Clear cell hepatocellular carcinoma: origin,metabolic traits and fate of glycogenotic clear and ground glass cells

Clear cell hepatocellular carcinoma(CCHCC)has hitherto been considered an uncommon, highly differentiated variant of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) with a relatively favorable prognosis. CCHCC is composed of mixtures of clear and/or acidophilic ground glass hepatocytes with excessive glycogen and/or fat and shares histology, clinical features and etiology with common HCCs. Studies in animal models of chemical, hormonal and viral hepatocarcinogenesis and observations in patients with chronic liver diseases prone to develop HCC have shown that the majority of HCCs are preceded by, or associated with, focal or diffuse excessive storage of glycogen(glycogenosis) which later may be replaced by fat(lipidosis/steatosis). In ground glass cells, the glycogenosis is accompanied by proliferation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, which is closely related to glycogen particles and frequently harbors the hepatitis B surface antigen(HBs Ag).From the findings in animal models a sequence of changes has been established, commencing with preneoplastic glycogenotic liver lesions, often containing ground glass cells, and progressing to glycogen-poor neoplasms via various intermediate stages, including glycogenotic/lipidotic clear cell foci, clear cell hepatocellular adenomas(CCHCA) rich in glycogen and/or fat, and CCHCC. A similar process seems to take place in humans, with clear cells frequently persisting in CCHCC and steatohepatitic HCC, which presumably represent intermediate stages in the development rather than particular variants of HCC. During the progression of the preneoplastic lesions,the clear and ground glass cells transform into cells characteristic of common HCC. The sequential cellular changes are associated with metabolic aberrations, which start with an activation of the insulin signaling cascade resulting in preneoplastic hepatic glycogenosis. The molecular and metabolic changes underlying the glycogenosis/lipidosis are apparently responsible for the dramatic metabolic shift from gluconeogenesis to the pentose phosphate pathway and Warburg-type glycolysis, which provide precursors and energy for an ever increasing cell proliferation during progression.

Associations between NOD2/CARD15 genotype andphenotype in Crohn’s disease-Are we there yet?

There have been multiple NOD2/CARD15 genotype- phenotype analyses undertaken in patients with Crohn’s disease since the gene’s discovery in 2001. This review focuses on the major published series based upon their size and on the presence of specific clinical and genetic information provided in the published material from 2001 to 2005. Twelve studies provided raw data to carry out comparisons of disease location while ten studies included analysis of NOD2/CARD15 genotypes. NOD2/CARD15 variant frequency in ileal disease did not differ significantly among studies, whereas a comparison of disease location demonstrated highly significant differences among studies. Meta-analysis confirmed significant associations between NOD2/CARD15 variants and both ileal and ileocolonic disease locations, and with both stricturing and penetrating forms of disease behavior. This review underlines the significant phenotypic differences that exist among populations, including similar ethnic groups, and has demonstrated the need for further studies of patients with long-term “inflammatory” Crohn’s disease.

INFLUENCE OF IMMUNE STATUS OF THE IMMUNE DEFICIENT MICE ON THE METASTATIC PHENOTYPES OF THE HETEROGENEOUS CLONAL SUBLINES OF HUMAN LUNG GIANT CELL CARCINOMA

By using cell cloning technique, 4 sublines (A,C,D,E) were isolated from a cell line of human lung giant cell carcinoma (PLA-801). After subcutaneous inoculation in T-cell deficient BALB/c nude mice, the incidence of tumor growth and spontaneous metastasis were the highest in subline D, moderate in sublines A and E, and lowest in subline C. Tumor cells of subline C also showed similar low tumorigenicity in another T-cell deficient 615/ PB1 nude mice.However, in 615/PB1 beige nude mice with con-genitally combined immune-deficiency in both T and NK cell activity, tumor cells of the rarely metastatic subline C do produce significantly high frequency of tumor growth and spontaneous metastasis.Morphological studies (light microscope, electron microscope and immunohistochemistry) showed rich microfilaments and Vimentin positive in the cytoplasm of metastatic tumor cells. This may imply a possibility that tumor cells differentiate towards the direction favourable to spreading and metastasis.

Next‑Generation Sequencing‑Based Copy Number Variation Analysis in Chinese Patients with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Revealed Novel DNAH5 Copy Number Variations

