Treatment outcomes of patients with spinal metastases derived from hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) used to be poor, but it has recently improved, which has meant that clinicians have greater opportunity to treat spinal metastases and the associated epidural spinal cord compression. However, there have been few systematic functional studies about HCC-derived spinal metastases. The treatment outcomes of surgical treatment for HCC-derived metastatic spinal tumors were investigated. METHODS: The post-treatment survival period and pain, paralysis, and disturbance of activities of daily living (ADL) were investigated in 60 patients (surgery 25, conservative treatment 35). RESULTS: The mean post-treatment survival period was 7.4 ± 8.2 months (range 0.3-36 months). Univariate analysis indicated that the following factors influenced survival: the patient's general condition, presence/absence of major internal organ metastasis, serum albumin level, Child-Pugh classification, surgical treatment for spinal metastasis, and bone-modifying agent treatment. In the multivariate analysis of these 6 items, 3 significant factors were extracted: the patient's general condition, the serum albumin level, and bone-modifying agent treatment. Pain significantly improved in both groups (p < 0.001). Paralysis did not change significantly in the surgical group (p = 0.575), but it was significantly aggravated in the conservative treatment group (p = 0.047). The ADL abilities of the surgical group improved significantly (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Most patients exhibited poor survival. In the conservative treatment group, paralysis was significantly aggravated, and little improvement was seen in the patients' ADL abilities. In the surgical group, the patients' ADL abilities improved significantly, but their paralysis did not. Therefore, surgery should be actively performed for HCC-derived spinal metastasis whenever it is indicated.

Combination of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation with transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: observation of clinical effects.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A total of 92 cases of advanced primary liver cancer underwent TACE and RFA treatment from June 2005 to 2011 at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College. A total of 88 cases with complete clinical treatment and follow-up data were divided into two groups: 43 patients treated with TACE (TACE group) and 45 patients that received TACE combined with RFA treatment (TACE + RFA group). After clinical data assessment, tumor size and survival status were not significantly different between the groups as determined by stratified analysis. RESULTS: Before and after surgery, spiral CT radiography and color comparison observed ablation conditions. The tumor necrosis rates after treatment (CR + PR) were 67.4% (29/43) and 91.1% (41/45) for the TACE and combined treatment groups, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The quality of life was significantly improved for patients undergoing TACE + RFA compared with the control group. Survival duration was not significantly different in patients undergoing TACE + RFA compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the effect of RFA combined with TACE treatment was better than TACE alone in treating advanced HCC.

Studies on the embryonic development and larval infection potential of the stomach bot flies, Gasterophilus pecorum.

Endangered Przewalski's horses have faced severe infections from Gasterophilus pecorum (Diptera, Gastrophilidae) in Xinjiang's Kalamaili Nature Reserve (KNR). This study examines G. pecorum's development and infection patterns in embryonic and larval stages, crucial for understanding horse botfly disease in desert grasslands. For the incubation of G. pecorum fertilized eggs, we established the six distinct temperature gradients: 16 °C, 20 °C, 24 °C, 28 °C, 30 °C, and 32 °C. Using the least squares method, we calculated the correlation between the developmental threshold temperature of the eggs and their cumulative effective temperature. Furthermore, we meticulously recorded the survival duration of the larvae across a spectrum of temperature gradients (-20 °C, -10 °C, 4 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C, and 30 °C) and under varying conditions (dark and light). This method allows us to analyze and interpret the impact of these environmental factors on larval survival durations. 1) The formula for predicting the embryonic development period of G. pecorum was N = (182.7 ± 12.03)/[T-(3.191 ± 1.48)], where the developmental threshold temperature was 3.191 ± 1.48 °C, and the effective accumulated temperature was 182.7 ± 12.03 d°C 2) The model describing the relationship between the embryonic development rate and temperature was: y = 0.0001x2+0.0007x+0.0378, demonstrating a positive correlation between the development rate and temperature (R-sq = 0.989, p < 0.001). 3) Larvae in the dark group exhibited a longer survival time, with the longest being 9 months at 4 °C. The adaptation of G. pecorum's embryonic development to cold temperature, combined with the extended survival period of larvae in the egg state, significantly increases the infection potential of G. pecorum in colder climates. This discovery offers essential insights into the predominance of G. pecorum in the KNR region and provides a crucial biological basis for the prevention of myiasis and the conservation of vulnerable species, such as Przewalski's horses.

