Tumor markers in breast cancer--evaluation of their clinical usefulness

Breast cancer is the most common neoplasm affecting women in the Western world. Many studies are still conducted with the purpose of finding markers that could be used for early diagnosis and/or serve as possible reliable prognostic or predictive parameters, but with conflicting results. At present, no markers are available for an early diagnosis of breast cancer For surveillance of patients with diagnosed breast cancer the most widely used serum markers are CA 15-3 and CEA which, in combination with other clinical parameters, could have clinical significance. The most useful and clinically important tissue-based markers in breast cancer are estrogen and progesterone receptors, used as a basis for hormonal therapy, and HER-2 receptors, essential in selecting patients for the treatment with Herceptin. New or potentially new markers for breast cancer include BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes for selecting patients at high risk of developing hereditary breast cancer, as well as urokinase plasminogen activator and inhibitor for assessing prognosis in lymph node-negative patients. Results of tumor and patient genetic analyses including their clinical evaluation will enable application of more individualized and personalized approach in diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer patients.     

Liver development and regeneration: from laboratory study to clinical therapy

The liver has an unusual capacity to regenerate after a loss of mass and function caused by surgical resection or toxic liver injury. Over the last 10 years there have been major advances in our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying liver development and regeneration. The numerous factors crucial to these phenomena have been identified mainly by using knockout mice. Forward-genetics studies using zebrafish and medaka have also generated many mutants with liver disorders or defects in liver formation. Our goal is to translate knowledge gained from laboratory work and animal models into novel therapies for human liver diseases. Exciting progress has been achieved using human partial liver transplantation and autologous cell therapy.     

基因工程抗体的研究进展

基因工程抗体以其独特的优点（免疫原性低、可按人的意愿加以改造等）正逐渐取代动物源性单抗。随着基因工程和蛋白质工程等生物技术在抗体研制领域的广泛应用,适应不同需要的基因工程抗体的种类日趋多样化,构建日趋合理化,在体内的生物学效应与日臻完善,使之较天然单抗的治疗效果更好,范围更广,并在初步临床试用中展示了光辉的前景。     

Proteomics of human prostate cancer biospecimens: the global,systems-wide perspective for Protein markers with potential clinical utility

Despite intense global efforts, no new clinical and/or viable biomarkers have been established to overcome the limitation of the prostate specific antigen in the early diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer (PCa). The current proteomic approaches to PCa biomarker discovery, each have distinct advantages and disadvantages, yet when combined hold real promise in the coming years. One key approach to this effort is the development of non-targeted, depletion-free and quantitative liquid chromatography–ultra high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS) pipelines for the systems-wide interrogation of the diverse proteomes encompassed in whole tissue and blood serum or plasma. Derived quantitative proteomes can be decoded for their biomedical relevance with advanced bioinformatics and bibliographic mining to yield promising ‘molecular portraits’ that can gauge prostatic disease at the serological level. Their functional annotation, although potentially useful, is beyond our current level of biological understanding and should not be requisite for their effective use in the clinical monitoring of prostatic disease.     

Cross-species utility of microsatellite markers in trichostrongyloid nematodes

The development of microsatellite markers for parasitic nematodes has been hampered by technical difficulties in isolation and PCR amplification. We have investigated the potential for circumventing these problems using microsatellites from 3 trichostrongyloid species on a panel of 7 species. Ten of the 22 PCR primer pairs tested amplified in species other than the target species, usually in closely related species, and 2 new variable loci were discovered in the sheep parasite Trichostrongylus vitrinus. This study provides evidence that cross-species testing of microsatellite primers can be an effective alternative to isolation de novo.     

Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks

The burden of disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cyptosporidium is unknown. However, routine laboratory diagnosis and surveillance enables the basic epidemiology to be described, changes to be monitored and under-ascertainment to be measured. Although the two main species involved in human disease in developed countries, Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis, have differing epidemiologies and risk factors, national surveillance is generally from isolates identified to the genus level only. Enhancing the data by typing, at least to identify the isolates to the species level, removes some of the noise generated and better identifies the risks than when reports are not species-specific. This level of identification is also valuable for outbreak investigations, but further investigation of the population genetics of C. parvum and C. hominis is required for the development of more readily applied subtyping tools.