Cancer stem cells is a small fraction of cells exist in cancers and own the same characteristics of stem cells. It has recently been shown that cancer stem cells in some tumours contain lower reactive oxygen species(ROS) levels and enhanced ROS defence radioresistance. The DNA damage induced by p53 tumor suppressor protein is associated with self cancer stem cells. We have reviewed the biological characteristics including self- renewal, drug resistance, heterogeneity and so on. As to the genesis of the cancer stem cells,some researchers believe that they arise from normal adult stem cells, progenitor cells or mutation of somatic cells, while others consider that cancer stem cells are derived from cell fusion and so on.

Objective To investigate the expression of E-cadherin and Snail proteins in rectal cancer and their significance. Methods The expression of Snail and E-cadherin proteins was detected using immunohistochemical SABC method in 101 cases of rectal cancer tissues. Results The positive rate of Snail in rectal cancer was 78.2% (79/101). The negative expression rate of E-cadherin in rectal cancer was 62.4% (63/101). The expression of Snail and E-cadherin were significantly related with the lymph node metastasis and Dukes' stage of rectal cancer (P ＜ 0.05). Conclusion The overexpression of Snail and the decreased expression of E-cadherin might be important biological markers for malignant transformation, invasion and metastasis of rectal carcinoma.

Objective:To investigate the expression and distribution of human dermal papillary fibroblasts (Fp) , reticular fibroblasts (Fr) , and myofibroblasts (MFB) in keloid tissues.Methods:Keloid tissues were collected from 15 outpatients (including 8 males and 7 females) aged 20-50 years, who were diagnosed in the Department of Dermatology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from May to December 2019. Normal skin tissues were taken from 15 age-matched women who underwent mammoplasty, and served as controls. The distribution of fibroblast activation protein (FAP) , CD90 and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was observed in the keloid tissues and normal skin tissues by dual immunofluorescence staining. Furthermore, fibroblasts were isolated from 3 normal skin and 3 keloid tissue samples, and subjected to primary culture. Subsequently, the fibroblasts were treated with 10 ng/ml transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) for 48 hours in vitro, during which, changes in fibroblast phenotypes were observed in the 2 groups. Fluorescence-based quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis were performed to determine the mRNA and protein expression of FAP, CD90 and α-SMA. Measurement data were compared between 2 groups by using t test. Results:Immunofluorescence staining of the normal skin tissues revealed that FAP +/CD90 - fibroblasts were predominantly distributed in the superficial dermis, FAP -/CD90 + fibroblasts in the deep dermis, and CD90 + cells hardly expressed α-SMA; however, a large number of FAP + fibroblasts and CD90 + fibroblasts were observed in the deep keloid tissues, and many CD90 + fibroblasts also expressed α-SMA. Dual immunofluorescence staining showed that normal tissue-derived fibroblasts hardly expressed α-SMA, and keloid-derived fibroblasts expressed α-SMA. The fluorescence intensity of α-SMA + cells significantly increased in the normal tissue-and keloid-derived fibroblasts after 24-hour treatment with TGF-β1 (21.058 ± 0.709, 27.112 ± 0.097, respectively) compared with that in the corresponding untreated fibroblasts (11.312 ± 0.636, 21.306 ± 0.464, t=22.430, 13.370, respectively, both P < 0.05) . RT-PCR and Western blot analysis showed that the mRNA and protein expression of FAP, CD90 and α-SMA significantly increased in the keloid-derived fibroblasts after 48-hour treatment with TGF-β1 (mRNA: 92.610 ± 3.667, 1.366 ± 0.105, 3.240 ± 0.141; protein: 0.652 ± 0.073, 1.046 ± 0.119, 0.946 ± 0.117, respectively) compared with the untreated keloid-derived fibroblasts (all P < 0.05) . Conclusion:CD90 + Fr aberrantly proliferated in the deep dermis of keloid tissues, suggesting that directional intervention in aberrantly proliferating FAP -/CD90 + Fr in the deep dermis may promote the efficacy for keloids.

