Expression Patterns of HOX Gene Family Defines Tumor Microenvironment and Immunotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathophysiology is prevalently related with HOX genes. However, the study on associations of extensive HOX genes with tumor microenvironment and drug sensitivity of HCC remains scarce. The data sets of HCC were downloaded from TCGA, ICGC, and GEO by bioinformatics method and analyzed. Based on a computational frame, HCC samples were divided into a high and a low HOXscore group, and significantly shorter survival time in the high HOXscore was observed relative to low HOXscore group using survival analysis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed that the high HOXscore group was more likely to be enriched in cancer-specific pathways. Furthermore, the high HOXscore group was involved in the infiltration of inhibitory immune cells. In response to anti-cancer drugs, the high HOXscore group was more sensitive to mitomycin and cisplatin. Importantly, the HOXscore was associated with the therapeutic efficacy of PD-L1 blockade, suggesting that the development of potential drugs targeting these HOX genes to aid the clinical benefits of immunotherapy is needed. In addition, RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry showed 10 HOX genes mRNA expression was higher in HCC compared to the normal tissues. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of HOX genes family in HCC and revealed the potential function of these HOX genes family in tumor microenvironment (TME) and identified their therapeutic liability in targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Eventually, this work highlights the cross-talk and potential clinical utility of HOX genes family in HCC therapy.

Effects of percutaneous catheter intervention on pulmonary hemodynamic indexes and safety in elderly patients with acute pulmonary embolism.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of percutaneous catheter intervention (PCI) on pulmonary hemodynamic indexes and safety in elderly patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE). METHODS: The retrospective study was performed on 65 elderly APE patients. According to the risk classification of Guidelines for Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Pulmonary Thromboembolism in China, the patients were divided into the medium-high risk group (n=37) and high risk group (n=28). All patients received PCI based on thrombolysis. The clinical efficacy after treatment, and changes of pulmonary hemodynamic indexes and blood gas indexes before and after treatment were compared between the two groups, and the complications and prognosis of patients were recorded. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the total effective rate between the two groups after treatment (P>0.05). Compared with before operation, mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), ratio of right/left ventricular end diastolic diameter (RVEDD/LVEDD) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) of the two groups were significantly reduced 12 h after operation, and greater changes were observed in the high risk group (all P<0.05). Compared with before operation, arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO2), blood oxygen saturation (SaO2) and oxygenation index (OI) of the two groups were significantly increased 12 h after operation, and the changes of the high risk group were more obvious (all P<0.05). No significant difference was found in the total incidence of complications between the two groups (P>0.05). The three-month follow-up showed that there was no death in the medium-high risk group and the mortality in the high risk group was 3.08%. CONCLUSION: PCI has obvious effects in the treatment of elderly APE. It can obviously improve pulmonary blood flow dynamics and oxygenation dysfunction, especially for high-risk patients, and it has fewer postoperative complications with certain security.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) as a multifactorial disease and its causal correlations with multiple signaling pathways.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and one of the leading causes of cancer-related death among men worldwide. CRC is a multifactor digestive pathology, which is a huge problem faced not only by clinicians but also by researchers. Importantly, a unique feature of CRC is the dysregulation of molecular signaling pathways. To date, a series of reviews have indicated that different signaling pathways are disordered and have potential as therapeutic targets in CRC. Nevertheless, an overview of the function and interaction of multiple signaling pathways in CRC is needed. Therefore, we summarized the pathways, biological functions and important interactions involved in CRC. First, we investigated the involvement of signaling pathways, including Wnt, PI3K/Akt, Hedgehog, ErbB, RHOA, Notch, BMP, Hippo, AMPK, NF-κB, MAPK and JNK. Subsequently, we discussed the biological function of these pathways in pathophysiological aspects of CRC, such as proliferation, apoptosis and metastasis. Finally, we summarized important interactions among these pathways in CRC. We believe that the interaction of these pathways could provide new strategies for the treatment of CRC.

Statins intake and risk of liver cancer: A dose-response meta analysis of prospective cohort studies.

Previous studies have indicated that statins intake was associated with liver cancer risk, but presented controversial results.Studies in PubMed and EMBASE were searched update to February 2017 to identify and quantify the potential dose-response association between statins intake and liver cancer.Six eligible studies involving a total of 11,8961 participants with 9530 incident cases were included in this meta-analysis. Statistically significant association was observed between increasing statins intake and liver cancer risk reduction (OR = 0.46, 95%CI: 0.24-0.68, P <.001). Furthermore, the summary relative risk of liver cancer for an increase of 50 cumulative defined daily dose per year was 0.86 (95%CI: 0.81-0.90, P <.001). Evidence of a nonlinear dose-response relationship between statins intake and liver cancer risk was found (P for nonlinearity <.01). Subgroups analysis indicated that statins intake was associated with a significantly risk of liver cancer risk reduction in Asia (OR = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.11-0.77, P <.001) and Caucasian (OR = 0.49, 95%CI: 0.36-0.61, P <.001). Subgroup meta-analyses in study design, study quality, number of participants, and number of cases showed consistency with the primary findings.Additional statins intake is associated with liver cancer risk reduction.

Lymphatic transport of puerarin occurs after oral administration of different lipid-based formulations to unconscious lymph duct-cannulated rats.

This study investigated the potential of targeted intestinal lymphatic transport of puerarin via a lipid formulation approach. Three formulations of PEG nanoemulsion, nanosuspension and an oil suspension containing puerarin were examined with the lymph-cannulated anaesthetized rat model. Plasma and lymph samples were analyzed by HPLC. Lymph triglyceride was measured using an enzymatic colorimetric technique. After 8 h, the total administered dose accumulated in the thoracic lymph duct was analyze. Nanoemulsion, nanosuspension and oil suspension was 0.065 ± 0.006%, 0.137 ± 0.018%, 0.021 ± 0.002% of the administered dose, respectively. In nanoemulsion, nanosuspension and oil suspension group, the systemic bioavailability of oral puerarin was 11%, 16% and 11% for lymph-cannulated rats, 41%, 67% and 18% for control rats. Absorption into the intestinal lymph should thus contribute to ∼30%, 51% and 7% of the systemic bioavailable puerarin. This data indicated that lipid-based nano drug formulation produced higher lymph concentrations of puerarin than oil suspension. The nanosuspension formulation may be considerable in terms of increased local concentrations in lymphoid tissue.

[Dispersion behavior of effective ingredients in Chinese medicine decoctions].

OBJECTIVE: To research the disperse behavior of many Chinese medicine decoctions. METHODS: Through the analysis of the dispersible attributes of 22 kinds of Chinese medicine decoctions including Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae by means of turbidity, ultramicroscope and TEM, we found that a lot of nanometer particles existed in these decoctions after 4000 r/min centrifugation. Based on the model of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, we analyzed the influence on the loss of effective ingredients by way of centrifugation, alcohol precipitation, flocculation and salting-out edulcoration. RESULTS: The removal of infinite nanometer particles from these decoctions led to the greater loss of water-soluble and fat-soluble ingredients,and the latter accounts for the major loss. CONCLUSION: Oral liquid preparation of traditional Chinese medicine is a kind of nano-pharmaceutics with nanometer particles dispersed in the water as the carriers of effective ingredients in medicine.