Prognostic value of serum α-HBDH levels in patients with lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study is to investigate the expression level and prognostic value of serum α-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (α-HBDH) in lung cancer (LC) patients. METHOD: LC patients treated in the Department of Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016 were included in this study, all of whom underwent serological detection of α-HBDH prior to admission, and were enrolled in follow-up 5-year survival. Comparing the differences between high group and normal groups based on α-HBDH and LDH expression via clinicopathological parameters and laboratory data. Univariate and multivariate regression and overall survival (OS) were analyzed to explore whether elevated α-HBDH was an independent risk factor for LC, compared to LDH. RESULTS: Multivariate regression analysis showed that age (P = 0.018), liver metastasis (P = 0.011), α-HBDH (P = 0.015), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (P = 0.031) were independent prognostic factors affecting OS in LC patients. The overall diagnostic efficacy of α-HBDH (AUC = 0.887) was higher than that of LDH (AUC = 0.709) in the ROC curve. The sensitivity was significantly higher of α-HBDH (sensitivity: 76.06%, specificity: 94.87%) compared with LDH (sensitivity: 49.30%, specificity: 94.87%). The median of OS was more significant in the high-α-HBDH group (6.4 months) than in the normal-α-HBDH group (12.7 months) (P = 0.023). The median of OS was significant in the high-LDH (> 245 U/L) group at 5.8 months and 12.0 months in the normal-LDH (≤ 245 U/L) group (P = 0.068). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated expression of α-HBDH may indicate a poor prognosis of LC patients. It has a higher sensitivity than LDH and can be used as a potential early biomarker and an independent risk factor predicting the prognosis of LC survival.

Transcriptome sequencing and metabolome analysis reveal the mechanism of Shuanghua Baihe Tablet in the treatment of oral mucositis.

Oral mucositis (OM) caused by cancer therapy is the most common adverse reaction in the radiotherapy of head and neck tumors. In severe cases, it can lead to the interruption of treatment, which affects the control of the disease and the quality of life. Shuanghua Baihe Tablet (SBT) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, which is administerd to treat OM in China. It has been clinically effective for more than 30 years, but the underlying mechanism is not completely understood. With the development of multiple omics, it is possible to explore the mechanism of Chinese herbal compound prescriptions. Based on transcriptomics and metabolomics, we explored the underlying mechanism of SBT in the treatment of OM. An OM model of rats was established by 5-FU induction, and SBT was orally administered at dosages of 0.75 and 3 g·kg-1·d-1. In order to search for SBT targets and related metabolites, the dysregulated genes and metabolites were detected by transcriptomics and metabolomics. Immune related indicators such as interleukin-17 (IL-17) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were detected by ELISA. Treg cell disorders was analyzed by flow cytometry. Our results showed that SBT significantly alleviated the symptoms of OM rats and the inflammatory infiltration of ulcer tissues. After SBT administration, inflammatory related metabolic pathways including linoleic acid metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis were significantly altered. Furthermore, the production of proinflammatory factors like IL-17 and TNF-α, were also dramatically reduced after SBT administration. Besides, the infiltration degree of Treg cells in the spleen of OM modeling rats was significantly improved by SBT administration, thus maintaining the immune balance of the body. The current study demonstrates that SBT regulates inoleic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism, and inhibits IL-17/TNF signal transduction to restore Treg and Th17 cell homeostasis in OM rats, thereby alleviating chemotherapy-induced OM.

Over-Expression and Prognostic Significance of FATP5, as a New Biomarker, in Colorectal Carcinoma.

Background: Fatty acid transporters (FATPs) family play an important role in the uptake and metabolism regulation of long-chain fatty acids, which influence the occurrence and developing of multiple tumors. Fatty acid transporter 5(FATP5), a member of FATPs family, participates in fatty acid transport and lipid metabolism and is related to tumor development, whose mechanism in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. Methods: In this study, we comprehensively utilized a range of relevant bioinformatic tools along with multiple databases to analyze the expression of FATPs family and investigate the biological function and prognostic value of FATP5 in CRC. Besides, cell proliferation and cell cycle distribution analysis, western blotting and immunohistochemistry (IHC) further validated the conclusion of bioinformatics analysis. Results: FATP5 is the only member of FATPs family which was overexpressed in CRC. In the survival analysis based on the GSE39582 databases, the low expression of FATP5 predicts poor prognosis in CRC. Similar results were also observed in GSE17536, GSE28814 and TCGA colon cohorts. The potential function of DNA methylation regulated the abnormal expression of FATP5 in CRC. In addition, enrichment analysis indicated that FATP5 also participates in the regulation of cell cycle. Furthermore, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) showed a strong negative correlation between FATP5 and cell growth, implying that it may participate in regulating cancer cell proliferation by the regulation of cell cycle G2/M transition. At last, we identified that FATP5 was overexpressed in colorectal carcinoma tissues through immunohistochemistry staining, and played an important role in cell cycle by cell proliferation and cell cycle distribution analysis. Conclusion: This study suggested that FATP5 was overexpression in colorectal carcinoma and predicted favorable prognosis, indicating it as a novel appealing prognostic marker for CRC.