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Biomedical subjects

Chin-Lee Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Chin-Lee Wu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Pathologic outcome of laparoscopic and open radical prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinicopathologic data of 286 laparoscopic radical prostatectomies (LRPs) and 714 open radical prostatectomies (RRPs) performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 2001 to 2005. METHODS: A total of 1000 radical prostatectomy procedures were analyzed for prostate weight, pathologic stage, Gleason score, surgical margin status, and positive margin location. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 58.6 and 59.1 years for the LRP and RRP groups, respectively. The mean preoperative prostate-specific antigen level was 5.96 and 6.00 ng/mL, respectively. Clinical Stage T1c cancer was seen in 86.4% of the LRP and 90.5% of the RRP patients. Gleason score 7 or less disease was seen on biopsy in 97.5% of the LRP and 96.9% of the RRP patients. The average prostate weight was 46.8 g for LRP and 46.0 g for RRP. In the radical prostatectomy specimens, 94.4% of LRP and 93.3% of RRP patients had Gleason score 7 or less disease and 86.0% of LRP and 81.7% of RRP patients had pathologic Stage pT2 cancer. The rate of positive surgical margins was 15.0% and 17.4% for the LRP and RRP groups, respectively. The positive margins occurred mainly at the peripheral and apical regions in both groups. No significant difference was found in the preoperative variables or final pathologic findings between the two surgical groups. CONCLUSIONS: With similar case selection, LRP and RRP achieve similar pathologic outcomes.

Adult↗

Analysis of RNA-binding protein IMP3 to predict metastasis and prognosis of renal-cell carcinoma: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Distant metastasis is the main cause of death from renal-cell carcinoma, and the metastatic potential of tumours is often unpredictable. We aimed to investigate whether IMP3, an oncofetal RNA-binding protein, can be used as a biomarker to predict metastasis and prognosis of renal-cell carcinoma. METHODS: We studied 501 primary and metastatic renal-cell tumours. 371 patients with localised primary tumours were further investigated by use of survival analysis. We assessed IMP3 expression in tumour tissues by immunohistochemistry, and IMP3 mRNA and protein expression in selected tissues by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot analysis. FINDINGS: Compared with non-metastatic renal-cell tumours, IMP3 expression was greatly increased not only in metastatic tumours but also in a subset of primary tumours that were likely to subsequently develop metastases. Patients with primary localised tumours that did not express IMP3 had a longer metastasis-free survival and overall survival than did those with tumours expressing IMP3 (p<0.0001). Patients with IMP3-positive localised tumours had a much lower 5-year metastasis-free survival than did those with IMP3-negative tumours (for stage I tumours, 44% vs 98%, hazard ratio 17.18 [95% CI 7.82-37.78]; stage II, 41% vs 94%, 10.14 [3.46-29.68]; stage III, 16% vs 62%, 4.04 [2.23-7.31]). IMP3 expression was also associated with reduced 5-year overall survival (stage I, 32% vs 89%, 6.44 [3.63-11.42]; stage II, 41% vs 88%, 6.93 [2.63-18.27]; stage III, 14% vs 58%, 3.46 [1.98-6.05]). Multivariable analysis of IMP3 status (positive vs negative) in primary tumours showed hazard ratios of 5.84 (95% CI 3.60-9.49) for metastasis-free survival and 4.01 (2.66-6.05) for overall survival (both p<0.0001), which were much higher than hazard ratios associated with other independent risk factors. INTERPRETATION: IMP3 is an independent prognostic marker that can be used at initial diagnosis of renal-cell carcinoma to identify patients who have a high potential to develop metastasis and who might benefit from early systemic treatment.

Adult↗

Aberrant splicing of cables gene, a CDK regulator, in human cancers.

Cables is a novel cell cycle regulatory protein that interacts with cdk2, cdk3, and cdk5. Cables inhibits cdk2 activity by enhancing cdk2 tyrosine 15 phosphorylation by Wee1, which consequently leads to inhibition of cell growth. Loss of Cables expression was found in many human cancers, especially colon and endometrial cancer. However, the role of the Cables gene in cancer development remains unclear. This study was undertaken to analyze transcripts of Cables gene in endometrial and colon cancers. The analysis of RT-PCR products of the Cables gene revealed shortened products in each sample along with the product of the expected size. Sequence analysis indicated that these shortened products represented eight intragenic deletions in Cables mRNA transcripts. Analysis of DNA from the same tumor sample failed to show genomic rearrangements corresponding to the transcripts containing deletions, suggesting that the deletions are the result of RNA splicing. Sequence analysis demonstrated that five of the deletions resulted from alternative splicing (splicing at the exon/intron boundary consensus sites), whereas the remaining three deletions resulted from aberrant splicing (splicing at sites not considered to be exon/intron boundary sites). All three aberrant splicing products were only detected in tumor tissues. Ectopic expression of one of the aberrant splicing products, which was detected in both endometrial and colon carcinomas, resulted in increased cell growth rate in human colon carcinoma HT-29 cells, suggesting a role as a dominant negative mutant.