Objective:To explore the clinical efficacy of consolidation chemotherapy combined with microtransplantation in the treatment of elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).Methods:The clinical data of 45 elderly patients with AML in Suzhou Yongding Hospital from January 2016 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. After 1 or 2 courses of induced chemotherapy, the patients achieved complete response (CR). Among them, 20 patients were given consolidation chemotherapy (single group), and 25 patients were given consolidation chemotherapy combined with microtransplantation (combined group). After 3 courses of treatment, the minimal residual disease (MRD), quantitative expression of WT1 gene and adverse reactions were compared between 2 groups; the quality of life before treatment and after treatment was evaluated by quality of life-BREF (QOL-BREF). The patients were followed up to November 1, 2020, and the median follow-up was 30 months. The overall survival and progress-free survival (PFS) were recorded.Results:The MRD negative rate and WT1 gene negative rate after treatment in combined group were significantly higher than those in single group: 60.00% (15/25) vs. 25.00% (5/20) and 52.00% (13/25) vs. 20.00% (4/20), and there were statistical differences ( P<0.05). The recovery times of neutrophils and platelets in combined group were significantly shorter than those in single group: 10 (8, 12) d vs. 16 (13, 20) d and 14 (11, 17) d vs. 24 (19, 30) d, and there were statistical differences ( Z = 3.152 and 4.285, P<0.05). No adverse reactions such as liver and kidney abnormalities or gastrointestinal reactions occurred in 2 groups; and no specific graft versus host disease (GVHD) occurred in the combined group. The each item scores of QOL-BREF after treatment in combined group were significantly higher than those in single group, and there were statistical differences ( P<0.01). The 2-year overall survival rate and PFS rate in combined group were significantly higher than those in single group: 60.00% (15/25) vs. 35.00% (7/20) and 52.00% (13/25) vs. 25.00% (5/20), and there were statistical differences ( χ2 = 4.235 and 4.742, P = 0.040 and 0.029). Conclusions:Consolidation chemotherapy combined with microtransplantation is effective and safe in the treatment of elderly patients with AML. It can significantly improve the quality of life, and improve the overall survival rate and PFS rate.

Objective:The present study was designed to strengthen the education of research integrity, and to improve the awareness of academic misconduct and academic literacy of medical post-graduate students.Methods:A questionnaire survey was conducted with master post-graduate students of a university affiliated hospital, and statistical analysis on the education of research integrity and the perception of academic misconduct among the survey respondents was performed.Results:Academic master post-graduate students′ cognitions of the misconduct in scientific research process and overall academic misconduct were better than that of professional master post-graduate students, and there were significant differences ( P<0.05). The more times of participation in research integrity training, the better cognition of misconduct of scientific research process, research results publication process, and overall academic misconduct, with significant differences ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The education on scientific research integrity of medical post-graduates should be carried out systematically, while the content should be improved and the form should be enriched for scientific research integrity education, so that the medical post-graduates can have a deeper understanding of the code of academic practices, and an education model of scientific research integrity for medical post-graduate which is suitable for China′s national conditions can be gradually developed.

