Fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) has been identified as a novel gene related with obesity in recent years.A large amount of studies report the significant association between FTO expression level and energy metabolism.Besides,epidemiological studies and meta-analysis studies indicate the possibility that FTO gene polymorphism is related with cancer risk such as pancreatic cancer,endometrial cancer,breast cancer and so on.Taken account of the special energy metabolism in cancer cells which is different from that in normal cells,it is rather a novel and hot hypothesis to be investigated that FTO plays an important role in regulating energy metabolism of cancers.

Prophylactic cranial irradiation is an effective means of dealing with brain metastasis of cancer,which can reduce the incidence of brain metastasis by killing the micrometastasis and then improve the prognosis.The effectiveness has been verified in small cell lung cancer,but the application is still in the exploration in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and breast cancer.Prophylactic cranial irradiation is expected to become the conventional treatment for patients with NSCLC of ⅢA-N2 stage after operation and adjuvant chemotherapy or breast cancer of epithelial growth factor receptor-positive after receiving trastuzumab.

The formation and progression of tumor is inseparable from the changes of cell cycle regulatory proteins.The G2-M period block effect of tumor cells is especially important in slowing the growth of tumor and improving the curative effect.DNA damage receptor,signal transduction factor and effectors are the classical pathways to mediate G2 phase arrest of tumor cells,and have the potential to be new targets for tumor therapy.

The number of people needed to accept radiotherapy is increasing with the higher incidence of tumor,and the continuous development of radiation therapy technology has extended the longterm survival of patients.Avoiding the occurrence of radiation damage is particularly important.Since NF-κB plays an important role in gene transcription and regulation of radiation damage,this article introduced the structure,activation and function of NF-κB,reviewed the findings of NF-κB alterations in radiation injuries of brain and lung,and sketched the studies of NF-κB inhibitor.

External-beam radiotherapy is one of the principle treatment options for localized prostate cancer. Conventionally fractionated radiotherapy is widely used in clinical practice. Studies have shown that prostate cancer is highly sensitive to hypofractionated radiotherapy, also known as stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), and increasing radiotherapy dose can significantly improve the local control rate of tumor. A number of recently completed researches have shown that SBRT is as effective as conventionally fractionated radiotherapy. In terms of radiation toxicity, the short-term toxicity of SBRT is more obvious than that of conventionally fractionated radiotherapy, but there is no significant difference in long-term toxicity. SBRT can provide more convenience for patients, and the medical cost is lower, so it has a great clinical application prospect.

Objective To investigate the biological effects of nonthermal plasma (NTP) combined with X-ray irradiation on human hepatocellular carcinoma in nude mice.Methods By subcutaneous inoculation, tumor models of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 in nude mice were established, and these mice were divided into control group, NTP treatment group, X-ray irradiation group, combined treatment group.The changes of tumor microenvironment were observed using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining.The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to determine the level of neuronal apoptosis in tumor tissues.The expression of metal matrix proteinase-2 (MMP-2) was detected by immunohistochemical assay.Transmission electron microscope was used to observe cell structure changes.Results The final tumor volumes of control group, NTP treatment group, X-ray irradiation group, combined treatment group were (543.96±108.45), (436.54±65.49), (351.66±56.68), (281.97±35.60)mm3, with a statistically significant difference (F=9.63, P=0.01), and the difference between X-ray radiation group and the combination treatment group was significant (P=0.05).HE staining showed that there was a larger area of necrosis in the combined treatment group compared with the other groups.TUNEL showed that the apoptotic indexes were (0.95±0.13)%, (5.82±0.26)%, (7.53±0.43)%, (11.07±0.35)% respectively, with a statistically significant difference (F=547.76, P=0.00), and the difference between X-ray radiation group and the combination treatment group was statistically significant (P=0.00).The immune scores of each group were 12, 9, 9, 2.Electron microscopic observation showed that there were more apoptotic bodies in the combined treatment group than those in the other groups, accompanied by mitochondrial edema.Conclusion NTP and X-ray irradiation therapy in the treatment of human hepatocellular carcinoma in nude mice model has a synergistic effect.Probably, it can be a new type of treatment in curing cancers.

Objective To establish and investigate C57 BL/6 mice model of radiation induced heart injury and ser-um marker. Methods Twenty eight female C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 3 groups:normal group (n=4 ) , 18 Gy radiation therapy group ( n=12 ) , 25 Gy radiation therapy group ( n=12 ) . The mice were weighed every week. Respectively, 0, 8 and 16 weeks after irradiation, the pathological changes of myocardial tissue were observed by hemetoxylin-eosin( HE) staining and made pathological score. Inferior vena cava blood was collected to take cardiac troponin I ( cTnI) test. Results Compared with the normal group,the weight of radiation group went down first then went up slowly. The myocardial tissue from mice had obvious histopathological changes. Acute in-flammation was the main change in the early days. At the late stage, progressive fibrosis was the main characteris-tic. With the increase of the dose, the inflammatory reaction and fibrosis degree had aggravated, pathological chan-ges had occurred earlier. cTnI showed a trend of higher performance over time, and had a correlation with patholo-gy. Conclusion We successfully established radiation induced myocaridal injury model. As a noninvasive serum marker, cTnI can be used as the evaluation standard of radiation induced myocardial injury animal model.