A postmortem study of demographics and severity of thoracoabdominal injuries among patients attending a teaching hospital in northeast India.

Introduction: The global estimate reflects 4.4 million injury-related deaths every year and the thoracoabdominal region is frequently injured since it is a wide area. Methods: An autopsy-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenient sampling technique for three years. A Chi-square test was conducted for categorical variables. A P value of less than 0.01 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 80 cadavers, the male:female ratio was 1:0.31. The commonest age group was 20-29 years. Victims of road traffic accidents were 54 (67.5%) followed by falls from height 10 (12.5%). External thoracic injuries were commoner than internal and vice versa in abdominal injuries. Liver injuries were major in number. Combined thoracic-abdominal and associated injuries were observed in 67 (83.75%) victims. The commonest cause of death was craniocerebral injury combined with hemorrhagic shock (36.25%). Eighteen (22.5%) victims died on the spot having an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 73.37 followed by a survival time of 1-7 days in 17 (21.25%) cases. A significant correlation was found between ISS and survival period. Conclusion: All thoracic and abdominal injuries represent a possible increase in morbidity and mortality; hence, working toward their prevention and timely intervention is necessary.

Comparative transcriptome analysis between long- and short-term survival after pig-to-monkey cardiac xenotransplantation reveals differential heart failure development.

Cardiac xenotransplantation is the potential treatment for end-stage heart failure, but the allogenic organ supply needs to catch up to clinical demand. Therefore, genetically-modified porcine heart xenotransplantation could be a potential alternative. So far, pig-to-monkey heart xenografts have been studied using multi-transgenic pigs, indicating various survival periods. However, functional mechanisms based on survival period-related gene expression are unclear. This study aimed to identify the differential mechanisms between pig-to-monkey post-xenotransplantation long- and short-term survivals. Heterotopic abdominal transplantation was performed using a donor CD46-expressing GTKO pig and a recipient cynomolgus monkey. RNA-seq was performed using samples from POD60 XH from monkey and NH from age-matched pigs, D35 and D95. Gene-annotated DEGs for POD60 XH were compared with those for POD9 XH (Park et al. 2021). DEGs were identified by comparing gene expression levels in POD60 XH versus either D35 or D95 NH. 1,804 and 1,655 DEGs were identified in POD60 XH versus D35 NH and POD60 XH versus D95 NH, respectively. Overlapped 1,148 DEGs were annotated and compared with 1,348 DEGs for POD9 XH. Transcriptomic features for heart failure and inhibition of T cell activation were observed in both long (POD60)- and short (POD9)-term survived monkeys. Only short-term survived monkey showed heart remodeling and regeneration features, while long-term survived monkey indicated multi-organ failure by neural and hormonal signaling as well as suppression of B cell activation. Our results reveal differential heart failure development and survival at the transcriptome level and suggest candidate genes for specific signals to control adverse cardiac xenotransplantation effects.

Survival Prediction After Transarterial Chemoembolization for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: a Deep Multitask Survival Analysis Approach.

The accurate prediction of postoperative survival time of patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is important for postoperative health care. Survival analysis is a common method used to predict the occurrence time of events of interest in the medical field. At present, the mainstream survival analysis models, such as the Cox proportional risk model, should make strict assumptions about the potential random process to solve the censored data, thus potentially limiting their application in clinical practice. In this paper, we propose a novel deep multitask survival model (DMSM) to analyze HCC survival data. Specifically, DMSM transforms the traditional survival time prediction problem of patients with HCC into a survival probability prediction problem at multiple time points and applies entropy regularization and ranking loss to optimize a multitask neural network. Compared with the traditional methods of deleting censored data and strong hypothesis, DMSM makes full use of all the information in the censored data but does not need to make any assumption. In addition, we identify the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with HCC and visualize the importance of ranking these factors. On the basis of the analysis of a real dataset of patients with BCLC stage B HCC, experimental results on three different validation datasets show that the DMSM achieves competitive performance with concordance index of 0.779, 0.727, and 0.780 and integrated Brier score (IBS) of 0.172, 0.138, and 0.135, respectively. Our DMSM has a comparatively small standard deviation (0.002, 0.002, and 0.003) for IBS of bootstrapping 100 times. The DMSM we proposed can be utilized as an effective survival analysis model and provide an important means for the accurate prediction of postoperative survival time of patients with BCLC stage B HCC.

Prognostic Analysis of Spinal Metastasis Secondary to Lung Cancer after Surgeries: A Unicentric, Large-Cohort, Retrospective Study.

