Clinical value of peripheral monocyte and neutrophil count in predicting the response of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer to immunosuppressive checkpoint inhibitors / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective:To investigate the clinical value of peripheral monocyte and neutrophil count in predicting the response of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) to immunosuppressive checkpoint inhibitors (ICI).Methods:The clinical data of 34 adult mNSCLC patients who received nafulizumab or pabolizumab in Danzhou People's Hospital of Hainan Province from January 2017 to March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The correlation of the demographic characteristics, clinical data, hematological examination results in the first two weeks before the treatment and two weeks after ICI treatment with prognosis was recorded and observed.Results:The baseline mean monocyte count [(0.52±0.09)×10 9/L vs. (0.60±0.12)×10 9/L] and neutrophil count [(4.27±0.87)×10 9/L vs.(5.39±1.02)×10 9/L] of patients with ICI reaction were lower than those of patients without ICI reaction, and the differences were statistically different ( t = -2.572, -2.727, all P < 0.05). However, there was a negative correlation between the monocyte count of the patients who responded to ICI and the reaction time ( r = -0.507, P < 0.05). The median reaction time in patients with monocyte count >0.70×10 9/L was shorter than that in patients with monocyte count ≤0.70×10 9/L (8 weeks vs. 12 weeks, χ2=4.162, P = 0.041). There was no correlation between monocyte count and time of reaction duration, progression of free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) ( r = -0.214, 0.182, 0.232, all P > 0.05). The decrease rate of neutrophil count in response group was higher than that in non-response group (22% vs. 2%, P < 0.05). After the first administration, cutoff value of neutrophil count was 4.2×10 9/L; the response rate of patients with neutrophil count ≤ 4.2×10 9/L was higher than that of patients with neutrophil count > 4.2×10 9/L [86.7% (13/15) vs. 36.8% (7/19), χ2=6.657, P < 0.05]. Conclusion:Peripheral blood monocyte and neutrophil count can predict the response to ICI therapy in patients with mNSCLC.

Roles of miR-590-5p and miR-590-3p in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of the two arms of miR-590, miR-590-5p and miR-590-3p, on hepatoma cell proliferation and their roles in tumor development.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We analyzed and verified the expression pattern of miR-590 in liver cancer specimens and cell lines by miRNA microarrays and QPCR. MiR-590 mimic or inhibitor was transfected into normal liver cells or liver cancer cells via liposome, and the changes in cell proliferation and survival were determined by MTT assay and soft agar colony formation assay. The target genes of miR-590-5p and miR-590-3p were predicated with Targetscan and validated by luciferase reporter system and Western blotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expressions of miR-590-5p and miR-590-3ps were up-regulated in 3 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and their synchronization was significantly up-regulated in 8 out of 10 HCC tissues as compared with the adjacent tissues. QPCR further showed that miR-590-5p/3p was up-regulated in 3 HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, and Huh7) in comparison with the normal liver cell line L-O2. L-O2 cells over-expressing miR-590-5p and miR-590-3p exhibited significantly increased proliferation (P<0.05), while down-regulation of miR-590-5p and miR-590-3p caused significantly suppressed proliferation in HepG2, Hep3B, and Huh7 cells. Targetscan predicted PDCD4 and PTEN as the potential target genes of miR-590-5p and miR-590-3p, which was verified by luciferase reporter system and Western blotting. miR-590-3p was found to activate PI3K-AKT signaling pathway by down-regulating PTEN to promote AKT1-S473 phosphorylation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>MiR-590 is an important tumorigenic factor for HCC, and its two arms can both promote tumorigenesis by regulating the expression of their target tumor suppressor gene, PDCD4 and PTEN, to promote HCC cell proliferation and survival and activate the core tumor signal pathway PI3K-AKT.</p>

Establishment of nestin transgenic mice and nestin expression in the organs / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop a nestin transgenic mice and study the distribution of nestin expression in the organs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The three segments of nestin in full-length cDNA was amplified using human glioma cell line U251 cDNA as the template and cloned into the vector pBROAD3 containing a strong promoter ROSA26. The constructed vector, after identification with restriction enzyme and sequencing and removal of the prokaryotic sequences, were purified and injected into the fertilized eggs of mice. Transgenic mice were identified by PCR and the founder was maintained. Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression of nestin of the F3 transgenic mice and the wild-type ones in the vital organs (heart, lung, brain and kidney).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The Nestin transgenic vector controlled by ROSA26 promoter was successfully constructed and validated by sequencing. Among the 34 newborn mice, 2 founders were tested to be nestin-positive by PCR. Westem blot analysis showed that the F3 transgenic mice expressed high levels of nestin in the brain and lungs.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Nestin transgenic mice have been successfully established with stable nestin expression in the brain and lungs of the offspring mice, which can be useful for studying the functions of nestin in tumor metastasis, stemness maintenance and differentiation of cells.</p>

A comparative study of the effects of group psychological quality training between field soldiers and military students cohorts / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To explore the effects of group psychological training on mental health of military students and field soldiers.Methods A total of 60 students and 48 soldiers received group psychological quality training and studied a textbook Mental Quality Training for armymen for 3 months.Mental Quality Questionnaire for Amymen (MQQA),Symptom CheckList 90 (SCL-90),Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS),Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI) were employed to evaluate mental health and psychological quality of subject before and after the training.All the data were analyzed by independent-samples t test.Results (1) The difference in MQQA score of field soldiers before and after training was significantly larger than that of military students in loyalty and general score,and lower in willpower((-16.58 ± 7.75) vs.(-1.75 ± 8.68),(-27.74 ± 28.74) vs.(-12.57 ± 30.96),P ＜ 0.05).(2) The SCL-90 difference of field soldiers between before and after training was significantly larger than that of military students in hostility and phobic anxiety((0.26 ±0.47) vs.(0.07 ± 0.24),(0.13 ± 0.40) vs.(0.02 ± 0.13),P ＜ 0.05).(3) The difference in emotion score of field soldiers between before and after training was significantly larger than that of military students in SAS,SDS,SAI,TAI and STAI (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion The effects of group psychological quality training on field soldier group are better than that of military students,which is helpful to improve mental quality and mental health,as well as to relax anxiety and depression of soldiers.

Relationship between mental health and mental quality of training logistic soldiers in field / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To explore the mental health and its relationship with mental quality of training logistic soldiers in field.Methods Symptom Checklist 90(SCL-90) and Mental Quality Questionnaire for armymen (MQQA) were employed to evaluate the mental health and mental quality of 230 training logistic soldiers in field,and then an analysis was carried out on the characteristics of the training logistic soldiers on mental health and its relationship with mental quality.Results ①The psychological problem's ratio of training soldiers was 21.3％,and the ratio of the male(22.8％) was significantly higher than that of the female(15.2％) (x2 =8.64,P=0.00).In SCL-90,the scores of somatization (1.46 ± 0.63),hostility (1.49 ± 0.75) and psychotism (1.43 ±0.68) were all higher in training soldiers than the army norm.The factor scores of somatization (1.49 ± 0.66)and psychotism(1.46 ± 0.72) in the male training soldiers were considerably higher than those of the male soldiers norm (P ＜ 0.05),but not in the female(P ＞ 0.05).②There existed a significantly negative correlation between the factor scores of the mental quality and that of SCL-90 (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜ 0.01).③The SCL-90 scores existed clear differences in obsessive-compulsive,interpersonal sensitivity,depression,hostility and paranoid ideation among different mental quality groups (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The mental health of training logistic soldiers is poor.The mental health is closely related to the mental quality.Therefore,the mental health education and mental quality training should be strengthened to the training logistic soldiers.