Organic-Free Synthesis of Zeolite Y with High Si/Al Ratios: Combined Strategy of In Situ Hydroxyl Radical Assistance and Post-Synthesis Treatment.

Zeolite Y, with a high SiO2 /Al2 O3 ratio (SAR), plays an important role in fluidized catalytic cracking processes. However, in situ synthesis of zeolite Y with high SARs remains a challenge because of kinetic limitations. Here, zeolite Y with an SAR of 6.35 is synthesized by a hydroxyl radical assisted route. Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that hydroxyl radicals preferentially enhanced the formation of Si-O-Si bonds, thus leading to an increased SAR. To further increase the SAR, a dealumination process was carried out using citric acid, with a subsequent second-step hydrothermal crystallization, giving an SAR of up to 7.5 while maintaining good crystallinity and high product yield. The resultant zeolite Y shows good performance in cumene cracking. Introduced here is a new strategy for synthesizing high SAR zeolite Y, which is widely used in commercial applications.

BTLA Expression in Stage I-III Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer and Its Correlation with PD-1/PD-L1 and Clinical Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is a novel immune checkpoint with an unclear role in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In contrast, the programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) checkpoint is a potentially curative immunotherapy target in NSCLC. Our study investigated BTLA expression and its relationship with PD-1/PD-L1, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and clinicopathological features. METHODS: The protein expressions of BTLA, PD-1, and PD-L1 were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and TIL abundance was scored in paraffin-embedded tissues from surgically resected specimens from 87 patients with stage I-III NSCLC. RESULTS: BTLA was expressed in tumor cells in 35 patients with NSCLC (40.2%). In addition, 42 patients (48.3%) were positive for PD-1 in TILs and 31 (35.6%) were positive for PD-L1 in tumor cells. BTLA was overexpressed in patients with lymphatic invasion (P=0.045) and an advanced tumor stage (P=0.034). High expression of BTLA was positively correlated with a high level of PD-L1 (P=0.011). Patients with positive BTLA expression had a shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) than those with negative BTLA expression (P=0.029). Moreover, patients negative for both BTLA and PD-L1 had a longer RFS than patients who were positive for BTLA or PD-L1 or for both checkpoints (P=0.012). The same pattern was shown for overall survival (P=0.031). CONCLUSION: High BTLA expression may predict poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC and may represent a new immunotherapy target.

Efficacy and safety of TE/TEC/intensive paclitaxel neoadjuvant chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer.

Efficacy and safety of paclitaxel/docetaxel + epirubicin (TE), paclitaxel/docetaxel + epirubicin + cytoxan (TEC) and intensive paclitaxel (IP) neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) were compared for the treatment of breast cancer. The clinical data of 326 patients with stage II-III unilateral primary breast cancer treated in Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from January 2012 to April 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received NCT for 4 cycles, including 115 cases of TE group, 109 cases of TEC group, and 102 cases of paclitaxel weekly group. The clinical efficacy was evaluated and complete response (CR) + partial response (PR) indicated clinically effective. The pathological effect was evaluated and the grade III+IV+V indicated pathologically effective. The rates of clinical efficacy and pathological CR (pCR) were compared, and the incidence of adverse reactions was also observed. The effects of different molecular typing on clinical efficacy and pCR were compared. Our results showed that the clinical effective rates in TE, TEC and IP groups were 80.9, 89.0 and 77.5%, respectively, and there were no statistically significant differences (P=0.074). The pCR rates in the three groups were 9.57, 8.26 and 5.88%, respectively, and the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.602). The incidence rate of neutropenia was statistically different among the three groups of patients (P<0.001), which was the highest in TEC group and the lowest in IP group. There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence rates of adverse reactions (P>0.05). Estrogen receptor (ER)-negative, progesterone receptor (PR)-negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2)-positive states were significantly correlated with the high clinical effective rate and high pCR rate (P<0.05). In conclusion, IP has the lowest incidence rate of neutropenia. Additionally, ER-negative, PR-negative and HER-2-positive states are significantly correlated with the high clinical effective rate and high pCR rate.

