Robotic-assisted low anterior resection for rectal cancer shows similar clinical efficacy to laparoscopic surgery: A propensity score matched study.

BACKGROUND: Rectal cancer ranks as the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, necessitating surgical resection as the sole treatment option. Over the years, there has been a growing adoption of minimally invasive surgical techniques such as robotic and laparoscopic approaches. Robotic surgery represents an innovative modality that effectively addresses the limitations associated with traditional laparoscopic techniques. While previous studies have reported favorable perioperative outcomes for robot-assisted radical resection in rectal cancer patients, further evidence regarding its oncological safety is still warranted. AIM: To conduct a comparative analysis of perioperative and oncological outcomes between robot-assisted and laparoscopic-assisted low anterior resection (LALAR) procedures. METHODS: The clinical data of 125 patients who underwent robot-assisted low anterior resection (RALAR) and 279 patients who underwent LALAR resection at Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University from December 2019 to November 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. After performing a 1:1 propensity score matching, the patients were divided into two groups: The RALAR group and the LALAR group (111 cases in each group). Subsequently, a comparison was made between the short-term outcomes within 30 d after surgery and the 3-year survival outcomes of these two groups. RESULTS: Compared to the LALAR group, the RALAR group exhibited a significantly earlier time to first flatus [2 (2-2) d vs 3 (3-3) d, P = 0.000], as well as a shorter time to first fluid diet [4 (3-4) d vs 5 (4-6) d, P = 0.001]. Additionally, the RALAR group demonstrated reduced postoperative indwelling catheter time [2 (1-3) d vs 4 (3-5) d, P = 0.000] and decreased length of hospital stay after surgery [5 (5-7) d vs 7(6-8) d, P = 0.009]. Moreover, there was an observed increase in total cost of hospitalization for the RALAR group compared to the LALAR group [10777 (10780-11850) dollars vs 10550 (8766-11715) dollars, P = 0.012]. No significant differences were found in terms of conversion rate to laparotomy or incidence of postoperative complications between both groups. Furthermore, no significant disparities were noted regarding the 3-year overall survival rate and 3-year disease-free survival rate between both groups. CONCLUSION: Robotic surgery offers potential advantages in terms of accelerated recovery of gastrointestinal and urologic function compared to LALAR resection, while maintaining similar perioperative and 3-year oncological outcomes.

GeneAgent: Self-verification Language Agent for Gene Set Knowledge Discovery using Domain Databases.

Gene set knowledge discovery is essential for advancing human functional genomics. Recent studies have shown promising performance by harnessing the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) on this task. Nonetheless, their results are subject to several limitations common in LLMs such as hallucinations. In response, we present GeneAgent, a first-of-its-kind language agent featuring self-verification capability. It autonomously interacts with various biological databases and leverages relevant domain knowledge to improve accuracy and reduce hallucination occurrences. Benchmarking on 1,106 gene sets from different sources, GeneAgent consistently outperforms standard GPT-4 by a significant margin. Moreover, a detailed manual review confirms the effectiveness of the self-verification module in minimizing hallucinations and generating more reliable analytical narratives. To demonstrate its practical utility, we apply GeneAgent to seven novel gene sets derived from mouse B2905 melanoma cell lines, with expert evaluations showing that GeneAgent offers novel insights into gene functions and subsequently expedites knowledge discovery.

Glutathione ligand self-assembly enables luminescence from Au15 nanoclusters for highly sensitive and selective monitoring of blood Pb(II) ions.

