Effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation on venous thrombosis after lung cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) on venous thrombosis and quality of life after lung cancer surgery, basing on the conventional nursing and early functional exercise.@*METHODS@#A total of 120 patients diagnosed as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and received radical resection of lung cancer surgery for the first time were randomized into a conventional nursing group, a rehabilitation training group and a TEAS group, 40 cases in each group. Conventional nursing was adopted in the conventional nursing group. Conventional nursing combined with early functional exercise were adopted in the rehabilitation training group, the exercise was taken 20 min each time, once in both morning and afternoon for 5 days. On the basis of the treatment in the rehabilitation training group, TEAS was applied at Zusanli (ST 36), Xuehai (SP 10), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), etc. in the TEAS group, with disperse-dense wave in frequency of 30 Hz/100 Hz and tolerable intensity, 30 min each time, once in both morning and afternoon for 5 days. The incidence of venous thrombosis in each group was observed at the 5th day after surgery. Before surgery and at the 5th day after surgery, the Caprini thrombus risk assessment was performed, the Karnofsky performance status (KPS) scale and the functional assessment of cancer therapy-lung (FACT-L) were used to evaluate the quality of life.@*RESULTS@#At the 5th day after surgery, no thrombosis was found in the TEAS group, the incidence of venous thrombosis in the TEAS group was lower than 15.0% (6/40) in the conventional nursing group (@*CONCLUSION@#On the basis of the conventional nursing and early functional exercise, TEAS can reduce the incidence of venous thrombosis, effectively prevent thrombosis and improve quality of life.

Casticin induces caspase-mediated apoptosis via activation of mitochondrial pathway and upregulation of DR5 in human lung cancer cells

OBJECTIVE@#To assess if casticin induces caspase-mediated apoptosis via activation of mitochondrial pathway and upregulation of DR5 in human lung cancer cells.@*METHODS@#Human non-small-cell lung carcinoma cell lines H460, A549 and H157 were cultured in vitro. The cytotoxic activities were determined using MTT assay. The apoptotic cells death was examined by flow cytometry using PI staining and DNA agarose gel electrophoresis. The activities of caspase-3, -8 and -9 were measured via ELISA. Cellular fractionation was determined by flow cytometry to assess release of cytochrome c and the mitochondrial transmembrane potential. Bcl-2/Bcl-XL/XIAP/Bid/DR5 and DR4 proteins were analyzed using western blot.@*RESULTS@#The concentrations required for a 50% decrease in cell growth (IC(50)) ranged from 1.8 to 3.2 μM. Casticin induced rapid apoptosis and triggered a series of effects associated with apoptosis by way of mitochondrial pathway, including the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane, release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, activation of procaspase-9 and -3, and increase of DNA fragments. Moreover, the pan caspase inhibitor zVAD-FMK and the caspase-3 inhibitor zDEVD-FMK suppressed casticin-induced apoptosis. In addition, casticin induced XIAP and Bcl-XL down-regulation, Bax upregulation and Bid clearage. In H157 cell line, casticin increased expression of DR5 at protein levels but not affect the expression of DR4. The pretreatment with DR5/Fc chimera protein effectively attenuated casticin-induced apoptosis in H157 cells. No correlation was found between cell sensitivity to casticin and that to p53 status, suggesting that casticin induce a p53-independent apoptosis.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Our results demonstrate that casticin induces caspase-mediated apoptosis via activation of mitochondrial pathway and upregulation of DR5 in human lung cancer cells.

Isolation and identification of side population cells in human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To isolate and characterize the side population cells (SP cells) in the lung adenocarcinomas cell line A549.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The protein expression of ABCG2 in human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 was detected by immunohistochemistry. SP and NSP cells in the cell line A549 were isolated by FACS, and their differentiation was analysed. ABCG2 expression in the two cell subsets was detected by RT-PCR. The cell growth curves, cell division indexes, cell cycles, plate clone formation tests, migration and invasion assays, chemotherapeutic susceptibility tests, tests of the intracellular drug levels, and the tumor cell implantation experiments on nude mice were applied to study the biological properties of the two cell subsets. The expression of ABCG2 in the transplanted tumor in nude mice was detected by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rate of ABCG2 expression in the A549 cells by immunohistochemistry was 2.13%. SP and NSP cells were isolated by FACS. The SP cells could produce both SP and NSP cells, while NSP cells only produced NSP cells. SP cells expressed ABCG2, but NSP cells did not. The proliferation and migration abilities of the two cell subsets were similar, but the invasion and tumorigenic ability of SP cells was significantly higher than that of NSP cells. The susceptibilities to DDP and its intracellular levels of the two cell subsets were similar, but the susceptibilities to 5-FU, VP16, NVB and GEM and their intracellular levels of NSP cells were significantly higher than those of the SP cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>SP cells in the human lung adenocarcinomas cell line A549 is enriched with tumor stem cells. An effective way to get lung adenocarcinomas stem cells is to isolate SP cells by FACS.</p>

Relationship between combined multigene detection and response to adjuvant chemotherapy in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the relationship between combined multigene detection and response to adjuvant chemotherapy and prognosis in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Tissue microarray was prepared from samples of 86 cases of early-stage NSCLC who received adjuvant chemotherapy after radical surgery. The expressions of caspase-3, Fas, bax, bcl-2, survivin, PCNA, Ki67, MGMT, p53, p63, p73, p16, p27, VEGF, nm23, P-gp, MRP, LRP, GST-pi, Topo II, c-myc, cyclin-D1, Her-2, Cox-2, Ku70, Ku80, DNA-PKcs, ERCC1, MSH2, BCRP proteins were detected using immunohistochemical two-step method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rate of the 30 genes in lung cancer tissue were 27.9% - 91.9%, respectively. By univariate analysis, the expression of 8 genes was shown to be related with SCLC adjuvant chemotherapy. The cases with higher expression of survivin, P-gp, LRP, Ki67, p53, ERCC1 and lower expression of bax,VEGF had worse prognosis. By logistic regression analysis, the ERCC1, survivin, bax and VEGF were a marker group. Multivariate analysis showed the predict value of the response to adjuvant chemotherapy in early-stage NSCLC was 96.5%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Survivin, ERCC1, bax and VEGF are an ideal marker group to predict the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy in early-stage NSCLC.</p>