Tracking bacterial lineages in complex and dynamic environments with applications for growth control and persistence.

As bacteria transition from exponential to stationary phase, they change substantially in size, morphology, growth and expression profiles. These responses also vary between individual cells, but it has proved difficult to track cell lineages along the growth curve to determine the progression of events or correlations between how individual cells enter and exit dormancy. Here, we developed a platform for tracking more than 105 parallel cell lineages in dense and changing cultures, independently validating that the imaged cells closely track batch populations. Initial applications show that for both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, growth changes from an 'adder' mode in exponential phase to mixed 'adder-timers' entering stationary phase, and then a near-perfect 'sizer' upon exit-creating broadly distributed cell sizes in stationary phase but rapidly returning to narrowly distributed sizes upon exit. Furthermore, cells that undergo more divisions when entering stationary phase suffer reduced survival after long periods of dormancy but are the only cells observed that persist following antibiotic treatment.

Network Meta-Analysis of Tofacitinib, Biologic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs, and Apremilast for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis.

BACKGROUND: Tofacitinib and other new treatments approved for use in psoriatic arthritis have only recently been included in psoriatic arthritis treatment guidelines, and studies evaluating the relative efficacy of available therapies are important to inform treatment decisions by healthcare professionals. OBJECTIVE: To perform a network meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety profiles of tofacitinib, biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs), and apremilast in patients with psoriatic arthritis naïve to tumor necrosis factor inhibitor therapy (TNFi-naïve) or with an inadequate response (TNFi-IR). METHODS: A systematic literature review used searches of MEDLINE, Embase, and The Cochrane Library on October 9, 2017. Randomized controlled trials including adult patients with psoriatic arthritis receiving treatment administered as monotherapy or with conventional synthetic DMARDs were selected. Efficacy outcomes included American College of Rheumatology 20 response, change from baseline in Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index, ≥75% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, and change from baseline in Dactylitis Severity Score and Leeds Enthesitis Index. Treatment effects were evaluated during placebo-controlled phases, using a binomial logit model for binary outcomes and a normal identify link model for other outcomes. Discontinuations due to adverse events and serious infection events were assessed as safety outcomes. RESULTS: The network meta-analysis included 24 published randomized controlled trials, of which 13 enrolled TNFi-naïve patients only, 3 enrolled TNFi-IR patients only, and 8 enrolled both TNFi-naïve and TNFi-IR patients. Placebo-controlled treatment durations ranged from 12 to 24 weeks. Indirect comparisons showed tofacitinib 5 and 10 mg BID to have similar efficacy compared with most bDMARDs and apremilast in improving joint symptoms (based on American College of Rheumatology 20 response), and with some bDMARDs in improving skin symptoms (based on Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) (tofacitinib 10 mg BID only in TNFi-IR) in patients with psoriatic arthritis who were TNFi-naïve or TNFi-IR. Results also showed that, compared with placebo, the improvement in physical functioning (based on Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index) with tofacitinib 5 and 10 mg BID was similar to that observed with most bDMARDs and apremilast in TNFi-naïve patients, and similar to that observed with all bDMARDs with available data in the TNFi-IR population. Improvements in Dactylitis Severity Score and Leeds Enthesitis Index scores were comparable between treatments. Tofacitinib 5 and 10 mg BID were median-ranked 8 and 15, respectively, for discontinuation due to any adverse events, and 5 and 16, respectively, for a serious infection event out of a total of 20 treatments in the network (lower numbers are more favorable). CONCLUSIONS: Tofacitinib provides an additional treatment option for patients with psoriatic arthritis, both in patients naïve to TNFi and in those with TNFi-IR. (Curr Ther Res Clin Exp. 2020; 81:XXX-XXX).

A universal trade-off between growth and lag in fluctuating environments.