ObjectiveTo explore the value of 64-slice CT perfusion imaging(CTPI) in the early diagnosis of radiation-induced lung injury ( RILI ).MethodsForty-eight patients with upper esophageal cancer resection underwent CTPI before and after radiotherapy,and the TNF-α and TGF-β1 were measured from patient's peripheral blood.Serum cytokine,conventional CT appearances and CTPI parameters (rrBF,rrBV,rrPS) in patients with RILI (Group A) and non-RILI (Group B) were compared and analyzed.A randomized block design t-test was used for comparison of serum cytokines and perfusion values between the two groups.The Chi-square ( x2 ) test was used for comparison of detection rate between conventional CT and CTPI.ResultsRILI occurred in 18 of 48 cases ( 18/48,Group A).In Group A,TNF-α and TGF-β1 preand pos-radiation were (36.1 ± 15.0),(30.4 ±t 14.9) ng/L and (17.5 ±9.8),(14.3 ±7.6) μg/L,respectively,and there were no statistically significant differences (t =1.14,1.I0,P =0.264,0.279).At half-dose time point of radiation,there were no significant differences for TNF-α and TGF-β1 pre- and posradiation [ ( 30.4 ± 14.9),( 28.9 ± 14.7 ) ng/L and ( 14.3 ± 7.6),( 14.4 ± 6.0 ) μg/L,respectively ]between Group A and B ( t =0.33,1.23 ; P =0.746,0.227).The rrBF,rrBV and rrPS of post-radiation from Group A were significantly higher than those of pre-radiation ( t =5.67,5.97,6.11,P =0.000,0.000,0.000),the rrBF and rrBV of post-irradiation from Group B were significantly higher than those of pre-irradiation (t =6.52,7.84,P =0.000,0.000).There was no significant difference for rrPS in Group B pre- and post-radiation (t =1.36,P =0.178 ).There were significant differences for all perfusion values detected from radiation lung fields between Group A and B ( t =2.32,2.18,6.04,P =0.025,0.034,0.000).Taking rrPS =1.28 as a threshold value on ROC,the sensitivity and specificity of CTPI for diagnosis of RILI were 77.8％,93.3％,respectively,which were much higher than those ( 11.1％,90.0％,respectively) of conventional CT (x2=13.61,P=0.000).ConclusionCTPI parameters may reflect the hemodynamic changes of post-radiation lung and have potential values for the early diagnosis of RILI.

The curriculum of oncology radiotherapy covers basic radiology,clinical oncology and other aspects.With the development of new radiation therapy technology and the extensive application of computer technology in the field of radiotherapy,the traditional lecture-based teaching model has not adapted to the rapid development of the needs of oncology radiotherapy any more.Teachers in the first affiliated hospital of Soochow university integrated computer multimedia with problem-based learning in the teaching of oncology radiotherapy.With those innovations,the quality of teaching as well as the creative and self-learning abilities of students have been enhanced.

Objective To investigate the dynamic changes of VEGF mRNA and protein in the injured brain of rats irradiated by 20 Gy of electron beams.Methods A total of 114 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups,42 rats in sham group with sham-irradiation,and the other 72 rats in irradiation group that the whole brains of rats were administered with a single dose of 20 Gy electron beam (6 MeV) to establish an animal model of radiation-induced brain injury.All rats were terminated at 1,3,7,14,28,42,56 d post-irradiation respectively.The pathological changes were observed with light microscopies.Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR was used to measure the level of VEGF mRNA in the brain tissue.The expression of VEGF protein in whole brain tissue was detected with Western blot.The VEGF protein expression in brain endothelium,gliacyte and neuron were measured via immunohistoehemistry with computerized image processing.Results The pathological process of radiationinduced brain injury (RBI) included brain endothelial cell damage,brain edema,thrombosis formation and ablation,revascularization and angiogenesis.In the irradiation group,the expression of VEGF mRNA was declined significantly at 1,3,7,2g,42 d post-irradiation (t =16.275-46.118,P ＜ 0.05).The VEGF protein expression in whole brain tissue was up-regulated at 1 and 7 d after irradiation,but downregulated at 3,14,28,42,56 d post-irradiation.There were VEGF positive cells in the brain endothelium,gliacyte and neuron at 1 d after irradiation.The expression of VEGF protein in gliacyte and neuron significantly was increased at 1,14,42,56 d post-irradiation (t =-8.394--4.697,P ＜ 0.05),and increased significantly in brain endothelial cells at 1,14,and 42 d after irradiation (t =-5.554--4.159,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The expression of VEGF mRNA was relatively suppressed in RBI rats.The expression of VEGF protein in whole brain tissue was up-regulated only at the early stage of RBI.The expressions of VEGF protein in brain endothelium,gliacyte and neuron were increased in the observation period,which induced brain edema and the formation of thrombosis at the acute RBI stage,and participated in the progression of angiogenesis and thrombosis ablation at the early-delayed RBI stage.