Readjustment of nodal staging by integrating tumor deposits and positive lymph nodes in patients with stage III colon cancer: a population-based analysis.

Whether tumor deposits (TDs) should be classified as lymph node metastasis or distant metastasis remains controversial. To address this predicament, we conducted this study to identify the predictive value of TDs on the survival of patients diagnosed with stage III colon cancer (CC). 12,904 eligible patients diagnosed with stage III CC between 2010 and 2015 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The best cutoff point of TD quantity was determined based on the difference in survival. Cox proportional hazards model was employed to perform univariate and multivariate analyses. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were performed to calculate the differences between overall survival (OS). Our results showed that the number of TDs was a significant prognostic factor in patients with stage III CC (P < 0.0001). We added the number of TDs to the pN stage and devised a new pN stage, there were no significant differences in the survival of npN, except npN2a (P > 0.05). Upon re-staging to the same npN stage, the difference in survival between TDs+ and TDs- disappeared (P > 0.05). The median survival times for N2aTDs > 4 and N2bTDs > 4 were 33 and 37 months, respectively, which were significantly shorter than that of N2TDs- (65 months) and represented the worst survival rates among all groups. In conclusion, the number of TDs indicated a poor prognosis for patients with stage III CC. Incorporating TDs into the pN is feasible to predict prognosis.

Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathway in breast cancer cells and its effect on reversing tumour drug resistance by alkaloids extracted from traditional Chinese medicine.

Breast cancer is a high-risk disease with a high mortality rate among women. Chemotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of breast cancer. However, chemotherapy eventually results in tumours that are resistant to drugs. In recent years, many studies have revealed that the activation of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling is crucial for the emergence and growth of breast tumours as well as the development of drug resistance. Additionally, drugs that target this pathway can reverse drug resistance in breast cancer therapy. Traditional Chinese medicine has the properties of multi-target and tenderness. Therefore, integrating traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine into chemotherapy provides a new strategy for reversing the drug resistance of breast tumours. This paper mainly reviews the possible mechanism of Wnt/ß-catenin in promoting the process of breast tumour drug resistance, and the progress of alkaloids extracted from traditional Chinese medicine in the targeting of this pathway in order to reverse the drug resistance of breast cancer.