Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers and leading cause of cancer related death worldwide. Due to its nonspecific early symptoms, pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose before extensive local invasion and distant metastasis. The 5-year survival rate of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is less than 5%. Their median survival time is less than 12 months. The molecular mechanisms of pancreatic tumor genesis are poorly understood. Mesothelin is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchored cell surface protein, which has been found overexpressed in human pancreatic cancer. The function of mesothelin in tumor progression remains unclear. This review aims to outline the roles of mesothelin in pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion, as well as its potential role in mesothelintargeted cancer therapy. Therefore, mesothelin is malignant factor for pancreatic cancer and could be exploited as an antigenic target of therapeutic cancer vaccine. Keywords: Function, mesothelin, pancreatic cancer.

Background: Hyperglycemia is found to be a regulator of HIF-1α gene expression but the regulation of HIF-1α on glucose homeostasis is unclear. Objective: To determine whether chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) alters glucose regulation and such alterations can revert through treatments with either antioxidant (vitamin c) or calcium channel blocker (cilnidipine) in male albino rats. Methods: The rats were divided into six groups i.e. normoxia (21% oxygen), CIH (10% oxygen with cycle time 3:1.5; 8h/day), normoxia with vitamin c (50 mg /100g. b.wt, orally), CIH with vitamin c, normoxia with cilnidipine (1 mg/kg/day; ip) and CIH with cilnidipine. Serum MDA, HIF-1α, fasting plasma glucose, insulin, GTT, HOMA-IR and insulinogenic index were evaluated. Results: Serum HIF-1α and MDA concentration in rats exposed to CIH increased significantly whereas simultaneous CIH with vitamin c and CIH with cilnidipine treatment show reversion of both serum HIF- 1α and MDA concentrations towards normoxic status. CIH rats showed increased fasting glucose level with unchanged plasma insulin level but both vitamin c and cilnidipine treatment improved the status. Elevated HOMA-IR and insulinogenic index along with impaired GTT were found in CIH groups although vitamin c and cilnidipine improved the glucose homeostasis in CIH exposed rats. Conclusion: CIH induces over production of reactive oxygen species as well as hyper activities of sympathetic N-type Ca2+ channels possibly through HIF 1-α expression and influence on insulin signaling by causing hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in rats. Simultaneous treatment with vitamin c or cilnidipine improves glucose homeostasis in CIH exposed rats.

Background: Chitin and its derivatives participate and influence many important biological activities, such as antibiosis, modulating immunity, suppressing tumor growth, and promoting wound healing as well as promoting hemostasis. This study aimed at confirming the effects of water-soluble chitosan (ws-chitosan) on accelerating healing of induced fractures in New Zealand white rabbits. Materials and methods: Thirty-six selected New Zealand rabbits (each with a 3mm bone defect in the middle segment of radius) were randomly divided into two groups (control group, n=18 and experimental group, n=18). The two groups of rabbits were given normal saline (1.00mg/kg) and ws-chitosan (0.28g/kg) every day through gastric tubes, respectively. Three postoperative observation time points of 7 days, 14 days and 28 days were selected. X-ray was applied to examine the healing effect; immunohistochemistry was introduced for observing the bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) expression, and the fracture healing related biochemical indexes (serum ALP and calcium concentration) were measured and recorded. Results: The X-ray results revealed that the fracture healing effect in experimental group was more remarkable than that in the control group on 7 days, 14 days and 28 days, postoperatively. The BMP-2 expression and the calcium concentration in experimental group on 7 and 14 days were clearly higher than those in the control group, while the serum ALP and calcium concentration in ws-chitosan group were distinctly higher than those in the control group on 7 and 14 days. No adverse events were observed in the study period. Conclusion: Results showed that ws-chitosan can enhance facture healing in rabbit model, for it could not only increase ALP and calcium concentrations in serum, but also promote the osteoblast differentiation and BMP-2 expression for accelerating the healing process. Keywords: Fracture healing, osteoblasts, therapeutic efficacy, water-soluble chitosan.

Tetrandrine (Ted) has been demonstrated in a series of studies to have potential antitumor effect against several cancers. Its lipophilicity makes it an ideal model drug for nanoparticle encapsulation. We constructed Ted loaded nanoparticles (Ted-NP) with PLGA-PEG as drug carrier. Characterization of the nanoparticles showed that Ted-NP had a size of less than 100 nm and a slight negative surface charge. By adjusting the feeding ratio, the highest drug loading content and encapsulation efficiency were 13.6% and 87.2%, respectively. In vitro release indicated the sustained release pattern of Ted-NP. In vitro cytotoxicity test demonstrated that Ted-NP showed stronger cell growth inhibitory effect than free Ted did at equivalent doses. The antitumor effect was mediated by induction of apoptosis through a mitochondrial way. Therefore, the characteristic of amphiphilic copolymer based drug delivery system enables a more efficient way to deliver Ted for cancer treatment. Keywords: Larynx cancer, nanoparticle, PLGA-PEG, tetrandrine.

Backgroud: Tsutsugamushi disease was really uncommon in the pediatric clinical. However, it can be quite severe, those who suffer them Tsutsugamushi disease can progress to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS). Unfortunately, there were few reports on pulmonary hemorrhage caused by tsutsugamushi disease, especially in children. Because of the nonspecific clinical presentations, it was difficult to differentiate from other diseases. The mortality would be up to 60% if inappropriate antibiotics were used. Case Presentation: We report a three-year-old girl infected with tsutsugamushi, which manifested as MODS, HPS and diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. After administation of chloromycetin, the patient’s temperature fell down to normal 2 days later and mechanical ventilation was stopped after 1 week. The patient was discharged after three weeks of treatment. Since the typical eschar of tsutsugamushi disease is mostly concealed, misdiagnosis and delay in treatment often cause severe complications. Conclusion: Chloromycetin may be an alternative antibiotic choice of treatment for severe pediatric tsutsugamushi disease, though it has toxic effects on bone marrow hematopoietic function. Keywords: Chloromycetin, pediatric, pulmonary hemorrhage, tsutsugamushi.

Objectives: As a selective matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor, MMI-166 specifically inhibits MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity and represses tumor invasion and metastasis. Previous studies show that MMI-166 has an anti-metastatic role in a variety of tumors. However, it still remains unclear about the exact effect of MMI-166 on human pancreatic cancer. Methods: In this study, we showed firstly MMI-166 induced proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of SW1990 human pancreatic cancer cells in both dose- and time-dependent manners in vitro. We successfully established a human pancreatic cancer xenograft model in nude mice and verified the inhibition effect of MMI-166 on MMP-2 and MMP-9. Results: More importantly, by using this model, we further demonstrated MMI-166 suppressed growth of SW1990 pancreatic cells xenograft in vivo by inducing cells apoptosis. In addition, we examined the expression of a series of apoptosis-related proteins and found MMI-166 inhibited the expression of c-Myc. Conclusion: Our work demonstrates that MMI-166 may be of therapeutic value in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Keywords: Animal experimentation, apoptosis, cell proliferation, MMI-166, pancreatic neoplasms.