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BACKGROUND Targeted therapy based on pathway analysis of hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may be a promising remedy. CASE SUMMARY The present case involved an advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient who did not receive local regional therapy and was intolerant to sorafenib. Total RNA extracted from the patient’s tumor tissue was used to obtain the gene mutation profile. The c.3676A>T and c.4402A>T stop-gain mutations in adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) were the most prevalent (42.2% and 35.1%, respectively). MutationMapper analysis indicated that the functional domain of APC was lost in the two APC mutant genes. APC is a major suppressor of the Wnt signaling pathway. Thus, the Wnt pathway was exclusively activated due to APC dysfunction, as other elements of this pathway were not found to be mutated. Aspirin has been reported to suppress the Wnt pathway by inducing β-catenin phosphorylation through the activation of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta via cyclooxygenase-2 pathway inhibition. Therefore, aspirin was administered to the patient, which achieved four years of disease control. CONCLUSION Exclusive mutations of APC of all the Wnt pathway elements could be a therapeutic target in HCC, with aspirin as an effective treatment option.

Sorafenib remains the standard first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), although other clinical trials are currently underway for treatments that show better curative effects. However, some patients are not sensitive to sorafenib. α-Mangostin, extracted from the pericarp of the mangosteen, which is widely used as a traditional medicine, has anticancer and anti-proliferative properties in various types of cancers, including HCC. In the present study, we found that combining sorafenib and α-Mangostin could be synergistically toxic to HCC both in vitro and in vivo. We then demonstrated that the combination of sorafenib and α-Mangostin enhances the inhibition of cell proliferation in HCC cell lines. Combination therapy leads directly to apoptosis. In xenograft mouse models, the in vivo safety and effectivity was confirmed by a reduction in tumor size after combination treatment. RNA sequencing and protein testing showed that the expression of LRRC8A and RNF181 genes and mTOR and MAPK pathways may be associated with the synergistic effect of the two drugs. In conclusion, our results highlight the synergistic effect of the combination of sorafenib and α-Mangostin, which indicates a potential treatment for advanced HCC for patients that are not sensitive to sorafenib therapy.

In this era of immune checkpoint inhibitors, inflammatory adverse events of anti-cancer therapies continue to pose a major challenge. Glucocorticoids, as the mainstay, were limited by serious side effects. Glucocorticoids induce myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), and lactoferrin-induced polymorphonuclear MDSCs (PMN-MDSCs) were shown to relieve inflammatory conditions. Combined treatment with dexamethasone (DXM) and lactoferrin increased the generation of PMN-MDSCs in vitro (DXM/lactoferrin PMN-MDSCs) compared to DXM or lactoferrin treatment alone. DXM/lactoferrin PMN-MDSCs were distinct from tumor PMN-MDSCs in vivo with regard to gene expression profiles. DXM upregulated the myeloid cell response to lactoferrin by inducing the lactoferrin receptor Lrp1. DXM/lactoferrin PMN-MDSCs presented anti-bacterial capability, increased PGE2 production, increased survival capability, and decreased tumor tissue homing. Transfer of DXM/lactoferrin PMN-MDSCs relieved cisplatin-induced acute kidney failure, bleomycin-induced interstitial pneumonia, and allergic pneumonitis effectively without promoting tumor development. Our study shows that DXM/lactoferrin PMN-MDSCs are a promising cell therapy for inflammatory adverse events of anti-cancer therapies., Li et al. show that dexamethasone and lactoferrin induced polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells relieve inflammatory conditions in mouse models with minimal effect on tumour growth. This work demonstrates promise for combating inflammatory adverse events during anti-cancer treatments.

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) induces a change in serum HIF-1α level in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study investigated the prognostic value of change in serum HIF-1α following TACE treatment in HCC patients. A total of 61 hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with TACE were included. Peripheral blood samples were collected within 1 week before and after TACE to determine the serum levels of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum HIF-1α change was calculated as follows: ∆HIF-1α = (HIF-1α (pre-TACE) - HIF-1α (post-TACE))/HIF-1α (pre-TACE). Likewise, serum VEG-F change was calculated as follows: ∆VEG-F = (VEG-F (pre-TACE) - VEG-F(post-TACE))/VEG-F (pre-TACE). Based on the cutoffs (0.25) determined by the maximum Youden's index in receiver operating characteristic analysis, the patients were grouped into the low ∆HIF-1α group ( 0.25) and the high ∆HIF-1α group ( 0.25). After TACE treatment, HIF-1α was significantly decreased (pre-TACE 1901.62 vs. post-TACE 621.82 pg/ml, P 0.01) but VEGF-A was significantly increased (pre-TACE 60.80 vs. post-TACE 143.81 pg/ml, P 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that ∆HIF-1α was a prognostic factor (OR = 58.09, 95% CI: 1.59-2127.32, P = 0.027) for the TACE treatment response. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that ∆HIF-1α was a prognostic factor for progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.14-0.66, P = 0.003) and overall survival (OS) (estimated HR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.16-0.93, P = 0.034). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the high ∆HIF-1α group was more likely to have longer PFS (log-rank test, P = 0.004) and OS (log-rank test, P = 0.002) than the low ∆HIF-1α group. The change in serum HIF-1α level following TACE is a prognostic factor associated with the TACE treatment response, PFS, and OS in HCC patients following TACE.

Although androgen deprivation therapy remains the standard treatment for the initial therapy of advanced prostate cancer (PC), castration does not eliminate persistent intratumoral androgens within the prostate tumor microenvironment, which is capable of activating androgen receptor. Abiraterone effectively target adrenal and tumor androgen production in castration-resistant PC (CRPC). However, abiraterone-resistant CRPC is now common challenge in clinic via multiple mechanisms.In this study, human CRPC cell line PC3 and androgen-sensitive cells LNCaP were used. The authors investigated the role of autophagy during the therapy of abiraterone in CRPC by analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Western blot and immunofluorescence assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis using flow cytometry analysis.The analysis of TEM showed more autophagic vesicles (AVs) in PC3 cell line than that in LNCaP cell line and indicated the high basic cellular autophagy in CRPC cell line PC3, which was confirmed by the upregulation of autophagy-related protein LC3, Atg5, and Beclin1. Interestingly, the treatment of abiraterone reduced the level of autophagic vesicles in two cell lines and inhibited the expressions of autophagic markers LC3, Atg5 and Beclin1 in parallel with decreased cell vitality and induced G2/M arrest in PC3 cell line and LNCaP cell line. Moreover, the addition of the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine to the treatment of abiraterone inhibited the formation of AVs with downregulated autophagic markers, and inhibition of autophagy promoted the efficiency of cytotoxicity of abiraterone with further impaired cell vitality and G2/M arrest.These data suggested that inhibition of autophagy by its inhibitor benefits the treatment of abiraterone for CRPC patients.

Background: The Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) score is commonly used for prognosis prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The CLIP includes the Child-Pugh grade, which is relatively subjective, for hepatic encephalopathy assessment. A newly developed scoring system called albumin-bilirubin grade (ALBI grade), consists of albumin and bilirubin to assess liver function reserve objectively. Here, we substituted the ALBI grade for the Child-Pugh grade to establish the ALBI-CLIP scoring system and validated its prognostic value in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients treated with trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed HBV-related HCC patients who received TACE therapy. Baseline characteristics were collected and evaluated to classify patients according to ALBI-CLIP, CLIP and TNM systems. Univariate analyses using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test, as well as multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards regression model, were conducted to detect independent prognostic factors for overall survival. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and a likelihood ratio test (LRT) were both utilized to compare the values of ALBI-CLIP, CLIP and TNM staging systems in predicting survival. Results: With a total of 389 patients included in the current study, 301 (77.4%) and 88 (22.6%) were classified as Child-Pugh grade A and B, respectively. However, 152 (39.1%), 227 (58.4%) and 10 (2.5%) patients were correspondingly classified into ALBI grade 1, 2 and 3. The areas under the curves of ALBI-CLIP, CLIP and TNM systems were 0.804, 0.778 and 0.734, respectively, for predicting 3-month survival; 0.796, 0.778 and 0.733, respectively, for 6-month survival; 0.697, 0.687 and 0.644, respectively, for 1-year survival; and 0.618, 0.612 and 0.569, respectively, for 2-year survival. The LRT indicated that the ALBI-CLIP and the CLIP had similar values of χ2 and Akaike information criterion (AIC) while the TNM system had the smallest χ2 value (χ2 = 12.1, 11.9, 10.5; AIC = 2620.2, 2620.5, 2621.1 for ALBI-CLIP, CLIP and TNM, respectively). Conclusions: In conclusion, our present study suggested that the ALBI-CLIP scoring system retained the prognostic value of the CLIP in HBV-related HCC treated with TACE therapy.

