CAR-T therapy for gastrointestinal cancers: current status, challenges, and future directions

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a revolutionary immunotherapeutic strategy that has shown efficacy in hematological malignancies. However, its application in solid tumors, particularly gastrointestinal cancers, faces significant challenges. These include the selection of target antigens, the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, and safety and toxicity concerns. This review provides a current overview of CAR-T therapy in various gastrointestinal cancers, such as esophageal, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, and liver cancers. It discusses the limitations and future directions of CAR-T therapy in this context. This review highlights innovative strategies, including novel target antigens, multispecific CAR-T cells, armored CAR-T cells, and the development of universal CAR-T cells. These insights aim to inform ongoing research and foster advancements in CAR-T therapy for gastrointestinal cancers.

Prevalence and influencing factors of elevated blood pressure among primary and middle school students in Anhui Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the prevalence of elevated blood pressure among primary and middle school students in Anhui Province in 2022, as well as its influencing factors, so as to provide scientific evidence for the development of effective measures to prevent and control elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents.@*Methods@#Using data from the 2022 "Monitoring of Common Diseases and health Influencing Factors of Students" in Anhui Province, a total of 210 360 primary and middle school students aged 7 to 17 with complete information. Statistical analysis, including independent sample t tests, analysis of variance, and Chi square tests, were conducted to compare blood pressure differences and prevalence rates among students with different characteristics. Generalized linear mixed models were established to analyze the influencing factors of elevated blood pressure in children and adolescents.@*Results@#The overall prevalence of elevated blood pressure among primary and middle school students in Anhui Province was 22.3%, higher among high school students (25.6%) and junior high school students ( 23.7%) than elementary school students (20.4%) ( χ 2=528.49, P < 0.01 ); higher among obese(33.3%) and overweight students (24.9%) than that of normal students (18.6%) ( χ 2=3 704.52, P <0.01), higher among rural students (23.1%) than urban students (21.4%) ( χ 2=83.39, P <0.01), and higher in the northern part of Anhui Province (26.9%) than in the central part (21.9%) and southern part (17.6%) ( χ 2=1 777.51, P <0.01). The generalized linear mixed models revealed that girls, high school stage, overweight, obese, living in the northern part of Anhui Province, and living in rural were all positively correlated with elevated blood pressure( OR =1.11，1.25，1.47，1.45，2.24，1.21，1.67， P <0.01).@*Conclusions@#The prevalence of elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents in Anhui Province is the highest in the country. It is recommended that relevant departments promptly formulate corresponding measures to curb the increasing trend of elevated blood pressure and protect the physical and mental health of children and adolescents.

Diet related knowledge and behavior among students in Anhui Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To assess diet-related knowledge and behavior among primary and middle-school students in five cities of Anhui, and to provide evidence for nutrition education and intervention strategies.@*Methods@#A multi stage stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select 2 045 students in five cities(Huaibei,Bengbu,Ma anshan,Hefei and Wuhu) of Anhui for a questionnaire survey on nutrition knowledge, diet behavior, food preferences, and diet education.@*Results@#The overall rate of good nutritional awareness was 38.3%; students had the highest rate of awareness on plain water being the healthiest drink(91.6%). The overall rate of healthy food preferences was 51.5%, with milk and dairy products being the highest rated (66.4%). The overall rate of good diet behavior was 85.8%, with eating most meals on time and in appropriate quantities being the highest rated (87.7%). The overall rate of students with good diet education was 25.0%, while the rate of table cleaning was 73.0%. Middle school students had more knowledge of nutrition(χ 2=28.8), while primary school students had better healthy food preferences and diet behaviors(χ 2=31.3，77.6), and girls were more frequently involved in setting and clearing the table(χ 2=12.2)(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Insufficient nutrition knowledge, clear food preferences, unhealthy dietary behaviors, and a lack of diet education were observed in primary and middle school students in Anhui. Specific nutritional education in school settings should be developed, home school cooperation should be strengthened, and diet education activities should be increased to help primary and middle school students form a healthy lifestyle.

