Reconnoitring the Status of Prostate Specific Antigen and its Role in Women

Prostate specific antigen is considered to be a tumour marker having maximum utility and specificity for prostate cancer since decades. After the discovery of methods to quantify different molecular fractions of prostate specific antigen (PSA), its usefulness in diagnosing early prostate cancer cases has increased tremendously. The “specificity” of PSA, is now challenged by many studies which proved that PSA, once believed to be secreted exclusively by prostatic epithelium, is also present in females. The exact biological role of extraprostatic PSA is still debatable though many theories substantiated by in vitro evidence has been put forward. With the advent of ultrasensitive analytical techniques, PSA is now quantifiable in female serum in its various molecular forms and this has led to many assumptions of it being useful as a marker in female breast cancers. In a similar scenario to prostate cancer, the ratio of free to total PSA is shown to be useful in detecting early breast cancer cases. It is also shown to be a good prognostic indicator and a predictor of response to therapy and recurrence. Apart from its role in breast cancer, it has been advocated to be a marker of hyper androgenic states in women like hirsutism and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Conflicting reports regarding the role of extra prostatic PSA is accumulating but it has been proven beyond doubt that PSA is no longer specific and confined to prostate gland. Various studies have registered that PSA is an ubiquitous molecule, secreted by hormone responsive organs and its synthesis is stimulated by androgens and progesterone but not oestrogens. In this article, a review of various literatures is done about the presence of extra prostatic PSA, its probable role in those sites as well as its utility as a tumour marker in breast cancer.     

Status of epidermal growth factor receptors family in hormone-dependent carcinomas of the breast and prostate with reference to serum lipids and lipoproteins

There are numerous growing evidences of resemblance between carcinomas of the breast and prostate. A total of 45 cases of these two hormone-dependent cancers along with appropriate controls were subjected for status of epidermal growth factor receptors as well as serum lipid profile. Paraffin embedded tissue sections from aforesald tumours were analysed by immunohistochemical staining for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), c-erbB-2 oncoprotein, estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR). Sera from same individuals were studied for serum lipid profile analysis. The study revealed that immunoexpression of all receptor proteins (EGF-R). c-erbB-2 was significantly higher in breast carcinoma. In addition, mean levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol were found to be significantly elevated while the level of HDL-cholesterol was observed to be lower among patients with breast cancer as compared to matched controls. Further, ER-positive breast cancer cases have significantly higher mean level of HDL-cholesterol when compared with ER-negative breast cancer patients. Contrary to this, no alteration in different serum lipid fractions was noticed among the patients with prostate cancer. However, a positive relationship was noticed between immunoexpressions of EGF-R and c-erbB-2 in prostate cancer.     

Serum levels of bone alkaline phosphatase in breast and prostate cancers with bone metastasis

BALP activity in the sera of metastatic patients of breast and prostate malignancy has increased significantly. Our studies with patients in India conform the earlier reports that BALP may have a useful complementary role in the early diagnosis of bone metastases.     

Antioxidant vitamins and chemoprevention

Free radicals play an important role in human carcinogenesis and the mechanism of their counteraction by antioxidant vitamins has been reviewed. It seems more likely that these vitamins work in concert rather than acting singly. Currently available data are compatible with the notion that these vitamins act as chemopreventives against some important cancers, e.g. carotenoids for lung cancer, ascorbic acid for salivary gland cancer, tocopherols for head and neck cancers etc. Thus, a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables should be encouraged as they are the natural sources of these chemopreventive, antioxidants along with other protective factors packaged by nature. However, much work still remains to be done to establish the role of antioxidant vitamins in carcinogenesis.     

