Risk factors for postoperative portal vein thrombosis in patients with hepatitis B liver cancer and its impact on mortality-a retrospective study.

Background: The treatment of portal thrombosis is very difficult, which can seriously affect the prognosis of the patients, and thus, preventing postoperative portal thrombosis in patients with hepatitis B liver cancer is crucial. Identifying the risk factors in these patients is key to preventing postoperative portal vein thrombosis. However, relevant research is currently lacking. The present study was to study the risk factors for postoperative portal vein thrombosis in patients with hepatitis B liver cancer and its impact on mortality. Methods: We retrospectively included 663 patients with hepatitis B liver cancer admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and Shenzhen University General Hospital from January 2017 to December 2021. The patients were divided into a portal thrombosis group (n=54) and a control group (n=609) according to whether they had portal thrombosis after surgery. The clinical characteristics including alcoholism, D-dimer, surgery method and tumor diameter of the two groups were compared, and the treatment and mortality of the patients in the portal thrombosis group were analyzed. Results: The incidence of portal vein thrombosis in patients with hepatitis B liver cancer was 8.14% (54/663). The area under the Receiver operator characteristics curve for the diagnostic value of D-dimer for postoperative portal vein thrombosis in patients with hepatitis B liver cancer was 0.716 (95% CI: 0.650-0.781, P=0.000). Alcoholism, D-dimer >8.74 mg/L, open surgery, and a maximum tumor diameter >5 cm were identified as risk factors for portal vein thrombosis after surgery in patients with hepatitis B hepatitis cancer [odds ratio: 2.991 (95% CI: 1.234-7.249), P=0.015; odds ratio: 3.269 (95% CI: 1.683-6.349), P=0.000; odds ratio: 6.726 (95% CI: 3.419-13.232), P=0.000; odds ratio: 2.443 (95% CI: 1.344-4.442), P=0.003]. Patients with Grade I or II grade Yerdel (96.30%) were cured after treatment, while two patients with III grade (3.70%) died after surgery. Conclusions: The incidence of portal vein thrombosis after surgery in patients with hepatitis B liver cancer is high. Intervention against risk factors may be beneficial to improve the prognosis of patients with hepatitis B liver cancer.

SDC1 promotes cisplatin resistance in hepatic carcinoma cells via PI3K-AKT pathway.

This study is to analyze the potential contribution of Syndecan 1 (SDC1) to cisplatin resistance in hepatic carcinoma. Cell proliferation and viability were determined by direct counting and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, respectively. The protein levels of SDC1, p-AKT, AKT and ß-actin were quantified by western blotting. The SDC1 transcript abundance was measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The relative expression of SDC1 in clinical liver tumor samples was analyzed with immunohistochemistry. SDC1 was up-regulated in cisplatin-resistant HepG2 cells (denoted as HepG2 CR hereafter). SDC1-knockdown re-sensitized HepG2 CR cells to cisplatin treatment. Ectopic over-expression of SDC1 conferred drug resistance to naïve HepG2 cells. PI3K/AKT pathway was over-activated in HepG2 CR cells, and simultaneous administration with PI3K inhibitor greatly surmounted the resistance. We also demonstrated that SDC1 was aberrantly up-regulated in clinical hepatocellular carcinoma samples. Our study highlighted the importance of SDC1-PI3K/AKT signaling in the cisplatin resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Knockdown of FOXK1 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

FOXK1 (forkhead box k1), a member of the FOX family, is overexpressed in several types of solid tumors. However, the biological function of FOXK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the expression status and functional roles of FOXK1 in HCC. Our results demonstrated that the expression of FOXK1 was significantly up-regulated in human HCC tissues and cell lines. In addition, down-regulation of FOXK1 suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells in vitro, as well as attenuated tumor growth in nude mice model. We further elucidated that knockdown of FOXK1 down-regulated the protein expression levels of ß-catenin, c-myc and cyclin D1 in HepG2 cells. In conclusion, the present study indicated that FOXK1 may act as an oncogene in human HCC, and knockdown of FOXK1 significantly inhibited HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, partly through the inactivation of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. These findings suggest that FOXK1 may be a novel therapeutic target to treat HCC.

An accurate method for microanalysis of carbon monoxide in putrid postmortem blood by head-space gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS/GC/MS).

Carbon monoxide (CO) may be the cause of more than half the fatal poisonings reported in many countries, with some of these cases under-reported or misdiagnosed by medical professionals. Therefore, an accurate and reliable analytical method to measure blood carboxyhemoglobin level (COHb%), in the 1% to lethal range, is essential for correct diagnosis. Herein a method was established, i.e. head-space gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS/GC/MS) that has numerous advantages over other techniques, such as UV spectrometry, for determination of COHb%. There was a linear relationship (R(2)=0. 9995) between the peak area for CO and the COHb% in blood. Using a molecular sieve-packed column, CO levels in the air down to 0.01% and COHb% levels in small blood samples down to 0.2% could be quantitated rapidly and accurately. Furthermore, this method showed good reproducibility with a relative standard deviation for COHb% of <1%. Therefore, this technique provides an accurate and reliable method for determining CO and COHb% levels and may prove useful for investigation of deaths potentially related to CO exposure.

[Determination of three drugs and their metabolites in saliva by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

An ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/ MS) method has been developed for the methamphetamine, morphine and O6-acetylmorphine in saliva. The sample was extracted and the protein was precipitated with acetonitrile. The matrix-matched standard solutions were used to prepare the curve of quantitative analysis. The drugs were separated on a BEH HILIC UPLC column. The mass spectrometric acquisition was carried out by means of electrospray ionization in positive mode (ESI+ ) with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method. The isotope internal standards were used to check the drugs. The average recoveries at four levels of 10, 20, 50 and 100 microg/L ranged from (68.7 +/- 6.5)% to (110.8 +/- 4.6)%. The intraday precisions were lower than 16.5% and interday precisions were lower than 16.3%. The detection limits (LOD, S/N > 3) and the quantification limits (LOQ, S/N > 10) of the three drugs were 0.02-0.05 microg/L and 0.1-0.2 microg/L, respectively. The saliva matrix effect was investigated. The method is rapid, simple, accurate and highly sensitive. The qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis of the collected saliva samples for the drugs can be finished within one hour, which is conducive to the rapid identification of the suspected drug addicts.

Comparison of microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography and solvent modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography on rapid separation of heroin, amphetamine and their basic impurities.

Microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) and solvent modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) were investigated with the goal of the rapid separation of complex heroin and amphetamine samples. The rapid simultaneous separation of 17 species of heroin, amphetamine and their basic impurities and adulterants was performed within about 10min using MEEKC for the first time, whereas solvent modified MEKCs were unable to resolve all the components. The comparisons between MEEKC and solvent modified MEKC proved internal lipophilic organic phase in microemulsions played an important role in improving the separation performance with respect to efficiency. However, the role of internal lipophilic organic phase in MEEKC was disgusted at high concentrations of cosurfactant, and the separations of MEEKC and 1-butanol modified MEKC became similar at high concentrations of 1-butanol. The evaluation of reproducibility, linearity and detection limit of optimized MEEKC method provided good results for all the analytes investigated, thus allowing its application to real controlled drug preparation analysis.