Alternative Splicing↗

Expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor and Her-2 are predictors of favorable outcome and reduced complete response rates, respectively, in patients with muscle-invading bladder cancers treated by concurrent radiation and cisplatin-based chemotherapy: a report from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.

PURPOSE: Erb-1 (epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR) and Erb-2 (Her-2) are two of the best characterized members in the EGFR pathway. In many tumor types, overexpression of these proteins is associated with enhanced malignant potential. Our objective in this study was to investigate the clinical relevance of EGFR and Her-2 expression in bladder cancer cases from four prospective Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) bladder preservation trials using cisplatin-containing chemoradiation (RTOG 8802, 8903, 9506, and 9706). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Tumors from 73 cases from patients with muscle-invading T2-T4a bladder cancers had slides interpretable for EGFR staining; 55 cases had slides interpretable for Her-2 staining. Additionally, the respective prognostic values of p53, pRB, and p16 immunostaining were concomitantly examined. Staining and interpretation of staining were done in a blinded manner, without knowledge of clinical outcome. Staining was judged as positive or negative. Subsequently, staining was correlated with clinical outcome. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, EGFR positivity was significantly associated with improved overall survival (p = 0.044); disease-specific survival (DSS) (p = 0.042); and DSS with intact bladder (p = 0.021). There was also a trend for association between EGFR expression and reduced frequency of distant metastasis (p = 0.06). On multivariate analysis adding tumor stage, tumor grade, whether a visibly complete transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) was done or not, and patient age to the model, EGFR positivity was significantly associated with improved DSS. On univariate analysis, Her-2 positivity was significantly associated with reduced complete response (CR) rates (50% vs. 81%, p = 0.026) after chemoradiation which remained significant on multivariate analysis. The other markers examined in this study were not found to have any prognostic value in this setting. CONCLUSION: Epidermal growth factor receptor expression appears to correlate significantly with improved outcome in bladder cancer, whereas Her-2 expression is significantly associated only with reduced CR rates after chemoradiation. Further investigations are warranted into how EGFR family members regulate response to chemoradiation in bladder cancer and their potential therapeutic implications.

Analysis of Variance↗

Metabolic characterization of human prostate cancer with tissue magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Diagnostic advancements for prostate cancer have so greatly increased early detections that hope abounds for improved patient outcomes. However, histopathology, which guides treatment, often subcategorizes aggressiveness insufficiently among moderately differentiated Gleason score (6 and 7) tumors (>70% of new cases). Here, we test the diagnostic capability of prostate metabolite profiles measured with intact tissue magnetic resonance spectroscopy and the sensitivity of local prostate metabolites in predicting prostate cancer status. Prostate tissue samples (n = 199) obtained from 82 prostate cancer patients after prostatectomy were analyzed with high-resolution magic angle spinning proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and afterwards with quantitative pathology. Metabolite profiles obtained from principal component analysis of magnetic resonance spectroscopy were correlated with pathologic quantitative findings by using linear regression analysis and evaluated against patient pathologic statuses by using ANOVA. Paired t tests show that tissue metabolite profiles can differentiate malignant from benign samples obtained from the same patient (P < 0.005) and correlate with patient serum prostate-specific antigen levels (P < 0.006). Furthermore, metabolite profiles obtained from histologically benign tissue samples of Gleason score 6 and 7 prostates can delineate a subset of less aggressive tumors (P < 0.008) and predict tumor perineural invasion within the subset (P < 0.03). These results indicate that magnetic resonance spectroscopy metabolite profiles of biopsy tissues may help direct treatment plans by assessing prostate cancer pathologic stage and aggressiveness, which at present can be histopathologically determined only after prostatectomy.

Humans↗

Human kidney injury molecule-1 is a tissue and urinary tumor marker of renal cell carcinoma.

