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Objectives: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is one of the leading therapeutic targets in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the clinical importance that the percentage of ALK-positive tumor cells has on NSCLC remains unclear. Methods: A total of 344 ALK-positive patients were enrolled in this study. The percentage of ALK-positive tumor cells was identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The discrimination and calibration analyses of the nomogram were estimated with Harrell's C-index. Results: Higher percentages (≥50%) of ALK-positive tumor cells were significantly correlated with male gender, poor differentiation, and normal levels of carbohydrate antigen 153 (CA153) and blood platelets ( p  < 0.05). A shorter first-line progression-free survival (PFS) was correlated with a lower percentage (15-49%) of ALK-positive tumor cells, chemotherapy, a poor performance state, non-adenocarcinoma, as well as abnormal CA153 and Cyfra21-1 levels; and an abnormal thrombin time ( p  < 0.05). A low percentage of ALK-positive tumor cells, crizotinib treatment, CA153 levels, and neutrophil count were independent risk factors for poor PFS in the multivariate analysis ( p  < 0.05). The nomogram showed a C-index of 0.76 for first-line PFS. Conclusion: A nomogram including the percentage of ALK-positive tumor cells may act as a crucial indicator for first-line PFS in ALK-positive NSCLC patients.

Objective: To systematically investigate the prognostic implications of tripartite motif containing 24 ( Trim 24 ) expression levels in Patients with solid tumors. Materials and Methods: Pubmed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases were searched through December 2017 to identify studies examining the relationship between Trim 24 expression levels and outcomes in solid tumor patients. The hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were used to evaluate the association between Trim 24 and overall survival (OS). Results: Ten studies with 1370 patients were included. The overall pooled prevalence for Trim 24 overexpression was 59.0% ( p  < 0.01). Moreover, the pooled HR of Trim 24 for OS was 0.43 ( p  = 0.04) by univariate analysis in 10 articles (1370) and 0.62 ( p  = 0.08) by multivariate analysis in 5 studies (845). Trim 24 over-expression was associated with tumor invasiveness (odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, p  < 0.01) and tumor-node-metastasis stage (OR = 2.42, p  = 0.03). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that Trim 24 expression levels may be a useful prognostic biomarker in patients with solid tumors.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of light-emitting diode (LED) irradiation on the migration and proliferation of keratinocytes., Background Data: Keratinocytes play a key role in re-epithelialization during wound healing; it is speculated that low-level LED therapy might improve keratinocyte migration and proliferation., Materials and Methods: Human keratinocyte cells (HKCs) were isolated from child or adult foreskins and irradiated with LED light with a wavelength of 640 nm and a dosage of 12 or 24 J/cm(2). Cell motility, migration, and proliferation were examined using live cell imaging, scratch assay, and a colorimetric cell counting assay, respectively. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) protein levels were analyzed by using Western blotting. Filamentous actin (F-actin) was stained by phalloidin. YC-1 [3-(5-hydroxymethyl-2-furyl)-1-benzylindazole] was used as an HIF-1 inhibitor, and CoCl2 (cobalt chloride) and DMOG (dimethyloxaloyl glycine) are HIF-1α activators., Results: LED irradiation significantly promoted cell motility and migration, but did not significantly influence cell proliferation in HKCs. Furthermore, LED irradiation resulted in a reorganization of cellular F-actin and a dramatic upregulation of HIF-1α expression. Suppression of HIF-1α using the compound YC-1 prevented reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton following LED irradiation, suggesting that the effect of LED irradiation on the cytoskeleton is mediated through HIF-1α. Conversely, chemical activation of HIF-1α via DMOG or CoCl2 resulted in a reorganization of F-actin., Conclusions: LED irradiation may increase keratinocyte migration via HIF-1α-dependent cytoskeletal reorganization.