Tumor-stroma ratio is an independent predictor for survival in NSCLC

Tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has been identified as a new and practicable prognostic factor in some solid tumors. The aim of the study is to evaluate the prognostic value of TSR in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A total of 404 patients who underwent surgery resection for NSCLC were included in this study. TSR was assessed visually on the hematoxylin-stained tissue sections of surgical specimens. Patients with more than 50% intratumor stroma were quantified as the stroma-rich group and those with less than 50% as the stroma-poor group. In 404 cases of tissue samples, 302 cases were included in the stroma-poor group, while 102 cases in stroma-rich group. The different expression of TSR in NSCLC tissue was not correlated with gender, age, smoking history, tumor diameter, histology, differentiation grade and pTNM staging. In the Cox univariate and multivariate analyses of the 5-year OS, the HRs of the TSR were 1.818 (95% CI; 1.323-2.497; P<0.001) and 1.748 (95% CI; 1.262-2.422; P<0.05), respectively. As for DFS, the HRs were 1.715 (95% CI; 1.249-2.354; P<0.001) and 1.570 (95% CI; 1.135-2.172; P<0.05). Stroma-rich tumors were associated with poor prognosis and an increased risk of relapse, which may serve as a new prognostic histological characteristic in NSCLC.     

Strawberry Phytochemicals Inhibit Azoxymethane/Dextran Sodium Sulfate-Induced Colorectal Carcinogenesis in Crj: CD-1 Mice

Human and experimental colon carcinogenesis are enhanced by a pro-inflammatory microenvironment. Pharmacologically driven chemopreventive agents and dietary variables are hypothesized to have future roles in the prevention of colon cancer by targeting these processes. The current study was designed to determine the ability of dietary lyophilized strawberries to inhibit inflammation-promoted colon carcinogenesis in a preclinical animal model. Mice were given a single i.p. injection of azoxymethane (10 mg kg⁻¹ body weight). One week after injection, mice were administered 2% (w/v) dextran sodium sulfate in drinking water for seven days and then an experimental diet containing chemically characterized lyophilized strawberries for the duration of the bioassay. Mice fed control diet, or experimental diet containing 2.5%, 5.0% or 10.0% strawberries displayed tumor incidence of 100%, 64%, 75% and 44%, respectively (p < 0.05). The mechanistic studies demonstrate that strawberries reduced expression of proinflammatory mediators, suppressed nitrosative stress and decreased phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, Akt, extracellular signal-regulated kinase and nuclear factor kappa B. In conclusion, strawberries target proinflammatory mediators and oncogenic signaling for the preventive efficacies against colon carcinogenesis in mice. This works supports future development of fully characterized and precisely controlled functional foods for testing in human clinical trials for this disease.     

Overexpression of SCLIP promotes growth and motility in glioblastoma cells

SCLIP, a microtubule-destabilizing phosphoprotein, is known to be involved in the development of the central nervous system (CNS). It has been well established that there are notable parallels between normal development and tumorigenesis, especially in glioma. However, no studies have examined the significance of SCLIP in gliomagenesis. To address this, we investigated the expression of SCLIP and its roles in the development of gliomas. Notably, we found that SCLIP was highly expressed in various grades of glioma samples, as compared with normal brain tissues. Overexpression of SCLIP dramatically stimulated tumor cell migration and invasion as well as proliferation and downregulation of SCLIP showed opposite effects, establishing an important oncogenic role for this gene. Furthermore, we revealed that STAT3 was required to maintain SCLIP stability, suggesting that overexpression of STAT3 may be a critical step to facilitate microtubule dynamics and subsequently promotes migration and invasion of glioma cells. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that SCLIP plays an important role in glioma pathology, and may represent a novel therapeutic strategy against human glioma.     

PTEN inhibits macrophage polarization from M1 to M2 through CCL2 and VEGF-A reduction and NHERF-1 synergism

PTEN has been studied in several tumor models as a tumor suppressor. In this study, we explored the role of PTEN in the inhibition state of polarized M2 subtype of macrophage in tumor microenvironment (TME) and the underlying mechanisms. To elucidate the potential effect in TME, RAW 264.7 macrophages and 4T1 mouse breast cancer cells were co-cultured to reconstruct tumor microenvironment. After PTEN was down-regulated with shRNA, the expression of CCL2 and VEGF-A, which are definited to promote the formation of M2 macrophages, have a dramatically increase on the level of both gene and protein in co-cultured RAW 264.7 macrophages. And at the same time, NHERF-1 (Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger regulating factor-1), another tumor suppressor has a similar tendency to PTEN. Q-PCR and WB results suggested that PTEN and NHERF-1 were consistent with one another no matter at mRNA or protein level when exposed to the same stimulus. Coimmunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence techniques confirmed that PTEN and NHERF-1 were coprecipitated, and NHERF-1 protein expression was properly reduced with rCCL2 effect. In addition, cell immunofluorescence images revealed a profound transferance, in co-cultured RAW 264.7 macrophages, an up-regulation of NHERF-1 could promote the PTEN marked expression on the cell membrane, and this form for the interaction was not negligible. These observations illustrate PTEN with a certain synergy of NHERF-1, as well as down-regulation of CCL2 suppressing M2 macrophage transformation pathway. The results suggest that the activation of PTEN and NHERF-1 may impede the evolution of macrophages beyond the M1 into M2 phenotype in tumor microenvironment.     

