AIM: To detect the signal pathway of apoptosis induced by 4-hydroxyphenyl-retinamide(4-HPR) and the biological effect of parthenolide-induced apoptosis.METHODS: TUNEL staining,FCM analysis,electrophoretic mobile shift assay(EMSA) were used to determine the actual effects and its mechanism of parthenolide on the 4-HPR-induced apoptosis in human hepatoma Hep-3B and SK-Hep-1 cells.RESULTS: The results of TUNEL and PI staining showed that parthenolide selectively enhanced 4-HPR-induced apoptosis in Hep-3B and SK-Hep-1 cells.Subsequent observations using EMSA assay indicated that parthenolide effectively inhibited NF-?B activation during fenretinide-induced apoptosis.CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that parthenolide suppresses 4-HPR-induced apoptosis via inhibition of NF-?B activation and that NF-?B activation during fenretinide-induced apoptosis might have an anti-apoptotic effect.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and prognosis of different surgical approaches in sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 101 patients with sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) who underwent surgical treatment at the Department of Thyroid Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, from Feb. 2009 to Nov. 2023. The patients included 36 males and 75 females, with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2.1. The median age of the patients was 47 years old, with an age range of 21 to 72 years old. The study divided participants into two groups based on their surgical methods: an observation group (78 cases) and a control group (23 cases). The observation group received surgical methods in accordance with expert consensus, while the control group did not. The study compared the efficacy and prognosis of the two groups.Results:Statistical differences were found between the two groups in terms of stage II and III in TNM staging, intraoperative frozen pathological findings, number of lymph node resections in the central group, number of lymph node metastases in the central group, number of lymph node resections in the lateral cervical region, postoperative follow-up time, and five-year postoperative serum procalcitonin (Ctn) levels ( P<0.05) .Both groups of patients obtained a significant decrease in Ctn after surgical treatment. In the observation group, Ctn was at the remission level in 57 cases (73.1%), at the stable level in 13 cases (16.7%), and at the progression level in 8 cases (10.2%), while in the control group, Ctn was at the remission level in 20 cases (86.9%), at the progression level in 3 cases (13.1%), and there were no patients at the stable level after the operation.One patient (1.3 per cent) in the observation group had a recurrence after surgery; Two patients (8.7 per cent) in the control group had a recurrence. Conclusions:Standardised and thorough surgery can maximise the clearance of metastatic lymph nodes, effectively reduce the recurrence rate, achieve better efficacy, and improve the long-term prognosis of patients without increasing the risk of surgery and postoperative complications.