BACKGROUND: There is a high morbidity, mortality, and poor clinical prognosis of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). However, there is currently no effective targeted treatment plan for LUSC. As a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), lncRNA miR143HG has been proven to play an important role in the occurrence and development of various tumors. However, the biological role played by lncRNA miR143HG in LUSC cells is still unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mechanism of lncRNA miR143HG on regulating the biological behavior of LUSC H520 cells. METHODS: Pan-cancer analysis and differential expression analysis of lncRNA miR143HG were performed based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The predictive effect of lncRNA miR143HG on the diagnosis and prognosis of LUSC was evaluated by adopting the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and timeROC curve. The enrichment degree of each pathway to lncRNA miR143HG was determined. The expression of lncRNA miR143HG and miR-155 in BEAS-2B cells and H520 cells was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). H520 cells were randomly divided into blank control group (without any treatment), negative control group (transfected with lncRNA-NC), lncRNA miR143HG group (transfected with lncRNA miR143HG), and lncRNA miR143HG+miR-155 group (co-transfected with lncRNA miR143HG and miR-155). The approaches of CCK-8, wound healing test, Transwell assay, flow cytometry, qRT-PCR, and Western blot were respectively employed to detect the cell proliferation ability, cell migration ability, cell invasion ability, cell apoptosis rate, and expression level of related genes and proteins of the Wnt/β-Catenin pathway. RESULTS: The results of pan-cancer analysis and differential analysis collectively showed that except for renal clear cell carcinoma, the expression of lncRNA miR143HG in other cancer tissues was higher than that in healthy tissues, and the differences were significant in LUSC. The evaluation results of the ROC curve and timeROC curve suggested that lncRNA miR143HG was of great significance in the prediction of diagnosis and prognosis of LUSC. The pathways enriched in high expression of lncRNA miR143HG mainly included focal adhesion, vascular smooth muscle contraction, calcium signaling pathways, and so on; the pathways enriched in the low expression of lncRNA miR143HG embraced oxidative phosphorylation, cell cycle, basic transcription factors, etc. The qRT-PCR results showed that lncRNA miR143HG was low expressed but miR-155 was highly expressed in H520 cells when compared to BEAS-2B cells (P<0.05). Compared with the negative control group, the expression levels of the gene of lncRNA miR143HG, the gene and protein of Wnt, as well as the gene and protein of β-Catenin were significantly increased, while the gene expression of miR-155, the ability of cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell invasion were significantly reduced, but the cell apoptosis rate was dominantly elevated in cells of lncRNA miR143HG group (P<0.05). In addition, compared with the lncRNA miR143HG group, overexpression of miR-155 could reverse the biological behavior mediated by lncRNA miR143HG, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS LncRNA miR143HG was of great significance for the biological behavior of H520 cells. LncRNA miR143HG inhibited the ability of proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as enhanced the apoptosis of H520 cells by downregulating miR-155 expression, which may be related to the Wnt/β-Catenin pathway.
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Humans ; RNA, Long Noncoding/genetics* ; beta Catenin/metabolism* ; Lung Neoplasms/genetics* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/genetics* ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/genetics* ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Lung/pathology* ; Cell Proliferation/genetics* ; Cell Movement/genetics* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic

Objective:To understand the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adults in Qingdao.Methods:A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to select 6 240 local residents aged ≥18 years in Qingdao as study subjects from May 2019 to September 2020, the demographic data of the study subjects were collected by face-to-face survey method. The prevalence of CKD in adults in Qingdao were analyzed using software SPSS 25.0.Results:A total of 5 996 adults in Qingdao were included in this study. The overall prevalence rate of CKD in the adults was 8.22%. The prevalence rates of CKD in men and women were 7.70% and 8.74%, respectively. The prevalence rate of CKD was 10.28% in urban residents and 7.25% in rural residents, the differences in the prevalence of CKD among different age, educational level and marital status groups were significant ( P<0.001). The prevalence of CKD tended to increase with age and decrease with the increase of education level. Conclusions:The prevalence of CKD in adults of Qingdao was relatively high. It is necessary to actively carry out the early prevention and treatment of CKD and strengthen the screening and prevention of CKD to reduce the incidence and slow development of CKD.

As an emerging drug delivery technology,microneedles can puncture the skin's stratum corneum to create micron-sized conduits,painlessly,minimally invasive,and efficiently deliver drugs into viable epidermis or dermis for local or systemic therapeutic effects.This paper reviews the current clinical trials of microneedles used in the treatment of various diseases,elaborates on the characteristics of various types of microneedles,and summarizes the latest research progress of microneedles used to treat skin tumors,including chemotherapy,photothermal and photodynamic therapy,immunotherapy,gene therapy,and combination therapy.This review provides ideas and directions for further research on microneedles in treating skin tumors.

