Material characterization of ex vivo prostate tissue via spherical indentation in the clinic.

Background: The mechanical characterization of prostate tissue has not received much attention and is often disconnected from the clinic, where samples are readily attained.

Methods: We developed a spherical indenter for the clinic to generate force-displacement data from ex vivo prostate tissue. Indentation velocity, depth, and sphere diameter, and four means of estimating elastic modulus (EM) were validated.

Allelic imbalance of 8p indicates poor survival in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is a common tumor worldwide and a tremendous health burden. However, the underlying mechanisms of tumorigenesis in this cancer's development are primarily undefined. Allelic imbalance (AI) of 8p has been reported in many cancers, yet, the target(s) of alteration and the importance of allelic imbalance on this chromosomal arm in gastric carcinoma development remained to be characterized.

Decreased abundance of trefoil factor 1 transcript in the majority of gastric carcinomas.

Background: Gastric carcinoma is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide, but the mechanisms underlying its development and progression still remain largely uncharacterized. As loss of trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) expression leads to neoplastic growth in the antropyloric mucosa of mice, the authors sought to comprehensively study the human TFF1 gene in primary gastric carcinomas.

Methods: The authors studied the human TFF1 gene in primary gastric carcinomas and normal gastric mucosa at the DNA, RNA, and protein levels through DNA sequencing, quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry.

Silencing-specific methylation and single nucleotide polymorphism of hMLH1 promoter in gastric carcinomas.

Aim: To investigate CpG methylation and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of a specific promoter region of hMLH1 in primary gastric carcinoma.

Methods: Primary gastric carcinomas (n=80), their corresponding normal mucosal samples, and gastric mucosal biopsies from normal/gastritis control patients (n=54) were used. Hypermethylation at -253 nt and -251 nt in relation with the translational start site and SNP of a silencing specific region (-339 nt-46 nt) in the hMLH1 promoter were analyzed by Bst UI-combined bisulfite assay (COBRA), denaturing high performance liquid chromatogram (DHPLC), and sequencing.