Integrated omics and gene expression analysis identifies the loss of metabolite-metabolite correlations in small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most aggressive type of lung carcinoma with high metastatic potential and chemoresistance upon relapse. Cancer cells remodel the existing metabolic pathways for their benefits and the perturbations in cellular metabolism are the hallmark of cancer. However, the extent of these changes remains largely unknown for SCLC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We characterized the metabolic perturbations in SCLC cells (SCLCC) by metabolomics. Large-scale correlation analysis was performed between metabolites. Targeted proteomics and gene expression analysis were employed to investigate the changes of key enzymes and genes in the disturbed pathways. RESULTS: We found dramatic decrease of metabolite-metabolite correlations in SCLCC compared with normal control cells and non-small cell lung cancer cells. Pathway analysis revealed that the loss of correlations was associated with the alternations of fatty acid oxidation, urea cycle, and purine salvage pathway in SCLCC. Targeted proteomics and gene expression analysis confirmed significant changes of the expression for the key enzymes and genes in the pathways in SCLCC including the upregulation of carbamoyl phosphate synthase 1 (urea cycle) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (fatty acid oxidation), and the downregulation of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase and adenine phosphoribosyltransferase in purine salvage pathway. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the loss of metabolite-metabolite correlations in SCLCC associated with the upregulation of fatty acid oxidation and urea cycle and the downregulation of purine salvage pathways. Our findings provide insights into the metabolic reprogramming in SCLCC and highlight the potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of SCLC.

Psychogenic fever in a patient with small cell lung cancer: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Fever is common in malignant tumors. We report an exceptional case of psychogenic fever in a patient with small cell lung cancer. This is the first case report of psychogenic fever in a patient with small cell lung cancer. CASE PRESENTATION: A 61-year-old Chinese man diagnosed with small cell carcinoma on June 30, 2012, came to our department with a complaint of fever lasting more than 1 month. He had undergone chemoradiotherapy for lung cancer 6 months previously. After admission, his body temperature fluctuated in the range of 37 °C to 39 °C. Somatic symptoms associated with anxiety were obvious. A 24-item Hamilton Anxiety Scale was used to assess the patient's condition. A score of 32 confirmed a diagnosis of severe anxiety. After a week of antianxiety treatment, the patient's temperature returned to normal. CONCLUSION: Psychogenic fever is common in cancer patients and deserves more attention. Patients with psychogenic fever must be distinguished from patients with infectious fever (including neutropenic fever), and tumor fever. Additionally, antianxiety or antidepression treatment should be provided. A concern is that continual anxiety may adversely affect anticancer therapy.

Preoperative serum LMTK3 as a novel biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer.

The lemur tyrosine kinase-3 (LMTK3) has been reported to be involved in tumor progression. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic and prognostic significances of preoperative serum LMTK3 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Sera were collected from 100 healthy volunteers (HV), 280 benign lung diseases (BLD) patients, and 524 NSCLC patients prior to operation. The serum LMTK3 level was detected by ELISA. We found that serum LMTK3 level was markedly elevated in NSCLC patients compared with controls. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve suggests that serum LMTK3 is a good diagnostic and differential marker for discriminating NSCLC patients from BLD. NSCLC patients with LMTK3 level ≥6.85 ng/ml had significantly worse survival than patients with LMTK3 <6.85 ng/ml. In multivariate analysis, LMTK3 level ≥6.85 ng/ml was an independent factor of poor prognosis [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.95; p = 0.011] after adjusting for age, sex, smoking behavior, stage, and histology. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed the consistent trend. Preoperative serum LMTK3 is a novel diagnostic and independent prognostic biomarker in patients with NSCLC.

Association between the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism and lung cancer susceptibility: a meta-analysis based on 22,475 subjects.

