The immune state in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma before and after radiofrequency ablation treatment: recent progress in research / 介入放射学杂志

After radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treatment,the tumor cells of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) will develop coagulation necrosis and apoptosis,producing in situ tumoural antigens which may directly or indirectly stimulate the body's innate and adaptive immune responses to help reverse the body's immune suppression status.This paper aims to make a comprehensive review about the RFA-induced local and systemic immune response,innate immune,adaptive immune and their regulating roles for cytokines in HCC patients,and to further clarify the immune state changes in HCC patients after RFA treatment.

Tumor-infiltrating FoxP3+ Tregs are associated with CD34 expression and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the correlation between FoxP3+ regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and peritumoral tissues with CD34 expression and patient prognosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-five sets of patient-matched tumors and peritumoral tissues were obtained during curative resection for HCC. In situ immunohistochemistry was used to assess and comparatively analyze Treg presence and CD34 expression in each specimen set. The relation between quantified Tregs values and various clinicopathologic factors were evaluated by the Spearman Rank Correlation test. Univariate (Log Rank test) and multivariate (Cox Regression model) analyses were used to determine the potential prognostic value of each factor.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The average number of intratumoral Tregs was significantly higher than that in corresponding peritumoral tissues (10.8 (range: 4.4 to 19.4) vs. 1.4 (0.6 to 3.2), respectively; P less than 0.01). The presence of intratumoral Tregs correlated with up-regulated CD34 expression (r = 0.279, P less than 0.05). Increased number of intratumoral Tregs were significantly associated with decreased rates of overall survival (OS, P less than 0.05) and disease-free survival (DFS, P less than 0.05), and was identified as an independent prognostic factor (OS, hazard ratio (HR) = 3.310, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.368-8.007, P less than 0.01; DFS, HR = 2.666, 95% CI: 1.321 to 6.394, P less than 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Intratumoral infiltration by Tregs is a marker of poor prognosis in HCC patients.</p>

Efficacy comparison between total aortic arch reconstruction with open placement of triple-branched stent graft and total aortic replacement combined with stented elephant trunk implantation for patients with Stanford A aortic dissection / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the clinical efficacy between total aortic arch reconstruction with open triple-branched stent graft placement and total aortic replacement combined with stented elephant trunk implantation for patients with Stanford A aortic dissection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Patients with Stanford A aortic dissection treated with surgical treatment from January 2006 to May 2011 were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups. Group I (n = 20) patients were treated by total arch replacement with stented elephant trunk procedure. Group II (n = 8) patients received open triple-branched stent graft placement. Echocardiography and aortic CT angiography were performed before and at 1 month after operation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Age, gender and disease severity were similar between the 2 groups (all P > 0.05). Operation was successful in all 28 patients. Cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross clamp time, circulation arrest time and duration of ventilator assisted breathing were significantly longer; postoperative drainage volume and blood transfusion volume were significantly larger and hospitalization cost was significantly higher in group I patients compared those in group II patients (all P < 0.05). One month after operation, the maximum internal diameter of aorta was smaller than pre-operation in both group I [(30.2 ± 3.1) mm vs. (42.5 ± 6.5) mm, P < 0.05] and group II [(31.5 ± 2.5) mm vs. (44.1 ± 7.3) mm, P < 0.05].</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Short-term procedural success rate was similar between the two groups. The total aortic arch reconstruction with open triple-branched stent graft placement procedure is simpler, shortens the operation time, reduces the blood transfusion volume and is more cost-effective compared to the classical aortic arch operation.</p>

Identification of the regions of copy number amplification associated with hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To screen and determine the regions of copy number variation (CNV) associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using SNP array and fluorescence quantitative PCR.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The CNV from HCC cell line TJ3ZX-01 was analyzed using GeneChip Human Mapping 500K SNP array. According to the data obtained by SNP array analysis, four candidate amplification regions were verified in 41 primary HCC samples by fluorescence quantitative PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Four regions of copy number amplification at 1q21.2, 1q22 approximately 23.1, 7p22.1 and 22q13.1 were detected by SNP array analysis. The four candidate amplicons occurred in 56.1% (23/41) of HCC samples at 1q21.2; 80.5% (33/41) at 1q22 approximately 23.1; 75.6% (31/41) at 7p22.1 and 31.7% (13/41) at 22q13.1 analyzed with sequence tagged site (STS) markers by quantitative PCR.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In four candidate amplification regions selected by SNP array analysis and detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR, three amplification regions show increased copy number in more than 50.0% HCC tissues. This result indicates that these amplification regions are associated with pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma.</p>

Induction of dendritic cells from intra-operative lost blood and their effects on CIK against liver cancer cells in vitro / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the practical possibility of inducing dendritic cells (DCs) from mononuclear cells in the lost blood during operation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and attempted to find a new source of precursor cells for the personalized immunotherapy based on DCs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Collected lost blood during hepatectomy from 9 HCC patients and human cord blood from 8 cases of healthy donors undergoing caesarean section. Their mononuclear cells were divided into monocytes and nonadherent lymphocytes. RhGM-CSF and rhIL-4 were administered to induce the monocytes differentiation into DCs, and then loaded with different antigens (lysate antigen of autologous liver cancer cells and cell line SMMC-7721 cells). The lymphocytes were induced into cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK) with IL-2, CD3-Ab, gamma-IFN and PHA. MTT assay was performed to detect the proliferation rate of T lymphocytes mediated by DC and the cytotoxicity of CIK to liver cancer cells.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>DCs induced from monocytes of the intra-operative lost blood possessed typical morphology and phenotypes. Compared with the DCs from cord blood, the DCs from intra-operative lost blood expressed lower level of surface markers, but both could effectively induce proliferation of CIK and enhance the cytotoxicity of activated CIK against liver cancer cells at similar levels. When the DCs from lost blood and their counterpart from cord blood were both loaded with autologous tumor cell antigen, the proliferation rates of CIK were (388.9 +/- 137.3)% and (315.1 +/- 44.5)%, respectively, and the killing rates against tumor cells were (87.1 +/- 8.0)% and (90.0 +/- 5.1)%, respectively. When the two similar DC groups were loaded with lysate antigen of SMMC-7721 cells, the proliferation rates of CIK were (239.9 +/- 48.7)% and (226.3 +/- 32.3)%, respectively, and the killing rates against tumor cells were (76.4 +/- 7.9)% and (81.1 +/- 4.3)%, respectively. There were no significant differences between those two DC groups. The data also showed that the proliferation and cytotoxicity of CIK induced by DCs loaded with autologous antigen were higher than that of DCs loaded with SMMC-7721 antigen.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Mononuclear cells separated from intra-operative lost blood of HCC patients can be induced into mature DCs, which can effectively activate CIK and significantly increase its killing effect on the liver cancer cells, and may become a new source of DCs to study and develop vaccines for clinical application.</p>