Anoikis-related gene signatures in colorectal cancer: implications for cell differentiation, immune infiltration, and prognostic prediction.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a malignant tumor originating from epithelial cells of the colon or rectum, and its invasion and metastasis could be regulated by anoikis. However, the key genes and pathways regulating anoikis in CRC are still unclear and require further research. The single cell transcriptome dataset GSE221575 of GEO database was downloaded and applied to cell subpopulation type identification, intercellular communication, pseudo time cell trajectory analysis, and receptor ligand expression analysis of CRC. Meanwhile, the RNA transcriptome dataset of TCGA, the GSE39582, GSE17536, and GSE17537 datasets of GEO were downloaded and merged into one bulk transcriptome dataset. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to anoikis were extracted from these data sets, and key marker genes were obtained after feature selection. A clinical prognosis prediction model was constructed based on the marker genes and the predictive effect was analyzed. Subsequently, gene pathway analysis, immune infiltration analysis, immunosuppressive point analysis, drug sensitivity analysis, and immunotherapy efficacy based on the key marker genes were conducted for the model. In this study, we used single cell datasets to determine the anoikis activity of cells and analyzed the DEGs of cells based on the score to identify the genes involved in anoikis and extracted DEGs related to the disease from the transcriptome dataset. After dimensionality reduction selection, 7 marker genes were obtained, including TIMP1, VEGFA, MYC, MSLN, EPHA2, ABHD2, and CD24. The prognostic risk model scoring system built by these 7 genes, along with patient clinical data (age, tumor stage, grade), were incorporated to create a nomogram, which predicted the 1-, 3-, and 5-years survival of CRC with accuracy of 0.818, 0.821, and 0.824. By using the scoring system, the CRC samples were divided into high/low anoikis-related prognosis risk groups, there are significant differences in immune infiltration, distribution of immune checkpoints, sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs, and efficacy of immunotherapy between these two risk groups. Anoikis genes participate in the differentiation of colorectal cancer tumor cells, promote tumor development, and could predict the prognosis of colorectal cancer.

Application of Half-Transected and Self-Pulling Esophagojejunostomy in Total Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: A Safe and Feasible Technique.

Objective: This study introduces a technique for esophagojejunostomy with half transected and self-pulling (HTSP) and evaluates the safety, feasibility, and clinical results of this technique in totally laparoscopic total gastrectomy (TLTG). Materials and Methods: From May 2019 to March 2021, 42 patients (HTSP group) who underwent HTSP-TLTG surgery in the Department of Abdominal Tumor Surgery of Jiangxi Cancer Hospital were included in this study. The control group consisted of 50 patients undergoing conventional TLTG surgery (conventional anastomosis group) performed by the same surgical team from March 2018 to March 2020. The clinical data of the two groups were retrospectively analyzed and compared. Results: The mean operation time of the HTSP-TLTG surgery was 166.7 ± 13.1 minutes and the anastomosis time was 20.8 ± 2.0 minutes, which were significantly shorter than those of traditional TLTG (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups in blood loss, time to first exhaust, postoperative hospital stay, and incidence of surgery-related complications. Conclusion: HTSP is a safe and feasible way of endoscopic esophagojejunal anastomosis, which requires a relatively low suture technique under endoscopy, and is suitable for promotion.

MicroRNA-301b-3p facilitates cell proliferation and migration in colorectal cancer by targeting HOXB1.

Previous studies revealed that miR-301b-3p was essential to the onset and development of several cancers, but the implied functions of miR-301b-3p in colorectal cancer (CRC) remained largely unclear. The current study is aimed to exploring the potential roles and possible mechanism of miR-301b-3p in CRC. The abundance of miR-301b-3p and HOXB1 in CRC clinical specimens and cell lines was verified using RT-qPCR. The CCK-8, colony formation, wound healing and transwell assays were adopted to evaluate cell proliferation and migration. The interactivity of miR-301b-3p and homeobox B1 (HOXB1) was identified using bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter. The results of RT-qPCR indicated that miR-301b-3p was significantly upregulated in CRC clinical specimens and cell lines. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-301b-3p speeds up CRC cell proliferation and migration. Bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter verified that HOXB1 acted as the downstream targeted mRNA. Furthermore, silencing of HOXB1 also obviously accelerated the proliferation and migration ability of CRC cells. miR-301b-3p facilitated cell proliferation and migration in CRC, which was partly reversed by overexpressing HOXB1. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that miR-301b-3p facilitated CRC cell growth and migration via targeting HOXB1. Our results identified that miR-301b-3p served as a significant oncogene in CRC, which may provide a novel biomarker for diagnosis and therapeutic objective for CRC.