Furthermore, beclin-1 and LC3 expression was associated with certain clinical characteristics such as tumor stage, differentiation and lymph node metastasis, and had significant impacts on the prognosis of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients, beclin-1 was an independent prognositic factor for overall survival. These results suggest that the autophagic genes beclin-1 and LC3 play an important role in the progression and prognosis of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and could be novel therapeutic targets for future treatment of human hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas. However, further studies of larger scale are necessary to verify the preliminary findings in this study. ICAM-1 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily and is expressed by endothelial cells and leucocytes as a membrane-bound protein 
containing five extracellular Ig-like domains, a trans-membrane domain, and a cytoplasmic domain. ICAM?1 mediates adhesion and migration of leukocytes by binding to leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 and macrophage antigen-1. It furthermore acts as a receptor for human rhinovirus causing common cold and as a receptor for P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes binding to endothelial cells. P. falciparum malaria remains a major health issue causing ~200 million cases of disease and 700,000 deaths annually, AbMole BI-9564 mainly among African children below 5 years-of-age. Parasite virulence is closely related to the expression of PfEMP1 on the surface of IEs mediating their adhesion to host endothelium by binding to different vascular host receptors, including ICAM1. IE sequestration leads to inflammation, circulatory obstruction, and organ dysfunction. ICAM-1 expressed on vascular endothelial cells has been suggested as a receptor involved in the development of cerebral malaria, a severe and often fatal complication with IE sequestration in the brain. Several ICAM-1-binding PfEMP1 domains and a full length PfEMP1 molecule have previously been characterized, and we recently identified a conserved domain cassette structure in some of these. DC4-containing PfEMP1 proteins share a particular ICAM?1-binding phenotype conferred by the DBL��3_D4 domain of DC4. DC4 has been linked to the pathogenesis of severe disease and can induce cross-reactive adhesion inhibitory antibodies. However, more studies linking ICAM?1-adhering IEs to severe disease such as cerebral malaria and identifying ICAM-1binding PfEMP1 epitopes are needed before DBL��3_D4 can be put forward as a vaccine candidate. Achievement of this goal depends heavily on the availability of large quantities of high-quality recombinant ICAM-1. ICAM-1 expressed as a recombinant protein by mouse myeloma NS0 cells can be purchased commercially and has been used in various studies to demonstrate binding of P. falciparum IEs to ICAM-1. Other studies have used transfected CHO cells. Finally, COS7 cells transiently producing soluble ICAM-1 have also been wide