Optical coherency tomography (OCT) is one of the powerful optical imaging tools that allows cross-sectional tomography of the microstructure in living subjects with high resolution. With the rapid development of OCT and a wide range of preclinical and clinical tumor imaging, it provides profound insights into the complex physiological, cellular and molecular behaviors of tumors. Preclinical OCT has elucidated many inscrutable aspects of tumor biology, while clinical applications of OCT are revolutionizing diagnosis and therapies. As a new noninvasive optical imaging technique, OCT can realize the intraoperative imaging of tumor and provide meaningful image data, which will provide great help for the diagnosis, classification and boundary determination of tumor diseases in the future.

Purpose: Treatment options are limited after the failure of first-and second-line treatments in patients with HER2+ metastatic gastric cancer (mGC). The present study aimed to explore the efficacy, safety, and prognostic factors of apatinib efficacy as a third-line therapy for patients with human epithelial growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+ ) mGC. Materials and Methods: A total of 59 HER2+ mGC patients who received apatinib as thirdline therapy were retrospectively enrolled in this two-center, single-arm, cohort study; the clinical response, survival data, and adverse events were retrieved. Results: The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.9–6.5), and the median overall survival (OS) was 8.2 months (95% CI, 6.6–9.8) Furthermore, forward stepwise multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that a higher Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score and multiple metastases were independently correlated with decreased PFS and OS (both P<0.05). The main adverse events were leukopenia (45.8%), hypertension (44.1%), thrombocytopenia (39.0%), handfoot syndrome (37.3%), and elevated transaminase (33.9%). Grade 3 adverse events mainly included hypertension (5.1%) and neutropenia (5.1%); grade 4 adverse events did not occur. Conclusions Apatinib is efficient and well tolerated in patients with HER2+ mGC as a thirdline treatment, suggesting that it may be a candidate of choice for these patients.

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of shikonin on the proliferation,migration,invasion and apoptosis of human gastric cancer MGC803 cells.Methods The MGC803 cells in the logarithmic growth phase were randomly divided into the blank control group,shikonin group,shikonin+insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1)group,and shikonin+LY294002 group.Cells in the blank control group were cultured in drug-free medium,cells in the shikonin group were cultured in the medium containing shikonin with a final concentration of 10 μmol·L-1,cells in the shikonin+IGF-1 group were cultured in the medium containing shikonin with a final concentration of 10 μmol·L-1 and IGF-1 with a final concentration of 10 μmol·L-1,and cells in the shikonin+LY294002 group were cultured in the medium containing shikonin with a final concentration of 10 μmol·L-1 and LY294002 with a final concentration of 30 μmol·L-1.After 24 h of culture,the cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8,the cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry,the cell migration was detected by scratch assay,and the cell invasion was detected by Transwell assay.The expression levels of B cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2),Bcl-2 related X protein(Bax),cytochrome C(Cyt C),cleaved caspase-3,cleaved caspase-9,phosphoinositide 3 kinase(PI3K),phosphorylated PI3K(p-PI3K),protein kinase B(PKB),and phosphorylated PKB(p-PKB)proteins were measured by using Western blot.Results The MGC803 cell proliferation inhibition rate and apoptosis rate in the shikonin group were significantly higher than those in the blank control group(P＜0.05);the MGC803 cell proliferation inhibition rate and apoptosis rate in the shikonin+IGF-1 group were significantly lower than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05);and the MGC803 cell proliferation inhibition rate and apoptosis rate in the shikonin+LY294002 group were significantly higher than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05).The MGC803 cell scratch healing rate and the number of invasive cells in the shikonin group were significantly lower than those in the blank control group(P＜0.05);the MGC803 cell scratch healing rate and the number of invasive cells in the shikonin+IGF-1 group were significantly higher than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05);and the MGC803 cell scratch healing rate and the number of invasive cells in the shikonin+LY294002 group were significantly lower than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05).The relative expression level of Bcl-2 protein in MGC803 cells in the shikonin group was significantly lower than that in the blank control group(P＜0.05),while the relative expression levels of Bax,Cyt C,cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 proteins and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio were significantly higher than those in the blank control group(P＜0.05);the relative expression level of Bcl-2 protein in MGC803 cells in the shikonin+IGF-1 group was significantly higher than that in the shikonin group(P＜0.05),while the relative expression levels of Bax,Cyt C,cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 proteins and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio were significantly lower than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05);and the relative expression level of Bcl-2 protein in MGC803 cells in the shikonin+LY294002 group was significantly lower than that in the shikonin group(P＜0.05),while the relative expression levels of Bax,Cyt C,cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 proteins and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio were significantly higher than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05).The relative expression levels of p-PI3K and p-PKB proteins and the ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-PKB/PKB in MGC803 cells in the shikonin group were significantly lower than those in the blank control group(P＜0.05),and there was no statistically significant difference in the relative expression levels of PI3K and PKB proteins in MGC803 cells between the shikonin group and the blank control group(P＞0.05);the relative expression levels of p-PI3K and p-PKB proteins and the ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-PKB/PKB in MGC803 cells in the shikonin+IGF-1 group were significantly higher than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05),and there was no statistically significant difference in the relative expression levels of PI3K and PKB proteins in MGC803 cells between the shikonin+IGF-1 group and the shikonin group(P＞0.05);and the relative expression levels of p-PI3K and p-PKB proteins and the ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-PKB/PKB in MGC803 cells in the shikonin+LY294002 group were significantly lower than those in the shikonin group(P＜0.05),and there was no statistically significant difference in the relative expression levels of PI3K and PKB proteins in MGC803 cells between the shikonin+LY294002 group and the shikonin group(P＞0.05).Conclusion Shikonin can inhibit the proliferation,migration and invasion and promote the apoptosis of human gastric cancer MGC803 cells,which may be related to its inhibition of the PI3K/PKB signaling pathway.