Objective To investigate the expression of connexin (Cx) 43, Cx26 gene in the thyroid tissue in patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD).Methods The thyroid tissue specimens of 76 cases were selected, including 30 cases of Graves disease (GD group), 30 cases of Hashimoto thyroiditis( HT group ), and 16 cases of normal tissues from thyroid adenoma (control group), which were all confirmed by pathologic diagnosis.The expression of Cx43 and Cx26 mRNA among three groups was determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and GAPDH,which was used as the internal control.Results The staining of Cx43 and Cx26 mRNA in all the cases from human thyroid tissue were strongly positive.The expression levels of Cx43,Cx26 mRNA in GD group were significantly higher than those in control group (0.9307 ± 0.0716 vs.0.5938 ± 0.0484 and 0.7371 ± 0.0463 vs.0.3431 ± 0.0399 ) (P ＜ 0.01 ).And the expression levels of Cx43,Cx26 mRNA in HT group were significantly lower than those in control group (0.3581 ±0.0458 vs.0.5938 ±0.0484 and 0.3150 ±0.0218 vs.0.3431 ±0.0399)(P＜0.01 or ＜0.05).Conclusion The Cx43 and Cx26 mRNA expression in the human thyroid tissue and a remarkable deferral expressions of Cx43 and Cx26 mRNA in three groups of AITD suggests that gap junction is associated with AITD.

Objective:To explore the effect of pretreatment body mass index (BMI) on the prognosis of patients with unresectable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after chemoradiotherapy.Methods:The clinical data of 711 patients with locally advanced NSCLC treated with radiotherapy, sequential chemoradiotherapy or concurrent chemoradiotherapy from January 2013 to December 2017 in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College were retrospectively analyzed. Radiotherapy was performed with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), and the chemotherapy regimens were paclitaxel+carboplatin, pemetrexed+cisplatin or etoposide+cisplatin. The effects of pretreatment BMI and other clinical factors on overall survival (OS) of patients were analyzed. Survival analysis was performed by using Kaplan-Meier method; univariate and multivariate analyses were performed by using Cox proportional hazards model.Results:According to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended BMI grouping method for Asian, the median OS time of low BMI group (<18.5 kg/m 2, 23 cases), normal BMI group (18.5-23.9 kg/m 2, 293 cases) and high BMI group (≥24.0 kg/m 2, 395 cases) was 17 months (95% CI 11-29 months), 29 months (95% CI 22-36 months) and 30 months (95% CI 27-34 months), respectively. OS in the low BMI group was poorer than that in the normal BMI group and high BMI group ( χ2 = 11.20, P = 0.004). Maximally selected rank statistics was used to determine the optimal cut-off value of BMI for prediction of survival as 21.31 kg/m 2, according to which patients were divided into low BMI group (BMI<21.31 kg/m 2, 130 cases) and high BMI group (BMI≥21.31 kg/m 2, 581 cases), the median OS time of the two groups was 20 months (95% CI 17-27 months) and 32 months (95% CI 28-35 months), respectively. OS in the low BMI group was poorer than that in the high BMI group ( χ2 = 12.30, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that age ≥ 65 years old, male, Karnofsky score < 80 points, low BMI, smoking, histological type of squamous cell carcinoma and radiotherapy alone were independent risk factors for OS (all P < 0.05). Conclusions:For patients with unresectable locally advanced NSCLC who received chemoradiotherapy, those with low pretreatment BMI have poor prognosis.

Objective To evaluate the risk factors of non-sentinel lymph node (NSLN) metastasis in breast cancer patients with 1-2 positive sentinel lymph nodes and to establish a new Nomogram prediction model.Methods Clinicopathological data of breast cancer patients who were diagnosed with 1-2 positive lymph nodes and underwent axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) without neoadjuvant chemotherapy from January 2008 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.Measurement data between two groups were analyzed by chi-square test.Multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression model.The prediction accuracy of the Nomogram model was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and calibration curves.Results A total of 270 patients were recruited in this study.Among them,87(32.2％) patients had NSLN metastases.The median age was 46 years old (21-80 years),the median number of SLNs was 4 (1-10) and the median number of axillary lymph nodes was 20(10-41).Univariate analysis demonstrated that the pathological grade,the size of SLN metastasis,the number of negative and positive SLNs were the risk factors of NSLN metastasis (P=0.001-0.045).Multivariate analysis showed that pathological grade,the number of negative and positive SLNs were independent risk factors of NSLN metastasis (P=0.000-0.041).The AUC value of Nomogram prediction model for NSLN metastasis was 0.70.The false negative rate of Nomogram was 10.5％ when the cut-off point of predictive probability was ≤ 15％.Conclusions The Nomogram is a useful prediction model for evaluating NSLN metastasis.ALND or axillary radiotherapy can be avoided for patients with a low probability of NSLN metastasis.