Lead Pb(II) ions is a cumulative toxicant that impacts several biological systems and poses severe harm to young children. Accurate Pb(II) ions monitoring is thus of paramount importance. Here, we present the synthesis and application of glutathione-capped Au15 nanoclusters (Au15(SG)13) as a luminescence probe for the accurate and selective monitoring of blood Pb(II). The introduction of Pb(II) ions triggers orderly self-assembly of Au15 nanoclusters, resulting in the formation of rigid shell around Au nuclei. This limits the localized vibration of the glutathione ligands and their interaction with water molecules, greatly reducing non-radiative energy loss, and thereby enhancing the photoluminescence signal. Consequently, Au15(SG)13 nanoclusters exhibit high sensitivity for Pb(II) detection. The detection signal displays a linear relationship with Pb(II) over a wide detection range (0-800 µg/L), demonstrating a substantial sensitivity of 35.29 µg/L. Moreover, the developed nanoclusters show superior selectivity for Pb(II) ions, distinguishing them from other prevalent heavy metals. This work pave the way for the development of advanced Pb(II) sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity.

BioKG: a comprehensive, large-scale biomedical knowledge graph for AI-powered, data-driven biomedical research.

To cope with the rapid growth of scientific publications and data in biomedical research, knowledge graphs (KGs) have emerged as a powerful data structure for integrating large volumes of heterogeneous data to facilitate accurate and efficient information retrieval and automated knowledge discovery (AKD). However, transforming unstructured content from scientific literature into KGs has remained a significant challenge, with previous methods unable to achieve human-level accuracy. In this study, we utilized an information extraction pipeline that won first place in the LitCoin NLP Challenge to construct a largescale KG using all PubMed abstracts. The quality of the large-scale information extraction rivals that of human expert annotations, signaling a new era of automatic, high-quality database construction from literature. Our extracted information markedly surpasses the amount of content in manually curated public databases. To enhance the KG's comprehensiveness, we integrated relation data from 40 public databases and relation information inferred from high-throughput genomics data. The comprehensive KG enabled rigorous performance evaluation of AKD, which was infeasible in previous studies. We designed an interpretable, probabilistic-based inference method to identify indirect causal relations and achieved unprecedented results for drug target identification and drug repurposing. Taking lung cancer as an example, we found that 40% of drug targets reported in literature could have been predicted by our algorithm about 15 years ago in a retrospective study, demonstrating that substantial acceleration in scientific discovery could be achieved through automated hypotheses generation and timely dissemination. A cloud-based platform (https://www.biokde.com) was developed for academic users to freely access this rich structured data and associated tools.

E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM55 promotes metastasis of gastric cancer cells by mediating epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is considered a major global health problem. The role of TRIM55, a member of the three-domain protein family, in GC is unknown. AIM: To determine the expression of TRIM55 in GC tissues and its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics, and to investigate the effects of TRIM55 on the malignant biological behavior of GC cells. METHODS: Differential expression of TRIM55 in GC and para-cancer tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry, and the relationship between TRIM55 level and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis was analyzed. Gain-of-function, loss-of-function, cell counting kit-8 assay, colony formation, transwell assay, wound healing assay, and western blot analysis were used to assess the potential role of TRIM55 in the development of GC. RESULTS: TRIM55 expression was significantly increased in GC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. High expression of TRIM55 was associated with advanced pathological stage and poor prognosis. Overexpression of TRIM55 promoted invasion and metastasis of GC cells in vitro by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), whereas knockdown of TRIM55 had the opposite effect. Our data showed that TRIM55 is highly expressed in GC tissues, and is associated with poor prognosis. TRIM55 plays the role of an oncogene in GC, and it promotes metastasis of GC through the regulation of EMT. CONCLUSION: TRIM55 may be a possible target for the diagnosis and prognosis of GC patients.

Circular RNA circPFKP suppresses the proliferation and metastasis of gastric cancer cell via sponging miR-644 and regulating ADAMTSL5 expression.