Background: We have previously reported the prognostic value of the albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR) for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who are not receiving any standard anticancer therapy. However, the prognostic value of the AAPR for HCC patients treated with trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization therapy (TACE) was not investigated. Methods: We retrospectively analysed 372 HCC patients treated with TACE (the training cohort) and applied receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC curves) to identify the best cut-off value for the AAPR in this cohort. Then, univariate analyses by the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate analysis by a Cox proportional hazards regression model were conducted. Both comparisons of the ROC curves and the likelihood ratio test (LRT) were employed to evaluate the abilities of different factors in predicting the survival of patients in this cohort. Finally, the prognostic value of the AAPR was validated in two cohorts: one included 202 HCC patients treated with supportive care (validation cohort I), and the other included 82 HCC patients treated with TACE (validation cohort II). Results: We identified 0.439 as the best cut-off value of the AAPR by ROC curve analysis. An AAPR > 0.439 was significantly correlated with a lower frequency of Child-Pugh grade B, portal vein tumour thrombus (PVTT), T3-4 and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). The median overall survival (OS) of the patients with an AAPR > 0.439 was significantly longer than that of those with an AAPR ≤ 0.439 (58.4 m vs 17.8 m, respectively, P < 0.001). The AAPR was identified as an independent prognostic factor after univariate and multivariate analyses (HR = 0.636, P = 0.003). The independent prognostic value of the AAPR was also confirmed in validation cohorts I and II. Additionally, we substituted the AAPR for the Child-Pugh grade in the CLIP system and integrated the AAPR into the TNM system. We found that the area under the curve (AUC) of the AAPR-CLIP system was significantly larger than that of the CLIP and the TNM when predicting 3-month, 6-month, 1-year and 2-year survival (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the AUCs for the AAPR-CLIP and the AAPR-TNM. The LRT suggested that both AAPR-CLIP and AAPR-TNM had significantly larger χ2 values and smaller AIC values than that of their corresponding primary system (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The AAPR was an independent prognostic index for the HCC patients treated with TACE. Both AAPR-CLIP and AAPR-TNM outperformed their corresponding primary system in predicting OS in the current study.

Background Autophagy involves in both prevention and promotion in cancer, and its role probably changed during tumor development. Defined the dynamic function of autophagy in cancer may advance precision diagnostics, treatment, and guide drug design. Autophagy related protein ULK1 is key regulator of autophagy, and its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was still unclear. This study aims to investigate ULK1’s capacity along with other autophagic markers in predicting prognosis of HCC and explore position of these biomarkers in dynamic function of autophagy during HCC progression. Methods The expression of ULK1 and other autophagic marker (LC3B) were test by Tissue microarray-based immunohistochemistry in 156 operable HCC patients. Survival analysis and correlation analysis were used to analysis influence of ULK1 and combined biomarker on clinical characteristics and prognosis. Results The expression level of ULK1 was not related to all clinicopathological features, however, high expression of the ULK1 as well as LC3B overexpression suggested large tumor size (P = 0.035), high levels of serum AFP (P = 0.049), more frequency of node metastasis (P = 0.015), later TNM stage (P = 0.009). Survival analysis showed that ULK1 expression were negatively correlated with PFS rather than OS in HCC patients (P = 0.021), while LC3B were suggested to be negatively related with patients’ PFS, However, Simultaneous high expression of ULK1 and LC3B had a poorer 5-year overall survival (OS) rate (P = 0.002) and shorter 5-year progression free survival (PFS)(P = 0.003), Further multivariate analysis revealed that the two combined biomarkers were independent factors to predict the prognosis of OS and PFS in all patients, while ULK1 alone or LC3B alone were only an independent predict factor for OS or PFS respectively. Conclusion ULK1 were demonstrated to be an important prognostic factor for HCC patient, and it combined LC3B would improve prognosis assessment of the patients. Combined autophagic biomarkers would better represent dynamic stage of autophagy and It might provide a potential therapeutic way that how to interfere autophagy in HCC.

Purpose: Tumour cells produce energy through glycolysis and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is a key part of glycolysis. Elevation of serum LDH may indicate poor prognosis in primary duodenum adenocarcinoma. We aim to explore the prognostic significance of LDH in this disease. Methods and materials: Two hundred forty-four patients diagnosed with primary duodenum adenocarcinoma who were treated at the Sun Yat-sen Cancer Center from February 1996 to January 2016 were retrospectively analysed. We collected routine clinical data, including baseline LDH. Patients were classified into a normal LDH group (≤ 245U/L) and higher LDH group (>245U/L). Correlations of the LDH level and other clinicopathological characteristics were explored using the Chi-square test. Prognostic factors for overall survival were identified using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Two hundred seven patients (84.9%) had normal LDH levels, while 37 patients (15.1%) had abnormally high LDH levels. Higher LDH levels were significantly associated with more distant metastasis, node metastasis, poor differentiation and TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ (P

The inflammatory microenvironment serves an important function in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Peripheral blood lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), as a novel inflammatory biomarker combining an estimate of host immune homeostasis with the tumor microenvironment, has been identified to be a predictor of clinical outcomes in a number of malignancies. The present study aimed at investigating the prognostic value of LMR in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated advanced HCC. A total of 174 patients with HBV-associated advanced HCC, without fever or signs of infections, were analyzed. Clinicopathological parameters, including LMR, were evaluated to identify predictors of overall survival time. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed using Cox's proportional hazards model. A threshold value was determined using a time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve. Univariate and multivariate analysis identified LMR as an independent prognostic factor in overall survival (OS) time in patients with HBV-associated advanced HCC (P2.22). The OS time of the high LMR group was significantly longer compared with the low LMR group (P

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of seven staging systems to predict 3- and 6-month and cumulative survival rates of patients with advanced hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Data were collected from 220 patients with HBV-associated HCC who did not receive any standard anticancer treatment. Participants were patients at The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from September 2008 to June 2010. The participants were classified according to the Chinese University Prognostic Index (CUPI), the Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP), Japan Integrated Staging (JIS), China Integrated Score (CIS) systems, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC), Okuda and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging systems at the time of diagnosis and during patient follow-up. The sensitivity and specificity of the predictive value of each staging system for 3- and 6-month mortality were analyzed by relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with a non-parametric test being used to compare the area under curve (AUC) of the ROC curves. In addition, log-rank tests and Kaplan-Meier estimator survival curves were applied to compare the overall survival rates of the patients with HCC defined as advanced using the various staging systems, and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and likelihood ratio tests (LRTs) were used to evaluate the predictive value for overall survival in patients with advanced HCC. Using univariate and multivariate Cox's model analyses, the factors predictive of survival were also identified. A total of 220 patients with HBV-associated HCC were analyzed. Independent prognostic factors identified by multivariate analyses included tumor size, α-fetoprotein levels, blood urea nitrogen levels, the presence or absence of portal vein thrombus, Child-Pugh score and neutrophil count. When predicting 3-month survival, the AUCs of CLIP, CIS, CUPI, Okuda, TNM, JIS and BCLC were 0.806, 0.772, 0.751, 0.731, 0.643, 0.754 and 0.622, respectively. When predicting 6-month survival, the AUCs of CLIP, CIS, CUPI, Okuda, TNM, JIS and BCLC were 0.828, 0.729, 0.717, 0.692, 0.664, 0.746 and 0.575, respectively. For 3-month mortality, the prognostic value of CLIP ranked highest, followed by CIS; for 6-month mortality, the prognostic value of CLIP also ranked highest, followed by JIS. No significant difference between the AUCs of CLIP and CIS (P>0.05) in their predictive value for 3-month mortality was observed. The AUC of CLIP was significantly higher compared with that of the other staging systems (P