The rate of cell growth is crucial for bacterial fitness and drives the allocation of bacterial resources, affecting, for example, the expression levels of proteins dedicated to metabolism and biosynthesis1,2. It is unclear, however, what ultimately determines growth rates in different environmental conditions. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that other objectives are also important3-7, such as the rate of physiological adaptation to changing environments8,9. A common challenge for cells is that these objectives cannot be independently optimized, and maximizing one often reduces another. Many such trade-offs have indeed been hypothesized on the basis of qualitative correlative studies8-11. Here we report a trade-off between steady-state growth rate and physiological adaptability in Escherichia coli, observed when a growing culture is abruptly shifted from a preferred carbon source such as glucose to fermentation products such as acetate. These metabolic transitions, common for enteric bacteria, are often accompanied by multi-hour lags before growth resumes. Metabolomic analysis reveals that long lags result from the depletion of key metabolites that follows the sudden reversal in the central carbon flux owing to the imposed nutrient shifts. A model of sequential flux limitation not only explains the observed trade-off between growth and adaptability, but also allows quantitative predictions regarding the universal occurrence of such tradeoffs, based on the opposing enzyme requirements of glycolysis versus gluconeogenesis. We validate these predictions experimentally for many different nutrient shifts in E. coli, as well as for other respiro-fermentative microorganisms, including Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Occurrence of metachronous second primary cancer in head and neck cancer survivors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the sixth leading cancer worldwide with approximately 600,000 new cases per year. Several studies suggest that HNC survivors may have an increased risk of developing second primary cancers (SPCs). A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed aiming to quantify the overall and site-specific risk of metachronous SPCs in HNC survivors. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus were searched to identify studies published until October 2019. Studies investigating the standardised incidence ratio (SIR) of metachronous SPC were included. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to calculate the overall and site-specific SIRs. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the study's quality. Heterogeneity was quantified using the I2 statistics and explored using meta-regression. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies were included in the systematic review. Studies differed by the definition of metachronous SPC used. For the meta-analyses, the studies were grouped according to these definitions. In the three groups, the overall risk of metachronous SPC was increased. The highest SPC risk was for oropharynx, oesophagus and lung. CONCLUSIONS: Head and neck cancer survivors are at increased overall risk of metachronous SPCs. The canonical upper aerodigestive sites, HNLE (head and neck, oesophagus and lung), were the SPC sites with the highest risk. IMPLICATION FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Our results emphasise the importance of targeted surveillance strategies aimed at early detection and tertiary preventive interventions.

Bacterial variability in the mammalian gut captured by a single-cell synthetic oscillator.

Synthetic gene oscillators have the potential to control timed functions and periodic gene expression in engineered cells. Such oscillators have been refined in bacteria in vitro, however, these systems have lacked the robustness and precision necessary for applications in complex in vivo environments, such as the mammalian gut. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of a synthetic oscillator capable of keeping robust time in the mouse gut over periods of days. The oscillations provide a marker of bacterial growth at a single-cell level enabling quantification of bacterial dynamics in response to inflammation and underlying variations in the gut microbiota. Our work directly detects increased bacterial growth heterogeneity during disease and differences between spatial niches in the gut, demonstrating the deployment of a precise engineered genetic oscillator in real-life settings.

MicroRNAs expression profiles as diagnostic biomarkers of gastric cancer: a systematic literature review.

OBJECTIVE: The early identification of gastric cancer (GC) represents a major clinical challenge. We conducted a systematic review of studies evaluating the miRNA expression profiling as a diagnostic tool in GC. METHODS: We performed a search of PubMed, ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS databases for studies on diagnostic miRNAs and GC, published in English up to October 2017. Eligibility criteria included case-control studies evaluating blood or tissue-based miRNA expression profiles, and incorporating at least two detection phases (screening and validation). RESULTS: We included 27 eligible studies, that reported on 97 deregulated miRNAs either in blood or tissue, out of which 30 were reported in at least two studies. Among 22 studies on tissue-diagnostic miRNAs, 13 consistently upregulated miRNAs (miR-214, miR-21, miR-103, miR-107, miR-196a, miR-196b, miR-7, miR-135b, miR-222, miR-23b, miR-25, miR-92 and miR-93), and six consistently downregulated miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-375, miR-133b, miR-30a, miR-193a and miR-204) were reported. Ten miRNAs with inconsistent direction of expression in tissues were identified. Among the five studies performed on blood samples, only one miRNA was consistently upregulated (miR-20a). CONCLUSIONS: This review shows that some tissue or blood miRNAs may be considered as potential biomarkers for GC diagnosis, that urgently needs to be confirmed from large prospective studies.

Epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease in the Republic of San Marino: The "EPIMICI - San Marino" study.

BACKGROUND: The burden of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) has never been estimated in the Republic of San Marino, the third smallest nation of the world. AIMS: To assess the occurrence and clinical features of CD and UC in San Marino during the last 35 years. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the prevalence, incidence, and main clinical aspects of CD and UC from 1980 to 2014, crossing data from various sources. RESULTS: Prevalence rates (per 100,000) on December 31, were 241 for CD (263 in males and 220 in females) and 311 for UC (370 in males and 255 in females). The specific incidence of UC steadily increased from 4.6 (95% CI: 1.5-10.6) in 1980-1984 to 12.4 (95% CI: 7.6-19.1) in 2010-2014; CD incidence showed a higher proportional increase, from 1.8 (95% CI: 0.2-6.6) in 1980-1984 to 17.9 (95% CI: 12.0-25.7) in 2010-2014. The main clinical features of CD and UC (activity and location at diagnosis, extra-intestinal manifestations, disease progression overtime, therapies, and hospitalizations) were analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first epidemiological report on CD and UC in San Marino, showing specific traits and overall higher prevalence and incidence rates than previously reported in neighbor Areas.

Community-based Mental Healthcare: A Case Study in a Cross-border Region of Germany and the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Community-based mental healthcare (CBMH) aims at supplying psychiatric patients with rehabilitative care outside the hospital. The aim of this study was to compare the organization of CBMH in a cross-border region of Germany and the Netherlands. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews gave insight into characteristics of CBMH approaches applied in the German region of Aachen (IHP) and the Dutch Province of Limburg (FACT). We applied a Delphi technique to select a performance indicator (PI) set for CBMH, which served as a conceptual model to allow comparison. RESULTS: Both approaches are flexible, patient-centred and include the evaluation of quality. Both provide financial and administrative support for the access. CONCLUSION: CBMH approaches appear to be equally valid from several perspectives even if they revealed, at the same time, important differences related to scope, integration with non-CBMH care resources and geographic coverage. Secondarily, the study provides a contribution to the development of a PI set to compare and evaluate CBMH approaches.

Prevalence of Extrapancreatic Malignancies Among Patients With Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms of the Pancreas.

OBJECTIVES: We conducted a study in order to assess the prevalence of extrapancreatic malignancies (EPMs) in a cohort of patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) from northeastern Italy. METHODS: A study was conducted in hospital Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy. Hospital records were screened in order to identify newly diagnosed IPMN cases in the period from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2015. We searched for EPMs diagnosed previous to, synchronous to, or after the IPMN. The ratio of the observed (O) number of patients with EPMs to the expected (E) was calculated. RESULTS: We identified 72 EPMs in 63 (31.8%) of 198 patients included. Among them, 51 (70.8%) were diagnosed previous to, 17 (23.6%) synchronous to, and 4 (5.6%) after the IPMN. Most frequently diagnosed were colorectal (12 patients [6.1%]), breast (8 patients [6.8%, in females]), renal cell (8 patients [4.0%]), and prostate cancer (7 patients [8.6%, in males]). The O/E ratios for EPMs were significantly increased for cancer in general (3.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.39-5.37), renal cell (9.62; 95% CI, 1.98-28.10), prostate (4.91; 95% CI, 1.59-11.45), and breast cancer (3.16; 95% CI, 1.03-7.37). CONCLUSIONS: We report an increased risk of EPMs in patients with IPMN, especially for renal cell, prostate, colorectal, and breast cancer.