PURPOSE: Spinal metastases of lung cancer (SMLC) usually have high degree of malignancy and require surgical treatment. However, there are several controversies about the efficacy of surgery. This study aimed to investigate factors predicting prognosis of SMLC after surgery-based comprehensive treatment. METHODS: A cohort of 112 cases of SMLC who underwent surgical treatment between 2009 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. The surgical strategies included total en-bloc spondylectomy, debulking surgery, palliative decompression, and vertebral augmentation procedures. The patients were regularly followed-up. Survival analysis was performed, as well as analysis of the patients' neurological recovery, pain relief, and improvement of Karnosky performance score (KPS). Cox regression was used to analyze influencing factors of survival time, and Kaplan-Meier method was performed in survival analysis. RESULTS: The cohort included 63 males and 49 females, with an average age of 60.6 ± 10.6 years. Median survival time was 16 months. A total of 86.7% of paralysis patients' neurological function recovered and 83.9% of patients with low KPS score (10-40) improved. Surgical method was significantly correlated with improvement of neurological function (p < 0.001) and KPS (p < 0.001). The mean bleeding volume was 502 ml and operative time was 170 min. The survival rates at 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months were 92.0%, 80.4%, 63.4%, 63.4%, and 22.6%, respectively. Postoperative Frankel grade (p < 0.001), postoperative KPS score (p = 0.001), and application of molecular targeted drugs (p < 0.001) were significantly correlated with survival time in univariate analysis, while application of molecular targeted drugs was an independent predictor for a longer survival by a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Surgery-based comprehensive treatment brought a fair outcome, with elongated survival time. Surgery can significantly improve patients' neurological function and physical performance status. Adjuvant targeted therapy is an independent positive factor for patients' survival.

A long survival patient of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma treated with lenvatinib.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) accounts for 1-2% of all malignant thyroid tumors. There are only a small number of patients with ATC and most of them die within 6 months after diagnosis, making it difficult to establish a standard treatment strategy. Although multimodal therapy, including radical surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, has been introduced, the survival rate remains poor. The use of molecular-targeted drugs for cancer therapy has become widely popular. Lenvatinib, a new molecular-targeted anticancer drug, is a multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). We report a rare case of a patient with ATC (T4N0M0) who responded extremely well to the administration of lenvatinib after radical surgery. Although ATC is one of the most fatal neoplasms, lenvatinib is a promising drug.

Self-assembly CuO-loaded nanocomposite involving functionalized DNA with dihydromyricetin for water-based efficient and controllable antibacterial action.

With the antibiotic crisis intensifies, the defense and treatment of pathogen infections in safe and effective fashion has become a critical issue. Herein, we report a novel and advanced type of sterilization agent designed via the functionalization DNA nanocarriers based on dihydromyricetin and CuO-loaded nanoparticles (DNA/DMY-CuO). Firstly, a pure dihydromyricetin (DMY) isolated from Ampelopsis grossedentata is used as a bridge to the stimulate the construction of DNA cross-linking networks by hydrogen bonding. Subsequently, a 3D spherical CuO-loaded nanocomposite (204.39 nm) is customized using the DNA/DMY network as a biological template through a simple coordination-assisted self-assembly method, which exhibits a high dispersibility, water-solubility and physiological stability. The reversible physical interactions in nanocarriers allows the selective separation and automatic release of CuO NPs from DNA/DMY-CuO in neutral and wound exudate environments, thereby extending the survival period of CuO NPs by nearly 24 h. Meanwhile, the nanocarriers system relied on the strong binding ability of DMY to the outer membrane of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) achieves controlled drug delivery onto the pathogen wall. The advanced antibacterial action of DNA/DMY-CuO also reflected in membrane destruction, cytoplasmic constituent leakages and ATP synthetic pathway cessation, thereby halting cytosolic metalloregulatory mechanisms and minimizing drug-resistant bacteria. In summary, such multi-functional CuO-loaded nanocomposite provides a water-dispersibility, controllable, low cytotoxicity and long-effective platform to address the ever-growing threats of bacterial infections.

Impact of treatment-duration-ratio of traditional Chinese medicine on survival period of primary liver cancer -A real-world study.