Chronic prostatitis alters the prostatic microenvironment and accelerates preneoplastic lesions in C57BL/6 mice

BACKGROUND: Chronic prostatitis has been supposed to be associated with preneoplastic lesions and cancer development. The objective of this study was to examine how chronic inflammation results in a prostatic microenvironment and gene mutation in C57BL/6 mice. METHODS: Immune and bacterial prostatitis mouse models were created through abdominal subcutaneous injection of rat prostate extract protein immunization (EAP group) or transurethral instillation of uropathogenic E. coli 1677 (E. coli group). Prostate histology, serum cytokine level, and genome-wide exome (GWE) sequences were examined 1, 3, and 6 months after immunization or injection. RESULT: In the EAP and E. coli groups, immune cell infiltrations were observed in the first and last months of the entire experiment. After 3 months, obvious proliferative inflammatory atrophy (PIA) and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) were observed accompanied with fibrosis hyperplasia in stroma. The decrease in basal cells (Cytokeratin (CK) 5+/p63+) and the accumulation of luminal epithelial cells (CK8+) in the PIA or PIN area indicated that the basal cells were damaged or transformed into different luminal cells. Hic1, Zfp148, and Mfge8 gene mutations were detected in chronic prostatitis somatic cells. CONCLUSION: Chronic prostatitis induced by prostate extract protein immunization or E. coli infection caused a reactive prostatic inflammation microenvironment and resulted in tissue damage, aberrant atrophy, hyperplasia, and somatic genome mutation.

Pressure Overload-induced Cardiac Hypertrophy Varies According to Different Ligation Needle Sizes and Body Weights in Mice / A Hipertrofia Cardíaca Induzida por Sobrecarga de Pressão Varia de Acordo com os Diferentes Tamanhos de Agulhas para Ligadura e os Pesos Corporais em Ratos

Abstract Background: The cardiac hypertrophy (CH) model for mice has been widely used, thereby providing an effective research foundation for CH exploration. Objective: To research the effects of CH modeling under abdominal aortic constriction (AAC) using different needles and weights in mice. Methods: Four needles with different external diameters (0.35, 0.40, 0.45, and 0.50 mm) were used for AAC. 150 male C57BL/6 mice were selected according to body weight (BW) and divided into 3 weight levels: 18 g, 22 g, and 26 g (n = 50 in each group). All weight levels were divided into 5 groups: a sham group (n = 10) and 4 AAC groups using 4 ligation intensities (n = 10 per group). After surgery, survival rates were recorded, echocardiography was performed, hearts were dissected and used for histological detection, and data were statistically analyzed, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: All mice died in the following AAC groups: 18g/0.35 mm, 22 g/0.35 mm, 26 g/0.35 mm, 22 g/0.40 mm, and 26 g/0.40 mm. All mice with AAC, those ligated with a 0.50-mm needle, and those that underwent sham operation survived. Different death rates occurred in the following AAC groups: 18 g/0.40 mm, 18 g/0.45 mm, 18 g/0.50 mm, 22 g/45 mm, 22 g/0.50 mm, 26 g/0.45 mm, and 26 g/0.50 mm. The heart weight/body weight ratios (5.39 ± 0.85, 6.41 ± 0.68, 4.67 ± 0.37, 5.22 ± 0.42, 4.23 ± 0.28, 5.41 ± 0.14, and 4.02 ± 0.13) were significantly increased compared with those of the sham groups for mice with the same weight levels. Conclusion: A 0.45-mm needle led to more obvious CH than did 0.40-mm and 0.50-mm needles and caused extraordinary CH in 18-g mice.

