Endothelial progenitor cells contribute to the development of ovarian carcinoma tumor blood vessels

The Long Telling Story of "Endothelial Progenitor Cells": Where Are We at Now?

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs): The name embodies years of research and clinical expectations, but where are we now? Do these cells really represent the El Dorado of regenerative medicine? Here, past and recent literature about this eclectic, still unknown and therefore fascinating cell population will be discussed. This review will take the reader through a temporal journey that, from the first discovery, will pass through years of research devoted to attempts at their definition and understanding their biology in health and disease, ending with the most recent evidence about their pathobiological role in cardiovascular disease and their recent applications in regenerative medicine.

Endothelial transdifferentiation of human HGC-27 gastric cancer cells in vitro

Malignant tumor cells are able to transdifferentiate into other cell types in various tissues or organs. Recent studies have demonstrated the ability of cancer cells to transdifferentiate into functional endothelial cells (ECs). However, whether human gastric cancer (GC) cells are able to transdifferentiate into other cell types has remained largely elusive. Furthermore, whether HGC-27 cells are able to participate in GC angiogenesis remains to be clarified. In the present study, the HGC-27 cell line grown under hypoxic conditions for 4 days exhibited the typical ‘flagstone’ appearance, which is typical for cultured ECs. HGC-27 cells cultured on Matrigel under hypoxic conditions gradually formed net-like structures. Furthermore, the cultured HGC-27 cells expressed CD31, CD34 and von Willebrand factor, the molecular markers for ECs, under hypoxic conditions. These results indicated that HGC-27 cells, cultured under hypoxic conditions, are able to transdifferentiate into EC-like cells in vitro.

p16/Ki-67 dual staining has a better accuracy than human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in women with abnormal cytology under 30 years old

Due to a high rate of transient human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, HPV genotyping has a low specificity for high-grade cervical lesions, especially in young women. p16/Ki-67 dual immunocytochemical staining can also be used for the detection of oncogenic changes in cervical cells. Our aim was to compare the performance of p16/Ki-67 dual staining and HPV genotyping in the detection of high-grade cervical lesions in patients with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS)/low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) on Pap smear. We retrospectively analyzed 310 patients with ASCUS/LSIL on Pap smear, who underwent colposcopy. Among these, 161 patients with suspected lesions detected by colposcopy were referred for biopsy. HPV genotyping by LINEAR ARRAY HPV Genotyping Test (CE-IVD) and p16/Ki-67 dual staining by CINtec PLUS Cytology kit was performed prior to cervical biopsy. The overall sensitivity and specificity of HPV genotyping for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2-3 was 79% and 72%, respectively in patients with ASCUS, and 85% and 64%, respectively in patients with LSIL. For p16/Ki-67 test, sensitivity and specificity rate was 66% and 93%, respectively in ASCUS and 59% and 79%, respectively in LSIL group. The specificity of p16/Ki-67 staining was significantly higher in both groups in patients aged <30 years compared to patients >30 years old (p < 0.001). Our results showed that p16/Ki-67 dual staining has a higher specificity compared to HPV genotyping, especially in patients under 30 years old. This indicates the usefulness of p16/Ki-67 testing in the triage of patients with ASCUS/LSIL and <30 years old, prior to referral for colposcopy and biopsy.

Preliminary screening of differentially expressed genes involved in methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene-mediated proliferation in human osteosarcoma cells

Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is essential in human brain development and has been linked to several cancer types and neuro-developmental disorders. This study aims to screen the MeCP2 related differentially expressed genes and discover the therapeutic targets for osteosarcoma. CCK8 assay was used to detect the proliferation and SaOS2 and U2OS cells. Apoptosis of cells was detected by flow cytometry analysis that monitored Annexin V-APC/7-DD binding and 7-ADD uptake simultaneously. Denaturing formaldehyde agarose gel electrophoresis was employed to examine the quality of total RNA 18S and 28S units. Gene chip technique was utilized to discover the differentially expressed genes correlated with MeCP2 gene. Differential gene screening criteria were used to screen the changed genes. The gene up-regulation or down-regulation more than 1.5 times was regarded as significant differential expression genes. The CCK8 results indicated that the cell proliferation of MeCP2 silencing cells (LV-MeCP2-RNAi) was significantly decreased compared to non-silenced cells (LV-MeCP2-RNAi-CN) (P < 0.05). MeCP2 silencing could also induce significant apoptosis compared to non-silenced cells (P < 0.05); 107 expression changed genes were screened from a total of 49,395 transcripts. Among the total 107 transcripts, 34 transcripts were up-regulated and 73 transcripts were down-regulated. There were five significant differentially expressed genes, including IGFBP4, HOXC8, LMO4, MDK, and CTGF, which correlated with the MeCP2 gene. The methylation frequency of CpG in IGFBP4 gene could achieve 55%. In conclusion, the differentially expressed IGFBP4, HOXC8, LMO4, MDK, and CTGF genes may be involved in MeCP2 gene-mediated proliferation and apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells.