Objective To investigate the role of lncRNA PTENP1 in regulating TGF-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods Eca109 and TE-1 cells were treated with TGF-β1, and the expression of PTENP1 was detected by qRT-PCR before and after treatment. PTENP1-overexpressing stably transfected cell lines were constructed in Eca109 and TE-1 cells. The effects of overexpression of PTENP1 on TGF-β1-induced migration, proliferation and EMT-related proteins expression in Eca109 and TE-1 cells were detected by Transwell assay, CCK-8 test and Western blot, respectively. Results The expression of PTENP1 was significantly decreased in Eca109 and TE-1 cells treated with TGF-β1 (P < 0.05). Overexpression of PTENP1 significantly prevented cell migration, decreased the cell vitality, upregulated the E-cadherin expression, and downregulated the expression of N-cadherin and vimentin in Eca109 and TE-1 cells (P < 0.05). Furthermore, PTENP1 overexpression attenuated TGF-β-induced migration of Eca109 and TE-1 cells. PTENP1 overexpression partially reversed TGF-β-induced EMT (P < 0.05). Conclusion PTENP1 plays an important role in TGF-β-induced EMT in ESCC cells.

Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of radiotherapy for stage Ⅳ esophageal cancer. Methods: Clinical data of 133 stage Ⅳ esophageal cancer patients admitted to our hospital from 2012 to 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were assigned into the radiochemotherapy (n=89) and chemotherapy groups (n=44). The survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method. The multivariate prognostic analysis was conducted by Cox’s regression model. Results: The 1-, 2-and 3-year overall survival rates of the entire cohort were 53.5%, 20.4% and13.6% respectively. Cox’s regression analysis showed that gender, ECOG score, number of distant metastases, and whether the primary lesions received radiotherapy were the independent prognostic factors (all P<0.05). The 1-, 2-and 3-year survival rates in the radiochemotherapy group were 61%, 29% and19%, and 40%, 4%, 0% in the chemotherapy group, respectively. In the radiochemotherapy group, the progression-free survival (PFS) and local progression-free survival (LPFS) were 8 months and 12.6 months, significantly longer compared with 4.7 months and 5.3 months in the chemotherapy group (both P<0.05). The OS of patients receiving dose> 50Gy and ≤50Gy was 14.3 months and 8.2 months (P<0.05), 8.6 months and 2.8 months for the PFS (P<0.05), and 15.2 months and 4.7 months for the LRFS (P<0.05), respectively. The number of distant metastases and the clinical efficacy for primary lesions were the independent prognostic factors in the radiochemotherapy group (both P<0.05). Conclusion Radiotherapy can improve the clinical prognosis of patients with stage Ⅳ esophageal cancer.

Objective To describe the significance of the pretreatment inflammatory indicators in predicting the prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after undergoing radical radiotherapy. Methods The data of 246 ESCC patients who underwent radical radiotherapy were retrospectively collected. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn to determine the optimal cutoff values for platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII). The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. We conducted univariate and multivariate analyses by using the Cox proportional risk regression model. Software R (version 4.2.0) was used to create the nomogram of prognostic factors. Results The results of the ROC curve analysis showed that the optimal cutoff values of PLR, NLR, and SII were 146.06, 2.67, and 493.97, respectively. The overall response rates were 77.6% and 64.5% in the low and high NLR groups, respectively (P<0.05). The results of the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that the prognosis of patients in the low PLR, NLR, and SII group was better than that of patients in the high PLR, NLR, and SII group (all P<0.05). The results of the multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that gender, treatment modalities, T stage, and NLR were independent factors affecting the overall survival (OS). In addition, T stage and NLR were independent factors affecting the progression-free survival (PFS) (all P<0.05). The nomogram models of OS and PFS prediction were established based on multivariate analysis. The C-index values were 0.703 and 0.668. The calibration curves showed excellent consistency between the predicted and observed OS and PFS. Conclusion The pretreatment values of PLR, NLR, and SII are correlated with the prognosis of patients with ESCC who underwent radical radiotherapy. Moreover, NLR is an independent factor affecting the OS and PFS of ESCC patients. The NLR-based nomogram model has a good predictive ability.