Tumour stage and gender predict recurrence and second primary malignancies in head and neck cancer: a multicentre study within the INHANCE consortium.

Recurrence and second primary cancer (SPC) continue to represent major obstacles to long-term survival in head and neck cancer (HNC). Our aim was to evaluate whether established demographics, lifestyle-related risk factors for HNC and clinical data are associated with recurrence and SPC in HNC. We conducted a multicentre study by using data from five studies members of the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium-Milan, Rome, Western Europe, Sao Paulo, and Japan, totalling 4005 HNC cases with a median age of 59 (interquartile range 52-67). Multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for recurrence and SPC. During follow-up, 1161 (29%) patients had recurrence and 343 (8.6%) developed SPC. Advanced tumour stage was associated with increased risk of recurrence in HNC overall (HR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.41-2.19). Women with laryngeal cancer had a reduced risk of recurrence compared to men (HR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.24-0.74). Concerning predictors of SPC, advanced age (HR = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00-1.04) and alcohol consumption (> 1 drink per day, HR = 2.11; 95% CI: 1.13-3.94) increased the risk of SPC among patients with laryngeal cancer. Additionally, women were at higher risk of SPC, in HNC overall group (HR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.13-2.51) and oropharyngeal cancer group (HR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.02-2.98). Tumour stage and male gender (larynx only) were positive predictors of cancer recurrence in HNC patients. Predictors of SPC were advanced age and alcohol use among laryngeal cancer cases, and female gender for oropharyngeal and HNC overall.

Outcomes for Thoracoscopy Versus Thoracotomy Not Just Technique Dependent: A Study of 9,787 Patients.

BACKGROUND: Studies reporting the benefits of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lung cancer resection over thoracotomy have been subject to selection bias. We evaluated patient and hospital characteristics associated with type of surgery and the independent effect of VATS on outcomes. METHODS: The Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System of New York State database was queried to identify all lung cancer patients undergoing lobectomy or sublobar resection between 2007 and 2012. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify patient (age, sex, race, comorbidities, year, and insurance) and hospital (urban, teaching, and total lung surgery volume) cofactors associated with surgical technique and propensity scores were used to evaluate whether technique was independently associated with complications or in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: There were 5,505 lobectomy and 4,282 sublobar resection patients, with 2,318 (42%) and 2,416 (56%) undergoing VATS, respectively. For lobectomy, VATS was associated with being female, lower comorbidity index, private insurance, older age, surgery in recent year, nonteaching hospital, and higher annual lung surgery volume. For sublobar resection, VATS was associated with black race, lower comorbidity index, Medicaid or other insurance, surgery in recent year, rural hospital, and higher annual lung surgery volume. Complication rate was significantly lower for VATS lobectomy and not sublobar resection, whereas in-hospital mortality was lower for VATS in both resection groups. CONCLUSIONS: Numerous patient- and hospital-related variables that affect morbidity and mortality also affect whether a patient undergoes VATS or open lung resection. Studies evaluating VATS must account more accurately for selection bias and adjust for these confounders.

Single-cell microscopy of suspension cultures using a microfluidics-assisted cell screening platform.

Studies that rely on fluorescence imaging of nonadherent cells that are cultured in suspension, such as Escherichia coli, are often hampered by trade-offs that must be made between data throughput and imaging resolution. We developed a platform for microfluidics-assisted cell screening (MACS) that overcomes this trade-off by temporarily immobilizing suspension cells within a microfluidics chip. This enables high-throughput and automated single-cell microscopy for a wide range of cell types and sizes. As cells can be rapidly sampled directly from a suspension culture, MACS bypasses the need for sample preparation, and therefore allows measurements without perturbing the native cell physiology. The setup can also be integrated with complex growth chambers, and can be used to enrich or sort the imaged cells. Furthermore, MACS facilitates the visualization of individual cytoplasmic fluorescent proteins (FPs) in E. coli, allowing low-abundance proteins to be counted using standard total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. Finally, MACS can be used to impart mechanical pressure for assessing the structural integrity of individual cells and their response to mechanical perturbations, or to make cells take up chemicals that otherwise would not pass through the membrane. This protocol describes the assembly of electronic control circuitry, the construction of liquid-handling components and the creation of the MACS microfluidics chip. The operation of MACS is described, and automation software is provided to integrate MACS control with image acquisition. Finally, we provide instructions for extending MACS using an external growth chamber (1 d) and for how to sort rare cells of interest.

