Pemetrexed for Recurrent Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma in the Elderly: Results of a Retrospective Study.

Aim: Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is an aggressive, destructive, and rapidly progressive malignant brain tumor. Although aggressive therapies were studied trying to increase the median survival of PCNSL, the high relapse rate of PCNSL is still a big problem for the oncology medicine. A retrospective study was made to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed in the treatment of patients with recurrent PCNSL. Methods: Twenty-three confirmed recurrent PCNSL patients were selected during April 2012 and August 2016. Dexamethasone, B12, and folic acid were used to produce the toxicity related to pemetrexed. The patients were intravenously given pemetrexed (900 mg/m2) every three weeks for 6 weeks. Results: After the treatment, 7 patients were in complete remission, 6 patients in partial remission, 4 patients in stable condition, and 6 patients in progression. There were 56.5% and 73.9% in the overall response rate and the disease control rate, respectively. The median overall survival (OS) was 6.6 months (95% CI, 4.6-8.6). Conclusion: This study has been the first time to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of pemetrexed on elderly recurrent PCNSL patients. Results demonstrate that using high-dose pemetrexed might be a feasible and effective treatment for recurrent PCNSL in the elderly, and clinical trials should be conducted to further confirm it.

MiR-873-5p inhibits cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer via targeting ZEB1.

Recent studies have demonstrated that dysregulation of mircoRNAs (miRNAs) greatly affected biological processes of human cancers, including colorectal cancer. As a member of miRNAs family, miR-873-5p has been proved to be a tumor suppressor in some human cancers. Here, we aim to investigate the effects of miR-873-5p on the migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of colorectal cancer cells. The low expression of miR-873-5p in colorectal cancer cells was identified by conducting qRT-PCR analysis. Gain of function assays were designed and conducted to demonstrate the specific function of miR-873-5p overexpression in colorectal cancer progression. Transwell assay and western blot assay were conducted and revealed that miR-873-5p inhibited cell migration, invasion and EMT formation. To find the downstream molecular mechanism of miR-873-5p, mechanism assays were designed and performed to find the downstream target of miR-873-5p. ZEB1 (Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1) was certified to be the target of miR-873-5p through bioinformatics analysis, luciferase activity assay and pull-down assay. Finally, rescue assays were carried out to demonstrate the effects of miR-873-5p-ZEB1 axis on the migration, invasion and EMT process of colorectal cancer cells. In conclusion, we confirmed that miR-873-5p suppressed cell migration, invasion and EMT in colorectal cancer via targeting ZEB1.

[Analysis of alkaline phosphatase staining results in 238 cases of malignant lymphoma].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the significance of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining in clinical characterization of malignant lymphoma cases. METHODS: Fresh peripheral blood smear obtained from 238 cases of malignant lymphoma, including 23 cases with bone marrow involvement (BMI) 189 cases without BMI(NBMI), and 26 cases of lymphoma cell leukemia (LCL), were examined by ALP staining, and the results were compared with those of 40 normal control subjects. RESULTS: With the gradual progression of lymphoma, the patients tended to have higher ALP scores, and the percentages of the subjects with a score higher than 250 in the control, NBMI, BMI and LCL were 0, 4.8%, 39.1%, 53.9% respectively, showing significant differences between the four groups. CONCLUSIONS: Increased ALP activity can be indirectly indicative of lymphoma progression, and ALP staining results may provide insight into the clinical staging and prognosis of malignant lymphoma.