Effectiveness and safety of camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a prospective multicenter observational cohort study.

Background: Camrelizumab has been demonstrated to be a feasible treatment option for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) when combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This trial was conducted to investigate the effectiveness and safety of camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy in patients with ESCC in daily practice. Methods: This prospective multicenter observational cohort study was conducted at 13 tertiary hospitals in Southeast China. Patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed ESCC [clinical tumor-node-metastasis (cTNM) stage I-IVA] who had received at least one dose of camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy were eligible for inclusion. Results: Between June 1, 2020 and July 13, 2022, 255 patients were enrolled and included. The median age was 64 (range, 27 to 82) years. Most participants were male (82.0%) and had clinical stage III-IVA diseases (82.4%). A total of 169 (66.3%) participants underwent surgical resection; 146 (86.4%) achieved R0 resection, and 36 (21.3%) achieved pathological complete response (pCR). Grades 3-5 adverse events (AEs) were experienced by 14.5% of participants. Reactive cutaneous capillary endothelial proliferation occurred in 100 (39.2%) of participants and all were grade 1 or 2. Conclusions: Camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy has acceptable effectiveness and safety profiles in real-life ESCC patients.

VASH2 Promotes Cell Proliferation and Resistance to Doxorubicin in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer via AKT Signaling.

Vasohibin2 (VASH2), a proangiogenic factor, has been demonstrated to play an oncogenic role in some common human cancers. However, the detailed function of VASH2 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not previously been studied. In this study, we found that VASH2 was significantly upregulated in NSCLC tissues and cell lines, and its increased expression was associated with NSCLC progression and poor prognosis of patients. Knockdown of VASH2 markedly inhibited cell proliferation and P-glycoprotein expression in NSCLC cells. Overexpression of VASH2 enhanced cell proliferation, P-glycoprotein expression, as well as doxorubicin resistance in NSCLC cells. Moreover, the expression levels of VASH2 were significantly increased in newly established doxorubicin-resistant NSCLC cells. Molecular mechanism investigation revealed that inhibition of VASH2 expression in NSCLC cells suppressed the activity of AKT signaling, and overexpression of VASH2 enhanced the activity of AKT signaling. We further showed that downregulation of AKT signaling activity using AKT inhibitor LY294002 markedly inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation and resistance to doxorubicin induced by VASH2. In conclusion, the findings in the present study indicate that VASH2 promotes NSCLC cell proliferation and resistance to doxorubicin via modulation of AKT signaling. Thus, we suggest that VASH2 may become a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of NSCLC.

[Risk factors for post-surgical pulmonary complications in patients after esophagectomy for cancer: a multivariate logistic analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To identify risk factors for post-surgical pulmonary complications in patients with mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure and pneumonia after esophagectomy in order to guide the development of individualized treatment-plan for high risk patients. METHODS: Clinical data from 82 patients received esophagectomy for cancer during May 2008 to June 2010 were analyzed retrospectively using Logistic regression for risk factors associated with the development of post-surgical pulmonary complication. RESULTS: Post-surgical pulmonary complications was found in 12 out of the 82 patients studied, and it was the primarily death cause for one of them. Multivariate Logistic analysis identified advanced age[odds ratio (OR) = 1.28, 95% confidence interval (95% CI ) 1.05-1.62, P = 0.03], impaired pulmonary function [forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.08-1.39, P = 0.02] and longer operation duration (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.37-2.11, P = 0.003) as risk factors. CONCLUSION: Advanced age and impaired lung function may be significant risk factors for pulmonary complications after esophagectomy. It is helpful to evaluate the risk of such complications by referring to these indexes before the surgery, and design individualized treatment-plan for patients at high risk.