Clinical feasibility study of early 30-minute dynamic FDG-PET scanning protocol for patients with lung lesions.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical feasibility of early 30-minute dynamic 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scanning protocol for patients with lung lesions in comparison to the standard 65-minute dynamic FDG-PET scanning as a reference. METHODS: Dynamic 18F-FDG PET images of 146 patients with 181 lung lesions (including 146 lesions confirmed by histology) were analyzed in this prospective study. Dynamic images were reconstructed into 28 frames with a specific temporal division protocol for the scan data acquired 65 min post-injection. Ki images and quantitative parameters Ki based on two different acquisition durations [the first 30 min (Ki-30 min) and 65 min (Ki-65 min)] were obtained by applying the irreversible two-tissue compartment model using in-house Matlab software. The two acquisition durations were compared for Ki image quality (including visual score analysis and number of lesions detected) and Ki value (including accuracy of Ki, the value of differential diagnosis of lung lesions and prediction of PD-L1 status) by Wilcoxon's rank sum test, Spearman's rank correlation analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the DeLong test. The significant testing level (alpha) was set to 0.05. RESULTS: The quality of the Ki-30 min images was not significantly different from the Ki-65 min images based on visual score analysis (P > 0.05). In terms of Ki value, among 181 lesions, Ki-65 min was statistically higher than Ki-30 min (0.027 ± 0.017 ml/g/min vs. 0.026 ± 0.018 ml/g/min, P < 0.05), while a very high correlation was obtained between Ki-65 min and Ki-30 min (r = 0.977, P < 0.05). In the differential diagnosis of lung lesions, ROC analysis was performed on 146 histologically confirmed lesions, the area under the curve (AUC) of Ki-65 min, Ki-30 min, and SUVmax was 0.816, 0.816, and 0.709, respectively. According to the Delong test, no significant differences in the diagnostic accuracies were found between Ki-65 min and Ki-30 min (P > 0.05), while the diagnostic accuracies of Ki-65 min and Ki-30 min were both significantly higher than that of SUVmax (P < 0.05). In 73 (NSCLC) lesions with definite PD-L1 expression results, the Ki-65 min, Ki-30 min, and SUVmax in PD-L1 positivity were significantly higher than that in PD-L1 negativity (P < 0.05). And no significant differences in predicting PD-L1 positivity were found among Ki-65 min, Ki-30 min, and SUVmax (AUC = 0.704, 0.695, and 0.737, respectively, P > 0.05), according to the results of ROC analysis and Delong test. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that an early 30-minute dynamic FDG-PET acquisition appears to be sufficient to provide quantitative images with good-quality and accurate Ki values for the assessment of lung lesions and prediction of PD-L1 expression. Protocols with a shortened early 30-minute acquisition time may be considered for patients who have difficulty with prolonged acquisitions to improve the efficiency of clinical acquisitions.

Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (Motherwort): Systematic research through chemical profiling, stability under controlled conditions and pharmacokinetic analysis on screening Q-markers for quality control.

Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (Motherwort) is the fresh or dried aerial part of Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (Labiaceae), which is widely used in clinical practice and daily life, used to treat gynecological diseases. However, the differences between different parts, single index component in Pharmacopoeias and the less stability of active ingredients affect its clinical efficacy. This study aimed to find the multi-active compounds between different parts of Motherwort to ensure its clinical efficacy, which related to stability and had pharmacokinetic behavior. Firstly, HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS was used to analyze the components in vitro and in vivo, as well as multivariate statistical analysis and network pharmacology analysis was conducted to find the significant different components related to activity. Secondly, the content determination methods were established to study the stability of effective components during storage in order to establish the content limit for quality control of Motherwort. Thirdly, UFLC-MS/MS was used to analyze the pharmacokinetic behavior of active components in Motherwort. The results showed that a total of 131 chemical constituents were identified in vitro and 21 prototype absorption compounds and 72 metabolites were found in vivo. Meantime, multivariate statistical analysis and network pharmacology analysis was combined to find that leonurine, stachydrine and trigonelline were activity-related substance, which could be used as active components related to pharmacodynamics in different parts. Then the stability variation trend and content limit of three alkaloids were found, which could be used for the quality control of Motherwort. Furthermore, the results showed that three alkaloids had pharmacokinetic behavior in vivo. 3 alkaloids were screened, which could be used as active components most closely related to pharmacodynamics among different parts. The stable stage, assay tolerance and pharmacokinetic characteristics were studied by the active substances, which could provide a basis for quality control and clinical medication of Motherwort.

Downregulation of SDCBP inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis by regulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway in gastric carcinoma.

Syndecan-binding protein (SDCBP) has been reported to critically process a core role in tumorigenesis. This study was conducted to characterize a novel regulatory network of SDCBP in gastric carcinoma (GC) cells. Our findings indicated that overexpression of SDCBP promoted the proliferation of GC cell and increased proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression. Moreover, the overexpression of SDCBP suppressed the apoptosis of GC cell along with a decrease of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and induction of PI3K/AKT/mTOR activation. However, knockdown of SDCBP exhibited opposed effects on GC cells. Furthermore, silencing SDCBP significantly inhibited GC cell viability and PCNA expression accompanied with the upregulated cell apoptosis and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, which was regulated by PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. And it was further determined that PI3K inhibitor LY294002, AKT inhibitor Torin1, and mTOR inhibitor MK-2206 suppressed the apoptosis. In conclusion, SDCBP promotes the growth ability of GC by inducing the PCNA expression and inhibiting GC cell apoptosis via inactivation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.