Objective:To evaluate the safety and tolerance of sequential thoracic radiotherapy combined with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) after induction systemic therapy.Methods:ES-SCLC patients from a phase I trial and a real-world study were enrolled for those who received thoracic radiotherapy after induction systemic treatment (chemotherapy/chemotherapy combined with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors) and consolidated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. These two studies were both approved by the Ethics Committee of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Cancer Hospital (Clinical Trials.gov number, NCT03971214, NCT04947774).Results:Between January 2019 and March 2021, a total of 11 patients with ES-SCLC were analyzed, aged 52-73 years, with a median age of 62 years. Among them, five patients (45.5%) received induction chemotherapy and six patients (54.5%) received chemotherapy combined with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor, and then all received intensity-modulated thoracic radiotherapy after evaluation of systemic treatment efficacy. Two patients developed treatment-related grade G3-5 toxicity (18.2%, 1 treatment-related pneumonitis and 1 radiation esophagitis). G 1-G 2 hematologic toxicity, pneumonia, and anorexia were common mild toxicities. Only one patient (9.1%) terminated immunotherapy due to immune-related pneumonitis. During a median follow-up time of 12.5 months (range: 3.5-16.4 months), the median disease progression-free survival and overall survival was 7.4 months (95% CI: 6.9-8.0 months) and 14.6 months (95% CI: 9.0-20.2 months), respectively. Conclusions:Sequential thoracic radiotherapy followed by PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor is safe and feasible in patients with ES-SCLC after induction therapy. Given that both thoracic radiotherapy and immunotherapy benefits the ES-SCLC in survival, this comprehensive treatment modality warrants further investigation.

Objective:Simultaneous integrated boost radiation technique in limited-stage small cell lung cancer is lack of evidence. This prospective study aims to evaluate whether the simultaneous integrated boost is as efficacious and safe as conventional fractionated radiotherapy.Methods:Patients diagnosed with treatment-naive and confirmed limited-stage SCLC were eligible. Participants were randomly assigned (1: 1) to receive simultaneous integrated boost radiotherapy (PGTV 60.2 Gy/2.15 Gy/28F, PTV 50.4 Gy/1.8 Gy/28F) or conventional fractionated radiotherapy (PTV 60 Gy/2 Gy/30F). The primary endpoint was 2-year progression-free survival, and the secondary endpoints were 2-year overall survival, 2-year local-regional recurrence-free survival and toxicity.Results:Between February 2017 and July 2019, 231 patients were enrolled. We analyzed 216 patients whose follow-up time was more than 2 years or who had died, among whom 106 patients in the conventional fractionated radiotherapy group and 110 patients in the simultaneous integrated boost radiotherapy group. The median follow-up time was 37 months (95% CI: 35.2-38.7). The 2-year progression-free survival rates were 45.2% vs. 38.2%( HR=1.22, 95% CI: 0.87-1.72, P=0.2). The 2-year overall survival rates were 73.5% vs. 60.9%( HR=1.35, 95% CI: 0.90-2.04, P=0.14). The 2-year local-regional recurrence-free survival rates were 68.7% vs. 69.9%( HR=0.98, 95% CI: 0.62-1.56, P=1.0). Multivariate analysis showed that early radiotherapy yielded better 2-year progression-free survival, overall survival and local-regional recurrence-free survival than delayed radiotherapy in two groups ( HR=1.69, 95% CI: 1.18-2.41, P=0.003; HR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.09-2.70, P=0.018; HR=1.66, 95% CI: 1.01-2.73, P=0.046). Tumor staging was an influencing factor of overall survival (stage Ⅲ vs. stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, HR=3.64, 95% CI: 1.15-11.57, P=0.028). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events were myelosuppression (21.7% vs. 15.4%, P=0.83), radiation pneumonitis (4.7% vs. 2.7%, P=0.44) and radiation esophagitis (3.8% vs. 1.8%, P=0.51). Conclusions:Simultaneous integrated boost radiotherapy yields equivalent efficacy and toxicities to conventional fractionated radiotherapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer. Early radiotherapy can enhance clinical prognosis.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of hippocampal avoidance whole-brain irradiation with simultaneous integrated boost in the treatment of brain metastases of lung cancer.Methods:Forty lung cancer patients with brain metastases who received whole-brain radiotherapy with simultaneous integrated boost and hippocampal avoidance in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from 2014 to 2020 were enrolled in this study. Brain MRI, survival follow-up and evaluation of side effects were performed before radiotherapy and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after radiotherapy, respectively. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and changes in cognitive function were analyzed. Continuous data were described as Mean ± SD. Categorical data were described by frequency and composition ratio or percentage. Survival analysis was conducted by Kaplan-Meier method. Influencing factors of survival were identified by univariate and multivariate Cox's regression analyses.Results:A total of 40 patients were enrolled in the study. The median follow-up time was 14.2 months and the median OS, PFS and intracranial PFS of all patients were 14.8 months, 6.7 months and 14.8 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that male gender and newly diagnosed stage Ⅳ disease were associated with worse OS and PFS, respectively. The Hopkins verbal learning test-revised (HVLT-R) scores at baseline and 1, 3 and 6 months after radiotherapy were 21.94±2.99, 20.88±3.12, 20.03±3.14, and 19.78±2.98, respectively. The HVLT-R score at 6 months after radiotherapy was decreased by approximately 9.8% compared with the baseline. No grade 3 or above toxic and side effect occurred in the entire cohort.Conclusion:Hippocampal avoidance whole-brain irradiation with simultaneous integrated boost is a safe and effective treatment for brain metastases of lung cancer, which is expected to reduce the impact of radiotherapy on cognitive function.

