Publications by authors named "Tzong-Shin Tzai"
Phthalate exposure is linked to prostate enlargement through sex hormonal changes and oxidative stress. However, its role and action mechanism in prostate cancer remain unclear. This study examined two patient cohorts: 204 patients undergoing prostate biopsy (24 benign and 180 malignancies) and 85 with confirmed prostate cancer receiving robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) level is an oxidative stress marker in patients with cancer; however, little is currently known about the clinical relevance of urinary 8-OHdG levels in patients with prostate cancer at diagnosis. Voided urine samples were collected from patients at the time of prostate biopsy and stored at -80˚C after centrifugation. All of the patients were classified according to histology of the biopsy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To investigate the cancer types and risk factors of secondary primary malignancy (SPM) in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) in Taiwan.
Methods: Using National Health Insurance Research Dataset and catastrophic illness registry, we enrolled newly diagnosed UTUC patients from 2000 to 2013. Those without catastrophic illness registration were excluded from the study.
Background: To explore the dynamic changes and effects of radical cystectomy on quality of life in muscle-invasive bladder cancer survivors.
Methods: Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer were randomly recruited in this study. We used the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief questionnaire to assess consecutive patients' quality of life.
We compared the outcomes in early-stage upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients receiving endoscopic ablation (EA) with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). From 2004 to 2018, cTa/T1N0M0 UTUC patients undergoing EA and RNU were enrolled. For reducing observational bias, propensity scores based on inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were utilized for comparing the oncologic outcomes and renal function changes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe measured and determined the factors associated with long-term generic quality-of-life (QOL) changes in human bladder cancer patients. We utilized the World Health Organization QOL-Brief questionnaire to assess consecutive patients' QOL at outpatient clinics of our hospital. A mixed-effects model was constructed to investigate the determinants of QOL changes according to each domain and individual item after controlling for demographic and clinical factors, as well as the effect of radical cystectomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdditive Effects of Arsenic and Aristolochic Acid in Chemical Carcinogenesis of Upper Urinary Tract Urothelium.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
February 2021
Background: Aristolochic acids (AA) and arsenic are chemical carcinogens associated with urothelial carcinogenesis. Here we investigate the combined effects of AA and arsenic toward the risk of developing upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).
Methods: Hospital-based ( = 89) and population-based (2,921 cases and 11,684 controls) Taiwanese UTUC cohorts were used to investigate the association between exposure to AA and/or arsenic and the risk of developing UTUC.
Purposes: Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) is a key enzyme of tryptophan metabolism which regulates T cell function in immune cells and little is known about the role of IDO1 expression in bladder cancer cells. The study is aimed to evaluate the clinical relevance of IDO1 expression in human bladder urothelial carcinoma (UC).
Materials And Methods: One hundred and sixty paraffin-embedded UC tissues (130 bladder, 30 upper urinary tract) and 47 adjacent normal tissues were retrieved for IDO1 immunostaining.
Prothymosin-α (PTMA) is a small, acidic protein that is usually transported into the nucleus and involves many cellular and immunological functions. Previous studies demonstrated that aberrant location of PTMA expression exists in human bladder cancer, but the role of PTMA protein expression remains elusive. In this study, we created ectopic nuclear or cytoplasmic PTMA expression in human bladder cancer cells by infecting lentiviruses carrying wild type or deleted nuclear localization signal of the PTMA gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Infection or bleeding after transrectal prostate biopsy remains a concern of both patients and urologists. We explored the risk of association of certain co-morbidities with both complications.
Patients And Methods: Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified patients undergoing prostate biopsy from 2000 to 2013.
Long-term administration of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogs (LHRHa) is the main type of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for lethal prostate cancer. A fully insertable microneedle system, composed of embeddable chitosan microneedles and a dissolvable polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone supporting array, was developed for sustained delivery of LHRHa to the skin. A porcine cadaver skin test showed that chitosan microneedles can be fully embedded within the skin and microneedle-created micropores reseal within 7 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Lu/BCAM is a glycoprotein that may promote tumor growth in bladder cancer, and this study explored its role and signaling pathways in tumor development.
- Various methods, including cell line experiments and analysis of human cancer specimens, demonstrated that higher levels of Lu/BCAM led to increased tumor characteristics like cell adhesion and colony formation.
- The study found that Lu/BCAM activation, influenced by H-ras and laminin, may lead to cancer progression, and high levels were linked to more advanced tumor stages and potential impacts on patient survival, highlighting its oncogenic potential.
Purpose: To investigate the association of prostate blood flow (PBF) with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in aged males using Doppler spectral waveform (DSW) analysis.
Patients And Methods: We performed a prospective analysis involving 133 aged males with clinical diagnosis of LUTS. DSW parameters (peak-systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), and resistive index (RI)) were measured at bilateral neurovascular bundles (NVB), periurethral, and capsular branches by Doppler transrectal ultrasound with the patient in the right lateral decubitus position.
