Gastrointestinal contrast-enhanced ultrasonography for diagnosis and treatment of peptic ulcer in children.

BACKGROUND: The detection rate of peptic ulcer in children is improving, with development of diagnostic procedures. Gastroscopy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of peptic ulcer, but it is an invasive procedure. Gastrointestinal contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) has the advantages of being painless, noninvasive, nonradioactive, easy to use, and safe. AIM: To investigate the clinical value of CEUS for diagnosis and treatment of peptic ulcer in children. METHODS: We investigated 43 children with digestive tract symptoms in our hospital from January 2021 to June 2022. All children were examined by routine ultrasound, gastrointestinal CEUS, and gastroscopy. The pathological results of gastroscopy were taken as the gold standard. Routine ultrasonography was performed before gastrointestinal CEUS. Conventional ultrasound showed the thickness of the gastroduodenal wall, gastric peristalsis, and the adjacent organs and tissues around the abdominal cavity. Gastrointestinal CEUS recorded the thickness of the gastroduodenal wall; the size, location and shape of the ulcer; gastric peristalsis; and adjacent organs and tissues around the abdominal cavity. The results of routine ultrasound and gastrointestinal ultrasound were compared with those of gastroscopy to evaluate the diagnostic results and coincidence rate of routine ultrasound and gastrointestinal CEUS. All children received informed consent from their guardians for CEUS. This study was reviewed and approved by the hospital medical ethics committee. RESULTS: Among the 43 children, 17 (15 male, 2 female) were diagnosed with peptic ulcer by gastroscopy. There were 26 children with nonpeptic ulcer. There were eight cases of peptic ulcer and 35 of nonpeptic ulcer diagnosed by conventional ultrasound. The diagnostic coincidence rate of peptic ulcer in children diagnosed by conventional ultrasound was 79.1% (34/43), which was significantly different from that of gastroscopy (P = 0.033). It indicates that the coincidence rate of gastrointestinal contrast-enhanced ultrasound and gastroscope is low. Fifteen cases of peptic ulcer and 28 of nonpeptic ulcer were diagnosed by CEUS. The diagnostic coincidence rate of peptic ulcer in children was 95.3% (41/43). There was no significant difference between CEUS and gastroscopy (P = 0.655). It indicates that the coincidence rate of gastrointestinal contrast-enhanced ultrasound and gastroscope is high. CONCLUSION: Gastrointestinal CEUS has a high coincidence rate in the diagnosis of peptic ulcer in children, and can be used as a preliminary examination method.

High expression of JMJD6 predicts unfavorable survival in lung adenocarcinoma.

The upregulated expression of JMJD6 was observed in various human cancers. However, little was known about JMJD6 expression and its clinicopathological significance in lung adenocarcinoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and significance of JMJD6 in lung adenocarcinoma progression and prognosis. The levels of JMJD6 mRNA and protein in lung adenocarcinoma specimens and corresponding non-tumorous lung tissues were evaluated by quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. In order to investigate the correlations between JMJD6 and the clinicopathological features of lung adenocarcinoma, the expression of JMJD6 in 154 patients with lung adenocarcinoma was detected by immunohistochemistry. By qRT-PCR and Western blot, the relative expression levels of JMJD6 mRNA and protein were significantly higher in lung adenocarcinoma tissues than in corresponding non-tumorous lung tissues (P < 0.001). Immunohistochemical staining revealed that high JMJD6 expression was closely correlated with tumor size (P = 0.005), pathological grade (P = 0.003), pT status (P = 0.012), pN status (P = 0.003), and pleural invasion (P < 0.001). Moreover, the results of Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that a high expression level of JMJD6 resulted in a significantly poor prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma patients. Multivariate analysis showed that the status of JMJD6 expression was an independent prognostic factor for lung adenocarcinoma patients. Our results showed that JMJD6 plays a key role in lung adenocarcinoma and therefore may provide an opportunity for developing a novel therapeutic target as well as a prognostic marker in lung adenocarcinoma.

ADAM17 is overexpressed in non-small cell lung cancer and its expression correlates with poor patient survival.

The purpose of this study was to assess ADAM17 expression and to explore its contribution to the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was conducted to detect ADAM17 mRNA expression. In addition, ADAM17 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 124 clinicopathologically characterized NSCLC cases. The correlation of ADAM17 expression with patients' survival rate was assessed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. The expression levels of ADAM17 mRNA and protein in NSCLC tissues were both significantly higher than those in non-cancerous tissues. In addition, high expression of ADAM17 was significantly correlated with tumor grade (P=0.026), tumor size (P=0.001), clinical stage (P=0.016), and lymph node metastases (P<0.001). Furthermore, multivariate analysis suggested that tumor grade, tumor size, clinical stage, lymph node metastases, and ADAM17 expression were independent prognostic indicators for NSCLC. Our data suggest for the first time that the increased expression of ADAM17 in NSCLC is associated significantly with aggressive progression and poor prognosis. ADAM17 may be an important molecular marker for predicting the carcinogenesis, progression, and prognosis of NSCLC.