Effects of glucocorticoids on the growth and chemosensitivity of carcinoma cells are heterogeneous and require high concentration of functional glucocorticoid receptors

AIM： To determine how glucocorticoids （GCs） may affect the growth and chemosensitivity of common carcinoma cells. METHODS： The effect of dexamethasone （DEX） on growth and chemosensitivity was assessed in 14 carcinoma cell lines. The function of GC receptors （GR） was assessed by MMTV reporter assay. Overexpression of GR was done by in vitro transfection and expression of a GR-expressing vector. Immunohistochemical stain of tissues and ceils were done by PA1-511A, an anti-GR monodonal antibody. RESULTS： DEX inhibited cell growth of four （MCF-7, MCF- 7/MXR1, MCF-7/TPT300, and HeLa）, increased cisplatin cytoxicity of one （SiHa）, and decreased dsplatin cytotoxicity of two （H460 and Hep3B） cell lines. The GR content of the seven cell lines affected by DEX was significantly higher than those of the seven cell lines unaffected by DEX （5.2±2.5×10^4 sites/cell vs1.3±1.4×10^4 sites/cell, P= 0.005）. Only two DEX-unresponsive cell lines {NPC-TW01 and NPC- TW04） oontained high GR amounts in the range （1.9-8.1×10^4 sites/cell） of the seven DEX-responsive cell lines. The GR function of NPC-TW01 and NPC-TW04, however, was foundto be impaired. The importance of high cellular amount of GR in mediating DEX susceptibility of the cells was further exemplified by GR dose-dependent drug resistance to cisplatin of AGS, a cell line with low GR content and was unaffected by DEX before transfection of GR-expressing vector. Immunohistochemical studies of human cancer tissues showed that 5 of the 45 （11.1%） breast cancer and 43 of the 85 （50.6%） non-small cell lung cancer had high GR contents at the ranges of the GC-responsive carcinoma cell lines. CONCLUSION： The growth and chemosensitivity of human carcinomas with high GR contents may be affected by GC. However, in light of the heterogeneous and even contradictive effects of GC on these cells, routine examination of GR contents of human carcinoma tissues may not be clinically useful until other markers that help predict the ultimate effect of GC on individual patients are identified.

A Case Report on Pulmonary Chemodectoma

A 36-year old female patient was admitted to our hospital in October 2005, with symptoms of cough and phlegmatic stagnation plus chest distress for over 5 months. She had received an X-ray examination at a local hospital before her hospitalization, and it was Shown that there was a small round-like pulmonary focus. No improvement was found after a pre-antiinflammatory treatment for the cough.

Application of non-small cell lung cancer pleural effusion cell blocks in molecular pathological detection

Objective: The tumor tissues used in molecular pathological detection were usually obtained by surgery, which would cause trauma and may not be suitable for the terminal cancer patients. This paper evaluated the value of the non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) pleural effusion cell blocks as tumor tissues replacement materials in the application of molecular pathological detection. Methods: Tumor cells were made into cell blocks through stratified centrifugal from 30 NSCLC patients with the pleural effusion. The immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH) and gene sequencing methods were employed in our experiments. Results: The tumor cells of cell block section were rich and could keep part of histological structure. Immunohistochemistry staining could assist diagnosis and tumor parting. Epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) FISH-positive was found in 33.33% of the group, high polysomy in 6 cases, amplification in 4 cases. EGFR gene mutations were found in 8 cases of 30 samples, with an incidence of 26.67%, 6 cases were detected in the exon 19, and 2 cases were detected in the exon 21. Conclusion: The NSCLC pleural effusion cell blocks are useful for the diagnosis and determining the primary source of tumor, instructed targeted therapy.