Objective To observe the microvessel density（MVD）and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in retinoblastoma（RB）before and after comprehensive treatment and explore its clinical correlations with tumor infiltration and recurrence. Methods Sixty-one paraffin specimens of RB were divided into enucleation without comprehensive treatment group (untreated group，52 cases), planned enucleation before comprehensive treatment group (planned enucleation group，six cases) and tumor recurrence after comprehensive treatment group（recurrence group，three cases）. There were optic nerve invasion in 19 cases，no optic nerve infiltration in 33 cases. The MVD and VEGF expressions of 61 paraffin specimens were detected by streptavidin biotin-peroxidase (SP) immunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibody of CD34 and VEGF. Real time PCR was performed for the VEGF expression of planned enucleation group and recurrence group.Results In the untreated group，the MVD and VEGF expression of optic nerve infiltration cases were significantly higher than those of cases without optic nerve infiltration（t=-2.4685, P=0.017; chi;2=8.416 6，P=0.032 8）.Tumor microvessel regression, decreased MVD, occlusion and hyaline changes of blood vessels were observed in the planned enucleation group in the course of systemic chemotherapy. Many neovascularized capillaries and increased MVD were observed in tumor tissues of the recurrence group. The VEGF expression of planned enucleation group was lower than that in the recurrence group.Conclusions There was no significant difference on VEGF expression in RB between with and without comprehensive treatment. The increasing MVD and VEGF expression of cases without comprehensive treatment were related to the optic nerve infiltration. And the increasing MVD may also play an important role in RB recurrence after comprehensive treatment.
Objective To explore the expression of survivin gene in retinoblastoma (RB) and its relationship with the stages and histodifferentiation degree of RB and the expression of p53、bcl-2 proteins. Methods Expression of survivin, p53 and bcl-2 proteins in 38 RB conventional paraffin samples were detected with survivin, p53 and bcl-2 monoclonal antibodies respectively by immunohistochemical assay. The expression of survivin of normal retina in 6 control samples was observed. Results In 38 cases of RB, positive expression of survivin was found in 20 (52.6%); while none of the 6 normal retinal tissue expressed survivin, which had significant difference between the two group (P＜0.05). The positive expression of survivin did not correlate with sex of patient, disease stages and histological type (P＞0.05). In 38 RB cases, positive expression of p53 was in 25 with the rate of 65.8%, and of bcl-2 in 18 with the rate of 47.4%. The positive-expressed rates were much higher in positive-expressed p53 and bcl-2 group than those in the negative-expressed p53 and bcl-2 group(P＜0.05). Conclusion The increase of the expression of survivin implies that it may take part in the occurrence and development of RB; the interaction among survivin, p53 and bcl-2 may participate in the access and the course of RB. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis，2004，20：215-217)
ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of transcription factor SOX11 in retinoblastoma (RB) and the relation with the genes and cellular pathways.MethodsA public data set gse59983 containing the full mRNA expression profile of cancer tissues in 76 RB patients was downloaded from the GEO Database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information. According to the expression of 15 marker genes, these genes were divided into cell cycle marker genome (group 1, 26 patients), vertebral photoreceptor marker genome (group 2, 4 patients) and rod photoreceptor marker gene (group 3, 46 patients). R2 bioinformatics platform (http://r2.amc.NL) was used to analyze the gse59983 public data set. The SOX11 expression in cancer tissues of patients in 3 groups were observed and the SOX11-related genes were identified. According to the gene correlation, the clustering heat map was drawn, and the related genes and pathways of SOX11 were preliminarily analyzed by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis tool and Gene Annotation (GO) analysis method.ResultsSOX11 expression in cancer tissues of patients in group 1 was significantly higher than that of groups 2 and 3 (P＜0.001). SOX11 expression in cancer tissues of patients in group 3 was significantly higher than that in group 2 (P＜0.001). A total of 4524 genes significantly related to SOX11 expression were detected. Among them, there were 2139 positively correlated genes and 2385 negatively correlated genes. SOX11 and the 16 genes with the strongest correlation were screened and the clustering heat map was drawn. The clustering form of SOX11 and SOX11 significantly correlated genes was roughly the same as the original form. KEGG and GO analysis showed that SOX11 related genes were involved in regulating mitotic cell cycle, cell apoptosis, photoreceptor cell development, photoreceptor cell protection, etc.ConclusionThe expression of SOX11 in RB is significantly different in different types or periods. Its expression is significantly correlated with genes involved in the regulation of cell cycle.