Gene mutation profiles and clinicopathological features of patients with non-small cell lung cancer harboring KRAS G12C mutation: a single-center retrospective study / 中华病理学杂志

Objective: To accurately screen non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with KRAS G12C mutation and to evaluate their clinicopathological features, prognostic factors and current treatment status. Methods: A total of 19 410 NSCLC cases diagnosed at the Department of Pathology of Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai, China from January 2018 to September 2021 were retrospectively reviewed, and the cases with KRAS gene mutation detected by next-generation sequencing were included. The clinicopathological and genetic mutation data of these cases were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 1 633 (8.4%) NSCLC patients carried a KRAS gene mutation, among whom G12C was the most frequent (468 cases, 28.7%) mutant subtype. The mutation was more commonly found in males (414/468, 88.5%), patients with a history of smoking (308/468, 65.8%), and patients with a pathological type of invasive adenocarcinoma (231/468, 49.4%). The most common co-mutated genes in KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC were TP53 (52.4%, 245/468), STK11 (18.6%, 87/468) and ATM (13.2%, 62/468). The proportion of PD-L1 expression (≥1%) in KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC was significantly higher than that in patients without G12C mutation [64.3% (90/140) vs. 56.1% (193/344), P=0.014]. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) treatment significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in NSCLC patients (10.0 months vs. 5.0 months, P=0.011). However, combination of chemotherapy and ICIs with anti-angiogenesis inhibitors or multi-target inhibitors did not significantly improve PFS in patients with KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC (P>0.05). Patients with KRAS G12C mutation NSCLC treated with ICIs and KRAS G12C patients with TP53 mutation had significantly longer median PFS than those with STK11 mutation (9.0 months vs. 4.3 months, P=0.012). Conclusions: Patients with KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC have relatively higher levels of PD-L1 expression and can benefit from ICIs treatment. The feasibility of chemotherapy, ICIs therapy and their combination needs further investigation.

Effect of asymmetric dimethylarginine on development of atherosclerosis in patients with chronic kidney disease / 上海交通大学学报（医学版）

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor and is associated with the incidence of atherosclerosis (AS). ADMA is increased in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is a predictor of early endothelial dysfunction in CKD and a serologic marker of AS. ADMA can directly lead to or indirectly promote AS, and the concentration of ADMA in vivo is relatively stable, not being easily influenced by other factors. So the prediction value of ADMA for AS and its adverse events in CKD patients is extremely high. ADMA can not only be used for early detection of AS but also be used for reflecting the effectiveness of early intervention and patients' response to treatment by monitoring its dynamic changes, helping in understanding the progress and predicting the prognosis of the disease. This paper reviews the causes of the increase of ADMA and its role in promoting the development of AS in CKD patients.

Research advances in porcine bocavirus / 病毒学报

Porcine bocavirus (PBoV) was considered as a new member of the genus Bocavirus of the subfamily Parvovirinae of the family Parvoviridae, which was discovered in Swedish swine herds with postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in 2009. At present, as an emerging pathogen, it was paid great attention by researchers at home and abroad. This paper referred to some published literatures and reviewed several aspects of PBoV including its finding, classification, genome structure and replication, epidemiology, associativity with diseases, cultural and diagnostic methods.