Prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume and lesion dissemination from baseline PET/CT in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: Further risk stratification of the group with low-risk and high-risk NCCN-IPI.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume and lesion dissemination from baseline PET/CT in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and the prognostic value of them in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network International Prognostic Index (NCCN-IPI) subgroups. METHODS: A total of 113 patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT examination in our institution were retrospectively collected. The MTV was measured by iterative adaptive algorithm. The location of the lesion was obtained according to its three-dimensional coordinates, and Dmax was obtained. SDmax is derived from Dmax standardized by body surface area (BSA). The X-tile method was used to determine the optimal cut-off values for MTV, Dmax and SDmax. Cox regression analysis was used to perform univariate and multivariate analyses. Patient survival rates were derived from Kaplan-Meier curves and compared using the log-rank test. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 24 months. The median of MTV was 196.86 cm3 (range 2.54-2925.37 cm3), and the optimal cut-off value was 489 cm3. The median of SDmax was 0.25 m-1 (range 0.12-0.51 m-1), and the best cut-off value was 0.31 m-1. MTV and SDmax were independent prognostic factors of PFS (all P < 0.001). Combined with MTV and SDmax, the patients were divided into three groups, and the difference of PFS among the groups was statistically significant (P < 0.001), and was able to stratify the risk of NCCN-IPI patients in the low-risk (NCCN-IPI < 4) and high-risk (NCCN-IPI ≥ 4) groups (P = 0.001 and P = 0.031). CONCLUSION: MTV and SDmax are independent prognostic factors for PFS in DCBCL patients, which describe tumor burden and tumor dissemination characteristics, respectively. The combination of the two could facilitate risk stratification between the low-risk and high-risk NCCN-IPI groups.

Near-infrared-II photothermal ultra-small carbon dots promoting anticancer efficiency by enhancing tumor penetration.

Because of the particular environment of the tumor microenvironment, improving the deep penetration of drugs in tumor sites is a critical problem to improve the therapeutic effect of the tumor. The ultra-small nanoparticles can achieve deep tumor tissue penetration without modification, which shows tremendous significance in tumor therapy. In this work, the ultra-small permeable carbon dots (PCD) have been developed with near-infrared-II (NIR-II) window photothermal irradiation and good biocompatibility. These PCD showed multi-color fluorescence under visible light and photoacoustic signals under an excitation of 808 nm, guiding fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging for location and distribution in vitro and vivo. The PCD could penetrate the deep tissue in tumor spheroids and tissues. Meanwhile, the irradiated depth of the NIR-II window can provide sufficient photothermal energy with the deep penetration of PCD in tumor tissue to cause tumor ablation. Therefore, this PCD can be used as a safe, fluorescent, and photoacoustic imaging agent for guided NIR-II photothermal tumor therapy, which provides a new direction for the use of ultra-small carbon dots in anticancer therapy in the future.

Transcriptome analysis reveals mechanism of early ripening in Kyoho grape with hydrogen peroxide treatment.

BACKGROUND: In a previous study, the early ripening of Kyoho grape following H2O2 treatment was explored at the physiological level, but the mechanism by which H2O2 promotes ripening at the molecular level is unclear. To reveal the molecular mechanism, RNA-sequencing analysis was conducted on the different developmental stages of Kyoho berry treated with H2O2. RESULTS: In the comparison of treatment and control groups, 406 genes were up-regulated and 683 were down-regulated. Time course sequencing (TCseq) analysis showed that the expression patterns of most of the genes were similar between the treatment and control, except for some genes related to chlorophyll binding and photosynthesis. Differential expression analysis and the weighted gene co-expression network were used to screen significantly differentially expressed genes and hub genes associated with oxidative stress (heat shock protein, HSP), cell wall deacetylation (GDSL esterase/lipase, GDSL), cell wall degradation (xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/ hydrolase, XTH), and photosynthesis (chlorophyll a-b binding protein, CAB1). Gene expression was verified with RT-qPCR, and the results were largely consistent with those of RNA sequencing. CONCLUSIONS: The RNA-sequencing analysis indicated that H2O2 treatment promoted the early ripening of Kyoho berry by affecting the expression levels of HSP, GDSL, XTH, and CAB1 and- photosynthesis- pathways.

