Selenium alleviates the adverse effects of microplastics on kale by regulating photosynthesis, redox homeostasis, secondary metabolism and hormones.

Kale is a functional food with anti-cancer, antioxidant, and anemia prevention properties. The harmful effects of the emerging pollutant microplastic (MP) on plants have been widely studied, but there is limited research how to mitigate MP damage on plants. Numerous studies have shown that Se is involved in regulating plant resistance to abiotic stresses. The paper investigated impact of MP and Se on kale growth, photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism, phytochemicals, and endogenous hormones. Results revealed that MP triggered a ROS burst, which led to breakdown of antioxidant system in kale, and had significant toxic effects on photosynthetic system, biomass, and accumulation of secondary metabolites, as well as a significant decrease in IAA and a significant increase in GA. Under MP supply, Se mitigated the adverse effects of MP on kale by increasing photosynthetic pigment content, stimulating function of antioxidant system, enhancing secondary metabolite synthesis, and modulating hormonal networks.

Waterlogging faced by bulbil expansion improved the growth of Pinellia ternata and its effect reinforced by brassinolide.

The bulbil expansion of P. ternata is a key period for its yield formation, and the process of bulbil expansion is often subjected to short-term heavy precipitation. It is not clear whether the short-term waterlogging can affect bulbil expansion. Brassinolide (BR) is widely believed to enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stress. The study investigated the effects of normal water (C), waterlogging (W), waterlogging + BR (W + B), waterlogging + propiconazole (W + P) on P. ternata at the bulbil expansion period in order to assess P. ternata's ability to cope with waterlogging during the bulbil expansion stage and the regulation effects of BR on the process. The biomass of P. ternata was significantly increased after waterlogging. W treatment significantly reduced the H2O2 and MDA contents, the rate of O2⋅- production and the activities of antioxidant enzymes compared with the C group. AsA and GSH contents were significantly reduced by W treatment. However, the ratios of AsA/DHA and GSH/GSSG were slightly affected by W treatment. The rate of O2∙- production and H2O2 content in W + B group were significantly lower than those in W group. The POD, APX, and GR activities, and GSH content in W + B group were evidently increased compared with the W group. Soluble sugar and active ingredients contents were significantly increased after waterlogging, and the enhancement was reinforced by BR. In conclusion, waterlogging reduced oxidative stress in P. ternata under the experimental conditions. BR treatment under waterlogging had a positive effect on P. ternata by enhancing antioxidant capacity and promoting the accumulation of soluble sugars and active ingredients.

Corrigendum to "Suppression of IL-6 Gene by shRNA Augments Gemcitabine Chemosensitization in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Cells".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2018/3195025.].

Small cell carcinoma of the bladder: the characteristics of molecular alterations, treatment, and follow-up.

Small cell carcinoma of the bladder (SCCB) is a rare disease associated with high invasiveness and mortality. Histologically, SCCB is difficult to distinguish from small cell lung cancer (SCLC); however, it shares more similar molecular alterations with urothelial carcinoma (UC). As a result, now, the widely accepted theory about the cells of origin is that SCCB and UC probably have a common clone origin. Even the former probably comes from a preexisting UC. At present, given its rarity, early diagnoses, treatments, and follow-ups are not well established, which are vital to patients with SCCB. Inspirationally, in recent years, with the development of molecular diagnostic methods, molecular alterations of SCCB have been understood partially, which are propitious to excavate new potential therapeutic strategies and establish sound follow-ups. Therefore, the future will be light for patients with SCCB.

Medical Cannabinoids for Cancer Cachexia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Cancer cachexia (CCA) is an intractable and ineffective metabolic syndrome that attacks 50-80% of cancer patients. It reduces patient's life quality, affects the efficacy of treatment, and then increases their mortality; however, there are no established therapeutic strategies for CCA in the world. In this study, we assess the positive and negative effects of cannabinoid in the treatment of CCA. METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and PubMed up to December 2017. RESULTS: Of the 256 screened studies, three studies with a total of 592 participants were included. Compared with placebo, cannabinoid increased the appetite (MD 0.27, 95% CI -0.51 to 1.04; n= 3) but failed to improve the overall quality of life (QOL; MD -12.39, 95% CI [-24.21 to -0.57; n = 2), and a total of 441 patients had 607 adverse events (AEs; 496 in the cannabinoid group and 111 in the placebo group). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis showed cannabinoid is effective in increasing appetite in cancer patients. However, it declines the quality of life, which may be due to the side effects of cannabinoid.

Efficacy and safety of gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy for advanced pancreatic cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical randomized phase III trials.

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer is a common digestive neoplasm with a high fatality rate. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical randomized phase III trials to explore the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy versus gemcitabine monotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies. Data were collected for the period from January 1, 2000 to August 20, 2018. Hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) were used as main evaluation parameters. Results: A total of eight eligible studies with 3,586 individuals were included in the present meta-analysis. The results showed that the combination of gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy had a significant effect on progression-free survival (HR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86 - 1.00, P = 0.04), but led to no significant difference in the overall survival (HR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.88 - 1.05, P = 0.38). In terms of safety, gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy did not increase the rate of grade 3-4 common adverse effects except for hypertension. Conclusions: Although gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy might prolong the progression-free survival in locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer, these successful results did not translate into a significant improvement in the overall survival or change in the clinical guidelines.