Human kidney injury molecule-1 (hKIM-1) is a type 1 transmembrane protein that is not detectable in normal kidney tissue but is expressed at high levels in human and rodent kidneys with dedifferentiated proximal tubule epithelial cells after ischemic or toxic injury. Therefore, it was hypothesized that renal tumors express hKIM-1 and release this protein into the urine. Forty renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and 484 nonrenal tumors were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for expression of hKIM-1 (group 1). Urine samples before nephrectomy and nephrectomy tissue samples were collected from an additional 42 patients with renal tumors, from 30 normal control subjects, and also from 10 patients with prostate carcinoma (group 2). In five additional patients with RCC, urine was collected before and after nephrectomy (group 3). Tissue was examined for expression of hKIM-1, and cell-free urine supernatants were analyzed for hKIM-1 by ELISA. Urinary hKIM-1 was normalized to the urinary creatinine concentration (U(Cr)). Expression of hKIM-1 was present in 32 tissue sections (91%) of 35 clear cell RCC (group 1). In group 2, the normalized urinary hKIM-1 levels were significantly higher in patients with clear cell RCC (0.39 +/- 0.08 ng/mg U(Cr); n = 21), compared with levels in patients with prostate carcinoma (0.12 +/- 0.03 ng/mg U(Cr); P < 0.02; n = 10), or normal control subjects (0.05 +/- 0.01 ng/mg U(Cr); P < 0.005; n = 30). Tissue sections from 28 (82%) of 34 primary RCC stained positively for the expression of hKIM-1. In all patients with a detectable prenephrectomy urinary hKIM-1 level, there was either complete disappearance or marked reduction after nephrectomy (group 3). In conclusion, the cleaved ectodomain of hKIM-1 can be detected in the urine of patients with RCC and may serve as a new biomarker for early detection of RCC.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗

Reduction of spinning sidebands in proton NMR of human prostate tissue with slow high-resolution magic angle spinning.

High-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR spectroscopy has proven useful for analyzing intact tissue and permitting correlations to be made between tissue metabolites and disease pathologies. Extending these studies to slow-spinning methodologies helps protect tissue pathological structures from HRMAS centrifuging damage and may permit the study of larger objects. Spinning sidebands (SSBs), which are produced by slow spinning, must be suppressed to prevent the complication of metabolic spectral regions. In this study human prostate tissues, as well as gel samples of a metabolite mixture solution, were measured with continuous-wave (CW) water presaturation on a 14.1T spectrometer, with HRMAS spinning rates of 250, 300, 350, 600, and 700 Hz, and 3.0 kHz. Editing the spectra by means of a simple minimum function (Min(A, B, ..., N) for N spectra acquired at different but close spinning rates) produced SSB-free spectra. Statistically significant linear correlations were observed for metabolite concentrations quantified from the Min(A, B, ..., N)-edited spectra generated at low spinning rates, with concentrations measured from the 3 kHz spectra, and also with quantitative pathology. These results indicate the empirical utility of this scheme for analyzing intact tissue, which also may be used as an adjunct tool in pathology for diagnosing disease.

Algorithms↗

Analysis of alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (P504S) expression in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia.

Alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), also known as P504S, is a recently identified molecular marker for prostate cancer. The expression of AMACR/P504S has also been observed in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), a precursor lesion of prostate cancer. However, a detailed study focusing on the analysis of AMACR/P504S expression in high-grade PIN has not been performed. In this study, we analyzed AMACR/P504S expression by immunohistochemistry in 3954 prostatic ducts and acini with high-grade PIN from 140 prostatectomy specimens. AMACR/P504S immunoreactivity was measured as negative (0), weakly positive (+1), moderately positive (+2), and strongly positive (+3). AMACR/P504S immunoreactivity was detected in 90.0% (126/140) of high-grade PIN cases, although only 41.5% (1642/3954) of prostatic glands involved by PIN showed AMACR/P504S immunoreactivity. A significantly higher AMACR/P504S-positive rate (56.0%) was found in isolated high-grade PIN glands adjacent to cancer (distance less than 5 mm) compared with those away from cancer (distance more than 5 mm; 14%, P < 0.0001). High-grade PIN glands adjacent to cancer also showed a higher (P < 0.0004) AMACR/P504S intensity (1.62) than did those away from cancer (1.11). Our results suggest that PIN strongly positive for AMACR/P504S might be more closely associated with cancer than PIN negative or weakly positive for AMACR/P504S. This study provides additional evidence to link high-grade PIN as a precursor lesion to prostatic adenocarcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Quantitative pathology in tissue MR spectroscopy based human prostate metabolomics.

