Background and objectiveIt has been proven that tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TARF6) was a commonly ampliifed oncogene in lung cancer. However, the precise role of TARF6 protein in lung cancer has not been extensively investigated. hTis study analyzed the effects of TARF6 on the proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, migration, and invasion capability of lung cancer cell lines, as well as the potential molecular mechanisms involved.MethodsTo address the expression of TARF6 in lung cancer cells, four lung cancer cell lines (A549, H1650, SPC-A-1 and Calu-3) were assayed to determine the expression of TARF6 protein by Western blot and TARF6 mRNA via qRT-PCR. Moreover, siRNA targeting TARF6 was introduced into SPC-A-1 and Calu-3 cells. Nuclear factor-?B (NF-?B) DNA-binding activity, apoptosis rates, cell proliferation, cell cycle, migration, and invasion were determined by electrophoretic mobility shitf assay, lfow cytometry, MTS assay, lfow cytometry, scratch test, and transwell chamber assay, respectively. Western blot analysis was also performed to evalu-ate the expression of the following proteins through K63-ubiquitination: P65, CD24 and CXCR4. Whole-genome sequencing analysis was conducted using a second-generation sequencer in SPC-A-1 cells.Results TARF6 was highly up-expressed in SPC-A-1 and Calu-3 cell lines than the other two cells, which also showed K63-ubiquitinization in TARF6. However, consti-tutive activation of NF-?B was observed only in SPC-A-1 lung cancer cells. Downregulation of TARF6 suppressed the NF-κB activation, cell migration, and invasion but promoted the cell apoptosis of SPC-A-1 cells. Markedly decreased expression of CD24 and CXCR4 was observed in SPC-A-1 cells transfected by TARF6 siRNA. Nevertheless, TARF6 downregulation did not affect the proliferation and cell cycle of SPC-A-1 cells. Additionally, TARF6 regulation did not affect the proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, migration, and invasion of Calu-3 cells. No mutations and no changes in gene copy numbers of TARF6 were found by whole-exome sequencing of SPC-A-1 cells.ConclusionTARF6 may be involved in cell migration, invasion, and apoptosis of SPC-A-1 cells, possibly through regulating the NF-?B-CD24/CXCR4 pathway.

[Objective]To understand the current status of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV),Treponema palli-dum(TP),hepatitis C virus(HCV)and hepatitis B virus(HBV)infections among patients undergoing screening tests in a specialized cancer hospital in South China,and to analyze the completion of further testing for confirmation,so as to pro-vide a reference for management of common infectious diseases and prevention of nosocomial infections.[Methods]We ana-lyzed the positive rates of HIV antigen/antibody combination assay(HIV-comb),TP antibody(anti-TP),HCV antibody(anti-HCV)and hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg)among the outpatients and inpatients who underwent the screening tests in 2022.Then we examined the percentage of those patients with seropositivity for further confirmation.[Results]In patients who underwent the screening tests,the positive rate,percentage of patients for further confirmation test and over-all prevalence for HIV-comb were were 0.07%,100%and 0.06%,respectively;for Anti-PT 1.99%,100%and 0.51%,respectively.Positive rate of anti-HCV was 0.90%and 26.61%of patients completed further HCV RNA quantitative as-say,in 26.44%of whom,HCV RNA levels were above the detection limit.Positive rate of HBsAg was 21.06%and 54.40%of patients completed further HBV DNA quantitative assay,in 51.60%of whom,HBV DNA levels were above the detec-tion limit.As for the nucleic acid testing among the suspected hepatitis patients,we found smaller coverage in outpatients than in inpatients and larger coverage in liver cancer patients than in other patients.[Conclusions]Compared with general population,patients in this specialized cancer hospital had similar infection levels of HIV and syphilis,and 100%of them completed further confirmation testing.Hepatitis C and hepatitis B infections were at a relatively high level,but which could not accurately reflect the level of virus replication due to insufficient coverage of nucleic acid testing.Specialized can-cer hospitals should prompt medical staff to attach more importance to screening and further confirmation of common infec-tious diseases among tumor patients.While offering anti-cancer treatment,hospitals should also actively refer the con-firmed cases with infectious diseases to designated or general hospitals for a better outcome and quality of medical services.