Optical coherence tomography: Promising imaging technique for the diagnosis of oral mucosal diseases.

OBJECTIVE: This review aims to summarize the latest application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in oral mucosal diseases, promoting an accurate and earlier diagnosis of such disorders, which are difficult to be differentiated. SUBJECTIVE AND METHODS: References on the application of OCT in oral mucosal diseases were mainly obtained from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus databases, using the keywords: "optical coherence tomography and 'oral mucosa/oral cancers/oral potentially malignant diseases/oral lichen planus/oral leukoplakia/oral erythroplakia/discoid lupus erythematosus/oral autoimmune bullous diseases/oral ulcers/erythema multiforme/oral mucositis'". RESULTS: It is found that OCT is showing a promising application potential in the early detection, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, monitoring of oral cancer and oral dysplastic lesions, as well as the delineation of tumor margins. OCT is also playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis of oral potentially malignant disorders, oral mucosal bullous diseases, oral ulcerative diseases, erythema multiforme, and the early detection of oral mucositis. CONCLUSION: Optical coherence tomography, as a novel optical technique featured by real-time, noninvasive, dynamic and high-resolution imaging, is of great use to serve as an adjunct tool for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, monitoring and therapy evaluation of oral mucosal diseases.

Distribution characteristics of circulating B cell subpopulations in patients with chronic kidney disease.

This study compared the levels of circulating B cell subpopulations in patients with different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), investigated the effects of haemodialysis (HD) on the B cell-related immune spectrum in patients with end-stage renal disease, and evaluated the link between renal function and immune homeostasis. Overall, 197 patients with CKD (158 non-dialysis patients with CKD stages I-V and 39 end-stage patients undergoing maintenance HD) and 77 healthy controls were included. Compared to healthy controls, patients with CKD stages I-II showed no significant differences except for the proportion of transitional B cells; patients with CKD stage V showed a significant decrease in the proportions of transitional B cells and CD5+ B cells and a significant increase in double-negative (DN) B cells. Compared with early-stage patients with CKD, the absolute count of various B cell subpopulations in advanced-stage patients with CKD showed a significant decrease. The distribution of circulating B cell subpopulations in patients with CKD was significantly altered and was associated with CKD progression. Furthermore, the proportion of DN B cells and CD5+ B cells was inconsistent pre- and post-HD. This in-depth study of the immune status of patients with CKD may have important clinical value.

CD36 relative mean fluorescence intensity of CD105+ nucleated erythroid cells can be used to differentiate myelodysplastic syndrome from megaloblastic anemia.

This study aims to evaluate the differences in CD105+ nucleated erythroid cell (NEC) immunophenotypes between myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and megaloblastic anemia (MA) using multiparameter flow cytometry and to screen potential markers. We analyzed bone marrow sample data from 37 patients with MDS, 35 with MA, 53 with iron-deficiency anemia (anemic controls), and 35 without anemia (normal controls). Compared with normal controls, the MDS and MA groups showed a decrease in the proportion of CD117+CD105+NEC and the relative mean fluorescence intensity (RMFI) of CD71 in CD105+NEC, accompanied by an increase in the coefficient of variation (CV) of CD71 and CD36. Additionally, CD36 RMFI of CD105+NEC increased in the MA group. Compared with anemia controls, the MDS and MA groups showed a significant increase in CD36 CV of CD105+NEC, and the CD36 RMFI in the MA group increased while that in the MDS group decreased. The proportions of CD117+CD105+NEC, CD36 CV, and CD36 RMFI in CD105+NEC differed significantly between MDS and MA groups. Among them, CD36 RMFI had good diagnostic performance (area under the curve: 0.844, 95% confidence interval: 0.753-0.935). CD36 RMFI of CD105+NEC may be a helpful marker in differentiating MDS and MA using multiparameter flow cytometry.

Characteristics of circulating adaptive immune cells in patients with colorectal cancer.

Adaptive immune cells prevent solid tumor progression by targeting and killing tumor cells. However, there are no comprehensive studies on peripheral circulating adaptive immune cell characterization in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients or the effect of tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stages on these cells. In this study, the number, phenotype, and function of different subsets of circulating adaptive immune cells in peripheral blood of CRC patients were analyzed. We found remarkable differences in CRC patients compared with those in healthy controls, including reduced absolute counts of total T cells, helper T lymphocytes (Th), cytotoxic T lymphocytes (Tc), and double-negative T lymphocytes, a decreased proportion of INF-γ+ cells in total T cells and Th, and increased percentages of B cells, plasmablasts, and activated T cells. Compared with early-stage CRC patients, advanced-stage CRC patients showed more severe immunosenescence, which manifested as decreased proportions of CD8+ naive T cells with strong proliferative ability and CD8+ central memory T cells with immune surveillance function. Proportions and absolute counts of CD8+ and CD4+ terminally differentiated effector memory T cells were increased, indicating immunosenescence. The immune cell characteristics analyzed in this study serve as a starting point for further research to determine potential clinical implications.

Association between lactate/albumin ratio and all-cause mortality in patients with acute respiratory failure: A retrospective analysis.

Previous studies have shown that lactate/albumin ratio (LAR) can be used as a prognostic biomarker to independently predict the mortality of sepsis and severe heart failure. However, the role of LAR as an independent prognostic factor in all-cause mortality in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) remains to be clarified. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed 2170 patients with ARF in Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care Database III from 2001 to 2012. By drawing the receiver operating characteristic curve, LAR shows a better predictive value in predicting the 30-day mortality of ARF patients (AUC: 0.646), which is higher than that of albumin (AUC: 0.631) or lactate (AUC: 0.616) alone, and even higher than SOFA score(AUC: 0.642). COX regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier curve objectively and intuitively show that high LAR is a risk factor for patients with ARF, which is positively correlated with all-cause mortality. As an easy-to-obtain and objective biomarker, LAR deserves further verification by multi-center prospective studies.

NCEH1 may be a prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer.

Neutral Cholesterol Ester Hydrolase 1 (NCEH1) is an enzyme involved in ether lipid metabolism, and the NCEH1 gene is overexpressed in a variety of tumors. However, its role in pancreatic cancer remains unknown. Therefore, we compared the gene transcription data of healthy and pancreatic cancer tissues using the Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression databases. R software (v3.6.1) was used for the differential, clinicopathological correlation, and survival analyses. We found that NCEH1 was overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissues compared with that in healthy tissues (P = 1.732 e-50), and that its expression level was related to lymph node metastasis. High NCEH1 expression was associated with poor overall survival (P = 0.002). Using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, we determined that NCEH1 is an independent risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Gene set enrichment analysis identified that NCEH1 overexpression is prominent in cell-cell adhesion junctions, pancreatic cancer, cancer-associated pathways, prostate cancer, and chronic myeloid leukemia. In contrast, low NCEH1 expression correlated to high oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, we conclude that NCEH1 may be a prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer.