Our study demonstrates that (i) ErbB/HER ligands, including BTC and EREG, are expressed in most breast cancers; and (ii) TGFalpha, HB-EGF and NRG2 high expressions are related to the biological aggressiveness of the tumours.
Objective. Endostatin is an angiogenesis inhibitor derived from type XVIII collagen. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of circulating en-dostatin in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), and to assess the relationship between these concentrations, extension of tissular sclerosis, and presence of cutane-ous scars or ulcers. Methods. The study involved 50 patients with SSc and 30 healthy subjects. Cutaneous extension of sclerosis was graded according to Barnett's classification system: 33 patients had grade I SSc and 17 patients had grades II or III SSc. The results of pulmonary function tests were abnormal in 31 of 50 patients, 8 of whom also had abnormalities on chest radiograms. Cutaneous scars or ulcers were found in 22 of 50 patients. Endosta-tin concentrations were determined using a competitive enzyme immunoassay method. Results. The mean circulating endostatin concentration was significantly higher in the SSc group than in the healthy subjects group (mean SD 53.2 22.4 ng/ml versus 9.9 9.7 ng/ml; P < 10-4), in patients with grade II or grade III SSc than in patients with grade I SSc (63.2 20.2 ng/ml versus 45.1 15.6 ng/ml; P < 10-2), in patients with abnormal findings on chest radiograms than in patients with normal findings on chest radiograms (67.6 22.4 ng/ml versus 50.4 21.6 ng/ml; P < 0.05), and in patients with cutaneous scars or ulcers than in patients without these manifestations (60.9 25.9 ng/ml versus 47.2 13.3 ng/ml; P < 10-2). Conclusion. Circulating endostatin concentrations are significantly increased in patients with SSc.
Quantitative competitive RT-PCR techniques have been developed to detect BCR-ABL fusion transcripts in CML but they are hardly reproducible. In this work, we have developed BCR-ABL quantification by real time RT-PCR using the ABI PRISM 7700 (Perkin Elmer), a new technique which allows simple and rapid quantification of a target sequence during the extension phase of PCR amplifications. A fluorogenic probe labeled with both a reporter dye at the 5Ј end and a quencherdye at the 3Ј end hybridizes to the target sequence on the third exon of the ABL gene. The exonuclease activity of the Taq DNA polymerase cleaves the probe and releases the reporter dye, resulting in an increase in the fluorescence signal. The absolute copy number of the target sequence (BCR-ABL) or a control gene (ABL) in an unknown sample can then be calculated using a calibration curve prepared from a set of BCR-ABL RNA standards, and results are expressed as a BCR-ABL/ABL ratio. In our hands, the sensitivity of a serial dilution of total RNA from a positive cell line (K562) in a negative cell line (HL60) was 10 −4 . Fifteen CML patients in cytogenetic CR, including 11 allografted patients, two autografted patients and two patients treated by IFN were studied sequentially by this new real time quantitative RT-PCR technique in parallel with conventional qualitative two round nested RT-PCR. The two autografted patients showed high BCR-ABL/ABL ratio in all samples. The two patients treated by IFN showed a progressive decrease in the ratio. In the 11 allografted patients, four were sequentially studied 2 years or more after allo-BMT, and all ratios were below 10
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.