ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the values of albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and combination of the two in the prognostic assessment of colorectal cancer patients with postoperative liver metastasis.Methods:The clinicopathological data of 98 colorectal cancer patients with postoperative liver metastasis who were admitted to Lianyungang Oriental Hospital and receiving adjuvant chemotherapy from January 2016 to March 2020 were retrospective analyzed. The data of serum protein, bilirubin, and CEA before chemotherapy were obtained, the relationship between serum protein and bilirubin was analyzed, and the ALBI score was calculated. The ALBI-CEA score was judged according to the ALBI score and the CEA level. ALBI score > -2.60 points was categorized as high ALBI group, and ALBI score ≤ -2.60 points was categorized as low ALBI group; CEA >5 ng/ml was categorized as high CEA group, and CEA ≤5 ng/ml was categorized as low CEA group; patients were categorized into 0, 1, and 2 points groups based on ALBI-CEA score. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of ALBI score, CEA and ALBI-CEA score subgroups were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method; with the actual survival and progress status of the patients as the gold standard, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the effect of 3 indicators to assess patients' OS and PFS, and area under the curve (AUC) was compared; Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the influencing factors of OS and PFS.Results:The median albumin and bilirubin levels of the 98 patients were 34.4 g/L (26.8-42.8 g/L) and 16.6 μmol/L (7.6-44.6 μmol/L), and the result of Pearson correlation analysis showed a negative correlation between the levels of albumin and bilirubin ( r = -0.282, P < 0.001). The 3-year OS and PFS rates in the high ALBI group were lower than those in the low ALBI group (OS rate: 9.2% vs. 33.3%, PFS rate: 7.7% vs. 18.2%), and the differences in OS and PFS between the two groups were statistically significant ( χ2 values were 27.64, 23.30, both P < 0.001). The 3-year OS and PFS rates in the high CEA group were lower than those in the low CEA group (OS rate: 7.1% vs. 42.9%, PFS rate: 7.1% vs. 21.4%), and the differences in OS and PFS between the two groups were statistically significant ( χ2 values were 23.71, 17.14, both P < 0.001). The 3-year OS rates in the ALBI-CEA score 0, 1 and 2 points groups were 77.8%, 20.9% and 2.2%, and the 3-year PFS rates were 44.4%, 9.3% and 6.5%, and there were statistical differences in OS and PFS among the three groups ( χ2 values were 102.36, 76.55, both P < 0.001). The ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of ALBI score, CEA and ALBI-CEA score for assessing OS were 0.688 (95% CI 0.544-0.832), 0.754 (95% CI 0.618-0.890) and 0.828 (95% CI 0.723-0.933) (all P < 0.05), and the AUC for assessing PFS were 0.618 (95% CI 0.436-0.799), 0.646 (95% CI 0.464-0.829) and 0.682 (95% CI 0.494-0.870) (all P > 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that ALBI-CEA score was an independent influencing factor for OS (2 points vs. 0 point: HR = 17.254, 95% CI 8.385-35.504, P < 0.001) and PFS (2 points vs. 0 point: HR = 6.144, 95% CI 3.725-10.134, P < 0.001) of patients. Conclusions:The colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis and high ALBI-CEA score are at high risk of death and disease progression and have a poor prognosis, and they are recommended to receive intensive treatment.
ABSTRACT
With the ongoing epidemic of the Coronavirus disease in China and the widespread development of radiotherapy, radiation-induced lung injury has gradually become a clinical problem that has attracted much attention. The pathogenesis of radiation-induced lung injury is complex, involving an imbalance in the polarization state of alveolar macrophages and an upregulation of alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis. Previous studies have shown that vitamin C is an important antioxidant substance, and preventive use of vitamin C can effectively treat acute lung injury. However, whether prophylactic use of vitamin C can effectively prevent or treat lung injury caused by radioactive substances, and its specific molecular mechanism remains to be studied. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the prophylactic use of vitamin C to treat the alveolar macrophage cell line RAW 264. 7 and human lung epithelial cells BEAS-2B can effectively control the abnormal polarization of macrophages and the abnormal apoptosis of lung epithelial cells. This study found that after 4 weeks and 8 weeks of radioactive X-ray irradiation, the expression of macrophage M1 polarization state markers such as iNOS was significantly up-regulated (P< 0. 05), and preventive use of vitamin C to treat macrophages and lung epithelial cells can alleviate the polarization state disorder of macrophages and the apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells caused by external radiation exposure, which is manifested in the down-regulation of the expression of Cleaved Caspase3. In addition, the preventive application of vitamin C treatment can inhibit the MAPK signaling pathway activated by external radiation exposure. Further experimental results showed that the inhibition of the MAPK pathway is the key to inhibiting the M1 polarization of macrophages and the apoptosis of lung epithelial cells. In summary, our findings suggest that vitamin C may play a protective role in acute radiation-induced lung injury by inhibiting macrophage M1 polarization/ promoting macrophage M2 polarization and alleviating alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis. This study will help to better understand the process and mechanism of the preventive effect of vitamin C, a common vitamin, on radiation-induced lung injury.
ABSTRACT
Chronic psychological stress can promote vascular diseases, such as hypertension and atherosclerosis. This study aims to explore the effects and mechanism of chronic psychological stress on aortic medial calcification (AMC). Rat arterial calcification model was established by nicotine gavage in combination with vitamin D3 (VitD3) intramuscular injection, and rat model of chronic psychological stress was induced by humid environment. Aortic calcification in rats was evaluated by using Alizarin red staining, aortic calcium content detection, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assay. The expression levels of the related proteins, including vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contractile phenotype marker SM22α, osteoblast-like phenotype marker RUNX2, and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) markers (GRP78 and CHOP), were determined by Western blot. The results showed that chronic psychological stress alone induced AMC in rats, further aggravated AMC induced by nicotine in combination with VitD3, promoted the osteoblast-like phenotype transformation of VSMCs and aortic ERS activation, and significantly increased the plasma cortisol levels. The 11β-hydroxylase inhibitor metyrapone effectively reduced chronic psychological stress-induced plasma cortisol levels and ameliorated AMC and aortic ERS in chronic psychological stress model rats. Conversely, the glucocorticoid receptor agonist dexamethasone induced AMC, promoted AMC induced by nicotine combined with VitD3, and further activated aortic ERS. The above effects of dexamethasone could be inhibited by ERS inhibitor 4-phenylbutyrate. These results suggest that chronic psychological stress can lead to the occurrence and development of AMC by promoting glucocorticoid synthesis, which may provide new strategies and targets for the prevention and control of AMC.