A novel amino acid metabolism-related gene signature to predict the overall survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has a poor early detection rate, prognosis, and survival rate. Effective prognostic markers are urgently needed to assist in the prediction of ESCC treatment outcomes. There is accumulating evidence of a strong relationship between cancer cell growth and amino acid metabolism. This study aims to determine the relationship between amino acid metabolism and ESCC prognosis. Methods: This study comprehensively evaluates the association between amino acid metabolism-related gene (AAMRG) expression profiles and the prognosis of ESCC patients based on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to verify the expression of prognosis-related genes. Results: A univariate Cox regression analysis of TCGA data identified 18 prognosis-related AAMRGs. The gene expression profiles of 90 ESCC tumor and normal tissues were obtained from the GSE20347 and GSE67269 datasets. Two differently expressed genes (DEGs) were considered as ESCC prognosis-related genes; and they were branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) and methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria type C protein (MMACHC). These two AAMRGs were used to develop a novel AAMRG-related gene signature to predict 1- and 2-year prognostic risk in ESCC patients. Both BCAT1 and MMACHC expression were verified by RT-qPCR. A prognostic nomogram that incorporated clinical factors and BCAT1 and MMACHC gene expression was constructed, and the calibration plots showed that it had good prognostic performance. Conclusions: The AAMRG signature established in our study is efficient and could be used in clinical settings to predict the early prognosis of ESCC patients.

Optical Nanobiosensor Based on Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Catalytic Hairpin Assembly for Early-Stage Lung Cancer Detection via Blood Circular RNA.

Lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. However, early detection of lung cancer remains challenging, resulting in poor outcomes for the patients. Herein, we developed an optical biosensor integrating surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with a catalyzed hairpin assembly (CHA) to detect circular RNA (circRNA) associated with tumor formation and progression (circSATB2). The signals of the Raman reporter were considerably enhanced by generating abundant SERS "hot spots" with a core-shell nanoprobe and 2D SERS substrate with calibration capabilities. This approach enabled the sensitive (limit of detection: 0.766 fM) and reliable quantitative detection of the target circRNA. Further, we used the developed biosensor to detect the circRNA in human serum samples, revealing that patients with lung cancer had higher circRNA concentrations than healthy subjects. Moreover, we characterized the unique circRNA concentration profiles of the early stages (IA and IB) and subtypes (IA1, IA2, and IA3) of lung cancer. These results demonstrate the potential of the proposed optical sensing nanoplatform as a liquid biopsy and prognostic tool for the early screening of lung cancer.

Diagnosis and treatment of postoperative bleeding in patients after gastrectomy: a retrospective case series study.

Background: There are significant differences in terms of the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations between intra- and extra-luminal bleeding, and it is also difficult to determine the reasonable management of the bleeding. This study is to analyze the clinical characteristics of postoperative bleeding in gastric cancer, and to explore the management of postoperative intra-intestinal and extra-intestinal bleeding. Methods: We collected the clinical data of 2,978 patients with gastric cancer from the Department of Surgery, Fujian Cancer Hospital, from May 2014 to September 2019. A total gastrectomy or a distal or proximal subtotal gastrectomy with regional lymph node dissection (D1+ or D2) was included. The clinic data and management of both early (postoperative days ≤6 d) and delayed (postoperative days ≥7 d) post-operative hemorrhage were explored. This retrospective study is to compare the clinical characteristics and treatment of intra-intestinal and extra-intestinal hemorrhage. Results: The incidence of postoperative bleeding in gastric cancer was 2.85% (n=85), and the bleeding-related mortality was 4.7% (4/85). There were 67 men and 18 women, and four patients died, with a bleeding-related mortality rate of 4.7%. There were 46 cases of intra-intestinal hemorrhage and 39 cases of extra-intestinal hemorrhage. The reoperation rate in the extraneous bleeding group was higher than that in the intra-intestinal bleeding group (66.67% vs. 19.57%, P<0.001), and the incidence of delayed bleeding in the extra-intestinal bleeding group was higher than that in the intra-intestinal bleeding group (46.15% vs. 8.70%, P<0.001). In the delayed phase, 11 patients underwent reoperation to stop the bleeding, and three patients died due to bleeding-related complications. Hemostasis was successfully achieved in four patients by transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE). In the reoperation group, 72.73% (8/11) suffered hemodynamic instability and 63.64% (7/11) had an abdominal infection, while in the TAE group, 25% (1/4) had hemodynamic instability and 50% (2/4) had an abdominal infection. Conclusions: A greater number of gastric cancer patients with intra-intestinal hemorrhage are treated conservatively, while more patients with extra-intestinal hemorrhage are treated by reoperation. External bleeding is more likely to occur in the delayed period of bleeding. TAE is a safe and effective means of hemostasis if the hemodynamics is stable.

TRPV3 inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration by regulating the MAPK signaling pathway.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibiting effect of transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 (TRPV3) on the proliferation and migration of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and to explore the underlying mechanism. Methods: A microarray dataset from the publicly available Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was used to investigate the prognostic value of TRPV3 in CRC. In addition, 100 CRC tissue samples were collected at our center to further validate its prognostic value at the protein level. Cell proliferation ability was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, and cell migration ability was detected by transwell assay. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was performed to identify the potential pathways regulated by TRPV3. Results: Based on the largest microarray dataset (GSE39582), low expression of TRPV3 was found to be significantly associated with poor prognosis in CRC patients, and this result was successfully validated at our cancer center. Functional experiments showed that knockdown of TRPV3 enhanced cell proliferation and migration, while enforced TRPV3 expression exhibited the opposite effect. GSEA based on public microarray data revealed that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway was notably activated in patients with low expression of TRPV3. Further experiments in vivo confirmed that TRPV3 silencing promoted cell proliferation and migration by activating the MAPK signaling pathway. Conclusions: Low expression of TRPV3, which stimulates cell proliferation and migration by provoking the MAPK signaling pathway, indicated poor prognosis in CRC patients.

Local surgery improves survival in elderly patients with stage IV breast cancer: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

Background: Little is known about the role of local therapy in elderly patients with stage IV breast cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of local therapy including surgery and radiotherapy in this kind of population by using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Methods: Eligible patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2015 were selected from the SEER database. Baseline characteristics, way of local therapy and survival information were collected for survival and analysis of prognostic factors. Cause-specific survival (CSS) curves were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method and compared by the log-rank test. Cox regression and multivariate competing risk analyses were used to analyze prognosis factors. Results: A total of 1,900 patients were enrolled with the median age of 71 (range, 65 to 95) years. The 5-year CSS of patients with surgery was significantly better than that of those who did not (36.5% vs. 22.4%, P<0.001). Moreover, surgery was an independent protective factor for CSS in both multivariate Cox regression analysis [hazard ratio (HR), 0.588; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.485-0.643; P<0.001] and multivariate competing risk analysis [subdistribution HR (SHR), 0.620; 95% CI, 0.535-0.718; P<0.001]. Stratified analysis showed that most subgroup patients could benefit from surgery. The 5-year CSS of patients with radiotherapy was comparable to those without radiotherapy (28.9% vs. 26.5%, P=0.060), and radiotherapy was not an independent prognostic factor for CSS (SHR, 1.005; 95% CI, 0.846-1.202; P=0.954). However, subgroup analysis found that patients with moderate grade in histopathology, luminal A, or triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype could benefit from radiotherapy (all P<0.05). Conclusions: Elderly patients with stage IV breast cancer can benefit from surgical treatment. This study helps to select the appropriate group for local surgery or radiotherapy according to the personal situation of the elderly to obtain the maximum benefit.