Chiral Molecular Cage with Tunable Stereoinversion Barriers.

The manipulation of chirality in molecular entities that rapidly interconvert between enantiomeric forms is challenging, particularly at the supramolecular level. Advances in controlling such dynamic stereochemical systems offer opportunities to understand chiral symmetry breaking and homochirality. Herein, we report the synthesis of a face-rotating tetrahedron (FRT), an organic molecular cage composed of tridurylborane facial units that undergo stereomutations between enantiomeric trefoil propeller-like conformations. After resolution, we show that the racemization barrier of the enantiopure FRT can be regulated in situ through the reversible binding of fluoride anions onto the tridurylborane moieties. Furthermore, the addition of an enantiopure phenylethanol to the FRT can effectively induce chirality of the molecular cage by preferentially binding to one of its enantiomeric conformers. This study presents a new paradigm for controlling dynamic chirality in supramolecular systems, which may have implications for asymmetric synthesis and dynamic stereochemistry.

Anti-inflammatory Polyketides from the Marine-Derived Fungus Eutypella scoparia.

Three new polyketides, eutyketides A and B (1 and 2) and cytosporin X (3), along with four known compounds (4-7), were obtained from the marine-derived fungus Eutypella scoparia. The planar structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated by extensive HRMS and 1D and 2D NMR analyses. Their relative configurations of C-13 and C-14 were determined with chemical conversions by introducing an acetonylidene group. The absolute configurations of 1-3 were determined by comparing their experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data with their computed ECD results. All of the isolated compounds were tested for their anti-inflammatory activities on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Compounds 5 and 6 showed stronger anti-inflammatory activities than the other compounds, with the inhibition of 49.0% and 54.9% at a concentration of 50.0 µg/mL, respectively.

Absolute Configurations and Chitinase Inhibitions of Quinazoline-Containing Diketopiperazines from the Marine-Derived Fungus Penicillium polonicum.

Three new quinazoline-containing diketopiperazines, polonimides A-C (1-3), along with four analogues (4-7), were obtained from the marine-derived fungus Penicillium polonicum. Among them, 2 and 4, 3 and 5 were epimers, respectively, resulting the difficulty in the determination of their configurations. The configurations of 1-3 were determined by 1D nuclear overhauser effect (NOE), Marfey and electron circular dichroism (ECD) methods. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) calculation with the combination of DP4plus probability method was used to distinguish the absolute configurations of C-3 in 3 and 5. All of 1-7 were tested for their chitinase inhibitory activity against OfHex1 and OfChi-h and cytotoxicity against A549, HGC-27 and UMUC-3 cell lines. Compounds 1-7 exhibited weak activity towards OfHex1 and strong activity towards OfChi-h at a concentration of 10.0 µM, with the inhibition rates of 0.7%-10.3% and 79.1%-95.4%, respectively. Interestingly, 1-7 showed low cytotoxicity against A549, HGC-27 and UMUC-3 cell lines, suggesting that good prospect of this cluster of metabolites for drug discovery.

Stable Diindeno-Fused Corannulene Regioisomers with Open-Shell Singlet Ground States and Large Diradical Characters.

The synthesis of open-shell polycyclic hydrocarbons with large diradical characters is challenging because of their high reactivities. Herein, two diindeno-fused corannulene regioisomers DIC-1 and DIC-2, curved fragments of fullerene C104 , were synthesized that exhibit open-shell singlet ground states. The incorporation of the curved and non-alternant corannulene moiety within diradical systems leads to significant diradical characters as high as 0.98 for DIC-1 and 0.89 for DIC-2. Such high diradical characters can presumably be ascribed to the re-aromatization of the corannulene π system. Although the DIC compounds have large diradical characters, they display excellent stability under ambient conditions. The half-lives are 37 days for DIC-1 and 6.6 days for DIC-2 in solution. This work offers a new design strategy towards diradicaloids with large diradical characters yet maintain high stability.

