Metabolic reprogramming is a malignancy hallmark, which refers to the ability of cancer cells to alter metabolic and nutrient acquisition modes in order to support the energy demands for accomplishing the rapid growth, dissemination, metastasis and obtain the "building blocks" needed to maintain cell division. When solid tumors are exposed to low pH, low oxygen and tumor microenvironment with nutrient deficiencies, the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 can be activated, which mediates the remodeling of metabolic patterns in tumor cells, namely, energy is obtained by circulating intracellular components (removing substrates such as proteins and lipid) or by utilizing adaptive metabolic reprogramming (such as glycolysis, autophagy and lipid metabolism, etc.). As a treatment scheme based on local heating of tumors, hyperthermia has a variety of anticancer mechanisms and can be used in combination with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and biological immune therapy. In this review, we briefly discussed the metabolic remodeling model mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor 1 in a hypoxia microenvironment, described the possible regulatory mechanism of hyperthermia on hypoxia-inducible factor-1 and prospected the application of hyperthermia in oral and maxillofacial tumors.

Objective To investigate the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression level by chondrocytes isolated from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) in hip or femoral neck fracture (FNF) and explore the effect of synovial fluid from OA or FNF on secretion of VEGF. Methods The cartilage tissues were collected from 12 patients with OA in hip and 8 patients with FNF. Cartilage was stained with HIM and Safranin O/Fast Green (S/F) method. The damage of cartilage was evaluated using Mankin scores.Cathepsin B which was selected for cell dedifferentiation monitoring marker and VEGF level was detected in the supernatant fluid. The synovial fluid from OA, FNF and DMEM were respectively added to the culture medium to explore their effects on regulating VEGF. Results Cartilage the Mankin scores of OA group were higher than that of FNF group. Chondrocytes gradually lost their original spherical appearance, with Cathepsin B upregulated while VEGF downregulated. The OA synovial fluid can stimulate chongdrocytes to secrete more VEGF than the one from patients with FNF. However, chondrocytes gradually produced less VEGF after passaging. Conclusion Mankin scores had good correlation with chondrocytes' VEGF production in the early stage of primary culture. Chondrocytes showed quick dedifferentiation characteristics in vitro. OA synovial fluid showed abig ger capability in stimulating chondrocytes to express more VEGF, which might indicate that OA synovial fluid participated in the pathological process of OA.

Objective To investigate the risk factors and preventive measures for acute epidural hematoma after posterior thoracic spine surgery.Methods A retrospective study of 14 patients who developed acute epidural hematoma after thoracic spine surgery from May 2002 to May 2012 was conducted.There were 6 males and 8 females,aged from 41 to 69 years (average,61.2 years).There were 10 cases of thoracic spinal canal stenosis,3 cases of thoracic spinal meningioma,and 1 case of thoracic metastasis.About 3-14 h (average,6.6 h) after posterior thoracic spine surgery,the neurological deterioration was found,and according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classification,there were 5 cases of grade A and 9 cases of grade B.The neurological function before evacuation of hematoma was compared with that after evacuation of hematoma and that at final follow-up.The correlations between hematoma compression time,neurological improvement rate and neurological function before evacuation of hematoma were statistically analyzed.Results After evacuation of hematoma,the ASIA classification of 14 patients was as follows:grade B in 1 case,grade C in 2 cases,grade D in 4 cases,and grade E in 7 cases.The hematoma compression time of 3 patients with grade B or C was more than 10 hours.Obvious difference of neurological function was found before and after evacuation of hematoma.The neurological improvement rate was 63.7％±23.3％ after evacuation of hematoma,which was negatively correlated with hematoma compression time and positively correlated with preoperative neurological function.The neurological function before evacuation of hematoma was significantly different from that at final follow-up.The neurological improvement rate was 86.97％±17.58％ at final follow-up,which was negatively correlated with hematoma compression time and positively correlated with preoperative neurological function.Conclusion The acute epidural hematoma after thoracic spine surgery could cause severe neurological deterioration.The neurological improvement was negatively correlated with hematoma compression time.Evacuation of hematoma must be done as soon as possible once progressive neurological deterioration is found.

