Upfront autologous stem cell transplantation for untreated diffuse large B cell lymphoma patients in rituximab era: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To assess the survival outcomes and adverse events (AEs) of high-intermediate- or high-risk patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who underwent conventional chemotherapy plus rituximab with or without first-line autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Related studies published on Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of science were searched, comprising both retrospective and randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). The meta-analysis was performed using the software RevMan v5.3. Four RCTs and six retrospective trials with a total of 1811 patients were identified. Pooled data indicated that conventional chemotherapy plus rituximab followed by ASCT as the first-line therapy contributed to better PFS (HR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.62-0.86, p = 0.0002) but did not significantly improve OS (HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.55-1.01, p = 0.06) of high-intermediate/high-risk patients. Subgroup analyses of patients with complete remission after induction chemotherapy may benefit from the upfront ASCT (OS, HR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.28-0.82, p = 0.008). The incidences of grade ≥ 3 hematological and non-hematological AEs occurred more frequently in the transplantation group. High-intermediate or high-risk untreated patients with DLBCL only achieved short-term survival benefit with the upfront ASCT.

Serum apolipoprotein A-I is a novel prognostic indicator for non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the value of pretreatment serum apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) in complementing TNM staging in the prognosis of non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1196 newly diagnosed patients with non-metastatic NPC. Disease-specific survival (DSS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) rates were compared according to serum ApoA-I level. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess the prognostic value of serum ApoA-I. RESULTS: The 5-year DSS, DMFS, and LRFS rates for patients with elevated or decreased serum ApoA-I were 81.3% versus 69.3% (P < 0.001), 83.4% versus 67.4% (P < 0.001), and 80.9% versus 67.3% (P < 0.001), respectively. ApoA-I ≥ 1.025 g/L was an independent prognostic factor for superior DSS, DMFS, and LRFS in multivariate analysis. After stratification by clinical stage, serum ApoA-I remained a clinically and statistically significant predictor of prognosis. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the level of ApoA-I at diagnosis is a novel independent prognostic marker that could complement clinical staging for risk definition in non-metastatic NPC.

MicroRNA-155 promotes bladder cancer growth by repressing the tumor suppressor DMTF1.

MicroRNA-155 (miR-155) is dysregulated in human cancers. In this study, we reported that miR-155 was over-expressed in bladder cancer tissues. We found that miR-155 promoted cell proliferation in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. MiR-155 directly reduced the expression of the tumor suppressor DMTF1. The expression of DMTF1 was decreased in bladder cancer tissues. Similar to the restoring miR-155 expression, knockdown of DMTF1 promoted cell growth and cell cycle progression, whereas DMTF1 over-expression rescued the effect of miR-155. Moreover, we investigated DMTF1-Arf-p53 pathway and found that DMTF1 worked in both p53-dependent and p53-independent manners. Taken together, our findings suggested that miR-155 functions as a tumor promoter in bladder cancer, which is partially through repressing DMTF1 expression. The identification of miR-155 and its novel target DMTF1 will be valuable in developing diagnostic markers and therapeutic applications for bladder cancer.