ABHD6 suppresses colorectal cancer progression via AKT signaling pathway.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to be a prevalent malignancy, posing a significant risk to human health. The involvement of alpha/beta hydrolase domain 6 (ABHD6), a serine hydrolase family member, in CRC development was suggested by our analysis of clinical data. However, the role of ABHD6 in CRC remains unclear. This study seeks to elucidate the clinical relevance, biological function, and potential molecular mechanisms of ABHD6 in CRC. We investigated the role of ABHD6 in clinical settings, conducting proliferation, migration, and cell cycle assays. To determine the influence of ABHD6 expression levels on Oxaliplatin sensitivity, we also performed apoptosis assays. RNA sequencing and KEGG analysis were utilized to uncover the potential molecular mechanisms of ABHD6. Furthermore, we validated its expression levels using Western blot and reactive oxygen species (ROS) detection assays. Our results demonstrated that ABHD6 expression in CRC tissues was notably lower compared to adjacent normal tissues. This low expression correlated with a poorer prognosis for CRC patients. Moreover, ABHD6 overexpression impeded CRC cell proliferation and migration while inducing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. In vivo experiments revealed that downregulation of ABHD6 resulted in an increase in tumor weight and volume. Mechanistically, ABHD6 overexpression inhibited the activation of the AKT signaling pathway and decreased ROS levels in CRC cells, suggesting the role of ABHD6 in CRC progression via the AKT signaling pathway. Our findings demonstrate that ABHD6 functions as a tumor suppressor, primarily by inhibiting the AKT signaling pathway. This role establishes ABHD6 as a promising prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for CRC patients.

Risk factors of early postoperative bowel obstruction for patients undergoing selective colorectal surgeries.

OBJECTIVE: Postoperative bowel obstruction was one of the most severe complications in patients who received colorectal surgeries. This study aimed to explore risk factors of early postoperative obstruction and to construct a nomogram to predict the possibility of occurrence. METHODS: The records of 1437 patients who underwent elective colorectal surgery in Peking University People's Hospital from 2015 to 2020 were retrospectively collected. Risk factors of early postoperative bowel obstruction were identified by logistic regression analysis and a nomogram was then constructed. Bootstrap was applied to verify the stability of the model. RESULTS: COPD, hypothyroidism, probiotic indications, duration of antibiotics, and time to postoperative feeding were identified as independent risk factors and were put into a nomogram for predicting early postoperative bowel obstruction. The nomogram showed robust discrimination, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.894 and was well-calibrated. CONCLUSION: A nomogram including independent risk factors of COPD, hypothyroidism, probiotic indications, duration of antibiotics, and time to postoperative feeding were established to predict the risk of early postoperative bowel obstruction.

Magnetic resonance imaging pelvimetry predicts the technical difficulty of rectal surgery.

BACKGROUND: The relationships between the pelvimetry and technical difficulties in performing rectal surgery for mid-low rectal cancer remain unclear. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-one cases of mid-low rectal cancer patients who underwent sphincter-preserved total mesorectum excision (TME) were analyzed. The data of the pelvimetry and the relative position between trocar site and tumor were measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that the interspinous diameter, the sacrococcygeal distance, and the angle of sacral promontory inclination were significantly associated with the technical difficulty during laparoscopic surgery, but only the interspinous diameter remained an independent risk factor in multivariate analysis. The simulated trocar angle θ was an independent risk factor affecting the operation time during laparoscopic surgery, simulated trocar angle η was significantly related to intraoperative blood loss in both laparoscopic surgery and transanal TME (taTME) surgery groups. CONCLUSION: Interspinous diameter can predict difficulty in laparoscopic surgery and may provide useful information for preoperative planning and consideration of approach.

Radiomics diagnosed histopathological growth pattern in prediction of response and 1-year progression free survival for colorectal liver metastases patients treated with bevacizumab containing chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the capability of a radiomics model, which was designed to identify histopathologic growth pattern (HGP) of colorectal liver metastases (CRLMs) based on contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (ceMDCT), to predict early response and 1-year progression free survival (PFS) in patients treated with bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy. METHODS: Patients with unresectable CRLMs who were treated with bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy were included in this multicenter retrospective study. For each target lesion, the radiomics-diagnosed HGP (RAD_HGP) of desmoplastic (D) pattern or replacement (R) pattern was determined. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess lesion- and patient-based responses according to morphologic response criteria. One-year PFS was calculated using Kaplan-Meier curves. Hazard ratios for 1-year PFS were obtained through Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. RESULTS: Among 119 study patients, 206 D pattern and 140 R pattern lesions were identified. In patients with multiple lesions, 52 had D pattern, 31 had R pattern, and 36 had mixed (D + R) pattern. The area under the curve value for RAD_HGP in predicting early response was 0.707 for lesion-based analysis and 0.720 for patient-based analysis. Patients with D pattern had a significantly longer PFS than patients with R pattern or mixed pattern (P < 0.001). RAD_HGP was the only independent predictor of 1-year PFS. CONCLUSIONS: HGP diagnosed using a radiomics model could be used as an effective predictor of PFS for patients with CRLMs treated with bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy.

Evaluation of anatomical landmarks for transanal total mesorectal excision based on MRI.

BACKGROUND: Transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) is a novel sphincter-preserving procedure for low rectal cancer. This "bottom to up" approach is unfamiliar to colorectal surgeons and the crucial anatomical landmarks also remain unclear. METHODS: Two hundred and five cases of pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from 2015 to 2016 were reviewed. Curvature of posterior mesorectal fascia, distal mesorectal angle, length of posterior mesorectal fascia, main structures around the mesorectum were measured and analyzed. The landmarks identified on MRI were verified in taTME procedures of five rectal cancer patients. RESULTS: The most of acute angles of posterior mesorectal fascia located at the joint of anococcygeal ligament-coccyx. Degree of distal mesorectal angle was independently correlated with gender and degree of angle of anococcygeal ligament-coccyx. Candidate landmarks evaluated by MRI with verification during taTME procedures included: anterior: seminal vesicle for male while cervix for female. And peritoneal reflection was a substitute landmark when cervix was hardly confirmed in operation; posterior: the joint of anococcygeal ligament-coccyx. The area between the joint of anococcygeal ligament-coccyx and S3S4 was a "transitional zone", the level of S3S4 could be the as the terminal landmark of transanal posterior dissection during taTME. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative MRI geometrical measurement of mesorectum might play an important role in evaluating the difficulty of taTME procedure before operation, as well as standardizing landmarks during taTME procedure.