Search

Objective To identify the potential prognostic biomarkers of the immune-related genes signature for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Original HCC data were downloaded from TCGA, and the immune activity of each sample was calculated by ssGSEA. HCC samples were divided into high and low immune cell infiltration groups by "GSVA" package and "hclust" package. The ESTIMATE algorithm scored the tumor microenvironment in each HCC sample. The "limma" package and Venn diagram identified effective immune-related genes. Univariate Cox, Lasso regression and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to explore key genes. The "rms" package was used to create nomograms and draw calibration curves. Results Compared with the high immune cell infiltration group, the tumor purity of the samples in the low immune cell infiltration group was higher, the immune score, ESTIMATE score and stromal score were lower. In the high immune cell infiltration group, the immune components were more abundant, and the expression levels of TIGIT, PD-L1, PD-1, LAG3, TIM-3, CTLA4 and HLA family were higher. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that four immune-related genes (S100A9, HMOX1, IL18RAP and FCER1G) were used to construct the prognosis model. Compared with other clinical features, the risk score of this prognostic model was recognized as an independent prognostic factor. Conclusion This study identified the immune-related core genes which may be used in targeted therapy and immunotherapy of HCC.

Background: Associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged liver resection (ALPPS) has been used in the treatment of patients with advanced or massive liver cancer without sufficient future liver remnant, but concerns remain regarding tumor outcomes and surgical safety. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a new procedure, hepatic artery restriction operation combined with ALPPS (HARO-ALPPS), in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients especially with severe fibrosis., Methods: This retrospective study analyzed 8 patients who underwent HARO-ALPPS for HCC and compared their outcomes with 64 patients who underwent conventional ALPPS. The primary outcomes assessed were liver regeneration ability (measured by relative and absolute kinetic growth rates), postoperative complications, and mortality. The secondary outcomes included overall survival and disease-free survival., Results: HARO-ALPPS significantly restricted the blood supply of the hepatic artery. One week after surgery, the blood flow of the right hepatic artery dropped to 62.1%. At the same time, HARO-ALPPS shows superior liver regeneration ability, which is particularly prominent in the background of liver fibrosis. No serious complications occurred after HARO-ALPPS. The overall survival rate of HARO-ALPPS was 75%, which was higher than that of ALPPS (64%, P =0.816)., Conclusion: Compared to conventional ALPPS, HARO-ALPPS exhibits a better liver regeneration ability, and favorable long-term outcomes. Further prospective studies are needed to validate these findings and evaluate the long-term oncologic outcomes of this novel procedure., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Based on the mesoscopic scale, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) with an enthalpy-based model represented in the form of distribution functions is widely used in the liquid-solid phase transition process of energy storage materials due to its direct and relatively accurate characterization of the presence of latent heat of solidification. However, since the enthalpy distribution function itself contains the physical properties of the material, these properties are transferred along with the enthalpy distribution function during the streaming process. This leads to deviations between the enthalpy-based model when simulating the phase transition process of different materials mixed and the actual process. To address this issue, in this paper, we construct an enthalpy-based model for different types of materials. For multiple materials, various forms of enthalpy distribution functions are employed. This method still uses the form of enthalpy distribution functions for collisions and streaming processes among the same type of substance, while for heat transfer between different materials, it avoids the direct transfer of enthalpy distribution functions and instead applies a source term to the enthalpy distribution functions, characterizing the heat transfer between different materials through the energy change before and after mixing based on the temperature. To verify the accuracy of the method proposed in this paper, a detailed solidification model for two different materials is constructed using the example of water droplets solidifying in air, and the results are compared with experimental outcomes. The results of the simulation show that the model constructed in this paper is largely in line with the actual process.