Objective:The investigate the roles and significance of HIF-1α and CYPJ in tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell (TSCC), and further evaluate the regulatory effect of hyperthermia (HT) on HIF-1α and CYPJ in TSCC cells.Methods:Eighty samples of cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues from TSCC patients were collected. The expression levels of HIF-1α and CYPJ were detected by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting (WB) and fluorescence quantitative PCR, and the relationship between the expression levels of HIF-1α and CYPJ and clinicopathological characteristics was further analyzed. The expression levels of HIF-1α and CYPJ in Cal-27 cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions for 24 h when combined with HT (42℃), chemotherapy and both were detected by qPCR and WB. Cell migration was detected by cell scratch test and cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry.Results:The expression levels of HIF-1α and CYPJ proteins in the tumor tissues of TSCC patients were higher than those in the adjacent normal tissues, which were significantly correlated with tumor size, TNM stage, differentiation degree and lymph node metastasis in TSCC patients (all P<0.05), whereas they were not correlated with gender or age (all P>0.05). The expression levels of HIF-1α and CYPJ in Cal-27 cells were significantly up-regulated in the hypoxic microenvironment (both P<0.05), which were also significantly enhanced by hyperthermia alone (both P<0.05). Compared with hyperthermia or chemotherapy alone, hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy significantly inhibited the expression of HIF-1α and CYPJ, suppressed cell migration and promoted cell apoptosis (all P<0.05). Conclusions:HIF-1α and CYPJ may be potential biomarkers for TSCC tumorigenicity and prognosis. In addition, tumor recurrence after hyperthermia may be due to the role of hyperthermia in triggering HIF-1α expression, which promotes the growth and survival of tumor cells adaptive to hyperthermia treatment by activating the downstream target genes, while hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy may be a promising treatment for TSCC.

Objective To investigate the expression of LncRNA DLEU1 in ESCC tissues, and its effect on the proliferation and migration of ESCC cells. Methods We collected 58 cases of ESCC tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues. RT-qPCR was used to detect the relative expression levels of DLEU1 in ESCC tissues and cells. Log-rank test was used to analyze the relation between the expression of DLEU1 and clinicopathological features. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to investigate the correlation between the expression of DLEU1 and the survival of ESCC patients. Multivariate Cox regression model was used to evaluate the effect of DLEU1 on the prognosis of ESCC patients. Effects of DLEU1 on the proliferation and migration of Eca9706 cells were evaluated by CCK-8 and wound healing assays, respectively. Results DLEU1 was highly expressed in ESCC tissues (P < 0.01) and significantly correlated with tumor size, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (all P < 0.05). High expression of DLEU1 was negatively correlated with poor prognosis of ESCC patients (P < 0.01), and DLEU1 was also an independent prognostic risk factor (P < 0.05). Moreover, knockdown of DLEU1 significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of Eca9706 cells, compared with the control group (P < 0.01). Conclusion DLEU1 is highly expressed in ESCC tissues. The expression of DLEU1 is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of ESCC patients and promotes ESCC cell proliferation and migration.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical features and treatment of ascending paralysis after thoracolumbar fracture.MethodsThree male patients with 2 fracture levels at T12 and one at L1 were retrospectively studied.Their mean age was 41.3 years(range,39-42 years).All 3 cases were undertaken open decompression,reduction and internal fixation.Paralysis level began to ascend at 2-5 days after injury,with 2 cases up to C2,3 and 1 case up to T7.Two patients suffered irritating pain over the paralysis level before onset of ascending.Postoperative MRI images demonstrated well reduction and no compression of spinal cord.In the early phase after ascending,MRI obviously showed swelling in spinal cord and long T1 and long T2 signals shaped patchy and stripy distribution in the central area.One patient's MRI displayed that the spinal cord shrinked 16 days after trauma with abnormal high signal in the central area.ResultsTwo cases died of respiratory muscle paralysis and 1 case suffered paraplegia with no recovery 5 years after surgery.ConclusionAscending paralysis after thoracolumbar fracture is a rare complication with very poor prognosis.MRI is available for evaluating operational effects and affected level.The exact mechanism and effective treatment are still unclear and need further investigated.

