High Prevalence of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Southern Shaanxi Province, China.

PURPOSE: Describing the clinical features of patients with breast cancer in an area is important to provide the information for the local oncologist to make sound treatment plans. In this study, we explored the clinical features of breast cancer patients in Southern Shaanxi Province, China. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 328 breast cancer patients between 2010 and 2015 were recruited at our hospital. Patients' clinical information and the results of the histopathological examination were collected. Independent sample t-test and Cox regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The peak age onset of these patients was between 45 and 50. At diagnosis, 8.23% of patients were at clinical stage 1 and 29.57% were triple-negative breast cancer subtype. High expression of Ki-67 in these patients was found associated with triple-negative breast cancer. The 5-year survival rate in these patients was 66.4%, and the survival rate in stage 1 and 2 patients (88.2%) was significantly higher than that in stage 3 and4 (57.4%). CONCLUSION: We here reported the clinical features of patients with breast cancer in Southern Shaanxi Province, China. The breast cancer patients in Southern Shaanxi Province showed a unique clinical feature.

Overexpression of miR-574-3p suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis of chronic myeloid leukemia cells via targeting IL6/JAK/STAT3 pathway.

The present study aimed to elucidate the potential roles and regulatory mechanism of microRNA (miR)-574-3p in the development of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The expression of miR-574-3p in peripheral blood obtained from patients with CML was examined. Subsequently, miR-574-3p was overexpressed and suppressed in CML K562 cells to further investigate the effects of miR-574-3p on cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter assay was performed to investigate whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) was a target of miR-574-3p. In addition, the regulatory association between miR-574-3p and the IL-6/Janus kinase (JNK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) signaling pathway was explored. The expression of miR-574-3p in the peripheral blood obtained from patients with CML was significantly lower compared with that in healthy controls. Overexpression of miR-574-3p significantly inhibited the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of K562 cells, whereas suppression of miR-574-3p exhibited opposite effects. In addition, IL-6 was identified to be a direct target of miR-574-3p. Overexpression of IL-6 significantly promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of K562 cells. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-574-3p inhibited the activation of the JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway, which was rescued by overexpression of IL-6. The results of the current study indicate that miR-574-3p overexpression may serve an important role in inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis of K562 cells via suppression of IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway activation. miR-574-3p may serve as a potential therapeutic target for CML.

Electroacupuncture Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment and Spontaneous Low-Frequency Brain Activity in Rats with Ischemic Stroke.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate whether electroacupuncture (EA) at Baihui (DU20) and Shenting (DU24) acupoints could improve cognitive function and enhance spontaneous low-frequency brain activity in rats with ischemic stroke. METHODS: Total 36 rats were randomly divided into 3 groups-the sham surgery (Sham) group, the middle cerebral artery occlusion induced cognitive deficit (MICD) group, and the MICD with EA (MICD + EA) treatment group. The rats in MICD + EA group received EA treatment at DU20 and DU24 acupoints for 14 consecutive days after the surgery. The Morris water maze test was performed to assess the spatial learning and memory ability of the rats. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to investigate the infarction volume and spontaneous low-frequency brain activity of each group. RESULTS: After EA for 14 days, the learning and memory ability of the MICD rats was improved, and the brain infarction volume was reduced. Furthermore, basing on the fMRI amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis, the decreased ALFF of the MICD rats was found in auditory cortex, cingulate gyrus, lateral nucleus group of dorsal thalamus, hippocampus, motor cortex, prelimbic cortex, retrosplenial cortex, and sensory cortex compared with the rats in sham group. However, these suppressive regions were notably attenuated after EA treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that EA at DU20 and DU24 acupoints could ameliorate cognitive impairment in rats with ischemic stroke, and the protective effect of EA may attribute to reactivating the cognition-related brain regions, such as hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex, cingulate gyrus, prelimbic cortex, and sensory cortex.

BRCA1 and STMN1 as prognostic markers in NSCLCs who received cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to investigate the predictive effect of BRCA1, STMN1, MAPT and TUBB3 on the prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Seventy NSCLC patients who received platinum-based chemotherapy from June 2009 to July 2011 were enrolled. The protein and mRNA levels of BRCA1, STMN1, MAPT and TUBB3 were determined. Survival time of the patients with NSCLC was also calculated. RESULTS: High expression of BRCA1 or low expression of STMN1 was associated with a better prognosis in NSCLC patients (p<0.01). In contrast, the expression of MAPT and TUBB3 were not closely related with the prognosis of NSCLC patients(p>0.05). Furthermore, patients with high expression of BRCA1 and low expression of STMN1 have lived longer (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: BRCA1 and STMN1 were independently predictors for prognosis of NSCLCs which received cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy.

ABCB1 3435TT and ABCG2 421CC genotypes were significantly associated with longer progression-free survival in Chinese breast cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of ABCB1 C3435T and ABCG2 C421A gene polymorphisms in Chinese Han population and their influences on the susceptibility and prognosis of breast carcinoma. METHODS: A total of 200 female subjects were enrolled in this study, comprising 100 breast cancer patients and 100 healthy controls. Carcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues were collected from the breast cancer patients, while peripheral blood was collected from healthy controls. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected by the Taqman method. Progression-free survival (PFS) and 5-year survival rate of the patients were calculated. RESULTS: ABCB1 C3435T and ABCG2 C421A polymorphisms were not associated with disease susceptibility and 5-year survival rate in the study population (p>0.05). However, a high mutation rate of both ABCB1 C3435T and ABCG2 C421A (16% and 17%, respectively) was observed in breast cancer tissues. Patients with ABCB1 3435TT genotype or ABCG2 421CC genotype had longer PFS (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: ABCB1 3435TT and ABCG2 421CC were significantly associated with longer PFS in Chinese breast cancer patients.