Tumor invasion and metastasis are the most common causes of death in gastric carcinoma. Human heparanase influences tumor invasiveness and angiogenesis. Analysis of its expression in gastric carcinoma has been hindered by our inability to procure pure cancer cells from heterogeneous tissue. In the present study, we analyzed heparanase expression in human primary and metastatic gastric carcinoma cells as well as in paired normal gastric epithelial cells by laser capture microdissection coupled with reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Tumor tissues, metastatic lymph nodes, and apparently uninvolved normal gastric tissues were collected from 30 patients who had undergone gastrectomy with radical lymph node dissection for gastric carcinoma without preoperative treatment. Bulk tissues and laser capture microdissected cell groups were separately subjected to RT-PCR analysis with heparanase-specific primers. For bulk tissues, heparanase-specific transcripts were detectable in all primary tumor tissues, metastatic lymph nodes, and almost all matching normal tissues. RT-PCR analysis after laser capture microdissection showed no detectable heparanase expression in matching normal epithelial cell groups. Of the laser capture microdissected primary gastric carcinoma cells, 47% (14/30) were heparanase positive. Expression was closely associated with greater tumor invasiveness, including Borrmann gross type and depth of wall infiltration. For metastatic cell groups dissected from lymph nodes, 95% showed clear heparanase expression. urthermore, the extent of lymphatic spread was directly correlated to heparanase expression at the primary site. In conclusion, laser capture microdissection coupled with RT-PCR is a reliable approach for molecular analysis of heparanase expression in gastric carcinoma. Heparanase may facilitate invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma cells.

应用重组技术构建野生型及缺失型CDK2基因的真核表达载体，分别使野生型及缺失型CDK2蛋白与增强型绿色荧光蛋白（Enhanced-green Fluorescent Prutein, EGFP）形成融合蛋白。通过脂质体介导的方法将载体转染人宫颈癌细胞系HeLa和中华仓鼠卵巢细胞系CHO，经过细胞周期同步化处理后于荧光显微镜下观察EGFP的亚细胞定位以示踪野生型及缺失型CDK2基因的表达。结果表明，野生型CDK2基因的表达产物定位于细胞核，而两种缺失型CDK2基因分别编码的CDK2蛋白N-端1～201及98～298多肽均主要定位于细胞质。以上结果提示，CDK2蛋白序列中不含有与核定位直接相关的信号，其入核过程可能是由其N-端1～97及202～298多肽范围内的部分氨基酸共同形成高级结构，并依赖此高级结构与其他含有入核信号的蛋白形成复合物，从而被带动进入细胞核的。

Both inactivation of the tumor suppressor gene, PTEN/MMAC1, and oncogenic activation of RAS have been described in human cutaneous melanoma. In mice, activation of a RAS-containing pathway is a necessary step in the pathogenesis of murine melanomas. Because PTEN negatively regulates on the downstream effects of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3-K), we hypothesized that the loss of PTEN/MMAC1 and the activation of RAS may be largely equivalent because RAS is a known positive upstream regulator of PI3-K. We expanded our previous survey of PTEN/MMAC1 mutations and analyzed the RAS status of 53 cutaneous melanoma cell lines, 18 glioma cell lines, and 17 uncultured cutaneous melanoma metastasis. Overall, 51% of the cell lines had alterations in either PTEN/MMAC1 or RAS. We found 16 cell lines (30%) with alterations in PTEN/MMAC1 and 11 cell lines (21%) with activating NRAS mutations; only 1 cell line had concurrent alterations in both genes. Moreover, glioma cell lines with a high frequency of PTEN/MMAC1 inactivation had no identifiable RAS alterations. Ectopic expression of PTEN in several cutaneous melanoma cell lines suppressed colony formation irrespective of PTEN/MMAC1 status; urthermore, PTEN expression in cell lines carrying activated RAS also suppressed colony formation. The relative reciprocity of PTEN/MMAC1 abrogation and NRAS activation suggests that the two genetic changes, in a subset of cutaneous melanomas, are functionally overlapping.