Prognostic value of preoperative serum bilirubin levels in ovarian cancer.

Bilirubin is a promising prognostic factor for non-liver disease-related deaths in various cancers. We investigated the association between preoperative serum bilirubin levels and oncological outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 282 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC), and grouped them according to optimal threshold values of total bilirubin (TBIL), direct bilirubin (DBIL), and indirect bilirubin (IBL) measured by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Blockage of ceramide metabolism exacerbates palmitate inhibition of pro-insulin gene expression in pancreatic beta-cells.

Chronic exposure to elevated levels of fatty acids (FAs) in conjunction with chronic hyperglycemia has been reported to contribute to the progressive deterioration of beta-cell function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The long-chain saturated free fatty acid (FFA) palmitate, unlike the unsaturated FFA oleate, is known to have an inhibitory effect on proinsulin gene expression through ceramide synthesis. This study was aimed at investigating whether this effect was exacerbated by the inhibition of ceramide degradation in pancreatic beta-cells and the molecular mechanism of intracellular ceramide-induced inhibition of proinsulin gene transcription in response to exposure to palmitate.