The treatment of gastric cancer (GC) is extremely challenging; however, the specific pathogenesis of GC remains unclear. Circular RNAs (CircRNAs) are non-coding RNAs that can regulate gene expression both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally. However, little is known about the circRNAs that are important in the progression of GC. This study identified significantly dysregulated circRNAs by analyzing gastric cancer patients and normal control tissues. The target gene was predicted using online bioinformatics tools and verified using RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assays. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting were used to evaluate gene and protein expression. The malignant behavior of GC cells was determined using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, wound healing assay, Transwell invasion assay, and flow cytometry. CircPFKP is downregulated in GC tissues, and overexpression of circPFKP inhibits malignant behavior in GC cells. Bioinformatics predicted that circPFKP could bind to miR-644, and miR-644 could target disintegrin-like and metalloprotease domain-containing thrombospondin type 1 motif-like 5 (ADAMTSL5). Overexpression of circPFKP enhances the expression of ADAMTSL5 by decreasing the expression of miR-644 to suppress the growth of xenograft GC tumors in vivo and in vitro. In conclusion, the circPFKP/miR-644/ADAMTSL5 regulatory pathway inhibited the malignant progression of GC. These findings may extend our understanding of the effects of circRNAs on cancer development and provide novel targets for the diagnosis of GC.

LncRNA cancer susceptibility 20 regulates the metastasis of human gastric cancer cells via the miR-143-5p/MEMO1 molecular axis.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is considered as one of the most widespread malignancies. Emerging evidence has shown that lncRNAs can function as important oncogenes or tumor suppressors during GC progression. AIM: To investigate the effect and mechanism of lncRNA cancer susceptibility 20 (CASC20) in the proliferation and metastasis of GC cells. METHODS: Data mining and clinical samples were used to evaluate the expression of CASC20 in GC and adjacent tissues. CASC20 was down-regulated in GC cells by short-interfering RNA. Cell proliferation was evaluated by CCK-8 assay, and cell migration and invasion were detected by wound healing and Transwell assays. The expressions of proteins related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition were detected by western blot assay. RESULTS: The expression of CASC20 was increased in GC tumor tissues and various GC cell lines. High CASC20 expression was correlated with a high risk of lymphatic metastasis and poor prognosis in GC patients. In vitro assays showed that silencing CASC20 reduced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in GC cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that CASC20 exhibits oncogenic functions by regulating MEMO1 expression through competitive endogenous binding to miR-143-5p, leading to induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that CASC20 serves as a tumor promoter by regulating metastasis in GC via the miR-143-5p/MEMO1 axis. CASC20 may be a potential therapeutic target for GC.

Long noncoding RNA LBX2-AS1-modulated miR-4766-5p regulates gastric cancer development through targeting CXCL5.

BACKGROUND: Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been reported to critically regulate gastric cancer (GC). Recently, it was reported that LBX2 antisense RNA 1 (LBX2-AS1) is abnormally expressed in GC. However, the role of LBX2-AS1 in the malignancy of GC is worth further discussion. METHODS: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to determine the LBX2-AS1, miR-4766-5p and C-X-C motif chemokine (CXCL5) expression in GC tissues and cells. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was applied to examine the target relationship between LBX2-AS1 and miR-4766-5p or miR-4766-5p and CXCL5. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Transwell assays were used to detect cell proliferation, migration and invasion rates. The protein expression of CXCL5 was confirmed using western blot. The RNA pull down experiment was used to verify the specificity of LBX2-AS1 and miR-4766-5p on BGC-823 and SGC-7901 cells. RESULTS: LBX2-AS1 was up-regulated in GC tissues and cells, and its knockdown suppressed proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells. While, overexpression of LBX2-AS1 increased proliferation and increased CXCL5 mRNA level. CXCL5 improved cell proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells. LBX2-AS1 could bind to miR-4766-5p to regulate CXCL5 expression. Overexpression of CXCL5 overturned those effects of miR-4766-5p in GC cells. RNA Pull down shown that BGC-823 and SGC-7901 cells, miR-4766-5p specifically binds to LBX2-AS1. CONCLUSIONS: In short, this study demonstrated that LBX2-AS1 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion through up-regulation CXCL5 mediated by miR-4766-5p in GC. The LBX2-AS1/miR-4766-5p/CXCL5 regulatory axis provides a theoretical basis for the research on lncRNA-directed therapeutics in GC.

