Objective To explore the tumor markers for the diagnosis of primary liver carcinomas (PLC) by detecting the serum protein spectrum differently expressed between PLC patients and healthy controls. Methods We detected the serum protein spectrum in 50 PLC patients and 50 healthy controls using surface enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) technique and find the significant protein peaks. The serum Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels in all 100 serum samples were also measured by ELISA. Results The protein peaks, which could discriminate healthy individuals from PLC patients, were detected. Four protein molecules (3354.71, 8825.80, 4345.08, 13 715.01) had a significant difference between PLC patients and the normal controls (P <10-5), indicating that these protein molecules might be a potential marker for PLC. The specificity and sensitivity of SELDI-TOF-MS were 94% and 90% respectively. Sixteen PLC patients were AFP positive and the sensitivity was 54%(27/50). Conclusion With a high specificity and sensitivity, the detection of serum protein spectrum can be performed easily and quickly by SELDI-TOF-MS technique, which provides a serological way in identifying PLC and most likely to benefit from AFP strategies.

Objective:To determine the effects of Jinlong capsule combined with interventional therapy on the immune functions of primary hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Methods:Sixty randomly selected cases of clinically diagnosed primary hepatocellular carcinoma were divided into the observation group and the control group. Three days after operation, the observation group was given four Jinlong capsules three times a day for 30 days (one treatment). Meanwhile, the control group received interventional therapy after the operation. One to four days following one treatment, peripheral blood specimens were collected from the two groups to determine the cellular immune function indices. Results:The cell numbers (mean) of the peripheral blood components CD3, CD4, NK, SIL-2R, TSGF, and SIL-2R and the CD4/CD8 ratio in the observation group showed no significant difference before and after treatment. In the control group, these indices were significantly different before and after treatment. Conclusion:The Jinlong capsule facilitates the cellu-lar immunity recovery of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma after interventional therapy.

Objective:According to Xinjiang's project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, this paper explores issues on discipline subject, talents, and cooperative research to provide decision-making references.Methods:Information about the funded research in Xinjiang during 2014-2018 was collected from NSF annual funding project statistical report, scientific project funding guidelines and related literature articles, retrospective statistical analysis were conducted to discuss the overall situation and trends.Results:There were 2 295 research projects were funded in Xinjiang by NSF from 2014 to 2018, with a total funding amount of 105.056 billion yuan.The number of projects funded was decreased by an average of 1.12% of the national level. The largest number of funded research came from regional support, accounted for 1 683, among which most of the projects were supported by the Ministry of Life Sciences accounted for 525 and 31.78% of the total funding. The lowest number of research funded was by the Department of Mathematics, Physics, Information Science, and Management Science, accounted for 76 and 4.6%.Conclusions:Compare to the total number of projects funded in the whole country, the proportion of projects funded in Xinjiang has declined. Xinjiang internally-funded universities and regions have developed imbalanced.Local talent has been seriously drained, and there is a lack of discipline leaders. It is recommended to strengthen project cooperation and retain talent.

