Different clinicopathological features between young and older patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma and ground-glass opacity.

After the recommendation of computed tomography as a routine procedure for lung cancer screening, an increasing number of young adults have been diagnosed with pulmonary ground-glass opacity (GGO). Up to 63% of pulmonary nodules with a GGO component can be malignant. Since young cancer patients have limited exposure to environmental mutagens, they have special characteristics and needs. This study sought to compare the clinicopathological characteristics of young and old patients with GGO-associated lung adenocarcinoma (GGO-LUAD). Clinicopathological data from 203 patients who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery between January 2018 and April 2020 for pulmonary GGO component nodules were reviewed. Lung nonmucinous adenocarcinoma patients younger than 40 years old and older than 40 years old were enrolled: 103 patients ≤ 40 years old and 100 patients > 40 years old. The relevant clinicopathological features, including sex, smoking status, tumor size, pathological characteristics, radiographic features and prognosis of pulmonary nodules, were evaluated. Univariate analyses were applied for comparisons between groups. The differences in baseline characteristics (sex, smoking status, tumor location) between the different age groups were not significant. Young patients were more likely to have tumors < 1 cm in size, while older patients predominantly had tumors > 2 cm in size. The mean percentage of invasive adenocarcinoma was greater in the elderly group. Young and older patients seemed to have similar subtypes of adenocarcinoma (p > 0.05) but had different degrees of differentiation (p < 0.001). The 3-year overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of the young group were 100% and 99.03%, respectively, while the 3-years OS and RFS of the older group were 99% and 98%, respectively. Our work revealed that young patients with malignant pulmonary nodules and GGOs have distinct pathological subtypes. Patients with GGOs of different ages have different clinicopathological characteristics. The 3-year prognosis of young patients with malignant pulmonary nodules with GGOs is satisfactory.

Structure of gut microbiota and characteristics of fecal metabolites in patients with lung cancer.

Objective: The gut micro-biome plays a pivotal role in the progression of lung cancer. However, the specific mechanisms by which the intestinal microbiota and its metabolites are involved in the lung cancer process remain unclear. Method: Stool samples from 52 patients with lung cancer and 29 healthy control individuals were collected and subjected to 16S rRNA gene amplification sequencing and non-targeted gas/liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics analysis. Then microbiota, metabolites and potential signaling pathways that may play an important role in the disease were filtered. Results: Firmicutes, Clostridia, Bacteroidacea, Bacteroides, and Lachnospira showed a greater abundance in healthy controls. In contrast, the Ruminococcus gnavus(R.gnavus) was significantly upregulated in lung cancer patients. In this respect, the micro-biome of the squamous cell carcinoma(SCC)group demonstrated a relatively higher abundance of Proteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroides,and Enterobacteriaceae, as well as higher abundances of Fusicatenibacter and Roseburia in adenocarcinoma(ADC) group. Metabolomic analysis showed significant alterations in fecal metabolites including including quinic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid,1-methylhydantoin,3,4-dihydroxydrocinnamic acid and 3,4-dihydroxybenzeneacetic acid were significantly altered in lung cancer patients. Additionally, the R.gnavus and Fusicatenibacter of lung cancer were associated with multiple metabolite levels. Conclusion: Our study provides essential guidance for a fundamental systematic and multilevel assessment of the contribution of gut micro-biome and their metabolites in lung cancer,which has great potential for understanding the pathogenesis of lung cancer and for better early prevention and targeted interventions.

Analysis of Clinical and Microbiological Features of Listeria monocytogenes Infection.