// Yan-Fang Xing 1, 2, 3, * , Jin-Xiang Lin 4, * , Xing Li 4, * , Qu Lin 4, * , Xiao-Kun Ma 4, * , Jie Chen 4 , Dong-Hao Wu 4 , Li Wei 4 , Liang-Hong Yin 1, 2 , Xiang-Yuan Wu 4 1 Department of Nephrology, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, People’s Republic of China 2 School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China 3 Department of Nephrology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510150, People’s Republic of China 4 Department of Medical Oncology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Liver Disease Research, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, People’s Republic of China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Liang-Hong Yin, email: 13725251458@126.com Xiang-Yuan Wu, email: wuxiangy@mail.sysu.edu.cn Keywords: advance directive, medical decision making, cancer, patients’ preference Received: February 08, 2017 Accepted: March 21, 2017 Published: April 28, 2017 ABSTRACT Background: Advance directives are a sensitive issue among traditional Chinese people, who usually refrain from mentioning this topic until it is imperative. Medical decisions for cancer patients are made by their families, and these decisions might violate patients’ personal will. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the acceptance of advance directives among Chinese cancer patients and their families and patient participation in this procedure and, finally, to analyze the moral risk involved. Results: While 246 patients and their family members refused official discussion of an advance directive, the remaining 166 patients and their families accepted the concept of an advance directive and signed a document agreeing to give up invasive treatment when the anti-cancer treatment was terminated. Of these, only 24 patients participated in the decision making. For 101 patients, anti-cancer therapy was ended prematurely with as many as 37 patients not told about their potential loss of health interests. Materials and Methods: Participants were 412 adult cancer patients from 9 leading hospitals across China. An advance directive was introduced to the main decision makers for each patient; if they wished to sign it, the advance directive would be systematically discussed. A questionnaire was given to the oncologists in charge of each patient to evaluate the interaction between families and patients, patients’ awareness of their disease, and participation in an advance directive. Conclusions: Advance directives were not widely accepted among Chinese cancer patients unless anti-cancer therapy was terminated. Most cancer patients were excluded from the discussion of an advance directive.

// Xing Li 1, 2, 3 , Yan-Fang Xing 4 , Ai-Hua Lei 1, 2 , Qiang Xiao 1, 2 , Zhi-Huan Lin 3 , Ying-Fen Hong 3 , Xiang-Yuan Wu 3 , Jie Zhou 1, 2 1 Program in Immunology, Affiliated Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China 2 Institute of Human Virology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China 3 Department of Medical Oncology and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Liver Disease, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China 4 Department of Nephrology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China Correspondence to: Xiang-Yuan Wu, email: wuxiangy@mail.sysu.edu.cn Jie Zhou, email: zhouj72@mail.sysu.edu.cn Keywords: neutrophil counts, hepatocellular carcinoma, patient selection, prognosis, myeloid derived suppressor cell Received: October 07, 2016 Accepted: February 06, 2017 Published: February 17, 2017 ABSTRACT Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cell (MDSC) has been raised to be a novel target for multiple cancers. However, target agents on MDSC have not display promising efficacy. One of the critical reasons shall be less optimal patient selection. In the present study, we aimed to identify clinical parameters relevant to MDSC level in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients for future MDSC targeted therapy. In the present study, a series of 55 HCC patients (testing group) and 20 healthy donors were analyzed investigating frequencies of MDSC in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). As a result, we found that MDSC level was increased in HCC patients compared to healthy donors (10.33% vs 1.54%, p < 0.0001). The monocytes (r 2 = 0.2875, p < 0.0001), neutrophils (r 2 = 0.3630, p < 0.0001) and platelet counts (r 2 = 0.0828, p = 0.0331) in circulation was positively associated with MDSC level. Then, the prognostic value of the above predictors was determined in a retrospective database of 255 HCC patients (validation group). The baseline characteristics of testing and validation group were similar. Multivariate analysis by Cox regression revealed that neutrophil count was an independent predictor for overall survival (OS) ( p = 0.000, HR 1.065, 95% CI 1.028–1.103), with the rest parameters failed to reach a significant result. In summary, the present study firstly identified blood neutrophil counts was a predictor of MDSC level in PBMC for HCC patients. And, patients with higher neutrophil count level might be the optimal patient subgroup for MDSC targeted therapy.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive capability of neutrophil-to-apolipoprotein A1 ratio (NAR) for predicting overall survival (OS) among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Patients and Methods We investigated the clinical features of 554 patients with HCC receiving TACE and assessed NAR's predictive value for OS with 222 patients (the discovery cohort) and 332 patients (the validation cohort). The association of NAR with circulation lectin-type oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1–positive (LOX-1+) polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs) was illustrated. Results Multivariate Cox regression revealed that lymphocyte count; Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) stage; and NAR were independent prognostic factors in the discovery cohort. The validation cohort confirmed the independent prognostic value of TNM stage and NAR. Patients with low NAR ( Conclusion This study identified NAR as an independent predictor for OS among patients with HCC receiving TACE. NAR reflected circulation LOX-1+ PMN-MDSC level. Implications for Practice The present study identified neutrophil-to-apolipoprotein A1 ratio (NAR) as an independent predictor for overall survival among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma receiving transarterial chemoembolization. NAR reflected circulation level of lectin-type oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1–positive polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells.

Background: Blood-based tumor mutational burden (bTMB) was recently found to be suboptimal in predicting overall survival (OS) benefits of atezolizumab over docetaxel among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The maximum somatic allele frequency (MSAF) is an indicator of the proportion of tumor-derived plasma DNA, which could affect the concordance between bTMB and tissue-based TMB. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the utility of MSAF, alone or in combination with bTMB, to identify NSCLC patients with or without survival benefit from atezolizumab over docetaxel.Methods: We analyzed the individual patient-level data from the randomized POPLAR and OAK studies. The bTMB and MSAF were derived from the pre-treatment blood-based genomic data.Results: In both the bTMB-high (i.e., bTMB ≥ 13) and bTMB-low subgroups, atezolizumab significantly improved OS compared with docetaxel (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.43 [95% CI, 0.29–0.65], P < 0.001 and HR = 0.73 [95% CI, 0.61–0.87], P < 0.001, respectively). Among patients with a low MSAF (i.e., MSAF < 10.3%), OS significantly favored atezolizumab (HR = 0.59 [95% CI, 0.48–0.72], P < 0.001), whereas OS with atezolizumab was similar to that with docetaxel in the MSAF-high subgroup (HR = 0.91 [95% CI, 0.68–1.20], P = 0.500; interaction test P = 0.017). Among patients from the bTMB-low and MSAF-high subgroup, OS was numerically worse with atezolizumab than with docetaxel (HR = 1.06 [95% CI, 0.78–1.45], P = 0.710); in contrast, OS was significantly improved with atezolizumab compared with docetaxel in those with either a high bTMB or low MSAF (HR = 0.57 [95% CI, 0.47–0.69], P < 0.001; interaction test P < 0.001). Consistent findings were obtained for progression-free survival data.Conclusions: MSAF alone or in combination with bTMB can effectively distinguish patients with or without survival benefit from atezolizumab compared with docetaxel. MSAF and the combined bTMB-MSAF classification may become practical predictive markers for atezolizumab in advanced NSCLC.

e16034 Background: Apatinib, a small molecule multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor with high selectivity for VEGFR-2, has been approved for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer or gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma in China by significantly improving progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Here, we report safety and efficacy data from an open-label, single-arm, multicenter, phase IV trial of apatinib as a third-line or later line treatment for advanced gastric cancer. Methods: Eligible patients had histologically or cytologically confirmed advanced gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma; and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0–2; and adequate haematological and hepatic function; and failure of at least two lines of chemotherapy. Patients received oral apatinib until disease progression, death or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was safety, and secondary endpoints included PFS and OS. Results: The intention-to-treat population (ITT) included 2004 patients. At baseline, the median age was 59 (range, 19-85) years, ECOG performance status of 0/1/2 (%) was 15.4/68.8/15.1, and stage III/IV was 3.5/96.4; 98.8% had metastases, and among which metastatic foci≤2/ > 2 was 64.5/34.2 (%), respectively. 89.6% of the patients were given apatinib 500mg as the initial does and the median treatment duration was 56 days. After a median follow-up of 126.5 days, adverse events (AEs) occurred in 95.1% of the patients and 70.3% were grade ≥3. 87.9% of the patients experienced treatment-related AEs (TRAEs), of which 51% had grade ≥3, 12.3% and 16.8% reduced dose and discontinued the treatment, respectively. 57 (2.9%) TRAEs-related deaths were reported, mainly because of gastrointestinal bleeding (16 cases), upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage (7), cerebral haemorrhage (2), and gastric perforation (1). The incidence of TRAEs of special interest was 74.3%; 38.1% of patients developed grade≥3, mainly including hypertension (26.3%), bleeding (5.1%), proteinuria (4.5%), and hand-foot syndrome (3.1%). In an ITT population, median PFS was 2.7 months (95%CI 2.23-2.79) and median OS was 5.8 months (95% CI 5.42-6.11). Conclusions: This study confirms that apatinib has a well-established and manageable safety profile and survival benefit as third or later line therapy for patients with advanced gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Clinical trial information: NCT02426034.