LncRNA DLX6-AS1 as a potential molecular biomarker in the clinicopathology and prognosis of various cancers: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have shown that distal-less homeobox 6 antisense 1 (DLX6-AS1) is aberrantly expressed in various cancers and is associated with poor prognosis. This meta-analysis is designed to investigate the effects of DLX6-AS1 expression on clinicopathological features and survival outcomes. METHODS: All eligible studies were searched from Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Wanfang database, up to August 2019. The literature was selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria listed in this work, and the quality of each eligible study was assessed. Each patient's clinicopathological features and survival data were analyzed using Stata12.0 software. Begg's test and sensitivity analysis were also conducted. RESULTS: A total of 12 articles were included, covering 841 patients. Results showed that high expression of DLX6-AS1 was significantly closely associated with poor overall survival in tumor patients (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.30, confidence interval (95% CI): 1.70-3.09, P<0.01). This meta-analysis also showed that overexpression of DLX6-AS1 was significantly associated with tumor stage (P<0.01), tumor size (P<0.01), lymph node metastasis (P<0.01), and distant metastasis (P<0.01). Begg's test suggested no publication bias. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis revealed that high expression of DLX6-AS1 was related to the advanced clinicopathological characteristics of human digestive system cancers (gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma) and other cancers such as ovarian cancer, osteosarcoma and non-small cell lung cancer, and DLX6-AS1 has important predictive value for poor prognosis. However, more studies are needed to further corroborate these findings.

Significance of Serum Pepsinogens as a Biomarker for Gastric Cancer and Atrophic Gastritis Screening: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Human pepsinogens are considered promising serological biomarkers for the screening of atrophic gastritis (AG) and gastric cancer (GC). However, there has been controversy in the literature with respect to the validity of serum pepsinogen (SPG) for the detection of GC and AG. Consequently, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the diagnostic accuracy of SPG in GC and AG detection. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) for correlative original studies published up to September 30, 2014. The summary sensitivity, specificity, positive diagnostic likelihood ratio (DLR+), negative diagnostic likelihood ratio (DLR-), area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were used to evaluate SPG in GC and AG screening based on bivariate random effects models. The inter-study heterogeneity was evaluated by the I2 statistics and publication bias was assessed using Begg and Mazumdar's test. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were performed to explore study heterogeneity. RESULTS: In total, 31 studies involving 1,520 GC patients and 2,265 AG patients were included in the meta-analysis. The summary sensitivity, specificity, DLR+, DLR-, AUC and DOR for GC screening using SPG were 0.69 (95% CI: 0.60-0.76), 0.73 (95% CI: 0.62-0.82), 2.57 (95% CI: 1.82-3.62), and 0.43 (95% CI: 0.34-0.54), 0.76 (95% CI: 0.72-0.80) and 6.01 (95% CI: 3.69-9.79), respectively. For AG screening, the summary sensitivity, specificity, DLR+, DLR-, AUC and DOR were 0.69 (95% CI: 0.55-0.80), 0.88 (95% CI: 0.77-0.94), 5.80 (95% CI: 3.06-10.99), and 0.35 (95% CI: 0.24-0.51), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.82-0.88) and 16.50 (95% CI: 8.18-33.28), respectively. In subgroup analysis, the use of combination of concentration of PGI and the ratio of PGI:PGII as measurement of SPG for GC screening yielded sensitivity of 0.70 (95% CI: 0.66-0.75), specificity of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.79-0.80), DOR of 6.92 (95% CI: 4.36-11.00), and AUC of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.72-0.81), while the use of concentration of PGI yielded sensitivity of 0.55 (95% CI: 0.51-0.60), specificity of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.76-0.82), DOR of 6.88 (95% CI: 2.30-20.60), and AUC of 0.77 (95% CI: 0.73-0.92). For AG screening, the use of ratio of PGI:PGII as measurement of SPG yielded sensitivity of 0.69 (95% CI: 0.52-0.83), specificity of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.68-0.93), DOR of 11.51 (95% CI: 6.14-21.56), and AUC of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.80-0.86), the use of combination of concentration of PGI and the ratio of PGI:PGII yield sensitivity of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.72-0.85), specificity of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.85-0.93), DOR of 24.64 (95% CI: 6.95-87.37), and AUC of 0.87 (95% CI: 0.81-0.92), concurrently, the use of concentration of PGI yield sensitivity of 0.46 (95% CI: 0.38-0.54), specificity of 0.93 (95% CI: 0.91-0.95), DOR of 19.86 (95% CI: 0.86-456.91), and AUC of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.52-1.00). CONCLUSION: SPG has great potential as a noninvasive, population-based screening tool in GC and AG screening. In addition, given the potential publication bias and high heterogeneity of the included studies, further high quality studies are required in the future.

