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Anterior gradient 3 (AGR3) belongs to human anterior gradient (AGR) family. The function of AGR3 on cancer remains unknown. This research aimed to investigate if AGR3 had prognostic values in invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of breast cancer and could promote tumor progression. Materials and Methods AGR3 expression was detected in breast benign lesions, ductal carcinoma in situ and IDC by immunohistochemistry analysis. AGR3's correlations with clinicopathological features and prognosis of IDC patients were analyzed. By cell function experiments, collagen gel droplet-embedded culture drug sensitivity test and cytotoxic analysis, AGR3's impacts on proliferation, invasion ability, and chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity of breast cancer cells were also detected. Results AGR3 was up-regulated in luminal subtype of histological grade I-II of IDC patients and positively correlated with high risks of recurrence and distant metastasis. AGR3 high expression could lead to bone or liver metastasis and predict poor prognosis of luminal B. In cell lines, AGR3 could promote proliferation and invasion ability of breast cancer cells which were consistent with clinical analysis. Besides, AGR3 could indicate poor prognosis of breast cancer patients treated with taxane but a favorable prognosis with 5-fluoropyrimidines. And breast cancer cells with AGR3 high expression were resistant to taxane but sensitive to 5-fluoropyrimidines. Conclusion AGR3 might be a potential prognostic indicator in luminal B subtype of IDC patients of histological grade I-II. And patients with AGR3 high expression should be treated with chemotherapy regimens consisting of 5-fluoropyrimidines but no taxane.

(Abstracted from Genet Med 2019;21:2293–2302) Noninvasive prenatal screening for aneuploidy using cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has been used since 2011 to identify fetal genetic disorders such as trisomies 13, 18, and 21. However, these tests can give false-positive results or fail all together when other conditions, such as maternal cancer, are present.

Recent in vitro and clinical studies have found that metformin (MET) may play a preventive or therapeutic role in preeclampsia (PE) and may be a candidate drug for the prevention and/or treatment of PE. In this study, we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce a PE‐like rat model and investigated the intervention effect of MET from the perspectives of clinical manifestations, placental morphology, serum marker for placental injury, systemic inflammatory response and oxidative/nitrative stress, and placental nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) signaling. The results showed that MET improved LPS‐induced hypertension, proteinuria, fetal growth restriction (FGR) and stillbirth, alleviated placental injury and decreased maternal serum marker alpha‐fetoprotein (MS‐AFP) level; MET suppressed LPS‐induced TNF‐α and IL‐6 productions, reduced oxidative/nitrative stress as evidenced by increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity, and decreased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO); MET inhibited LPS‐induced NF‐κB activation in placentas. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that MET is beneficial to the PE‐like rat model by protecting placentas from injury, suppressing systemic inflammatory response and oxidative/nitrative stress, and inhibiting placental NF‐κB signaling pathway. MET is a promising drug for prevention and/or treatment of PE.

Background We aimed to evaluate the clinical value of copy number variation-sequencing (CNV-Seq) in combination with cytogenetic karyotyping in prenatal diagnosis. Methods CNV-Seq and cytogenetic karyotyping were performed in parallel for 9452 prenatal samples for comparison of the diagnostic performance of the two methods, and to evaluate the screening performance of maternal age, maternal serum screening, fetal ultrasound scanning and noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for fetal pathogenic copy number variation (CNV). Results Among the 9452 prenatal samples, traditional karyotyping detected 704 cases (7.5%) of abnormal cytogenetic karyotypes, 171 (1.8%) chromosome polymorphism, 20 (0.2%) subtle structural variations, 74 (0.7%) mutual translocation (possibly balanced), 52 (0.6%) without karyotyping results, and 8431 (89.2%) normal cytogenetic karyotypes. Among the 8705 cases with normal karyotype, polymorphism, mutual translocation, or marker chromosome, CNV-Seq detected 63 cases (0.7%) of pathogenic chromosome microdeletion/duplication. Retrospectively, noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) had high sensitivity and specificity for the screening of fetal pathogenic CNV, and NIPT combining with maternal age, maternal serum screening or fetal ultrasound scanning, which improved the screening performance. Conclusion The combined application of cytogenetic karyotyping and CNV-Seq significantly improved the detection rate of fetal pathogenic chromosome microdeletion/duplication. NIPT was recommended for the screening of pathogenic chromosome microdeletion/duplication, and NIPT combining with other screening methods further improved the screening performance for pathogenic fetal CNV.

To evaluate the association of the TP53 codon 72 (rs 1042522) alone or in combination with HDM2 SNP309 (rs 2279744) polymorphisms with human infertility and IVF outcome, we collected 1450 infertility women undergoing their first controlled ovarian stimulation for IVF treatment and 250 fertile controls in the case-control study. Frequencies, distribution, interaction of genes, and correlation with infertility and IVF outcome of clinical pregnancy were analyzed. We found a statistically significant association between TP53 codon 72 polymorphism and IVF outcome (52.10% vs. 47.40%, OR = 0.83, 95%CI:0.71–0.96, p = 0.01). No significant difference was shown between TP53 codon 72, HDM2 SNP309 polymorphisms, human infertility, and between the combination of two genes polymorphisms and the clinical pregnancy outcome of IVF. The data support C allele as a protective factor for IVF pregnancy outcome. Further researches should be focused on the mechanism of these associations.

PurposeThis study aimed to assess the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension and their associated factors among Bai ethnic population in the rural China.MethodsA population-based survey was conducted in 2010 with a randomly cluster sampling in rural communities in Dali, southwest China. A total of 2133 adults aged 50 or above were interviewed, and their blood pressure, height, weight and waist circumference were measured. Hypertension was defined as a mean SBP≥140 mmHg and/or DBP≥90 mmHg, and/or current use of antihypertensive medications.ResultsThe prevalence of hypertension was 42.1% (899/2133), and the age- and gender-adjusted prevalence was 40.0%. Among the hypertensive participants, 28.4% (255/899)were aware of their condition, while 24.6% (221/899) took antihypertensive medications, with only 7.5% (67/899) of those achieving blood pressure control (<140/90 mmHg). Risk factors for hypertension were older age, smoking, alcohol drinking, family history of HBP, overweight, and obesity, while protective factors included being lean, and having finished senior high school or above.ConclusionsHypertension prevalence is high among the population of Bai ethnic group in China, while the associated risk factors of hypertension include overweight/obesity, cigarette smoking, history of hypertension, and older age. The percentages of hypertensive participants aware of their hypertension and those taking antihypertensive medications were low with an incredibly low proportion of hypertensive patients who kept their hypertension under control. It is suggested that health education and hypertension screening programs be carried out in the area for the high blood pressure prevention and control.