Objective:To analyze the viscosity characteristics of liver tumors and investigate the clinical value of shear wave dispersion (SWD) in the differentiation of benign and malignant liver tumors.Methods:A total of 103 patients with focal liver lesions were prospectively collected in Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from October 2020 to July 2021, including 80 cases with single lesion and 23 cases with multiple lesions, and only the largest lesion was observed in patients with multiple lesions. SWD values were measured within the tumor and in the liver parenchyma 2 cm away from the tumor, and were compared between benign tumor group and maligant tumor group. The ROC curves of SWD value, SWD ratio and their combination in differentiating benign and malignant liver tumors were plotted respectively, and the optimal diagnostic threshold, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of different diagnostic methods were analyzed.Results:Among the 103 patients, 35 were benign and 68 were malignant. The SWD value of liver benign tumor group was lower than that of liver malignant tumor group [(16.38±3.58)m·s -1·kHz -1 vs (18.59±3.12)m·s -1·kHz -1], the SWD value of liver parenchyma background in liver benign tumor group was lower than that in liver malignant tumor group [(10.88±3.37)m·s -1·kHz -1 vs (14.31±3.34)m·s -1·kHz -1], and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The SWD ratio of benign tumor to surrounding liver parenchyma was higher than that of malignant tumor group [1.57(1.25, 2.00) vs 1.27(1.06, 1.57)], and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). When the SWD value >15.60 m·s -1·kHz -1 was used as the cut-off value, the area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.72, the sensitivity was 88.2%, the specificity was 51.4%, and the accuracy was 75.7%. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and AUC were 58.8%, 74.2%, 63.1%, and 0.68, respectively, when the ratio of SWD value<1.32 was used as the cut-off value. SWD value combined with SWD ratio for the diagnosis of liver malignant tumor, the AUC was 0.88, the sensitivity was 82.3%, the specificity was 83.0%, and accuracy was 81.6%. The diagnostic efficacy of the two in combination for liver malignant tumor was superior to SWD value ( Z=2.678, P=0.007 4) and SWD value ratio ( Z=3.822, P=0.000 1). Conclusions:SWD imaging can reflect the viscosity information of liver tumors and surrounding liver parenchyma, and has potential clinical application value in the differentiation of benign and malignant tumors.

Objective·To explore the expression of sorting nexin 1(SNX1)in colorectal cancer(CRC)and its impact on the proliferation and migration of CRC cells.Methods·Transcriptomic data and clinical pathological information of CRC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA),Genotype-Tissue Expression(GTEx),and Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)databases for enrichment analysis with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis(GSEA)software.The expression of SNX1 in CRC tissues and cells was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qPCR),Western blotting,and immunohistochemistry staining(IHC).Small interfering RNA(siRNA)was used to knock down the expression of SNX1 to observe its effect on tumor cell proliferation and migration.Correlation analysis was conducted to explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying SNX1-mediated CRC cell migration,and mRNA level validation was performed in SNX1 knockdown cell lines.Results·Analysis of CRC patients data in TCGA and tissue microarrays revealed that SNX1 expression was downregulated in CRC tissues and correlated with tumor diameter and distant metastasis.Knockdown of SNX1 enhanced tumor cell proliferation and migration.The expression of SNX1 was negatively correlated with metastasis associated in colon cancer 1(MACC1),mesenchymal to epithelial transition factor(MET),and Notch;knockdown of SNX1 led to upregulation of these genes.Silencing SNX1 resulted in the downregulation of the epithelial marker cadherin 1(CDH1)and the upregulation of vimentin(VIM)and Snail family transcriptional repressor 1(SNAI1).Conclusion·SNX1 expression was significantly downregulated in CRC tissues and correlated with patient prognosis.Low expression of SNX1 enhanced the proliferation and migration of CRC cells and was associated with the MACC1-MET pathway and EMT.SNX1 may serve as a potential biomarker for poor prognosis and a novel therapeutic target in CRC.