Objective:To explore the predictive value of preoperative peripheral hematological parameters combined with clinicopathological features for cervical lymph node metastasis（CLNM） in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma（LSCC）, and to construct and validate a nomogram model for CLNM. Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 264 LSCC patients who underwent surgical treatment and were pathologically confirmed, collected from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University and Taian 88 Hospital. Specifically, 161 patients from one hospital were allocated to the training cohort, while 103 patients from another hospital constituted the validation cohort. Based on postoperative pathological results, patients were categorized into CLNM-positive and CLNM-negative groups. The general clinical data, clinicopathological features, and hematological parameters of the two groups were analyzed and compared. A preoperative predictive model for CLNM was developed using logistic regression analysis, followed by validation and sensitivity analysis to evaluate the robustness of the model's predictive performance. Results:The results showed that there were significant differences in tumor location, tumor size, tumor differentiation, neutrophil percentage, lymphocyte count, lymphocyte percentage, c-reactive protein（CRP）, fibrinogen, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio（NLR）, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio（PLR）, systemic immune-inflammation index（SII）, systemic inflammation response index（SIRI）, and prognostic inflammatory index（PIV） between the CLNM-positive and CLNM-negative groups（P<0.05）. Lasso regression identified tumor location, clinical T stage, tumor size, tumor differentiation degree, red blood cell distribution width（RDW） -coefficient of variation（RDW-CV）, CRP, FIB, D-dimer, NLR, and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio（LMR） were the most predictive parameters. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that tumor location, tumor size, tumor differentiation degree, CRP, and NLR were independent risk factors for CLNM in LSCC patients（P<0.05）. A nomogram was constructed based on these five factors. The model demonstrated excellent discrimination, with a C-index of 0.837（95%CI 0.766-0.908） in the training cohort and 0.809（95%CI 0.698-0.920） in the validation cohort. Calibration curves and DCA curves in both cohorts confirmed the clinical utility of the model. Sensitivity analysis further supported the robustness of the results, showing good discrimination and calibration across different age and BMI subgroups. Conclusion:Tumor location, tumor size, tumor differentiation degree, CRP, and NLR were independent risk factors for CLNM in LSCC patients. The nomogram based on these variables exhibits strong discrimination, calibration, and clinical applicability, and may serve as a valuable tool for preoperative risk assessment and individualized treatment planning.
Humans ; Nomograms ; Laryngeal Neoplasms/blood* ; Retrospective Studies ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/blood* ; Lymph Nodes/pathology* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; C-Reactive Protein ; Aged ; Logistic Models ; Neutrophils ; Prognosis

The clinical antiprotozoal drug nitazoxanide has been demonstrated to improve the experimental diabetes mellitus, lipid metabolism disorders, atherosclerosis and inhibit inflammation. Since the pathogenesis of heart failure with preserved ejection (HFpEF) is multifactorial and closely associated with the aforementioned diseases, we aim to study the effect of nitazoxanide on high-fat diet (HFD) plus L-NAME (N ω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester)-induced HFpEF and metabolic syndrome in mice. We found that oral nitazoxanide improved cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis, cardiac diastolic dysfunction, increased blood pressure, impaired exercise tolerance, impaired glucose handling, serum lipid disorders, hepatic steatosis, increased weight of white adipose tissues and kidney fibrosis in HFD + L-NAME-treated mice. In the established HFD + L-NAME-induced HFpEF and metabolic syndrome mouse model, therapeutic treatment with nitazoxanide rescued HFD + L-NAME-induced pathological phenotypes as mentioned above. The in vitro experiments revealed that tizoxanide, the active metabolite of nitazoxanide, increased the basal mitochondria metabolism of cardiomyocytes, inhibited cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and collagen secretion from cardiac fibroblasts, and relaxed phenylephrine- and U46619-induced constriction of rat mesenteric arteries, indicating that the direct effect of tizoxanide might partly contribute to the protective effect of nitazoxanide against HFpEF in vivo. The present study suggests that nitazoxanide might be a potential drug for HFpEF and metabolic syndrome therapy.