e14577 Background: The management of grade 3/4 or steroid-refractory immune related adverse events (irAE) is based on a paucity of retrospective data analysis. Our initial experience with the combination therapy with Vincristine (VCR), immunoglobulin (IVIG) and glucocorticosteroid (VIG regimen) showed clinical improvement in a wide variety of irAEs. As a result, we recommend the use of VIG regimen for the management of grade 3/4 or steroid-refractory irAEs. Methods: The character and clinical course of irAEs were abstracted from the medical record and analyzed. The components of VIG regimens are as follows: Methylprednisolone (MP) 2-10mg/kg for 3days, VCR 1.4mg/m2 (≤2mg) continuous infusion for 4-8 hours on day 3 once a week with Immunoglobulin (IVIG) 0.4g/kg for 3-5 days. The dose of MP and IVIG will be reduced quickly after irAE improves. VCR 1.4mg/m2 once a week will be used for 1 to 3 times according to the improvement. Clinical improvement was defined as either: documentation of resolution of symptoms and normalisation of biochemical tests or hospital discharge within 14 days. Results: A total of 25 patients had grade3/4 or steroid-refractory irAEs after receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors and then received VIG regimen. Among them, 22 patients have been significantly improved, with an improvement rate of 88%. Twenty-three patents were treated in the inpatient setting (92%). The index grade 3/4 irAE was pneumonitis in 28%, immune mediated hepatotoxicity(IMH) in 28%, rash/SJS/TEN in 24%, cerebritis in 8 % and one case each of ITP, Near blindness and severe oral mucositis. In 7 patients with severe IMH, the range of total bilirubin was 80-481umol/L and ALT 35-5000u/L. Six patients with IMH recover well but one patient did not recover to normal due to IMH complicated with pneumonitis and TEN . Clinical improvement was noted in 22/25 patients (88%), 11 patients (44%) required a single dose, while 12 patients (48%) required two doses, 2 patients(8%) required three doses of VCR 1.4mg/m2 continuous infusion for 4-8 hours. What is impressive is that the two patients with encephalitis were significantly relieved within 2 weeks after using the VIG regimen. One patient with TEN (SCORETEN 3)was significantly improved and discharged from our hospital 11 days after using the VIG regimen. A patient with near-blind eyesight recovered to normal 3 days after using the VIG regimen. Conclusions: VIG regimen may be an effective therapeutic option for the management of grade3/4 or steroid-refractory irAEs secondary to immune checkpoint blockade. However, randomized trials are needed to better elucidate the efficacy and safety of VIG regimen.

// Dan-Yun Ruan 1, * , Ze-Xiao Lin 1, * , Tian-Tian Wang 1, * , Hui Zhao 2 , Dong-Hao Wu 1 , Jie Chen 1 , Min Dong 1 , Qu Lin 1 , Xiang-Yuan Wu 1 , Yang Li 2 1 Department of Medical Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, China 2 Department of Liver Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Yang Li, email: Liyang840920@hotmail.com Xiang-Yuan Wu, email: Wuxiangy@mail.sysu.edu.cn Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, Barcelona clinic liver cancer stage, resection, nomogram, survival Received: April 10, 2016 Accepted: August 10, 2016 Published: August 17, 2016 ABSTRACT Background and Aims: This retrospective cohort study developed a prognostic nomogram to predict the survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients diagnosed as beyond Barcelona clinic liver cancer stage A1 after resection and evaluated the possibility of using the nomogram as a treatment algorithm reference. Results: The predictors included in the nomogram were total tumour volume, Child-Turcotte-Pugh class, plasma fibrinogen and portal vein tumour thrombus. Patients diagnosed as beyond A1 were stratified into low-, medium- and high-risk groups using nomogram scores of 0 and 51 with the total points of 225. Patients within A1 exhibited similar recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates compared with the low-risk group. Patients in the medium-risk group exhibited a similar OS but a worse RFS rates compared with patients within A1. The high-risk group was associated with worse RFS and OS rates compared with the patients within A1 (3-year RFS rates, 27.0% vs. 60.3%, P < 0.001; 3-year OS rates, 49.2% vs. 83.1%, P < 0.001). Methods: A total of 352 HCC patients undergoing curative resection from September 2003 to December 2012 were included to develop a nomogram to predict overall survival after resection. Univariate and multivariate survival analysis were used to identify prognostic factors. A visually orientated nomogram was constructed using a Cox proportional hazards model. Conclusions: This user-friendly nomogram offers an individualized preoperative recurrence risk estimation and stratification for HCC patients beyond A1 undergoing resection. Resection should be considered the first-line treatment for low-risk patients.

There is insufficient evidence on the efficacy of masks in the general population for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in public areas. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the association of mandatory mask-wearing policies with behaviors associated with the transmission of COVID-19.To assess the association of mask wearing with face-touching behavior among the general population in public areas.This cross-sectional study used videos recorded in public transportation stations, streets, and parks among the general population in China, Japan, South Korea, Western Europe (ie, England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy), and the US to analyze mask-wearing and face-touching behavior in public areas. Videos before the COVID-19 pandemic were defined as those recorded from January 2018 to October 2019, and those during the COVID-19 pandemic were defined as those recorded during February 2020 to March 2020 in China, Japan, and South Korea and during March 2020 in Western Europe and the US. Individuals who clearly displayed their face and face-touching behavior were included, and those whose behaviors were influenced by filming or public events were excluded.Mandatory mask-wearing policies enacted at various time points in China, Japan, South Korea, Western Europe, and the US.Proportion of individuals wearing masks and incidence of face touching.This study included 4699 individuals before the COVID-19 pandemic and 2887 individuals during the pandemic. During the periods studied, mask wearing increased in all regions except the US, from 20 of 1745 individuals (1.1%) to 1090 of 1097 individuals (99.4%) in mainland China (P .001), 44 of 1422 individuals (3.1%) to 346 of 893 individuals (38.7%) in Japan (P .001), 6 of 717 individuals (0.8%) to 277 of 324 individuals (85.5% ) in South Korea (P .001), 1 of 546 individuals (0.2%) to 6 of 379 individuals (1.6%) in Western Europe (P = .02), and 1 of 269 individuals (0.4%) to 4 of 194 individuals (2.1%) in the US (P = .17). Surgical masks were predominant in China (989 masks [89.1%]), and fabric masks were predominant in the other regions (Japan: 371 masks [95.1%]; South Korea: 240 masks [84.8%]; Western Europe: 6 masks [85.7%]; US: 5 masks [100%]). Face-touching behaviors decreased from before COVID-19 to during COVID-19 among individuals in China (72 incidences of 1745 observations [4.1%] to 12 incidences of 1097 observations [1.1%]; P .001), South Korea (80 incidences of 717 observations [11.2%] to 7 incidences of 324 observations [2.2%]; P .001), and Europe (62 incidences of 546 observations [11.4%] to 23 incidences of 379 observations [6.1%]; P = .01). Logistic regression found that mask wearing was associated with a reduction in face touching in China (odds ratio [OR], 3.91; 95% CI, 2.11-7.24) and South Korea (OR, 6.69; 95% CI, 2.69-16.69) and of touching the nose, mouth, and eyes (China: OR, 8.60; 95% CI, 2.65-27.86; South Korea: OR, 29.27; 95% CI, 1.79-478.22).The findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that mandatory mask-wearing policies were associated with increased mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mask wearing was associated with reduced face-touching behavior, especially touching of the eyes, nose, and mouth, which may prevent contact transmission of COVID-19 among the general population in public areas.

