The Significance of CXCR4 Expression for the Prediction of Lymph Node Metastasis in Breast Cancer Patients

OBJECTIVE The chemokine receptor(CXCR4)CXC chemokine receptor 4)plays an important role in cancer metastasis.We therefore studied differential expression of the CXCR4,as well as that of the biomarker HER2,so as to evaluate whether these biomarkers can be used to predict axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer patients. METHODS Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the CXCR4 and HER2 expressions and to examine the paraffin sections of the breast cancers at various stages.Positive lymph node expression was found in 80 of the cases,and in 7 there was negative expression. RESULTS Compared to the cases with negative lymph nodes, there was a high expression of CXCR4(26.3% vs.14.3%,P=0.013), and an over-expression of HER2(28.8% vs.14.3%,P=0.011). Moreover,there was a direct correlation between the CXCR4 and HER2 expressions and the tumor staging(P=0.000)and lymph node metastasis(P=0.032).When the two biomarkers,i.e.CXCR4 and HER2,were concurrently labeled,a high expression of one of the biomarkers could be seen in the cases with positive lymph nodes(51.3% vs.28.6%,P<0.003). CONCLUSION The chemokine receptor,CXCR4,is a new-type biomarker in predicting axillary lymph-node metastasis in breast cancers.Compared with the other markers,such as HER2 etc., assessment of CXCR4 can improve the prediction of the presence and extent of lymph node involvement.

Adrenal pheochromocytoma impacts three main pathways: cysteine-methionine, pyrimidine, and tyrosine metabolism

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas(PPGLs)cause symptoms by altering the circulation levels of catecholamines and peptide hormones.Currently,the diagnosis of PPGLs relies on diagnostic imaging and the detection of catecholamines.In this study,we used ultra-performance liquid chromatography(UPLC)/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(Q-TOF MS)analysis to identify and measure the perioperative differential metabolites in the plasma of adrenal pheochromocytoma patients.We identified differentially expressed genes by comparing the transcriptomic data of pheochromocytoma with the normal adrenal medulla.Through conducting two steps of metabolomics analysis,we identified 111 differential metabolites between the healthy group and the patient group,among which 53 metabolites were validated.By integrating the information of differential metabolites and differentially expressed genes,we inferred that the cysteine-methionine,pyrimidine,and tyrosine metabolism pathways were the three main metabolic pathways altered by the neoplasm.The analysis of transcription levels revealed that the tyrosine and cysteine-methionine metabolism pathways were downregulated in pheochromocytoma,whereas the pyrimidine pathway showed no significant difference.Finally,we developed an optimized diagnostic model of two metabolites,L-dihydroorotic acid and vanylglycol.Our results for these metabolites suggest that they may serve as potential clinical biomarkers and can be used to supplement and improve the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.