No abstract

Quality-control mechanisms in spermatogenesis are important to eliminate injured or abnormal cells, thereby protecting the organism from abnormal development in the next generation. The processes of spermatogenesis are highly sensitive to high temperatures; however, the mechanisms by which injured germ cells are eliminated remain unclear. Here, we found that heat shock proteins are not induced in male germ cells in response to thermal stress, although heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) is activated. Using HSF1-null mice, we showed that apoptosis of pachytene spermatocytes was markedly inhibited in testes with a single exposure to heat and in the cryptorchid testes, indicating that HSF1 promotes apoptotic cell death of pachytene spermatocytes exposed to thermal stress. In marked contrast, HSF1 acts as a cell-survival factor of more immature germ cells, probably including spermatogonia, in testes exposed to high temperatures. These results demonstrate that HSF1 has two opposite roles in male germ cells independent of the activation of heat shock genes.

No abstract

This study indicates that urinary IL-2 at the eighth instillation of BCG may serve as a valuable prognostic factor of treatment efficacy as well as tumor recurrence after treatment.

Objective: To search for a biological marker to distinguish low-risk from high-risk bladder cancer indicating disease progression. Methods: The whole genome-wide copy numbers were screened in 18 patients with bladder cancer using array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) consisting of 4,030 bacterial artificial chromosome clones. Results: Gain of 5p15.33, including TPPP (tubulin polymerization-promoting protein)and ZDHHC11 (zinc finger DHHC domain-containing protein 11) genes, was detected in 5 of 9 (55.6%) high-grade bladder cancers and no (0%; n = 9) low-grade bladder cancer. To confirm the preliminary data, 5p15.33 gain was studied by fluorescence in situhybridization (FISH) in 100 patients, and the results were compared with biological characteristics. In FISH analysis, gain of 5p15.33 was significantly correlated with higher histological grade (p < 0.0001) and advanced pathological stage (p = 0.0284). Tumors with a gain of 5p15.33 had a significantly higher progression-free survival rate than those without (p = 0.0006, log-rank test). Multivariate analysis revealed that gain of 5p15.33 was a predictor for disease progression in bladder cancer (hazard ratio: 1.887, 95% confidence interval: 1.215–2.968, p = 0.0050). Conclusion: These data suggest that gain of 5p15.33 (TPPP and ZDHHC11) may become a potential biomarker identifying high-risk patients with disease progression in bladder cancer.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is involved in the pathogenesis of testicular ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in association with germ cell death, through either necrosis or apoptosis. Western blot analysis showed that iNOS expression was markedly increased 1 h after ischemia, and was accompanied by a huge nitric oxide (NO) production, as measured by the Griess method, with a peak at 48 h of reperfusion. Immunohistochemistry showed that iNOS was expressed predominantly in the macrophage-like cells infiltrated in the interstitial tissues of the testis. Intraperitoneal injection of aminoguanidine (AMG) (400 mg/day), the inhibitor of iNOS, reduced NO production by 57.7% at 96 h of reperfusion. Calpain activation and proteolysis of alpha-fodrin induced by I/R were inhibited by AMG. Germ cell apoptosis was demonstrated by in situ TUNEL and DNA fragmentation on agarose gel electrophoresis. Germ cell apoptosis was maximally induced at 24 h of reperfusion, and was not inhibited by AMG. NO produced by iNOS in the delayed phase of reperfusion promoted alpha-fodrin proteolysis, which is closely associated with necrosis. Inducible NOS inhibition combined with calpain inhibition may improve impaired spermatogenesis after testicular torsion.