Advances in urinary protein biomarkers for urogenital and non-urogenital pathologies

The discovery of protein biomarkers that reflect the biological state of the body is of vital importance to disease management. Urine is an ideal source of biomarkers that provides a non-invasive approach to diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of diseases. Consequently, the study of the human urinary proteome has increased dramatically over the last 10 years, with many studies being published. This review focuses on urinary protein biomarkers that have shown potential, in initial studies, for diseases affecting the urogenital tract, specifically chronic kidney disease and prostate cancer, as well as other non-urogenital pathologies such as breast cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis. PubMed was searched for peer-reviewed literature on the subject, published in the last 10 years. The keywords used were “urine, biomarker, protein, and/or prostate cancer/breast cancer/chronic kidney disease/diabetes/atherosclerosis/osteoarthritis”. Original studies on the subject, as well as a small number of reviews, were analysed including the strengths and weaknesses, and we summarized the performance of biomarkers that demonstrated potential. One of the biggest challenges found is that biomarkers are often shared by several pathologies so are not specific to one disease. Therefore, the trend is shifting towards implementing a panel of biomarkers, which may increase specificity. Although there have been many advances in urinary proteomics, these have not resulted in similar advancements in clinical practice due to high costs and the lack of large data sets. In order to translate these potential biomarkers to clinical practice, vigorous validation is needed, with input from industry or large collaborative studies.Key words: urine, protein, biomarker     

MicroRNAs: Potential biomarkers in cancer

microRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved small noncoding RNAs, also known as micromanagers of gene expression. Polymorphisms in the miRNA pathway (miR-polymorphisms) are emerging as powerful tools to study the biology of a disease and have the potential to be used in disease prognosis and diagnosis. Advancements in the miRNA field also indicate a clear involvement of deregulated miRNA gene signatures in cancers, and several polymorphisms in pre-miRNA, miRNA binding sites or targets have been found to be associated with various cancers. The miRNA polymorphisms have also been reported to influence tumor aggressiveness as well as survival of cancer patients. miRNAs have a revolutionary impact on cancer research over recent years. They emerge as important players in tumorigenesis, leading to a paradigm shift in oncology. The extensive and comprehensive use of miRNA microarrays has enabled the identification of a number of miRNAs as potential biomarkers for cancer. Many miRNAs have been identified to act as oncogenes, tumor suppressors, or even modulators of cancer stem cells and metastasis. Some studies not only reported the identified miRNA biomarkers, but also deciphered their target genes and the underlying mechanisms. The rapid discovery of many miRNA targets and their relevant pathways has contributed to the development of miRNA-based therapeutics.     

Prostate specific antigen in patients of benign prostate hypertrophy and carcinoma prostate

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) has emerged as the most applicable and important tumor marker for carcinoma prostate. In the present study PSA was determined in serum of healthy subjects, patients of benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and Carcinoma Prostate (Ca−P) to evaluate its diagnostic efficiency in day to day management of prostate cancer patients and in differentiating patients of early prostate cancer from those with BPH. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) revealed 2 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml cut off serum PSA level for BPH and untreated carcinoma prostate patients (Ca−P). An extremely significant increase (P<0.0001) was observed in mean PSA concentration in BPH patients and adenocarcinoma prostate patients when compared to healthy males. Clinical relevance of PSA was highlighted by a case study of cancer patient prior to any therapy till death.     

Serum total PSA and free PSA in breast tumors

Now a days measurement of molecular forms of PSA has gained importance in clinical practice. Several studies have demonstrated the production of PSA in female tissues, such as breast. The present piece of work has been undertaken with an objective to estimate the relative proportion of the molecular forms of PSA in serum along with serum testosterone in benign and malignant breast tumor cases and to analyze their association with the severity of the disease process 34 malignant and 26 benign breast disease cases along with 33 healthy controls of same age group were enrolled in this study for evaluation. Serum testosterone was measured by ELISA, whereas serum total PSA (TPSA) and free PSA (FPSA) were estimated by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. A significant rise of fasting plasma glucose along with prominent dyslipidemia was observed in breast tumor cases. Marked rise in serum testosterone as well as TPSA and FPSA was documented in both benign and malignant breast tumor cases. Serum testosterone revealed a significant positive association with both TPSA and FPSA pointing towards an etiological association between them. However, surgical removal of tumor mass resulted in a marked decline of presurgical value of both TPSA and FPSA with a non-significant fall in serum testosterone revealing tumor tissue as the source of FPSA and TPSA. Thus, estimation of PSA provides prognostic information that may assist in future treatment.     

