Section of Endocrinology, Andrology and Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Systemic Diseases, and Master in Andrological and Human Reproduction Sciences, University of Catania, Catania - Italy.
Int J Biol Markers. 2012 Jan-Mar;27(1):60-3. doi: 10.5301/JBM.2012.8991.
We report the case of a 74-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and an extensive ulcerative lesion on the right ear. AD is a neurodegenerative disease with progressive loss of memory and cognitive deterioration. It has been suggested that apoptotic cell injury and eventually cell death is a major contributor to the AD neurodegenerative process. The ulcerative lesion was surgically excised and the histological analysis reported a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Caspase-3 (CASP3) plays an important role in neuronal death during nervous system development and under certain pathological conditions. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo studies reported elevated expression and activation of CASP3 in models of AD. Molecular epidemiological studies suggest that CASP3 may contribute to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma susceptibility and disease progression and that increased CASP3 expression is associated with tumors of the head. Also poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) and the leucine zipper downregulated in cancer 1 (LDOC1) genes play a proapoptotic role. We therefore evaluated the differential expression of LDOC1, PARP1, and CASP3 mRNA in peripheral blood leukocytes of our patient. We found increased expression of all these genes compared with the expression in control subjects.
我们报告了一例 74 岁男性患有阿尔茨海默病（AD）和右耳广泛溃疡性病变。AD 是一种神经退行性疾病，伴有记忆丧失和认知能力恶化的进行性下降。有研究表明，细胞凋亡损伤最终导致细胞死亡是 AD 神经退行性过程的主要原因。溃疡病变通过手术切除，组织学分析报告为分化良好的鳞状细胞癌。半胱氨酸天冬氨酸蛋白酶 3（CASP3）在神经系统发育过程中和在某些病理条件下的神经元死亡中起重要作用。此外，体外和体内研究报告 AD 模型中 CASP3 的表达和激活增加。分子流行病学研究表明，CASP3 可能有助于头颈部鳞状细胞癌的易感性和疾病进展，并且 CASP3 表达增加与头颈部肿瘤有关。此外，多聚（ADP-核糖）聚合酶 1（PARP1）和下调的亮氨酸拉链蛋白 1（LDOC1）基因具有促凋亡作用。因此，我们评估了患者外周血白细胞中 LDOC1、PARP1 和 CASP3mRNA 的差异表达。与对照组相比，我们发现所有这些基因的表达均增加。
