Expression of lncRNA TCONS_00027978 in hepatocellular carcinoma and its influence on prognosis and survival.

OBJECTIVE: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to have crucial roles in the regulation of various tumors. Recently, lncRNA TCONS_00027978 (TCONS_00027978) was found to be downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aims at analyzing the value of TCONS_00027978 in valuing the prognosis of HCC patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of TCONS_00027978 was detected using qRT-PCR in 241 hepatocellular specimens and matched adjacent normal tissues. The association between TCONS_00027978 expression levels and clinicopathological factors was examined. Survival and Cox proportional-hazards regression analyses were performed to explore the association between TCONS_00027978 expression levels and prognosis in HCC patients. RESULTS: We found that the TCONS_00027978 expression level was significantly decreased in HCC tissues compared with matched normal tissues (p < 0.01). TCONS_00027978 was positively associated with TNM stage (p = 0.002), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.001) and histologic grade (p = 0.002) in HCC patients. In addition, Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that low levels of TCONS_00027978 expression were associated with poorer overall survival (p = 0.002) and disease-free survival (p =0.001). Subsequently, multivariate analyses indicated that low TCONS_00027978 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for HCC patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to demonstrate the TCONS_00027978 expression as an independent prognostic factor in HCC.

Long term survival of radiotherapy for esophageal cancer: analysis of 1136 patients surviving for more than 5 years.

One thousand one hundred and thirty-six patients surviving for more than five years after radiotherapy were studied. The important prognostic factors are: lesion less than 5 cm in length, lesion located in the upper-third segment and lesion that is radiosensitive. The radiation dose given to long term survivors varies greatly, i.e., 2700 to 9300 rad. Yet, for the sensitive type of lesion, doses lower than 5000 rad could also effect a cure. The delivery of an optimum dose determined by serial examinations during radiotherapy could improve the result of treatment. For local recurrent lesions, the value of a second course of radiation is extremely limited and surgery is the only means to offer a cure. For metastasis in the lymph nodes, radiation offers some hope of cure, although the long term outcome may not be satisfactory. For second primary cancer of the esophagus, aggressive radiation still gives encouraging results.

Flow cytometric analysis DNA content in esophageal carcinoma. Correlation with histologic and clinical features.

Cell nuclear DNA content was determined by flow cytometric analysis in 36 patients with esophageal carcinoma. Aneuploid DNA content was observed in 25 cases (69.4%). The relationships among DNA content, histopathologic features, and clinical characteristics were investigated. The patients with aneuploid DNA content had a high frequency of local lymph node metastasis, invasion to surrounding tissues, poor histologic differentiation, and advanced tumor stages as compared with those patients with diploid DNA content. In contrast to this, there was no correlation in patients' sex, age, and the sites of the disease.

DNA ploidy analysis of effectiveness of radiation therapy for cervical carcinoma.

Cellular DNA content from 30 patients with cervical carcinoma was determined using flow cytometry before and after radiation therapy (RT). The authors attempted to correlate changes in DNA content, tumor response to RT, and post-RT pathologic findings. Before RT, tumors from eight of 30 patients (26.7%) were diploid or near-diploid; tumors from 22 patients (73.3%) were aneuploid. After RT, diploid or near-diploid tumors were found in 23 patients (76.7%), and aneuploid tumors were observed in seven patients (23.3%). Aneuploidy disappeared in 15 of the patient tumors, and complete tumor response (CR) was observed in 13 of these 15 patients (86.7%). Pathologic examinations were negative in 12 of 15 cases and suspicious in one of 15 cases. Of the seven patients whose tumor aneuploidy did not change after RT, CR was observed in only two (28.7%). Pathologic examinations were positive in five of seven cases and suspicious in one of seven cases. The CR for the 22 patients with pre-RT aneuploid tumors was 15 of 22 (68.2%); the CR for the eight patients with pre-RT diploid tumors was two of eight (25%, P less than 0.01). From these data the authors conclude there is a direct correlation between DNA content and radiosensitivity in cervical carcinoma. Aneuploid tumors from these patients were more radiosensitive than diploid tumors, and they patients had a better clinical tumor response and improved pathologic findings.