TPS4115 Background: Previous studies showed that high dose vitamin C especially when administered intravenously might have anti-cancer effect. A recent preclinical study found that human colorectal cancer cells harboring KRAS or BRAF mutations are selectively killed by high dose vitamin C. Our phase I dose-escalation and expansion study has shown that high dose (up to 1.5g/kg) intravenous vitamin C with FOLFOX or FOLFIRI is well tolerated in patients with colorectal or gastric cancer. This trial is a randomized, multicenter, phase Ⅲ study of high dose vitamin C infusion combined with FOLFOX +/- bevacizumab versus FOLFOX +/- bevacizumab as first-line therapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Methods: This study has enrolled patients with histologically confirmed metastatic adenocarcinoma of colorectum, normal G6PD status and no prior treatment for metastatic disease. 432 patients are randomized 1:1 into one of two groups. Patients in the control group are treated with mFOLFOX6 (oxaliplatin 85 mg/m² d1 concurrent with leucovorin 400 mg/m², followed by bolus 5FU 400 mg/m² d1, followed by infusional 5FU 2400 mg/m² over 46 hours) with or without bevacizumab (5mg/kg, d1) every 2 weeks. Patients in the experimental group are treated with vitamin C intravenously (1.5g/kg/day, d1-3) in combination with mFOLFOX6 with or without bevacizumab every 2 weeks. Randomization is stratified by the location of primary site (left-sided or right-sided) and treatment with bevacizumab (with or without). The primary endpoint is progression free survival (assessed by investigator per RECIST v1.1). Secondary endpoints are overall survival, response rate, assessment of treatment-related adverse events, progression free survival and overall survival in RAS or BRAF mutant patients. Genome, microbiome and metabolome are also assessed. Clinical trial information: NCT02969681 .

Background: Lymphocytes were reported to play a significant part in host anticancer immune responses and influence tumour prognosis. Few studies have focused on the prognostic values of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to lymphocyte ratio (ALRI), aspartate aminotransferase to platelet count ratio index (APRI) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with palliative treatments. Methods: Five hundred and ninety-eight HCC patients treated with palliative therapies were retrospectively analysed. We randomly assigned patients into the training cohort (429 patients) and the validation cohort I (169 patients). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify the best cut-off values for the ALRI, APRI and SII in the training cohort and the values were further validated in the validation cohort I. Correlations between ALRI and other clinicopathological factors were also analysed. A prognostic nomogram including ALRI was established. We validated the prognostic value of the ALRI, SII and APRI with two independent cohorts, the validation cohort II of 82 HCC patients treated with TACE and the validation cohort III of 150 HCC patients treated with curative resection. In the training cohort and all the validation cohorts, univariate analyses by the method of Kaplan-Meier and multivariate analysis by Cox proportional hazards regression model were carried out to identify the independent prognostic factors. Results: The threshold values of ALRI, APRI and SII were 86.3, 1.37 and 376.4 respectively identified by ROC curve analysis in the training cohort. Correlation analysis showed that ALRI>86.3 was greatly associated with higher rates of Child-Pugh B&C, portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) and ascites (P < 0.05). Correspondingly, ALRI level of HCC patients with Child-Pugh B&C, PVTT and ascites was evidently higher than that of HCC patients with Child-Pugh A, without PVTT and without ascites (P < 0.001). In the training cohort and the validation cohort I, II, III, the OS of patients with ALRI >86.3 was obviously shorter than patients with ALRI ≤86.3 (P

Background and aims Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation was reported to be induced by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinonma (HCC) patients with a high incidence. The effective strategy to reduce hepatitis flares due to HBV reactivation in this specific group of patients was limited to lamivudine. This retrospective study was aimed to investigate the efficacy of prophylactic entecavir in HCC patients receiving TACE. Methods A consecutive series of 191 HBV-related HCC patients receiving TACE were analyzed including 44 patients received prophylactic entecavir. Virologic events, defined as an increase in serum HBV DNA level to more than 1 log10 copies/ml higher than nadir the level, and hepatitis flares due to HBV reactivation were the main endpoints. Results Patients with or without prophylactic were similar in host factors and the majorities of characteristics regarding to tumor factors, HBV status, liver function and LMR. Notably, cycles of TACE were parallel between the groups. Ten (22.7%) patients receiving prophylactic entecavir reached virologic response. The patients receiving prophylactic entecavir presented significantly reduced virologic events (6.8% vs 54.4%, p=0.000) and hepatitis flares due to HBV reactivation (0.0% vs 11.6%, p=0.039) compared with patients without prophylaxis. Kaplan-Meier analysis illustrated that the patients in the entecavir group presented significantly improved virologic events free survival (p=0.000) and hepatitis flare free survival (p=0.017). Female and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 2 was the only significant predictors for virological events in patients without prophylactic antiviral. Rescue antiviral therapy did not reduce the incidence of hepatitis flares due to HBV reactivation. Conclusion Prophylactic entecavir presented promising efficacy in HBV-related cancer patients receiving TACE. Lower performance status and female gender might be the predictors for HBV reactivation in these patients.

Mature microRNA (miRNA) 34a-5p, which is a well-known tumor suppressor in hepatitis virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), plays an important role in cell processes, such as cell proliferation and apoptosis, and is therefore an optimal biomarker for future clinical use. However, the role of miRNA-34a-5p in chemoresistance has yet to be identified. In the present study, the expression of miRNA-34a-5p was assessed by an in situ hybridization assay in HCC tissues and was found to be significantly decreased compared with the pericarcinomatous areas of the tissue specimens, which consisted of samples obtained from 114 patients with HCC. High expression of miRNA-34a-5p was found to be associated with a favorable overall survival time in HCC patients. Functional tests performed by transfecting miRNA-34a-5p mimics or inhibitors into MHCC-97L cells illustrated that miRNA-34a-5p inhibited proliferation, elevated apoptosis and decreased chemoresistance to cisplatin in HCC cells. AXL is the direct target of miRNA-34a-5p, as confirmed by sequence analysis and luciferase assay. Transfection of the cells with small interfering RNA for AXL (siAXL) increased the apoptosis ratio of the MHCC-97L cell line. Transfection with siAXL led to similar biological behaviors in the MHCC-97L cells to those induced by ectopic expression of miRNA-34a-5p. Thus, it was concluded that miRNA-34a-5p enhanced the sensitivity of the cells to chemotherapy by targeting AXL in hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, low expression of miRNA-34a-5p in HCC tissues yielded an unfavorable prognosis for patients with HCC that received radical surgery, due to the promotion of proliferation and an increase in chemoresistance in HCC cells.

The majority of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergo trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE). However, the prognosis of HCC remains poor. In the present study, five staging systems were compared to predict the survival rate of patients with HCC undergoing TACE treatment. A total of 220 patients with HCC were examined according to the model to estimate survival for hepatocellular carcinoma (MESH), hepatoma arterial embolization prognostic score (HAP), modified HAP (mHAP), performance status combined Japan Integrated Staging system (PSJIS) and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging systems. The endpoints of the study were 3-month survival, 6-month survival, 1-year survival and overall survival (OS) rates. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve of MESH, HAP, mHAP, PSJIS and TNM was 0.858, 0.728, 0.690, 0.688 and 0.699, respectively, in predicting 3-month survival rates; 0.822, 0.747, 0.720, 0.722 and 0.715, respectively, in predicting 6-month survival rates and 0.725, 0.664, 0.672, 0.645 and 0.654, respectively, in predicting 1-year survival rates. Discriminatory ability, homogeneity, monotonicity and prognostic stratification ability was evaluated using a likelihood ratio test and Akaike information criterion values among the five staging systems, and revealed that the MESH system was the optimal prognostic staging system for HCC. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that the MESH system is the most accurate prognostic staging system of 3-month survival, 6-month survival, 1-year survival and OS rates among the five systems analyzed in patients with HCC who have received TACE treatment.

Background Albumin-to-Alkaline Phosphatase Ratio (ALB/ALP ratio, AAPR), a newly developed index of liver function, has been rarely discussed about its prognostic value in malignancies. The current study attempted to evaluate the prognostic prediction of AAPR in advanced HCC. Methods 237 advanced HCC patients who refused any standard anti-cancer therapies were retrospectively analyzed. The threshold value of AAPR was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Univariate analyses using Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test, and multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression model were conducted. Comparisons of ROC curves and likelihood ratio test (LRT) were utilized to compare the value of different factors in predicting survival. Results ROC curve analysis confirmed 0.38 as the optimal cutoff value of AAPR in evaluating overall survival (OS). Patients with an AAPR > 0.38 exhibited significantly lower frequencies of ascites, portal vein tumor thrombus, Child-Pugh grade B & C, and KPS < 70 (all P < 0.05). These patients also displayed a longer median survival time than those with an AAPR ≤ 0.38 (5.8 m vs 2.4 m, P < 0.01). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified AAPR as an independent prognostic indicator (HR = 0.592, P = 0.007). Furthermore, we integrated AAPR with TNM system and found that area under curve of AAPR-TNM system was significantly larger than that of TNM system when predicting 3-month survival (0.670 vs 0.611, P < 0.01). Moreover, LRT indicated that AAPR-TNM system had a significantly larger χ2 (26.4 vs 16.4, P < 0.01) and a significantly smaller Akaike information criterion value (1936 vs 1948, P < 0.01) comparing with TNM system. Conclusions Our study implied that AAPR was a potentially valuable prognostic index for advanced HCC patients without receiving any standard anti-cancer therapies. AAPR-TNM system preceded TNM system in predicting overall survival in this study.

