Prevention of Local Tumor Recurrence After Surgery by Thermosensitive Gel-Based Chemophotothermal Therapy in Mice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Local recurrence of cancer after surgery has long been a tough problem. In the present study, thermosensitive gel-based chemophotothermal therapy was applied to prevent the recurrence of liver cancer after surgery. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were used as first-level carrier to co-load doxorubicin (DOX) and ICG. Then, the drug-loaded MSNs (D-I@MSN) were incorporated into poloxamer gel. A mimic model of liver cancer recurrence after surgery was prepared by subcutaneously injecting H22 cells into the armpit of mice. Then the two-level composite gel (D-I@MSN/gel) was also subcutaneously injected at the same site before the formation of tumor, followed by 808 nm laser irradiation. RESULTS: The loading efficiency and entrapment efficiency of DOX were as high as 8.85% and 96.9%, and that of ICG were 9.24% and 99.3%, respectively. The results of in vitro cytotoxicity showed that cell viability in D-I@MSN+Laser group was only 5.8% after being irradiated by 808 nm laser for 5 minutes (0.5 W/cm2 ). In animal studies, tumor formation (tumor recurrence) was greatly inhibited in D-I@MSN+Laser group. CONCLUSIONS: The thermosensitive gel-based chemophotothermal therapy showed excellent safety and efficacy when applied in the prevention of mimic local tumor replase after surgery in mice, presenting its great potential clinically. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Inhibitory effects of enalaprilat on rat cardiac fibroblast proliferation via ROS/P38MAPK/TGF-ß1 signaling pathway.

Enalaprilat (Ena.), an angiotensin II (Ang II) converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), can produce some therapeutic effects on hypertension, ventricular hypertrophy and myocardial remodeling in clinic, but its precise mechanism, especially its signaling pathways remain elusive. In this study, cardiac fibroblasts (CFb) was isolated by the trypsin digestion method; a BrdU proliferation assay was adopted to determine cell proliferation; an immunofluorescence assay was used to measure intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS); immunocytochemistry staining and Western blotting assay were used to detect phosphorylated p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (p-p38MAPK) and transforming growth factor-ß(1) (TGF-ß(1)) protein expression, respectively. The results showed that Ang II (10(-7) M) stimulated the cardiac fibroblast proliferation which was inhibited by NAC (an antioxidant), SB203580 (a p38MAPK inhibitor) or enalaprilat; Ang II caused an burst of intracellular ROS level within thirty minutes, an increase in p-p38MAPK (3.6-fold of that in the control group), as well as an elevation of TGF-ß(1) meantime; NAC, an antioxidant, and enalaprilat treatment attenuated cardiac fibroblast proliferation induced by Ang II and decreased ROS and p-p38MAPK protein levels in rat cardiac fibroblast; SB203580 lowered TGF-ß(1) protein expression in rats' CFb in a dose-dependent manner. It could be concluded that enalaprilat can inhibit the cardiac fibroblast proliferation induced by Ang II via blocking ROS/P38MAPK/TGF-ß(1) signaling pathways and the study provides a theoretical proof for the application of ACEIs in treating myocardial fibrosis and discovering the primary mechanism through which ACEIs inhibit CFb proliferation.

[Population characterization of Balantidium coli from pigs using ITS1-5.8S rRNA-ITS2 sequence].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the species and genotypes of Balantidium isolated from pigs in Henan province, China. METHODS: Scatoscopy and the modified DMEM media were used to isolate trophozoites of Balantidium from pig feces. The ITS1-5.8S rRNA-ITS2-based molecular marker method, Acridine orange staining ( AO) and microscopic observation were used to determine the population characteristics among different isolates of B. coli from various pigs farms. RESULTS: We isolated 15 isolates from the pigs at diagnosis in the Animal Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology from the pig farms of the 8 counties or cities of the west of Henan province in total, and all of them belong to the same species B. coli. MJ-2 and SX-1 isolates were genotype A of B. coli, and the remaining 13 isolates were genotype B. Trophozoites of MJ-2 and SX-1 were bigger, moved more slowly and lower density in feces and in vitro culture than other 13 isolates, while structures of their nuclei were not different. CONCLUSION: Both genotype A and B of B. coli are present in the pig farms of the west of Henan province, China, and genotype B is the determinant population in pigs farms. These findings could provide an important implication for the effective control of balantidiosis of human and other hosts.

Application of NGS in Diagnosis of Tuberculous Pleurisy with Multiple Negative Tests: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculous pleurisy is inflammation caused by direct infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and/or delayed allergic reaction of the pleura to MTB thallus components. The diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy is mainly confirmed by bacterial culture, smear staining or histopathology, but has some clinical limitations. Next-generation sequencing (NGS), as a new diagnostic technology, has good application prospects in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. CASE PRESENTATION: A patient admitted with right pleural effusion and pneumonia was actively treated with anti-infection, anti-inflammatory and symptomatic support while various etiological tests of right pleural effusion were improved. However, all the etiological tests for MTB infection were negative. At this time, the patient's condition worsened and pleural effusion also appeared on the left side. In order to clarify the cause of the disease as soon as possible and prevent the disease from worsening again, the left and right pleural effusions of the patient were sent for NGS testing. The test results suggested MTB infection, which finally clarified the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy, and the next treatment plan of the patient was timely adjusted. CONCLUSION: NGS is instructive in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy when various conventional tests and imaging methods fail.

Increased osteopontin protein expression may be correlated with poor prognosis in non-small-cell lung cancer: A meta analysis.

AIM: The present meta-nalysis investigates the prognostic value of osteopontin. (OPN) expression in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Web of Science (1945 ~ 2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), PubMed (1966 ~ 2013), EMBASE (1980 ~ 2013), CINAHL (1982 ~ 2013), and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1982 ~ 2013) were searched, without language restrictions, to retrieve studies related to OPN and NSCLC. We compiled carefully selected data and a meta-analysis was conducted using STATA software (Version 12.0, Stata Corporation, and College Station, Texas USA). Hazard ratios (HR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Ten clinical cohort studies were selected for statistical analysis, representing a total of 1,133 NSCLC patients. The main findings of our meta-analysis are that patients who were OPN-positive had significantly shorter overall survival than OPN-negative patients. (HR = 1.47, 95%CI = 1.15. ~ 1.79,P< 0.001). Ethnicity.stratified analysis revealed a significant correlation between expression levels of OPN and poor prognosis of NSCLC patients among both Caucasians and Asians. (Asians: HR = 1.53, 95%CI = 0.95. ~ 2.11, P < 0.001; Caucasians: HR = 1.56, 95%CI = 1.08. ~ 2.03, P < 0.001; respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The present meta-analysis is consistent with the hypothesis that increased expression of OPN protein may be significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC.