Injection of Lymphatics: With Colored Cedar Oil; With Plastic

(1) The oil mass consists of: cedar oil, 1; color in oil (a paint pigment, e.g., Prussian blue), 1; and toluene, 2, parts by volume. To use, add 1 ml of diethyl ether to each 10 ml of mass, mix thoroughly and inject into the fresh organ with a very fine glass or metallic needle. Heat the organ in water at 50-60° C before starting the injection, massage gently after injection, then fix. For macroscopic studies, fix 5 days in 5% formalin, and dissect. For microscopic studies, fix at least 5 days in: formalin, 10 ml; Al₂(SO₄)₃, 2 gm; ZnSO₄, 2 gm; acetic acid, 4 ml; and distilled water, 90 ml. Dehydrate with dioxane, embed in paraffin and section at 10-20 μ. Stain with hematoxylin-eosin or with one of the following modifications of Van Gieson's formula: 1. 1% acid fuchsin, 10; picric acid (sat. aq.), 50; and 5% ZnSO₄, 40 volumes. 2. 1% acid fuchsin, 20; picric acid (sat. aq.), 80; and 5% CoSO₄, 40 volumes.

(2) The plastic mass consists of a 5-10% solution of Rhodopas (a vinyl copolymer) in acetone. Injection is made as with the oil mass except that a plastic squeeze-bottle and glass needle is preferable to a syringe. Indirect injection is used for both procedures, i.e., into the organ substance; not into a cannulated lymphatic vessel. After the plastic has hardened (24 hr), the unfixed tissue is subjected to corrosion by 5-10% NaOH in water.     

具有分子伴侣功能的抗体

蛋白质的折叠问题一直是生物学研究的前沿之一，蛋白质稳态平衡的破坏与衰老及很多神经退行性疾病的发病机理密切相关，而蛋白质的正确折叠与蛋白质稳态在很大程度上取决于分子伴侣参与构建的复杂网络。许多研究表明，抗体可以作为分子伴侣促进蛋白质的正确折叠，并阻止蛋白质的异常聚集，抗体所具有的严格底物特异性使其具备了治疗特定蛋白质折叠病、帮助包涵体复性等应用潜力。本文简要介绍了分子伴侣的研究进展，详细阐述了具有分子伴侣功能的抗体及单链抗体的研究进展，最后重点讨论了可抑制蛋白质聚集的抗体的研究近况。     

Overexpression of miRNA 4451 is Associated With a Poor Survival of Patients With Hypopharyngeal Cancer After Surgery With Postoperative Radiotherapy

Hypopharyngeal cancer (HC) is the most common subset of head and neck cancers. These tumors often have an aggressive clinical outcome characterized by local invasion and regional nodal metastasis. Upregulated miRNAs might be useful as biomarkers for prognosis and molecular targets for these tumors. We determined tumor expression of candidate miRNAs using microarray in 8 HC patients and validated in 372 HC patients. We also used paired tumorous and mucosal tissue to verify the miRNA expression. Log-rank test and Cox model were used to evaluate the survival; and Harrell's C-index was used to compare concordance of Cox models. Our results indicated 7 miRNAs aberrantly expressed in HC. Three of these candidate miRNAs (miRNA-4415, miRNA-200a, and miRNA-30b) were selected for further qRT-PCR validation and all of them were frequently found upregulated in HC tumors; with miR-4451 being the most differentially expressed. Moreover, high expression of miR-4451 was positively correlated with advanced tumor stage and increased mortality risk (HR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.2–2.3; adjusted HR: 1.5, adjusted 95% CI: 1.1–2.1). Finally, significantly higher expression of miR-4451 in tumors compared to in fresh adjacent normal tissues indicates an oncogenic role of miR-4451 in this tumor. Upregulated miR-4451 in HC samples were frequently found and is significantly associated with advanced stage and poor survival of HC, which may indicate an association of this miRNA with the carcinogenesis process in this tumor site; and they could serve as a prognostic biomarker as well as help develop potential new targets for therapy.