Metastatic pattern and prognosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST): a SEER-based analysis.

PURPOSE: This SEER-based study aimed to explore and analyze the relationship of metastasis of liver, lung and bone of GIST patients and their prognosis. METHODS: The data of GIST patients were from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2010 to 2015 and all the statistical analyses were conducted by statistical software package SPSS (Version 22.0). RESULTS: A total of 4224 GIST patients were identified, of which 388 (9.19%) patients with liver metastasis, 20 (0.47%) patients with bone metastasis and 32 (0.76%) patients with lung metastasis. There was no significant difference of risk of bone or lung metastasis between patients with and without liver metastasis (P = 0.935). The median overall survival of patients with liver, bone, or lung metastasis was, respectively, 49 months, 18 months, and 20 months, which were all shorter than that of patients without metastasis. The overall survival of patients with both liver and bone metastasis and those with metastasis of all three sites was not significantly different from that of patients with only liver metastasis. The multivariate analysis showed age of less than 65 years, female patients, married status and receiving surgery were all the beneficial factors for prognosis of GIST patients with liver metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with metastasis had a poorer prognosis than those without. Liver metastasis might have no relationship with bone or lung metastasis and liver might play a more dominant role than the other two sites in the prognosis of GIST patients with metastasis. So, more attention should be paid to liver status in diagnosis and treatment of GIST patients.

IL-17 rs2275913 genetic variation contributes to the development of gastric cancer in a Chinese population.

The purpose of this hospital-based case-control study was to assess whether the interleukin (IL)-17 rs2275913 genetic variation can influence susceptibility to gastric cancer. Samples from a total of 202 gastric cancer patients and 237 controls were collected from the Linyi People's Hospital between March 2013 and March 2015. The IL-17 rs2275913 gene polymorphism was identified by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. When compared with control subjects, gastric cancer patients were older in age (OR = 3.89, 95%CI = 2.55-5.95), male (OR = 2.08, 95%CI = 1.39-3.10), had a habit of alcohol consumption (OR = 1.71, 95%CI = 1.15-2.55), and were more likely to be infected with Helicobacter pylori (OR = 2.76, 95%CI = 1.83-4.16). We observed that the AA genotype of the IL-17 rs2275913 polymorphism resulted in a 2.32-fold risk of gastric cancer compared to the GG genotype (OR = 2.32, 95%CI = 1.20-4.54; P = 0.01). The AG combined with AA genotype of the IL-17 rs2275913 polymorphism had more risk of developing gastric cancer than the GG genotype (OR = 1.50, 95%CI = 1.01-2.23; P = 0.04). Moreover, the AA genotype of the IL-17 rs2275913 polymorphism was correlated with a higher risk of developing gastric cancer than the GG and AG genotypes combined (OR = 2.01, 95%CI = 1.08-3.79; P = 0.02). In conclusion, the results of our study suggest that the IL-17 rs2275913 polymorphism could contribute to the risk of gastric cancer.

Lenalidomide affect expression level of cereblon protein in multiple myeloma cell line RPMI8226.

We investigated the mechanisms of action of immuno-modulatory drug (lenalidomide) on the protein expression of cereblon (CRBN) and their therapeutic targets in the multiple myeloma cell line RPMI8226. The multiple myeloma cell line RPMI8226 was cultured and treated with different concentrations of lenalidomide and bortezomib to determine the proliferation inhibition rate, apoptosis rate, and protein expression of CRBN. The results revealed that both lenalidomide and bortezomib inhibited the proliferation of RPMI8226 and promoted cell apoptosis. However, the protein expression of CRBN decreased signifi-cantly after treatment with lenalidomide, while bortezomib had no effect on the expression of CRBN. We confirmed that CRBN may be a target of lenalidomide.

Protection against Taenia pisiformis larval infection induced by a recombinant oncosphere antigen vaccine.

Taenia pisiformis larvae cause significant health problems to rabbits. At present, it is not known whether the recombinant antigen from the T. pisiformis oncosphere is able to confer protective immunity against T. pisiformis larval infection. The full-length cDNA was cloned into a pET32a (+) vector, and the recombinant protein was then expressed in BL21 (DE3) cells. Vaccination with the purified rTpUbc2 coupled with QuilA was carried out in New Zealand rabbits to evaluate the immunoprotective effect against T. pisiformis infection. The full-length open reading frame of the TpUbc2 gene was 444 bp, and encoded a 16.63-kDa protein. Finally, rTpUbc2 was used to evaluate the ability to induce immunoprotective responses in rabbits. A 79.3-90.8% reduction (P < 0.01) in the recovery of larvae was observed in the experimental group compared to the control group. Specific anti-rTpUbc2 antibodies from immunized rabbits had significantly higher levels of IgG (P < 0.01) compared to the control group; however, no significant difference in IgA levels was found between groups (P > 0.05). Our data support the use of rTpUbc2 as a potential candidate to develop a vaccine against T. pisiformis larvae.

Synonymous codon usage patterns in different parasitic platyhelminth mitochondrial genomes.

We analyzed synonymous codon usage patterns of the mitochondrial genomes of 43 parasitic platyhelminth species. The relative synonymous codon usage, the effective number of codons (NC) and the frequency of G+C at the third synonymously variable coding position were calculated. Correspondence analysis was used to determine the major variation trends shaping the codon usage patterns. Among the mitochondrial genomes of 19 trematode species, the GC content of third codon positions varied from 0.151 to 0.592, with a mean of 0.295 ± 0.116. In cestodes, the mean GC content of third codon positions was 0.254 ± 0.044. A comparison of the nucleotide composition at 4-fold synonymous sites revealed that, on average, there was a greater abundance of codons ending on U (51.9%) or A (22.7%) than on C (6.3%) or G (19.14%). Twenty-two codons, including UUU, UUA and UUG, were frequently used. In the NC-plot, most of points were distributed well below or around the expected NC curve. In addition to compositional constraints, the degree of hydrophobicity and the aromatic amino acids also influenced codon usage in the mitochondrial genomes of these 43 parasitic platyhelminth species.