Introduction: In China, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is regarded as an effective treatment for primary liver cancer (PLC). The present study analyzed the effect of TCM on the survival period of patients with PLC by analyzing the relationship between the treatment-duration-ratio of traditional Chinese medicine (C-TDR, (traditional Chinese medicine treatment duration)/(Overall treatment duration) × 100%) and the survival time of 1002 patients with PLC. Methods: In this study, 1002 patients with PLC admitted to TCM Oncology Department of Changhai Hospital from January, 2015 to December, 2019 were enrolled. The univariate and multivariate Cox regression equation, propensity score matching (PSM) were performed to identify independent prognostic factors for survival outcomes of PLC patients at different stages and estimate the influence of C-TDR on survival time. Results: Cox regression analysis indicated that C-TDR was an independent prognostic factor for survival outcome (P＜0.05) and a corresponding reduction of relative risk of death of 75.67% (relative risk (RR) = 0.2433; 95%Confedential Interval (CI) = 0.1747-0.3388). Similarly, it is also an independent prognostic factor for patients outcome of each stage (P＜0.05). The 251 patients of BCLC-A reduced 96.09% risk of mortality (RR = 0.0391; 95%CI = 0.0151-0.1012). The 396 BCLC-B patients decreased risk of death of 81.24% (RR = 0.1876, 95%CI = 0.1112-0.3163). Moreover, 355 patients of stage C demonstrated a 51.36% lower risk of death (RR = 1.0016, 95%CI = 0.9885-1.0149). Significant differences were found in the median overall survival (OS) both higher and lower C-TDR of all patients. Even after PSM, the overall survival of two groups were significantly improved following each stage. Conclusion: Earlier administration of traditional Chinese medicine can reduce the risk of mortality and prolong survival in patients with liver cancer.

Evaluation of Microbiological Contamination of Dummies Used in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Korea.

OBJECTIVES: In order to prevent infections through dummies used during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training, we analyzed the microbiological contamination on dummies used in CPR institutions. METHODS: A total of 31 dummy samples were collected from 13 different institutions in Korea, and were evaluated for the number of contaminating bacteria and fungi on the surface. PCR and biochemical tests were performed to identify pathogenic bacteria and fungi, including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Moreover, we further assessed the survival rate of microorganisms on the surface of the dummies. RESULTS: We assessed the total number of microorganisms on the surface to be 77,752CFU/cm2 (±50,047CFU), which is up to 188 times higher than the required surface contamination level. Grampositive cocci such as Micrococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. accounted for the highest proportion (55.3%). Especially, we detected three MRSA strains. Considering the isolated fungi and yeast, Aspergillus spp. and Candidia spp. accounted for the highest proportion. Assessing the contamination level simulation and survival rate on the humanoid surface showed that within two weeks of training, the level of contamination on the dummy's surface exceeded the standard, and artificially contaminated pathogenic strains on the surface of the dummy survived for at least 40 days. CONCLUSION: To minimize the possibility of secondary infections during CPR training, there is a requirement for a standardized protocol for proper microbiological management of dummies.

Lung cancer survival period prediction and understanding: Deep learning approaches.

INTRODUCTION: Survival period prediction through early diagnosis of cancer has many benefits. It allows both patients and caregivers to plan resources, time and intensity of care to provide the best possible treatment path for the patients. In this paper, by focusing on lung cancer patients, we build several survival prediction models using deep learning techniques to tackle both cancer survival classification and regression problems. We also conduct feature importance analysis to understand how lung cancer patients' relevant factors impact their survival periods. We contribute to identifying an approach to estimate survivability that are commonly and practically appropriate for medical use. METHODOLOGIES: We have compared the performance across three of the most popular deep learning architectures - Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) while comparing the performing of deep learning models against traditional machine learning models. The data was obtained from the lung cancer section of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry. RESULTS: The deep learning models outperformed traditional machine learning models across both classification and regression approaches. We obtained a best of 71.18 % accuracy for the classification approach when patients' survival periods are segmented into classes of '<=6 months',' 0.5 - 2 years' and '>2 years' and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 13.5 % andR2 value of 0.5 for the regression approach for the deep learning models while the traditional machine learning models saturated at 61.12 % classification accuracy and 14.87 % RMSE in regression. CONCLUSIONS: This approach can be a baseline for early prediction with predictions that can be further improved with more temporal treatment information collected from treated patients. In addition, we evaluated the feature importance to investigate the model interpretability, gaining further insight into the survival analysis models and the factors that are important in cancer survival period prediction.

