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Objective To evaluate the short-term efficacy and quality of life of primary hepatocellular carcinoma patients after radiotherapy and pregabalin treatment for neuropathic pain with bone metastasis. Methods 32 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma bone metastases were treated with radiotherapy combined with pregabalin treatment.Then, we prospectively studied the analgesic efficacy for neuropathic pain and quality of life, used the brief pain inventory and douleur neuropathique 4 questionnaire (DN4) to evaluate pain at baseline, one and two months after radiotherapy, assessed pain response using the international consensus endpoint definition of bone metastasis, and used European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Research and Treatment Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and bone metastasis module (QLQ-BM22) for quality of life assessment. Results One and two months after radiotherapy, the average DN4 score of neuropathic pain decreased, and the objective pain relief rates were 62.8% and 68.6%, respectively.The physical, emotional, social, and role functional scores of EORTC QLQ-C30 functional scale significantly increased in the first month after radiotherapy.Symptom scale of pain (P=0.015), insomnia (P=0.035), and loss of appetite (P=0.022) improved, and fatigue was aggravated (P < 0.05).Two months after radiotherapy, the mean overall health score and all functional scale scores significantly increased than those at baseline.The scores of all symptom scales decreased, except fatigue, constipation, and financial difficulties (P < 0.05).In addition, pain responders showed significant improvement in emotional function (P=0.025) and physical function (P=0.029) in the functional scale and in pain (P=0.014) and fatigue (P=0.035) in the symptom scale.The QLQ-BM22 score showed that the painful sites (P=0.021) and pain characteristics (P=0.04) of the responders significantly improved compared with those of nonresponders two months after radiotherapy. Conclusion Radiotherapy combined with pregabalin can relieve neuropathic pain caused by bone metastasis from primary hepatocellular carcinoma and greatly improve the quality of life, particularly in pain responders.
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Objective To investigate the effect of exosomes secreted from human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells under hypoxic or normoxic conditions on the radiosensitivity and invasiveness of normoxia cells.Methods A549 cells were cultured in hypoxic (1％ O2) and normoxic (21％ O2) conditions,respectively.The exosomes (N-EXO and H-EXO) secreted from normoxic or hypoxic A549 cells were collected by ultracentrifugation and its number was measured using a NanoSight detector.The appearance and size distribution of exosomes were observed by a scanning electron microscopy.The exosomal marker protein CD63 was measured by Western blot.The proliferation of cells exposed to X-rays under hypoxic or normoxic conditions were detected by CCK8 assay.The cell uptake situation of exosomes labeled with PKH67 was observed by a fluorescence microscopy.Cell migration and invasiveness were detected by a cell scratch test and transwell assay.The expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and MMP9 was detected by ELISA.Cellular radioresistance effect of exosomes was evaluated by a colony formation assay.Results The NanoSight measurement showed the number of exosomes in cell culture medium was increased after hypoxia treatment.The H-EXO and N-EXO showed typical ring cake shape.The size distribution of H-EXO was mainly between 30 nm and 200 nm,smaller than that of N-EXO (50-220 nm).Western blot assay showed that CD63 was expressed in both H-EXO and N-EXO.At 4 and 6 days after 2 Gy X-rays irradiation,cell proliferation rate of hypoxia A549 cells was significantly higher than that of normoxia cells.The green fluorescent marker of exosomes,PKH67,was distributed inside of the cell.Cell scratch test showed that the width of H-EXO group was much smaller than that of N-EXO group at 12,24 and 48 hours after exosomes treatment (t =2.96,6.76,3.35,P ＜ 0.05).Transwell assay showed that the number of transmembrane cells in the H-EXO group was more than that in the N-EXO group and the control group (t =4.84,7.88,P ＜ 0.O1).The expression levels of MMP2 (t =4.70,3.21,P＜0.05) and MMP9 (t =5.61,3.76,P＜0.05) in the supernatant of H-EXO group were significantly higher than those in the control and N-EXO groups.Cell survival assay showed that the D0 values of control,N-EXO and H-EXO group were 2.614,2.552 and 4.50 respectively,indicating that H-EXO could enhance radioresistance of A549 cells significantly.Conclusions This study finds that the number of exosomes released from A549 cells was increased under hypoxic condition but its size becomes smaller than that under normoxia.Hypoxic exosomes can promote the migration of normoxia cells andenhance cell radioresistance as well.
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Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) adopts different tumor-killing mechanisms from the conventional fractionated radiotherapy.In SBRT,a single high-dose radiation can destroy the membrane of tumor cells and induce the release of tumor-associated antigen,also named in situ tumor vaccine,which stimulates the immune system to kill the residual tumor;a single-fraction radiation with a dose larger than 8-10 Gy can induce rapid apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells via the acid sphingomyelinase pathway at 1-6 hours after radiation,which causes tumor vascular occlusion and secondary tumor-killing effects.In order to understand whether SBRT improves the clinical treatment outcomes via the above mechanisms,this paper reviews the clinical research advances in SBRT for primary liver cancer.