[Clinical pathological features and prognosis analysis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a series of 558 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and analysis the clinical and pathological characteristic of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients, and to clarify the factors that effect on prognosis. METHODS: The clinical and pathological features and follow-up of GIST patients who received surgery in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from May 2002 to December 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. The prognosis was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Kaplan-Meier unvariate analysis and Log-rank test were used to compare the survival rates. Multivariate factors for survival were analyzed by Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: A total of 558 GIST patients were collected, including 284 males and 272 females. The high incidence was in the elderly and age of 50 to 70 years. Most of the primary tumors are located in stomach (303 cases), followed by the small intestine (118 cases). Surgical procedures included R0 resection in 517 cases, R1 resection in 4 cases, R2 or palliative resection in 37 cases. The recurrence risk was very low in 102 cases, low in 156 cases, moderate in 67 cases and high in 233 cases. Of all the patients, 495 cases completed the follow-up, the follow-up rate was 88.7%. Five year survival rate was 87.4%. Patients who took targeted therapy with moderate and high risk of recurrence had a better prognosis compared with not taking the drug. Univariate analysis revealed that the factors impacting the prognosis were age, tumor size, tumor site and mitotic count. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor size (P=0.01, RR=1.562, 95% CI: 1.452 to 15.664), location (P=0.01, RR=1.552, 95% CI:1.324 to 12.225), mitotic figures (P<0.01, RR=1.415, 95% CI: 2.126 to 7.968) and tumor rupture (P=0.01, RR=1.578, 95% CI: 1.543 to 15.892) were independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: R0 resection combined with targeted therapy is the best treatment of GIST. Tumor size, location, mitosis count and tumor rupture are independent prognostic factors of GIST patients.

MiR-30b suppresses tumor migration and invasion by targeting EIF5A2 in gastric cancer.

AIM: To elucidate the potential biological role of miR-30b in gastric cancer and investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of miR-30b to inhibit metastasis of gastric cancer cells. METHODS: The expression of miR-30b was detected in gastric cancer cell lines and samples by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. CCK-8 assays were conducted to explore the impact of miR-30b overexpression on the proliferation of gastric cancer cells. Flow cytometry was used to examine the effect of miR-30b on the apoptosis. Transwell test was used for the migration and invasion assays. Luciferase reporter assays and Western blot were employed to validate regulation of putative target of miR-30b. RESULTS: The results showed that miR-30b was downregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cancer cell lines and functioned as a tumor suppressor. Overexpression of miR-30b promoted cell apoptosis, and suppressed proliferation, migration and invasion of the gastric cancer cell lines AGS and MGC803. Bioinformatic analysis identified the 3'-untranslated region of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A2 (EIF5A2) as a putative binding site of miR-30b. Luciferase reporter assays and Western blot analysis confirmed the EIF5A2 gene as a target of miR-30b. Moreover, expression levels of the EIF5A2 targets E-cadherin and Vimentin were altered following transfection of miR-30b mimics. CONCLUSION: Our findings describe a link between miR-30b and EIF5A2, which plays an important role in mediating epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Effect of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Treatment on Prognosis of Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer: a Retrospective Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prognostic effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with local advanced gastric cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed prognosis in 191 patients with advanced gastric cancer, of whom 71 were treated with NAC and 120 received surgery only between February 2007 and July 2013. Postoperative complication rate was recorded. Survival by clinicopathological features, pathological T and N stages, and histopathological tumor regression was retrospectively compared between the two groups. RESULTS: According to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, none of the 71 patients in the NAC followed by surgery group showed complete response, 36 showed partial response, 25 had stable disease, and 10 had progressive disease. The chemotherapy response rate was 50.7%; the disease control rate was 85.9%. Grade 3/4 adverse events were seen in less than 20% patients, with acceptable toxicities. No difference was found in the overall postoperative complication rates between the two groups (7 versus 22 cases, P=0.18). Median survival time was significantly different, at 54 months in the NAC combined with surgery group and 25 months in the surgery-only group (P=0.025). CONCLUSION: In patients with operable gastric adenocarcinomas, NAC can significantly improve overall survival without increasing surgical complications.

