Chromium (VI)-induced ALDH1A1/EGF axis promotes lung cancer progression.

Cr(VI) is broadly applied in industry. Cr(VI) exposure places a big burden on public health, thereby increasing the risk of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). The mechanisms underlying Cr(VI)-induced LUSC remain largely elusive. Here, we report that the cancer stem cell (CSC)/tumour-initiating cell (TIC)-like subgroup within Cr(VI)-transformed bronchial epithelial cells (CrT) promotes lung cancer tumourigenesis. Mechanistically, Cr(VI) exposure specifically increases the expression levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1), a CSC marker, through KLF4-mediated transcription. ALDH1A1 maintains self-renewal of CrT/TICs and facilitates the expression and secretion of EGF from CrT/TICs, which subsequently promotes the activation of EGFR signalling in differentiated cancer cells and tumour growth of LUSC. In addition, the ALDH1A1 inhibitor A37 and gemcitabine synergistically suppress LUSC progression. Importantly, high ALDH1A1 expression levels are positively correlated with advanced clinical stages and predict poor survival in LUSC patients. These findings elucidate how ALDH1A1 modulates EGF secretion from TICs to facilitate LUSC tumourigenesis, highlighting new therapeutic strategies for malignant lung cancers.

Lichen Simplex Chronicus Secondary to Scald Injury and Skin Flap Transplantation.

A 50-year-old woman had suffered from chronic pruritic plaque located on right retroauricular area for around 16 years, which was diagnosed as lichen simplex chronicus. Seventeen years ago, patient had multiple scalded areas distributed throughout the body and underwent autologous skin flap transplantation for the right retroauricular wound. After the wound healed, patient started experiencing paresthesia continuously on the skin grafted area and could not resist scratching. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of lichen simplex chronicus secondary to scald injury and skin flap transplantation. We successfully treated this patient with dyclonine hydrochloride cream 1% and desonide cream 0.05%.

A meta-analysis of caspase-8 -652 6N del polymorphism and digestive tract cancer risk.

Caspase-8 (CASP8) is one key regulator of apoptosis of T lymphocytes and is encoded by the CASP8 gene. It has been reported that the six-nucleotide deletion polymorphism (-652 6N del) of the CASP8 gene had effect on some cancer risk. Few studies explored the association between CASP8 gene polymorphism and digestive tract cancer risk. To evaluate the association between the CASP8 -652 6N del polymorphism and the risk of digestive tract cancer, we conducted this meta-analysis. We found that CASP8-652 6N del polymorphism was associated with a significantly reduced risk of digestive tract cancer in the co-dominant model (del/del vs. ins/ins: OR= 0.82, 95%CI= 0.72-0.95; del/ins vs. ins/ins: OR= 0.92, 95%CI= 0.87-0.97; dominant model (del/ins+ del/del vs. ins/ins: OR= 0.91, 95%CI= 0.87-0.96, recessive model: del/del vs. del/ins+ ins/ins: OR= 0.85, 95%CI= 0.75-0.97). In the stratified analysis by cancer types, we found that all genetic models had protective effect on gastric cancer. Similar results were observed for colorectal cancer under heterozygote comparison and dominant model, but not under homozygote comparison or recessive model. In addition, a significantly decreased risk was found on esophageal cancer for most genetic models, except heterozygote comparison. When stratified by ethnicity and source of control, an evidently decreased risk was identified in the Asian populations and population-based studies. In conclusion, there exists an association between the CASP8 -652 6N del polymorphism and reduced digestive cancer risk, especially among Asians and population-based studies.

Intestinal T-cell lymphomas: a retrospective analysis of 68 cases in China.

