Macrophage Inhibitory Cytokine-1 as a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker in Stage I and II Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Increased level of serum macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1), a member of transforming growth factor-μ superfamily, was found in patients with epithelial tumors. This study aimed to evaluate whether serum level of MIC-1 can be a candidate diagnostic and prognostic indicator for early-stage nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A prospective study enrolled 152 patients with Stage I-II NSCLC, who were followed up after surgical resection. Forty-eight patients with benign pulmonary disease (BPD) and 105 healthy controls were also included in the study. Serum MIC-1 levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the association with clinical and prognostic features was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In patients with NSCLC, serum protein levels of MIC-1 were significantly increased compared with healthy controls and BPD patients (all P< 0.001). A threshold of 1000 pg/ml of MIC-1 was found in patients with early-stage (Stage I and II) NSCLC, with sensitivity and specificity of 70.4% and 99.0%, respectively. The serum levels of MIC-1 were associated with age (P = 0.001), gender (P = 0.030), and T stage (P = 0.022). Serum MIC-1 threshold of 1465 pg/ml was found in patients with poor early outcome, with sensitivity and specificity of 72.2% and 66.1%, respectively. The overall 3-year survival rate of NSCLC patients with high serum levels of MIC-1 (≥1465 pg/ml) was lower than that of NSCLC patients with low serum MIC-1 levels (77.6% vs. 94.8%). Multivariate Cox regression survival analysis showed that a high serum level of MIC-1 was an independent risk factor for reduced overall survival (hazard ratio = 3.37, 95% confidential interval: 1.09-10.42, P= 0.035).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The present study suggested that serum MIC-1 may be a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for patients with early-stage NSCLC.</p>

Influence of crocin on proliferation in vitro and function of dendritic cells derived from bone marrow of children with acute leukemia / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was purposed to investigate the effect of crocin on the proliferation in vitro and immune function of dendritic cells (DC) derived from the bone marrow of children with acute leukemia. The mononuclear cells were isolated from bone marrow of leukemia children by Ficoll-Hypaque. The experiment was divided into six groups: blank control group (A), crocin 1.25 mg/ml group (B), cytokines (rhGM-CSF 75 ng/ml+rhIL-4 75 ng/ml+rhTNF-α 50 ng/ml) group (C), cytokines+crocin 0.3125, 1.25 or 5.0 mg/ml groups (D, E, F). The numbers of DC were counted and the phenotypes of DC were determined by flow cytometry on the ninth day of culture. The DC of different groups were mixed with T cells just separated from peripheral blood of another children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and cultured with rhIL-2 200 U/ml for 5 d. The function of DC was detected by mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). The results indicated that the test groups and control group all obtained a certain amount of typical DC, but the DC numbers in test groups were all higher than those in control group (P < 0.01). Cultured for 9 days, the rates of CD1a(+), CD83(+), and HLA-DR(+) in group C, D, E, F were higher than group A (P < 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference between A and B groups (P > 0.05). MLR showed that with the increasing of DC, the stimulation index of T cells in group A and B was not rising (P > 0.05); the stimulated index of T cells in group C and E was significantly rising, there was statistically significant difference between them (P < 0.01). When the number of stimulated cells was the same, the stimulation index of T cell in group E was the highest (P < 0.01). It is concluded that the capability of DC proliferation promoted by crocin alone is lower than that of its combination with rhGM-CSF, rhIL-4 and rhTNF-α, but the crocin can synergically promote the maturity of DC cooperating with rhGM-CSF, rhIL-4 and rhTNF-α. The DC induced by crocin can particularly enhance the proliferation of T cells.