Resumo Fundamentos: O modelo de hipertrofia cardíaca (HC) para ratos foi amplamente utilizado, proporcionando assim uma base de pesquisa efetiva para a exploração de HC. Objetivo: pesquisar os efeitos do modelamento de HC sob constrição da aorta abdominal (CAA) usando diferentes agulhas e pesos em ratos. Métodos: foram utilizadas quatro agulhas com diâmetros externos diferentes (0,35, 0,40, 0,45 e 0,50 mm) para CAA. Foram selecionados 150 ratos C57BL / 6 machos de acordo com o peso corporal (PC) e divididos em 3 níveis de peso: 18 g, 22 g e 26g (n = 50 em cada grupo). Todos os níveis de peso foram divididos em 5 grupos: um grupo sham (n = 10) e 4 grupos CAA usando 4 intensidades de ligadura (n = 10 por grupo). Após a cirurgia, foram registradas as taxas de sobrevivência, foi realizada ecocardiografia, os corações foram dissecados e utilizados para detecção histológica, e os dados foram analisados estatisticamente, p < 0,05 foi considerado estatisticamente significante. Resultados: Todos os ratos morreram nos seguintes grupos de CAA: 18 g/0,35 mm, 22 g/0,35 mm, 26 g/0,35 mm, 22 g/0,40 mm e 26 g/0,40 mm. Todos os ratos com CAA, aqueles ligados com uma agulha de 0,50 mm, e aqueles que sofreram operação sham sobreviveram. Ocorreram diferentes taxas de mortalidade nos seguintes grupos de CAA: 18 g/0,40 mm, 18 g/0,45 mm, 18 g/0,50 mm, 22 g/45 mm, 22 g/0,50 mm, 26 g/0,45 mm e 26 g/0,50 mm. As proporções de peso do coração/peso corporal (5,39 ± 0,85, 6,41 ± 0,68, 4,67 ± 0,37, 5,22 ± 0,42, 4,23 ± 0,28, 5,41 ± 0,14 e 4,02 ± 0,13) aumentaram significativamente em comparação com os grupos sham para ratos com os mesmos níveis de peso. Conclusão: uma agulha de 0,45mm levou a HC mais óbvia do que as agulhas de 0,40 mm e 0,50mm e causou HC extraordinária em ratos de 18 g.

Evaluating the Growth of Pulmonary Nodular Ground-glass Opacity on CT: Comparison of Volume Rendering and Thin Slice Images / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

This study examined the value of volume rendering (VR) interpretation in assessing the growth of pulmonary nodular ground-glass opacity (nGGO).A total of 47 nGGOs (average size,9.5mm; range,5.7-20.6 mm) were observed by CT scanning at different time under identical parameter settings.The growth of nGGO was analyzed by three radiologists by comparing the thin slice (TS) CT images of initial and repeat scans with side-by-side cine mode.One week later synchronized VR images of the two scans were compared by side-by-side cine mode to evaluate the nGGO growth.The nodule growth was rated on a 5-degree scale:notable growth,slight growth,dubious growth,stagnant growth,shrinkage.Growth standard was defined as:Density increase ≥ 30 HU and (or) diameter increase (by 20％ in nodules ≥10 mm,30％ in nodules of 5-9 mm).Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was performed.The results showed that 32 nGGOs met the growth criteria (29 nGGOs showed an increase in density; 1 nGGO showed an increase in diameter; 2 nGGOs showed an increase in both diameter and density).Area under ROC curve revealed that the performance with VR interpretation was better than that with TS interpretation (P＜0.01,P＜0.05 and P＜0.05 for observers A,B and C respectively).Consistency between different observers was excellent with both VR interpretation (κ=0.89 for observers A&C,A&B,B&C) and TS interpretation (κ=0.71 for A&B,κ=0.68 for A&C,κ=0.74 for B&C),but time spending was less with VR interpretation than with TS interpretation (P＜0.0001,P＜0.0001 and P＜0.05for observers A,B and C,respectively).It was concluded that VR is a useful technique for evaluating the growth of nGGO.