Impact of surgery on survival in breast cancer with bone metastases only: a SEER database retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: It was controversial to operate on the primary site of breast cancer (BC) with bone metastasis only. We investigated the impact of surgery on BC patients with bone metastases via a SEER database retrospective analysis. METHODS: A total of 2917 BC cases with bone metastasis, first diagnosed between 2010 and 2015 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Results Database (SEER) of National Cancer Institute were selected. We assessed the effect of different surgical procedures on survival and prognosis. RESULTS: Compared with the non-surgical group, the primary tumor surgical group showed longer median survival time (χ2 = 146.023, P < 0.001), and the breast-conserving subgroup showed the highest median survival time of 70 months (χ2 = 157.117, P < 0.001). Compared with the non-surgery group, the median overall survival (OS) of primary surgery group was longer (HR = 0.525, 95%CI = 0.467-0.590, P < 0.001), and the breast-conserving subgroup showed the longest median operative OS (HR = 0.394, 95%CI = 0.325-0.478, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed that primary surgery could improve the median survival time and OS of BC patients with bone metastasis. Moreover, under the condition of low tumor burden, breast conserving surgery was a better choice.

Favorable Prognostic Impact of Cathepsin H (CTSH) High Expression in Thyroid Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Presently, no study reported the function of cathepsin H (CTSH) in thyroid carcinoma (THCA). The aim of present study was to initially explore the factors affecting CTSH expression, and association between CTSH expression and survival rate in THCA. METHODS: We explored mRNA expression of CTSH in normal and BRCA tissues, and evaluated prognostic impact of CTSH expression on the overall survival of THCA patients. Then, related factors influencing CTSH mRNA expression in THCA were analyzed. Functional enrichment analysis was performed to reveal the potential function of CTSH involved in THCA. We also constructed PPI network among co-expressed genes of CTSH to determine hub genes, followed by association analysis on hub genes with CTSH. RESULTS: (1) CTSH mRNA was highly expressed in THCA compared with normal group (P<0.001). High expression of CTSH was conducive to the overall survival of THCA patients (P=0.0027). CTSH was then determined as an independent prognostic factor in THCA (P=0.024). (2) The mRNA expression of CTSH was statistically related to patient's histological type, N stage, T stage, tumor stage and sample type (all P<0.001). CTSH copy number variation and methylation also influenced its mRNA expression (all P<0.001). (3) Pathway analysis indicated that CTSH mainly participated in cancer-related pathways, such as hedgehog signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and JAK-STAT signaling pathway (all P<0.05). (4) The top 10 co-expressed genes in whole PPI network showed significant correlation with CTSH expression (all P<0.001). CONCLUSION: CTSH higher expression was observed in THCA, which caused a good prognosis of patients. CTSH expression might be regulated by multiple factors including clinical characteristic, methylation, copy number and other genes. This study demonstrated the clinical significance of CTSH in THCA, as well as revealed the potential pathway associated with CTSH involved in thyroid cancer.

[Relationship between recurrent spontaneous abortion and the level of interferon-γ and interleukin-4 in peripheral blood and gingival crevicular fluid of patients with chronic periodontitis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and the level of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in peripheral blood and gingival crevicular fluid of patients with chronic periodontitis. METHODS: Fifty pregnant women with recurrent spontaneous abortion (gestational age: 5 - 28 weeks) and 40 pregnant women (gestational age: 39 - 41 weeks) were included and their periodontal status was examined. The level of IFN-γ and IL-4 in gingival crevicular fluid and peripheral blood was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Nine RSA women and 5 in control group had periodontitis. The prevalence of periodontitis in RSA group was 18% (9/50) and 13% (5/40) in the control group (P < 0.05). The probing depth, attachment loss and bleeding index in RSA group were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The level of IFN-γ was (52.98 ± 17.56) ng/L in gingival crevicular fluid of RSA group and (25.25 ± 7.93) ng/L in control group (P < 0.01). The level of IL-4 was (15.43 ± 1.77) ng/L in gingival crevicular fluid of RSA group and (19.62 ± 4.04) ng/L in control group (P < 0.01). The content of IFN-γ was (27.79 ± 3.59) ng/L in peripheral blood of RSA group and (18.39 ± 2.65) ng/L in control group (P < 0.05). The content of IL-4 was (15.88 ± 0.95) ng/L in peripheral blood of RSA group and (22.98 ± 4.30) ng/L in control group (P < 0.001). The content of cytokines in gingival crevicular fluid and peripheral blood in the same group was positively related (r > 0.8, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant women of RSA have a higher chance of getting periodontitis. The change in the level of cytokines in periodontal tissue could result in excursion of maternal intrauterine immune environment to T-helper 1 (Th1). Periodontitis was related to RSA.