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BACKGROUND: Previous studies on how complete mesocolic excision (CME) affects prognosis indicate fundamental limitations that prevent the procedure from being completely accepted in practice. This study evaluated 5-year survival in colon cancer patients who underwent CME in a strict quality-controlled trial. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective, nonrandomized, double-blind, controlled trial recruited patients who underwent open radical resection for colon cancer between November 2012 and November 2017. Third-party experts evaluated whether patients had undergone mesocolic dissection and/or central ligation by looking at photographs of both surgical field and specimen, and then divided patients into CME and non-CME (NCME) groups. The primary outcome was the 5-year local recurrence-free survival rate. Clinicopathological and follow-up data were recorded. RESULTS: There were 261 patients with a median follow-up time of 57 months assigned to the CME group, and 129 patients with a median follow-up time of 59 months were assigned to the NCME group. The 5-year local recurrence-free survival rate of patients with Union Internationale Contre le Cancer stage I to III cancer did not differ significantly between the groups. For stage I to III cancer and stage III cancer, the absolute risk reduction of 5-year cumulative death and disease progression after CME were 9.1% (95% CI 1% to 17%; p = 0.033) and 16.1% (95% CI 1% to 31%; p = 0.040), respectively. Meanwhile, CME also could reduce 14% 5-year cumulative incidence recurrence for Union Internationale Contre le Cancer stage III cancer compared with NCME (CME, 27.3% vs NCME, 41.3%; p = 0.042) after adjusting for the effect of non-cancer-related death. CONCLUSIONS: CME should be considered as a standard surgical procedure in affected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the effect of transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) procedure on the postoperative bowel evacuation function of patients with low rectal cancer., Methods: Bowel evacuation function was investigated in 316 patients with rectal cancer after taTME in 18 hospitals in China. Low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) score, Wexner score, and EORTC QLQ-C30 were used for functional evaluation. The association between perioperative risk factors and LARS score was determined by univariate and multivariate analyses., Results: The prevalence rate of no LARS, minor LARS, and major LARS in patients after taTME was 39.9%, 28.2%, and 31.9%, respectively. The two most frequently reported symptoms of LARS after taTME were bowel clustering (72.8%) and fecal urgency (63.3%). Patients with major LARS had significantly higher Wexner score and worse global health status and financial difficulties according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire than those without major LARS. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy was an independent risk factor of major LARS occurrence after taTME (OR: 3.503, P = 0.044); existing preoperative constipation (OR: 0.082, P = 0.040) and manual anastomosis (OR: 4.536, P = 0.021) were favorable factors affecting bowel evacuatory function within 12 months after taTME, but for patients whose follow-up time was longer than 12 months, postoperative chemoradiotherapy (OR: 8.790, P = 0.001) and defunctioning stoma (OR: 3.962, P = 0.010) were independent risk factors., Conclusions: The bowel evacuation function after taTME is acceptable. Perioperative chemoradiotherapy, anastomotic method, and preoperative constipation are factors associated with bowel dysfunction after taTME.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a powerful tool for defining cellular diversity in tumors, but its application toward dissecting mechanisms underlying immune-modulating therapies is scarce. We performed scRNA-seq analyses on immune and stromal populations from colorectal cancer patients, identifying specific macrophage and conventional dendritic cell (cDC) subsets as key mediators of cellular cross-talk in the tumor microenvironment. Defining comparable myeloid populations in mouse tumors enabled characterization of their response to myeloid-targeted immunotherapy. Treatment with anti-CSF1R preferentially depleted macrophages with an inflammatory signature but spared macrophage populations that in mouse and human expresses pro-angiogenic/tumorigenic genes. Treatment with a CD40 agonist antibody preferentially activated a cDC population and increased Bhlhe40 + Th1-like cells and CD8 + memory T cells. Our comprehensive analysis of key myeloid subsets in human and mouse identifies critical cellular interactions regulating tumor immunity and defines mechanisms underlying myeloid-targeted immunotherapies currently undergoing clinical testing., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests X.Y., J.G.E., W.O., CM.L., D.L., D.B., D.S., J.O., A.K., L., L.W., S.A.OB., K.M.S are employees of Amgen Inc. X.H. and Z.Z. are founders of Analytical Biosciences Limited., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The surgical and oncological outcome of extra-levator abdominoperineal excision (ELAPE) procedure remains unclear in low rectal cancer., Methods: A total of 194 