Objective To propose a new suggestion for the clinical downstaging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) without changing the current T,N,and M staging system.Methods We reviewed the records of 536 NPC patients treated in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center from January 2002 to December 2006.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the disease-specific survival (DSS) rate,and the log-rank test was used for survival difference analysis.The Cox regression model was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) of each subset.ResultsAccording to the 7th edition of UICC/AJCC staging system,the 5-year DSS rates of stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ patients (except T3N2M0) were all more than 85%(P>0.05),those of stage ⅣA and ⅣB patients were 71.8% and 46.2%,respectively (P=0.171),and that of stage ⅠVC patients was only 24.0%.In stage Ⅲ,the 5-year DSS rate of non-T3N2M0 patients (91.5%) was significantly higher than that of T3N2M0 patients (78.6%)(P=0.042),but there was no significant difference in DSS between T3N2M0 patients and stage ⅣA and ⅣB patients.Based on the above results,new stage Ⅰ included T1-3N0-1M0 and T1-2N2M0,new stage Ⅱ included T3N2M0,T4N0-2M0,and TxN3M0,and new stage Ⅲ included TxNxM1.The 5-year DSS rates of new stage Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ patients were 93.3%,72.7%,and 24.0%,respectively (P=0.000).Compared with new stage Ⅰ patients,new stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ patients had HRs of 4.01 and 16.76,respectively,for 5-year DSS.Conclusions In the era of IMRT,the new clinical staging system (stages Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ) helps with prognostic evaluation and clinical treatment.

Radiotherapy is a treatment for cancer with undesired by-effects. In order to develop a new radiation protective agent that could reduce the by-effects, we tried to express and purify human cryptochrome 1 (hCRY1). The coding sequence of hCRY1 was inserted into prokaryotic expression plasmid pET28a(+), and this protein was purified from Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) after IPTG induction, ultrasonication, inclusion body dissolution, gradient dialysis, nickel column purification and ultrafiltration. The yield of hCRY1 in 1 L E. coli culture (LB medium) was about 10-15 mg. The radiation protective efficiency of hCRY1 was monitored by detecting X-ray-induced H2A.X foci in HaCaT cells. The results of immunofluorescence show that hCRY1 significantly reduces X-ray stimulated DNA damage response. The apoptosis of HaCaT cell was also detected, and the repression of H2A.X foci formation was not due to hCRY1's cytotoxity. All these data suggest a potential application of recombinant hCRY1 as a protective agent for radiotherapy.
Cryptochromes ; biosynthesis ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Plasmids ; Radiation-Protective Agents ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis

Objective To improve the quality of the management of the elderly patients with cancer in Sichuan province,and to understand the attitudes and perspectives of elderly surgeons and oncologists for the management and treatment of elderly patients with cancer.Methods A face-toface questionnaire interview was conducted with oncologists (n 64) and geriatricians (n =64).128 physicians were involved in this study.Results The cancer management and therapeutics were deemed appropriate at present by 9.38％ (6/64)of the geriatricians and 25.00％ (16/64)of the oncologists.The 39.06％ (25/64) of geriatricians used to notice geriatric syndromes,while 81.25％ (52/64)of oncologists never concerned about the geriatric syndrome(P=0.011).As for the causes of the therapy-associated toxicity,oncologist versus geriatrician payed an attention to malnutrition (100.00％ vs.100.00％ in both groups),to mobility disorders(65.63％ vs.65.63％,84/128 in both groups),to cognitive impairment/mood disorder (89.06％ in geriatrician group vs.75.00％ in oncologist group,P=0.038).For the factors affecting treatment decisions,a physical ability attention (oncologists vs geriatricians:70.31％ vs.92.19％;P =0.002),and comorbidity (oncologists vs geriatricians:62.50％ vs.79.69％,P =0.032) had statistically significant difference.In addition,lack of geriatrics knowledge was also reported by more oncologists.However,one hundred percent of participants wanted very much to cooperate with each other in their clinical work.When responding to the clinical scenario,the 10.94％ (7/64)of geriatricians and 32.81％ (21/64)of oncologists chose modified treatment for 65-74 years old patient with cancer(P =0.003).When the age of the patients was 75-84 years old,only 12.50 ％ (8/64) of geriatricians prefer end-of-life care,while 31.25 ％ (20/64) of oncologists chose it (P =0.010).Conclusions Selection of treatment decisions in the elderly patients with cancer affect by ageing.Both oncologists and geriatricians are concerned with the elderly patients with cancer,ageing syndrome,total sickness and functional status.And these doctors support an establishment of a multi disciplinary team cooperation for the elderly patients with cancer.Therefore,the establishment of mutual cooperation between the two professionals is necessary and feasible.

Background: Although the prognostic impact of body mass index (BMI) in patients with non?metastatic naso?pharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) had been extensively studied, its effect among metastatic NPC patients remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic effect of BMI in patients with metastatic NPC. Methods: We retrospectively studied 819 patients who were diagnosed with distant metastasis from NPC and received treatment between 1998 and 2007. The patients were divided into three subgroups according to the World Health Organization classifications for Asian populations: underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m2), normal weight (BMI 18.5–22.9 kg/m2), and overweight/obese (BMI ≥23.0 kg/m2). The associations of BMI with overall survival (OS) andprogression?free survival (PFS) were determined by Cox regression analysis. Results: Of the 819 patients, 168 (20.5%) were underweight, 431 (52.6%) were normal weight, and 220 (26.9%) were overweight/obese. Multivariate analysis adjusted for covariates showed that overweight/obese patients had a longer OS than underweight patients [hazard ratio (HR), 0.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.49–0.84] and normal weight patients (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.57–0.90); no significant difference in PFS was observed among these three groups (P = 0.407). Moreover, in stratified analysis, no statistically significant differences in the effect of overweight/obesestatus among different subgroups were observed. Conclusion: For patients with metastatic NPC, overweight/obese status was associated with longer OS but not longer PFS compared with underweight or normal weight status.