Vasculogenic mimicry, a negative indicator for progression free survival of lung adenocarcinoma irrespective of first line treatment and epithelial growth factor receptor mutation status.

BACKGROUND: Vascular mimicry (VM) was associated with the prognosis of cancers. The aim of the study was to explore the association between VM and anticancer therapy response in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective study of patients with lung adenocarcinoma between March 1st, 2013, to April 1st, 2019, at the Second People's Hospital of Taizhou City. All included patients were divided into the VM and no-VM groups according to whether VM was observed or not in the specimen. Vessels with positive PAS and negative CD34 staining were confirmed as VM. The main outcome was progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: Sixty-six (50.4%) patients were male. Eighty-one patients received chemotherapy as the first-line treatment, and 50 patients received TKIs. Forty-five (34.4%) patients were confirmed with VM. There was no difference regarding the first-line treatment between the VM and no-VM groups (P = 0.285). The 86 patients without VM had a median PFS of 279 (range, 90-1095) days, and 45 patients with VM had a median PFS of 167 (range, 90-369) days (P < 0.001). T stage (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10-1.71), N stage (HR = 1.43, 95%CI: 1.09-1.86), M stage (HR = 2.85, 95%CI: 1.76-4.61), differentiation (HR = 1.85, 95%CI: 1.29-2.65), therapy (HR = 0.32, 95%CI: 0.21-0.49), VM (HR = 2.12, 95%CI: 1.33-3.37), and ECOG (HR = 1.41, 95%CI: 1.09-1.84) were independently associated with PFS. CONCLUSION: The benefits of first-line TKIs for NSCLC with EGFR mutation are possibly better than those of platinum-based regimens in patients without VM, but there is no difference in the benefit of chemotherapy or target therapy for VM-positive NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations.

Effects of enteral nutrition support combined with enhanced recovery after surgery on the nutritional status, immune function, and prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer after Ivor-Lewis operation.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer (EC) with a high incidence of malnutrition is a highly malignant digestive tract tumor. We investigated the effect of enteral nutrition (EN) support combined with enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) on the nutritional status, immune function, and prognosis of patients with EC after Ivor-Lewis operation. METHODS: One hundred patients were randomly divided into the observation group (n=42) and the control group (n=58). The patients in observation group were treated with EN combined with ERAS intervention after Ivor-Lewis operation, and the patients in control group were treated with conventional postoperative EN intervention. The situation of operation, nutritional status, immune function recovery and prognosis between the two groups were compared. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in operation time or intraoperative blood loss between the two groups (P>0.05). The chest tube removal time and oral feeding time of the observation group after operation were shorter than those of the control group (P<0.05). After intervention, serum albumin (ALB), transferrin (TF), pre-albumin (PA) and hemoglobin (Hb) levels in both groups were significantly decreased. These indexes were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant changes in the levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) A, IgG, and IgM, or the numbers of CD3+, CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ T cells in the observation group before and after intervention (P>0.05); however those indexes were significantly decreased in the control group after the intervention (P<0.05). Interestingly, the levels of IgA, IgM, IgG, CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells and CD4+/CD8+ T cells in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group after intervention (P<0.05). The incidence of pulmonary infection in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group. The postoperative exhaust time, postoperative defecation time and postoperative hospital stay were shorter in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in hospitalization cost between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: EN combined with ERAS was more beneficial to the improvement of nutritional status and immune function recovery of patients with EC after Ivor-Lewis operation. It also shortened the length of hospital stay.

BRMS1 regulates apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) was originally identified as a metastasis suppressor gene in human breast cancer. Previous studies have reported that loss of BRMS1 expression correlates with tumor progression, and poor prognosis in NSCLC. However, the role of BRMS1 in NSCLC is not fully understood. In this study, we found that expression of BRMS1 in A549 cells did not affect cell growth under normal culture conditions but sensitized cells to apoptosis induced by serum deprivation. Consistently, knockdown of endogenous BRMS1 expression in H1299 cells suppressed cell apoptosis. We identified that BRMS1 regulate apoptosis in NSCLC cells by modulating Stat3 activation. Taken together, our results show that BRMS1 sensitizes NSCLC cells to apoptosis through Stat3 signaling pathway, suggesting a potential role of BRMS1 in regulating NSCLC apoptosis and metastasis.