CSC-3436 inhibits TWIST-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition via the suppression of Twist/Bmi1/Akt pathway in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide, especially in male. With poor prognosis, significant portions of patients with HNSCC die due to cancer recurrence and tumor metastasis after chemotherapy and targeted therapies. The HNSCC FaDu cell ectopic expression of Twist, a key transcriptional factor of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which triggers EMT and results in the acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype, was used as the cell model. Our results demonstrated that treatment with newly synthesized 2-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-5-methylnaphthyridin-4-one (CSC-3436), a flavonoid derivative, elicited changes in its cell morphology, upregulated E-cadherin messenger RNA and protein expression, downregulated N-cadherin, vimentin, and CD133 (a marker associated with tumor-initiating cells) in FaDu-pCDH-Twist cells. Moreover, CSC-3436 exposure reduced B cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (Bmi1) expression regulated by Twist and further suppressed the direct co-regulation of E-cadherin by Twist and Bmi1. Interestingly, CSC-3436 reduced EMT, cancer stemness, and migration/invasion abilities through the inhibition of the Twist/Bmi1-Akt/ß-catenin pathway. Most importantly, our findings provided new evidence that CSC-3436 played a crucial role in therapeutic targeting to Bmi1 and its molecular pathway in HNSCC, and it will be valuable in prognostic prediction and treatment.

Neural network combining with clinical ultrasonography: A new approach for classification of salivary gland tumors.

OBJECTIVE: Little information is available about deep learning methods used in ultrasound images of salivary gland tumors. We aimed to compare the accuracy of the ultrasound-trained model to computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging trained model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six hundred and thirty-eight patients were included in this retrospective study. There were 558 benign and 80 malignant salivary gland tumors. A total of 500 images (250 benign and 250 malignant) were acquired in the training and validation set, then 62 images (31 benign and 31 malignant) in the test set. Both machine learning and deep learning were used in our model. RESULTS: The test accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of our final model were 93.5%, 100%, and 87%, respectively. There were no over fitting in our model as the validation accuracy was similar with the test accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity and specificity were comparable with current MRI and CT images using artificial intelligence.

PBK Expression Is Associated With Prognosis of Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated With Radiotherapy: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND/AIM: To investigate the impact of PDZ-binding kinase (PBK) on the clinical outcome of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) who received radiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: PBK immunoreactivity of cancer specimens obtained from 179 patients with primary OSCC was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: High PBK expression in tumor cells tended to be associated with advanced N-stage. The 5-year survival rate was greater for patients with high total PBK expression than in those with low PBK expression. After adjustment, high PBK remained associated with a favorable outcome. In subgroups according to tumor stage, the prognostic role was significant in patients with stage III/IV rather than those with stage I/II disease. CONCLUSION: We suggest that PBK expression should be used as an independent prognostic marker for patients with OSCC treated with radiotherapy, especially for those with advanced-stage disease.

Citronellol Induces Necroptosis of Human Lung Cancer Cells via TNF-α Pathway and Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Our current study aimed to determine the molecular mechanisms of citronellol-induced cell death and ROS accumulation in non-small cell lung cancer (NCI-H1299 cells) and also compare the anticancer effects of citronellol and EOPC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ROS measurement and western blotting were performed to detect whether citronellol can induce necroptosis in vitro. Besides, we performed an in vivo analysis of tumourigenesis inhibition by citronellol treatment in BALB/c (nu/nu) nude mice. RESULTS: Necroptosis occured by up-regulating TNF-α, RIP1/RIP3 activities, and down-regulating caspase-3/caspase-8 activities after citronellol treatment in NCI-H1299 cells. Citronellol also resulted in a biphasic increase in ROS production at 1 h and at 12 h in NCI-H1299 cells. Xenograft model experiments showed that citronellol could effectively inhibit subcutaneous tumours produced 4 weeks after intraperitoneal injection of NCI-H1299 in BALB/c nude mice. CONCLUSION: Citronellol induced necroptosis of NCI-H1299 cells via TNF-α pathway and ROS accumulation.

Pharyngeal entomophthoromycosis.

We describe a rare case of entomophthoromycosis of the pharynx in a previously healthy patient, unlike other fungal infections which are seen as opportunistic infections in immunocompromised hosts. This infection is commonly seen in subtropical and tropical areas of Africa, America, and Asia. Painless, erythematous, indurated plaques of subcutaneous tissue are characteristic of this infection. There are currently no standard antifungal regimens for this infection, making treatment difficult. An endoscopic surgical wide resection of the lesion was performed, itraconazole was administered, and the patient improved clinically.