic relapse (p = 0.039). The high PTPN12 expression group was associated with longer DFS and OS compared with low PTPN12 expression group only in TNBC cases (p = 0.005, p = 0.015), according to univariate Cox regression analysis. Conclusion: These findings provide evidence that low expression of PTPN12 is associated with worse prognosis and may be used as a potential prognostic biomarker in TNBC patients.

Metastatic Axillary Lymph Node Ratio (LNR) is Prognostically Superior to pN Staging in Patients with Breast Cancer -- Results for 804 Chinese Patients from a Single Institution

Xiao, Xiang-Sheng,Tang, Hai-Lin,Xie, Xin-Hua,Li, Lai-Sheng,Kong, Ya-Nan,Wu, Min-Qing,Yang, Lu,Gao, Jie,Wei, Wei-Dong,Xie, Xiaoming Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.9

The number of axillary lymph nodes involved and retrieved are important prognostic factors in breast cancer. The purpose of our study was to investigate whether the lymph node ratio (LNR) is a better prognostic factor in predicting disease-free survival (DFS) for breast cancer patients as compared with pN staging. The analysis was based on 804 breast cancer patients who had underwent axillary lymph node dissection between 1999 and 2008 in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center. Optimal cutoff points of LNR were calculated using X-tile software and validated by bootstrapping. Patients were then divided into three groups (low-, intermediate-, and high-risk) according to the cutoff points. Predicting risk factors for relapse were performed according to Cox proportional hazards analysis. DFS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. The 5-year DFS rate decreased significantly with increasing LNRs and pN. Univariate analysis found that the pT, pN, LNR, molecule type, HER2, pTNM stage and radiotherapy well classified patients with significantly different prognosis. By multivariate analysis, only LNR classification was retained as an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, there was a significant prognostic difference among different LNR categories for pN2 category, but no apparent prognostic difference was seen between different pN categories in any LNR category. Therefore, LNR rather than pN staging is preferable in predicting DFS in node positive breast cancer patients, and routine clinical decision-making should take the LNR into consideration.

Aldehyde Volatiles Emitted in Succession from Mechanically Damaged Leaves of Poplar Cuttings

( Zeng Hui Hu ),( Ying Bai Shen ),( You Qing Luo ),( Fan Yi Shen ),( Hai Bo Gao ),( Rong Fu Gao ) 한국식물학회 2008 Journal of Plant Biology Vol.51 No.4

Plant aldehydes are volatiles necessary to defenses against environmental stress. To explore their emissions in response to wounding, we performed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) on cuttings from poplar (Populus simonii×P. pyramidalis ``Opera 8277``) that were mechanically damaged to mimic herbivore attack. We detected 16 aldehydes, including 11 linear saturated aldehydes, 3 linear unsaturated aldehydes, and 2 non-linear aldehydes. Emissions of these aldehydes were clearly enhanced by such treatment, and exhibited a similar pattern of change, i.e., increasing in the first 2 h, then sharply decreasing before rising again at about 12 h. Two release peaks for these aldehydes were observed. Therefore, we propose two pathways for the mediation of aldehyde emissions following damage. The first peak may represent emissions from plant storage pools, whereas the second release peak might result from greater formation de novo through an activated synthesis pathway.

Follow-Up of 58 Traumatic Carotid-Cavernous Fistulas after Endovascular Detachable-Balloon Embolization at a Single Center

Xiao-Quan Xu,Sheng Liu,Qing-Quan Zu,Lin-Bo Zhao,Jin-Guo Xia,Chun-Gao Zhou,Wei-Zhong Zhou,Hai-Bin Shi 대한신경과학회 2013 Journal of Clinical Neurology Vol.9 No.2

Background and Purpose This study evaluated the clinical value of detachable-balloon embolization for traumatic carotid-cavernous fistula (TCCF), focusing on the frequency, risk factors, and retreatment of recurrence. Methods Fifty-eight patients with TCCF underwent transarterial detachable-balloon embolization between October 2004 and March 2011. The clinical follow-up was performed every 3months until up to 3 years postprocedure. Each patient was placed in either the recurrence group or the nonrecurrence group according to whether a recurrence developed after the first procedure. The relevant factors including gender, fistula location, interval between trauma and the interventional procedure, blood flow in the carotid-cavernous fistula, number of balloons, and whether the internal carotid artery (ICA) was sacrificed were evaluated. Results All 58 TCCFs were successfully treated with transarterial balloon embolization, including 7 patients with ICA sacrifice. Recurrent fistulas occurred in seven patients during the follow-up period. Univariate analysis indicated that the interval between trauma and the interventional procedure (p=0.006) might be the main factor related to the recurrence of TCCF. The second treatments involved ICA sacrifice in two patients, fistula embolization with balloons in four patients, and placement of a covered stent in one patient. Conclusions Detachable balloons can still serve as the first-line treatment for TCCFs and recurrent TCCFs despite having a nonnegligible recurrence rate. Shortening the interval between trauma and the interventional procedure may reduce the risk of recurrence.

