Endoscopic and Pathological Characteristics of Cronkhite- Canada Syndrome: A Retrospective Analysis of 76 Cases.

BACKGROUND: Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS) is a disease of unknown etiology characterized by the presence of multiple gastrointestinal polyps, chronic diarrhea, loss of appetite, alopecia, onychodystrophy, and cutaneous hyperpigmentation. CCS is a rare disease with an incidence rate of 1 per million. Clinicians are not aware of this disease, and the discovery of gastrointestinal polyps is often a starting point for the diagnosis of this disease. By analyzing the endoscopic and pathological characteristics of CCS, this study aims to deepen our understanding of gastrointestinal polyposis and facilitate early diagnosis of CCS. METHODS: We screened databases, including the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM Web), the China Academic Journals Fulltext Database (CJFD), and PubMed for CCS cases reported from January 2010 to January 2020, and conducted a retrospective analysis of endoscopic and pathological characteristics of these cases. RESULTS: The endoscopic data of the 76 retrieved cases revealed that CCS is gastrointestinal polyposis with the intensive and confluent distribution. The greater the number of polyps and the higher their distribution, the brighter their color. A pathological assessment revealed that both gastric polyps and intestinal polyps are mainly juvenile hamartomatous polyps and have a high malignant transformation rate. Interstitial edema, eosinophil infiltration, and cystic dilation of glands are common features of CCS polyps, distinguishing them from other gastrointestinal polyposis syndromes. CONCLUSION: CCS is a polyp disease different from other gastrointestinal polyposis. Analysis of its endoscopic and pathological characteristics can contribute to the understanding and early diagnosis of the disease.

Low expression of B-Cell-Associated protein 31 is associated with unfavorable prognosis in human colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. B cell-associated protein 31 (BAP31) was shown to participate in the apoptosis, and to be an immunotherapy target and a, prognostic factor for cancer, but its role in CRC has not been elucidated. In this study, we examined the expression of BAP31 in CRC to evaluate its prognostic values. We investigated the BAP31 expression level in 142 tissues (108 CRC and 17 paired human adjacent normal mucosa, and 17 liver metastatic CRC tissues) from 108 patients, using tissue microarray-based immunohistochemistry. We further investigated the association between BAP31 expression and overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in 77 CRC patients using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were applied to evaluate the potential prognostic value of BAP31 in CRC patients. BAP31 expression level was significantly increased in CRC tissues (p = 0.0014) and liver metastatic CRC tissues (p < 0.0001) compared with corresponding adjacent normal mucosa. BAP31 expression was also significantly increased in liver metastatic CRC tissues compared with corresponding primary CRC tissues (p = 0.0116). Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that CRC patients with low BAP31 expression had significantly lower survival rate (p = 0.001) and lower disease-free survival rate (P = 0.009). Furthermore, multivariate Cox analysis showed that BAP31 was an independent prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio = 0.410, 95% confidence interval = 0.195-0.862, p = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that BAP31 is a potential prognostic marker for CRC patients after surgery.

CIP2A is overexpressed in human endometrioid adenocarcinoma and regulates cell proliferation, invasion and apoptosis.

OBJECTIVE: Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A) is a recently identified oncoprotein that stabilizes c-Myc and promotes cell proliferation and transformation. Here, we investigated the clinical significance and biological function of CIP2A in endometrial cancer. METHOD: CIP2A expression was assessed in normal endometrium, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial atypical hyperplasia, and endometrioid adenocarcinoma tissues using immunohistochemistry, western blot, and RT-PCR. The effect of reduced CIP2A expression was assessed by siRNA knockdown in Ishikawa and An3ca endometrial cell lines. The roles of CIP2A in proliferation, apoptosis, and the cell cycle were assessed using CCK-8 assays, colony formation assays, and flow cytometry, respectively. RESULTS: Our results show that CIP2A expression was higher in endometrioid adenocarcinoma tissues and cell lines. Furthermore, CIP2A siRNA significantly reduced the proliferation rate and invasion of Ishikawa and An3ca cells, and induced a significant level of apoptosis in Ishikawa cells. Moreover, CIP2A depletion resulted in reduced c-Myc and cyclin D1 protein levels, and increased caspase-3 expression. CONCLUSIONS: CIP2A is overexpressed in endometrioid adenocarcinoma and CIP2A promotes the malignant growth and invasion,decrease apoptosis in entometrioid adenocarcinoma cell lines. These results validate that CIP2A plays an important role in the carcinogenesis of endometrioid adenocarcinoma and establishes CIP2A as a clinically relevant oncoprotein and may presents a promising therapeutic target for cancer treatment.

