Objective To investigate the effect of astragalus polysaccharides injection (APS) on autophagy of human nasopharyngeal cancer CNE-2 cells.Methods The inhibitory effect of APS on proliferation of CNE-2 cells was measured by CCK8 assay.Morphological changes of autophagy of APS was detected by acridine orange (AO) staining.Transmission electron microscopy was perform to observe the morphological alterations in the autophagic cells.The expression of Beclin-1 protein was detected by Western blot assay.Results APS markedly inhibited cell growth in a dose-and time-dependent manner.Increases of the number of large vacuoles and double layered membrane structure were observed by transmission electron microscopy.Results of AO staining revealed more bright red cytoplasm or nucleus in the ceradime group,which proved the existence of acidic vesicular organelles.Western blotting showed that Beclin-1 protein level was up-regulated.Conclusion APS may induce autophagy of human nasopharyngeal cancer CNE-2 cells via up-regulating the expression of apoptosis-related gene of beclin1 and inhibit the proliferation of CNE-2 cells.

Objective To investigate the effectiveness of ultrasound in evaluating the degree of xerostomia in the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ( NPC) receiving intensity?modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Methods A total of 30 NPC patients who were admitted to our hospital from May 2013 to December 2014 were enrolled in this study. The degree of xerostomia in these NPC patients was scored according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group scoring criteria. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to measure the peak systolic blood flow velocity of the parotid gland and submandibular gland and the changes in vascular diameter of the parotid gland in the NPC patients before, during, and after IMRT. The correlation between each parameter and the degree of xerostomia was determined by analysis of variance. Results In the 28 NPC patients included in the statistical analysis, the degree of xerostomia during IMRT was significantly higher than that before IMRT ( P=0024 ) , and the degree of xerostomia at 3 months after IMRT was significantly lower than that during IMRT ( P=0035) . The peak systolic blood flow velocity of the parotid gland and submandibular gland and the proportion of patients with decreases in vascular diameter of the parotid gland during IMRT were significantly higher than those before IMRT ( P=0001 and 0003;P=0001);the above parameters at 3 months after IMRT were significantly lower than those during IMRT ( P=0008 and 0012;P=0001) . During IMRT and after IMRT, the degree of xerostomia was significantly correlated with the peak systolic blood flow velocity of the parotid gland ( r=0563, P=0026;r=0409, P=0031) . Conclusions Ultrasound can be used as a noninvasive detection for the hemodynamic changes in the parotid gland, and it has a certain clinical reference value for evaluating the degree of xerostomia in NPC patients during and after IMRT.

Objective To compare the dose distribution between three dimensional conformal radiothera -py(3DCRT) and simplified intensity modulated radiotherapy ( sIMRT) for middle-third esopheagal cancer .Meth-ods Twenty middle-third esopheagal cancer patients were enrolled in this study .Dosimetric values for sIMRT and 3DCRT were calculated for total dose of 66 Gy using 2 Gy/day.The parameters included the conformal index (CI),homogeneity index(HI),mean dose and hot spot(V105%)for the planned target volume(PTV)as well as the monitor units(MUs)for plan efficiency,the mean dose(Dmean)for the organs at risk(OAR).The percentage of the normal lung volume receiving≥30,>20 and >5 Gy(V30 Gy,V20 Gy and V5 Gy)were evaluated to deter-mine lung toxity.Results sIMRT achieved significant better Dmin ,Dmean,V105%,HI,CI and spinal cord than 3DCRT(P<0.05).The normal lung V30 Gy and V20 Gy of 3DCRT and sIMRT were 11.61 ±3.68 vs.10.33 ± 3.02(P=0.010)and 23.37 ±8.38 vs.18.89 ±4.45(P=0.001),respectively.Comparable sparing of normal tissue including heart and the normal lung V 5 Gy with both two plans .The number of MU was 542 .24 ±76 .32 for 3DCRT and 530.8 ±97.13 for sIMRT(P=0.677).Conclusion sIMRT provides favorable tumor coverage , homogeneity and conformity and can get better normal lung sparing than 3DCRT.However sIMRT is not superior to 3DCRT in terms of treatment efficiency .