Primary ciliary dyskinesia(PCD)is a rare disorder characterized by extensive genetic heterogeneity.However,in the genetic pathogenesis of PCD,copy number variation(CNV)has not received sufcient attention and has rarely been reported,especially in China.Next-generation sequencing(NGS)followed by targeted CNV analysis was used in patients highly suspected to have PCD with negative results in routine whole-exome sequencing(WES)analysis.Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)and Sanger sequencing were used to confrm these CNVs.To further characterize the ciliary phenotypes,high-speed video microscopy analysis(HSVA),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),and immunofuorescence(IF)analysis were used.Patient 1(F1:II-1),a 0.6-year-old girl,came from a nonconsanguineous family-I.She presented with situs inversus totalis,neonatal respiratory distress,and sinusitis.The nasal nitric oxide level was markedly reduced.The respiratory cilia beat with reduced amplitude.TEM revealed shortened outer dynein arms(ODA)of cilia.chr5:13717907-13722661del spanning exons 71–72 was identifed by NGS-based CNV analysis.Patient 2(F2:IV-4),a 37-year-old man,and his eldest brother Patient 3(F2:IV-2)came from a consanguineous family-II.Both had sinusitis,bronchiectasis and situs inversus totalis.The respiratory cilia of Patient 2 and Patient 3 were found to be uniformly immotile,with ODA defects.Two novel homozygous deletions chr5:13720087_13733030delinsGTTTTC and chr5:13649539_13707643del,spanning exons 69–71 and exons 77–79 were identifed by NGS-based CNV analysis.Abnormalities in DNA copy number were confrmed by qPCR amplifcation.IF showed that the respiratory cilia of Patient 1 and Patient 2 were defcient in dynein axonemal heavy chain 5(DNAH5)protein expression.This report identifed three novel DNAH5 disease-associated variants by WES-based CNV analysis.Our study expands the genetic spectrum of PCD with DNAH5 in the Chinese population.

Intertumoral heterogeneity of molecular phenotype and analysis of prognosis in multifocal and multicentric breast cancer

Objective This study was designed to investigate the prognostic implications of the intertumoral heterogeneity of molecular phenotype in multifocal and multicentric breast cancer(MMBC).Methods The clinical and follow-up data of 146 patients with MMBC from Jan.2009to Dec.2009 treated in Tumor Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University were retrospectively analyzed.

Changes in IncRNAs and related genes in β-thalassemia minor and β-thalassemia major

β-thalassemia is caused by β-globin gene mutations. However, heterogeneous phenotypes were found in individuals with same genotype, and still undescribed mechanism underlies such variation. We collected blood samples from 30 β-thalassemia major, 30 β-thalassemia minor patients, and 30 matched normal controls. Human lncRNA Array v2.0 （8 × 60 K, Arraystar） was used to detect changes in long non-coding RNAs （lncRNAs） and mRNAs in three samples each from β-thalassemia major, β-thalassemia minor, and control groups. Compared with normal controls, 1424 and 2045 lncRNAs were up- and downregulated, respectively, in β-thalassemia major patients, whereas 623 and 349 lncRNAs were up- and downregulated, respectively, in β-thalassemia minor patients. Compared with β-thalassemia minor group, 1367 and 2356 lncRNAs were up- and downregulated, respectively, in β-thalassemia major group. We selected five lncRNAs that displayed altered expressions （DQ583499, X-inactive specific transcript （Xist）, IincRNA-TPM1, MRFS16P, and lincRNA-RUNX2-2） and confirmed their expression levels in all samples using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Based on coding-non-coding gene co-expression network and gene ontology biological process analyses, several signaling pathways were associated with three common organ systems exhibiting β-thalassemia phenotypes： hematologic, skeletal, and hepatic systems. This study implicates that abnormal expression levels of lncRNAs and mRNA in β-thalassemia cases may be correlated with its various clinical phenotypes.

Modeling stochastic phenotype switching and bet-hedging in bacteria： stochastic nonlinear dynam=cs and critical state identification

Fluctuating environments pose tremendous challenges to bacterial populations. It is observed in numerous bacterial species that individual cells can stochastically switch among multiple phenotypes for the population to survive in rapidly changing environments. This kind of phenotypic heterogeneity with stochastic phenotype switching is generally understood to be an adaptive bet-hedging strategy. Mathematical models are essential to gain a deeper insight into the principle behind bet-hedging and the pattern behind experimental data. Traditional deterministic models cannot provide a correct description of stochastic phenotype switching and bet-hedging, and traditional Markov chain models at the cellular level fail to explain their underlying molecular mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a nonlinear stochastic model of multistable bacterial systems at the molecular level. It turns out that our model not only provides a clear description of stochastic phenotype switching and bet-hedging within isogenic bacterial populations, but also provides a deeper insight into the analysis of multidimensional experimental data. Moreover, we use some deep mathematical theories to show that our stochastic model and traditional Markov chain models are essentially consistent and reflect the dynamic behavior of the bacterial system at two different time scales. In addition, we provide a quantitative characterization of the critical state of multistable bacterial systems and develop an effective data-driven method to identify the critical state without resorting to specific mathematical models.

Bacterial persistence

Although bacterial persistence was first observed in 1944,its underlying mechanism is just beginning to be understood and many fundamental questions remain.In this review,we summarize studies in order to chart the full map of bacterial persistence.Because persistence significantly contributes to disease recalcitrance,we also elucidate the probable relationships between bacterial persistence and prolonged chronic infections,with some comments on future research directions and therapeutic strategies.