Actin-like 6A predicts poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and promotes metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

UNLABELLED: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide because of metastasis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is widely considered to be crucial to the invasion-metastasis cascade during cancer progression. Actin-like 6A (ACTL6A) is initially verified important for cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration. In this study, we find that ACTL6A plays an essential role in metastasis and EMT of HCC. ACTL6A expression is up-regulated in HCC cells and tissues. A high level of ACTL6A in HCCs is correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features and is an independent poor prognostic factor for overall and disease-free survival of HCC patients. Ectopic expression of ACTL6A markedly promotes HCC cells migration, invasion, as well as EMT in vitro and promotes tumor growth and metastasis in the mouse xenograft model. Opposite results are observed when ACTL6A is knocked down. Mechanistically, ACTL6A promotes metastasis and EMT through activating Notch signaling. ACTL6A knockdown has the equal blockage effect as the Notch signaling inhibitor, N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-L-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butylester, in HCC cells. Further studies indicate that ACTL6A might manipulate SRY (sex determining region Y)-box 2 (SOX2) expression and then activate Notch1 signaling. CONCLUSIONS: ACTL6A promotes metastasis and EMT by SOX2/Notch1 signaling, indicating a prognostic biomarker candidate and a potential therapeutic target for HCC.

A Robust Range Grating Lobe Suppression Method Based on Image Contrast for Stepped-Frequency SAR.

The magnitude error and phase error (MEPE) in the transfer function of a stepped-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system results in a periodic MEPE in the synthesized wideband waveform (SWW), which induces the grating lobes in the high-resolution range profile (HRRP). In this paper, a robust data-driven grating lobe suppression (GLS) method is proposed. Based on a contrast-based error estimation method and the grating lobes of the brightest scatterers in the SAR image, the periodic MEPE can be robustly estimated using the proposed method. By compensating the estimated periodic MEPE, the range grating lobes can be suppressed to the background level of the SAR image. Simulation results and real data processing have demonstrated the superiority of the proposed method.

A new compound from an endophytic fungus Bambusicola massarinia.

One new chromone, rel-(1S,2S,3S)-2,8-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-1,3-dimethyl-3,4-dihydro-1H-xanthen-9(2H)-one (1), together with one known compound wentiquinone A (2), were isolated from solid culture of endophytic fungus strain Bambusicola massarinia. The structures of all compounds were determined mainly by analysis of their NMR spectroscopic data. The relative configuration of compound 1 was determined by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses.

[Experimental study on anti-tumor effect of xihuang pill and its immune clearance function].

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the anti-tumor effect of Xihuang pill on tumor-bearing rats and its effect on the immune clearance function of tumor-bearing organisms. METHOD: Walker256 tumor cells were adopted to establish the tumor-bearing rat model. The rats were randomly divided into five groups: the normal control group, the model control group, the lentinan group and Xihuang pill low dose, middle dose and high dose groups, with 10 rats in each group, and continuously treated and given drugs for 14 d after modeling. Blood and tumors were collected from abdominal aorta to calculate the tumor inhibition rate. The content of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T cells and adhesion molecule B7-1 (CD80) in peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry (FCM). The expressions of IL-2 and IFN-gamma in were determined by ELISA. RESULT: The tumor inhibition rate of the Xihuang pill high dose group was 33. 1 percent. Compared with the model group, the Xihuang pill large dose group showed significantly low IL-2, IFN-gamma, CD3+, CD4+, B7-1 in peripheral blood, with statistical significance in their differences (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Xihuang pill could show its anti-tumor effect by enhancing the immune clearance function and increasing IL-2, IFN-gamma, CD3+ T, CD4+ T, B7-1 in peripheral blood.

[Impact of sleep duration on cognitive functions among preschoolers].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of sleep duration including napping, night sleep and total sleep duration on cognitive functions among preschoolers. METHODS: The samples consisted of 94 preschoolers, aged from 2.58 to 6.75 years, from Hangzhou and Beijing. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), Picture Deletion Task for Preschoolers (PDTP) and Spatial Working Memory Test were applied to assess the cognitive functions of these preschoolers. Basic demographic information and sleep information were collected with self-made questionnaires. RESULTS: The results of the present study indicated that among all the participants, there were significant grade differences in napping duration and total sleep duration (F0.05(3, 90)=6.346, P=0.001; F0.05(3, 90)=2.925, P=0.038). The total sleep duration was decreased with age. However, the night sleep duration was not changed significantly with age. The correlations between the night sleep and total sleep duration and the scores of attention and working memory were significantly positive (r=0.202-0.282). No significant correlations were noted between the napping and all the scores of cognitive tests. The regression analysis showed that the total sleep duration especially the night sleep duration could well explain the variance of attention and working memory. CONCLUSION: Total sleep duration, especially night sleep duration may have great impact on preschoolers' cognitive functions, such as attention and working memory. Enough sound night sleep may help to promote the cognitive functions of the target population.

