Pathological characteristics and clinical prognosis of nodular sclerosis grade 2 of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

Objective: To investigate the pathological characteristics and clinical prognosis of nodular sclerosis grade 2 of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL-NS2) in our cancer center. Methods: A retrospective collection of 23 cases of cHL-NS2 admitted in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College from July 2008 to April 2019 was performed. Fifty-five cases of nodular sclerosis grade 1 of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL-NS1) during the same period were selected as control group. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors for survival. Results: The median age of 23 cases of cHL-NS2 was 30 years old. Five cases had extra nodal invasion, and 19 cases were Ⅰ-Ⅱ stage based on Ann Arbor system. The pathological morphology of cHL-NS2 showed that the lymph node structure was completely destroyed and was divided into nodules by thick collagen. The tumor cells in the nodules were abundant and proliferated in sheets. The boundaries between the tumor cells were not clear. The incidence of tumor necrosis in cHL-NS2 was 43.5% (10/23), which was significantly higher than 18.2% (10/55) in cHL-NS1 (P=0.040). The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate of patients in the cHL-NS2 group was 58.1%, which was significantly lower than 89.7% in the cHL-NS1 group (P=0.002). In all of 78 cases, the 3-year PFS rate of patients who did not obtain complete response (CR) was 67.1%, which was significantly lower than 92.2% in patients who achieved CR (P=0.030). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that both cHL-NS2 and failure to obtain CR by first-line treatment were independent indicators for short PFS time (P<0.05). Conclusions: In cHL-NS2, the morphology of tumor cells are diverse, and tumor necrosis can be easily found. Under the current first-line treatments of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) or bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (BEACOPP), cHL-NS2 is an independent indicator for worse PFS.

Comprehensive Evaluation of Quality of Hemerocallis Flava from Different Regions Based on Entropy TOPSIS Model Optimized by AHP Method / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To optimize the entropy TOPSIS model to evaluate the quality of Hemerocallis Flava from different regions,in order to provide a new evaluation method for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine. Method:The entropy weight TOPSIS model optimized by analytic hierarchy process(AHP) method was used to analyze the quality of Hemerocallis Flava from 14 different regions, and a comprehensive evaluation index system for the quality of Hemerocallis Flava, which covered 3 layers (target layer,decision layer and index layer),and 10 indexes (corolla of Hemerocallis Flavathe's bud,pistils,stamens,peduncle length,extract,total ash,quercetin,β-rhamnocitrin,kaempferol,sitosterin) was established. Result:Qingyang showed the best quality of Hemerocallis Flava,which was followed by Weinan,and the lowest quality was found in Datong, Shanxi, and Xiaowan village, Sichuan. The results were consistent with the evaluation results of traditional empirical identification,suggesting the successful modeling. The contents of β-rhamnocitrin and kaempferol in Qingyang were 1.72 times and 2.74 times of those of Xiaowan village, Sichuan. There was no significant difference in other active ingredients from different regions. It was suggested that quercetin and kaempferol could be used as the identification and quality evaluation indexes of cauliflower. Conclusion:The entropy TOPSIS model based on the AHP method is clear,simple to use and easy to calculate, with distinct evaluation indexes. It is a practical,quick and effective comprehensive evaluation method for multi-objective decision analysis.

RITA combined with temozolomide inhibits the proliferation of human glioblastoma U87 cells / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of RITA, a small molecule that targets p53, combined with temozolomide (TMZ) on proliferation, colony formation and apoptosis of human glioblastoma U87 cells and explore the underlying mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cultured U87 cells were treated with RITA (1, 5, 10, 20 µmol/L), TMZ, or RITA+TMZ (half dose) for 24, 48 or 72 h. MTS assay were used to detect the cell proliferation, and the cell proliferation rate and inhibitory rate were calculated. The effect of combined treatments was evaluated by the q value. The expressions of p53, p21 and other apoptosis-associated genes were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blotting; cell apoptosis was assayed using flow cytometry with Annexin V/PI double staining; colony formation of the cells was detected with crystal violet staining.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MTS assay showed that RITA at the 4 doses more potently inhibited U87 cell viability than TMZ at 72 h (P=0.000) with inhibitory rates of 25.94%-41.38% and 3.84%-8.20%, respectively. RITA combined with TMZ caused a more significant inhibition of U87 cells (29.21%-52.11%) than RITA (P<0.01) and TMZ (P=0.000) alone. At the doses above 5 µmol/L, the combined treatments with RITA+TMZ for 48 h resulted in q values exceeding 1.2 and showed an obvious synergistic effect of the drugs. Both RITA and TMZ, especially the latter, significantly increased the expressions of p53, p21, puma, and other apoptosis-associated genes to accelerate apoptosis and inhibit the growth and colony formation of U87 cells, and the effect was more obvious with a combined treatment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>RITA inhibits the growth of human glioblastoma cells and enhance their sensitivity to TMZ by up-regulating p53 expression, and when combined, RITA and TMZ show a synergistic effect to cause a stronger cell inhibition.</p>

Overexpression of Cdc25C predicts response to radiotherapy and survival in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with radiotherapy followed by surgery / 癌症