At present, the clinical utility of metabolomic profiles of human prostate tissue relies on the establishment of correlations between metabolite data and clinical measurements, particularly pathological findings. Because metabolomics is a quantitative study, its clinical value can be rigorously investigated by determining its association with other quantitative measures. The human visual assessment of prostate tissue, however, introduces both inter- and intra-observer biases that may limit the reliability of its quantitations, and therefore, the strength of its correlations with metabolomic profiles. The aim of this study was to develop a simple, feasible protocol for the computer-aided image analysis (CAIA) of prostate pathology slides in order to achieve quantitative pathology from tissue samples, following metabolomic measurement with high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Thirty-eight samples from 29 prostatectomy cases were studied with HRMAS MRS. After spectroscopy analysis, samples were serial-sectioned, stained and visually assessed by pathologists. Cross-sections from these samples were then measured with the CAIA protocol. Results showed a two-fold difference between human visual assessments of the area percentages of tissue pathologies and CAIA area percentages obtained for the same features. Linear correlations were found between both metabolites indicative of normal epithelium and those indicative of prostate cancer, and the CAIA quantitative results. CAIA based quantitative pathology is more reliable than human visual assessment in establishing correlations useful for disease diagnosis between prostate pathology and metabolite concentrations.

Epithelium↗

Discovery and clinical application of a novel prostate cancer marker: alpha-methylacyl CoA racemase (P504S).

The recent discovery of the overexpression of P504S/alpha-methylacyl coenzyme A racemase (AMACR) in prostate cancer is a successful example of translating an advanced molecular finding into clinical practice. AMACR (P504S) has been proven to be one of the few biomarkers that can help distinguish cancer from benign cells, with high sensitivity and specificity for prostate carcinoma. It is the first gene identified by the analysis of complementary DNA microarray profiles from prostate tissue to be used as a tissue tumor marker in clinical practice and to improve the diagnosis of prostate cancer. This review focuses on the study of AMACR (P504S) expression in prostate cancer, premalignant lesions, benign prostate tissues, and other normal and malignant tissues and a discussion of its clinical usefulness. We emphasize the interpretation of the AMACR immunohistochemical results in routine surgical pathology practice and also discuss the potential future applications of this marker and the possible role of AMACR in the pathogenesis of cancer development.

Adenocarcinoma↗

High-resolution magic angle spinning proton NMR analysis of human prostate tissue with slow spinning rates.

The development of high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy for intact tissue analysis and the correlations between the measured tissue metabolites and disease pathologies have inspired investigations of slow-spinning methodologies to maximize the protection of tissue pathology structures from HR-MAS centrifuging damage. Spinning sidebands produced by slow-rate spinning must be suppressed to prevent their complicating the spectral region of metabolites. Twenty-two human prostatectomy samples were analyzed on a 14.1T spectrometer, with HR-MAS spinning rates of 600 Hz, 700 Hz, and 3.0 kHz, a repetition time of 5 sec, and employing various rotor-synchronized suppression methods, including DANTE, WATERGATE, TOSS, and PASS pulse sequences. Among them, DANTE, as the simplest scheme, has shown the most potential in suppression of tissue water signals and spinning sidebands, as well as in quantifying metabolic concentrations.

Humans↗

Proton high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR analysis of fresh and previously frozen tissue of human prostate.

The previously observed improvement in spectral resolution of tissue proton NMR with high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) was speculated to be due largely to freeze-thawing artifacts resulting from tissue storage. In this study, 12 human prostate samples were analyzed on a 14.1T spectrometer at 3 degrees C, with HRMAS rates of 600 and 700 Hz. These samples were measured fresh and after they were frozen for 12-16 hr prior to thawing. The spectral linewidths measured from fresh and previously frozen samples were identical for all metabolites except citrate and acetate. The metabolite intensities of fresh and freeze-thawed samples depend on the quantification procedures used; however, in this experiment the differences of means were <30%. As expected, it was found that tissue storage impacts tissue quality for pathological analysis, and HRMAS conditions alone are not sufficiently destructive to impair pathological evaluation. Furthermore, although storage conditions affect absolute metabolite concentrations in NMR analysis, relative metabolite concentrations are less affected.

Cryopreservation↗

Loss of cables protein expression in human non-small cell lung cancer: a tissue microarray study.

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 18q is common in lung cancer. The genes involved in LOH on 18q in lung cancer have not been well characterized. Cables, a cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) interacting protein, has recently been identified and mapped to human chromosome 18q11-12. Cables inhibits cell growth and suppresses tumor formation in nude mice, making it a candidate gene for 18q LOH in lung cancer. Little is known regarding Cables protein expression in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study we examined Cables expression in 163 NSCLC and nonneoplastic lung specimens using tissue microarrays. Strong nuclear staining was present in normal lung and bronchial tissue. We also evaluated the Cables protein expression pattern and its correlation with histopathologic features and with clinical course of NSCLC. The results of the present study demonstrate for the first time that numerous NSCLCs (45%) lose Cables expression. Furthermore, more adenocarcinomas show a loss of this novel protein than do squamous counterparts. The relationship between tumor histology type and Cables expression appears to be statistically significant (P = 0.028). Our results suggest that Cables may be involved in the pathogenesis of NSCLC.

Adenocarcinoma↗