Background: This retrospective study was aimed to investigate the efficacy of prophylactic agents in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients receiving TACE and compare the difference between lamivudine and entecavir. Materials and Methods: A consecutive series of 203 HBV-related HCC patients receiving TACE were analyzed including 91 patients given prophylactic agents. Virologic events, defined as an increase in serum HBV DNA level to more than 1 log10 IU/ml higher than the nadir level, hepatitis flares due to HBV reactivation and progression free survival (PFS) were the main endpoints. Results: Some 48 (69.6%) reached virologic response. Prophylaxis significantly reduced virologic events (8.8% vs 58.0%, p=0.000) and hepatitis flares (1.1% vs 13.4%, p=0.001). Patients presenting undetectable HBV DNA levels displayed a significantly improved PFS as compared to those who never achieved undetectable HBV DNA. Prophylaxis and e-antigen positivity were the only significant variables associated with virologic events. In addition, prophylaxis was the only independent protective factor for hepatitis flares. Liver cirrhosis, more cycles of TACE, HBV DNA negativity, a lower Cancer of the Liver Italian Program score, non-metastasis and no hepatitis flares were protective factors for PFS. Prophylactic lamivudine demonstrated similar efficacy as entecavir. Conclusions: Prophylactic agents are efficacious for prevention of HBV reactivation in HCC patients receiving TACE. Achievement of undetectable HBV DNA levels displayed a significant capability in improving PFS. Moreover, persistent tumor residual lesions, positive HBV DNA and hepatitis B flares might be causes of tumor progression in these patients.

The platelet count, as an inflammation marker, is involved in the progress of tumor invasion. However, the prognostic value of platelet counts and the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has not been investigated in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of platelet counts and PLR in HCC patients. A total of 243 ethnic Chinese advanced HCC patients from two major hospitals, not receiving systemic sorafenib, were analyzed retrospectively. The prognostic value of differential blood cell counts and PLR for overall survival (OS) was determined by integrating the Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) score system and model for end-stage liver disease by using a stepwise model of multivariate Cox regression. The Kaplan-Meier method and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were utilized accordingly. PLR was confirmed to be an independent predictor for OS (p 0.01), while the remaining parameters had no predictive value. Then, advanced HCC patients were dichotomized into two groups based on the PLR value (≤111.23 or111.23), according to ROC analysis. Patients with a high PLR had a lower 3-month survival rate (37.6 vs. 57.6%) compared with patients with a low PLR. PLR was associated with aggressive malignant behavior, characterized by distant metastasis and portal vein thrombosis. Additionally, PLR was not associated with the CLIP score and Child-Pugh grade. PLR was identified as an independent prognostic factor for advanced HCC patients not receiving systemic sorafenib; the predictive ability of PLR partially relies on its association with the aggressive nature of HCC.

e15048 Background: PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor-based monotherapies and combination therapies are being investigated to challenge microsatellite stable (MSS) mCRC. This NMA aimed to assess the efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1-based therapies against active comparators (regorafenib, trifiuridine+tipiracil, and fruquintinib [R/T/F]) and negative controls (placebo and best supportive care [P/BSC]) in patients with refractory MSI-unselected mCRC, which are predominantly MSS. Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and major oncology websites for relevant RCTs comparing the above therapies with each other up to Feb 15, 2019. We used the frequentist NMA to evaluate hazard ratios (HRs) for pairwise treatment comparisons in terms of overall survival (OS). Results: Seven RCTs were included, totaling nine comparisons between five therapies (durvalumab+tremelimumab [anti-PD-L1+Tre] vs. P/BSC [n = 1], atezolizumab+cobimetinib [anti-PD-L1+Cobi] vs. R/T/F [n = 1], atezolizumab [anti-PD-L1-only] vs. R/T/F [n = 1], anti-PD-L1+Cobi vs. anti-PD-L1-only [n = 1], and R/T/F vs. P/BSC [n = 5]). No significant heterogeneity was detected in the NMA (P = 0.340 in Q test; I2= 11.6%). Compared to P/BSC, OS was significantly improved with anti-PD-L1+Tre (fixed-effects model HR, 0.72 [95% confidence interval, 0.54-0.96]; P = 0.014) and anti-PD-L1+Cobi (HR, 0.70 [0.50-0.98]; P = 0.018), but not with anti-PD-L1-only (HR, 0.83 [0.57-1.21]; P = 0.172). OS with anti-PD-L1+Tre and anti-PD-L1+Cobi did not significantly differ from that with R/T/F (P = 0.565 and P = 0.500, respectively). Conclusions: In refractory MSI-unselected mCRC, anti-PD-L1 monotherapy was ineffective but anti-PD-L1+Tre and anti-PD-L1+Cobi therapies exhibited efficacies comparable to that of R/T/F.

e14589 Background: The aim of our research was to assess the prognostic value of ApoB to ApoA-I ratio (ApoB/ApoA-I) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) treatment. Methods: We collected clinicopathological data of 455 HCC patients with TACE treatments. The cutoff value of ApoB/ApoAI identified by receiver-operating curve (ROC) was 0.56. Correlation analysis was carried out to explore the relationship among ApoB/ApoA-I and other clinicopathological variables. Propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis was carried out to eliminate the unbalance of baseline characteristics of high and low ApoB/ApoA-I group. Finally, 278 patients were included in the PSM cohort, 139 patients in the high APOB/APOA-I group and 139 patients in the low APOB/APOA-I group. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted to explore the independent prognostic value of ApoB/ApoA-I in 455 patients and in the PSM cohort. Results: ApoB/ApoA-I was significantly correlated with AFP, NCCN T stage, distant metastasis status and TNM system(P < 0.05). Patients with AFP≥400ng, T3-4, distant metastasis and TNM III-IV had significantly higher serum ApoB/ApoA-I level than that of patients with AFP ≥ 400 ng/ml, T1-2, without metastasis and TNM I-II(P

Purpose Here, we evaluate the prognostic effect of pretreatment serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods and materials Pretreatment serum samples from a randomized controlled trial, which contained 199 neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy patients and 201 neoadjuvant-concurrent chemoradiotherapy cases with locally advanced NPC, were collected and examined for LDH. With 5-year follow-up, the prognostic effect of pretreatment serum LDH was analysed by Kaplan–Meier analysis and multivariate Cox regression model. Results Three hundred and sixty-seven patients (91.75%) had a normal (109.0–245.0U/L) pretreatment LDH level, compared to 33 cases (8.25%) that had a higher (⩾245.0U/L) LDH level. The mean and median pretreatment LDH levels of these 400 patients were 186.6 and 174.0U/L (range, 83.0–751.0U/L), respectively. Compared with the normal subset, elevated LDH level predicted an inferior 5-year overall survival (56.9% versus 76.8%, P =0.004), disease-free survival (DFS, 45.4% versus 64.7%, P =0.001), local relapse-free survival (76.1% versus 89.6%, P =0.019) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS, 54.3% versus 72.2%, P =0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the LDH level was an independent prognostic factor to predict death, disease progression, local relapse and distant metastasis. For the subgroup with normal LDH (median point of 177.0U/L), we detected an evident 5-year DFS (68.8% versus 59.5%, P =0.047) and DMFS advantage (77.3% versus 65.3%, P =0.016) in 109.0–177.0U/L subset than that of 178.0–245.0U/L subgroup. Conclusions Serological LDH level was an independent prognostic factor for locally advanced NPC. Combining pretreatment LDH with TNM staging might lead to more accurate risk definition.

Background This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of the serum albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) in cholangiocarcinoma patients after surgery. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 123 cholangiocarcinoma patients who underwent surgical treatment between June 2003 and September2014 at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox regression model were performed to determine the prognostic value of AGR. Results Univariate analysis suggested that AGR was a predictive factor for (overall survival) OS but not for recurrence free survival (RFS). After adjustment for other risk factors, multivariate analysis showed that AGR remained independently associated with OS. The optimal cut-off point for AGR was determined to be 1.44. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that there was a significantly lower mean survival time in the low AGR group compared to the high AGR group. A low AGR was found to be significantly associated with high alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total bilirubin levels and an advanced American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM stage, but a low hemoglobin level. Conclusion In summary, patients with higher AGRs have better outcomes than those with lower AGRs. Preoperative AGR can be a reliable marker for evaluating the prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma patients.