Objective:To investigate the expression of DNA damage repair factor DNA damage-binding protein 1 (DDB1) in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues, and the effect of DDB1 gene silencing on DNA repair and targeted killing in human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells.Methods:The UALCAN platform was used to perform bioinformatics analysis on the expression of DDB1 in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues (371 cases) and paracancerous tissues (50 cases) in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and the correlation of DDB1 expression with the overall survival of liver cancer patients were analyzed by bioinformatics using the UALCAN platform. SMMC-7721 cells were transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting DDB1 and negative control siRNA, which were DDB1 silencing group and negative control group, respectively. X-ray irradiation induced exogenous DNA double strand break (DSB) damage in the two groups of cells. Immunofluorescence staining (γH2AX was used for assessing cellular DSB damage, RPA32s33 and Rad51 were used for assessing homologous recombination repair) and Western blotting (were used to detect the level of RPA32s33 protein) were used to analyze the effect of DDB1 gene silencing on DSB damage repair. Sister chromosome exchange (SCE) experiment was used to analyze the frequency of SCE of homologous recombination of cells in DDB1 silencing group and negative control group. Tetramethylazozolium salt (MTT) method was used to analyze the killing effect of PARP inhibitor olapani (10 μmol/L), cisplatin (1 μg/ml) and olapani combined with cisplatin on SMMC-7721 cells in DDB1 silencing group and negative control group.Results:Bioinformatics analysis showed that the level of DDB1 mRNA in liver cancer tissues was higher than that in paracancerous tissues ( P < 0.001), and the overall survival of patients with high expression of DDB1 was worse than that of patients with low expression of DDB1 ( P = 0.029). When cultured for 4 hours after X-ray irradiation, the number of γH2AX foci in cells of the negative control group had mostly disappeared, and there were still more cells in DDB1 silencing group [(5.1±2.0) per cell vs. (13.4±2.0) per cell, t = -5.08, P = 0.007]. When cultured for 4 hours after X-ray irradiation, the number of RPA32s33 foci in the negative control group [(30.8±5.0) per cell vs. (13.2±1.6) per cell] and the number of Rad51 foci [(19.5±1.8) per cell vs. (8.3±3.3) per cell] were higher than those in the DDB1 silencing group, and the differences between the two groups were statistically significant (both P < 0.01). The frequency of SCE in the negative control group was higher than that in the DDB1 silencing group [(21.2±3.0)% vs. (11.2±1.6)%, t = 5.07, P = 0.007]. MTT assay showed that after olaparib treatment, the survival rate of cells in the DDB1 silencing group was lower than that in the negative control group [(40.3±3.6)% vs. (79.8±1.3)%, t = 17.94, P < 0.001]. When treated with olapani combined with cisplatin, the survival rate of cells in the two groups further decreased, and the survival rate of cells in the DDB1 silencing group was lower than that in the negative control group [(10.2±2.8)% vs. (29.6±3.4)%, t = 7.72, P = 0.002]. When treated with cisplatin alone, there was no significant difference in cell survival between DDB1 silencing group and negative control group [(41.9±5.1)% vs. (49.8±3.3)%, t = 2.71, P = 0.054]. Conclusions:The high expression of DDB1 in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues may be an important factor in the treatment resistance and poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Knockdown of DDB1 gene expression can promote the sensitivity of SMMC-7721 cells to PARP inhibitors, and its mechanism may be related to the homologous recombination repair defect of SMMC-7721 cells caused by DDB1 silencing.

Objective:To investigate the expressions and clinical significances of histone marks H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 in colorectal cancer.Methods:A retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinical data of 98 patients with colorectal cancer in Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital from May 2008 to July 2017 were retrospectively analyzed, including 35 patients in the non-metastatic operation-only group, 29 patients in the synchronous hepatic oligometastasis group and 34 patients in the extensive metastasis group, and 33 patients with benign colorectal lesions who underwent colonoscopy in 2017 were selected as the control group. Immunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expressions of H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 proteins in each group, and the expressions of H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 proteins in colorectal cancer patients with different clinicopathological features were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis and log-rank test was performed.Results:The positive expression rate of H3K9me3 protein in colorectal cancer group was 11.2% (11/98), which was lower than that in control group [60.6% (22/33)] ( χ2 = 33.33, P < 0.001); the positive expression rate of H3K27me3 protein in colorectal cancer group was 10.6% (13/98), which was lower than that in control group [97.0% (32/33)] ( χ2 = 76.70, P < 0.001). The positive expression rates of H3K9me3 protein were 60.6% (20/33), 17.1% (6/35), 10.3% (3/29) and 5.9 % (2/34) in the control group, the non-metastatic operation-only group, the synchronous hepatic oligometastasis group and the extensive metastasis group, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 26.10, P < 0.001); the positive expression rates of H3K27me3 protein were 97.0% (32/33), 14.3% (5/35), 20.7% (6/29) and 5.9% (2/34), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 44.16, P < 0.001). The positive expression rate of H3K27me3 in colorectal cancer tissues of patients with lymph node metastasis degree ≤0.2 was higher than that of patients with lymph node metastasis degree >0.2 [22.4% (11/49) vs. 4.2% (2/48), χ2 = 6.98, P = 0.008]. The median overall survival (OS) time of H3K9me3 positive and negative colorectal cancer patients was 77.0 months (95% CI: 10.6-143.3 months) and 34.0 months (95% CI: 25.5-42.5 months), respectively, and there was no significant difference in OS between the two groups ( P = 0.078). The median OS time of H3K27me3 positive and negative colorectal cancer patients was 39.0 months (95% CI: 15.3- 62.7 months) and 34.0 months (95% CI: 24.3-43.7 months), respectively, and there was no significant difference in OS between the two groups ( P = 0.524). Conclusions:The expressions of H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 in colorectal cancer tissues are lower than those in colorectal benign lesions, and gradually decrease with occurrence of liver metastasis and extensive metastasis. H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 may be potential cancer suppressor factors.