RUNX3 as a Potential Predictor of Metastasis in Human Pancreatic Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: In genetically engineered murine models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), high levels of Runx3 increase the metastatic potential of cancer cells. In this study we evaluated the role of Runx3 in human pancreatic cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Runx3 was retrospectively assessed by immunohistochemistry in seventy-eight tumor samples of patients who underwent surgical resection for PDCA and were followed at least for 24 months. RESULTS: Thirty-two cases resulted completely negative for Runx3; forty-six showed highly variable expression. We established an optimal cut-off value of Runx3 in predicting distant metastasis equal to 0.04. The odds ratio (ORs) for development of distant metastases at multivariate analysis for patients having Runx3 ≥0.04 was 4.26 (p=0.043) and 4.68 (p=0.032) after adjusting for residual tumor and treatment, respectively; OR for development of metastases in multiple sites was 4.28 (p=0.025) for Runx3 ≥0.04. CONCLUSION: Our results support the ability of Runx3 to contribute to the dissemination of human PDAC thus confirming the observations from murine models.

Personal and hospital factors associated with limited surgical resection for lung cancer, in-hospital mortality and complications in New York State.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Early stage lung cancer is generally treated with surgical resection. The objective of the study was to identify patient and hospital characteristics associated with the type of lung cancer surgical approach utilized in New York State (NYS), and to assess in-hospital adverse events. METHODS: A total of 33 960 lung cancer patients who underwent limited resection (LR) or lobectomy (L) were selected from the NYS Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database (1995-2012). RESULTS: LR patients were more likely to be older (adjusted odds ratio ORadj and [95% confidence interval]: 1.01 [1.01-1.02]), female (ORadj : 1.11 [1.06-1.16]), Black (ORadj : 1.17 [1.08-1.27]), with comorbidities (ORadj : 1.08 [1.03-1.14]), and treated in more recent years than L patients. Length of stay and complications were significantly less after LR than L (ORadj : 0.56 [0.53-0.58] and 0.65 [0.62-0.69]); in-hospital mortality was similar (ORadj : 0.93 [0.81-1.07]), and was positively associated with age and urgent/emergency admission, but inversely associated with female gender, private insurance, recent admission year, and surgery volume. CONCLUSIONS: There was a growing trend toward LR, which was more likely to be performed in older patients with comorbidities. In-hospital outcomes were better after LR than L, and were affected by patient and hospital characteristics.

Adherence to Mediterranean diet and risk of gastric cancer: results of a case-control study in Italy.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between adherence to Mediterranean diet (MD) and gastric cancer (GC). A case-control study was carried out at the Fondazione Policlinico 'A. Gemelli' (Rome, Italy) from 2003 to 2015. A total of 223 incident cases and 223 controls were interviewed. Dietary intake was assessed through a validated food frequency questionnaire that collected information on more than 25 food items. The association between adherence to MD and risk of GC was quantified by calculating Odds Ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The analysis reports that a higher adherence to MD is associated with a reduced risk of GC (OR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.61-0.81). A high consumption of vegetables (OR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14-0.85), legumes (OR: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.06-0.29), and fish (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.15-0.68), as well as low consumption of meat (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.10-0.85) and alcohol (OR: 0.46; 95% CI: 0.24-0.90) are consistently related to a lower risk of GC. Our study indicates a protective role of the MD eating pattern and MD individual components against GC. Our results showed a beneficial role of high vegetable, legume, and fish consumption, along with low intake of alcohol and meat in the development of GC.