Two new furanone derivatives from the endophytic fungus Byssochlamys sp. and their cytotoxic activities.

Two new furanone derivatives, byssochlanones A-B (1-2) were purified from the endophytic fungus Byssochlamys sp. isolated from the wetland plant, Phragmites australis. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses. Compounds 1-2 represented typical furanone analogues which are not common in natural products. The absolute configuration of compounds 1-2 were identified through quantum-chemical electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation compared with their experimental CD. In addition, compounds 1-2 were tested for their cytotoxic activities against HCT-8 and Hela cancer cell lines, and compound 2 showed moderate activity against HCT-8 cells with IC50 value of 21.3 µM.

Promoting Effect of Horticultural Therapy on College Students' Positive Psychological Quality.

To explore the effect of horticultural therapy on cultivating College Students' positive psychological quality and to provide reference for college students' mental health education, 176 college students were randomly divided into experimental group (n = 88) and control group (n = 88). The experimental group was intervened by horticulture therapy, and the Chinese college students' mental health evaluation system and Chinese college students' positive psychological quality scale were used to test the experimental group and the control group. There was no difference in the six dimensions of positive psychological quality between the experimental group and the control group in the pre-test. After 9 weeks of intervention, the differences between the experimental group and the control group in the "cognitive dimension" and "emotional dimension" were significant. The scores of emotional dimension and transcendental dimension in the experimental group were higher than those in the pre-test (all p < 0.05); meanwhile, there is no difference in the other four dimensions. Horticultural therapy can promote the positive psychological quality of college students.

[Psychological resilience features of urban migrant children and rural left-behind children in Sichuan province of China].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of resilience of urban migrant children and rural left-behind children of Chinese farmer workers and to figure out the discrepancy between them. METHODS: The samples consisted of 1 391 primary students and middle school students from Chengdu, Guangyuan, Yibin, and Mianyang in Sichuan Province. The revised version of the Healthy Kids Resilience Assessment was used for the measurement of resilience. And ANOVA was performed for data analysis. RESULTS: The results of the present study indicated that among all the junior high students, urban migrant children got a significantly lower score of resilience (128.11±21.70) than rural left-behind children (135.61±22.77) and the control group (132.87±23.22), F(0.05 (2, 884))=8.076, P<0.001. And migrant children got lower scores on three external protective factors of resilience-family, school, community as well as on resilience traits than left-behind children and the control group (Family: F(0.05(2, 884))=7.820, P<0.001; School: F(0.05(2, 884))=5.041, P=0.007; Community: F(0.05(2, 884))=9.261, P<0.001; Resilience traits: F(0.05(2, 884))=3.510, P=0.030). No significant difference was noted between left-behind children and control group. Gender difference and grade difference were noted for each group. CONCLUSION: The resilience of migrant children was not so good as non-migrant children. Migrant children were enjoying less intimate interpersonal relationship in their schools, their families as well as their community, and they could get less psychological support from the external environment, so that migrant children could not develop some resilience traits to promote the sound development of themselves. Suggestions for intervention were also discussed.

