Axially Chiral N,N-Ligand-Promoted Pd-Catalyzed Enantioselective Allylic Amination and Alkylation.

An axially chiral N,N-ligand developed from a [1,1'-binaphthalene]-2,2'-diol (BINOL)-based skeleton and phenanthroline is found to be capable of promoting Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic amination and alkylation of allyl acetates. The reaction is compatible with cyclic and acyclic secondary amines, primary aliphatic amines, malononitrile, and dialkyl malonates, affording the corresponding chiral products in up to 99% yield and with up to >99% enantiomeric excess.

Iodine-Promoted Metal-Free Cyclization and O/S Exchange of Acrylamides with Thiuram: One-Step Synthesis of Quinolino-2-thiones.

A one-step cyclization and O/S exchange reaction of readily available acrylamides in the presence of iodine and thiuram has been developed. The reaction provides an efficient approach for the synthesis of highly important heterocycle quinolino-2-thiones with diverse substitution patterns.

Novel nomogram with microvascular density in the surgical margins can accurately predict the risk for anastomotic leakage after anterior resection for rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Anastomotic leakage (AL) is a serious complication after anterior resection. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of microvascular density (MVD) in AL and to develop a nomogram to accurately predict AL. METHODS: This study retrospectively enrolled 477 consecutive patients who underwent anterior resection for rectal cancer from January 2011 to January 2019. Tissue samples of the resection margins were assessed for MVD. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to identify the risk factors for AL. RESULTS: The incidence of clinical AL was 6.7%. MVD in the distal margin was associated with AL (P < .001). Univariate and multivariate regression analysis identified the following variables as independent risk factors for AL: preoperative albumin ≤35 g/L (odds ratio [OR] = 2.511), neoadjuvant treatment (OR = 3.560), location of tumor ≤7 cm (OR = 3.381), blood loss ≥100 mL (OR = 2.717), and MVD in the distal margin ≤20 (OR = 4.265). Then, a nomogram including these predictors was developed. The nomogram showed good discrimination (AUC = 0.816) and calibration (concordance index = 0.816). The decision curve analysis demonstrated that the nomogram was clinically useful. CONCLUSIONS: MVD in the distal margin is closely associated with AL. The nomogram can be used for individualized prediction of AL after anterior resection for patients with rectal cancer.

Long non-coding RNA LINC01410 promotes colon cancer cell proliferation and invasion by inhibiting miR-3128.

A previous study implied that long intergenic non-coding RNA 1410 (LINC01410) promotes angiogenesis and metastasis of gastric cancer. However, the role of LINC01410 in colon cancer (CC) has remained elusive. In the present study, LINC01410 was identified to be highly expressed in CC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. It was indicated that high expression of LINC01410 in CC tissues was associated with poor prognosis. Further functional study suggested that LINC01410 knockdown significantly reduced the proliferation and invasive capacity of HT-29 and SW620 cells, and inhibited the cell cycle. Regarding the mechanism, LINC01410 was indicated to serve as a sponge for microRNA (miR)-3128, as evidenced by a luciferase reporter assay. Furthermore, knockdown of LINC01410 significantly increased the levels of miR-3128. In addition, miR-3128 was markedly downregulated in CC tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues. A rescue assay revealed that inhibition of miR-3128 significantly abrogated the effects of LINC01410 knockdown on CC cell proliferation and invasion. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that LINC01410 functions as an oncogene in CC, at least in part by directly inhibiting miR-3128.

MicroRNA-28-5p inhibits the migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells by suppressing AKT phosphorylation.

Gastric cancer is a polygenic disease with a high mortality rate worldwide. Although a number of dysregulated genes have been confirmed to be involved in development and progression of gastric cancer, the molecular mechanisms by which this occurs remain unclear. The present study identified that microRNA (miR-28-5p) was involved in the migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells, and was able to affect the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that the expression of miR-28-5p was significantly downregulated in gastric cancer tissues, and that patients with higher expression had a good prognosis. miR-28-5p expression was significantly associated with depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and pathological stage. Gastric cancer cells overexpressing miR-28-5p exhibited a marked reduction of migration and invasion by Transwell and wound scratch assay. The phosphorylation of RAC serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT), which affected cellular invasion and metastasis, was significantly inhibited by overexpression of miR-28-5p. In conclusion, miR-28-5p is a tumor suppressor that inhibits gastric cancer cell migration and invasion through repressing AKT phosphorylation. miR-28-5p may therefore represent a potential biomarker for the prognosis of gastric cancer and a novel therapeutic target in advanced gastric cancer.

Alcohol drinking and gastric cancer risk: a meta-analysis of observational studies.

BACKGROUND: Many studies investigated the association between alcohol drinking and gastric cancer risk, but the results were controversial. We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to explore the association. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed to identify the relevant studies that reported the association between alcohol drinking and gastric cancer risk up to December 31, 2016. We pooled relative risks (RRs) in random effects model and performed dose-response analysis to quantify the association. Cochran Q test and I2 analyses were used to evaluate the heterogeneity. Meta-regression, subgroup, sensitivity and publication bias analyses were also performed. RESULTS: 75 studies were included in our study. The pooled RR of high vs low total alcohol drinking was 1.25 (95% CI, 1.15-1.37, P < 0.001), and a nonlinear association was further observed. Subgroup analysis showed that alcohol drinking significantly associated with the risk of gastric noncardia cancer (RR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.01-1.40, P = 0.033), but not with the risk of gastric cardia cancer (RR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.98-1.39, P = 0.087). Notably, the pooled RRs of high vs low analyses were 1.13 (95% CI, 1.03-1.24, P = 0.012) for beer drinking, 1.22 (95% CI, 1.06-1.40, P = 0.005) for liquor drinking, and 0.99 (95% CI, 0.84-1.16, P = 0.857) for wine drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis found a nonlinear association between alcohol drinking and gastric cancer risk, and heavy drinking level was strongly related to gastric cancer risk. Beer and liquor had significant positive associations with gastric cancer risk, while wine drinking would not increase gastric cancer risk. These results need to be verified in future research.

A Nomogram for Predicting Overall Survival of Gastric Cancer Patients with Insufficient Lymph Nodes Examined.

Insufficient number of examined lymph nodes (eLNs) was considered to increase significantly the risk of stage migration in gastric cancer patients. The aim of our study is to establish a nomogram predicting the overall survival (OS) for patients with an insufficient number of eLNs. A total of 872 gastric cancer patients with extended lymphadenectomies were assigned randomly (2:1) to the development cohort and the validation cohort. The nomogram was established based on the Cox regression model using the development cohort. The concordance index (C-index) was used to evaluate the discriminative ability. We also compared our model with two other staging systems. Using multivariate analysis, age, sex, tumor location, depth of invasion, macroscopic type, lymphovascular invasion, the number of eLNs, and metastatic lymph nodes were selected and incorporated into the nomogram. The C-index of the nomogram was 0.742 and 0.743 in development and validation cohorts, respectively, which were significantly superior to the C-indices (range 0.705-0.712, all P < 0.001) of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) seventh edition and lymph node ratio staging systems in both cohorts. We established a nomogram which could predict accurately OS for gastric cancer patients with insufficient number of eLNs.