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Objective To synthesize novel gold nanoparticles of GAL-PEG-GNPs,study its radiation effect on hepatocellular carcinoma cells HepG2 cells in vitro,and investigate the underlying mechanisms.Methods GAL-PEG-GNPs were synthesized and characterized successfully.HepG2 cells were divided into three groups of control,GNPs and GAL-PEG-GNPs.The cytotoxicities of these compounds were tested by the CCK-8 assay and their IC50 values of HepG2 cells were calculated.Cell uptake of nanoparticles was detected by TEM and ICP-MS.The radiosensitization effect of nanoparticles was tested by the colony formation assay.Cell cycle distribution was detected by FCM.The expressions of CAT,SOD,and total GSH were detected with a microplate reader,and the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins were tested by Western blot.Results The GNPs and GAL-PEG-GNPs had absorption peaks at 520 and 530 nm,respectively,and their diameters were (22.6-±2.12) and (32.0 ± 1.41) nm detected by ICP-MS.The GAL-PEG-GNPs and GNPs had similar cytotoxicity profiles (P ＞ 0.05),while GAL-PEG-GNPs could be more effectively uptaken by HepG2 cells than GNPs.The sensitive enhancement ratio (SER) of GNPs and GAL-PEG-GNPs to HepG2 cells were 1.46 和 1.95,respectively.The percentage of cells at phase of G2/M in HepG2 population treated with GNP was higher than that of untreated cells (t =14.20,P ＜0.05).The protein expressions of Cytochrome C,Bax,Caspase-3,and Caspase-9 were upregulated while Bcl-2 expression was down-regulated in the cells treated with GNPs/radiation or GAL-PEGGNPs/radiation.The expressions of CAT,SOD and total GSH in the GNP treated groups were significantly decreased compared with the control group(t =12.34,29.39,12.85,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions GALPEG-GNPs has obvious radiosensitization effect on HepG2 cells,which is related to the induction of cell apoptosis and the generation of free radicals.
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Objective To study the radiosensitizing effect of nano-gold nano-silver particles in hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) in vitro and the possible mechanisms.Methods MTT assay and clonogenic assay were performed to determine the killing effect of nano-gold and nano-silver particles in HepG2 cells.Flow-cytometry was used to measure cell apoptosis and cell cycle distribution.Western blotting was used to measure the expression of Caspase-3,Bax and Bcl-2.ELIASA was used to determine the content of catalase (CAT),superoxide dismutase (SOD),and total glutathione (GSH).Results Nano-gold and nano-silver particles inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells with IC50 of 6.51 μg/ml and 2.47 μg/ml,respectively.Nano-gold and nano-silver particles significantly enhanced the radiosensitivity of HepG2 cells.Obtained by Dq,the SER of 1/5 IC50 nano-gold and nano-silver particles were 1.37 and 1.48,and 1/10IC50 with 1.11 and 1.09.Nano-gold and nano-silver particles increased the expression of Caspase-3 and Bax and reduced the exprcssion of Bcl-2.CAT,SOD and total GSH were significantly reduced.Conclusions Nano-gold and nano-silver particles can enhance the radiation sensitivity of HepG2 cells.Specific sensitizing mechanism may be the activation of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway and the induction of reactive oxygen species in apoptotic pathways,which ultimately induces apoptosis.
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Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of positron emission tomography/ computed tomography(PET/CT) with fluorine-18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose(18F-FDG) in dectecting and diagnosing the recurrence and metastasis of colorectal cancer.Methods: The results of whole-body PET/CT of 68 patients with colorectal cancer were analyzed retrospectively.The average follow-up time was 15.8 months.The diagnosis of recurrence tumor and/or metastasis was based on pathologic examination,colonoscopy,multi-modality imaging and clinical follow-up.Results: Fifty-five of the 68 patients had recurrence and /or metastasis but no recurrence was found in the other 13 cases.The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of PET/CT in detecting recurrent and metastatic tumor were 96.4%,76.9% and 92.6% respectively.PET/CT successfully detected one or several malignant insidious lesions in 8 cases with negative findings by CT and /or ultrasonography,and it revaeled more malignant lesions than CT and ultrasonography in 30.9%(17/55)of the patients.The clinical therapeutic strategies were changed in 11 case duo to the results of PET/CT,and the influence rate of PET/CT was 16.2%.The metastasis was mainly confined in the liver,lung,peritoneal cavity and retroperitoneal region.In the examination of the 24 patients with increased serum CEA,the positive rate of PET/CT was 91.7%.Conlusion: PET/CT can detect the recurrence and metastasis of colorectal cancer with high sensitivity and accuracy.
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Objective: To investigate the value of positron emission tomography/computerized tomography(PET/CT) with fluorine-18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose(18FDG) for gastric carcinoma.Methods: Thirty-two patients(25 males,7 females,aged 31-82 years) suspected of gastric carcinoma underwent whole-body PET/CT after taking in 600 ml of water to distend the gastral cavity.The maximal standard uptake value(SUVmax) of the region of interest(ROI) in PET and the maximum width of the gastric wall in CT were analyzed.Pathological specimens were obtained from all the patients during surgery or gastroscopy.Results: 18FDG PET/CT found gastric carcinoma in 24 of the patients.The rates of positive and negative prediction and the accuracy of PET/CT in the diagnosis of the disease were 92.3%,100% and 93.8%.SUVmax was positively correlated with the maximum width of the gastric wall,but they exhibited no statistically significant differences between the patients with involved lymph nodes and those without.Based on the PET/CT findings,the 24 gastric carcinoma patients were clinically classified as follows: 9 in stage Ⅰ,1 in stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ,3 in stage Ⅱ,1 in stage Ⅲ and 10 in stage Ⅳ.Conclusion: 18FDG PET/CT is highly valuable for gastric carcinoma in its diagnosis,the evaluation of its biological behavior and determination of its treatment strategies.