[Study on the relationship among lifestyle, self-esteem and life satisfaction in Chinese adolescents].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between lifestyle, self-esteem and life satisfaction among Chinese adolescents. METHODS: 10 899 adolescents in middle schools and colleges from 9 provinces in China were investigated by using Chinese Adolescent Lifestyle Scale (CALS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES). RESULTS: The distribution of adolescents in the four groups divided by lifestyle and life satisfaction scores were different regarding the area and grade of these students(chi(2)=248.93, P<0.01;chi(2)=568.53, P<0.01). A high percentage of adolescents in cities (58.9%) reported a healthy life style with high life satisfaction while most adolescents in rural areas (58.9%) reported poor life styles with little satisfaction. A high percentage of junior high school students (61.8%) reported a healthy life style with high life satisfaction, but this percentage among senior high school and college students was down to 48.5% and 21.3% respectively. About 7.6% of senior high school students reported a healthy life style but poor satisfaction, a little higher than that of junior high school students (4.1%) and college students (3.6%). Moreover, there were 71.6% college students reported that they lead a poor life style with little satisfaction. The lifestyle is significantly correlated with self-esteem (r=0.472, P<0.01) and life satisfaction(r=0.636, P<0.01), and self-esteem is also significantly correlated with life satisfaction (r=0.450, P<0.01). self-esteem was the mediator of the other two parameters. CONCLUSION: The lifestyle predicts life satisfaction through self-esteem. Area and grade differences have to be taken into consideration when introducing programs on health promotion, and attention should be attached to the influence of psychological factors.

Pemetrexed-based chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutation: a multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy is the major choice for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor exon 20 insertion (EGFR ex20ins). The efficacy of pemetrexed-based with other chemotherapy regimens and EGFR ex20ins subtypes in this population has not been well studied. METHODS: We screened patients with EGFR ex20ins by next-generation sequencing (NGS) from a large cohort. The clinicopathologic and medical information were collected in advanced NSCLC patients with EGFR ex20ins. We also compared the clinical outcomes among patients with different subtypes of EGFR ex20ins. RESULTS: We retrospectively collected 119 stage IIIB/IV NSCLC patients with EGFR ex20ins from 9142 NSCLC patients across China from June 2013 to December 2018. The subtypes of EGFR ex20ins included A767_V769dupASV (33/119, 27.73%), S768_D770dupSVD (19/119, 15.97%), N771_H773dupNPH (11/119, 9.24%), A763_Y764insFQEA (2/119, 1.68%) and others (54/119, 45.38%). A total of 64.7% (77/119) of patients received pemetrexed-based first-line chemotherapy and 13.45% (16/119) of patients received pemetrexed-based second-line chemotherapy. Pemetrexed-based chemo-treated patients had longer median progression-free survival (PFS) than patients without pemetrexed-based chemo-treated (5.5 vs. 3.0 months, P=0.0026). Survival data was available for 66 patients and the median overall survival (OS) was 24.7 months. Pemetrexed-based chemo-treated patients had longer OS tendency than patients without pemetrexed-based chemo-treated (25.0 vs. 19.6 months, P=0.0769). Patients harboring A767_V769dupASV had better OS than other subtypes of EGFR ex20ins but without statistical significance (P=0.0676). Multivariate analysis revealed that histological type of NSCLC and bone-metastasis before treatment were independent prognostic factors for OS in all patients after adjusting all characteristic and treatment factors (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, it is the largest cohort study of advanced NSCLC patients with EGFR ex20ins across China. Pemetrexed-based treatment could have better control of disease than non-pemetrexed-based chemotherapies in this population. Furthermore, more effective agents are expected for patients harboring EGFR ex20ins.

Development of c­MET­specific chimeric antigen receptor­engineered natural killer cells with cytotoxic effects on human liver cancer HepG2 cells.

In recent years, cellular immunotherapy has served an important role in the combined treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The possibility of specific cell therapies for the treatment of solid tumours has been further explored following the success of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)­T cell therapy in the treatment of haematological tumours. The present study aimed to evaluate the specificity and efficiency of c­MET­targeted CAR­NK cell immunotherapy on human liver cancer in vitro. A CAR structure that targeted and recognised a c­MET antigen was constructed. c­MET­CAR was transferred into primary NK cells using lentiviral infection. c­MET­positive HepG2 cells were used as an in vitro study model. The cytotoxicity assay results revealed that c­MET­CAR­NK cells exhibited more specific cytotoxicity for HepG2 cells with high c­MET expression compared with the lung cancer cell line H1299, which has low levels of c­MET expression. The results of the present study demonstrated that c­MET may be a specific and effective target for human liver cancer cell CAR­NK immunotherapy. Based on these results, CAR­NK cell­based immunotherapy may provide a potential biotherapeutic approach for liver cancer treatment in the future.