Survival rates of head and neck cancers in Ghana: a retrospective study at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Data was collected to evaluate the survival rates of head and neck (conjunctiva, oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal) squamous cell carcinomas in Ghana. DATA DESCRIPTION: We provided data on a retrospective review of 8 years (January 2004 to December 2009) survival rate of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. The data consist of patient demographic data and clinicopathological findings which includes tumour site, tumour stage and histological grades of the patients. Clinical outcome measurement was death through to January 2013 on record and confirmed from the hospitals birth and death registry department. More than 85% of death cases were confirmed by gender, age, and folder identification numbers from the birth and death registry.

The role of P2X7 receptor in prognosis and metastasis of colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in the world. P2X7 receptor (P2X7R), encoded by the P2rx7 gene, is a trimeric ion channel activated by extracellular Adenosine triphosphate and is widely expressed in various types of tissues and tumors to regulate inflammation, cell proliferation, or death. The discovery of new biomarkers and understanding the role of P2X7R in CRC are therefore critical to improving the prognosis and treatment of CRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: P2X7R expression was analyzed in CRC tumor samples and normal colorectal tissues from 97 patients and various colon cancer cell lines. The correlation of tumor antigens, survival periods, and P2X7R expression were documented. RESULTS: P2X7RHigh and P2X7RLow populations were observed in CRC patients. P2X7RHigh patients had relatively shorter survival periods, higher levels of serum carcinoembryonic antigen, and greater numbers of advanced tumors. In addition, P2X7R expression had a significant up-regulation in metastatic CRC and metastatic CRC cell lines, which indicates that P2X7R expression is positively associated with metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: P2X7R expression might be a potential biomarker for prognosis and metastasis of CRC.

Clinical significance of aberrant microRNAs expression in predicting disease relapse/refractoriness to treatment in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A meta-analysis.

The clinical significance of aberrantly expressed microRNAs in predicting treatment response to chemotherapy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients (DLBCL) remains uncertain. Feasibility of microRNA testing to predict treatment outcome was evaluated. Twenty-two types of aberrantly expressed microRNAs were associated with poor treatment response; pooled hazard ratio (HR) was 2.14 [95%CI:1.78-2.57, P < 0.00001]. DLBCL patients with aberrant expression of miR-155, miR-17/92 clusters, miR-21, miR-224, or miR-146b-5p had a higher risk of treatment resistance or shorter period of disease relapse/progression free survival, with HR = 2.71 (95%CI:1.66-4.42, P < 0.0001), HR = 2.70 (95%CI:1.50-4.85, P = 0.0010), HR = 2.20 (95%CI:1.31-3.69, P = 0.003), HR = 2.07 (95%CI:1.50-2.86, P < 0.00001), HR = 2.26 (95%CI:1.40-3.65, P = 0.0009), respectively. The association between aberrant expression of microRNAs and treatment response appears to be stronger in formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded tissue (HR = 2.41, 95%CI:1.79-3.25, P < 0.00001) than in fresh-frozen samples (HR = 1.94, 95%CI: 1.22-3.08, P = 0.005) and peripheral blood samples (HR = 1.94, 95%CI:1.53-2.46, P < 0.00001). Mir-155, miR-17/92 clusters, miR-21, miR-224, and mir-146b-5p have value in predicting treatment response to chemotherapy in DLBCL.

Chinese medicine for outcomes in colorectal cancer patients: A retrospective clinical study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Chinese medicine (CM) on survival of patients with stage II and III colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: A total of 295 patients who received chemotherapy were assigned to Group 1. The other 171 patients received the same chemotherapy treatment combined with the usage of CM Jianpi Jiedu Formula (, JPJD) for more than 3 months (Group 2). Patients' survival time, relapse and metastasis, and cause of death were observed. Cox proportional hazard regression models were established for the analysis of the effect of independent factors on the survival prognosis of patients with CRC. RESULTS: The survival rate of patients in Group 2 was higher than that of Group 1 (P<0.05). Compared with Group 1, the mean survival time was prolonged by 5.594 months and the median survival time was prolonged by 6 months in Group 2 (P=0.004). Cox regression analysis indicated that CM combined with chemotherapy provided signifificant protective effect, as observed with the improvements in the survival rates of CRC patients (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: CM can improve the survival rate in patients with stage II and III CRC.

