Effect of low-dose bevacizumab on health-related quality of life in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma: A retrospective clinical study.

BACKGROUND: We retrospectively analyzed the effects of low-dose bevacizumab (BEV) combined with temozolomide (TMZ) on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (rHGG). METHODS: A total of 129 patients with rHGG were included in this study. Patients were divided into a combination group and TMZ group based on the treatment they received. The Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and EORTC Brain Cancer Module (QLQ-BN20) were used to evaluate HRQL in all patients before and after treatment. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-squared test. The data for all continuous variables were first tested for a normal distribution. If the data conformed to a normal distribution, a T test was used for comparison. If the data did not conform to a normal distribution, the rank-sum test was used. RESULTS: There were differences in PFS and PFS-6 between the BEV + TMZ and TMZ groups (P＜0.05). However, there was no difference in the OS between the two groups (P＞0.05). The BEV + TMZ group performed better than the TMZ group in both the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20. In addition, the KPS score was higher in the BEV + TMZ group than in the TMZ group. Steroid doses given were lower in the BEV + TMZ group than in the TMZ group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose BEV + TMZ can relieve the clinical symptoms of rHGG patients, reduce their steroid dose, improve HRQL, and prolong PFS, but does not bear any benefit on OS.

Insight on the hub gene associated signatures and potential therapeutic agents in epilepsy and glioma.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between epilepsy and glioma has long been widely recognized, but the mechanisms of interaction remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the shared genetic signature and treatment strategies between epilepsy and glioma. METHODS: We subjected hippocampal tissue samples from patients with epilepsy and glioma to transcriptomic analysis to identify differential genes and associated pathways, respectively. Weight gene co-expression network (WGCNA) analysis was performed to identify conserved modules in epilepsy and glioma and to obtain differentially expressed conserved genes. Prognostic and diagnostic models were built using lasso regression. We also focused on building transcription factor-gene interaction networks and assessing the proportion of immune invading cells in epilepsy patients. Finally, drug compounds were inferred using a drug signature database (DSigDB) based on core targets. RESULTS: We discovered 88 differently conserved genes, most of which are involved in synaptic signaling and calcium ion pathways. We used lasso regression model to reduce 88 characteristic genes, and finally screened out 14 genes (EIF4A2, CEP170B, SNPH, EPHA4, KLK7, GNG3, MYOP, ANKRD29, RASD2, PRRT3, EFR3A, SGIP1, RAB6B, CNNM1) as the features of glioma prognosis model whose ROC curve is 0.9. Then, we developed a diagnosis model for epilepsy patients using 8 genes (PRRT3, RASD2, MYPOP, CNNM1, ANKRD29, GNG3, SGIP1, KLK7) with area under ROC curve (AUC) values near 1. According to the ssGSEA method, we observed an increase in activated B cells, eosinophils, follicular helper T cells and type 2T helper cells, and a decrease in monocytes in patients with epilepsy. Notably, the great majority of these immune cells showed a negative correlation with hub genes. To reveal the transcriptional-level regulation mechanism, we also built a TF-gene network. In addition, we discovered that patients with glioma-related epilepsy may benefit more from gabapentin and pregabalin. CONCLUSION: This study reveals the modular conserved phenotypes of epilepsy and glioma and constructs effective diagnostic and prognostic markers. It provides new biological targets and ideas for the early diagnosis and effective treatment of epilepsy.

The benefit of bevacizumab therapy in patients with refractory vasogenic edema caused by brain metastasis from lung and colon cancers.

Objective: This retrospective study investigated the efficacy of bevacizumab in refractory brain edema caused by brain metastasis from lung cancer and colon cancer. Methods: A total of 72 patients with refractory brain edema were divided into the lung cancer and colon cancer groups according to their primary tumor. All patients received a single bevacizumab treatment for refractory brain edema. MRI was performed 1 week before the treatment and 4 weeks after the treatment. The edema and tumor volumes were calculated using imaging modalities. Results: After a single bevacizumab treatment, the refractory brain edema of 61 patients was controlled, and the clinical symptoms of 65 patients were improved. The average edema volume before treatment was 201,708.97 ± 61,426.04 mm3, which has decreased to 116,947.01 ± 43,879.16 mm3 after treatment (P < 0.05). After treatment, the edema index decreased from 25.97 ± 7.15 to 17.32 ± 5.24 (P < 0.05).We found that brain edema was controlled in 40 patients (93.02%) in the lung cancer group and 21 patients (72.41%) in the colon cancer group (P<0.05). In addition, 22 patients (88.00%) in the radiotherapy group achieved edema control, compared to 39 (82.98%) in the non-radiotherapy group (P>0.05). Nine patients experienced hypertension after treatment, two patients exhibited decreased platelet counts, and no hemorrhage cases were observed. Conclusion: Bevacizumab can significantly alleviate refractory brain edema, and there is a significant difference in the efficacy of bevacizumab on refractory brain edema caused by brain metastasis from lung and colon cancers.

Efficacy of Bevacizumab in High-Grade Meningiomas: A Retrospective Clinical Study.