NEAT1 negatively regulates miR-218 expression and promotes breast cancer progression.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that lncRNA nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) is related to breast cancer progression, however, the role of NEAT1 remains largely unknown. The aim of the current study was to further investigate the function of NEAT1 involved in breast cancer. METHODS: QRT-PCR was used to analyze lncRNA NEAT1 expression in breast cancer tissues and determine the association between NEAT1 and clinicopathologic features in patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log-rank test were used to establish the relationship between NEAT1 and overall survival. Cell proliferation and invasion were evaluated based on CCK8 cell proliferation, cell colony formation and Transwell cell invasion assays results. Bioinformatics analysis and the luciferase reporter assay were performed to demonstrate the association between NEAT1 and miR-218. RESULTS: NEAT1 expression was significantly up-regulated in breast cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues, and higher NEAT1 was positively associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Patients with higher NEAT1 had a poor prognosis. Furthermore, miR-218 was shown to be a direct target of NEAT1 in breast cancer cells. In addition, NEAT1 promoted cell invasion and proliferation by negatively regulating miR-218 in breast cancer. CONCLUSION: NEAT1 is a potential biomarker for prognosis and the target of treatment in breast cancer patients.

Desmoplastic small round cell tumor of the abdomen and pelvis: clinicopathological characters of 12 cases.

PURPOSE: To study the clinical, radiological, and pathological characteristics of abdominal desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) and investigate the optimal therapy modalities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed on 12 abdominal DSRCT patients; all pathological, radiological, and prognostic data were analyzed. There were 3 patients (25%) with metastatic disease at presentation. In all 12 cases, 6 cases underwent operation and adjuvant chemotherapy (group 1, 6/12, 50%). The other 6 cases were diagnosed by fine needle aspiration or exploratory laparotomy biopsy (group 2, 6/12, 50%); all cases received four to six courses of multiple agents chemotherapy, respectively. RESULTS: All cases were finally diagnosed as DSRCT pathologically. Among group 1, all cases underwent en bloc resection (2/6, 33%) or tumor debulking (4/6, 67%) and, following four courses of multiple agents chemotherapy, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that 3-year survival was 50% in group 1 versus 16.7% in group 2 (P < 0.05). Gross tumor resection was highly significant in prolonging overall survival; patients with localized solitary lesion have a better prognosis, most likely due to increased feasibility of resection. CONCLUSIONS: DSRCT is a rare malignant tumor with poor prognosis. Surgical excision with combination chemotherapy as an adjunct is mandatory for nonmetastatic cases because these modalities used in isolation may have less impact.

[The applications of the repetitive sub-platysmal expansion in repair the defects of skin and soft tissue in face and neck].

OBJECTIVE: To study a new effective approach which repairs large defects of skin and soft tissue in neck and face. METHOD: This procedure accomplishes repetitive sub-platysmal expansion to form large musculocutaneous flap with underlying pedicel. The surgeon slides it toward neck and face to repair the defects of skin and soft tissue. RESULT: Eleven patients, who had such defects in neck, face, cheek, chin or submental skin and soft tissue, underwent this treatment. All the flaps survive with no complications of blood supply deficiency or necrosis. The short-term and long-term results are both satisfying. CONCLUSION: This method, making repetitive sub-platysmal expansion to form musculocutaneous flap and then slide it toward neck/face to repair large defects of skin and soft tissue, proves to be safe and reliable. And appropriate cases and strict operations are important.