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Objective:To conduct a meta-analysis to analyze the efficacy and adverse reactions of fractionated high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) as monotherapy for localized prostate cancer.Methods:Relevant databases were searched to collect the clinical trials on HDR-BT as monotherapy in patients with localized prostate cancer. Included studies were limited to full-text publications of fractionated HDR-BT as monotherapy with a median follow-up of at least 5 years, and adequate reporting of treatment outcomes and adverse reactions data. Stata 12.0 was used for data analysis.Results:According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 11 clinical trials involving 2 683 patients with prostate cancer were included in this meta-analysis. The results of the meta-analysis showed that 5-year biochemical recurrence-free survival (bRFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate were 94% (95% CI: 93% - 96%) and 96% (95% CI: 94% - 98%), respectively. Long-term (≥5 years) cancer-specific survival (CSS) rate and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rate were 99% (95% CI: 98% - 100%) and 98% (95% CI: 98% - 99%), respectively. Long-term (≥5 years) late grade ≥3 grade gastrointestinal and genitourinary adverse reactions rates were 2% (95% CI: 1% - 3%) and 9% (95% CI: 6% - 13%), respectively. Conclusions:Fractionated HDR-BT as monotherapy is an effective treatment for patients with localized prostate cancer. Its long-term efficacy is encouraging, and the treatment is well tolerated and safe.
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Acupoint sticking therapy is a comprehensive Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment method combining meridian, acupoint and Chinese herbal medicine. It is widely used in the treatment of chemotherapy-related gastrointestinal reaction, cancer pain, tumor related intestinal obstruction, cancer-related fatigue, etc. It is oftenuse in conventional treatment and nursingprocess, or usedalone, or combined with oraladministration of Chinese and Western Medicine and acupoint massage. This therapy could avoid the gastrointestinal irritation caused by oral administration. The advantages are as follow: the operationis simple with obvious effect, and low price andtheacceptance is high.
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Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate among malignant tumors, and drug resistance in lung cancer treatment is currently a major challenge for clinical practitioners. Recent studies have found that epigenetics is closely linked to drug resistance in lung cancer, especially in DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNA regulation. By exploring the mechanisms affecting drug resistance in lung cancer through the above three features and exploring drugs that can effectively improve drug resistance in lung cancer in response to the mechanisms, it can provide ideas for solving the problems related to drug resistance in lung cancer in clinical work and provide a reference basis for prognostic assessment of lung cancer patients.
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Objective:To analyze the correlation between enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) mRNA expression level and prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.Methods:The differences of the EZH2 mRNA levels between gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues and among patients with different clinical stages were analyzed by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. According to the median expression level of EZH2 mRNA (5.59), 368 patients were divided into high expression group (184 cases) and low expression group (184 cases). Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the relationship between EZH2 mRNA expression level and overall survival (OS) of patients. Multivariate Cox regression model was used to analyze the relationship between age, clinical stage, TNM stage, gender, EZH2 mRNA expression level and OS. The relationships between EZH2 mRNA expression level and OS in all gastric cancer patients, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive and HER2-negative patients were analyzed by KM-plotter online database. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of tumor samples from TCGA-STAD collection in the TCGA database was carried out by using GSEA software, and enrichment score (ES), normalized enrichment score (NES), nominal P value (NOM p-val) and multiple testing correction (FDR q-val) were calculated. KEGG pathways related to tumorigenesis were screened according to FDR q-val < 0.25. Results:Among 375 cases of gastric cancer tissues in the TCGA database, the level of EZH2 mRNA in 171 cases were low and the level of EZH2 mRNA in 204 cases were high; the level of EZH2 mRNA in 32 cases of adjacent normal tissues were low. The median EZH2 mRNA expression level in adjacent normal tissues was 1.73, and the median EZH2 mRNA expression level in tumor tissues was 5.59. The expression level of EZH2 mRNA in gastric cancer tissues was higher than that in normal adjacent tissues, and the difference was statistically significant ( u = 925, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in EZH2 mRNA expression level between patients with different clinical stages ( DF = 3, P = 0.25). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with high expression of EZH2 mRNA had longer OS time than those with low expression of EZH2 mRNA ( HR = 0.623, P = 0.008). Univariate Cox analysis showed that EZH2 mRNA level was one of the independent risk factors for OS in patients ( HR = 0.666, P = 0.024). In the KM-plotter database, patients with high expression of EZH2 mRNA (632 cases) had longer OS time than patients with low expression of EZH2 mRNA (244 cases) ( HR = 0.75, P = 0.002). In patients with positive HER2 (344 cases), patients with high expression of EZH2 mRNA had a shorter OS time ( HR = 1.31, P = 0.042), while in patients with negative HER2 (532 cases), patients with low expression of EZH2 mRNA had a shorter OS time ( HR = 0.57, P < 0.05). GSEA enrichment found that EZH2 mRNA was related to a variety of tumor-related pathways and cell synthesis and metabolism pathways. Conclusion:The expression of EZH2 mRNA is related to the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer, and it may be used as a biomarker for evaluating the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To preliminarily investigate the relationship between the Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and dental caries initiation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>100 S. mutans strains derived from caries-active and caries-free individuals were cultured in BHI medium supplemented with glucose. Cells were extracted and ruptured, and the extracted liquid protein was quantified with Coomassie brilliant blue G250 staining methods. LDH activity was assayed using the pyruvate-dependent oxidation of NADH-with and without FDP.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>LDH activity of the two groups strains had no difference (P > 0.05), but the distribution of differ class enzyme activity strains in the two groups was different (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>LDH activity of S. mutans is correlated to the initiation of dental caries to some extent. The measurement methods in this study can be applied in preliminary quantitation of LDH activity and the screening of S. mutans strains.</p>