// Xiu-Rong Cai 1, 2, * , Xing Li 1, 2, * , Jin-Xiang Lin 1 , Tian-Tian Wang 1, 2 , Min Dong 1, 2 , Zhan-Hong Chen 1, 2 , Chang-Chang Jia 2, 3 , Ying-Fen Hong 1, 2 , Qu Lin 1, 2 and Xiang-Yuan Wu 1, 2 1 Department of Medical Oncology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, People’s Republic of China 2 Guangdong provincial Key Laboratory of Liver Disease Research, Guangzhou 510630, People’s Republic of China 3 Cell-gene Therapy Translational Medicine Research Center, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, People’s Republic of China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Xiang-Yuan Wu, email: wuxiangy@mail.sysu.edu.cn Qu Lin, email: linqu@mail.sysu.edu.cn Keywords: cytokine induced killer cell, liver cancer, adoptive cells therapy, immunotherapy, meta-analysis Received: June 13, 2016 Accepted: November 12, 2016 Published: February 17, 2017 ABSTRACT Background: High recurrence rate after curative treatment is the major problem for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Cytokine-induced killer cells (CIKs) therapy was extensively studied among HCC patients. However, the value of CIKs therapy was controversial. A meta-analysis was performed to investigate the efficacy of adjuvant CIKs after invasive treatments among HCC patients. Methods: We searched online for literatures studying sequential CIKs therapy for HCC patients. Recurrence-free survival (RFS), progress-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were set as the main endpoints. Both overall and subgroup analysis were accomplished. Results: A total of 12 clinical trials with 1,387 patients were included. The pooled analysis showed a significant improvement of RFS, PFS and OS in CIK group (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.47-0.67, p

Aims The prognosis of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poor and testing drug efficacy in clinical trials is hazardous. This study was aimed to evaluate different prognostic scoring systems for HCC in estimating prognosis (3-month survival and overall survival (OS)). Methods From November 2008 to April 2010, 208 patients with advanced HCC who were not amendable to locoregional therapy were included in this study. Data were collected to classify patients according to the following: the Japanese integrated staging scoring system, TNM stage by the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan criteria, TNM 6th edn, the cancer of the liver Italian program scoring system (CLIP), the advanced liver cancer prognostic system (ALCPS), the model of end-stage liver disease, the Groupe d'etude et de Traitement du Carcinome Hepatocellulaire (GETCH) scoring system, the Chinese University prognostic index staging system (CUPI), the Okuda scoring system, the Child–Pugh score, the Tokyo scoring system and the Barcelona Clinic liver cancer staging. Survival analysis and relative operating characteristic (ROC) were utilized to access the prognostic value of each scoring system. Results ALCPS performed best, with the largest area under the ROC curve in predicting 3-month OS (sensitivity 76.32%, specificity 78.72%). CLIP and CUPI were similar to ALCPS in prognostic discrimination but with relatively lower power. Conclusions ALCPS, CLIP and CUPI are the preferred scoring systems in the prediction of OS and 3-month survival among the 12 systems analyzed, and should be used as inclusion criteria in clinical trials for advanced HCC patients.

In patients receiving prophylactic lamivudine (LAM) and chemotherapy, hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation cannot be eliminated without knowing the latent causes and optimal management. In our previous study, virus breakthrough and relapse were highly suspected as potential virologic causes for HBV reactivation. Therefore, we reviewed 24 previous studies and 447 patients who underwent chemotherapy and prophylactic LAM, with an incidence of 7.2 % HBV reactivation. Virus breakthrough and relapse were seldom investigated in these studies. In addition, 72 patients that underwent prophylactic LAM and chemotherapy at our centers were also analyzed. Among them, eight patients developed virus breakthrough, with another nine developing virus relapse after discontinuation of LAM. Eight patients received antiviral modification, which included administration of adefovir for patients with virus breakthrough or resumption of LAM for patients with virus relapse and none of them developed HBV reactivation. In contrast, of the nine patients who did not receive antiviral modification, six developed HBV reactivation and two died. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that virus breakthrough and relapse were the critical causative factors of HBV reactivation in patients receiving chemotherapy and prophylactic LAM. An optimized antiviral modification strategy could effectively prevent HBV reactivation in patients with virus breakthrough or relapse.

Previously, we and others showed that hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α) and transcriptionally upregulated Aurora‐A were required for disease progression in several tumors. Here, we address the clinicopathologic value of Aurora‐A and HIF‐1α in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Aurora‐A and HIF‐1α expression was semiquantitatively evaluated by immunohistochemistry staining in 144 cases from a randomized controlled trial. Of these patients, 69 received neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy, and acted as the training set, and 75 cases treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus radiotherapy were used as the testing set to validate the prognostic effect of Aurora‐A and HIF‐1α. We found that Aurora‐A and HIF‐1α were highly expressed in NPC, but were deficient in normal adjacent epithelia. In the testing set, Aurora‐A overexpression predicted a shortened 5‐year overall survival (59.1% vs 82.5%, P = 0.024), progression‐free survival (44.8% vs 79.8%, P = 0.004), and distant metastasis‐free survival (43.0% vs 17.3%, P = 0.016). Multivariate regression analysis confirmed that Aurora‐A was indeed an independent prognostic factor for death, recurrence, and distant metastasis both in the testing set and overall patients. Moreover, a positive correlation between Aurora‐A and HIF‐1α was detected (P = 0.037). Importantly, although HIF‐1α did not show any prognostic effect for patient outcome, the subset with Aurora‐A and HIF‐1α co‐overexpression had the poorest overall, progression‐free, and distant metastasis‐free survival (all P

The prognosis and management of acute exacerbations of hepatitis-B in patients with lymphoma after chemotherapy in combination with rituximab remain unclear. Here, we describe 19 Chinese patients with lymphoma who suffered this complication, in order to analyze their clinical characteristics. Receiver operating characteristic analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were utilized to determine potential prognostic factors. We found that key prognostic factors included the peak prothrombin time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR), and total bilirubin (TB), as well as the PT and INR on admission and the interval between acute exacerbation of hepatitis-B and the last cycle of chemotherapy. Moreover, our data suggested that shorter interval between the last cycle of rituximab and acute exacerbation of hepatitis-B might be another prognostic indicator of inferior survival. Our results revealed that the severity of hepatic damage and the interval between the last cycle of chemotherapy and hepatitis flare were the major prognostic factors of an acute exacerbation of hepatitis-B induced by immunochemotherapy. Prophylactic antiviral and rescue antiviral therapy remain to be further characterized.

e16028Background: Some studies have shown that number of metastatic sites is a significant prognostic factor in metastatic gastric cancer. In this subgroup analysis, data from a large phase IV tria...

4039Background: Ahead-G201, a multicenter Phase IV study, is conducting to evaluate apatinib as third-line or beyond therapy in a routine practice setting of gastric cancer patients (pts). Methods:...

e16027Background: Studies have shown BMI could affect long-term survival in advanced gastric cancer. In this analysis, based on a large population, we further investigated the effects of BMI on the...

e15658Background: Our previous study found that eIF4A2 was highly expressed in colorectal cancer and high eIF4A2 expression predicted poor prognosis, which was reported in ASCO GI 2018. However, th...

e16020Background: Apatinib has been approved in China for patients (pts) with advanced or metastatic gastric and gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma after at least two lines of systemic chemo...

e16026Background: Apatinib, a small molecule VEGFR TKI, has been approved in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer in China. The real benefits of apatinib for different patients (pts) with ECOG ...

e16019Background: An open-label, multicenter, post-marketing Phase IV study of apatinib (Ahead-G201; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02426034) is being conducted in a broad range of gastric cancer patients ...

e16021Background: Apatinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets VEGFR-2. Due to good safety, tolerability and efficacy, apatinib has been approved in the treatment of pretreat...

e16022Background: Hypertension (HTN) is one of the most common adverse events (AEs) associated with apatinib treatment in gastric carcinoma. However, few studies focus on the effect of HTN history ...