cases of rectal cancer patients underwent ELAPE or conventional abdominoperineal excision (APE) procedure were analyzed in four hospitals' databases from January 2010 to December 2015. Clinicopathological data, overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS) and local recurrence free survival (LRFS) of patients were compared between two groups., Results: The operation time spent in perineal phase was significantly shorter in the ELAPE group than that in conventional APE procedure (P < 0.001). There were more specimens with excellent or good quality in ELAPE group compared to conventional APE group (P = 0.033). Patients whom underwent ELAPE procedures showed significantly better OS, DFS and LRFS than those underwent conventional APE procedures. Patients with preoperative stage cT3∼T4 (P = 0.033, P = 0.008, P = 0,033), cN+ (P = 0.002, P < 0.001, P = 0.006) and pathological stage III-IV (P = 0.023, P = 0.008, P = 0.016) were associated with significant benefits from ELAPE procedure in terms of OS, DFS and LRFS. DFS differed significantly between two groups of patients whom got preoperative chemoradiation therapy (P = 0.009) or postoperative chemotherapy (P = 0.029). For patients of pathological stage IIII-IV without preoperative chemoradiation, ELAPE procedures resulted in statistically better OS (P = 0.018) and DFS (P = 0.030). ELAPE procedure was an independent risk factor of OS, DFS and LRFS in multivariate analysis., Conclusion: Low rectal cancer patients might benefit from ELAPE procedure on both surgical and oncological outcomes, especially in patients with relatively advanced tumors, inspite of the effects of pre-operative radio- and chemotherapy., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.)

The lungs are the second most common site of metastasis for colorectal cancer (CRC) after the liver. Rectal cancer is associated with a higher incidence of lung metastases compared to colon cancer. In China, the proportion of rectal cancer cases is around 50%, much higher than that in Western countries (nearly 30%). However, there is no available consensus or guideline focusing on CRC with lung metastases. We conducted an extensive discussion and reached a consensus of management for lung metastases in CRC based on current research reports and the experts' clinical experiences and knowledge. This consensus provided detailed approaches of diagnosis and differential diagnosis and provided general guidelines for multidisciplinary therapy (MDT) of lung metastases. We also focused on recommendations of MDT management of synchronous lung metastases and initial metachronous lung metastases. This consensus might improve clinical practice of CRC with lung metastases in China and will encourage oncologists to conduct more clinical trials to obtain high-level evidences about managing lung metastases.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have reported a number of loci harboring common variants that influence risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in European descent. But all the SNPs identified explained a small fraction of total heritability. To identify more genetic factors that modify the risk of CRC, especially Chinese Han specific, we conducted a three-stage GWAS including a screening stage (932 CRC cases and 966 controls) and two independent validations (Stage 2: 1,759 CRC cases and 1,875 controls; Stage 3: 943 CRC cases and 1,838 controls). In the combined analyses, we discovered two novel loci associated with CRC: rs12522693 at 5q23.3 (CDC42SE2-CHSY3, OR = 1.31, P = 2.08 × 10-8) and rs17836917 at 17q12 (ASIC2-CCL2, OR = 0.75, P = 4.55 × 10-8). Additionally, we confirmed two previously reported risk loci, rs6983267 at 8q24.21 (OR = 1.17, P = 7.17 × 10-7) and rs10795668 at 10p14 (OR = 0.86, P = 2.96 × 10-6) in our cohorts. These results bring further insights into the CRC susceptibility and advance our understanding on etiology of CRC.

The aim of this study was to identify the best cutoff points for lymph node classification to improve the prognostic prediction of gastric cancer in China. Patients who had undergone surgery for gastric cancer were retrospectively evaluated in two high-volume institutions from Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH, N=503) and Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University (AHQU, N=1,003). The prognosis of these patients was assessed according to the number of metastatic lymph nodes with an increment of one node at one time. A new lymph node classification was proposed based on the relation between prognosis and the number of metastatic lymph nodes. According to the prognostic value, the proposed node (N) stage was categorized as N0 (no regional LNs metastasis), N1 (1-3 involved regional LNs), N2 (4-6 involved regional LNs), and N3 (≥7 involved regional LNs). The hazard ratio for the proposed N classification increased steadily and reasonably compared with the 7th edition. Moreover, the Cox regression multivariate analysis showed that the proposed N classification was superior to the 7th N classification as an independent prognostic factor. The proposed N category was superior to 7th edition N category of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) for assessing the prognosis for gastric cancer patients in China.