Objective To compare the acute and late adverse events and quality of life (QOL) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinomas receiving conventional external beam radiation therapy (RT) versus intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).Methods Ninety-one patients with newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated in our institution between August 2008 and September 2010 were systemically reviewed,including 35 cases administered with conventional RT ( RT group) and 56 cases with IMRT (IMRT group).Conjoint facio-cervical fields plus tangential lower neck-supraclavicular field initially,and then shrinking preauricular portals plus electron beams to the neck were adopted in RT groups,with a total dose of 70 Gy/35 fractions.Nine coplanar fields were conducted in IMRT group with a total dose of 69.96 Gy/33 fractions.Acute and late adverse reactions were observed and compared between RT and IMRT groups,including acute reactions as xerostomia,odynophagia,dermatitis/mucositis and late events as dysphagia,trismus,hypothyroidism,optic/acoustic impairments,skin injury,hypodermal fibrosis,spinal myelitis and brain injury.Results Compared with RT group,IMRT group showed less acute reactions in xerostomia,odynophagia,dysphagia and dermatitis and mucositis(x2 =85.73,56.03,26.58,69.28,55.99,P ＜ 0.05 ),and less late reactions in xerostomia,dysphagia,trismus,taste loss and skin injury (x2 =37.95,7.48,9.49,9.49,11.87,P ＜ 0.05 ),whereas the degree of acoustic/optic impairments and brain injury showed no difference in both groups.Conclusions As compared to conventional RT,IMRT could decrease acute and some late side events,and improve the quality of life in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objective:To investigate the effect of DKK1 on linearly patterned programmed cell necrosis (LPPCN) and vasculogenic mim-icry (VM) and the related molecular mechanism in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods:A total of 173 human NSCLC speci-mens were collected to detect LPPCN by H&E staining, detect VM with CD31/PAS double staining, and investigate DKK1 and related protein expression by immunohistochemistry. The clinical pathological significance of LPPCN, VM, and DKK1 and the correlation of them were analyzed. Human NSCLC H460-DKK1 cells were engrafed in nude mice to evaluate the influence of DKK1 up-regulation on VM and LPPCN in vivo. Results:Approximately, 14.45%(25/173) of NSCLC had VM and 49.71%(86/173) had LPPCN. 25.6%(22/86) of NSCLC cases in LPPCN-positive group formed VM. Both of VM and LPPCN were all correlated with poor differentiation, late TNM stage, easy recurrence and metastasis and poor prognosis in NSCLC. DKK1 expression in the VM-positive group and the LPPCN-positive group was higher than that in the VM-negative group and the LPPCN-negative group, respectively. DKK1, LPPCN, and VM were positive-ly correlated with VE-cadherin, MMP-2,β-catenin nuclear expression and Twist1. H460-DKK1 transplantation tumor model confirmed that DKK1 promotes the expression of VM and LPPCN and related proteins in NSCLC. Conclusion:The increase of theβ-catenin and Twist1 expression induced by DKK1 may promote the formation of LPPCN and VM in NSCLC.

The main objective of this study was to observe the adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of mouse osteblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells cultured on maleic anhydride-modified poly(D,L-lactic acid) (MPLA) and poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) polymers, and to evaluate the cytocompatibility of MPLA polymer. The effects of MPLA and PDLLA polymers on the morphology, adhesion, proliferation, the content of total cellular protein, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and the content of Ca of MC3T3-E1 cells were explored. These results indicated that MC3T3-E1 cells on MPLA polymer adhered and spread more fully. On MPLA polymer, the proliferation, total protein content, ALP activity, Ca content of the cells were significantly higher than those of the cells on PDLLA polymer (P < 0.01). It was concluded that MPLA polymer could promote the adhesion, spreading, proliferation and the synthesis of protein of osteoblasts, and also induced the differentiation and mineralization of osteoblasts, suggesting that MPLA polymer might have the better cytocompatibility than PDLLA.
Animals ; Biocompatible Materials ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Embryo, Mammalian ; Lactic Acid ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Maleic Anhydrides ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; Polyesters ; Polymers ; chemistry ; pharmacology