OBJECTIVES: The Ser326Cys polymorphism in the human 8-oxogunaine glycosylase (hOGG1) gene with lung cancer susceptibility had been investigated, but results were inconsistent and underpowered. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis assessing the association of hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism with risk of lung cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant studies were identified through a search of MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Chinese Biomedical Literature database (CBM) using terms "lung cancer", "hOGG1" or "OGG1", "polymorphism" or "variation" and the last search updated on May 1, 2013. In this meta-analysis, we assessed 30 published studies involving 22,475 subjects that investigated the association between the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism and lung cancer susceptibility. RESULTS: Overall, the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism was not associated with lung cancer susceptibility in different genetic models (dominant model comparison: OR = 0.133; 95% CI = 0.111-0.161; P(heterogeneity) = 0.000), and recessive model: OR = 0.543; 95% CI = 0.399-0.739; P(heterogeneity) = 0.000). Similarly, in the stratified analyses by ethnicity, significantly increased risks were found among Asians for homozygote comparison (OR = 0.850; 95% CI = 0.732 0.986; P(heterogeneity) = 0.064), and dominant model (OR = 0.160; 95% CI = 0.137-0.187; P(heterogeneity) = 0.001), and Caucasians for dominant model (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.03-1.77; P(heterogeneity) = 0.015), and recessive model (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.03-1.77; P(heterogeneity) = 0.015). In population-based populations, marginally significant increased risks were found in dominant model (OR = 0.143; 95% CI = 0.111 0.184; P(heterogeneity) = 0.000) and recessive model (OR = 0.429; 95% CI = 0.261-0.705; P(heterogeneity) = 0.000). We also found a significant difference between hOGG1 Ser326Cys genotype and lung cancer susceptibility in studies with hospital-based controls for homozygote model (OR = 0.798; 95% CI = 0.649-0.982; P(heterogeneity )= 0.007),dominant model (OR = 0.122; 95% CI = 0.091-0.163; P(heterogeneity) = 0.000). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism contributed to the risk of lung cancer. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slides for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/3842531131031605.

Post-diagnosis soy food intake and breast cancer survival: a meta-analysis of cohort studies.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Data on associations between soy food intake after cancer diagnosis with breast cancer survival are conflicting, so we conducted this meta-analysis for more accurate evaluation. METHODS: Comprehensive searches were conducted to find cohort studies of the relationship between soy food intake after cancer diagnosis and breast cancer survival. Data were analyzed with comprehensive meta-analysis software. RESULTS: Five cohort studies (11,206 patients) were included. Pooling all comparisons, soy food intake after diagnosis was associated with reduced mortality (HR 0.85, 95%CI 0.77 0.93) and recurrence (HR 0.79, 95%CI 0.72 0.87). Pooling the comparisons of highest vs. lowest dose, soy food intake after diagnosis was again associated with reduced mortality (HR 0.84, 95%CI 0.71 0.99) and recurrence (HR 0.74, 95%CI 0.64 0.85). Subgroup analysis of ER status showed that soy food intake was associated with reduced mortality in both ER negative (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.75, 95%CI 0.64 0.88) and ER positive patients (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.72, 95%CI 0.61 0.84), and both premenopausal (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.78, 95%CI 0.69 0.88) and postmenopausal patients (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.81, 95%CI 0.73 0.91). In additioin, soy food intake was associated with reduced recurrence in ER negative (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.64, 95%CI 0.44 0.94) and ER+/PR+ (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.65, 95%CI 0.49 0.86), and postmenopausal patients (highest vs. lowest: HR 0.67, 95%CI 0.56 0.80). CONCLUSION: Our meta- analysis showed that soy food intake might be associated with better survival, especially for ER negative, ER+/ PR+, and postmenopausal patients.

Effects of toremifene versus tamoxifen on breast cancer patients: a meta-analysis.

