Periodontitis and other bone loss diseases, decreasing bone volume and strength, have a significant impact on millions of people with the risk of tooth loss and bone fracture. The integrity and strength of bone are maintained through the balance between bone resorption and bone formation by osteoclasts and osteoblasts, respectively, so the loss of bone results from the disruption of such balance due to increased resorption or/and decreased formation of bone. The goal of therapies for diseases of bone loss is to reduce bone loss, improve bone formation, and then keep healthy bone density. Current therapies have mostly relied on long-term medication, exercise, anti-inflammatory therapies, and changing of the life style. However there are some limitations for some patients in the effective treatments for bone loss diseases because of the complexity of bone loss. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine, and recent studies have indicated that IL-10 can contribute to the maintenance of bone mass through inhibition of osteoclastic bone resorption and regulation of osteoblastic bone formation. This paper will provide a brief overview of the role of IL-10 in bone loss diseases and discuss the possibility of IL-10 adoption in therapy of bone loss diseases therapy.

To date, the useful markers of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains incompletely developed. Here, we show that annexin A2 complement alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), a widely used liver cancer marker, in the serologically surveillance and early detection of HCC. First, differentially expressed proteins in HCC were identified using a subcellular proteomic approach. Annexin A2 was then selected for further verification. It was found to be overexpressed in HCC tissues (60.7%, 136/224). Using a self-estabished sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we found that annexin A2 significantly increased in the sera of HCC (n = 175, median, 24.75ng/µl) compared with the healthy (n = 49, median, 16.69ng/µl), benign tumors (n = 19, median, 19.92ng/µl), hepatitis (n = 23, median, 6.48ng/µl) and cirrhosis (n = 51, median, 7.39ng/µl) controls and other malignant tumors (n = 87). Importantly, raised concentrations of annexin A2 were observed in 83.2% (79/95) of early stage (median, 24.32ng/µl) and 78.4% (58/74) of AFP-negative (median, 24.09ng/µl) patients. Annexin A2 alone had a better area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC = 0.79, 95% confidence interval: 0.73–0.85) in comparison with AFP (AUC = 0.73, 95% confidence interval: 0.66–0.80) in detecting of early stage HCC. Combining both markers notably improved the diagnostic efficiency of early HCC with an achieved sensitivity of 87.4%. Additionally, the expression characteristics of annexin A2 during hepatocarcinogenesis were detected in p21-HBx gene knockin transgenic mice model. The results showed that annexin A2 expression was substantially elevated in HCC-bearing mice, in accordance with the finding in human samples. In conclusion, annexin A2 may be an independent serological candidate for hepatitis B virus–related HCC, especially in the early stage cases with normal serum AFP.

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Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most lethal malignant cancers worldwide, with a poor 5-year prognosis. Karyopherin α 2 (KPNA2) is a nuclear membrane protein that mediates nucleus-to-cytoplasm shuttling. Its expression is elevated in multiple forms of cancer, and it can be secreted into the serum. However, the concentration of KPNA2 in serum from ESCC patients and the role of KPNA2 in ESCC cells remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine the concentration of KPNA2 in serum from ESCC patients and to investigate the effect of KPNA2 silencing on ESCC cell proliferation. KPNA2 protein expression was detected at the tissue level by immunohistochemistry, in cell lines by western blotting and at the serum level by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cell proliferation was determined by cell growth curve and colony formation assay. Stages of the cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry. The effect of KPNA2 knockdown on E2F1 translocation was determined by subcellular fractionation. KPNA2 was overexpressed in both ESCC tissues and cell lines compared with controls. The concentration of KPNA2 in serum from ESCC patients was significantly higher than that from healthy controls. The AUC was determined to be 0.804. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 76.7 and 75.0%, respectively. To determine the significance of KPNA2 function, small interfering RNA (siRNA) against KPNA2 was used to knock down KPNA2 levels in the ESCC using siRNA in the Kyse510 cell line. KPNA2 siRNA inhibited Kyse510 cell proliferation and colony formation ability and induced a G2/M phase arrest. The nuclear translocation of E2F1 was also reduced in siRNA-treated Kyse510 cells. The KPNA2 protein levels were high in ESCC tumors, and siRNA against KPNA2 could inhibit the growth of ESCC cells, suggesting it may be a new potent marker and therapeutic target for ESCC.

To investigate the associations of periodontitis with histological lesions in some other organs, various severities of periodontitis were induced in rats by 3/0 silk ligatures tied around different numbers of their molar necks. Six weeks after the initial placement of ligatures, all rats were sacrificed by an anaesthetic overdose. The distances from the cemento-enamel junction to the alveolar bone crest within the placement zone of the ligature and their contralateral zone in groups L(2) and L(3) were measured. The levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 in serum were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques, and those within aortas and uteri were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction and by immunohistochemistry. We divided the ligature-induced periodontitis models into mild, moderate and severe rat periodontitis and observed that although no association between periodontitis and the serum concentrations of IL-1β was detected, the differences in the severity of rat periodontitis led to varying degrees of elevated expressions of IL-1β and IL-6 within aortas and uteri.