In recent years, tumor hyperthermia has become a hot research topic as an adjuvant therapy to traditional tumor therapy. Hyperthermia can directly induce tumor cell necrosis or apoptosis, or inhibit tumor progression by destroying tumor blood vessels. Meantime, it can also activate the response of immune cells and cytokines in the immune system of the host, thereby regulating the immune state of tumor microenvironment. Multiple combined effects influence the tumor progression. A thorough understanding of the biological mechanism of hyperthermia is beneficial to the development of novel therapeutic methods. In this paper, the biological mechanism of hyperthermia in killing tumors was mainly reviewed.

Objective:To observe the effect of hyperthermia combined with paclitaxel on the proliferation, apoptosis and cycle of human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell line CAL-27, and to explore the underlying mechanism.Methods:The working concentration of paclitaxel was determined by CCK-8 assay, and the cultured CAL-27 cells were divided into the control, paclitaxel, 42℃ hyperthermia and combined treatment groups. The ability of cell proliferation was detected by colony formation assay, and the cell cycle and apoptosis were determined by flow cytometry. The expression levels of AKT, p-AKT, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in each group were measured by Western blot.Results:Compared with the control group, the proliferation was significantly inhibited and the apoptosis of CAL-27 cells was significantly promoted in the combined treatment, hyperthermia and paclitaxel groups (all P<0.05), and the anti-proliferation and apoptosis-promoting effect in the combined treatment group was significantly better than those in the hyperthermia and paclitaxel groups (all P<0.05). Western blot showed that hyperthermia combined with paclitaxel could significantly up-regulate the expression level of Bax protein and significantly down-regulate the expression levels of P-AKT and Bcl-2 in CAL-27 cells (all P<0.05). Conclusions:Hyperthermia combined with paclitaxel can play a synergistic role in inhibiting proliferation and promoting apoptosis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma CAL-27 cells. The mechanism may be related to the inhibition of AKT activation and the activation of Bax/Bcl-2 apoptosis signaling pathway.

Tumor microenvironment possesses immunosuppression characteristics via the mechanism of inducing tumor cell immune escape. The interaction between tumor cells and tumor microenvironment is an important factor affecting tumor genesis and development. As an important part of tumor microenvironment, cancer-associated fibroblasts interact directly or indirectly with tumor cells and produce various cytokines to regulate tumor immune microenvironment. In recent years, hyperthermia has become an auxiliary means of anti-tumor therapy. With the development of research on tumor hyperthermia and tumor microenvironment, a large number of studies have found that hyperthermia can regulate cancer-associated fibroblasts in tumor microenvironment. In this article, recent research progresses of the effects of hyperthermia on cancer-associated fibroblasts and related cells and cytokines in tumor microenvironment were reviewed, providing a new way for clinical application of hyperthermia combined with immune or targeted therapy.

Objective:To investigate the regulation and possible mechanism of hyperthermia (HT) on the ferroptosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue cell line CAL-27.Methods:Half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50) of Fer-1, an inhibitor of ferroptosis, was detected by CCK-8 assay and used for subsequent experiments. CAL-27 cells were divided into the HT, control, Fer-1 and HT+ Fer-1 groups according to experimental design. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and iron ion concentration were determined by corresponding detection kits. The p53 and TfR1 mRNA levels were detected by real-time reverse transcription PCR. Cell migration was detected by cell scratch test and cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Results:HT significantly up-regulated the ROS levels ( P<0.01) and iron ion concentration ( P<0.001), and significantly increased the expression levels of p53 and TfR1 mRNA (both P<0.01). The cell migration ability was decreased ( P<0.001), whereas cell apoptosis rate was increased by HT ( P<0.01). In the HT+Fer-1 group, the ROS levels ( P<0.001), iron ion concentration ( P<0.001), expression levels of p53 and TfR1 mRNA (both P<0.01) were significantly down-regulated, the cell migration ability was recovered ( P<0.01), and cell apoptosis rate was decreased ( P<0.01) compared with those in the HT group, respectively. Conclusions:HT may induce the ferroptosis of CAL-27 cell line, inhibit cell migration ability and promote cell apoptosis by activating the p53/TfR1 pathway.