Necessity and indications of invasive treatment for Budd-Chiari syndrome.

Background: The development of collaterals in Budd-Chiari syndrome has been described and these collaterals play an important role in the presentation of this disease. These collaterals are diagnostic and their use in management strategy has never been evaluated. This study aimed to investigate the indications, feasibility and necessity of invasive treatment for patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome and to determine whether such a strategy is necessary for optimal management.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 acts as a potential molecular target for pancreatic cancer therapy.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a novel component of the renin-angiotensin system that could counterbalance the growth-promoting function of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Our previous results have shown that ACE2 is lowly expressed in pancreas, and widely down-regulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and cells. In the present study, we investigated the effect of restoration of ACE2 expression on the growth of pancreatic cancer.

Investigation of the role of cholera toxin in assisting the initiation of the antigen-specific Th2 response.

Skewed Th2 polarization and tissue mastocytosis are the main features of allergy; but how the antigen-specific Th2 polarization initiated remains unclear. The present study shows that cholera toxin (CT) activates mouse bone marrow mast cells (BMMC) to release interleukin (IL)-4. The activation process involved in Toll-like receptor 4, nucleotide oligomerisation domain 1, activate signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6), and IL-4.

Overexpression of decoy receptor 3 in precancerous lesions and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.

Overexpression of decoy receptor (DcR) 3 protein, a recently discovered member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, was examined in 40 esophagogastrectomy specimens containing areas of Barrett esophagus (n = 27), low-grade dysplasia (n = 27), high-grade dysplasia or carcinoma in situ (n = 22), and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC; n = 28) with immunohistochemical analysis. The results revealed significantly more overexpression of DcR3 in high-grade dysplasia or carcinoma in situ and EAC than in benign esophageal mucosa (both P < .0001), Barrett esophagus (both P < .