AIM: To investigate the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of intestinal T-cell lymphomas (ITCL) by retrospective analysis. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients who were diagnosed with ITCL in case reports in the Chinese literature were compiled and reviewed. Age, gender, CD56 expression, surgical management, multifocal nature, perforation and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy were analyzed as the prognostic factors. The Kaplan-Meier method was adopted for the univariate analysis and the cumulative survival curve analysis. RESULTS: The male-to-female ratio was 1.52 to 1. The median age was 41.7 years. Twenty-seven patients had symptoms of abdominal pain or diarrhea. Thirty-six of 60 patients with temperature records had high fevers at the onset of the illness. Twenty-six of 34 patients who underwent fiberoptic colonoscopy were misdiagnosed with Crohn's disease, intestinal tuberculosis or cancer. Sixty-one patients underwent surgery. Twelve of 61 surgical patients required a second operation for anastomotic leakage or secondary perforation. The sites of lesion involvement were the jejunum (8.82%), ileum (29.41%), ileum and colon (4.41%), colon (55.88%) and appendix (1.47%). The median cumulative survival rate was 3 mo (3.00 ± 0.48). CONCLUSION: Efforts should be made to correctly diagnose ITCL and select the proper operative approach that may reduce serious complications and create opportunities for further treatment.

Meta-analysis on the comparison between two topical calcineurin inhibitors in atopic dermatitis.

Topical calcineurin inhibitors have proved to be suitable for the treatment of AD. We conducted a meta-analysis comparing efficacy and tolerance of tacrolimus with pimecrolimus in treatment of AD. According to our meta-analysis, tacrolimus 0.1% was more effective than pimecrolimus 1% in adult patients (week 3: risk ratio [RR] 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.42-0.73), and tacrolimus (a combination of 0.03% and 0.1%) was also more effective than pimecrolimus 1% in pediatric patients (week 6/end of study: RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.63-0.92). Regardless of age or illness severity, tacrolimus 0.1% had higher efficacy than pimecrolimus 1% in the treatment of AD (week 3: RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.72). In adult patients, tacrolimus 0.1% had more adverse events than pimecrolimus 1% (RR 1.30, 95% CI 1.02-1.66), but the incidence of adverse events between tacrolimus 0.1% (or 0.03%) and pimecrolimus 1% was not significantly different in pediatric patients. No matter whether the patients were adult or pediatric, more pimecrolimus-treated patients withdrew from the trials because of a lack of efficacy. Regardless of age and illness severity, more pimecrolimus 1%-treated patients withdrew from the trials because of a lack of efficacy, compared with tacrolimus 0.1% (or 0.03%)-treated patients. More pimecrolimus-treated pediatric patients withdrew from the trials because of adverse events (RR 0.26, 95% CI 0.1-0.68). More pimecrolimus 1%-treated patients withdrew from the trials because of adverse events, compared with tacrolimus 0.03%-treated patients, regardless of age (RR 0.1, 95% CI 0.02-0.53). In conclusion, tacrolimus ointment has higher efficacy and better tolerance than pimecrolimus cream in treatment of AD.

[Adult prostate sarcoma: a clinicopathologic study of 15 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the clinical and morphological features of adult prostate sarcoma (APS) and to further improve the knowledge and diagnostic accuracy for APS. METHODS: Fifteen cases of APS were observed and analyzed on the clinical symptom, pathological features, treatment and prognosis. RESULTS: Age of onset ranged from 22 to 77 years (mean 46.3 years). The majority of cases were presented with dysuresia. By digital rectal examination and imaging of the prostate, APS was often identified as a large tumor mass. There were 6 cases of leiomyosarcomas, 6 embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas, and 3 fibrosarcomas in this series. Follow-up data were available for 12 cases: 7 cases died of the disease between 9 days and 360 days after surgery. Among 5 survived patients, 3 cases had recurrence after 2 to 24 months follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: APS is a rare tumor that typically has clinical features: earlier age of onset, fast-appeared urinary tract symptoms, significant mass effects, and poor outcome. Level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) is usually normal or lower. Final diagnosis relies on the features of histology and immunohistochemistry expression profile.