Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is a brand-new tumor vascular pattern with the ability to form vessellike networks without participation of endothelial cells and independent on angiogenesis.It can provide adequate blood supply for tumor growth.The formation of VM involves multiple molecule mechanisms and signal pathways,including cancer stem cell and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.As a unique blood-supply pattern,VM is associated with cancer invasion,metastasis and poor prognosis.Because of its important role in cancer progression,VM will become a new target for therapy of cancers.

Objective:To evaluate the operating performance, effectiveness and safety of a new portable endoscopic system for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in an animal model.Methods:A parallel control, non-inferiority study was designed. Ten healthy Bana pigs were selected as the study subjects, and underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy using portable endoscope followed by Olympus GIF-Q260 endoscope. The instrument quality, image quality and safety of the new system were evaluated by means of quantitative scores.Results:The time for deployment and installing of the new portable endoscopic system during single operation was 110.24±8.93 s and 91.33±11.59 s, respectively, and the time for the endoscope with disposable protective cover was 233.48±17.06 s. The time of attracting 400 mL normal saline of the portable endoscope and Olympus endoscope was 56.44±5.18 s and 33.71±3.56 s, respectively. The water vapor attraction performance of the portable endoscope was not as good as the Olympus endoscope, but still met the technical requirements of medical devices (attraction capacity >400 mL/min). While in terms of the seal property, biopsy channel, softness and curvature of gastroscopy body, knob operation, and field of view, the two endoscopic systems were equivalent. In terms of image quality evaluation, including clarity, distortion, color resolution, illumination and quality comprehensive evaluation, the performance of the new portable endoscopic system was similar to that of the Olympus endoscopic system. One pig developed nausea during operation with the Olympus endoscope. No adverse events occurred during operation with the new portable endoscope.Conclusion:The new portable endoscopic system is easy to assemble. In terms of device quality, image quality and safety, the new portable endoscopic system is similar to the clinically used Olympus endoscopic system. Therefore, the new portable endoscope system is safe and effective for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Programmed cell death protein-1(PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand-1(PD-L1)has been considered to be one of the most promising targets for tumor immunotherapy.At present,both monoclonal antibody drugs and small molecule inhibitors targeting PD-1/PD-L1 are facing bottlenecks.Numerous researchers have tried to explore different strategies to block the PD-L1/PD-L1 pathway,hoping to improve the effects of tumor immunotherapy.This review focuses on the degraders,bifunctional molecules and covalent inhibitors that target PD-L1,aiming to provide inspiring insights for the development of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 drugs.

Objective    To investigate the effect and mechanism of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on restenosis of the vein graft. Methods    Totally 90 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided a the control group, a vein graft group and an EGCG+vein graft group. At week 1, 2 and 4, the intimal and tunica thickness of the venous graft wall was evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin staining, and the expression of Ki-67 was assessed by immunohistochemistry analysis, and then the expression of hairy and enhancer of split-1 (HES1) was measured by Western blot assay. Results    At week 2, the intimal thickness (46.76±4.89 μm vs. 8.93±0.82 μm, 46.76±4.89 μm vs. 34.24±3.57 μm), tunica thickness (47.28±4.37 vs. 16.33±1.52 μm, 47.28±4.37 vs. 36.27±3.29 μm), positive cell rate of Ki-67 (21.59%±2.29% vs. 1.12%±0.22%, 21.59%±2.29%vs. 15.38%±1.30%), expression of HES1 respectively increased in the experimental group than those in the control group and the EGCG+vein graft group (P<0.05, respectively). At week 4, the intimal thickness (66.38±6.23 μm vs. 8.29±0.79 μm,   66.38±6.23 μm vs. 48.39±4.23 μm), tunica thickness (63.27±6.18 μm vs. 15.29±1.49 μm, 63.27±6.18 μm vs. 44.63±4.49 μm), positive cell rate of Ki-67 (33.19%±3.03% vs. 1.09%±0.19%, 33.19%±3.03% vs. 24.37%±2.73%), expression of HES1 increased in the experimental group than those in the control group and EGCG+vein graft group (P<0.05, respectively). Conclusion    EGCG may inhibite restenosis of vein graft by inhibiting Notch signal pathway.