Background/AimDuring cancer progression metabolic reprogramming is observed in parallel to the alternation in transcriptional profiles of malignant cells. Recent studies suggest that metabolic isoenzymes of phosphofructokinase II (PFK-II) – PFKFB3 and PFKFB4, often induced in hypoxic environment, significantly contribute to enhancement of glucose metabolism and in consequence cancer progression.Materials and methodsUsing the publicly available data deposited in the R2 data base we performed a Kaplan–Meyer analysis for cancer patients divided into groups with high and low expression levels of PFKFB3/4, determined based on the median.ResultsOur data showed that high PFKFB3/4 expression significantly correlates with shorter overall survival in several cancers. Moreover, we found that neuroblastoma patients with poor overall survival and evidence free survival are characterized by high PFKFB3 and at the same time low PFKFB4 expression, whereas patients with high PFKFB4 expressions are characterized by significantly better overall survival/evidence free survival rates.ConclusionOur analysis clearly indicates that expression of PFKFB3/4 isoenzymes may have a key prognostic value for several cancers. What’s more, it seems that in neuroblastoma the prognostic value of PFK-II may be dependent on the relation between PFKFB3 and PFKFB4 isoenzyme expression, indicating that further studies analyzing the role of both cancer specific PFK-II isoenzymes are highly desired.

The Asteraceae family is one of the largest families, comprising 67 genera and 264 species in Poland. However, only a few genera, including Artemisia and Ambrosia are potential allergenic sources. The aim of the study was to estimate how often and to what degree Artemisia and Ambrosia pollen seasons co-occur intensifying human health risk, and how synoptic situations influence frequency of days with high pollen concentrations of both taxa. Artemisia and Ambrosia pollen data were collected, using the volumetric method, at 8 sites in Poland. Daily concentrations of Artemisia pollen equal to 30 grains or more and Ambrosia pollen equal to 10 grains or more were accepted as high values. Concentrations of more than 10 pollen grains were defined as high in the case of Ambrosia because its allergenicity is considered higher. High concentrations were confronted with synoptic situations. Analysis was performed on the basis of two calendars on circulation types of atmosphere in Poland (Niedźwiedź, 2006, 2015). Co-occurrence of Artemisia and Ambrosia pollen seasons is being found most often, when Ambrosia pollen season starts in the first half of August. If it happens in the last 10 days of August high pollen concentrations of Artemisia and Ambrosia do not occur at the same days. At three sites (Sosnowiec, Rzeszów, Lublin) high Ambrosia pollen concentrations during the Artemisia pollen season appear more often than in other sites under question. The high Artemisia pollen concentrations occur, when continental or polar maritime old air masses inflow into Poland. The impact of air masses on high Ambrosia pollen concentrations depends on site localizations. It is likely, that in the south-eastern part of Poland high Ambrosia pollen concentrations result from the pollen transport from east-south-south-westerly directions and the local sources. Co-occurrence of both taxa pollen seasons depends on the air masses inflow and appears more often in a south-eastern part of Poland.

Objectives CD146 is an adhesive molecule that was originally reported on malignant melanoma cells as a protein crucial for cell adhesion. It is now known that high expression of the CD146 protein is not only characteristic of melanoma, but it occurs on a number of cancers, contributing to worse prognosis and increased aggressiveness. Independent in vitro studies in breast cancer have shown that CD146 protein alone can induce a change in epithelial to mesenchymal transcriptional profile, which is the basis of the tumor aggressiveness and metastasis. Methods In the following work, the correlation coefficients were analyzed between the genes of the mesenchymal profile and the CD146 gene in 10 independent transcriptomic data of breast cancer patients. Results The analysis confirmed the relationship between CD146 expression and mesenchymal profile genes, pointing VIMENTIN as the gene which expression is most strongly correlated with the CD146, suggesting that both genes, CD146 and VIM may be directly controlled by the same mechanism or regulate one another. Conclusions The analysis points a potential route for research on the CD146 gene expression, which may lead to understanding of its regulation in breast cancer, contributing to the development of new therapeutic strategies targeting highly metastatic breast cancer cells.

Background/aim: Reduced partial oxygen pressure is a characteristic feature of many cancers. HIF-1 transcription factor, activated under hypoxic conditions, alters the gene expression profile, triggering genes, which facilitate the survival of cells in oxygen diminished environment. Importantly, the HIF-1 signaling pathway itself has been considered a potential target of anti-cancer therapy since inhibition of this pathway may significantly slow down tumor growth. Materials and methods Initially, using the in vitro hypoxic conditions we determined the set of hypoxia target genes forming the hypoxia signature for Malignant Melanoma and Multiple Myeloma cells. Subsequently, the expression profile of selected genes was tested on patients’ transcriptomic data sets using binominal distribution model. Results Based on in vitro experiment we determined the 12 hypoxia target genes forming the hypoxia signature for Malignant Melanoma and 12 hypoxia target genes for Multiple Myeloma. Importantly, 9 genes out of 12 were common for both neoplasms. The analysis of expression distribution for selected genes revealed that in Multiple Myeloma the distribution pattern follows the theoretical binominal distribution model, opposite to Malignant Melanoma, where groups of patients with high probability of active or non-active HIF-1 signaling were apparently visible. Conclusion Our analysis clearly indicates that the probability of HIF-1 pathway activation can be assessed using binominal distribution model for the selected genes forming the hypoxia signature. The model developed based on two studied neoplasms expeditiously verifies the subgroups with high and/or low probability of HIF-1 signaling in a given transcriptomic data set and allows for assessing the probability of hypoxia pathway activation or any other active signaling in tumors, at the level of individual patients.