Toremifene and tamoxifen are both selective estrogen receptor modulators used in the treatment of breast cancer patients. Therefore, we carried out a meta-analysis to achieve a more precise evaluation of the effects of toremifene versus tamoxifen on breast cancer patients, including the efficacy and safety, and the effects on the uterus, lipids, and bone. Comprehensive literature searches were conducted using the electronic databases and reference lists to include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared toremifene with tamoxifen for breast cancer patients. Two reviewers independently selected studies and abstracted data. Data were analyzed by Review Manager, version 5.0. Twenty-three trials (7242 patients) were included. For early stage breast cancer, toremifene was associated with higher 5-year survival rates (OR 1.25, 95 % CI 1.04, 1.50), more vaginal discharge (OR 1. 32, 95 % CI 1.01, 1.73), a greater decrease in serum triglyceride levels (SMD -1.01, 95 % CI -1.89, -0.14), a smaller decrease in LDL cholesterol levels (SMD 0.45, 95 % CI 0.07, 0.84) and in bone mineral density in Ward's triangle (SMD -0.36, 95 % CI -0.71, -0.01), and a greater increase in HDL cholesterol levels (SMD 0.43, 95 % CI 0.08, 0.77) than tamoxifen. For advanced breast cancer patients, toremifene was associated with more vaginal bleeding (OR 0.45, 95 % CI 0.26, 0.80) and a greater decrease in serum triglyceride levels (SMD -1.15, 95 % CI -1.90, -0.39) than tamoxifen. Available evidence showed that toremifene could be an alternative option to tamoxifen for both early and advanced breast cancer patients. However, the methodological quality of the included studies was low. More rigorous RCTs are needed to confirm the results of this meta-analysis in the future.

Alteration in metastasis potential and gene expression in human lung cancer cell lines by ITGB8 silencing.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the world and metastasis is an essential aspect of lung cancer progression. ITGB8 has been implicated in metastasis of human tumors. However, the molecular mechanism by which ITGB8 is involved in tumor metastasis is still unclear. In this study, we compared the gene expression profiles of human lung cancer cell lines A549 and PC9 by ITGB8 gene silencing with that of parent cells and negative control cells to comprehensively investigate ITGB8-mediated changes with respect to the metastatic potential and gene expression of human lung cancer cell lines. Our results showed that ITGB8 silencing cells exhibited significant cell cycle arrest and less adhesion and invasion abilities. We confirmed by Western blot, ELISA, and real-time PCR that the expression of metastasis-related genes CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL5, MMP-2, and MMP-9 were significantly decreased while that of E-Cadherin and cystatin B were dramatically increased in A549- and PC9-ITGB8 silencing cells. Furthermore, silencing of ITGB8 caused Snail and NF-κB transcriptional activation, and MEK and Akt phosphorylation level changes in lung cancer cell lines. Our results indicated that ITGB8 may play an important role in metastasis of human lung cancer cells. The ITGB8 silencing may change the lung cancer cells to a less invasive phenotype through alteration in the expression of metastasis-related genes.

C-reactive protein level predicts prognosis in patients with locoregionally advanced laryngeal carcinoma treated with chemoradiotherapy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of C-reactive protein (CRP) level on the prognosis of patients with locoregionally advanced laryngeal carcinoma treated with chemoradiotherapy. Fifty-seven patients with locoregionally advanced laryngeal carcinoma (cT3-4, N0-3, M0) treated with chemoradiotherapy were reviewed retrospectively. Chemoradiotherapy comprised external beam radiotherapy to the larynx (70 Gy) with three cycles of cisplatin at 3-week intervals. Elevated CRP was defined as >8 mg/L. The survival rate was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and a multivariate analysis was used to identify significant factors associated with prognosis, using a Cox proportional hazards model. During the median (range) follow-up of 5 years (1.3-5), 29 patients died from laryngeal cancer; the 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) rate was 49.12%. Fifteen patients had a high CRP level before chemoradiotherapy (>8 mg/L), and their CSS rate was significantly worse than that in the remaining patients (P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that CRP and tumor site were independent prognostic indicators for CSS, with a hazard ratio of 2.66 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22-5.82; P = 0.014) and a hazard ratio of 1.67 (95% CI, 1.01-2.77; P = 0.045), respectively. Of those with elevated CRP, the CRP levels of ten patients became normal after chemoradiotherapy, of whom four were alive with no evidence of recurrence or metastasis during the follow-up. By contrast, all six with no CRP normalization after chemoradiotherapy died within 3.8 years. The elevation of CRP before treatment predicts a poor prognosis in patients with locoregionally advanced laryngeal carcinoma treated with chemoradiotherapy.