OBJECTIVES: To study the impact of SURF4 expression level on long-term prognosis of gastric cancer (GC) and biological behaviors of GC cells. METHODS: SURF4 expression level in GC and its association with long-term patient prognosis were analyzed using publicly available databases and in 155 GC patients with low and high SURF4 expressions detected immunohistochemically. The Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to analyze independent prognostic predictors of GC and the 5-year survival rate of the patients with different SURF4 expression levels. Informatics analyses were conducted to explore the correlation of SURF4 expression level with immune cell infiltration in GC, SURF4-related differential genes and their associated pathways. In cultured GC cell line HGC-27, the effects of SURF4 knockdown and overexpression on proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were investigated. RESULTS: Analysis of GEPIA dataset and immunohistochemical results suggested significant SURF4 overexpression in GC (P<0.05), which was associated with shortened 5-year survival time of the patients (χ²=38.749, P<0.001). The prognosis of GC was closely related to tumor stage T3-4, N2-3, CEA≥5 μg/L and CA19-9≥37 kU/L (P<0.05). SURF4 expression level was negatively correlated with activated B cells, NK cells and CD8⁺ effector memory T cells (P<0.05) and positively correlated with CD4⁺ T cells (P<0.05). GO and KEGG enrichment analysis suggested that SUFR4 may participate in GC carcinogenesis by promoting EMT through the tight junction pathway. In HGC-27 cells, SURF4 overexpression significantly decreased E-cadherin expression, increased N-cadherin expression, inhibited ZO-1 and claudin-1 expressions, and promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS SURF4 is highly expressed in GC, and its overexpression is associated with a shortened 5-year survival of the patients possibly by enhancing tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion via inhibiting tight junction proteins and promoting EMT.
Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Movement ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Prognosis ; Tight Junction Proteins/metabolism* ; Membrane Proteins/metabolism* ; Female ; Male

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection (CAEBV) with intestinal involvement misdiagnosed as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical characteristics, laboratory results, digestive endoscopic findings, histological results, treatment and prognosis of 10 patients with CAEBV intestinal involvement who were misdiagnosed as IBD and treated at the Department of Hematology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from February 2019 to November 2022. Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNA (EBER) was detected by in situ hybridization. Results:Among the 10 patients with CAEBV, eight were males and two were females. Seven patients had been misdiagnosed as ulcerative colitis and three misdiagnosed as Crohn′s disease. The median age of onset was 36 years (ranged from 26 to 52 years), and the median time from onset to CAEBV diagnosis was 18.5 months (ranged from 2.0 to 96.0 months). The main clinical characteristics of these patients included fever >38.5 ℃ in 10 cases, diarrhea in seven cases, abdominal pain in seven cases, abdominal lymph node enlargement in six cases and hematochezia in seven cases. Six patients primarily presented with gastrointestinal symptoms, and seven patients had involvement of extraintestinal organs, three patients developed hemorrhagic shock due to gastrointestinal bleeding. The laboratory findings included anemia in seven cases, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate in six cases, decreased natural killer cell activity in five cases, and elevated ferritin in three cases. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA were detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of nine patients, with a median viral load of 23 000 copies/mL. Seven patients were tested positive for anti-EBV viral capsid antigen IgG and nuclear antigen 1 IgG. The main endoscopy findings were hyperemia, edema of the affected intestinal wall mucosa, which could be accompanied by erosion, multiple scattered shallow ulcers with varying sizes. There were six patients with total colon involvement. The rectum was involved in three patients, and the esophagus, gastric antrum, duodenum and small intestine were each involved in one patient. Seven patients underwent follow-up colonoscopy after diagnosis, and four cases progressed. All 10 patients showed active chronic inflammation in the histopathological examinations of their intestinal tissue, with crypt changes in four cases and granulomatous changes in one cases. The intestinal tissues of eight patients were positive for EBER staining, and EBER positive cells≥50 cells/high-power field in seven patients. Seven patients were treated with 5-aminosalicylic acid before the correct diagnosis. Five patients had not improved or progressed upon the follow-up colonoscopy. Two patients died of uncontrolled massive hemorrhage of digestive tract.Conclusions:The clinical, endoscopic and pathological findings of patients with CAEBV intestinal involvement lack specificity. For IBD patients initially diagnosed accompanied by fever and evidence of extraintestinal organ involvement, it is recommended to simultaneously detect EBV DNA in PBMCs and blood plasma, EBER in intestinal tissue, and identify the main EBV-infected cells in peripheral blood and/or tissue, to distinguish CAEBV.

Objective To investigate the effect of compound betamethasone adjuvant on break-through pain after unicompartmental knee arthroplasty under sciatic nerve combined with femoral nerve block.Methods A total of 100 patients underwent unicondylar knee arthroplasty,32 males and 68 females,aged 55-75 years,BMI 18.5-35.0 kg/m2,ASA physical status Ⅰ-Ⅲ,were divided into three groups according to random number table method:no adjuvant group(group C,n=34),dexamethasone adjuvant group(group D,n=33)and compound betamethasone adjuvant group(group B,n=33).The patients in the three groups received sciatic nerve block and 0.4％ropivacaine 15 ml before anesthesia in-duction,then femoral nerve block,0.4％ropivacaine 15 ml in group C,0.4％ropivacaine 15 ml in group D(containing dexamethasone 5 mg),and 0.4％ropivacaine 15 ml in group B(containing compound beca-methasone 4 mg).The occurrence of breakthrough pain,the number of effective analgesic pump compres-sions,opioid dosage,and the number of remedial analgesia cases were recorded.The ground movement dis-tance was recorded 0-24 hours,24-48 hours,and 48-72 hours after operation.The sleep quality scores and adverse events were also recorded.Results Compared with group C,the incidence rate of breakthrough pain was lower(P＜0.05),the number of effective analgesia pump compressions,the dosage of opioid,and the sleep quality score on the first night after operation were significantly decreased in group B(P＜0.05).Compared with group D,the incidence rate of breakthrough pain and breakthrough pain score were lower(P＜0.05),the number of effective analgesia pump compressions,the dosage of opioid,and the sleep quality score on the 1 st night after operation were significantly decreased in group B(P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the ground movement distance of in different time periods and inci-dence of adverse events among the three groups.Conclusion Compound betamethasone adjuvant can reduce the incidence of breakthrough pain after unicompartmental knee arthroplasty under sciatic nerve com-bined with femoral nerve block,provide perfect analgesic effect,reduce postoperative opioid consumption,and improve the sleep quality of patients on the first night after surgery.

Objective To investigate the expression of TSR2 in gastric cancer and explore its correlation with progression of gastric cancer and the possible mechanism.Methods We retrospectively analyzed TSR2 expression in clinical specimens from 105 gastric cancer patients and the impact of TSR2 expression level on disease progression and 5-year postoperative survival of the patients.GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were used to predict the biological functions and mechanisms of TSR2.In gastric cancer MGC-803 cells with lentivirus-mediated TSR2 overexpression or knockdown,the changes in cell proliferation,invasion,and migration were assessed with CCK-8 and Transwell assays,and the expressions of p-PI3K and p-AKT were detected using Western blotting.Results TSR2 expression was significantly lower in gastric cancer tissues than in the adjacent tissues with significant correlations with CEA level,CA19-9 level,and T and N staging(P<0.05).A low TSR2 expression,CEA≥5 μg/L,CA19-9≥37 kU/L,T3-T4 stages,and N2-N3 staged were identified as independent risk factors affecting 5-year survival rate of the patients following radical surgery(P<0.05),and a high TSR2 expression was associated with a higher 5-year survival rate of the patients(P<0.001).Bioinformatics analysis suggested the functional involvement of TSR2 with the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.MGC-803 cells overexpressing TSR2 showed significantly lowered proliferation,migration,and invasion capacities(P<0.05),while TSR2 knockdown produced the opposite effects(P<0.05).Western blotting showed that TSR2 overexpression reduced the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT,and TSR2 knockdown caused the opposite changes in MGC-803 cells(P<0.05).Conclusion TSR2 is lowly expressed in gastric cancer tissues to adversely affect the patients'prognosis,and its overexpression inhibits gastric cancer cell proliferation,invasion,and migration possibly by downregulating the PI3K/AKT pathway.

Objective To investigate the expression of TSR2 in gastric cancer and explore its correlation with progression of gastric cancer and the possible mechanism.Methods We retrospectively analyzed TSR2 expression in clinical specimens from 105 gastric cancer patients and the impact of TSR2 expression level on disease progression and 5-year postoperative survival of the patients.GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were used to predict the biological functions and mechanisms of TSR2.In gastric cancer MGC-803 cells with lentivirus-mediated TSR2 overexpression or knockdown,the changes in cell proliferation,invasion,and migration were assessed with CCK-8 and Transwell assays,and the expressions of p-PI3K and p-AKT were detected using Western blotting.Results TSR2 expression was significantly lower in gastric cancer tissues than in the adjacent tissues with significant correlations with CEA level,CA19-9 level,and T and N staging(P<0.05).A low TSR2 expression,CEA≥5 μg/L,CA19-9≥37 kU/L,T3-T4 stages,and N2-N3 staged were identified as independent risk factors affecting 5-year survival rate of the patients following radical surgery(P<0.05),and a high TSR2 expression was associated with a higher 5-year survival rate of the patients(P<0.001).Bioinformatics analysis suggested the functional involvement of TSR2 with the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.MGC-803 cells overexpressing TSR2 showed significantly lowered proliferation,migration,and invasion capacities(P<0.05),while TSR2 knockdown produced the opposite effects(P<0.05).Western blotting showed that TSR2 overexpression reduced the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT,and TSR2 knockdown caused the opposite changes in MGC-803 cells(P<0.05).Conclusion TSR2 is lowly expressed in gastric cancer tissues to adversely affect the patients'prognosis,and its overexpression inhibits gastric cancer cell proliferation,invasion,and migration possibly by downregulating the PI3K/AKT pathway.

Purpose To investigate the expression of pro-tein of relevant evolutionary and lymphoid interest domain-con-taining 1(PRELID1)in gastric cancer tissues and to analyze its effect on prognosis,and the mechanism of influencing the prolif-eration and invasion ability of gastric cancer cells.Methods Using TCGA data and clinical data of 111 patients with gastric cancer,we analyzed the relationship between the expression of PRELID1 and clinicopathological parameters and the impact on clinical prognosis.The biological function of PRELID1 was pre-dicted by bioinformatics,and further verified by in vitro and in vivo experiments.Lentivirus was applied to regulate the level of PRELID 1 in gastric cancer cell line(MGC803)in vitro,and its effect on the proliferation,migration,and invasion of gastric cancer cells was observed.The nude mouse subcutaneous tumor-igenesis was used to observe the effect of PRELID1 on the growth of gastric cancer tissue in vivo.Results The expression of PRELID1 was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than that in the adjacent tissues(P＜0.001)and was positively cor-related with the cell proliferation indicator Ki67(P＜0.001).Cox regression model analysis showed that the high expression of PRELID 1 was an independent risk factor affecting the 5-year survival rate after radical gastrectomy(HR=2.336;95％CI=1.354-4.029).Gene enrichment results showed that the func-tion of PRELID1 was related to proliferation and JAK/STAT sig-naling.CCK-8 and Transwell experiments found that up-regula-tion of PRELID1 promoted the proliferation(P=0.016),mi-gration(P=0.016)and invasion(P=0.025)of gastric cancer cells,while down-regulation inhibited the proliferation(P=0.026),migration(P=0.048)and invasion(P=0.029).Subcutaneous tumor formation experiments in nude mice found that up-regulation of PRELID1 promoted the growth of gastric cancer tissue(P=0.047),while down-regulation was the oppo-site(P=0.005).Western blot detecting gastric cancer cells and gastric cancer tissues found that up-regulation of PRELID1 promoted the expression of JAK and STAT proteins(all P＜0.05),while down-regulation inhibited them(all P＜0.05).Conclusion The high expression of PRELID1 associated with poor prognosis may regulate the proliferation,migration and in-vasion of gastric cancer cells by up-regulating JAK/STAT signa-ling in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the research progress on the role of macrophage-mediated osteoimmune in osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) and its mechanisms. METHODS: Recent studies on the role and mechanism of macrophage-mediated osteoimmune in ONFH at home and abroad were extensively reviewed. The classification and function of macrophages were summarized, the osteoimmune regulation of macrophages on chronic inflammation in ONFH was summarized, and the pathophysiological mechanism of osteonecrosis was expounded from the perspective of osteoimmune, which provided new ideas for the treatment of ONFH. RESULTS: Macrophages are important immune cells involved in inflammatory response, which can differentiate into classically activated type (M1) and alternatively activated type (M2), and play specific functions to participate in and regulate the physiological and pathological processes of the body. Studies have shown that bone immune imbalance mediated by macrophages can cause local chronic inflammation and lead to the occurrence and development of ONFH. Therefore, regulating macrophage polarization is a potential ONFH treatment strategy. In chronic inflammatory microenvironment, inhibiting macrophage polarization to M1 can promote local inflammatory dissipation and effectively delay the progression of ONFH; regulating macrophage polarization to M2 can build a local osteoimmune microenvironment conducive to bone repair, which is helpful to necrotic tissue regeneration and repair to a certain extent. CONCLUSION At present, it has been confirmed that macrophage-mediated chronic inflammatory immune microenvironment is an important mechanism for the occurrence and development of ONFH. It is necessary to study the subtypes of immune cells in ONFH, the interaction between immune cells and macrophages, and the interaction between various immune cells and macrophages, which is beneficial to the development of potential therapeutic methods for ONFH.
Humans ; Femur Head/pathology* ; Osteonecrosis/therapy* ; Macrophages/pathology* ; Inflammation ; Femur Head Necrosis/pathology*

Lipid metabolism disorders contribute to hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis. It is ideal to develop drugs simultaneous improving both hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis. Nitazoxanide is an FDA-approved oral antiprotozoal drug with excellent pharmacokinetic and safety profile. We found that nitazoxanide and its metabolite tizoxanide induced mild mitochondrial uncoupling and subsequently activated AMPK in HepG2 cells. Gavage administration of nitazoxanide inhibited high-fat diet (HFD)-induced increases of liver weight, blood and liver lipids, and ameliorated HFD-induced renal lipid accumulation in hamsters. Nitazoxanide significantly improved HFD-induced histopathologic changes of hamster livers. In the hamsters with pre-existing hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis, nitazoxanide also showed therapeutic effect. Gavage administration of nitazoxanide improved HFD-induced hepatic steatosis in C57BL/6J mice and western diet (WD)-induced hepatic steatosis in Apoe ^-/- mice. The present study suggests that repurposing nitazoxanide as a drug for hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis treatment is promising.