Correlation of serum retinol and its relation with lipid prolile in Indian cancer patients

The present study was undertaken to investigate the relation of retinol with lipid profile of patients with cancers of breast, stomach, oesophagus, colon, gallbladder, pancreas, lung and cervix. Serum retinol was assayed in 120 patients and 40 healthy normal control by reverse phase HPLC using CLC-ODS C-18 columns and retinyl acetate as an internal standard. Significant decease in serum cholesterol and LDL was observed in patients with cancers of esophagus, colon, stomach, pancreas and gallbladder respectively. Retinol was reduced in all forms of cancers but pronounced decrease was observed in oesophagus, gallbladder, pancreas, stomach and colon. Serum Retinol in all patients was directly correlated with total cholesterol and LDL. These findings suggest that therapeutic modalities of this vitamin could be planned for these patients, as vitamin A is known to act as an antioxidant for prevention of certain cancers.     

Stability of total and free prostate specific antigen in serum samples at different storage conditions

The present preliminary study was performed to find out stability of total prostate specific antigen (PSA) and free prostate specific antigen (FPSA) in serum of healthy males as well as in patients of benign and malignant disorders of prostate at various freezing and nonfreezing temperatures and at different duration of time. The results of our study indicated long-term stability of both the analytes in frozen serum. Serum total and free PSA were stable only for three to four days in regular refrigerators in unfrozen states. Clotted blood kept at room temperature (25°C–30°C) did not cause change in concentrations of both the analytes for twenty four hours.     

中药对乳腺癌内分泌治疗的减毒作用研究

中药治疗乳腺癌有着广泛的临床适应证,尤其在内分泌治疗毒副反应研究方面有着显著的优势。对提高患者生存率,降低复发转移率,改善患者的生活质量具有极其重要的临床意义和广泛的应用前景。     

Status and Interrelationship of Zinc,Copper, Iron,Calcium and Selenium in Prostate Cancer

Deficiency or excess of certain trace elements has been considered as risk factor for prostate cancer. This study was aimed to detect differential changes and mutual correlations of selected trace elements in prostate cancer tissue versus benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue. Zinc, copper, iron, calcium and selenium were analysed in histologically proven 15 prostate cancer tissues and 15 benign prostatic hyperplasia tissues using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Unpaired two tailed t test/Mann–Whitney U test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to compare the level of trace elements, elemental ratios and their interrelations. As compared to benign prostatic tissue, malignant prostatic tissue had significantly lower selenium (p = 0.038) and zinc (p = 0.043) concentrations, a lower zinc/iron ratio (p = 0.04) and positive correlation of selenium with zinc (r = 0.71, p = 0.02) and iron (r = 0.76, p = 0.009). Considerably divergent interrelationship of elements and elemental ratios in prostate cancer versus benign prostatic hyperplasia was noted. Understanding of differential elemental changes and their interdependence may be useful in defining the complex metabolic alterations in prostate carcinogenesis with potential for development of element based newer diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic strategies. Further studies may be needed to elucidate this complex relationship between trace elements and prostate carcinogenesis.     

Effects of Nanoliposomal and Pegylated Nanoliposomal Artemisinin in Treatment of Breast Cancer

This study is aimed to investigate the nanoliposomal artemisinin preparation, and its implementation on breast cancer cells. Side effects have been one of the common challenges of drug usage, as well as cancer treatment. In order to reduce such effects, nanotechnology has been a great help. Nanoliposomes are provided through reverse phase evaporation. In this method, certain proportions of phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol and artemisinin were mixed together. Besides, the obtained formulation was pegylated by using polyethylene glycol 2000 in order to increase its stability and solubility. The mean diameter of non-pegylated and pegylated liposomal artemisinin was determined by Zeta sizer system. The percent of drug released from liposome was performed by dialysis. The encapsulation efficiency of both formulations was estimated by spectrophotometry method. As a result, encapsulation and drug release of nanoliposomal formulation were more than the pegylation of the same formulation. In addition, this study indicated that cytotoxicity effect of pegylated nanoliposomal artemisinin was more, in comparison with nanoliposomal artemisinin.     

