Short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic versus open surgery for rectal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVES: The present meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic surgery (LS) versus open surgery (OS) for rectal cancer. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library, were searched for eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to June 2017. Operation related index, postoperative complication, and long-term survival rate and disease-free survival rate were evaluated by meta-analytical techniques. RESULT: Nine RCTs enrolling 4126 patients were included in the present meta-analysis. Compared to OS, LS had similar positive circumferential resection margin (CRM) and number of lymph nodes extracted (LNE) as well as long term 5 years survival rate and disease-free survival rate, but of which the risk tendency was higher in LS group. The short-term outcomes of major and total postoperative complication were lower in LS group. CONCLUSIONS: LS for rectal cancer was as safe and effective as OS in terms of long-term outcomes, but with lower postoperative complication.

Cytotoxicity of Tanshinone IIA combined with Taxol on drug-resist breast cancer cells MCF-7 through inhibition of Tau.

Drug resistance represents a major obstacle to improving the overall response and survival of cancer patients. Taxol is one of the most commonly used chemotherapy agents in breast cancer. As with many cancer therapeutic agents, resistance remains a significant problem when using Taxol to treat malignancies. In this study, estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cells MCF-7 were induced Taxol resistance. And Tanshinone IIA combined with Taxol was chosen to treat it. The drugs combination showed additive effect in most drug concentrations. Drug resistance cancer cells showed a higher microtubule associated protein (Tau) expression, which was considered as one of the reasons for Taxol resistance. Tanshinone IIA inhibited the expression of Tau in MCF-7 cells and resulted in higher sensibility of Taxol. Moreover, Tanshinone IIA also showed cytotoxicity to MCF-7, which might be related to its estrogenicity effect. In conclusion, the combination of Tanshinone IIA and Taxol showed higher cytotoxicity to Taxol resistant MCF-7 cells, which might be related to the inhibition of Tau.

[Polysorbate-80 modified neurotoxin nanoparticle with its transport and cytotoxicity against blood-brain barrier].

This study was aimed at the transport across blood-brain barrier (BBB) of polysorbate-80 modified neurotoxin loaded polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticle (P-80-NT-NP) and its cytotoxicity. An in vitro model of BBB using rat brain microvascular endothelial cells (rBMECs) was established. The cytotoxicity of P-80-NT-NP was measured by the MTT assays, where neurotoxin (NT), nanoparticle (NP), neurotoxin nanoparticle (NT-NP) as control, and the permeability of P-80-NT-NP was determined by using of Millicell insert coculture with rBMECs and fluorescence spectrophotometry. MTT results showed that NT, NP, NT-NP and P-80-NT-NP were avirulent to rBMECs when the concentration of NT was lower than 200 ng x mL(-1). But the cytotoxicity of NP, NT-NP and P-80-NT-NP would be augmented accordingly as concentration increased (P < 0.01), causing obvious reductions of cell survival rate, with no significant difference between them (P > 0.05). When the concentration of NT was 150 ng x mL(-1), the permeability on rBMECs of P-80-NT-NP and NT-NP were both significantly higher than that of NT (P < 0.01), and the permeability of P-80-NT-NP was greater than that of NT-NP (P < 0.05). In conclusion, polysorbate-80 modified neurotoxin nanoparticles can transport across the BBB, while concentration of NT is greater than 200 ng x mL(-1), P-80-NT-NP has a little cytotoxicity against rBMECs.