Introduction: To analyze the demographics and clinical features of 59 cases of Listeria monocytogenes, and determine the predisposing conditions for severe meningitis infections for reference. Materials and methods: A total of 59 cases isolated L. monocytogenes from 2009 to 2020 were enrolled. Electronic medical record data were used to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of L. monocytogenes infection. Univariate and multifactorial logistic regression analyses were performed to predict risk factors for Listeria meningitis. Results: A total of 59 cases (median age of 52 years, 30 females and 29 males) were enrolled. Twenty-five patients (42.37%) developed a neuroinvasive infection. The indexes of interleukin-6 (IL-6), CD3+T, CD4+T, and CD8+T cells in the study group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). In univariate analysis, the use of hormone drugs (odds ratio=3.21, P=0.000) and immunosuppressive agents (odds ratio=3.06, P=0.000) were relevant predictors of severe meningitis. 47 patients (79.66%) were treated with ampicillin (27.12%), carbapenems (18.64%), quinolones (11.86%), and ß-lactamase inhibitors (11.86%) as the primary agents of antimicrobial therapy. Thirty-four patients (57.63%) showed clinical improvement, five patients (8.47%) had a poor prognosis, and two patients (3.39%) died. Conclusion: Infection with Listeria changed the levels of IL-6, CD3+T, CD4+T, and CD8+T cells, and these analyzing items were significantly different between L. monocytogenes and other bacterial infections. Long-term use of immunosuppressants and hormones may be risk factors for severe adult forms of Listeria-related infections. Sensitive antibiotics, such as penicillins and carbapenems, should be added or replaced in the early empiric treatment of L. monocytogenes.

Distinct respiratory microbiota associates with lung cancer clinicopathological characteristics.

Introduction: Commensal microbiota dysbiosis is associated with the development of lung cancer. The current studies about composition of respiratory microbiota in lung cancer patients yielded inconsistent results. This study aimed to examine the association between airway microbiota and lung cancer clinicopathological characteristics. Methods: Surgically removed lesion tissues from 75 non-small cell lung cancer patients and 7 patients with benign pulmonary diseases were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Taxonomy, relative abundance, and diversity of respiratory microbiota were compared among lung cancer of different pathology and TNM stages. The effects of antibiotic and cigarette exposure on respiratory microbiota in lung cancer patients were also evaluated. Results: Bacterial relative abundance and alpha- and beta-diversity analysis of lung microbiota showed significant differences among lung cancer of different pathology and benign pulmonary diseases. At the genus level, the abundance differences of 13 taxa between lung squamous cell carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma, 63 taxa between lung squamous cell carcinoma and benign pulmonary diseases, and 4 taxa between lung adenocarcinoma and benign pulmonary diseases reached statistical significance. In contrast, diversity differences were not as significant across lung cancer of different stages. No significant differences were observed in tissue taxonomic abundances and diversity at all taxonomic levels between lung cancer patients with and without antibiotic exposure 3 months prior to surgery. For lung adenocarcinoma, respiratory bacterial abundance and diversity at all taxonomic levels did not show significant differences between smokers and non-smokers. Conclusions: Our results confirm significantly differential respiratory microbiome taxa, abundance, and diversity in lung cancer of different pathology and some stages. Short-term antibiotic application might play a minor role in molding airway microbiota in lung cancer patients. Composition and diversity of respiratory microbiota in lung adenocarcinoma are not affected by cigarette exposure.

Autoclaving pHEMA-Based Hydrogels Immersed in Deionized Water has No Effect on Physicochemical Properties and Cell Behaviors.

Hydrogels based on poly-(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) have been widely used as biomaterials in tissue engineering due to their biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, and low friction coefficient. The terminal sterilization of hydrogels is a critical step in clinical applications. However, regulations and standardization for the sterilization of hydrogels based on pHEMA are still lacking. In this study, we explored six sterilization methods on pHEMA-based materials (A1: pHEMA, A2: pHEMA copolymerizes with acrylic acid, and A3: pHEMA copolymerizes with acrylic acid and further coordinated with iron ions), such as gamma irradiation, 75% ethanol, ultraviolet (UV), ethylene oxide (EtO), and autoclaving with or without deionized water (autoclaving-H2O or autoclaving-dry). Combining results from the multifaceted approaches with assessment, pHEMA-based hydrogels can be completely sterilized via the autoclaving-H2O method analyzed by sterilized testing. The physicochemical properties and cell behavior of sterilized hydrogels were not influenced by this sterilization approach, validated by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and tensile tests. The pHEMA-based hydrogel sterilized by the autoclaving-H2O method also had no effect on the cell behavior evaluated by in vitro cytotoxicity experiments and caused no evident inflammatory reaction in tissue in vivo implantation experiments. However, it was also found that there were still some defects in the A2 and A3 groups as biomaterials possibly because of an inappropriate proportion of formulations or raw material used in exploring sterilization methods. These findings have implications for the improvement and clinical application of pHEMA-based hydrogels.

