[Clinical analysis of combined immunotherapy in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma].

Objective: To observe the present situation, efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Methods: The data of 39 patients with MPM in two centers from 2016 to 2021 were collected and the efficacy and safety were evaluated. According to the application of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), these patients, whose median clinical follow-up amounting to 18.97 months, were divided into immunotherapy group (19 cases) and control group (20 cases). Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were used for the survival analysis. Results: The objective response rate (ORR) and the disease control rate (DCR) in the immunotherapy group is 21.05% and 79.0% respectively, compared with 10.0% and 55.0% in the control group; and the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The median overall survival (OS) in the immunotherapy group was significantly longer than that in the control group (14.53 months vs 7.07 months, P=0.015), but there was no significant difference in the median progression free survival (PFS) between two groups (4.80 months vs 2.03 months, P=0.062). Single factor survival analysis showed that the nature of pleural effusion, pathological subtype and the efficacy of immunotherapy were related to both PFS and OS of the patients with MPM (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in immunotherapy group was 89.5% (17 out of 19 cases), and the most common adverse event was hematological toxicity (9 cases), followed by nausea and vomiting (7 cases), fatigue (6 cases) and skin damage (6 cases). Five patients had immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) related adverse reactions with grade 1-2. Conclusions: Patients with MPM have begun to receive immunotherapy in more than 2-line mainly combined chemotherapy in the real world, and the median treatment line is 2-line. Either combined with chemotherapy or anti-angiogenesis therapy, ICI inhibitors have significant efficacy, controllable adverse events and good clinical value.

LncRNA DANCR aggravates the progression of ovarian cancer by downregulating UPF1.

OBJECTIVE: To uncover the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) DANCR in aggravating the progression of ovarian cancer (OC) by downregulating UPF1 level. PATIENTS AND METHODS: DANCR level in OC tissues and matched adjacent normal ones was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Its expression level in OC patients with different tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging and either with metastasis, or not, was examined as well. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were introduced for assessing the prognostic value of DANCR in OC. Subsequently, regulatory effects of DANCR on proliferative and migratory abilities of HO8910 and HEY cells were evaluated. Subcellular distribution of DANCR in OC cells was analyzed. Furthermore, the interaction between DANCR and UPF1 was explored by RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and Pearson correlation analysis. Finally, rescue experiments were conducted to clarify the role of DANCR/UPF1 axis in the progression of OC. RESULTS: DANCR was upregulated in OC tissues and cell lines. Its level was higher in OC patients with worse tumor stage and accompanied by metastatic loci. DANCR exerted the potential to serve as a prognostic marker for OC. Overexpression of DANCR accelerated HO8910 and HEY cells to proliferate and migrate. UPF1 was found to be downregulated in OC tissues and negatively correlated to DANCR. DANCR was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm and interacted with UPF1. Overexpression of UPF1 in OC cells partially reversed the promotive effect of DANCR on proliferative and migratory rates. CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA DANCR accelerates the proliferative and migratory abilities of OC cells through negatively regulating UPF1 level, thus aggravating the progression of OC.