Purpose: Recent studies have reported that centrosome hyperamplification (CH) is closely related to chromosomal instability in bladder cancer. In this study, we investigated whether CH could be used as a prognostic biomarker for patients with bladder cancer.Experimental Design: CH was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 50 bladder cancers (pT2: 7). In addition, numerical aberrations of chromosomes 7, 9, and 17 and gain of 20q13, on which the Aurora-A gene is located, were evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridization, and DNA ploidy was assessed. Preliminary experiments on eight bladder cancer cell lines found that six had over 5% of CH cells associated with a gain of 20q13 and overexpression of Aurora-A; therefore, CH-positive cases (CH؉) were defined as those having over 5% of cells with >3 centrosomes per cell.Results: CH؉, 20q13 gain, chromosomal instability, and DNA aneuploidy were detected in 30 (60%), 18 (36%), 22 (44%), and 19 (38%) patients, respectively. There were significant differences in tumor number, grade, recurrence, and progression between the CH؉ and CH؊ groups. The later had significantly higher recurrence-free and progression-free survivals than the former (P ‫؍‬ 0.0028 and P ‫؍‬ 0.0070, respectively, log-rank test). Multivariate analysis revealed that CH؉ was the strongest predictor for tumor recurrence in nonmuscle invasive (pTa and pT1) bladder cancer (hazard ratio, 1.882; 95% confidence interval, 1.161-3.325; P ‫؍‬ 0.0094).Conclusions: Detection of CH may provide crucial prognostic information about tumor recurrence in bladder cancer.

Purpose: Malignant tumors show an inherent genetic instability that can be classified as microsatellite instability (MSI) or chromosomal instability (CIN).To elucidate the differences in biological characteristics of bladder cancer between the two types of genetic instability, the expression of the mismatch repair (MMR) proteins, Aurora-A and p53 proteins, the number of centrosomes, numerical aberrations of chromosomes and 20q13, and DNA ploidy were examined in 100 human urothelial carcinomas of the bladder. Experimental Design: Expressions of the MLH1, MSH2, Aurora-A, and p53 proteins and the numbers of centrosomes were immunohistochemically assessed. Numerical aberrations of chromosomes 7, 9, 17, and 20q13 spots were evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridization, and DNA ploidy was assessed by laser scanning cytometry. Results:The expression levels of the MMR related-proteins decreased in 9 of100 tumors.Tumors with low MLH1 or MSH2 expression (designated as MSI cancers) were not linked with centrosome amplification, Aurora-A overexpression, increased p53 immunoreactivity, 20q13 gain, DNA aneuploidy, and disease progression. MSI cancers showed a favorable prognosis. CIN cancers (49 cases), defined as tumors with a large intercellular variation in centromere copy numbers, were associated more frequently with centrosome amplification, Aurora-A overexpression, increased p53 immunoreactivity, and 20q13 gain than the others (51cases). Tumors with disease progression were included in the CIN cancer group. Conclusions: The present observations suggest that there are differences in the biological characteristics of the two types of genetic instability.Urothelial carcinoma of the bladder is the second most common malignancy of the genitourinary tract (1). Approximately three quarters of all bladder cancers are low-grade and noninvasive superficial tumors. These cancers generally show a favorable prognosis with respect to mortality; however, tumor recurrence and disease progression are found in 50% to 70% and 10% to 20% of tumors, respectively (2). These tumors frequently show an unfavorable disease course. Unfortunately, there are few reliable markers to distinguish these tumors from other kinds of tumors.With tumor progression, genetic aberrations accumulate successively in tumor cells due to the inherent genetic instability of malignant tumors, including urothelial carcinomas. Genetic instability is generally categorized into microsatellite instability (MSI) and chromosomal instability (CIN; ref.3). Defects in mismatch repair (MMR) genes, including hMLH1 and hMSH2, lead directly to the development of MSI. Immunohistochemical determination of MLH1 and MSH2 has been used as a surrogate for MSI determination in colorectal cancer (4 -6). MSI accounts for as many as 10% to 20% of sporadic colorectal carcinomas but the frequency of MSI in bladder cancer is controversial (7 -14).The hypothesis that CIN results from abnormalities of genes implicated in mitosis is widely accepted. Centrosome amplification (15 -17), ...