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  • Melendez posted an update 7 months, 1 week ago

    Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant cancers in the world. c-Myc, a well-known oncogene, is commonly amplified in many cancers, including gastric cancer. However, it is still not completely understood how c-Myc functions in GC. Here, we generated a stomach-specific c-Myc transgenic mouse model to investigate its role in GC. We found that overexpression of c-Myc in Atp4b+ gastric parietal cells could induce gastric adenoma in mice. Mechanistically, c-Myc promoted tumorigenesis via the AKT/mTOR pathway. Furthermore, AKT inhibitor (MK-2206) or mTOR inhibitor (Rapamycin) inhibited the proliferation of c-Myc overexpressing gastric cancer cell lines. Thus, our findings highlight that gastric tumorigenesis can be induced by c-Myc overexpression through activation of the AKT/mTOR pathway.The onset of malignant solid tumors in infants is insidious and difficult to diagnose on time. The purpose of our study is to provide a theoretical basis for clinical diagnosis by retrospective analysis of the data in the past 14 years. Here, we retrospectively collected the clinical data of infants aged 0-12 months with malignant solid tumors in Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from May 2005 to May 2019. The epidemiology, clinical characteristics, treatments and prognosis were statistically analyzed. A total of 496 infants (294 males and 202 females) with malignant solid tumors were analyzed. The main period of onset was 1-11 months. The most common tumor was retinoblastoma (RB, 51.8%), followed by hepatoblastoma (HB, 26.6%), neuroblastoma (NB, 10.5%), rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS, 3.4%), malignant renal tumors (3.2%), infantile fibrosarcoma (IFS, 1.6%), malignant teratoma (1.2%), Ewing’s sarcoma (ES, 0.8%), medulloblastoma (MB, 0.4%) and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT, 0.4%). The median follow-up time was 32 months (range 2-162 months). The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival of all patients were 97.3%, 89.2%, and 81.1%, respectively, and event-free survival was 94.7%, 84.8%, and 75.8%, respectively. In conclusion, as a special group, malignant solid tumors in infants are complex, heterogeneous, and relatively rare. The prognosis of RB, HB, NB, RMS, malignant renal tumors, IFS, malignant teratoma, ES, MB, and IMT, were excellent duo to timely diagnosis and rational treatment.Overexpression of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) and subchondral bone remodeling play key roles in osteoarthritis (OA). Raloxifene (RAL) reduces the serum level of TGF-β1 in postmenopausal women. However, the effect of RAL on TGF-β1 expression in articular cartilage remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the protective effect of RAL against osteoporotic OA mediated by TGF-β1 expression in the cartilage and the metabolism of subchondral bone. Osteoporotic OA was induced by a combination of anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) and ovariectomy (OVX). Rats were divided into five groups (n=12) the sham, ACLT, OVX, ACLT+OVX and RAL groups (ACLT+OVX+RAL, 6.25 mg/kg/day for 12 weeks). Assessment was performed by histomorphology, microcomputed tomography (micro-CT), immunohistochemistry and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining. Extreme cartilage degeneration was detected in the ACLT+OVX group. The histomorphological scores, levels of TGF-β1 and its related catabolic enzymes and osteoclasts numbers in the ACLT+OVX group were higher than those in other groups (p less then 0.05). Furthermore, the structure model index (SMI) and trabecular spacing (Tb.Sp) were decreased (p less then 0.05), while the bone mineral density (BMD), bone volume fraction (BV/TV) and trabecular number (Tb.N) were increased after treatment with RAL compared with the corresponding parameters in the ACLT+OVX group (p less then 0.05). Our findings demonstrated that RAL at clinical doses retards the development of osteoporotic OA associated with the inhibition of TGF-β1 overexpression in the cartilage and regulation of subchondral bone metabolism. These results suggest an expansion of the clinical indications for RAL to include the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal OA.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with increased mortality and morbidity due to the higher cardiovascular risk in these patients. Traditional risk factors are not the only answer for the accelerated atherosclerosis. In a long-term prospective study, we investigated the relationship between asymptomatic atherosclerosis and traditional risk factors and inflammatory markers in patients with RA and matched healthy controls. We studied the laboratory test results, the concentrations of inflammatory mediators, matrix metalloproteases (MMP), and inflammation markers in the total of 70 (60 at follow-up) premenopausal healthy women with RA and 40 (34 at follow-up) matched controls. We used the B-mode ultrasound imaging of carotid arteries for the detection of asymptomatic atherosclerosis. Correlation with different factors was evaluated. Statistically significant higher values of inflammatory markers such as selective adhesion molecules ICAM and VCAM, interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and MMP-3 in patients group were found in the follow-up study. More plaques were found in the patients group (42.4% vs. 12.9%; p=0.005), as compared with the controls group. The patients had also higher values of cIMT (p=0.001). check details Using bivariate regression analysis only VCAM was found as a prognostic factor for plaque occurrence (r=0.341, p=0.016), but not for cIMT (r=-0.130, p=0.327) in premenopausal female patients with RA after the follow-up. Therefore, asymptomatic atherosclerosis is accelerated in premenopausal women with RA. The results of our follow-up study showed the association between inflammation and accelerated atherosclerosis. Furthermore, VCAM was found to have a statistically significant correlation with plaque occurrence in these patients.This study aimed to determine the correlation between serine hydroxymethyl transferase 1 (SHMT1) gene methylation and ischemic stroke. A total of 202 age- and sex-matched individuals were included. Quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMSP-PCR) was used to analyze the DNA methylation level. The plasma homocysteine (Hcy) concentration was much higher in ischemic cases than in controls (p = 0.009), while the HDL levels in stroke cases were considerably lower than in controls (p = 0.005). A significantly higher level of SHMT1 methylation was observed in the ischemic strokes (58.82 ± 17.83 %) compared to that in the controls (42.59 ± 20.76 %, p less then 0.001). The SHMT1 methylation level was strongly correlated with HDL concentration in the healthy controls (r = 0.517, p less then 0.001), while the high plasma level of Hcy showed strong association with SHMT1 methylation in ischemic strokes (r = 0.346, p less then 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of curve indicated that SHMT1 methylation have been an acceptable indicator for ischemic stroke in female patients [all sexes, area under the curve (AUC) = 0.

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