Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“The epidermal
growth factor receptor family plays a critical role in the control of many physiological processes. Genetic alterations and/or variations in the gene encoding these receptors have been implicated in a variety of human cancers. In this study we evaluate the association of two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), R497K and I655V, of the EGFR and HER2 genes, respectively, with thyroid cancer risk. The analysis was performed with 302 healthy individuals and 106 thyroid cancer patients. No significant difference was found in the allelic and genotypic frequency distribution of the SNP R497K between the control and patient groups. BIX 01294 cost While for the SNP I655V, the allele G is more frequent in patients than in controls and was associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer (odds ratio 1.88; 95% confidence intervals: 1.18-3.01; p = 0.007). We have also investigated the relationship between these two polymorphic sites and clinicopathological characteristics such as thyroid-stimulating
hormone level, off-thyroxin, serum thyroglobulin, tumor histology, metastasis, tumor status, tumor stage, and survival. No significant association was observed. Tumor status was found significantly associated with HER2 I655V as well as with two previously studied markers in the thyroid hormone receptor A and estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) genes (D17S2189 and D6S440, respectively). We also report
a correlation between thyroglobulin level and genotypes for SNP rs2228480 in exon 8 of the ESR1 gene. In conclusion, our results suggest that the SNP HER2 I655V, SBE-β-CD but not the EGFR R497K, was associated with thyroid cancer risk.”
“In the present study we have compared the effects of leucine supplementation and its metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate (HMB) on the ubiquitin-proteasome system and the PI3K/Akt pathway during two distinct atrophic conditions, hindlimb immobilization and dexamethasone treatment. Leucine Proteasome purification supplementation was able to minimize the reduction in rat soleus mass driven by immobilization. On the other hand, leucine supplementation was unable to provide protection against soleus mass loss in dexamethasone treated rats. Interestingly, HMB supplementation was unable to provide protection against mass loss in all treatments. While solely fiber type I cross sectional area (CSA) was protected in immobilized soleus of leucine-supplemented rats, none of the fiber types were protected by leucine supplementation in rats under dexamethasone treatment. In addition and in line with muscle mass results, HMB treatment did not attenuate CSA decrease in all fiber types against either immobilization or dexamethasone treatment. While leucine supplementation was able to minimize increased expression of both Mafbx/Atrogin and MuRF1 in immobilized rats, leucine was only able to minimize Mafbx/Atrogin in dexamethasone treated rats.