Whole Brain Radiotherapy Plus Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Brain Metastases from Lung Cancer: A Meta-analysis of 19 Randomized Controlled Trails

Liu, Wen-Jing,Zeng, Xian-Tao,Qin, Hai-Feng,Gao, Hong-Jun,Bi, Wei-Jing,Liu, Xiao-Qing Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.7

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) plus chemotherapy versus WBRT alone for treating brain metastases (BM) from lung cancer by performing a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: The PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, ASCO, ESMO, CBM, CNKI, and VIP databases were searched for relevant RCTs performed between January 2000 and March 2012. After quality assessment and data extraction, the meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.1 software, with funnel plot evaluation of publication bias. Results: 19 RCTs involving 1,343 patients were included. The meta-analyses demonstrated that compared to WBRT alone, WBRT plus chemotherapy was more effective with regard to the objective response rate (OR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.79 - 2.98; P < 0.001); however, the incidences of gastrointestinal reactions (RR = 3.82, 95% CI = 2.33 - 6.28, P <0.001), bone marrow suppression (RR = 5.49, 95% CI = 3.65 - 8.25, P < 0.001), thrombocytopenia (RR = 5.83, 95% CI = 0.39 - 86.59; P = 0.20), leukopenia (RR = 3.13, 95% CI = 1.77 - 5.51; P < 0.001), and neutropenia (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.61 - 4.68; P < 0.001) in patients treated with WBRT plus chemotherapy were higher than with WBRT alone. There was no obvious publication bias detected. Conclusion: WBRT plus chemotherapy can obviously improve total efficacy rate, butalso increases the incidence of adverse reactions compared to WBRT alone. From the limitations of this study, more large-scale, high-quality RCTs are suggested for further verification.

Correlation between Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Derived Metrics and Serum Soluble CD40 Ligand Level in an Embolic Canine Stroke Model

Xiao-Quan Xu,Chen-Jiang Wu,Shan-Shan Lu,Qian-Qian Gao,Qing-Quan Zu,Xing-Long Liu,Hai-Bin Shi,Sheng Liu 대한영상의학회 2017 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.18 No.5

Objective: To determine the relationship between intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging derived quantitative metrics and serum soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) level in an embolic canine stroke model. Materials and Methods: A middle cerebral artery occlusion model was established in 24 beagle dogs. Experimental dogs were divided into low- and high-sCD40L group according to serum sCD40L level at 4.5 hours after establishing the model. IVIM imaging was scanned at 4.5 hours after model establishment using 10 b values ranging from 0 to 900 s/mm2. Quantitative metrics diffusion coefficient (D), pseudodiffusion coefficient (D*), and perfusion fraction (f) of ischemic lesions were calculated. Quantitative metrics of ischemic lesions were normalized by contralateral hemisphere using the following formula: normalized D = Dstroke / Dcontralateral. Differences in IVIM metrics between the low- and high-sCD40L groups were compared using t test. Pearson’s correlation analyses were performed to determine the relationship between IVIM metrics and serum sCD40L level. Results: The high-sCD40L group showed significantly lower f and normalized f values than the low-sCD40L group (f, p < 0.001; normalized f, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in D*, normalized D*, D, or normalized D value between the two groups (All p > 0.05). Both f and normalized f values were negatively correlated with serum sCD40L level (f, r = -0.789, p < 0.001; normalized f, r = -0.823, p < 0.001). However, serum sCD40L level had no significant correlation with D*, normalized D*, D, or normalized D (All p > 0.05). Conclusion: The f value derived from IVIM imaging was negatively correlated with serum sCD40L level. f value might serve as a potential imaging biomarker to assess the formation of microvascular thrombosis in hyperacute period of ischemic stroke.

QTL mapping and identification of candidate genes for cold tolerance at the germination stage in wild rice

Pan Ying-Hua,Nong Bao-Xuan,Chen Lei,Yang Xing-Hai,Xia Xiu-Zhong,Zhang Zong-Qiong,Qing Dong-Jin,Gao Ju,Huang Cheng-Cui,Li Dan-Ting,Deng Guo-Fu 한국유전학회 2023 Genes & Genomics Vol.45 No.7

Background Cold damage stress significantly affects rice growth (germination and seedling) and causes serious losses in yield in temperate and high-altitude areas around the globe. Objective This study aimed to explore the cold tolerance (CT) locus of rice and create new cold-tolerant germplasm. We constructed a chromosome segment substitution line (CSSL) with strong CT and fine mapped quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with CT by performing the whole-genome resequencing of CSSL with phenotypes under cold treatment. Methods A chromosome CSSL, including 271 lines from a cross between the cold-tolerant wild rice Y11 (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) and the cold-sensitive rice variety GH998, was developed to map QTLs conferring CT at the germination stage. The whole-genome resequencing was performed on CSSL for mapping QTLs of associated with CT at the germination stage. Results A high-density linkage map of the CSSLs was developed using the whole-genome resequencing of 1484 bins. The QTL analysis using 615,466 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) led to the identification of 2 QTLs related to germination rate at low-temperature on chromosome 8 (qCTG-8) and chromosome 11 (qCTG-11). The qCTG-8 and qCTG-11 explained 14.55% and 14.31% of the total phenotypic variation, respectively. We narrowed down qCTG-8 and qCTG-11 to 195.5 and 78.83-kb regions, respectively. The expression patterns of important candidate genes in different tissues, and of RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) in CSSLs, were identified based on gene sequences in qCTG-8 and qCTG-11 cold-induced expression analysis. LOC_Os08g01120 and LOC_Os08g01390 were identified as candidate genes in qCTG-8, and LOC_Os11g32880 was identified as a candidate gene in qCTG-11. Conclusions This study demonstrated a general method that could be used to identify useful loci and genes in wild rice and aid in the future cloning of candidate genes of qCTG-8 and qCTG-11. The CSSLs with strong CT were supported for breeding cold-tolerant rice varieties.