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) can control a transcriptional factor forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) protein expression in T lymphocyte differentiation through proteasome-mediated degradation. In this study, we unveil a reverse regulatory mechanism contributing to bladder cancer progression; Foxp3 expression attenuates HIF-1α degradation. We first demonstrated that Foxp3 expression positively correlates with the metastatic potential in T24 cells and can increase the expression of HIF-1α-target genes, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and glucose transporter (GLUT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlycans of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer were found to be different from that in benign disease. It is difficult to analyze heterogeneous PSA glycoforms in each individual specimen because of low protein abundance and the limitation of detection sensitivity. We developed a method for prostate cancer diagnosis based on PSA glycoforms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical relevance of deletion of ovarian carcinoma 2/disabled homolog 2 (DOC-2/DAB2) interacting protein (DAB2IP) expression in human urothelial carcinoma (UC). We studied DAB2IP protein expression by immunohistochemistry in 130 UCs (90 of the bladder and 40 of the upper urinary tract) and 79 adjacent normal tissues and assessed its prognostic value in terms of recurrence-free and progression-free survival in superficial bladder UC. Twelve human UC cell lines were examined for DAB2IP messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression using quantitative RT-PCR and western blotting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumor hypoxia is associated with radioresistance, chemoresistance, and metastasis, which eventually lead to cancer progression and a poor patient prognosis. RON [also known as macrophage-stimulating protein receptor (MST1R)] belongs to the c-MET [also known as hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR)] receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) superfamily. To identify the interaction partners of RON nuclear translocation in response to hypoxia, the nuclear extract of TSGH8301 bladder cancer cells was immunoprecipitated for tandem mass profiling analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Mass spectrometry-based biomarker discovery has clinical benefit. To identify novel biomarkers for urothelial carcinoma, we performed quantitative proteomics on pooled urine pairs from patients with and without urothelial carcinoma.
Experimental Design: Shot-gun proteomics using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and stable isotope dimethyl labeling identified 219 candidate proteins.
Justicidin A (JA) is one of the methanol extracts of Justicia procumbens and was reported to induce apoptosis and inhibit the proliferation of human colon cancer cells. Using bladder cancer as a paradigm, this study was designed to identify the novel molecular basis underlying the antiangiogenic activities of JA and its potential in cancer therapy. Human bladder cancer cell lines (TSGH8301 and RT4) and immortalized uroepithelial cell lines (E6 and E7) were chosen to investigate the efficacy of JA in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis in vitro.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAltered DAB2IP gene expression often detected in prostate cancer (PCa) is due to epigenetic silencing. In this study, we unveil a new mechanism leading to the loss of DAB2IP protein; an oncogenic S-phase kinase-associated protein-2 (Skp2) as E3 ubiquitin ligase plays a key regulator in DAB2IP degradation. In order to unveil the role of Skp2 in the turnover of DAB2IP protein, both prostate cell lines and prostate cancer specimens with a variety of molecular and cell biologic techniques were employed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - Hypoxia, a low-oxygen condition in tumors, leads to issues like cancer spread and treatment resistance, but the mechanisms behind cancer adaptation to this stress are unclear.
- - The study discovers that the RON receptor tyrosine kinase moves into the nucleus of cancer cells under hypoxic conditions, where it interacts with HIF-1α and activates the c-JUN promoter, promoting cell survival and growth.
- - The findings highlight RON's novel role as a transcriptional regulator in hypoxia, suggesting that targeting RON with specific inhibitors may offer new treatment strategies for advanced cancer.
In this paper, we report a study on the clinical relevance of prothymosin-α expression and its correlation with intratumoral Foxp3(+) and CD8(+) lymphocytes (Foxp3(+)TIL and CD8(+)TIL) in bladder cancer patients. We used immunohistochemical staining for prothymosin-α, Foxp3, and CD8 on 101 tumor specimens harvested by endoscopic resection. The results were correlated with clinicopathological variables and clinical outcome in bladder cancer patients, particularly in 73 patients with superficial disease, using the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To validate the predictive value of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index in patients with Fournier gangrene and to facilitate patient mortality risk-stratification by simplifying the Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index.
Methods: From January 1989 to December 2011, 85 male patients with clinically-documented Fournier's gangrene undergoing intensive treatment and with complete medical records were recruited. The demographic information and nine parameters of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index were compared between survivors and non-survivors.
Background: Post-biopsy infection is one of the major concerns of urologists and patients for prostate biopsy. Many efforts have been made to reduce the infection rate. We conducted a study at a single institution with the goal of describing the bacteriology and incidence trends of febrile infections following trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy of the prostate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction And Objectives: There is a need to improve prescreening determination of prostate cancer to better select patients who need biopsy. Such a strategy properly implemented, will decrease the number of negative biopsies for prostate cancer and in turn better balance the risks and morbidity for patients recommended for biopsy. The aim of study is to investigate Doppler spectral waveform parameters of neurovascular bundle (NVB) vessels and determine differences between benign and malignant pathologies.
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