Transcriptome profiling of 'Kyoho' grape at different stages of berry development following 5-azaC treatment.

BACKGROUND: 5-Azacytidine (5-azaC) promotes the development of 'Kyoho' grape berry but the associated changes in gene expression have not been reported. In this study, we performed transcriptome analysis of grape berry at five developmental stages after 5-azaC treatment to elucidate the gene expression networks controlling berry ripening. RESULTS: The expression patterns of most genes across the time series were similar between the 5-azaC treatment and control groups. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at a given developmental stage ranged from 9 (A3_C3) to 690 (A5_C5). The results indicated that 5-azaC treatment had not very great influences on the expressions of most genes. Functional annotation of the DEGs revealed that they were mainly related to fruit softening, photosynthesis, protein phosphorylation, and heat stress. Eight modules showed high correlation with specific developmental stages and hub genes such as PEROXIDASE 4, CAFFEIC ACID 3-O-METHYLTRANSFERASE 1, and HISTONE-LYSINE N-METHYLTRANSFERASE EZA1 were identified by weighted gene correlation network analysis. CONCLUSIONS: 5-AzaC treatment alters the transcriptional profile of grape berry at different stages of development, which may involve changes in DNA methylation.

Transcriptional Analysis of the Early Ripening of 'Kyoho' Grape in Response to the Treatment of Riboflavin.

Previous study has demonstrated that the riboflavin treatment promoted the early ripening of the 'Kyoho' grape berry. However, the molecular mechanism causing this was unclear. In order to reveal the regulation mechanism of riboflavin treatment on grape berry development and ripening, the different berry developmental stages of the 'Kyoho' berry treated with 0.5 mmol/L of riboflavin was sampled for transcriptome profiling. RNA-seq revealed that 1526 and 430 genes were up-regulated and down-regulated, respectively, for the comparisons of the treatment to the control. TCseq analysis showed that the expression patterns of most of the genes were similar between the treatment and the control, except for some genes that were related to the chlorophyll metabolism, photosynthesis-antenna proteins, and photosynthesis, which were revealed by the enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). The differentially expressed genes and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) analysis identified some significantly differentially expressed genes and some hub genes, including up-regulation of the photosynthesis-related ELIP1 and growth and development-related GDSL; and down-regulation of the oxidative stress-related ATHSP22 and berry softening-related XTH32 and GH9B15. The results suggested that the riboflavin treatment resulted in the variations of the expression levels of these genes, and then led to the early ripening of the 'Kyoho' berry.

Antiviral therapy improves postoperative survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to find out whether antiviral therapy in patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) improves long-term survival after hepatic resection. BACKGROUND: Despite advances in surgery and in multidisciplinary treatment, there is still no effective adjuvant treatment to prevent HCC recurrence after R0 resection for HCC. Whether antiviral therapy is useful in reducing postoperative HCC recurrence is unclear. METHODS: Between May 2007 and April 2008, patients who received R0 hepatic resection for HBV-related HCC were randomly assigned to receive no treatment (the control group, n = 100) or antiviral therapy (adefovir 10 mg/d, the antiviral group, n = 100). RESULTS: The baseline clinical, laboratory, and tumor characteristics of the 2 groups were comparable. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year recurrence-free survival rates for the antiviral group and the control group were 85.0%, 50.3%, 46.1% and 84.0%, 37.9%, 27.1%, respectively. The corresponding overall survival rates for the 2 groups were 96.0%, 77.6%, 63.1% and 94.0%, 67.4%, 41.5%, respectively. The recurrence-free survival and overall survival for the antiviral group were significantly better than the control group (P = 0.026, P = 0.001). After adjusting for the confounding prognostic factors in a Cox model, the relative risks of recurrence and death for antiviral treatment were 0.651 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.451-0.938; P = 0.021] and 0.420 (95% CI: 0.271-0.651; P < 0.001). Antiviral therapy was an independent protective factor of late tumor recurrence (HR = 0.348, 95% CI: 0.177-0.687; P = 0.002) but not of early tumor recurrence [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.949, 95% CI: 0.617-1.459; P = 0.810]. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with hepatitis B-related HCC, adefovir antiviral therapy reduced late HCC recurrence and significantly improved overall survival after R0 hepatic resection.