Discrimination between the human prostate normal cell and cancer cell by using a novel electrical impedance spectroscopy controlling the cross-sectional area of a microfluidic channel

The prostate biopsy method shows a high false negative result because the suspicious tissue considered as cancer is not confirmed during tissue sampling. Thus, repeated biopsy procedures and diagnostic errors in relation to prostate cancer frequently occur. The purpose of this research is to enhance the prostate cancer detection rate by using microfluidic electrical impedance spectroscopy (μEIS), which allows real-time measurement of the electrical impedance of a single human prostate normal cell and cancer cell. The μEIS was equipped with a movable flexible membrane, which is operated by pneumatic pressure to capture the single cell on the surface of sensing electrodes. The forced tight contact between the cell and electrodes makes it possible to measure the electrical characteristics of the cell with a high sensitivity. The μEIS discriminates well between normal human prostate cells (RWPE-1) and cancer cells (PC-3) at 8.7 kHz based on the electrical signal responses of the cells. The average difference rates of admittance magnitude and susceptance are 54.55% and 54.59%, respectively. The developed μEIS also shows high repeatability, which was verified by a deionized water test conducted before and after each cell assay; the maximum variance of both the impedance and admittance at 8.7 kHz was as small as 9.48%.     

隐性知识管理及基于网络的交流平台的研究

21世纪是知识经济时代,知识已成为企业重要的生产要素,KM(Knowledge Management,知识管理)尤其是KM中的隐性知识的管理对企业提高创新和竞争能力具有重要的现实意义。本文主要针对隐性知识管理进行了分析和阐述：首先阐明KM必须同时兼顾显性知识和隐性知识,接着进一步分析了企业内隐性知识的转化历程及隐性知识管理中存在的主要障碍。在此基础提出了企业进行隐性知识管理的框架,并基于该框架模型开发了一个基于网络的隐性知识交流共享平台,在实际应用中取得了较好的效果。     

A study of prolonged jaundice screen in healthy term babies

Prolonged jaundice in most of the term babies is associated with breast milk but in some cases it can be a marker for a range of hepatobiliary, hematological, metabolic, endocrine, infectious and genetic disorders that are associated with significant mortality and morbidity if not diagnosed in time. A diagnosis of conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia warrants urgent investigation. Protocols for investigating prolonged jaundice screen vary in complexity and the yield from screen has not been assessed. In order to address these issues, we carried out a study on healthy term babies referred to our day unit with prolonged jaundice. Infants were examined by pediatrician and investigations done as per unit protocol. Prolonged jaundice screen was found to be helpful in excluding biliary atresia and to support the diagnosis of breast milk jaundice. Present study concluded that negative prolonged jaundice screen is reassuring in healthy term babies and further investigations are unwarranted unless otherwise specified.     

Characterization of lectins and their specificity in carcinomas—An appraisal

Lectins, a group of specific glycoproteins present in animal as well as plant cells, are used as differentiating markers to study cancers and metastatic cell lines. This property of lectins depends on the process of cellular glycosylation. Glycosylation of some of the extracellular membrane proteins and lipids maintains the cell/cell and cell/matrix interactions. Chemical alterations in glycosylation play an important role in the metastatic behavior of tumor cells. Carbohydrate residues of the membrane glycoproteins can be detected using lectins due to their binding specificity to carbohydrates. Lectins, therefore have gained an importance in the field of cancer research. Galectins, a specialized group of lectin like proteins that are Ca+ independent and galactoside binding, are also considered as differentiation markers in some specific cancers like the carcinomas of thyroid. Thus the use of lectins and galectins to identify specific carbohydrates present on cell surface help in invasion and metastasis processes.     

Zones of inhibition: interactions between art and science

It has been suggested that successful art helps to solve our emotional problems. Can it therefore help with our current crisis in the relationship between biological science and society? Art and science are activities that have seemingly different cultures; scientists are seen as objective and rational, artists as subjective and intuitive. Each inhabit cultures that are seen to be mutually exclusive, but this has not always been the case. For example, during the Renaissance, people were schooled across both art and science and there was no clear dividing line. Where did the split occur, and is their interaction important in the 21st century?     

技能型战略联盟合作效应和企业讨价还价能力实证研究

本文研究技能型战略联盟中合作效应与企业讨价还价能力、知识获取、学习能力四者之间的关系,证实学习能力是知识获取的决定性因素,并发现知识获取有利于增大合作效应和提升讨价还价能力,而讨价还价能力是提高合作效应的重要手段。