ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC), a rare and unique variant of liver cancer, can be divided into lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma and lymphoepithelioma-like intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Dense lymphocytic infiltration is its characteristic pathological feature. In recent years, the number of reported cases of this type has increased each year. Studies have shown that lymphoepithelioma-like cholangiocarcinoma occurs more frequently in Asian women; LELC is associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection of liver cells of epithelial origin. Existing research shows that the prognosis of this tumour is good. CASE SUMMARY: A 38-year-old female patient was hospitalized after 3 mo of abdominal pain and nausea. She had been infected with hepatitis B virus more than 10 years prior. The patient was hospitalized on January 21, 2022. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a 36 mm × 28 mm mass under the envelope of the left inner lobe of the liver. No metastasis of lymph nodes or other organs was observed. After left hemihepatectomy, biopsy and immunohistochemistry yielded a final diagnosis of lymphoepithelial hepatocellular carcinoma. After 12 mo of outpatient follow-up and chemotherapy, no tumour metastases were found on the latest computed tomography examination. CONCLUSION: Herein, the patient was treated surgically and then followed up as an outpatient for 12 mo. This case will further expand our overall knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of this rare tumor.
ABSTRACT
The ion-dependence of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) conformational changes has attracted growing attention because of its biological and technological importance. Although single-species ion effects have been extensively explored, it is challenging to study the ssDNA conformational properties under mixed monovalent/divalent ion conditions due to the complications of ssDNA flexibility and ion-ion competition. In this study, we apply Langevin dynamics simulations to investigate mixed Na+/Mg2+ ion-dependent ssDNA conformations. The ssDNA structure is described using a coarse-grained model, in which the phosphate, base, and sugar of each nucleotide are represented by three different beads. A novel improvement in our simulation model is that mixed-salt-related electrostatic interactions are computed via combining Manning counterion condensation (MCC) theory with the Monte Carlo tightly bound ion (MCTBI) model. Based on this MCC-MCTBI combination, we report new empirical functions to describe the ion-concentration-dependent and ssDNA conformation/structure-dependent electrostatic effects. The calculation results relating to the ion binding properties and the simulation results relating to the ssDNA conformational properties are validated against experimental results. In addition, our simulation results suggest a quantitative relationship between the ssDNA conformation and Na+-Mg2+ competition; this in turn reveals their mutual impact in the ion atmosphere.
Subject(s)
DNA, Single-Stranded , Nucleotides , Ions , Nucleic Acid Conformation , Static ElectricityABSTRACT
The utility of the coarse-grained (CG) single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) model can drastically reduce the compute time for simulating the ssDNA dynamics. The model-matched CG potentials and the inherent potential constants can be derived by coarse-graining the experimentally measured ssDNA structures. A useful and widespread treatment of the CG model is to use three different pseudo-atoms P, S, and B to represent the atomic groups of phosphate, sugar, and base, respectively, in each nucleotide of the ssDNA structures. The three pseudo-atoms generate nine types of the structural parameters to characterize the unstructured ssDNA conformations, including three (virtual) bond lengths (P-S, S-B, and S-P) between two neighbouring beads, four bond angles (P-S-P, S-P-S, P-S-B, and B-S-P) between three adjacent bonds, and two dihedral angles (P-S-P-S and S-P-S-P) between three successive bonds. This paper mainly presents the data of normalized probability distributions of the bond lengths, bond angles, and dihedral angles for the CG ssDNAs.
ABSTRACT
Preoperative prediction of tumor recurrence after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is helpful for clinical decision-making before treatment. A total of 162 patients with HCC of 3 cm or less who were completely ablated by percutaneous RFA were divided into a derivation cohort (n = 108) and a validation cohort (n = 54). Based on X-Tiles software, Kaplan-Meier curve analysis and COX multivariate analysis to obtain valuable predictive indicators, a clinical scoring system for predicting tumor recurrence was established. In the verall cohort, derivation cohort and validation cohort, we found circulating tumor cells (CTC) > 2/3.2 mL, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) > 20 ng/mL, and des-γ-carboxyprothrombin (DCP) > 40 mAU/mL, maximum tumor diameter > 20 mm, and the number of multiple tumors (≥ 2) are independent risk factors affecting tumor recurrence. Each independent risk factor was assigned a score of 1 to construct a predictive clinical scoring system, and X-Tiles software was used to divide the clinical score into a low-risk group (0 score-1 score), a medium-risk group (2 scores-3 scores), and a high-risk group (4 scores-5 scores). The cumulative tumor recurrence rates of patients in the low-risk group, middle-risk group, and high-risk group in 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years were 19.4%/27.5%/30.9%, 37.0%/63.2%/79.9% and 68.2%/100%/100%, respectively (Low-risk group vs medium-risk group: P < 0.001; medium-risk group vs high-risk group: P < 0.001). This clinical scoring system can predict the prognosis of patients with HCC of 3 cm or smaller undergoing percutaneous RFA, which has certain application value for making preoperative clinical decisions.