Advance on molecular mechanism of lymphangiogenesis

This article focused on lymphatic vessel＇s origin, structure, function, classified regulation and side effect aroused by anti-lymphaniogenesis （lymphangiogenesis means the development of new lymphatic vessels）.

The quantitative expressions of lymphangiogenic factors and metastasis in human colorectal cancers

Objective： The purpose of this paper was to study the expression levels of newly described lymphatic endothelial markers – LYVE-1, Prox-1, podoplanin and 5’-nucleotidase, and their correlation with metastasis of human colorectal cancers. Methods： Tumor and corresponding tumor-side normal tissue samples were obtained from resected specimens immediately after operation. Expression level of each factor was determined by quantitative real-time PCR （RT-PCR） and Western blot technique. Results： Expression levels of lymphatic endothelial markers LYVE-1, Prox-1, podoplanin and 5’-nucleotidase were significantly different in tumor and tumor-side normal groups. Expression levels of Prox-1 and podoplanin were higher in patients with positive lymph node metastasis than those without metastasis. LYVE-1, but not 5’-nucleotidase expression level was higher in both cancer and normal groups. Conclusion： These results indicate that combined quantitative analysis of lymphangiogenic markers LYVE-1, Prox-1 and podoplanin in colorectal cancer specimens may be useful in predicting metastasis of colorectal cancer to regional lymph nodes. However, the role of 5’-nucleotidase in predicting metastasis of colorectal cancer still remains to be further analyzed.

Peripheral Lymphocyte Subsets as a Marker of Parkinson's Disease in a Chinese Population

In this study, we conducted a clinical analysis of lymphocyte subtypes in 268 patients with Parkinson＇s disease （PD） to assess their clinical impact as a potential marker of advanced PD in Chinese patients. The participants comprised 268 sporadic PD patients and 268 healthy controls. The numbers of natural killer （NK） cells and CD3＋, CD3＋CD4＋, CD3＋CD8＋, and CD19＋ lympho- cytes from peripheral blood were determined by immunos- taining and flow cytometric analysis and the percentages of these CD＋ T cells were calculated. The ratio of regulatory T （Treg）/helper T 17 （Thl7） lymphocytes from 64 PD patients and 46 controls was determined by flow cytometric analysis. The results showed that the percentage of NK cells was higher in advanced PD patients than in controls （22.92% ± 10.08% versus 19.76% ±10.09%, P= 0.006）, while CD3＋ T cells are decreased （62.93% ±9.27% versus 65.75% ± 9.13%, P = 0.005）. The percentage of CD19＋ B cells in male patients was lower （P = 0.021） than in female patients, whereas NK cells were increased （P 〈 0.0001）. The scores on the Unified Parkinson＇s Disease Rating Scale （UPDRS） and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale in late-onset PD patients were significantly higher than those in earlyonset patients （P = 0.024 and P = 0.007, respectively）. The percentage of CD19＋ B cells in patients with UPDRS scores 〉24 was lower than in those with scores 〈24 （10.17% ± 4.19% versus 12.22% ± 5.39%, P = 0.009）. In addition, the Treg/Th17 ratio in female patients was higher than that in female controls （13.88 ± 6.32 versus 9.94 ±4.06, P = 0.042）. These results suggest that the percentages of NK cells, CD3＋ T cells, and CD19＋ B cells along with the Treg/Th17 ratio in peripheral blood may be used to predict the risk of PD in Chinese individuals and provide fresh avenues for novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic designs.