[Effects of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A2 down-regulation by small interfering RNA on aggressiveness of MKN28 human].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A2 (EIF5A2) down-regulation by small interfering RNA (siRNA) on aggressiveness of human gastric cancer cell and its potential mechanisms. METHODS: The expressions of EIF5A2 in human gastric cancer cell lines (MKN28 and HGC27) and immortalized gastric mucosal epithelial cells (GES-1) were measured by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting. EIF5A2 gene in MKN28 cells was silenced by RNA interference and the inhibitory effect was evaluated by both qRT-PCR and Western blotting. Cell proliferation was assessed by CCK-8 assay. Cell migration and invasion were assessed by Transwell assay. The possible downstream targets of EIF5A2, such as CyclinD1, CyclinD3, matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9), E-cadherin, vimintin, C-myc, and metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) expression levels, were examined by Western blotting. RESULTS: High expressions of EIF5A2 were found in MKN28 cells and human gastric adenocarcinoma tissues. Both EIF5A2 mRNA and protein expression in MKN28 cells were significantly down-regulated by siRNA#1 and siRNA#2, especially siRNA#1. Knockdown of EIF5A2 caused an apparent suppression of MKN28 cell proliferation (all P<0.01), migration (P<0.001), and invasion (P<0.001). After the knockdown of EIF5A2 in MKN28 cells, E-cadherin levels were upregulated, whereas vimentin, Cyclin D1, Cyclin D3, C-myc and MTA1 levels were downregulated. CONCLUSION: Knockdown of EIF5A2 may inhibit MKN28 cell proliferation by downregulating the CyclinD1 and CyclinD3 and suppressing the cell migration and invasion by inhibiting MTA1, C-myc and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Combined detection of CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 in the diagnosis and prognosis of resectable gastric cancer.

Our aim was to investigate the value of combined detection of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 in diagnosis and assessment of prognosis in consecutive gastric cancer patients. Clinical data including preoperative serum CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242, and CA 50 values and information on clinical pathological factors were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were used to explore the relationship between tumor markers and survival. Positive rates of tumor markers CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 in the diagnosis of gastric cancer were 17.7, 17.1, 20.4 and 13.8%, respectively, and the positive rate for all four markers combined was 36.6%. Patients with elevated preoperative serum concentrations of CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50, had late clinical tumor stage and significantly poorer overall survival. Five-year survival rates in patients with elevated CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 were 28.1, 25.8, 27.0 and 24.1%, respectively, compared with 55.0, 55.4, 56.4 and 54.5% in patients with these markers at normal levels (p<0.01). In multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses, an elevated CA 242 level was determined to be an independent prognostic marker in gastric cancer patients. Combined detection of four tumor markers increased the positive rate for gastric cancer diagnosis. CA 242 showed higher diagnostic value and CA 50 showed lower diagnostic value. In resectable gastric carcinoma, preoperative CA 242 level was associated with disease stage, and was found to be a significant independent prognostic marker in gastric cancer patients.

Association between dairy intake and gastric cancer: a meta-analysis of observational studies.

