ABSTRACT:UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are major phase II drug metabolism enzymes that catalyze the glucuronidation of numerous endogenous and exogenous compounds. UGTs are divided into two families, UGT1 and UGT2, based on evolutionary divergence and homology. Nine UGT1A and seven UGT2B functional isoforms have been identified in humans. Glucuronidation occurs mainly in liver but also in various extrahepatic tissues, possibly affecting the pharmacokinetics. In the present study, we comprehensively determined the expression of all functional UGT1A and UGT2B isoforms in normal human tissues including liver, lung, stomach, small intestine, colon, kidney, bladder, adrenal gland, breast, ovary, uterus, and testis by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the expressions of these UGTs mRNA in 15 kinds of human tissue-derived cell lines were also analyzed. Many UGT isoforms were abundantly expressed in the liver, gastrointestinal tract, and kidney, supporting previous studies. Interestingly, we found that all UGTs except UGT2B17 were expressed in bladder. In steroidrelated tissues, UGTs were expressed in tissue-and isoform-specific manners. Expression profiles in human tissue-derived cell lines were not necessarily consistent with those in corresponding normal tissues. Different expression profiles were observed in distinct cell lines derived from the same organ. The information presented here will be helpful for understanding the glucuronidation in various tissues and for choosing appropriate cell lines for in vitro studies.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), such as omeprazole, lansoprazole, rabeprazole, esomeprazole, and pantoprazole, are mainly metabolized by CYP2C19 in the liver. There are genetically determined differences in the activity of this enzyme. The genotypes of CYP2C19 are classified into the three groups, rapid extensive metabolizer (RM), intermediate metabolizer (IM), and poor metabolizer (PM). The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of PPIs depend on CYP2C19 genotype status. Plasma PPI levels and intragastric pHs during PPI treatment in the RM group are lowest, those in the IM group come next, and those in the PM group are highest of the three groups. These CYP2C19 genotype-dependent differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of PPIs influence the cure rates for the gastro-esophageal reflux disease and H. pylori infection by PPI-based therapies. For the better PPI-based treatment, doses and dosing schemes of PPIs should be optimized based on CYP2C19 genotype status.

In previous studies of the expression of MUC1 (membrane-bound type mucin) and MUC2 (intestinal type secretory mucin) in pancreatic tumours, invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) usually showed MUC1+ and MUC2- expression, whereas intraductal papillary-mucinous tumour (IPMT) showed MUC1- and MUC2+ expression. Recently, however, many IPMTs have been collected, a considerable number of which have shown MUC1- and MUC2- expression. In the present study, the clinicopathological features were examined of 18 IPMTs with MUC2+ and 32 IPMTs with MUC2-, and their potential for malignancy was compared. Most of the IPMTs with MUC2+ were composed of dark columnar cells, whereas most of the IPMTs with MUC2- were composed of clear columnar cells. The incidence of carcinomatous change and invasive proliferation of the carcinoma in the MUC2+ tumours was significantly higher than in the MUC2- tumours. The clinical outcome for the patients with IPMT showing the MUC2+ pattern tended to be worse than for those with IPMT showing the MUC2- pattern, although the overall outcome for the two types of IPMT was significantly better than for those with IDC. Because of the differences in mucin expression pattern, morphological appearance and potential for malignancy between the two types of IPMT, we believe that they belong to different neoplastic lineages and that it may be reasonable to classify them as different entities, although the WHO classification contains a single clinicopathological entity of IPMT forming an adenoma-carcinoma sequence. In conclusion, our classification of IPMTs by MUC2 expression pattern may be of value in the better assessment of the biological behaviour of IPMTs and their potential for malignancy.

Aim Chronic endometritis (CE) is a disease of continuous and subtle inflammation characterized by the infiltration of plasma cells in the endometrial stromal area. Although the clinical significance of CE has been thought in clinical practice for a long time because it is either asymptomatic or presents with subtle symptoms, recent studies have shown the potential adverse effects of CE on fertility. In the present review, we focus on the concept, diagnosis, etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, impact on reproduction and treatment for it to understand CE. Methods The published articles were reviewed. Results The prevalence of CE has been found to be 2.8–56.8% in infertile women, 14–67.5% in women with recurrent implantation failure (RIF), and 9.3–67.6% in women with recurrent pregnancy loss. Microorganisms are thought to be a main cause of CE, since antibiotic treatment has been reported to be an effective therapy for CE. Common bacteria are frequently detected in the uterine cavity of CE patients by microbial culture. In CE endometrium, the prevalence of immune cells and decidualization has been reported to be modified, and these modifications are thought to adversely affect fertility. The gold standard for the diagnosis of CE is the histological detection of plasma cells in the stromal area of the endometrium in endometrial specimens, although universally accepted criteria for the diagnosis of CE have not been determined. The treatment currently thought to be most effective for the recovery of fertility in CE is administration of oral antibiotics. Patients whose CE has been cured have been reported to have a higher ongoing pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and implantation rate compared with patients with persistent CE. Conclusion CE greatly affects implantation and impairs fertility. Antibiotic administration is an effective therapeutic option. Pregnancy rate in in vitro fertilization is improved when CE is cured by antibiotic.

Our previous studies of pancreatic tumors have demonstrated that invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) usually showed expression of MUC1 (membrane bound type mucin) detected by monoclonal antibody DF3, whereas intraductal papillary-mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) showed no expression of MUC1. In the present study, we examined 50 IDCs, and 63 IPMNs which were morphologically classified into two histological subtypes, "dark cell type" (IPMN-D, 27 cases) and "clear cell type" (IPMN-C, 36 cases). Patients with either type of IPMN showed significantly better survival than those with IDC. To clarify the relationship of the expression patterns of mucins with their biological behavior, we examined the expression profiles of various glycoforms of membrane mucin (MUC1) and secretory mucin (MUC2, MUC5AC and MUC6) in the neoplasms using immunohistochemistry. IDCs showed high expression of all the glycoforms of MUC1 (66%-98%). In contrast, IPMNs-D showed no or low expression of all the glycoforms of MUC1 (0%-4%), while IPMNs-C showed low expression of poorly glycosylated MUC1 (3%-6%), but expression of sialylated MUC1 (41%) and fully glycosylated MUC1 (69%). Expression of MUC2 was negative (0%) in IDC, high (96%) in IPMN-D and low (3%) in IPMN-C. MUC5AC was highly expressed in all types. MUC6 expression was higher in IPMNs-C (92%) than in IDCs (56%) and IPMNs-D (37%). In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that IDCs showed high expression of all the glycoforms of MUC1, and also that two types of IPMNs showed different expression patterns of glycosylated MUC1 as well as MUC2 and MUC6. These different expression patterns of mucins may be related with the malignancy potential of pancreatic neoplasms.