The choroid plexus (CP), known for producing cerebrospinal fluid, is increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neuroimaging studies document structural CP alterations in Show more
The choroid plexus (CP), known for producing cerebrospinal fluid, is increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neuroimaging studies document structural CP alterations in aging and AD. One such alteration, calcium deposition, increases with age and is typically considered benign, though the mechanism and clinical significance of CP calcification remain uncertain. Given established association between peripheral vascular calcification and cardiovascular risk, we hypothesized that the volume of calcium within CP would correlate with systemic cardiovascular health. Based on prior findings of APOEε4-specific associations between CP calcium and neurodegeneration, participants were stratified by APOEε4 status, a strong genetic risk factor for AD also implicated in cardiovascular disease. In this retrospective analysis of 105 adults (mean age 58.9 years; 39 APOEε4+), we examined whether CP calcium correlates with cardiovascular risk in cognitively normal adults. CP calcium was quantified using a previously validated MRI-CT method. Spearman correlations assessed the association of CP calcium and Framingham Cardiovascular Risk Score (FCRS), as well as individual cardiovascular risk factors. Overall, CP calcium was not associated with FCRS. Among APOEε4- subjects, CP calcium correlated positively with FCRS ( Show less
Transcriptome of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is well characterized and correlates with some prognostic and genotypic factors, but data addressing the interaction between PTC and tumor microenvironm Show more
Transcriptome of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is well characterized and correlates with some prognostic and genotypic factors, but data addressing the interaction between PTC and tumor microenvironment (TME) are scarce. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to assess the impact of TME on gene expression profile in PTC. We evaluated the gene expression profile in PTC and normal thyroid cells isolated by laser capture microdissection and in whole tissue slides corresponding to the entire tumor. We included 26 microdissected samples for gene expression analysis (HG-U133 PLUS 2.0, Affymetrix, currently Thermo Fisher Scientific USA): 15 PTC samples, 11 samples of normal thyrocytes, and 30 whole slides (15 PTC and 15 normal thyroid). Transcripts were divided into three groups: differentially expressed both in microdissected and whole slides, transcripts differently expressed in microdissected samples and not changed in whole slides, and transcripts differentially expressed in whole slides and not changed in microdissected samples. Eleven genes were selected for validation in an independent set of samples; among them, four genes differentiated only microdissected PTC and normal cells. Two genes (PTCSC and CTGF) were confirmed. One gene (FOS) was not confirmed by the validation, whereas EGR1 was also significant in whole slide analysis. The other seven genes (TFF3, FN1, MPPED2, MET, KCNJ2, TACSTD2, and GALE) showed differentiated expression in microdissected thyrocytes and in whole tumor slides. Most of identified genes were related to the tumor-microenvironment interaction and confirmed the crosstalk between TME and cancer cells. Show less