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Objective:To evaluate the 3-year survival outcomes of postoperative patients after high exposure to traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） for triple negative breast cancer （TNBC）. Method:The complete 3-year follow-up data of 150 postoperative patients with stage I–III TNBC were retrospectively analyzed. All the patients received routine western medical treatments （surgery， chemotherapy， and/or radiotherapy） according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network （NCCN） clinical practice guidelines in oncology as well as TCM. According to the degree of exposure to TCM， they were divided into the high- and low-exposure cohorts， with the oral administration of Chaihu Longmu Decoction with or without anti-cancer Chinese patent medicine for at least six months annually， or 18 months or more in the three years as the inclusion criterion for the former cohort. The metastatic sites of recurrent TNBC and the recurrent metastasis/death time were observed in both cohorts to compare the disease-free survival （DFS） and overall survival （OS）. The influences of onset age， pathological type， histopathological grade， vascular invasion， clinical stage， and exposure to TCM on survival were subjected to statistical analysis， followed by the observation of adverse effects. Result:There was no significant difference in the metastatic sites between the two cohorts （<italic>P</italic>>0.05）. The high-exposure cohort had a longer 3-year DFS than the low-exposure cohort， and the 3-year DFS rate in the high-exposure cohort was increased by 16.9% （χ<sup>2</sup>=6.995， <italic>P</italic>=0.008） as compared with that in the low-exposure cohort， exhibiting a significant difference （<italic>P</italic><0.05）. As revealed by the Cox proportional-hazards model， patients in the low-exposure cohort had a 3.724-fold as high risk of recurrent metastasis as that in the high-exposure cohort （95%CI 1.399~9.915）. There was no significant difference in the 3-year OS between the two cohorts （<italic>P</italic>>0.05）. The overall incidence of adverse effects in both groups was 7.3%， mainly manifested as gastrointestinal discomfort. Conclusion:High exposure to TCM contributes to reducing postoperative recurrence and metastasis and prolonging DFS.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the function and clinicopathological significance of RNA-29c (miR-29c) in the carcinogenesis and development of gastric cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MicroRNA microarray was applied to assess the miRNAs expression profile of gastric cancer. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-29c in 64 cases of gastric cancer tissues and corresponding normal gastric epithelium, as well as cell lines GES-1, BGC-823 and SGC-7901 cells. MTT assay and flow cytometry were applied to detect the effects of forced expression of miR-29c in gastric cancer BGC-823 cells including cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle and drug sensitivity. Quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot and luciferase reporter assay were used to explore the targeted relationship between miR-29c and myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with normal gastric epithelium, seven microRNAs (miR-374b*, miRPlus-E1212, miR-338-5p, miR-297, miR-21, miR-135b, miR-18a) were significantly up-regulated more than 2-folds, and nine microRNAs (miR-29b-2*, miR-1260, miRPlus-E1241, miR-S1-5p, miR-148a, miR-29c, miR-647, miR-196b*, ebv-miR-BART5) were significantly down-reguated in gastric cancer tissues. The average expression level of miR-29c in gastric cancer tissues was 0.70 ± 0.34 and in corresponding normal epithelium was 1.00 ± 0.06 (P < 0.05). miR-29c expression was related to tumor size, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, Laurén classification, Borrmann classification and Ming classification (P < 0.05). The poorer differentiation degree of gastric cell lines, the lower was miR-29c expression level (P < 0.05). Overexpression of miR-29c in gastric cancer BGC-823 cells suppressed cell proliferation, stimulated cell apoptosis, induced cell cycle arrest in S phase and increased the chemotherapy sensitivity to drug docetaxel (all were P < 0.05). The average expression level of Mcl-1 mRNA in gastric cancer tissues was 3.47 ± 1.34 and corresponding epithelialium was 1.00 ± 0.20 (P < 0.05). The expression level of miR-29c was negatively related with that of Mcl-1 mRNA in gastric cancer tissues. miR-29c directly targeted to regulation of Mcl-1 expression.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There are special miRNA expression profile in gastric cancer. The expression of miR-29c is closely related to biological behavior of human gastric cancer. miR-29c is involved in targeted regulation of Mcl-1, and may be one of mechanisms of the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer.</p>