Biomarker identification is crucial for the selection of patients who might benefit from radiotherapy. To explore potential markers for response and prognosis in patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma treated with radiotherapy followed by surgery, we evaluated the expression of cell cycle checkpoint-related proteins Chk2, Cdc25C, and Cyclin D1. A total of 56 patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were treated with radiotherapy followed by surgery. Pretreatment tumor biopsy specimens were analyzed for Chk2, Cdc25C, and Cyclin D1 expression by immunohistochemistry. High expression of Chk2, Cyclin D1, and Cdc25C was observed in 44 (78.6%), 15 (26.8%), and 27 (48.2%) patients, respectively. The median survival was 16 months (range, 3-154 months), with a 5-year overall survival rate of 19.6%. Overexpression of Chk2 was associated with smoking (P = 0.021), overexpression of Cdc25C was associated with patient age (P = 0.033) and tumor length (P = 0.001), and overexpression of Cdc25C was associated with pathologic complete response (P = 0.038). Univariate analysis demonstrated that overexpression of Cdc25C and pathologic complete response was associated with better survival. In multivariate analysis, Cdc25C was the most significant independent predictor of better survival (P = 0.014) for patients treated with radiotherapy followed by surgery. Overexpression of Cdc25C was significantly associated with pathologic complete response and better survival of patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer treated with radiotherapy followed by surgery. These results suggest that Cdc25C may be a biomarker of treatment response and good prognosis for esophageal carcinoma patients. Thus, immunohistochemical staining of Cdc25C in a pretreatment specimen may be a useful method of identifying optimal treatment for patients with esophageal carcinoma.

Characterization of hormone receptor status in 5758 Chinese females with breast cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the characteristics of hormone receptor status in Chinese females with breast cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinicopathological data of 5758 female breast cancer patients surgically treated in our breast cancer center from Jan. 1997 to Oct. 2008 were retrospectively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rates of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) were 64.1% and 70.2%, respectively. The ER positive rate was significantly higher in elderly, post-menopausal females with a smaller tumor and well-differentiated histology (P < 0.05), while the PR positive rate was significantly correlated with only histological differentiation and tumor size (P < 0.05). The ER and PR positive rates were significantly higher in the patients with lymph node metastasis than that in those without (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that the histological differentiation, T stage, N stage and menopause status were significantly correlated with ER positive rate, while histological differentiation, T stage and N stage were significantly correlated with PR positive rate.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our results show that the ER positive rate of breast cancer in Chinese women is lower than that in western high incidence areas. The ER positive rate is significantly correlated with age, histological differentiation, tumor size, and menopause status. The PR positive rate is correlated only with histological differentiation and tumor size. Interestingly, the ER and PR positive rates are significantly higher in the patients with axillary lymph node metastases than that in those without. However, further study is needed to verify this special phenomenon.</p>

Analysis of prognostic factors in 1826 patients with completely resected non-small cell lung cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the factors affecting the prognosis of completely resected nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to assess the impact of vascular invasion and TNM stage on prognosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Between March 1, 1997 and March 1, 2002, a total of 1826 pathologically confirmed NSCLC patients with complete resection were enrolled in this study. The major clinical and pathological features were analyzed, and the impact of vascular invasion on prognosis was investigated. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS software. Fisher's exact test was used to assess the correlation of vascular invasion with the other clinicopathological variables. Survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 1826 patients, 126 were found to have vascular invasion. Univariate analysis revealed that the following factors was significantly correlated with shorter overall survival: family history of cancer, histological type, pathological stage and vascular invasion, whereas multivariate analysis confirmed that only pathological stage and vascular invasion were the significant prognostic factors with a hazard ratio of 2.80 [95% CI 1.74 - 4.86] and 4.76 [95% CI 2.38 - 6.21], respectively. The overall 5-year survival rate of this series was 57.4% for stage I, 34.2% for stage II and 18.7% for stage III (P = 0.001) ,respectively. It was 59.1% for stage I 36.2% for stage II and 20.0% for stage III for those without vascular invasion, whereas for those with vascular invasion, it was 37.5% for stage I, 24.0% for stage II and 7.0% for stage III, respectively. There was a significant difference among the patients with different TNM stage and between the patients with vascular invasion and without (P < 0.05) by log-rank test. The distant metastasis rate of the patients with vascular invasion was 69.9% versus 36.7% in those without (P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our results show that TNM stage and vascular invasion are significant prognostic factors in nonsmall cell lung cancer. Vascular invasion can not only serve as an independent prognostic factor, but can also predict the possibility of metastasis.</p>

Detection of hypermethylation of p16 gene in plasma DNA from lung cancer patients / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect hyper methylation of p16 gene in plasma DNA from patients with lung cancer, and to assess its potential as a malignant marker.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Using a modified semi-nested methylation-specific PCR (MSP), the status of methylation of the p16 was investigated in plasma DNA from 137 lung cancer patients and 112 matched tumor tissues.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Hypermethylation of the p16 was present in 75.2% (103/137) of the plasma samples and 80.4% (90/112) of the tumor tissues. Hypermethylation of the p16 in the plasma was detected in 77.9% squamous-cell carcinoma, 65.1% adenocarcionma, 75.1% adeno-squamous-cell carcinoma, and 91.7% small-cell lung cancer. Only in those patients whose tumor tissues had hypermethylation of p16 gene, similar changes could be detected in their plasma samples. Hypermethylation of the p16 in plasma and the corresponding tumor tissues was not significantly correlated with the clinical stage and pathological type of the tumor.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The result indicates that hypermethylation of the p16 may be a useful marker in the auxiliary diagnosis of lung cancer.</p>