Surgical intervention for vertebral metastases may benefit lung cancer patients no less than other patients: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Spinal metastasis is considered to have a worse prognosis in lung cancer than in other cancers, but recent clinical studies report improved overall survival of lung cancer. We compared the postoperative prognoses of vertebral metastatic tumors from lung with other types of cancer. METHODS: From 2011 to 2015, 31 Japanese patients (mean age 73 years, range 55-88 years; 19 males, 12 females) underwent surgery for spinal metastasis at our center. We observed patients retrospectively in March 2016, dividing them into groups by cancer type: lung (LK group, n = 10); prostate, breast, or thyroid (PB group, n = 12); and other (OT group, n = 9). We compared survival and revised Tokuhashi score, which provides a basis for choosing a treatment course. Neurologic status was graded before and after surgery using the Frankel system. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 16.5 months (range 1-62 months). Only seven of 31 patients (22.6%) were alive at final follow-up. Frankel grade significantly improved postoperatively only in the LK (P = 0.01) and PB (P = 0.048) groups. Revised Tokuhashi score differed across groups (P < 0.0001), and was significantly lower in the LK group than in the PB group (P = 0.00) and OT group (P = 0.02). Postoperative survival was significantly shorter in the LK group than in the PB group (P = 0.01) but did not differ between the LK and OT groups. CONCLUSIONS: The revised Tokuhashi score may underestimate the survival of lung cancer patients, who may derive the same benefit from surgical intervention as those with vertebral metastasis from other cancer types.

Role of Brf1 interaction with ERα, and significance of its overexpression, in human breast cancer.

TFIIB-related factor 1 (Brf1) modulates the transcription of RNA Pol III genes (polymerase-dependent genes). Upregulation of Pol III genes enhances tRNA and 5S RNA production and increases the translational capacity of cells to promote cell transformation and tumor development. However, the significance of Brf1 overexpression in human breast cancer (HBC) remains to be investigated. Here, we investigate whether Brf1 expression is increased in the samples of HBC, and we explore its molecular mechanism and the significance of Brf1 expression in HBC. Two hundred and eighteen samples of HBC were collected to determine Brf1 expression by cytological and molecular biological approaches. We utilized colocalization, coimmunoprecipitation, and chromatin immunoprecipitation methods to explore the interaction of Brf1 with estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). We determined how Brf1 and ERα modulate Pol III genes. The results indicated that Brf1 is overexpressed in most cases of HBC, which is associated with an ER-positive status. The survival period of the cases with high Brf1 expression is significantly longer than those with low levels of Brf1 after hormone treatment. ERα mediates Brf1 expression. Brf1 and ERα are colocalized in the nucleus. These results indicate an interaction between Brf1 and ERα, which synergistically regulates the transcription of Pol III genes. Inhibition of ERα by its siRNA or tamoxifen reduces cellular levels of Brf1 and Pol III gene expression and decreases the rate of colony formation of breast cancer cells. Together, these studies demonstrate that Brf1 is a good biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of HBC. This interaction of Brf1 with ERα and Brf1 itself are potential therapeutic targets for this disease.

A study on different therapies and prognosis-related factors for 101 patients with SCLC and brain metastases.

OBJECTIVE: There is a need to explore multi-discipline general treatment modes to improve the survival period of patients with SCLC and brain metastases undergoing standard radiotherapy treatment. METHODS: A total of 101 patients with SCLC and brain metastases were included into this study. These patients were classified into 4 groups, based on different treatment modes: chemotherapy group, brain radiotherapy group, brain radiotherapy combined with sequential chemotherapy, and chemotherapy combined with sequential brain radiotherapy. Recent and long-term curative effects were compared among the 4 groups. RESULTS: A RR of 42.57% was determined for all 4 groups, and median PFS and OS was 11.56 and 17.32 months, respectively. After SCLC with brain metastases manifested in the limited stage, the difference in median survival period was not statistically significant among the 4 treatment groups (P = 0.29). At the extensive stage of SCLC, survival period was superior in the brain radiotherapy combined with sequential chemotherapy group, compared with other groups (P<0.05). Furthermore, median survival period in the brain radiotherapy combined with sequential chemotherapy group was 15.5 ± 1.03 months. This was followed by 12.0 ± 3.06 months in the chemotherapy combined with sequential brain radiotherapy group, 8.0 ± 1.49 months in the chemotherapy group, and 8.0 ± 0.43 months in the brain radiotherapy group. CONCLUSION: Combining chemotherapy with brain radiotherapy is a better treatment mode compared with single therapy for treating SCLC with brain metastases. Furthermore, it is recommended for patients in the extensive stage to initially receive brain radiotherapy.