Biological effect of food additive titanium dioxide nanoparticles on intestine: an in vitro study

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) are widely found in food‐related consumer products. Understanding the effect of TiO₂ NPs on the intestinal barrier and absorption is essential and vital for the safety assessment of orally administrated TiO₂ NPs. In this study, the cytotoxicity and translocation of two native TiO₂ NPs, and these two TiO₂ NPs pretreated with the digestion simulation fluid or bovine serum albumin were investigated in undifferentiated Caco‐2 cells, differentiated Caco‐2 cells and Caco‐2 monolayer. TiO₂ NPs with a concentration less than 200 µg ml^–1 did not induce any toxicity in differentiated cells and Caco‐2 monolayer after 24 h exposure. However, TiO₂ NPs pretreated with digestion simulation fluids at 200 µg ml^–1 inhibited the growth of undifferentiated Caco‐2 cells. Undifferentiated Caco‐2 cells swallowed native TiO₂ NPs easily, but not pretreated NPs, implying the protein coating on NPs impeded the cellular uptake. Compared with undifferentiated cells, differentiated ones possessed much lower uptake ability of these TiO₂ NPs. Similarly, the traverse of TiO₂ NPs through the Caco‐2 monolayer was also negligible. Therefore, we infer the possibility of TiO₂ NPs traversing through the intestine of animal or human after oral intake is quite low. This study provides valuable information for the risk assessment of TiO₂ NPs in food. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rapid analysis of CGG repeat length in the FMR1 gene.

The number of trinucleotide CGG repeats at the 5' untranslated region of the FMR1 gene is associated with the fragile X syndrome of mental retardation. We screened for the CGG repeat length in the FMR1 gene of the X-chromosomes from unrelated normal Chinese subjects recruited in Hong Kong and Dalian, a southern and a northern Chinese city respectively. These cities are about 3000 km apart and the residents have few historical interactions. Genomic DNA was analysed by PCR and detected by Southern hybridisation with a radiolabelled (CGG)5 probe for the CGG repeat number. A different distribution pattern of CGG allele size from the Caucasians is observed. It is a bimodal pattern with the most common CGG repeats allele at 29 against 30 in the Caucasians. Among the Hong Kong subjects, five alleles of more than 50 CGG repeats were detected, and four of those were in heterozygous females. There was no difference in the repeat patterns in subjects from the two cities, suggesting no genotypic variation in FMR1 between northern and southern Chinese.     

女性护理专业学生心理健康相关因素分析

目的:分析护理专业学生心理健康的影响因素。方法:于2005-12-01/15按整群抽样法抽取西安市高校在读的护理专业学生515名作为被调查对象。症状自评量表总分≥187为高分组,总分≤116为低分组。高分组与低分组配比的条件是均为女性,年龄相差不超过3岁。采用症状自评量表、简易应对方式问卷、自尊量表、护理专业学生相关状况调查表进行问卷调查。对调查变量进行单因素和多因素Logistic回归分析。结果:共发放问卷515份,其中2名学生生病未填写调查表,应答率为99.6%。调查中有效问卷共507份,有效率为98.8%。症状自评量表总分高分组与低分组学生各100名。①护理专业学生心理健康相关个人因素(计量变量)单因素分析结果:高分组积极应对、自尊水平得分明显低于低分组(20.47±5.02,22.15±6.02;25.91±3.60,30.96±3.25),差异有显著性意义(P<0.05,P<0.01)。高分组消极应对得分明显高于低分组(12.57±4.08,8.00±4.12),差异有显著性意义(P<0.01)。②护理专业学生心理健康相关个人因素(二分类变量)单因素分析结果表明,高分组与低分组比较差异有显著性的因素有独生子女、远离家人、孤独、学习压力大、担心拿不到学位、自我实现需要的满足、经常被人误会、受人歧视、失恋、有知心朋友、无处倾诉苦恼、睡眠型态紊乱、近1年来本人健康改变、适应新环境、经常参加体育活动、担心毕业分配、现有最担心的事情。③多因素分析显示,学习压力大(OR=10.017)、近1年来本人健康改变(OR=4.384)为护理专业学生心理健康状况不良的独立危险因素,而自我实现需要的满足(OR=0.037)、高水平自尊(OR=0.357)是保护因素。结论:护理专业学生心理健康状况与教育、成长、社会环境等多方面因素相关,其心理健康干预需考虑学生的个人因素有针对性地进行。     

Preoperative detection of the neurovascular relationship in trigeminal neuralgia using three-dimensional fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (FIESTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)

Microvascular decompression is an accepted treatment for trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Preoperative identification of neurovascular compression, therefore, could aid determination of the appropriate treatment for TN. To preoperatively visualize the neurovascular relationship, three-dimensional fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (3D FIESTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) were performed on 37 patients with TN in our study. 3D FIESTA in combination with MRA identified surgically verified neurovascular contact in 35 of 36 symptomatic nerves. The offending vessel (artery or vein) was correctly identified in 94.4% of patients, and agreement between preoperative MRI visualization and surgical findings was excellent (k = 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.67–1.00). Thus, 3D FIESTA in combination with MRA is useful in the detection of vascular contact with the trigeminal nerve in patients with TN.