New Prospect for Cancer Cachexia: Medical Cannabinoid.

Cachexia is a common term for the wasting symptoms which may appear in almost every chronic illness, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and cancer. Cancer cachexia (CCA) is a result of the interaction between the host and the tumor, mainly manifested in short-term wasting, malnutrition, and so on. Due to the chronic food shortages, absorption dysfunction and metabolic disorders, all of these eventually lead to hypoimmunity, organ failure, and higher susceptibility to pathogenic microorganisms. And then increased morbidity and mortality rates as well as reduced tolerance to anti-cancer treatments will be resulted in patients with CCA. Up to now, no standard guidelines have been established for cachexia treatment. Moreover, progestagens, the only drugs approved by FDA for cancer-related cachexia, can only increase adipose tissue and have not been confirmed to augment lean body mass. Cannabinoid, such as Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol, is one of a class of diverse chemical compounds. Previous studies have showed that cannabinoid had considerable potential to improve the appetite, body weight, body fat level, caloric intake, mood, quality of life in kinds of diseases. This review will elaborate the anti-CCA role of cannabinoid and explore that whether cannabinoid is effective for CCA and provide a basis for guiding clinical drug use.

Diagnostic Value of CA 19-9 and Carcinoembryonic Antigen for Pancreatic Cancer: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: CA 19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are widely used for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The purpose of the present study was to compare the diagnostic value of CA 19-9 with CEA for pancreatic cancer. METHODS: The studies were obtained from electronic searches conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases until December 2017. The keywords included diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, CA 19-9, and CEA. The ratio of sensitivity, the specificity, the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and the summary of the receiver operating characteristic (SROC) with regard to CA 19-9 and CEA were measured using the random effects model. The current study included 13 studies that comprised 4,537 participants and 1,277 patients with pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: The levels of CA 19-9 for use for the detection of pancreatic cancer were associated with higher sensitivity (ratio of sensitivity: 1.54; 1.31-1.81; P < 0.001), DOR (DOR: 3.50; 95% CI: 2.24-5.45; P < 0.001), and AUC (ratio of AUC: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.15-1.33; P < 0.001) compared with the variable CEA, while no significant difference between CA 19-9 and CEA was noted with regard to specificity (ratio of specificity: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.89-1.06; P = 0.517). The findings of the subgroup analyses suggested that different cutoff values of CA 19-9 and CEA might affect the diagnostic value. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study indicated that CA 19-9 levels were associated with higher sensitivity, DOR, and AUC compared with the corresponding levels of CEA with regard to the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Research progress of the clinicopathologic features of lung adenosquamous carcinoma.

Adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) of the lung, a biphasic malignant tumor arising from lung tissue, is a special subtype of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with low incidence but high tendency of invasion and poor prognosis. ASC contains components of lung adenocarcinoma (AC) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, there is a remarkable difference between ASC and other NSCLCs in clinical features, suggesting that ASC is not a simple mixture of AC and SCC, but is rather a more complex carcinoma with a unique molecular phenotype. At present, the research on ASC is still rare, mostly because of its complicated molecular mechanism and unclear pathological origin. The lack of cognition of ASC limits its early diagnosis and treatment, and a set of mature and effective treatment programs has not been proposed yet. In-depth study of the molecular characteristics and clinical features of ASC will not only help to better understand the scientific issues, including phenotype switching of lung cancer, the origin of tumor development, and tumor heterogeneity, but also contribute to the development of its individualized treatment. This review summarizes the recent studies concerning the clinicopathologic features and the molecular mechanisms of ASC to further facilitate the development of its individualized treatment.

Predictive biomarkers for tumor immune checkpoint blockade.

The development of immune checkpoint inhibitors represented by PD-1 and PD-L1 has provided new hope for the treatment of advanced cancer patients. However, there are no effective predictive biomarkers, which have caused many limitations to the clinical application of immune checkpoint inhibitors. This paper combines recent domestic and international research as well as clinical trials to discuss the current status and progress of PD-L1 expression as a biomarker for tumor immunotherapy and also to discuss whether tumor mutation burden, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, tumor cell gene expression profiling, or peripheral blood markers would be a potential predictive biomarker for novel tumor immunotherapy. So, a brief review on this hot topic of predictive biomarkers for tumor immunotherapy is conducted.

