Three human leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains (LRIG) genes and proteins, named LRIG1-3, has been previously characterized and it was proposed that they may act as suppressors of tumor growth. The LRIG1 protein can inhibit the growth of tumors of glial cells and the down-regulation of the LRIG1 gene may be involved in the development and progression of the tumor. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a recently developed technique for quantitative assessment of specific RNA levels. In the current study, it was demonstrated that LRIG1-3 and EGFR mRNA was detected in human pituitary adenoma cell lines and a normal pituitary sample, with differences in the expression levels. Compared to the normal pituitary samples, the expression of LRIG1-3 in HP75 cell line was lower, but the expression of EGFR in HP75 cell line was higher. The results are consistent with LRIG1-3 being tumour suppressor genes, and LRIG genes decreasing the expression of EGFR. The ratio of EGFR/LRIG1 was increased at least 13-fold in HP75 cells compared with the normal pituitary cells, which was also the case for the ratio of EGFR/LRIG2 (14-fold increase in HP75) and EGFR/LRIG3 (11-fold increase in HP75). Further studies were needed to elucidate the explicit role of LRIG genes as negative regulators of oncogenesis in human pituitary adenoma.

To investigate the role of toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) in the pathogenesis of lichen planus, the expressions of TLR9 and its mRNA in the lesional skin of lichen planus were detected by immunohistochemical technique (SP) and RT-PCR. As control, normal skin of healthy volunteers was also tested. The immunohistochemical study showed that the expression of TLR9 in the lesional skin of lichen planus was significantly higher than that in the normal controls. The results of RT-PCR showed that both skin lesions and normal controls had TLR9 expression. In skin lesions, the expression level of TLR9 mRNA was 1.6075±0.0930, which was significantly higher than that in normal controls (P<0.001). These findings indicated that up-regulated expression of TLR9 and its mRNA might be involved in the pathogenesis of lichen planus.

To explore the dynamic expression and role of Aquaporin5 (AQP5) in lung development and hyperoxia lung injury, gestation 21-day Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (term=22 days) were randomly assigned to air group and hyperoxia group within 12–24 h after birth. The rats in hypreoxia group were continuously exposed to about 85% oxygen and those in air group to room air. After 1 to 14 days of exposure, total lung RNA was extracted and the expression of AQP5 mRNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Immunohistochemistry and western-blot were used to detect the expression of AQP5 protein. The results showed that the expression of AQP5 in premature rats lung could be detected at various time points after birth, and the positive staining was restricted to the type I alveolar epithelial cells. In air group, the AQP5 expression was detected in a very low level at day 1, but exhibited a persistent increase after birth. Compared with the air group, the expression of AQP5 in hyperoxia group was increased at day 1, and had significant difference in mRNA level (P<0.05), but decreased significantly in mRNA and protein levels after 4 to 14 days (P<0.01 or P<0.05 respectively). It was concluded that AQP5 might play a key role in the alveolar period of premature rats by regulating the lung water balance. Hyperoxia exposure leads to a down-regulation of the AQP5 expression, which may be an important factor for the development of hyperoxia lung injury.

Telomerase activity was examined in invasive cervical carcinoma to assess whether it is activated during cervical malignant transformation and to look for its possible association with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Histologically confirmed invasive cervical carcinomas and benign cervices were assayed for telomerase activity by using a modified telomere repeat amplification protocol (TRAP). The same cases were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of HPV by using consensus primers and type-specific (HPV types 16 and 18) primers. Telomerase activity was detected in 40 of 45 (88.9%) invasive cervical carcinomas and 2 (all chronic cervicitis) of 50 (4%) benign cervical lesions. HPV was detected in 36 (24 HPV-16 and 4 HPV-18 cases) of 45 (80%) invasive cervical carcinomas and 20 (11 HPV-16 and 1 HPV-18 cases) of 50 (40%) benign cervical changes. There was a significant correlation between the expression of telomerase with histological grade (ω=0.44, P<0.005), but no correlation was found between telomerase expression and HPV-18 (P>0.05). Although larger sample studies are needed, there seems to be a clear association between telomerase upregulation and HPV status, mainly HPV-16 infection.

To investigate the effect of placental isoferritin (PLF) on mouse embryo development in vitro, mice 2-cell embryos were co-cultured with human first trimester decidual cells at different concentrations of PLF in vitro. The following changes of the above system were observed under an invert microscope and the number of embryos were recorded and the embryos were classified. The results showed there was no significant difference in the percentage of embryos development to 4-cell, 8-cell and morula (P>0.05). PLF at the doses of 10 and 100 U/mL significantly enhanced more embryos development to the blastocyst and hatching blastocyst (P<0.05). PLF at the dose of 1000 U/mL depressed more embryos development from 2-cell to hatching blastocyst, meanwhile such phenomena as cell degeneration and irregular cleavage were observed in part of embryos, but there was no significant difference in statistics (P>0.05). It was concluded that PLF at the concentration of 10–100 U/mL had no significant effects on the early development of mice embryos, however, PLF could promote the growth, differentiation, and hatching of preimplantion blastocysts.

Expression of endogenous ouabain in placenta and the concentrations of serum ET-1 and NO were examined in 30 patients with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP) and 30 healthy pregnant women to investigate the effect of endogenous ouabain on HDCP. Compared with the healthy pregnant group, the expression of endogenous ouabain dramatically increased in the HDCP groups (P<0.01). There was a significantly positive correlation between the expression of endogenous ouabain with ET-1 (r=0.5567, P<0.01), while the correlation of endogenous ouabain and NO was significantly negative (r=−0.6895, P<0.01). As expected, the correlation between ET-1 and NO was negative (r=−0.7796, P<0.01). ET-1 concentrations of maternal and cord sera in HDCP groups were significantly higher in comparison with healthy pregnant group (P<0.01). On the contrast, NO concentrations were much lower in the maternal and cord sera of HDCP groups as compared with healthy pregnant group (P<0.01). Our data suggest that endogenous ouabain is directly involved in the nosogenesis of HDCP, with accompanying decreased NO and the elevated of ET-1.