OBJECTIVE：To optimize the f ormulation of docetaxel （DTX）-mPEG-PLGA-mPEG （PELGE）-nanoparticles （NPs），and to characterize it and evaluate its in vitro drug release and antitumor activity. METHODS ：PELGE were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization. DTX-PELGE-NPs were prepared by using emulsion solvent evaporation method. The content of DTX in DTX-PELGE-NPs was determined by HPLC. Box-Behnken design-response surface methodology was applied to optimize the formulation of the nanoparticles using the amount of DTX ，PELGE and poloxamer 188 as independent variable ，using entrapped efficiency as dependent variable. The particle size and Zeta-potential of DTX-PELGE-NPs were characterized by laser particle size analyzer and transmission electron microscope. The in vitro release of the DTX-PELGE-NPs was investigated by ultra-filtered centrifugation，using DTX injection as reference. In vitro cytotoxicity of the DTX-PELGE-NPs was investigated by MTT assay ， using DTX and PELGE-NPs without DTX as reference . RESULTS ：The optimal formulation included 2.80 mg DTX ，20.60 mg PELGE and 6％ poloxamer 188. The entrapped efficiency of optimized DTX-PELGE-NPs was （86.79±1.32）％；drug-loading amount was （10.21±0.78）％，and average particle size was （78.4±2.9）nm；polydispersity coeffici ent was （0.187±0.018）and Zeta potential was （－20.6±1.5）mV. Furthermore ，DTX- PELGE-NPs showed a regular spherical and uniform distribution under scanning electron microscopy. Compared with DTXinjection（accumulative release rate of 92.3％ at 4 h），DTX- PELGE-NPs had a significant sustained-release effect （accumu-lative release rate of 78.6％ at 36 h）. 0.1-50 μg/mL PELGE-NPs had no obvious cytotoxicity to human breast cancer cells MCF-7（P＞0.05）. 0.5-10 μg/mL DTX-PELGE-NPs could significantly inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells MCF-7， and its inhibitory effect （except for DTX-PELGE-NPs 10 μg/mL group）was significantly stronger than that of DTX injection （P＜ 0.05）. CONCLUSIONS ：The optimized formulation is stable and feasible. The obtained DTX-PELGE-NPs not only have uniform particle size ，high encapsulation rate obvious slow-release effect ，but also have stronger anti-tumor effect in vitro than DTX injection.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and is the most common cancer in males. Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) that target programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) have achieved impressive efficacy in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Pardoll, 2012; Champiat et al., 2016; Gao et al., 2022). Although ICIs are usually well tolerated, they are often accompanied by immune-related adverse events (irAEs) (Doroshow et al., 2019). Non-specific activation of the immune system produces off-target immune and inflammatory responses that can affect virtually any organ or system (O'Kane et al., 2017; Puzanov et al., 2017). Compared with adverse events caused by chemotherapy, irAEs are often characterized by delayed onset and prolonged duration and can occur in any organ at any stage of treatment, including after cessation of treatment (Puzanov et al., 2017; von Itzstein et al., 2020). They range from rash, pneumonitis, hypothyroidism, enterocolitis, and autoimmune hepatitis to cardiovascular, hematological, renal, neurological, and ophthalmic irAEs (Nishino et al., 2016; Kumar et al., 2017; Song et al., 2020). Hence, we conducted a retrospective study to identify validated factors that could predict the magnitude of the risk of irAEs in patients receiving PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors; our approach was to analyze the correlation between the clinical characteristics of patients at the start of treatment and relevant indicators such as hematological indices and the risk of developing irAEs. Then, we developed an economical, practical, rapid, and simple model to assess the risk of irAEs in patients receiving ICI treatment, as early as possible.
Male ; Humans ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/drug therapy* ; Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/adverse effects* ; Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor ; Retrospective Studies ; Apoptosis