Suppression of IL-6 Gene by shRNA Augments Gemcitabine Chemosensitization in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Cells.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma has an exceedingly poor prognosis, accounting for five-year survival of less than 5%. Presently, improving the efficacy of pancreatic adenocarcinoma treatment has been the focus of medical researchers worldwide. Recently, it has been suggested that deregulation of interleukin- (IL-) 6 is caused by a key gene involved in the beginning and development of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Herein, we investigated whether suppression of IL-6 could augment gemcitabine sensitivity in the PANC-1 cells. We found considerably higher expression of IL-6 in pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissues than that in the adjacent nontumorous tissues. Suppression of IL-6 by shRNA resulted in apoptosis as well as inhibition of cell proliferation and tumorigenicity. In addition, suppression of IL-6 remarkably promoted antitumor effect of gemcitabine, indicating that the combination of shRNA targeting IL-6 with gemcitabine may provide a potential clinical approach for pancreatic cancer therapy.

Maxillary Metastasis of Esophageal Cancer: Report of the First Case and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer (EC) is a common digestive system tumor, characterized by high invasion, apparent lethality, and poor prognosis. Direct diffusion is the major metastatic mechanism of early EC, whereas advanced EC is spread mainly by lymphatic metastasis, but also can be transferred to the liver, lungs, bones, and so on, by hematogenous metastasis. The incidence of bone metastasis in esophageal cancer is low, and maxillary metastasis of EC is more rare. OBJECTIVE: To explore the differential diagnosis in ECMM, the rare metastasis of EC, and the possible mechanisms and predictors of bone metastasis. METHODS: The clinical materials of a male patient with maxillary metastasis of esophageal cancer (ECMM) were analyzed. Then, the possible mechanism of the ECMM was discussed. CONCLUSION: ECMM may belong to the hematogenous metastasis. The early detection of rare sites of metastasis of EC should be prioritized in tumor marker detection, imaging, pathology, and other diagnostic techniques.

Correlation between p-STAT3 overexpression and prognosis in lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown the correlation between p-STAT3 overexpression and prognosis in a variety of human tumors. However, their correlation in lung cancer remains controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the correlation between p-STAT3 overexpression and prognosis in lung cancer patients. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, and WanFang Data to identify relevant studies. Two reviewers independently screened the literature search results, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using Review Manager 5.3 and STATA 14 software. A random-effect model was employed to evaluate all related pooled results. Statistical heterogeneity of each study was assessed by I2. Publication bias was determined by funnel plot and the Begg's or Egger's tests. RESULTS: Eventually, 13 studies were included in present meta-analysis. Among these 13 studies, 8 studies were associated with the overall survival of lung cancer and 10 studies with other clinicopathological characteristics. The results of this meta-analysis suggested that p-STAT3 overexpression may be a poor prognosis biomarker in lung cancer (HR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.04-1.46; P = 0.02). In terms of other clinicopathological characteristics, p-STAT3 overexpression was more frequent to advanced TNM stages ranging from III to IV (OR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.13-3.27; P = 0.02) and lymphatic node metastasis (OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.20-2.72; P = 0.004). But, it was not associated with tumor differentiation (OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.44-1.53; P = 0.54). CONCLUSION: p-STAT3 overexpression has significant correlation with poorer overall survival of lung cancer patients, as well as with more advanced TNM stages and lymph node metastasis. Thus, it may serve a biomarker for poor prognosis in lung cancer. Nevertheless, our findings should be confirmed by large prospective studies.

Antitumour bioactive peptides isolated from marine organisms.

Marine organisms are an important source of antitumour active substances. Thus, pharmaceutical research in recent years has focused on exploring new antitumour drugs derived from marine organisms, and, many peptide drugs with strong antitumour activities have been successfully extracted. Based on different mechanisms, this paper reviews the research on several typical antitumour bioactive peptides in marine drugs and the latest progress therein. Additionally, the development prospects for these antitumour bioactive peptide-based drugs are discussed so as to provide a reference for future research in this field.

Motor patterns of the small intestine explained by phase-amplitude coupling of two pacemaker activities: the critical importance of propagation velocity.

Phase-amplitude coupling of two pacemaker activities of the small intestine, the omnipresent slow wave activity generated by interstitial cells of Cajal of the myenteric plexus (ICC-MP) and the stimulus-dependent rhythmic transient depolarizations generated by ICC of the deep muscular plexus (ICC-DMP), was recently hypothesized to underlie the orchestration of the segmentation motor pattern. The aim of the present study was to increase our understanding of phase-amplitude coupling through modeling. In particular the importance of propagation velocity of the ICC-DMP component was investigated. The outcome of the modeling was compared with motor patterns recorded from the rat or mouse intestine from which propagation velocities within the different patterns were measured. The results show that the classical segmentation motor pattern occurs when the ICC-DMP component has a low propagation velocity (<0.05 cm/s). When the ICC-DMP component has a propagation velocity in the same order of magnitude as that of the slow wave activity (∼1 cm/s), cluster type propulsive activity occurs which is in fact the dominant propulsive activity of the intestine. Hence, the only difference between the generation of propagating cluster contractions and the Cannon-type segmentation motor pattern is the propagation velocity of the low-frequency component, the rhythmic transient depolarizations originating from the ICC-DMP. Importantly, the proposed mechanism explains why both motor patterns have distinct rhythmic waxing and waning of the amplitude of contractions. The hypothesis is brought forward that the velocity is modulated by neural regulation of gap junction conductance within the ICC-DMP network.