[Relationship between coping behavior and mental health of military medical laboratory scientists and technicians].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship of coping behavior and mental health of military medical researchers and technicians. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), and self-rating scale of coping behavior, among 325 military medical laboratory scientists and technicians with different professional titles. RESULTS: The anxiety and depression scores of the military medical researchers and technicians were 30 +/- 6 and 37 +/- 8 respectively, both significantly lower than those of the national norm (34 +/- 6 and 42 +/- 11 respectively, both P < 0.01). The depression score of the associate chief technicians was 42 +/- 7, significantly higher than those of the medical researchers and technicians with any other professional titles (all P < 0.05), and the anxiety score of the associate chief technicians was 32 +/- 7, significantly higher than that of the research fellows (28 +/- 4, P < 0.05). The seeking help score of the associate chief technicians was 2.8 +/- 0.5, not significantly different from that of the associate research fellows (2.8 +/- 0.5), but significantly lower than those of the military medical researchers and technicians with any other titles (all P < 0.01). The self-blame score of the associate chief technicians was 1.9 +/- 0. 6, significantly higher than that of the assistant research fellows (1.0 +/- 0.6, P <0.01) and that of the research fellows (1.6 +/- 0.6, P <0.05). Correlation and regression analysis showed that active coping behaviors were significantly positively correlated with depression (r1 = -0.519) and anxiety (r3 = -0.348); and negative coping behaviors were significantly negatively correlated with depression (r2 = 0.314) and anxiety (r4 = 0.407). CONCLUSION: Coping behavior has significant influence on the medical researchers and technician. Increasing seeking help and decreasing self-blame and imagination help release the anxiety and depression among the medical researchers and technicians.

The Antitumor Effect of Xihuang Pill on Treg Cells Decreased in Tumor Microenvironment of 4T1 Breast Tumor-Bearing Mice by PI3K/AKT~AP-1 Signaling Pathway.

To study the antitumor effect of Xihuang pill (XHP) on the number of Treg cells in the tumor microenvironment of 4T1 breast tumor-bearing mice by PI3K/AKT/AP-1 pathway, a mouse model was established. Flow cytometry (FCM) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to detect the number of Treg cells in the tumor microenvironment; terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to detect the apoptosis of Treg cells in tumor microenvironment. Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression of PI3K, AKT, and AP-1 in Treg cells in tumor microenvironment; immunofluorescence (IF) and Western Blot (WB) were used to detect the protein expression of PI3K, AKT, and AP-1 in Treg cells in tumor microenvironment. Compared with the naive control group, the tumor weight in XHP groups decreased significantly (P < 0.05); FCM and IHC results showed that the number of Treg cells in the tumor microenvironment decreased with the dose of XHP groups (P < 0.05); TUNEL staining showed that the number of Treg cells in tumor microenvironment increased with the dose of XHP groups (P < 0.05); RT-qPCR results showed that the mRNA expression of PI3K and AKT in Treg cells decreased with the dose of XHP groups, while RNA expression of AP-1 increased with the dose of XHP groups (P < 0.05); IF and WB results showed that the protein expression of PI3K and AKT in Treg cells decreased with the dose of XHP groups and the protein expression of AP-1 increased with the dose of XHP groups (P < 0.05). The results suggested that XHP decreased the number of Treg cells via inhibiting PI3K and AKT expression and upregulating AP-1 expression in Treg cells and then promoting the apoptosis of Treg cells. Thus, XHP could improve the immunosuppressive state of tumor microenvironment and reverse the immune escape to inhibit tumor growth.

Morroniside-Induced PP2A Activation Antagonizes Tau Hyperphosphorylation in a Cellular Model of Neurodegeneration.

