Role of thymoquinone in treatment of pancreatic cancer / 临床肝胆病杂志

Pancreatic cancer is one of the cancers with the worst prognosis, and its high metastasis rate and resistance to chemotherapy drugs have always been the tough problems in the medical field. At present, the effect of thymoquinone on pancreatic cancer has attracted wide attention, and it can exert an antitumor effect in pancreatic cancer by inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, promoting cancer cell apoptosis, inhibiting invasion and metastasis, enhancing the sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs, and exerting an anti-inflammatory effect. This review briefly introduces the current research status of the association between thymoquinone and pancreatic cancer in China and globally, so as to provide a reference for subsequent research.

Safety and efficacy of reduced-volume hepatectomy for advanced hepatic alveolar echinococcosis / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective@#To evaluate the efficacy and safety of reduced volume hepatectomy in treatment of advanced hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.@*Methods@#The clinical data of 90 patients with advanced hepatic alveolar echinococcosis treated at the Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital from January 2017 to January 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 41 males and 49 females, with an average age of 32 (range 11 to 58) years. The locations of the lesions, operations, complications and follow-up were analyzed.@*Results@#90 patients were treated with reduced volume focal hepatectomy, 38 with radical resection and 52 with quasi radical resection. The operation time was (361±22) min. The hospital stay was (22±2) day, and the blood loss was (781±37) ml. Red blood cells were transfused in 19 patients and plasma in 39 patients. Pringle’s maneuver was used in 12 patients, regional hepatic blood flow occlusion in 42 patients, and Glisson sheath occlusion in 26 patients. The total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase returned to normal in 3 to 14 days after operation. There were 12 patients who developed bile leakage, 41 pleural effusion and 26 effusion in the operation sites. A total of ninety patients were followed up for 2 to 24 months. There was no recurrence of echinococcosis after radical resection and no enlargement of residual lesions after quasi-radical resection.@*Conclusion@#Reduced-volume hepatectomy reduced the risk and difficulty of operation. The follow-up results were good. This approach provides a feasible scheme for treatment of advanced hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.

A Case of Alveolar Echinococcosis Occurring in the Hilar Bile Duct

Echinococcosis is a disease caused by the Echinococcus species that parasitizes in humans. Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) which is caused by Echinococcus multilocularis is harmful to humans. AE mainly occurs in the liver and can be transferred to retroperitoneal lymph nodes, lung, brain, bone, spleen and other organs through lymphatic and blood vessels. Cholangiocarcinoma can occur in the intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts and is more common in the hilar. We reported a case of hilar bile duct alveolar echinococcosis which was originally misdiagnosed an cholangiocarcinoma.

TES was epigenetically silenced and suppressed the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in breast cancer.

The TES gene was frequently lost in breast cancer, which could inhibit tumor invasion and the formation of distant metastasis. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown yet. In the present study, we aimed to investigate how TES was silenced and its roles in EMT--the key step for tumor metastasis. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression of target genes; the status of TES promoter was determined by methylation-specific PCR and subsequently, DNA sequencing. Overexpression or downregulation of TES was achieved by pcDNA3.1-TES or shRNA-TES transfection. Cellular adhesion and migration were investigated by the adhesion and Transwell assays. Morphological changes of breast cancer cells were observed under the optical microscope. The Rho A activity was measured using a commercial kit, and its roles in TES-manipulated EMT were determined by real-time PCR and Western blot. The 42.3% (33/78) breast cancer tissues presented hypermethylation of the TES gene, whereas only 2 (2.6%) non-malignant cases were hypermethylated (P<0.001). Moreover, TES hypermethylation was significantly correlated with larger tumor diameter (P=0.03) and lympho node metastasis (P=0.024). In primary cultured breast cancer cells, the demethylation treatment using 5-aza-dC notably restored the expression of TES. In vitro, overexpression of TES enhanced cellular adhesion inhibited migration and suppressed EMT, while downregulation of TES impaired cellular adhesion, promoted migration, and enhanced EMT. TES overexpression also activated the Rho A signal, which is a critical factor for the effects of TES on the EMT procedure. We firstly proved that frequent loss of TES in breast cancer was caused by promoter hypermethylation, which was correlated with poor prognosis. In vitro, TES enhanced cellular adhesion, suppressed tumor migration, and inhibited EMT. Moreover, the Rho A pathway was critical for the effects of TES on EMT, which can be blocked by the Rho A inhibitor. Therefore, we propose restoration of TES as a potent strategy for breast cancer therapy.