Diabetes increases the risk of stroke by three, increases related mortality, and delays recovery. We aimed to characterize functional and structural alterations in cerebral microvasculature before and after experimental cerebral ischemia in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes. We hypothesized that preexisting brain microvascular disease in patients with diabetes might partly explain increased stroke severity and impact on outcome. Diabetes was induced in 4-week-old C57Bl/6J mice by intraperitoneal injections of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). After 8 weeks of diabetes, the vasoreactivity of the neurovascular network to CO 2 was abolished and was not reversed by nitric oxide (NO) donor administration; endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) mRNA, phospho-eNOS protein, nNOS, and phospho-nNOS protein were significantly decreased; angiogenic and vessel maturation factors (vascular endothelial growth factor a [VEGFa], angiopoietin 1 (Ang1), Ang2, transforming growth factor-b [TGF-b], and platelet-derived growth factor-b [PDGFb]) and blood-brain barrier (BBB) occludin and zona occludens 1 (ZO-1) expression were significantly decreased; and microvessel density was increased without changes in ultrastructural imaging. After permanent focal cerebral ischemia induction, infarct volume and neurological deficit were significantly increased at D1 and D7, and neuronal death (TUNEL + /NeuN + cells) and BBB permeability (extravasation of Evans blue) at D1. At D7, CD31 + /Ki67 + double-immunolabeled cells and VEGFa and Ang2 expression were significantly increased, indicating delayed angiogenesis. We show that cerebral microangiopathy thus partly explains stroke severity in diabetes.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a highly heterogeneous disease and one of the major causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Diffuse-type gastric adenocarcinoma (or poorly cohesive- with independent cells) is characterized by aggressive behavior (rapid invasion, chemoresistance and peritoneal metastasis), as compared with intestinal-subtype adenocarcinoma. Diffuse subtype GC additionally has a substantially increasing incidence rate in Europe and the USA, and was often associated with younger age. Our objective was to analyze the expression and clinical significance of genes involved in several signaling pathways in diffuse-type GC. Tumors samples and non-malignant gastric tissues were obtained from patients with GC (diffuse-type and intestinal-subtype adenocarcinoma). The expression of 33 genes coding for proteins involved in four categories, growth factors and receptors, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cell proliferation and migration, and angiogenesis was determined by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The expression of 22 genes was significantly upregulated in diffuse-type GC and two were downregulated (including CDH1 ) compared with normal tissues. Among these genes, acompared with intestinal-subtype adenocarcinoma, diffuse-type GC revealed elevated levels of IGF1 and IGF1R, FGF7 and FGFR1, ZEB2, CXCR4, CXCL12 and RHOA , and decreased levels of CDH1, MMP9 and MKI67 . The expression of selected genes was compared with other genes and according to clinical parameters. Furthermore, TGF-β expression was significantly increased in linitis, a sub-population of diffusely infiltrating type associated with extensive fibrosis and tumor invasion. Our study identified new target genes ( IGF1, FGF7, CXCR4, TG-β and ZEB2 ) whose expression is associated with aggressive phenotype of diffuse-type GC.