Objective: We investigated the role of bevacizumab (BV) in high-grade meningiomas (HGMs) by retrospective analysis. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 139 patients with HGMs. The chi-square test was used to compare progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) between patients who received BV and those who did not. According to whether they received BV treatment, we divided the patients into the BV group and non-BV group, and the effect of BV on PFS and OS was compared. In addition, we compared Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and steroid doses between the BV and non-BV groups. Results: There were statistically differences in PFS and OS between the BV and non-BV groups at 12 and 36 months after surgery (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in PFS and OS between the two groups at 60 months postoperatively (P>0.05). Using survival curves drawn by the Kaplan Meier method, we found that the PFS and OS of the BV group were greater than those of the non-BV group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: BV could improve PFS and OS at 12 and 36 months after surgery in patients with HGMs. In addition, BV was associated with lower preoperative steroid use.

Efficacy of bevacizumab in the treatment of refractory brain edema of metastatic tumors from different sources.

Aim: This retrospective study investigated bevacizumab in treating refractory brain edema in patients with brain-metastatic tumors from different sources.Methods: From January 2013 to December 2019, 83 patients with brain metastases and refractory brain edema were treated with bevacizumab. They were divided into lung cancer group and breast cancer group. The clinical data, the efficacy, and the side effects of bevacizumab were recorded. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed before and after bevacizumab treatment. The volume of tumor and brain edema were measured respectively.Results: After treatment with bevacizumab, 72 cases of refractory brain edema were significantly relieved. The edema control rate was 93.75% in the lung cancer group and 77.14% in the breast cancer group (P < .05). The brain edema volume was significantly reduced after bevacizumab treatment from 198,286.84 ± 60,564.40 to 114,677.71 ± 42,337.38mm3 (P < .01), and the edema index was reduced from 26.14 ± 7.24 to 17.18 ± 5.14 (P < .01). Hypertension was observed in 14 cases.Conclusion: Bevacizumab could significantly reduce refractory brain edema with a control rate of 86.75%. The efficacy of bevacizumab in the treatment of refractory brain edema caused by lung cancer is better than that of breast cancer.

Multi-spectral techniques and molecular docking to investigation of the interaction between ferulic acid and pepsin.

In this work, the interaction between ferulic acid (FA) and pepsin was explored by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, synchronous fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and molecular docking. The results of fluorescence revealed that FA had a strong ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of pepsin through a static quenching procedure. The binding constant and the number of binding sites were determined. Thermodynamic dates and docking information suggest that FA combine with pepsin is mainly driven via electrostatic force. It also requires synergistic drive of hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding. The consequences from UV-Vis, synchronous, CD and FT-IR spectra measurements manifested that the secondary structure of pepsin was changed and the microenvironments of certain amino acid residues was modulated by the binding of FA. FA induced conformational changes in pepsin. The ß-sheet, α-Helix, and Random fractions of pepsin increased and the ß-turn decreased with the treatment of FA. In addition, analysis of pepsin activity assay measurements confirmed that FA reduced enzymatic activity of pepsin within the investigated concentrations. This work studied the inhibitory effects and revealed mechanisms of the interaction between FA and pepsin in vitro, and suggested that FA could be a potential component to affect the structure and properties of digestive enzyme.

One-step synthesis of fluorescent graphene quantum dots as an effective fluorescence probe for vanillin detection.

This study proposes an easy bottom-up method for the synthesis of photoluminescent (PL) graphene quantum dots (GQDs) using citric acid as the carbon source. The obtained GQDs were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The synthesised GQDs have an average diameter of 4.76 ± 0.96 nm, with a lattice spacing of 0.24 nm. The GQDs exhibit excitation-independent PL emission. The surface of the GQDs has a variety of functional groups (hydroxyl, carboxyl, and ether groups etc.) to enhance its stability and water solubility. In this study, a fluorescent "on-off" sensor is developed for the selective detection of vanillin in chocolates using GQDs as a fluorescent probe. Under optimal conditions, fluorescence intensity of the GQDs has a good linear relationship with the vanillin concentration (0.0-2.1 × 10-5 mol L-1), with a limit of detection of 2.5 × 10-8 mol L-1. For detection in real samples, the percent recovery of vanillin and the relative standard deviation were 88.0-108.9% and 0.90-5.4%, respectively. Thus, this GQDs-based method has good accuracy and precision and can be used for vanillin detection in practical applications.

Synthesis of antibacterial gold nanoparticles with different particle sizes using chlorogenic acid.

This study proposes a strategy for the rapid and simple synthesis of gold nanoparticles (CGA-AuNPs) with different particle sizes using trisodium citrate (TSC) as the first reducing agent and chlorogenic acid (CGA) as the second reducing agent. And the antibacterial activity of CGA-AuNPs with different particle sizes in vitro was checked by measuring the growth curves of Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923). The CGA-AuNPs obtained by the analysis of transmission electron microscope (TEM) images and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra were mainly spherical, and the average diameters were 18.94 ± 1.81, 30.42 ± 6.32, 37.86 ± 3.80 and 48.72 ± 6.47 nm, respectively. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) showed that these nanoparticles were polycrystalline gold structures. Both CGA-AuNPs and CGA have excellent antibacterial activity, and CGA-AuNPs with small particle size has a stronger antibacterial effect than the larger one. UV-Vis absorption spectrum data revealed that the synthesized CGA-AuNPs without adding other stabilizing agent were well maintained even after 26 days. This work provides a special idea to regulate the size of CGA-AuNPs with CGA by chemical synthesis, and the potent antibacterial activity of these CGA-AuNPs may be applied in the field of antibacterial in the future.