480 Background: Child-Pugh grade is widely used to assess hepatic function reserve, but it is relatively subjective for assessment of hepatic encephalopathy. A newly developed scoring system combining albumin and bilirubin, called ALBI grade, aims to assess liver function objectively. In prognosis prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), The Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) score is commonly used in clinical practice and includes Child-Pugh evaluation. We substituted ALBI grade for Child-Pugh grade to establish ALBI-CLIP system and conducted this study to validate the prognostic value of ALBI -CLIP in HBV-related HCC patients after TACE therapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed HBV-related HCC patients who received TACE therapy. Baseline data were collected and evaluated. Child-Pugh grade and ALBI grade were integrated into CLIP and ALBI-CLIP systems, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify independent prognostic factors for overall survival. Comparisons of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and likelihood ratio test (LRT) were used to compare the value of ALBI-CLIP, CLIP and TNM staging systems in predicting survival. Results: A total of 207 patients were included. 153 (73.9%) and 54 (26.1%) patients were classified as Child-Pugh grade A and B, respectively. But according to ALBI grade, 57 (27.5%), 136 (65.7%) and 14 (6.8%) of them were correspondingly divided into Grade 1, 2 and 3. Comparisons of ROC curves showed that ALBI-CLIP and CLIP had similar areas under the curve, both of which were larger than that of TNM system in predicting 3-month, 6-month, 1-year and 2-year survival. LRT indicated that both ALBI-CLIP and CLIP had larger χ2 values and smaller values of Akaike information criterion (AIC), compared with TNM system (χ2 = 29.771, 29.479, 9.105; AIC = 858.215, 858.069, 879.410 for ALBI-CLIP, CLIP and TNM, respectively). Conclusions: Our current study suggested that modified CLIP score with albumin-bilirubin grade retained prognostic value in HBV-related HCC treated with TACE therapy.

35 Background: A fine balance between maintaining efficacy and reducing toxicity is necessary for drug therapies in many cancers. This study seeks to review the data from phase IV clinical trial of Ahead-G201 to help elucidate the optimal initial dose of apatinib in advanced gastric cancer. Methods: Pts data from the Ahead-G201 study at cut-off date of Jul 10, 2017 were extracted to explore the correlation of apatinib initial dose (500 mg vs 850 mg) with safety and clinical efficacy. Results: 864 of eligible pts received apatinib at an initial dose of 500 mg, and 58 pts received at 850 mg. Dose interruption occurred in 258 pts (33.1%) at 500 mg and in 27 pts (46.5%) at 850 mg. For safety, the most common adverse events (AEs) were proteinuria, hypertension and leukocyte decrease in both groups. Moreover, the incidence of all AEs and grade 3-4 AEs in pts at 500 mg was significantly lower than pts at 850 mg (Table). For efficacy, pts at 500 mg achieved an objective response rate (ORR) of 10.8% and a disease control rate (DCR) of 70.6%, at best response, which were 10.3% and 55.2% in pts at 850 mg. Pts at 500 mg got a significantly longer median progression-free survival (mPFS) and median overall survival (mOS) than pts at 850 mg (PFS, 4.6 mos vs 2.2 mos; OS, 6.8 mos vs 4.0 mos). Multivariate analysis indicated that apatinib treatment at an initial dose of 500 mg was significantly associated with longer mOS in advanced gastric cancer pts (6.8 mos vs 4.0 mos: hazard ratio, 0.5; 95%CI, 0.3 to 0.8), compared to initial dose of 850 mg. Conclusions: Compared to receiving apatinib at initial dose of 850mg, oral administration of apatinib starting from 500 mg seemed to bring more clinical benefit for patients with advanced gastric cancer, whilst with lower toxicities. Clinical trial information: NCT02426034. [Table: see text]

73 Background: Ahead-G201 is an ongoing open-label, multicenter, post-marketing Phase IV trial assessing safety and efficacy of apatinib in 2000+ patients (pts) with chemotherapy-refractory advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of stomach or gastroesophageal junction. Proteinuria (PTN), hypertension (HTN) and hand-foot-skin reaction (HFSR) are common adverse events (AEs) related to anti-angiogenesis drugs. Methods: As of 2017/7/10, 1037 and 820 pts were evaluable for safety and survival. Clinical outcomes were compared between pts with and without PTN / PTN / HFSR using Kaplan–Meier methods and multivariate Cox regression model. Results: 200 (19.3%), 194 (18.8%) and 115 (11.1%) pts had PTN, HTN and HFSR, respectively. Similar mean daily dosage was found between pts with and without PTN, HTN or HFSR (from 520.6 to 551.0 mg/day). Pts developed PTN / HTN / HFSR had longer median medication durations (57 vs. 33 / 55 vs. 35 / 65 vs. 36 days; p

36 Background: Intestinal and diffuse gastric cancer are main histological types of gastric cancer, based on Lauren’s classification, which account for 34–47% and 46–57%, respectively. Patients (pts) with intestinal gastric cancer have better prognosis. The present study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of apatinib between the two intestinal gastric cancer, based on data from post-marketing Phase IV study (Ahead-G201). Methods: The single-arm, open-label, multi-center, Phase IV trial enrolled advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of stomach or gastroesophageal junction after failure of ≥2 lines of chemotherapy. Data of pts with intestinal and diffuse gastric cancer were collected and compared. Results: As of 2017/7/10, 96 intestinal and 104 diffuse pts were recruited. Differences in age (64 vs. 55 yrs), gender (male: 77.1% vs. 57.7%) and disease duration ( > 12 months: 71.3% vs. 56.7%) were detected. Between intestinal and diffuse gastric cancer, there was no discrepancy in incidences of adverse events (AEs) (78.1% vs. 73.1%) and Grade ≥3 AEs (41.7% vs. 38.5%). The incidences of typical AEs associated anti-angiogenesis drugs were also comparable (hypertension 26.0% vs. 16.4%; proteinuria 14.6% vs. 20.2%; hand-foot-skin reaction 16.7% vs. 9.6%). No statistical difference was observed in best overall response rate (12.8% vs. 14.3%) and disease control rate (76.0% vs. 64.3%). Survival benefit in pts with intestinal gastric cancer was detected (progression free survival: 5.52 vs. 2.76 months, p = 0.036; overall survival: 8.11 vs. 4.70 months, p = 0.047). However, the multivariable Cox regression model analysis showed that histological type was not independently prognostic factors for survival, indicating that clinical benefit of pts with intestinal gastric cancer was influenced by other factors. Conclusions: Compared with diffuse gastric cancer, pts intestinal gastric cancer have more clinical benefit after treated by apatinib. However, histological type based on the Lauren’s classification was not independently prognostic factors for survival, which needs to be further analyzed, considering the small sample size. Clinical trial information: NCT02426034.

664 Background: Eukaryotic initiation factor 4A2(EIF4A2) is a member of the eukaryotic initiation factor 4A family and it is one of the protein-synthesis initiation factors, which are involved in the binding of messenger RNA to the ribosome. The prognostic roles of EIF4A2 in breast cancer, melanoma and lung cancer have been studied. However, the clinical significance and biologic role of EIF4A2 in colorectal cancer remain unknown. Methods: We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to compare expression of eIF4A2 mRNA between 72 paired colorectal cancer tissues and non-tumor colorectal tissues. We used immunohistochemistry to study the expression of EIF4A2 in 310 colorectal cancer patients under surgical resection, 247 of them received curative surgery. We also analyzed correlation between EIF4A2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics. The biological function of EIF4A2 on colorectal cancer cells were determined in vitro by knock-downing EIF4A2 in HCT116 and DLD1 cell lines. We performed MTT tests, colony formation assays, transwell and wound healing assays. Results: EIF4A2 mRNA was significantly higher in colorectal cancer tissues compared to the paired non-tumor colorectal tissues(P = 0.0034). Over-expression of EIF4A2 was prognostic of shorter overall survival(P = 0.002) and shorter disease-free survival(P = 0.042). Over-expression of EIF4A2 was significantly correlated with more TNM stage IV(P = 0.012). Multivariate analysis suggested EIF4A2 as an independent predictor of overall survival (hazard ratio 2.041[95% CI 1.385 to 3.008], P < 0.001) and disease-free survival (hazard ratio 1.537[95% CI 1.003 to 2.355], P = 0.049). Functionally, knockdown of EIF4A2 in HCT116 and DLD1 cell lines exerted tumor-suppressive effects by significantly inhibiting cell proliferation, colony formation,migration and invasion(P < 0.05). Conclusions: EIF4A2 is highly expressed in colorectal cancer and predicts poor prognosis. EIF4A2 could be served as a potential prognostic marker for colorectal cancer patients.