Immunohistochemical analysis of the impact of ischemic change in benign prostatic hyperplasia

Understanding human aging and the fundamental cell signaling link in age-related diseases: the middle-aging hypovascularity hypoxia hypothesis

Aging-related hypoxia, oxidative stress, and inflammation pathophysiology are closely associated with human age-related carcinogenesis and chronic diseases. However, the connection between hypoxia and hormonal cell signaling pathways is unclear, but such human age-related comorbid diseases do coincide with the middle-aging period of declining sex hormonal signaling. This scoping review evaluates the relevant interdisciplinary evidence to assess the systems biology of function, regulation, and homeostasis in order to discern and decipher the etiology of the connection between hypoxia and hormonal signaling in human age-related comorbid diseases. The hypothesis charts the accumulating evidence to support the development of a hypoxic milieu and oxidative stress-inflammation pathophysiology in middle-aged individuals, as well as the induction of amyloidosis, autophagy, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in aging-related degeneration. Taken together, this new approach and strategy can provide the clarity of concepts and patterns to determine the causes of declining vascularity hemodynamics (blood flow) and physiological oxygenation perfusion (oxygen bioavailability) in relation to oxygen homeostasis and vascularity that cause hypoxia (hypovascularity hypoxia). The middle-aging hypovascularity hypoxia hypothesis could provide the mechanistic interface connecting the endocrine, nitric oxide, and oxygen homeostasis signaling that is closely linked to the progressive conditions of degenerative hypertrophy, atrophy, fibrosis, and neoplasm. An in-depth understanding of these intrinsic biological processes of the developing middle-aged hypoxia could provide potential new strategies for time-dependent therapies in maintaining healthspan for healthy lifestyle aging, medical cost savings, and health system sustainability.

Effect of Remnant-Preserving Reconstruction of Acute Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in a Rabbit Model: Histological and Biomechanical Analysis

Acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a key structure that stabilizes knee joints. The objective of this research is to investigate the influence of ligament remnants preserved on the tendon-bone healing following ACL reconstruction and to examine postoperative articular cartilage degeneration in rabbit as a model animal. Sixty New Zealand rabbits are randomly divided into an ACL reconstruction without remnant preservation group (Group A; n = 30) or ACL reconstruction with remnant preservation group (Group B; n = 30). The expression of HIF-1α, VEGF, and micro vessel density (MVD) in the transplanted tendon was detected by immunohistochemical staining at week 6 and 12 after the operation. The signal intensity of the transplanted tendon was observed by MRI scanning, and the width of the bone tunnel was measured by CT scanning at week 6 and 12 after the operation. The graft biomechanics was tested 12 weeks after the operation. The JNK and MMP-13 expression levels were compared to analyze the cartilage degeneration of the knee at week 12 after the operation. The experimental results were analyzed and showed that the remnant-preserving ACL reconstruction is beneficial for bone healing of the tendon in rabbits, but ACL reconstruction with or without ligament remnants preserved will not affect knee articular cartilage degeneration post-surgery.

The Etiology and Pathophysiology Genesis of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Prostate Cancer: A New Perspective

Background: The etiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer are unknown, with ageing being the greatness risk factor. Methods: This new perspective evaluates the available interdisciplinary evidence regarding prostate ageing in terms of the cell biology of regulation and homeostasis, which could explain the timeline of evolutionary cancer biology as degenerative, inflammatory and neoplasm progressions in these multifactorial and heterogeneous prostatic diseases. Results: This prostate ageing degeneration hypothesis encompasses the testosterone-vascular-inflamm-ageing triad, along with the cell biology regulation of amyloidosis and autophagy within an evolutionary tumorigenesis microenvironment. Conclusions: An understanding of these biological processes of prostate ageing can provide potential strategies for early prevention and could contribute to maintaining quality of life for the ageing individual along with substantial medical cost savings.

Identification of key genes in benign prostatic hyperplasia using bioinformatics analysis

PURPOSE

This study aimed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and pathways in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by comprehensive bioinformatics analysis.

METHODS

Data of the gene expression microarray (GSE6099) were downloaded from GEO database. DEGs were obtained by GEO2R. Functional and enrichment analyses of selected genes were performed using DAVID database. Protein-protein interaction network was constructed through STRING. Anterior gradient 2 (ARG2) and lumican (LUM) staining in paraffin-embedded specimens from BPH and normal prostate (NP) were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Differences between groups were analyzed by the Student's t test.

RESULTS

A total of 24 epithelial DEGs and 39 stromal DEGs were determined. The GO analysis results showed that epithelial DEGs between BPH and NP were enriched in biological processes of glucose metabolic process, glucose homeostasis and negative regulation of Rho protein signal transduction. For DEGs in stroma, enriched biological processes included response to ischemia, antigen processing and presentation, cartilage development, T cell costimulation and energy reserve metabolic process. ARG2, as one of the epithelial DEGs, was mainly located in epithelial cells of prostate. In addition, LUM is primarily expressed in the stroma. We further confirmed that compared with NP, the BPH have the lower ARG2 protein level (p = 0.029) and higher LUM protein level (p = 0.003) using IHC.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study indicated that there are possible differentially expressed genes in epithelial and stromal cells, such as ARG2 and LUM, which may provide a novel insight for the pathogenesis of BPH.