Although emerging evidence suggests that low levels of vitamin D may contribute to the development of autoimmune disease, the relationship between vitamin D reduction and autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), which includes Graves’ disease (GD) and Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), is still controversial. The aim was to evaluate the association between vitamin D levels and AITD through systematic literature review. We identified all studies that assessed the association between vitamin D and AITD from PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. We included studies that compared vitamin D levels between AITD cases and controls as well as those that measured the odds of vitamin D deficiency by AITD status. We combined the standardized mean differences (SMD) or the odds ratios (OR) in a random effects model. Twenty case-control studies provided data for a quantitative meta-analysis. Compared to controls, AITD patients had lower levels of 25(OH)D (SMD: −0.99, 95% CI: −1.31, −0.66) and were more likely to be deficient in 25(OH)D (OR 2.99, 95% CI: 1.88, 4.74). Furthermore, subgroup analyses result showed that GD and HT patients also had lower 25(OH)D levels and were more likely to have a 25(OH)D deficiency, suggesting that low levels of serum 25(OH)D was related to AITD.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify novel biological markers for the prediction of colorectal cancer liver metastasis. Experimental Design: We established two models that mimicked the interactions between colorectal tumor cells and the liver microenvironment. From these models we established subcell lines that had an enhanced ability to metastasize to the liver. Genes that related to hepatic metastasis were screened by microarray. The candidate markers were tested by immunohistochemistry, and their predictive accuracy was assessed by the cross-validation method and an independent test set. Results: Highly metastatic colon cancer cell sublines SW1116p21 and SW1116v3 were established from the tumor cell-microenvironment interaction models. Seven of the upregulated genes in the sublines were selected as candidate markers for predicting metastatic potential. A total of 245 colorectal cancer samples were divided into a training set containing 117 cases and a test set containing 128 cases. In the training set, immunohistochemical analysis showed CCL2 and SNCG expression was higher in the hepatic metastasis group than in the nonmetastasis group, and was correlated with poor survival. Logistic regression analysis revealed that CCL2 and SNCG levels in primary tumors, serum carcinoembryonic antigen level, and lymph node metastasis status were the only significant (P < 0.05) parameters for detecting liver metastasis. In leave-one-out-cross-validation, the two markers, when combined with clinicopathologic features, resulted in 90.5% sensitivity and 90.7% specificity for hepatic metastasis detection. In an independent test set, the combination achieved 87.5% sensitivity and 82% specificity for predicting the future hepatic metastasis of colorectal cancer. Conclusion: Our results suggest that these models are able to mimic the interactions between colorectal cancer cells and the liver microenvironment, and may represent a promising strategy to identify metastasis-related genes. CCL2 and SNCG, combined with clinicopathologic features, may be used as accurate predictors of liver metastasis in colorectal cancer. (Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(17):5485-93) Colorectal carcinoma is one of the major causes of cancer death worldwide (1). Liver is the most common target for metastasis in patients with this disease. It is estimated that approximately 50% of colorectal cancer patients develop liver metastases, with 15% to 25% of synchronous and 20% of heterochronous cases (2). Liver metastasis is the most critical prognostic factor for colorectal cancer. The 5-year overall survival rate of patients with hepatic metastasis is only 25% to 40%

Abstract. Annexins are associated with metastasis and infiltration of cancer cells. Proteomic analysis and immunohistochemical staining were used to understand whether several annexins play important roles in cancer alone and/ or synergistically. Seven fresh breast cancer samples with 23 paraffin specimens, three fresh pancreatic samples and five fresh laryngeal carcinoma samples with 25 paraffin specimens were obtained from humans, as well as ten golden hamster pancreatic cancer tissue samples, and they were used to observe differential expression of annexins compared with normal tissues using proteomics and immunohistochemical staining. Annexin A2, A4 and A5 were overexpressed in human breast cancer and laryngeal carcinoma tissues and in golden hamster pancreatic cancer tissue samples, respectively, as shown by proteomics and immunohistochemical staining. In addition, annexin A4 and A5 were expressed in breast cancer tissues, while annexin A1 was not expressed. Annexin A1, A2 and A4 were expressed in human laryngeal carcinoma tissues as shown by immunohistochemical staining. Annexin A1, A2, A4 and A5 played important roles in breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and laryngeal carcinoma, alone and/or synergistically, and they may be targets of therapy for malignant tumors. The choice of which annexins to target should depend on their respective biological behaviors.