Inertial microfluidics has gained significant attention since first being proposed in 2007 owing to the advantages of simplicity, high throughput, precise manipulation, and freedom from an external field. Superior performance...

BackgroundEstrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), HER2, and Ki67 have been increasingly evaluated by core needle biopsy (CNB) and are recommended for classifying breast cancer into molecular subtypes. However, the concordance rate between CNB and open excision biopsy (OEB) has not been well documented.MethodsPatients with paired CNB and OEB samples from Oct. 2009 to Feb. 2012 in Ruijin Hospital were included. ER, PgR, HER2, and Ki67 were determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Patients with HER2 IHC 2+ were further examined by FISH. Cutoff value for Ki67 high expression was 14%. Molecular subtypes were constructed as follows: Luminal A, Luminal B, Triple Negative, and HER2 positive.ResultsThere were 298 invasive breast cancer patients analyzed. Concordance rates for ER, PgR, and HER2 were 93.6%, 85.9%, and 96.3%, respectively. Ki67 expression was slightly higher in OEB than in CNB samples (29.3% vs. 26.8%, P = 0.046). Good agreement (κ = 0.658) was demonstrated in evaluating molecular subtypes between CNB and OEB, with a concordance rate of 77.2%. We also used a different Ki67 cutoff value (20%) for determining Luminal A and B subtypes in HR (hormone receptor) +/HER2- diseases and the overall concordance rate was 79.2%. However, using a cut-point of Ki67 either 14% or 20% for both specimens, there will be about 14% of HR+/HER2- specimens that are called Luminal A on CNB and Luminal B on OEB.ConclusionCNB was accurate in determining ER, PgR, and HER2 status as well as non-Luminal molecular subtypes in invasive breast cancer. Ki67 should be retested on OEB samples in HR+/HER2- patients to accurately distinguish Luminal A from B tumors.

It has been demonstrated that through the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) germ cells can be derived from embryonic stem (ES) cells. Here, we describe a transgene expression approach to derive germ cells directly from ES cells in vitro without EB formation. Through the ectopic expression of Deleted in Azoospermia-Like (Dazl), a germ cell-specific RNA-binding protein, both motile tailed-sperm and oocytes were induced from mouse ES (mES) cells in culture. Furthermore, transient overexpression of Dazl led to suppression of Nanog but induced germ cell nuclear antigen in mES cells. Dazl knockdown resulted in reduction in the expression of germ cell markers including Stella, MVH and Prdm1. Our study indicates that Dazl is a master gene controlling germ cell differentiation and that ectopic expression of Dazl promotes the dynamic differentiation of mouse ES cells into gametes in vitro.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been widely considered as promising novel biomarkers for molecular research and clinical diagnosis of cancer. However, the sorting of CTCs is very challenging due to...