To investigate the effects of 2-(4-methoxycarbonyl-2-tetradecyloxyphenyl)carbamoylbenzoic acid (CX09040) on protecting pancreatic β cells, the β cell dysfunction model mice were induced by injection of alloxan into the caudal vein of ICR mice, and were treated with compound CX09040. Liraglutide was used as the positive control drug. The amount and the size of islets observed in pathological sections were calculated to evaluate the β cell mass; the glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) test was applied to estimate the β cell secretary function; the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was taken to observe the glucose metabolism in mice; the expressions of protein in pancreas were detected by Western blotting. The effects on the target protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) were assessed by the PTP1B activities of both recombinant protein and the intracellular enzyme, and by the PTP1B expression in the pancreas of mice, separately. As the results, with the treatment of CX09040 in alloxan-induced β cell dysfunction mice, the islet amount (P<0.05) and size (P<0.05) increased significantly, the changes of serum insulin in GSIS (P<0.01) and the values of acute insulin response (AIR, P<0.01) were enhanced, compared to those in model group; the impaired glucose tolerance was also ameliorated by CX09040 with the decrease of the values of area under curve (AUC, P<0.01). The activation of the signaling pathways related to β cell proliferation was enhanced by increasing the levels of p-Akt/Akt (P<0.01), p-FoxO1/FoxOl (P<0.001) and PDX-1 (P<0.01). The effects of CX09040 on PTP1B were observed by inhibiting the recombinant hPTP1B activity with IC50 value of 2.78x 10(-7) mol.L-1, reducing the intracellular PTP1B activity of 72.8% (P<0.001), suppressing the PTP1B expression (P<0.001) and up-regulating p-IRβ/IRβ (P<0.01) in pancreas of the β cell dysfunction mice, separately. In conclusion, compound CX09040 showed significant protection effects against the dysfunction of β cell of mice by enlarging the pancreatic β cell mass and increasing the glucose-induced insulin secretion; its major mechanism may be the inhibition on target PTP1B and the succedent up-regulation of β cell proliferation.

Objective:To explore the prognostic value of PD-L1 expression level in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).Methods:The clinicopathological and survival data of patients with mRCC in our hospital from Jan 2014 to Apr 2016 were retrospectively analyzed including 46 males and 15 females. The median age of these patients was 56 years(range: 29-75 years), with 41 patients ≤60 years and 20 patients >60 years. The baseline data before the systemic therapy showed 36 patients(59.0%)had 1 metastatic organ and 25 patients (41.0%) had equal or more than 2 organs to be metastasized. Among them, 17 patients(27.9%)had lung metastasis and 54 patients(88.5%)had liver metastasis. Abnormal baseline LDH occurred in 4 patients and 52 patients had normal LDH. Favorite and intermediate risk patients categorized by MSKCC risk stratification accounted for 59.6%(34 patients)and 40.4%(23 patients), respectively. Six patients(9.8%)experienced distant metastasis at initial diagnosis, with 4 of them undergoing primary site resection, and the other 55 patients undergoing radical nephrectomy. PD-L1 expression was detected by the immunohistochemical staining method. PD-L1 staining rate ≥1% detected on the tumor cell membrane was defined as positive expression. The correlation between PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were compared. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to compare the differences about DFS and OS under different factors. Cox proportional hazards regression model is used for multivariable analysis of survival data.Results:The detailed pathological types of the 61 patients with renal cell carcinoma were classified as 53 clear cell carcinomas, 3 papillary carcinomas, 1 collecting duct carcinoma, 2 translocation renal cell carcinomas and 2 being unclassified. There were 4, 20, 19 and 9 patients categorized as WHO/ISUP nuclear grade 1, 2, 3 and 4, and 26, 12, 20 and 2 patients were categorized as T 1, T 2, T 3 and T 4 stage, respectively. Five patients had regional lymph node metastasis(N+), and the other 56 patients had no regional lymph node metastasis(N-). The numbers of patients categorized as stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ diseases according to TNM staging system were 20, 11, 21 and 8, respectively. The total PD-L1 positive rate was 24.6%(15/61). The corresponding PD-L1 expression rate of patients with WHO/ISUP nuclear grade 1-4 were 0(0 patient), 5.0%(1 patient), 31.6%(6 patients)and 44.4%(4 patients), respectively; With the increasing WHO/ISUP nuclear grade, the positive rate of PD-L1 gradually escalated with a linear correlation ( P=0.006). The PD-L1 expression of the normal and abnormal LDH group were 19.2%(10 patients)and 75.0%(3 patients), respectively, with significant difference( P=0.035). Univariate analysis of disease-free survival time(DFS)showed that the prognostic factors include PD-L1( P=0.045), age group( P=0.014), WHO/ISUP nuclear grade( P<0.001), T stage( P=0.015), N stage( P=0.026)and TNM stage( P=0.005). However multivariate analysis only suggested WHO/ISUP nuclear grade as the independent prognostic factors for DFS( HR=1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.9, P=0.018). Either in univariate or multivariate analysis, PD-L1 was not a prognostic factor for overall survival (OS)of mRCC patients(univariate analysis: P=0.154; multivariate analysis: P=0.902). The independent prognostic factors of OS include WHO/ISUP nuclear grade( HR=3.0, 95% CI 1.1-8.0, P=0.033)and MSKCC risk stratification( HR=5.9, 95% CI 1.2-29.7, P=0.03). Conclusions:This study showed that the higher the WHO/ISUP nuclear grade of patients with mRCC, the higher the positive rate of PD-L1. PD-L1 expression was not the independent prognostic factor for DFS or OS of mRCC.

[Abstract] Objective: Elevated levels of soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) are associated with worse prognosis of renal cell carcinoma and multiple myeloma. However, the regulatory roles and functions of sPD-L1 in advanced melanoma are not fully understood. This study was designed to evaluate the association between circulating sPD-L1 concentrations and prognosis of patients with advanced acral or mucosal melanoma. Methods: A total of 102 untreated patients with advanced acral and mucosal melanoma admitted to Peking University Cancer Hospital between January 2012 and December 2015 were enrolled in this study. In the meanwhile, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 40 healthy donors. Circulating sPD-L1 concentrations were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The advanced melanoma cohort included 58 acral melanoma patients and 44 mucosal melanoma patients. The pre-treatment concentration of sPD-L1 (2.91±2.23 ng/ml) in plasma of patients group was elevated as compared with that in healthy donors (0.59 ng/ml). The concentration of sPD-L1 in serum was significantly upregulated in 39/102 (38.2%) patients and significantly associated with increased LDH level (P=0.021) and number of Tregs (P=0.017). The overall survival rates of patients with high or low concentrations of sPD-L1 were statistically different (8.5 months [high level] vs 11.6 months [low level], P=0.022). Conclusion: sPD-L1 concentration is elevated in patients with advanced acral or mucosal melanoma, which may play an important role in predicting prognosis.