Temporal trends in centralization and racial disparities in utilization of high-volume hospitals for lung cancer surgery.

Racial disparities have been suggested in hospital utilization and outcome for lung cancer surgery, but the effect of hospital centralization on closing this gap is unknown. We hypothesized that centralization has increased the utilization of high- or very-high-volume (HV/VHV) hospitals, a proxy for access to high-quality care, over the study period independently from race.Inpatient records were extracted from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database (1995-2012) according to Clinical Modification of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision diagnosis codes 162.* and 165.* and surgical procedure codes 32.2-32.6 (n = 31,931). Patients treated exclusively with surgery of black or white race with a valid zip code were included. Logistic models were performed to determine factors associated with utilization of HV/VHV or low- or very-low-volume (LV/VLV) hospitals; these models were subsequently stratified by race.The percentage of both black and white patients utilizing HV/VHV hospitals increased over the study period (+22.7% and 13.9%, respectively). The distance to the nearest HV/VHV hospital and patient-hospital distance were significantly lower in black compared to white patients, however, blacks were consistently less likely to use HV/VHV than whites (odds ratioadj: 0.26; 95% confidence interval: 0.23-0.29), and were significantly more likely to utilize urban, teaching, and lower volume hospitals than whites. Likelihood of HV/VHV utilization decreased with an increasing distance from a HV/VHV hospital, overall and separately for black and white patients.Although centralization has increased the utilization of HV/VHV for both black and white patients, racial differences in access and utilization of HV hospitals persisted.

Increased incidence trend of low-grade and high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms.

PURPOSE: The incidence of neuroendocrine neoplasms is increasing. This work aimed at: (i) establishing worldwide incidence trend of low-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms; (ii) defining the incidence and temporal trend of high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms in USA utilizing the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database; (iii) comparing trends for low-grade vs. high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms. METHODS: We conducted a literature search on MEDLINE and Scopus databases and incidence trends were plotted for 1973-2012. The Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database was used to identify incidence rates in USA for 1973-2012. Incidence rates were stratified according to histological grade, gender and ethnicity. Trends were summarized as annual percent change and corresponding 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: 11 studies were identified involving 72,048 cases; neuroendocrine neoplasm incidence rates increased over time in all countries for all sites, except for appendix. In Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results low-grade neuroendocrine neoplasm incidence rate increased from 1.09 in 1973 to 3.51 per 100,000 in 2012. During this interval, high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasm incidence rate increased from 2.54 to 10.52 per 100,000. African Americans had the highest rates of digestive neuroendocrine neoplasms with male prevalence in high-grade. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate an increase in the incidence of neuroendocrine neoplasms as a worldwide phenomenon, affecting most anatomical sites and involving both low-grade and high-grade neoplasms.

XRCC1 Arg399Gln gene polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk in the Italian population.

BACKGROUND: The human X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) gene encodes for one of the major repair factors involved in base excision repair (BER), which is reported to be associated with the risk of several cancers. A few studies have explored the association between risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in different DNA repair genes, with contradictory results. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between XRCC1 Arg399Gln polymorphism and susceptibility to HCC. METHODS: A total of 89 HCC patients and 99 randomly selected healthy controls were enrolled. Genotyping of XRCC1 rs25487 was performed by high-resolution melting analysis and Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, a statistically significant association was found between risk of HCC and XRCC1 399Arg/Gln genotype (odd ratio [OR] = 1.88; 95% CI, 1.04-3.43), which was confirmed after adjusting by sex (OR = 1.94; 95% CI, 1.04-3.63). Although not significant, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a decreased median survival in Arg/Gln genotype carriers in comparison with Arg/Arg carriers. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting an association between BER SNP and HCC risk in a population of central-southern Italy.