Search

Background: Chemotherapy and chemoradiation have become essential adjuncts to improve the survival of patients with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in the perioperative period. Although preoperative treatment plus surgery is commonly used, controversy remains regarding the optimal treatment strategy for patients with locally advanced ESCC., Methods: A retrospective review of clinical stage II and III ESCC patients who underwent esophagectomy at Henan Cancer Hospital between October 2014 and October 2017 was performed. The patients were divided into a neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) group and an adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) group. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to exclude confounders. Survival was estimated using Kaplan‒Meier analysis and compared by the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used for both the univariate and multivariate analyses., Results: A total of 684 patients were enrolled, including 365 (53.4%) patients in the NAC group. After PSM, 294 pairs of patients were left. NAC prolonged the OS (not reached versus 57.3 months, P = 0.002) and DFS (57.2 vs. 36.4 months, P = 0.010) and decreased the total rate of recurrence (50.1% vs. 59.2%, P = 0.025) and local recurrence (27.9% vs. 36.7%, P = 0.022) compared with AC. The multivariable analyses showed that NAC plus surgery modality was an independent predictor for improved OS (HR: 0.582, 95% CI: 0.467-0.786, P = 0.001)., Conclusion: NAC plus surgery prolonged OS and DFS, and significantly decreased the total rate of recurrence compared with surgery plus AC in patients with clinical stage II and III ESCC., (© 2023. Society of Surgical Oncology.)

Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study was to define the pattern of lymph nodal metastases in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) followed by esophagectomy and to evaluate its influence on prognosis., Methods: A total of 398 patients with clinical stage T3N0 or T1-3N+ ESCC who underwent NCT and radical esophagectomy with two-field lymphadenectomy were included. The distribution and frequency of metastases were counted separately for each lymph node station. The ypN stage, number of positive lymph node stations and lymph node stations with a metastasis rate greater than 5% were analyzed by using univariate Cox regression, followed by separate multivariable Cox regression analyses after adjusting for various clinical factors., Results: Lymph node metastases were most frequently observed in the right upper paratracheal (16.8%) and left gastric artery (13.1%) stations. Multivariable models controlling for clinical factors showed that ypN stage remained a significant independent predictor of survival (N1 vs. N0: hazard ratio [HR], 2.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.38-3.83, P < 0.001; N2 vs. N0: HR, 3.76, 95% CI 2.21-6.38, P < 0.001; N3 vs. N0: HR, 7.14, 95% CI 3.78-13.48, P < 0.001). The model from the multivariable analysis with the highest c-index score, indicating superior discriminatory preference, was ypN stage (c-index, 0.72)., Conclusions: The pattern and influence of lymph node metastases after NCT will provide guidance on the extent of lymphadenectomy. Common positive lymph node stations for thoracic ESCC after NCT include the paratracheal, subcarinal, paraesophageal, paracardial, and left gastric artery stations., (© 2023. Society of Surgical Oncology.)

The free generalized endoscopic screening for diagnosis of early esophageal cancer and precancerous lesion could not be satisfactorily implemented in China. At present, the decision to accept endoscopic screening at their own expense may largely depend on the public awareness. This study was aimed to investigate the awareness and other influencing factors associated with the accompanying children of esophageal cancer patients after their hospitalization. In this cross-sectional study, from April to June 2016, 233 children of accompanying patients, who were admitted within the last 1 year due to esophageal cancer in three affiliated hospitals of Zhengzhou University and Anyang Tumor Hospital, were enrolled. In addition, telephone surveys were conducted to investigate their awareness about endoscopic screening. One child was corresponded to an esophageal cancer patient. About half (47.6%, 111/233) of the children were unaware that endoscopic screening could detect early esophageal cancer and precancerous lesion. There was no significant difference in their awareness rates between hospitals with different administration levels. Besides, the males who had a lower family income and lower education level showed a poor awareness rate (P < 0.05). The overall awareness rate among the accompanying children of patients on endoscopic screening was rather low in Henan province (China). Hence, the health education and awareness on the importance of endoscopic screening for early detection of esophageal cancer should be promoted among children accompanying the patients. More attention should be focused towards the subject group, particularly among those male children with lower educational level and family income., (© 2020. American Association for Cancer Education.)

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an inflammatory molecule that is involved in immune responses, inflammation, and cancer. Recent evidence suggests that PTX3 plays a critical role in tumor progression; however, its impact on the biological function of gliomas remains unknown. In the present study, immunohistochemical staining showed that patients with high-grade gliomas exhibited increased expression levels of PTX3 compared to those with low-grade gliomas (P < 0.001). Furthermore, knockdown of PTX3 in GBM8401 cells inhibits proliferation, increases p21 protein levels, and decreases cyclin D1 protein levels, resulting in cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. In addition, knockdown of PTX3 significantly decreases GBM8401 cell migration and invasion through the downregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-1 and -2 (MMP-1 and MMP-2) expression. In a GBM8401 xenograft animal model, PTX3 knockdown decreases tumor growth in vivo. In conclusion, PTX3 plays an important role in glioma cell proliferation and invasion, and may thus serve as a novel potential therapeutic target in the treatment of gliomas.

Slit2, a secreted glycoprotein, is down-regulated in many cancers. Slit2/Robo signaling pathway plays an important, but controversial, role in angiogenesis. We identified splicing variants of Slit2 at exon 15, Slit2-WT and Slit2-ΔE15, with differential effects on proliferation and invasive capability of lung cancer cells. The aim of this study was to elucidate the differential roles of these exon 15 splicing variants in angiogenesis. Our results revealed that both Slit2-WT and Slit2-ΔE15 inhibit motility of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The conditioned medium (CM) collected from CL1-5/VC or CL1-5/Slit2-WT lung adenocarcinoma cells blocked HUVEC tube formation and angiogenesis on chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay when compared with untreated HUVECs and CAM, respectively. However, CM of CL1-5/Slit2-ΔE15 restored the quality of tubes and the size of vessels. Although both Slit2-WT and Slit2-ΔE15 inhibited permeability induced by CM of cancer cells, Slit2-ΔE15 exhibited stronger effect. These results suggested that Slit2-ΔE15 plays important roles in normalization of blood vessels by enhancing tube quality and tightening endothelial cells, while Slit2-WT only enhances tightening of endothelial cells. It appears that Robo4 is responsible for Slit2 isoform-mediated inhibition of permeability, while neither Robo1 nor Robo4 is required for Slit2-ΔE15-enhanced tube quality. The results of this study suggest that Slit2-ΔE15 splicing form is a promising molecule for normalizing blood vessels around a tumor, which, in turn, may increase efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

In this study we quantified the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9 (MMP-2 and 9) in effusions and serial synovial cultures of patients with arthritis of the knee in order to investigate the correlations between MMP and cell counts in effusions as well as the possible roles of the synovium. In 49 patients with arthritis of the knee (series I) we examined the cell counts and the amounts of MMP-2 and 9 in 51 effusions. In 20 knee samples of series I of patients who received arthroscopy (series II), we examined the amounts of MMP-2 and 9 in effusions and serial synovial organ cultures. We also compared the gene expressions of MMP-2 and 9 and MT1-MMP in serial synovial cultures using RT-PCR. In series I, significantly more proMMP-9 appeared in effusions from the inflammatory group than in the non-inflammatory and hemorrhagic group ( p <0.001). The levels of proMMP-9 correlated with the neutrophil counts in the effusions ( p <0.001). In series II synovial cultures, the activities of latent and activated forms of MMP-2 and 9 in lesional areas were all higher than that in paralesional ones ( p <0.05). In RT-PCR analysis, MMP-2, -9 and membrane type 1 MMP mRNA levels of lesional areas also showed increased expression. Our data suggest that the analysis of MMP-9 indicates the inflammatory condition of the joints and that additional synovectomy may be beneficial for patients with inflammatory synovitis, compared with non-inflammatory and hemorrhagic arthritis.