Synergetic modulation of plant cadmium tolerance via MYB75-mediated ROS homeostasis and transcriptional regulation.

KEY MESSAGE: MYB75 enhances plant cadmium tolerance by mediating ROS homeostasis and cadmium tolerance-related genes expression. Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal with biological toxicity, which can be detoxified through chelation and compartmentation in plants. Transcriptional regulation mediates plant Cd tolerance by modulating these processes. However, the mechanism remains to be studied. Our results showed a previously unknown function of MYB75 transcription factor in the regulation of Cd tolerance. Cd exposure stimulates anthocyanin accumulation by raising MYB75 expression. Enhanced Cd tolerance was observed in the MYB75-overexpressing plants, whereas increased Cd sensitivity was found in the MYB75 loss-of-function mutants. Under Cd stress conditions, lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were detected in MYB75-overexpressing plants than in wild type plants. In contrast, higher ROS levels were found in MYB75 loss-of-function mutants. Overexpression of MYB75 was associated with increased glutathione (GSH) and phytochelatin (PC) content under Cd exposure. Furthermore, the expression of Cd stress-related gene including ACBP2 and ABCC2 was elevated in MYB75-overexpressing plants, and this upregulation was mediated through the mechanism by which MYB75 directly bind to the promoter of ACBP2 and ABCC2. Our findings reveal an important role for MYB75 in the regulation of plant Cd tolerance via anthocyanin-mediated ROS homeostasis, and through upregulation of Cd stress-related gene at the transcriptional level.

LincRNA00494 Suppresses Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Proliferation by Regulating SRCIN1 Expression as a ceRNA.

Background: Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor worldwide. Accumulating results have shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a key role in tumorigenesis. Patients and Methods: A total of 163 tumor tissues were collected from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients from West China Hospital of Sichuan University. LincRNA00494 is a novel lncRNA, and its expression and biological effect in NSCLC were reported in this study. NSCLC cell lines were used in this study. Results: LincRNA00494 is mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. LincRNA00494 was downregulated in the tumor tissues compared with the adjacent non-tumor tissues. LincRNA00494 expression was positively correlated with SRCIN1 expression (R = 0.57, P < 0.05). Silencing of LincRNA00494 in the cell lines substantially decreased SRCIN1 expression at the mRNA and protein levels, whereas overexpression of LincRNA00494 enhanced the SRCIN1 levels. miR-150-3p significantly decreased the luciferase signals of LincRNA00494 and SRCIN1 reporters. After transfection with miR-150-3p mimics and miR-150-3p inhibitor, overexpression of LincRNA00494 decreased the proliferation of the H358 (36%) and H1299 (29%) cell lines compared with that of the control cells, as shown by CCK-8 assays, whereas silencing LincRNA00494 promoted the proliferation of the H358 (47%) and H1299 (35%) cells. Tumor growth from LincRNA00494-overexpressing xenografts was significantly decreased; additionally, LincRNA00494 silencing substantially increased tumor growth compared with that of the control cells. Conclusions: Functional experiments revealed that LincRNA00494 inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation, which might be related to the suppression of SRCIN1, a tumor suppressor gene, by acting as a decoy for miR-150-3p. The data showed that LincRNA00494 might have antineoplastic effects during NSCLC tumorigenesis through its role as a ceRNA.