PURPOSE: Observational studies have given inconsistent findings on the relationship between intake of dairy products and gastric cancer. We therefore conducted a systematic review with a meta-analysis of observational studies to summarize available evidence on this point. METHODS: We searched the electronic literature databases of PubMed (Medline), EMBASE and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database up until August 30, 2013. All studies were limited to the English language. Random-effects models were used to pool study results between dairy products consumption and the risk of gastric cancer. We also performed subgroup, publication bias and sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Eight prospective studies and 18 case-control studies were included in our analysis, with a total number of 7272 gastric cancer cases and 223,355 controls. Pooled relative risks of all studies showed no significant association between dairy intake and gastric cancer (odds ratio [OR]: 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.96-1.25). When study design was separately analyzed, population-based case-control studies showed a positive association between dairy intake and gastric cancer risk (OR: 1.36; 95% CI: 1.07-1.74), whereas no associations were shown by hospital-based case-control studies (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.72-1.02) or cohort studies (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.91-1.13). CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis shows that no clear association apparently exists between consumption of dairy products and gastric cancer risk. Further well-designed cohort and intervention studies should be conducted to verify this lack of association.

[MicroRNA and gastric cancer].

Gastric cancer is caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. MicroRNA (miRNA) is involved in many cellular processes including proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis and plays an important role in pathogenesis of gastric cancer, as demonstrated in many recent studies from perspectives including miRNA profiling, reciprocal modulation between epigenetic and miRNA, and Helicobacter pylori infection. MiRNA is highly stabe in blood, and therefore non-invasive diagnosis of gastric cancer using circulating miRNA may be promising.

[Surgical therapy of thyroid cancer].

The prevalence of thyroid cancer has shown an upward trend in China in recent years. Advances in thyroid ultrasound and fine needle puncture cytology have improved the accuracy of the preoperative diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Also,the application of endoscopy-assisted techniques and intraoperative nerve monitoring technology and the further understanding of thyroid lymph node metastasis have made the thyroid surgeries safer and less invasive. This article summarizes the recent advances in the surgical therapy of thyroid cancer.

[Research advances in molecular pathogenesis of thyroid cancer].

Thyroid cancer is the one of the most common endocrine tumors. The biological behaviors and prognoses of the thyroid cancer of different histological types remarkably differ. The highly invasive thyroid cancer responds poorly to traditional therapies. Recent research advances in the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of thyroid cancer have revealed the roles of many genetic and epigenetic variations such as gene mutation, abnormal gene amplification, and abnormal gene methylation in the development of thyroid cancer, which provides new insights in the molecular diagnosis, prognosis, and target therapy of the thyroid cancer.

[Effect of enteral nutrition via jejunostomy catheter on quality of life in gastric cancer patients who have undergone gastrectomy].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of enteral nutrition via jejunostomy catheter on the quality of life in gastric cancer patients who have undergone gastrectomy. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 104 consecutive patients who had undergone curative resection for gastric cancer in Peking Union Medical College Hospital in 2011.All data were obtained from a prospectively maintained database of gastric cancer.The quality of life was compared between jejunostomy tube group(n=49)and tube-free group(n=55). RESULTS: The two groups were matched in gender,age,tumor size,tumor location,histological type,pTNM stage,type of surgery,body mass index(BMI),quality of life scales,and cycles of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy(all P>0.05).Also,the global health status(P=0.154),physical function score(P=0.321),role function score(P=0.492),and fatigue symptom score(P=0.845)were not significantly different between these two groups one month after surgery.Three and 6 months after the surgery,patients in the jejunostomy tube group had significantly higher overall health status scores( P<0.001,P=0.038),physical function scores(P=0.004,P=0.005),and role function scores(P=0.002,P=0.038)and significantly lower fatigue symptom scores(P=0.020,P=0.043)when compared to patients from tube-free group. CONCLUSION: Enteral nutrition via jejunostomy catheter can improve the quality of life of gastric cancer patients who have undergone gastrectomy.