Breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the main causes leading to the failure of treatment of breast cancer and play important roles in the progression of breast cancer and drug resistance, which are closely related to the therapeutic resistance of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and endocrine therapy.The metastatic potential and therapeutic resistance of CSCs are associated with epithelial mesenchymal transition and Hedgehog, Wnt, interleukin-6/signal transduction and tanscriptional activation factor 3, transforming growth factor-β and other signaling pathways.While some of the targeted drugs targeting these signaling pathways are undergoing clinical transformation, which is expected to provide new approach for the clinical treatment of breast cancer.

Objective:To explore the clinical effect and application value of simultaneous modulated accelerated radiotherapy (SMART) in the suspicious positive lymph nodes of head and neck.Methods:From January 2017 to February 2019, 60 patients with suspected positive lymph nodes in the head and neck in the Hanzhong Central Hospital of Shaanxi Province were divided into experimental group and control group according to different treatment plans, and 30 patients in each group were included. In the experimental group, 63.36 to 66.66 Gy patients were treated with SMART, while in the control group, 54.12 to 60.06 Gy patients were treated with conventional neck prophylactic radiation. In order to evaluate the feasibility of the method, the change of the short diameter of the largest cross section of the suspicious positive lymph nodes in the two groups were observed, and the adverse reactions in the treatment of the two groups were analyzed.Results:There was no significant difference between the two groups before treatment ( P>0.05). After treatment, the size of short diameter of lymph nodes in the two groups was smaller than that before treatment. The maximum short diameter of the largest cross section of lymph nodes in the experimental group was smaller than that before treatment: (0.43 ± 0.07) cm vs. (0.72 ± 0.10) cm, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). In the control group, the maximum short diameter of the largest cross section of lymph node decreased after treatment, and the difference was not statistically significant ( P>0.05). After treatment, the reduction of the short diameter in the experimental group was more obvious than that in the control group. The maximum short diameter of the largest cross section between the two groups: (0.43±0.07) cm vs. (0.66±0.08)cm was statistically significant ( t = 11.523, P<0.05). Before treatment, hemoglobin (HGB) levels of the two groups were in the normal physiological range, and there was no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05); the white blood cell (WBC) levels of the two groups at different time after treatment were compared: in the first week (7.83 ± 2.53) × 10 9/L vs. (8.26 ± 3.16) × 10 9/L, in the third week (7.14 ± 3.65) × 10 9/L vs. (7.08 ± 2.53) × 10 9/L, in the fifth week (5.47 ± 2.81) × 10 9/L vs. (6.41 ± 2.57) × 10 9/L, and in the seventh week (4.36 ± 2.59) × 10 9/L vs. (4.98 ± 1.64) × 10 9/L, and there were statistical differences ( P<0.05), which indicated that the WBC index levels of the two groups were gradually decreased during the treatment, and the decreased degree of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. The levels of HGB and PLT were maintained in the normal physiological range before and after treatment, and there was no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). The main complications in the treatment of the experimental group were xerostomia and stomatitis. The adverse reactions in the control group were pain in the target area of radiotherapy. There was no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The application of IMRT is an effective method for the treatment of occult lymph node metastasis, and it is also a therapeutic diagnostic method, which can provide evidence for the study of the law of lymph node metastasis in the head and neck. The safety and tissue tolerance of IMRT in the treatment of suspicious positive lymph nodes in the head and neck are good, which can be used for the suspicious lymph nodes in the head and neck. The treatment of positive lymph nodes and the evaluation of patients′ prognosis provide an effective way of clinical treatment.

Objective To study the effect of NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1(NQO1)expression lev-el on prognosis in patients with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma(HBV-HCC).Methods A total of 103 patients with HBV-HCC underwent surgical treatment in Seventh People's Hospital of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from March 2019 to January 2020 were enrolled.The cancer tissue and adjacent normal tissues were extracted during surgery.Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of NQO1 in tissues.The clinical and pathological data of patients were collected,and the rela-tionships between high and low expression of NQO1 and pathological characteristics were discussed.A 3-year follow-up was conducted,and the Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn and Log-rank test was conducted on median survival time.Then COX model analysis was used to analyze the factors affecting the prognosis of HBV-HCC patients.Results The positive rate of NQO1 in HBV-HCC tissues was 84.47％(87/103)and the high expression rate was 59.22％(61/103).The positive rate and the high expression rate of NQO1 in HBV-HCC tissues were higher than those in adjacent normal tissues(P＜0.05).There were statistically significant differences in tumor maximum diameter,number of lesions,American Joint Committee on Cancer(AJCC)staging,and vascular invasion between patients with high and low expression of NQO1(P＜0.05).The 3-year follow-up results denoted that the median survival time of patients was 37 months,and no cases were lost in follow-up.Among 103 patients,there were 34 dead cases with an overall survival rate of 66.99％(69/103)and 42 recurrence cases with a recurrence-free survival rate of 59.23％(61/103).Kaplan-Meier survival curve re-sults showed that the overall survival rate and recurrence-free survival rate were 52.46％(32/61)and 50.82％(31/61)in NQO1 high expression group,which were lower than 88.10％(37/42)and 71.43％(30/42)in NQO1 low expression group(P＜0.05).COX model analysis results showed that high expression of NQO1,tumor maximum diameter ≥5 cm,multiple lesions,AJCC stage Ⅲ to Ⅳ and vascular invasion were independ-ent risk factors for prognosis(P＜0.05).Conclusion NQO1 is highly expressed in HBV-HCC tissue,and is related to the clinicopathological characteristics of patients,so it could be used as an independent biomarker for evaluating prognosis.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the most common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Qianjin Wenwu decoction (QWD), a well-known traditional Korean medicine, has been used for the treatment of DKD, with satisfactory therapeutic effects. This study was designed to investigate the active components and mechanisms of action of QWD in the treatment of DKD. The results demonstrated that a total of 13 active components in five types were found in QWD, including flavonoids, flavonoid glycosides, phenylpropionic acids, saponins, coumarins, and lignins. Two key proteins, TGF-β1 and TIMP-1, were identified as the target proteins through molecular docking. Furthermore, QWD significantly suppressed Scr and BUN levels which increased after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). Hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) and Masson staining results demonstrated that QWD significantly alleviated renal interstitial fibrosis in UUO mice. We also found that QWD promoted ECM degradation by regulating MMP-9/TIMP-1 homeostasis to improve renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis and interfere with the expression and activity of TGF- β1 in DKD treatment. These findings explain the underlying mechanism of QWD for the treatment of DKD, and also provide methodological reference for investigating the mechanism of traditional medicine in the treatment of DKD.
Rats ; Mice ; Animals ; Ureteral Obstruction/metabolism* ; Kidney/metabolism* ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1/metabolism* ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Kidney Diseases/drug therapy* ; Extracellular Matrix/metabolism* ; Flavonoids/metabolism* ; Fibrosis