Objective To investigate the adjuvant therapeutic efficacy of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) in treating patients who underwent surgical operation for biliary drainage.Methods Clinical data on 88 clinically diagnosed advanced pancreatic head carcinoma patients who received palliative biliary drainage surgery in Tanshan Gongren Hospital from Jan 2006 to Jan 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. The cases were categorized according to the treatment into control group ( n=34 ) , chemotherapy group ( n=23 ) and radiotherapy group ( n=31 ) . The patients in control group received no chemotherapy or radiotherapy after biliary drainage surgery.The patients in chemotherapy group received chemotherapy of 1 000 mg/m2 gemcitabine intravenous infusion on day 1 and day 8, 80 mg/m2 cisplatin intravenous infusion on day 1 for each treatment cycle.Each cycle lasted for 21 days and was repeated for 3 cycles at an interval of 7 days in a treatment course.Patients in radiotherapy group received 3D-CRT for 6 successive days followed by an interval on the 7th day.The treatment course was completed within 10~15 days with the total dosage of 3 000~4 800 cGy.The therapeutic effects and survival time were analyzed.Results The incidence of cancer associated pain was 52.9%, 39.1%and 9.7%in control group, chemotherapy group and radiotherapy group, respectively, which was significantly lower in radiotherapy than that in the other two groups (both P<0.05). The incidence of mild gastrointestinal symptoms was 8.8%, 73.9% and 16.1%, respectively, and that of bone marrow suppression was 0%, 82.6% and 9.7%, respectively, which were both significantly lower in radiotherapy group than in chemotherapy group (both P<0.05).The 1-year, 2-year and 3-year survival rate was 30.1%, 8.3%, 0% in control group, 35.3%, 14.8%, 0% in chemotherapy group and 46.4%, 21.1%, 3.6%in radiotherapy group, which in radiotherapy group was significantly higher than that in control group and chemotherapy group (all P<0.05).Conclusions 3D-CRT was a palliative strategy for advanced pancreatic head cancer, which could prolong the survival of patients.

Objective To study the impacts of berberine on the growth, migration and radiosensitivity in human breast cancer cells.Methods MTT assay was used to evaluate cell growth.In vitro scratch migration assay was used to determine cell migration.Annexin V assay was used to detect cell apoptosis.The distribution of cell cycle was evaluated by flow cytometry assay.Colony formation assay was used to detect the influence of berberine on cell radiosensitivity. Western blot assay was employed to measure protein expression.Results Berberine inhibited cell growth and migration in two human breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Furthermore,berberine resulted in a cell cycle G0/G1 arrest.Compared with control,the early apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells treated with 40 pμmol/L of berberine was as high as 86.6％ and 66.6％ (t =8.79,10.32,P ＜ 0.01 ),respectively. Berberine caused a dose-dependent increase in Bax and Caspase-3 protein expressions,but did not change Cyclin D1 protein expression,while suppressed the expressions of Cyclin B1 and Bcl-2 protein. As analyzed with multi-target click model fitting curves,the SERD0 of berberine-treated cells were 1.12 and 1.22 for MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7cells respectively at the dose D0 of X-rays.Conclusions The berberine inhibited the growth and migration of breast cancer cells via apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest.Moreover,berberine increases cell sensitivity to X-ray irradiation.