Fragmentation of cell-free fetal DNA in plasma and urine of pregnant women.

Objectives: We assessed the effect of freezing on fragmentation of fetal DNA in maternal plasma and differences in DNA fragmentation between plasma and urine from pregnant women.

Methods: 1. We prepared seven kinds of real-time PCR assays to amplify different-sized amplicons targeting the SRY gene.

The influence of inflammatory cytokines on estrogen production and cell proliferation in human breast cancer cells.

Estrogens play important roles in the development of breast cancer. Inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) exist at high concentrations in breast cancer tissue. Although these cytokines are thought to exert some effect on cancer growth, their precise mechanism is still unclear.