Ligustrazine as a salvage agent for patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The prognosis is poor for patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The main reason for poor prognosis is multidrug resistance (MDR), for which the main phenotype is overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp). This study explored the efficacy of ligustrazine as a salvage agent in patients with relapsed or refractory NHL, and the relationship to P-gp expression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty patients were randomized to a reversal agent group, receiving ligustrazine plus chemotherapy, and a control group, receiving chemotherapy alone. Flow cytometry was performed to evaluate P-gp expression.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the 56 patients we were able to evaluate, there was no statistically significant difference in progression-free survival (PFS) in the two groups (P = 0.0651), but the reversal agent group had a higher overall response rate (ORR) than did the control group (P = 0.048). Forty-one of 56 patients had P-gp(+) tumor cells. Among these patients, six of eighteen patients in the reversal agent group and in the control group had complete remission or complete remission/unconfirmed (CR+CRu) reflecting a significant advantage in the reversal agent group (P = 0.048). Patients with P-gp(+) tumor cells in the reversal agent group had a higher overall response rate (ORR) than did the control group (11/18 vs. 6/23, P = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier Survival curve and log-rank test demonstrated that patients with P-gp(+) tumor cells in the reversal agent group had longer progression-free survival than did the control group (P = 0.0464). A small number of patients who received ligustrazine had a decrease in blood pressure.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ligustrazine as a salvage agent in combination with chemotherapy can elevate response rate, prolong PFS with manageable toxicity, and correlate with P-gp expression in relapsed or refractory NHL.</p>

Low dose-intensity docetaxel monotherapy for patients with anthracycline-resistant metastatic breast cancer in poor physical status / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a weekly schedule of low dose-intensity docetaxel monochemotherapy for patients with anthracycline-resistant metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in poor physical status.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty MBC patients who were previously exposed to anthracycline treatment received docetaxel alone at a dose of 30 mg/m2 on D1, D8 and D15, repeated every 4 weeks for a maximum of 6 cycles.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 30 evaluable patients, 2 (6.7%) achieved a complete response, and 9 (30.0%) a partial response, with an overall objective response rate of 36.7% (95% CI: 20.5%-53.9%). The most common adverse event was hematologic toxicity. After an average follow-up of 15.0 months, the median time to progression (TTP) was 8. 5 months and the median overall survival (OS) had not reached yet at the end of follow-up.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The weekly low dose-intensity docetaxel monochemotherapy is effective and well-tolerated in patients with anthracycline-resistant metastatic breast cancer in poor physical status.</p>

Relationship between endostatin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 expressions on bone marrow stromal cells in BMT-mice / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between endostatin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expressions on bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) in mice after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and effect of ligustrazine on their expressions. The mice were randomly divided into 3 groups: normal group (without treatment), saline group (control of BMT) and ligustrazine group (BMT + ligustrazine). BMT mouse models were established. The normal group was not treated, the saline group was given normal saline (0.2 ml/mouse, twice a day) through gastric tube, while the ligustrazine group was given ligustrazine (0.2 ml/mouse, twice a day) also through gastric tube. On day 7, 14, 21 and 28 after BMT, mice were killed by euthanasia. The expression levels of endostatin and VCAM-1 in bone marrow stromal cells were detected by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR analysis respectively. The results showed that the endostatin protein mainly expressed in nuclei of BMSCs, the VCAM-1 protein mainly expressed in plasma of BMSCs. On day 7, 14, 21 after BMT the expression levels of endostatin mRNA and protein in ligustrazine and saline groups were significantly lower than that in normal group (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), while their expression levels in ligustrazine group were lower than that in saline group. On day 28 the expression levels in saline group returned to normal, while the expression levels in ligustrazine group not were normalized. On day 7, 14, 21 after BMT the expression levels of VCAM-1 mRNA and protein in ligustrazine and saline groups were significantly lower than that in normal group (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), but their expression levels in ligustrazine group were significantly lighter than that in saline group (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). On day 28 the VCAM-1 expression level in ligustrazine group returned to normal, while its expression level in saline group not were normalized. The difference between these two groups was significant (P < 0.01). Correlation analysis revealed that there was a negative correlation between endostatin and VCAM-1 expression in saline group, there was a positive correlation between endostatin and VCAM-1 expression in ligustrazine group. It is concluded that the endostatin can influence hematopoiesis in bone marrow by affecting VCAM-1 expression on BMSC and hindering connection between stromal cells and hematopoietic cells as well as extracellular stroma and hematopoietic cells, while ligustrazine can enhance the adhesion molecule expression on stromal cell surface of bone marrow in BMT-mice, accelerate the homing and proliferation of HSPC in bone marrow after BMT, meanwhile can promote the repair of bone marrow microenvironment, accelerate hematopoietic reconstitution of bone marrow after BMT through feedback regulation of endostatin expression of BMSC in BMT-mice.

KAI1 and CD40 protein expression in relation with the elinicopathologic features and prognosis of gastric cancer / 中国普通外科杂志

Objective To study the expression of KAI1 and CD40 in gastric cancer and their correlation with clinicopathologic features and prognosis.Methods The expression of KAI1 and CD40 of 64 gastric cancer tissues was examinated by S-P immunohistochemieal methods.Results The overall positive rate of KAI1 was 22% in gastric cancer.Expression of KAI1 was positively related to the degree of tumor differentiation,it was negatively related to invasion depth and lymph node metastasis and the tumor clinical stage.The 5-year survival rate of cases with positive expression of KAII was significantly higher than that of cases with negative expression(X~2=42.426,P=0.000).The expression rate of CD40 in gastric cancer tissue was 34%.The expression of CD40 was significantly correlated with metastasis and clinical stage of gastric cancer.The 5-year survival rate of cases with positive expression of CD40 was significantly lower than that of cases with negative expression(X~2=4.841,P=0.028).There is no relationship between KAI1 and CD40 expression in gastric cancer.Conclusion KAI1 is associated with gastric cancer differentiation,invasion and metastasis.CD40 status helps to evaluate metastasis,and predict prognosis of gastric cancer.