Objective:To analyze the treatment efficacy, safety and dose parameters of optimized hippocampus-avoidance prophylactic cranial irradiation (HA-PCI) in limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) and explore the corresponding dosimetric parameters under the condition of narrowing the hippocampus avoidance region as hippocampus region plus 2 mm in three dimensions.Methods:Clinical data of patients with LS-SCLC receiving HA-PCI (hippocampus avoidance region defined as hippocampus region plus 2 mm in three dimensions) in Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from August 2014 to June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Dose parameters of HA-PCI and adverse events were analyzed using descriptive statistics analysis. Changes of neurocognitive function, such as mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Hopkins verbal learning test-revised (HVLT-R) scores, were evaluated by analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis H test. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and intracranial PFS (iPFS) were calculated using Kaplan-Meier method. The cumulative incidence of local-regional recurrence (LRR), extracranial distant metastases (EDM), and locoregional recurrence (LR) were investigated under competing risk analysis. Results:A total of 112 patients were included, the median follow-up time was 50 months (95% CI: 45.61-54.38). The median volume of hippocampus was 4.85 ml (range: 2.65-8.34 ml), with the average dose ≤9 Gy in 106 patients (94.6%), ≤8 Gy in 92 patients (82.1%). The median volume of hippocampus avoidance area was 15.00 ml (range: 8.61-28.06 ml), with the average dose ≤12 Gy in 109 patients (97.3%), ≤10 Gy in 101 patients (90.2%). The 2-year cumulative LRR, EDM, LR rates were 16.9%, 23.2% and 28.5%, respectively. The 5-year cumulative LRR, EDM, LR rates were 23.2%, 26.9% and 33.3%, respectively. The 2-year iPFS, PFS and OS rates were 66.1% (95% CI: 57.9%-75.4%), 53.6% (95% CI: 45.1%-63.7%) and 80.4% (95% CI: 73.3%-88.1%), respectively. The most common grade I-Ⅱ adverse events were nausea (33.9%) and dizziness (31.3%), and only 1 patient developed grade Ⅲ nausea and dizziness. MMSE ( n=57) and HVLT-R tests ( n=56) showed no significant decline. Conclusions:Optimized HA-PCI can achieve similar dose limitation with favorable efficacy and light toxicity. No significant decline is observed in short-term neurocognitive function in evaluable patients.

