Local resection for rectal tumors: comparative study of transanal endoscopic microsurgery vs. conventional transanal excision - the experience in China.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To compare the operative range,safety and therapeutic effect of local resection of rectal tumors by using transanal endoscopic microsurgery and conventional transanal excision. METHODOLOGY: We reviewed data from 76 patients treated using conventional TAE during the period from January 2003 to July 2006 and 53 patients treated using TEM during the period from September 2006 to February 2010 in the Ruijin Hospital affiliated with the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. RESULTS: Age, gender, tumor size, blood loss and postoperative hospital stay were similar in the 2 groups. The median distance from the anal verge was significantly higher in the TEM group than in the TAE group. Operation time was significantly longer in the TEM group than in the TAE group.During the median follow-up of 40 months, the LRR in the TEM group was lower than that in the TAE group,especially for tumors that are larger (>3cm) and located higher (>8cm from the anal verge) and pT1 carcinomas. CONCLUSIONS: TEM is a safe, effective and minimally invasive surgical technique for the treatment of early rectal neoplasms. Compared to conventional TAE,TEM has a broader operative range and a better therapeutic effect.

Serum biomarkers of colorectal cancer with AU and NP20 chips including a diagnosis model.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Colorectal cancer, including colon cancer and rectal cancer, is often diagnosed at an intermediate or late stage with poor prognosis. Hence, there is an urgent need for new biomarkers for the early detection of colorectal cancer. Proteomics in combination with other techniques is rapidly being developed as a potential route in tumor diagnosis. METHODOLOGY: A case-control study was performed on serum proteomics of colorectal cancer in the Chinese population using magnetic beads associated with surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry with gold chips and normal phase 20 chips. By serum protein profiling, peak intensities between colorectal cancer and normal controls were compared, as well as the different clinical stages of colorectal, colon or rectal cancer. RESULTS: Experiments with NP20 and AU chips showed two protein peaks, m/z=13732-4 and m/z=13912-3, which could discriminate colorectal samples from normal controls. Early- and late-stage colorectal cancer could also be easily distinguished, though the distinction between colon cancer and rectal cancer was less clear. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the use of magnetic beads combined with a surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization protein chip is a promising route for the diagnosis of early colorectal cancer.

Upregulated expression of LOX is a novel independent prognostic marker of worse outcome in gastric cancer patients after curative surgery.

Lysyl oxidase (LOX) initiates the enzymatic stage of collagen and elastin cross-linking. It also has intracellular functions involved in the regulation of cell differentiation, motility/migration and gene transcription. Aberrant expression of the LOX gene has been reported in multiple tumors. However, the correlation of its expression with clinicopathological parameters and its prognostic significance in gastric cancer remains largely unknown. In order to address this problem, total RNA of paired tissue samples (n=10) and a tissue microarray containing 161 paired tissues from patients with gastric cancers at different stages were collected. Quantitative real-time PCR and immunochemistry assay were conducted to investigate the expression of LOX. Based on the results, LOX mRNA was increased in gastric cancer tissues compared with the adjacent normal mucosa. Immunohistochemical detection revealed that expression of LOX was associated with depth of tumor invasion (P<0.05), lymph node status (P<0.05), TNM stage (P<0.05) and survival (P<0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed that positive expression of LOX (P=0.026) was an independent prognostic marker for survival in patients with gastric cancer.