BACKGROUND: An accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Deficits in protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) are associated with tau hyperphosphorylation in AD. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of morroniside (MOR), isolated from Cornus officinalis, on tau hyperphosphorylation and its underlying mechanisms related to PP2A. METHODS: SK-N-SH cells were pretreated with 50-200 µM MOR for 24 h followed by 20 nM okadaic acid (OA) for 6 h. PP2Ac siRNA was transfected into HEK293 cells to determine the direct interaction of MOR with PP2A. Western blotting was used to measure the expression of proteins and enzymes. PP2A activity was measured by molybdenum blue spectrophotometry. RESULTS: Pretreatment with MOR improved the cellular morphological damage and inhibited tau hyperphosphorylation in SK-N-SH cells induced by OA, a PP2A inhibitor. Moreover, MOR increased PP2A activity, concurrent with a decrease in the expression of demethylated PP2A at Leu309 and phosphorylated PP2A at Tyr307. MOR decreased protein phosphatase methylesterase 1 (PME-1) expression and the ratio of PME-1/leucine carboxyl methyltransferase 1 (LCMT-1). Furthermore, MOR treatment decreased the phosphorylation of Src at Tyr416, which regulates the phosphorylation of PP2A. MOR had no effect on PP2Ac expression and tau hyperphosphorylation in PP2Ac siRNA-transfected cells. CONCLUSION: MOR attenuated OA-induced tau hyperphosphorylation via PP2A activation, and its mechanism might be related to the regulation of PP2Ac post-translational modification and upstream enzymes such as Src and PME-1.

[Observation on efficiency of shelian capsule as adjuvant of embolismic chemotherapy on primary hepatic carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and side effects of Shelian capsule (SLC) as adjuvant of embolismic chemotherapy on primary hepatic carcinoma. METHODS: One hundred and twenty patients with hepatic carcinoma were conducted arterial embolismic chemotherapy with FAM program for two therapeutic cycles. The 60 patients in the treated group were taken SLC orally for auxiliary treatment, and the other 60 in the control group were given glucurolactone instead. The tumor size, Karnofsky score, clinical symptoms, alpha fetoprotein (AFP), NK cell, T cell-subgroup and adverse effect before and after treatment between the two groups were compared respectively. RESULTS: As compared with the control group, in the treated group the Karnofsky score was better ((P < 0.05) and the remission rate of clinical symptom were superior (66.7% vs 88.3 %, P < 0.05). The ratio of CD4/CD8 and NK cell activity was significantly different between the two groups (P<0.05). There was no obvious adverse effect in the treated group. CONCLUSION: SLC can effectively enhance the immunity of patients with tumor, remit clinical symptoms, improve quality of life and without any side effects.

Analysis of mutation of the c-Kit gene and PDGFRA in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

The aim of the present study was to investigate mutation status of the c-Kit gene (KIT) and PDGFRA in patients with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). In total, 93 patients with a GIST were included in the study, in which polymerase chain reaction amplification and gene sequencing were used to detect the sequences of exons 9, 11, 13 and 17 in KIT and exons 12 and 18 in PDGFRA. KIT mutations were detected in 64 cases (68.82%), of which exon 11 mutations were detected in 56 cases (60.22%), exon 13 mutations were detected in three cases (3.23%) and one case (1.08%) was shown to have a mutation in exon 17. The most common mutation in exon 11 was a deletion, which accounted for 55.36% (31/56) of the cases, followed by a point mutation observed in 26.79% (15/56) of the cases, while an insertion (tandem repeats) was identified in 14.29% (8/56) of the cases, and 3.57% (2/56) of the exon 11 mutations were deletions associated with a point mutation. The majority of the mutations were heterozygous, with only a few homozygous mutations. Mutational analysis revealed the mutations to be more concentrated in the classic hot zone at the 5'-end, followed by the tandem repeat frame at the 3'-end. In four cases, a mutation was detected in exon 18 of PDGFRA, of which one was associated with a mutation in KIT. The remaining three cases (10.34%, 3/29) were not associated with mutations in KIT and accounted for 37.5% (3/8) of the CD117-negative GIST cases. Therefore, the majority of the GIST cases were characterized by mutations in KIT or PDGFRA, which were directly associated with the disease. Pairs of different mutations in the same exon of KIT, or KIT mutations coupled with pairs of mutations in PDGFRA, were detected in a small number of patients. Imatinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor and is the first line targeted treatment for GIST, resulting in markedly improved survival rates. Thus, gene mutation genotyping may provide inspiration and guidance for imatinib-based targeted cancer therapy.