Peripheral Inflammation Markers of Chemosensitivity to Induction Chemotherapy in Hypopharyngeal Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Induction chemotherapy (ICT) has become an initial treatment for late-stage hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); however, there are no data regarding ICT sensitivity for this population. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the predictive value of various inflammation markers for ICT responses in hypopharyngeal SCC. METHODS: The data from 72 patients who received initial ICT treatment were obtained and associations between pretreatment inflammation markers and overall responses to ICT were calculated. RESULTS: According to receiver operating characteristic curves, pretreatment lymphocyte count (PLC), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) achieved diagnostic accuracy for overall responses to ICT. These indicators were classified into two groups according to their cut-off values. Overall response rates were significantly higher in the low PLC (p < 0.01), high NLR (p = 0.035), and high PLR (p = 0.012) groups. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that low PLC, high NLR, and high PLR are predictors of positive responses to ICT in hypopharyngeal SCC patients.

Dynamic changes in chemosensitivity immune predictors in patients with hypopharyngeal cancer treated with induction chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: There are currently no data predicting chemosensitivity of induction chemotherapy (ICT) for hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). METHODS: Associations between immune cells and overall response (OR) to ICT and changes in immune cells during ICT were observed in 40 patients with hypopharyngeal SCC undergoing ICT. RESULTS: CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell and regulatory T-cell (Treg) frequencies reached diagnostic accuracy for OR to ICT. OR rate was significantly higher in CD4+ -high T cell, CD8+ -high T cell, and low Treg groups. A transient reduction in Tregs and increases in Tregs in the non-OR and OR groups were observed during the course of ICT. Conversely, increases in CD8+ T cells and reductions in CD8+ T cells in the non-OR and OR groups were observed. CONCLUSION: High CD4+ T-cell, high CD8+ T-cell, and low Treg frequencies can be predictors for high efficacy of ICT in patients with hypopharyngeal SCC.

[Histological observations of Medaka(Oryzias latipes)gonad sexual differentiation and development].

Over the past few decades, Medaka (Oryzias latipes) has become a model animal in teleost species research due both to its short reproductive cycle and efficient proliferate capacity. Unfortunately, however, systematic data of its sexual differentiation and development have yet to be obtained. In the present study, we observed Medaka gonad development from the earliest recognizable stages through differentiation to maturation under a light microscope, after paraffin sectioning and hematoxylin-eosin staining. The results showed that among juveniles aged 5 to 10 days, the gonad located on the right side of the dorsal abdominal cavity and the germ cells was significantly larger than the surrounding somatic cells. Ten days after hatching, sexual differences between females and males became obvious, and germline cysts derived from oogonium division were present in the gonad. At 50 days after hatching, ovarian cavities and mature sperm were observed. Moreover, during the study we also observed the coexistence of two sexual characteristics during a male's development. Together, these observations fill current gaps in developmental and genetic biology that will allow a more efficient use of Medaka as an experimental model.