Objective To analyze the effect of Xiaozhi Decoction in the treatment of hyperlipidemiain different classification of physical constitution in TCM.Methods We screened 206 patients with Hyperlipidemia in our hospital and had been treated with drugs during May 2020 to March 2023.Totally 103 patients in the TCM group were treated with Xiaozhi Decoction,103 patients in the western medicine group were treated with atorvastatin.Selected total cholesterol(TC),triglyceride(TG),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and liver transaminase before and after a period of treatment.The non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(non-HDL-C)will be calculated,too.Results In the Phlegm-Dampness constitution,TC,TG,LDL-C and non-HDL-C decreased significantly all in the TCM group(P<0.05);TC,TG and non-HDL-C decreased significantly all in the western medicine group(P<0.05).The TCM group is superior to the western medicine group in TC,LDL-C,non-HDL-C(P<0.05).In the Qi-Deficiency constitution,TC,TG,LDL-C and non-HDL-C decreased significantly all in the TCM group(P<0.05);TC,LDL-C and non-HDL-C decreased significantly all in the western medicine group(P<0.05).The TCM group is superior to the western medicine group in non-HDL-C(P<0.05).In the Blood-Stasis constitution,TC,TG,LDL-C and non-HDL-C decreased significantly all in the western medicine group only(P<0.05).The western medicine group is superior to the TCM group in TC,LDL-C,non-HDL-C(P<0.05).In the Yin-Yang Harmony constitution,TC and non-HDL-C decreased significantly both in the TCM group(P<0.05).TC,LDL-C and non-HDL-C decreased significantly all in the western medicine group(P<0.05).The western medicine group is superior to the TCM group in TC,LDL-C,non-HDL-C(P<0.05).Conclusion Xiaozhi Decoction is superior to the the atorvastatin in the treatment of hyperlipidemia for the Phlegm-Dampness constitution and Qi-deficiency constitution groups.But it is not superior to the atorvastatin in the treatment of hyperlipidemia for the Blood-Stasis constitution and Yin-Yang Harmony constitution groups.

【Objective】 To investigate the relationship of replication factor C subunit 2 (RFC2) with the prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM) and cell proliferation, as well as its underlying molecular pathway in GBM development. 【Methods】 Using bioinformatics methods, cell cycle genes were screened as independent prognostic factors for GBM. Combined with clinical indicators, a risk scoring model for GBM patients was established and validated. The target gene RFC2 was analyzed with GO, KEGG, and GSEA. U87 GBM cells at logarithmic growth stage were transfected with lentivirus and divided into different groups (control, ShRFC2 #1, and shRFC2#2 groups). qRT-PCR, Western blotting, Edu staining, and cloning assay were used to detect mRNA expression, protein expression, and cell proliferation. 【Results】 The expression of RFC2 was upregulated in GBM and showed an obvious upregulation trend with the increase of pathological grade of glioma. The analyses of gene function and pathway indicated that RFC2 was involved in the processes of sister chromosome segregation, chromosome segregation, organelle fission, and mitosis by promoting the transition of G1 to S phase during cell cycle. qRT-PCR and Western blotting showed that compared with the control group, the amount of mRNA and translated protein in the knockdowned groups decreased (P<0.000 1). The positive rate of Edu staining and the colony forming ability decreased (P<0.000 1, P<0.001). 【Conclusion】 RFC2 is highly expressed in glioblastoma and associated with pathological grade of glioma and poor prognosis of patients. It also promotes the cell proliferation function of glioblastoma. RFC2 may be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for glioblastoma.

OBJECTIVES: Safe and effective anticoagulation is essential for hemodialysis patients who are at high risk of bleeding. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of two-stage regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) combined with sequential anticoagulation and standard calcium-containing dialysate in intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) treatment. METHODS: Patients at high risk of bleeding who underwent IHD from September 2019 to May 2021 were prospectively enrolled in 13 blood purification centers of nephrology departments, and were randomly divided into RCA group and saline flushing group. In the RCA group, 0.04 g/mL sodium citrate was infused from the start of the dialysis line during blood draining and at the venous expansion chamber. The sodium citrate was stopped after 3 h of dialysis, which was changed to sequential dialysis without anticoagulant. The hazard ratios for coagulation were according to baseline. RESULTS: A total of 159 patients and 208 sessions were enrolled, including RCA group (80 patients, 110 sessions) and saline flushing group (79 patients, 98 sessions). The incidence of severe coagulation events of extracorporeal circulation in the RCA group was significantly lower than that in the saline flushing group (3.64% vs. 20.41%, P<0.001). The survival time of the filter pipeline in the RCA group was significantly longer than that in the saline flushing group ((238.34±9.33) min vs. (221.73±34.10) min, P<0.001). The urea clearance index (Kt/V) in the RCA group was similar to that in the saline flushing group with no statistically significant difference (1.12±0.34 vs. 1.08±0.34, P=0.41). CONCLUSIONS Compared with saline flushing, the two-stage RCA combined with a sequential anticoagulation strategy significantly reduced extracorporeal circulation clotting events and prolonged the dialysis time without serious adverse events.
Humans ; Citric Acid/adverse effects* ; Prospective Studies ; Sodium Citrate ; Hemorrhage/chemically induced* ; Citrates/adverse effects* ; Anticoagulants/adverse effects* ; Renal Dialysis/adverse effects*