BACKGROUNDAngiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) is one of the critical regulators of tumor angiogenesis. Studies have shown a significant correlation of Ang-2 expression to tumor invasion and metastasis in various human cancers, but little is known about the serum Ang-2 (sAng-2) levels in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) and its precursors. In this study, we aimed to investigate its role in screening for ESCC and its precursors.

METHODSWe carried out a free endoscopic screening in Feicheng City, a high ESCC incidence area in Shandong Province of China. Serum samples were collected as follows: 91 from normal subjects, 44 from patients with esophagitis, 85 from patients with hyperplasia, and 13 from patients with early ESCC. In addition, 28 serum samples were obtained from patients with invasive ESCC undergoing surgery in People's Hospital of Feicheng City. All the subjects of the five groups were diagnosed by histopathology. The sAng-2 levels were tested and compared, and the diagnostic power in early or/and invasive ESCC was calculated in terms of sensitivity and other parameters.

RESULTSThe sAng-2 levels were (22.0 +/- 5.5), (21.3 +/- 3.2), (20.5 +/- 3.3), (24.0+/- 5.0), and (29.8 +/- 5.0) U/ml in normal, esophagitis, hyperplasia, early ESCC, and invasive ESCC groups respectively. It was significantly higher in early ESCC than inhyperplasia group (P = 0.009). The invasive ESCC group showed the highest Ang-2 level among all groups (all P = 0.000). The sensitivities of sAng-2 to early and invasive ESCC were 23.1% and 78.6% respectively.

CONCLUSIONsAng-2 level is related to carcinogenesis and progression of ESCC, but it can not be used to screen for early ESCC.

Aged ; Angiopoietin-2 ; blood ; genetics ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; blood ; diagnosis ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; RNA, Messenger ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo observe the distribution of the pre-cancerous condition and pathological changes of esophageal cancer of the community residents in high-incidence area, and to provide etiological evidences for secondary prevention.

METHODSAn iodine-staining endoscope census was conducted in 9536 residents with high-risk factors at Feicheng, a high esophageal cancer incidence community in Shandong province. Of which, 1507 pathologic biopsies were performed and chi2 test administrated.

RESULTSThere was no statistical significance found in biopsy pathologic diagnosis between females and males among 1507 samples. The mild and medium atypical hyperplasia was taken as pre-cancerous condition and severe atypical hyperplasia was taken as pre-cancerous lesion. Taking all the population attending census as denominator, the detection rate of the precancerous state and precancerous lesion were 6.98% (294/4214) and 1.23% (52/4214) for the males, and 3.68% (196/5322) and 0.47% (25/5322) for the females, respectively. A statistical significance was observed when comparing males with females (chi2 were 52.349 and 15.267, respectively, P < 0.05). Analyzed by age group, severe atypical hyperplasia pathological changes were mainly distributed in the age group of 50- and 65-. The constituent ratio between 45 - and 50 - was the highest for CIS. Early carcinoma was mainly distributed in five age groups from 45- to 65-. It showed that high incidence town had a high detection rate of cancer and pathological changes of esophageal cancer in the analysis of urban and rural distribution.

CONCLUSIONThe distribution of the pre-cancerous state and pathological changes of esophageal cancer of the residents should have provided a scientific basis for the primary and secondary prevention.

Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; China ; epidemiology ; Community Health Services ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Precancerous Conditions ; epidemiology ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Preventive Health Services

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of fire needle in treating vitiligo and the characteristics of vitiligo image by the confocal laser scanning microscope(CLSM).Methods The randomized self-controlled experiment design was adopted.Each patient selected two symmetric or adjacent white patches and randomly received the fire needle treatment or tacrolimus treatment. The duration of treatment was 3 months.The CLSM images of white patches were recorded before treatment and after 3,6 times of fire needle treatment.Results Among 41 cases of stable stage vitiligo,The effective rates of the fire needle group and tacrolimus group were 82.9% and 78.0% respectively,and the difference was not statistically significant(P>0.05).After fire needle treat-ment,dentritic melanin cells appeared,the pigment granules gradually appeared around the basal layer and corpora papillare,and formed the pigment ring.Conclusion Fire needle and tacrolimus have the similar effect in treating vitiligo,moreover CLSM can be used as the non-invasive,objective and reliable detection means of the recovery of vitiligo melanocyte.

Objective To analyze time trend of cancer during 1970-2005 in Shandong province so as to develop strategies for control and prevention of cancer at the community level. Methods Data was from 4 retrospective surveys regarding all causes of death during 1970-- 1974, 1985-1989, 1990- 1992 and 2004-2005, in Shandong province. Other than one set of data collected in 1985-1989 by Shandong province itself, the other 3 set of data were from the national surveys, in which the survey-point sampling of choice was based on data of 1970-1974 for assessing its representativeness. The observing indices would include standardized mortality and mortality. A join-point regression model was used to analyze the changing rate of tumor. Results The mortality rate of the entire tumor increased 143.15 percent in 2005 than in 1970. The changing slope of standardized rate of all tumors in the regression model showed that the inter-annual growth rate were 0.54 and 1.24 percent from 1970 to 1984 and from 1985 to 1992. The rate of increase since 1992 had been 0.18 percent. During 2004-2005, the main malignant cancers were lung, stomach, liver, esophageal, coiorectal, leukemia, breast and cervical cancer, in order. Lung cancer rose from the 4th ranking to the first while cervical cancer dropped from the fifth ranking to the 8th place. Esophageal cancer and cervical cancer were decreased annually while gastric cancer was increased in the early days but decreased later on. The rest of the cancers were on the rise year by year. Rates of lung and breast cancers were higher while gastric and esophageal cancers were lower seen in the urban than in rural areas. Conclusion In Shandong province, a marked increase was seen in the mortality rate of tumors in the past 35 years. Evidence showed that the spectrum of death among main malignant tumors had changed which might provide a scientific basis for the development of a community-based prevention and control program on cancer.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the risk factors related to the esophageal squamous cell cancer in Feicheng county in Shandong province.

METHODSA case-control study was carried out in Feicheng county. There were two parts consisted in the cases. 253 cases, aged from 40 to 69 years old, were recruited from the screened endoscopic survey program from January 2004 to December 2006. The other part of cases was recruited from the people's Hospital of Feicheng city. 8159 subjects whose had normal endoscope test result were recruited as the control group. Besides cardiograph and ventral ultrasound examination the screening program also included an endoscope test during which mucosal stain with 1.2% iodine solution. The biopsies were taken from the screen and underwent pathologic evaluation by two pathologists; A self-administrative questionnaire survey was conducted in all the subjects to collect information about smoking, alcohol consumption and dietary. The binary Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee and the study was conducted with the informed consents of all the study subjects.

RESULTSThere were 235 esophageal cancers cases (70 identified in screening program, 183 were hospitalized patients) and 8159 controls in the case-control study. Three potential confounders were detected after univariate analysis. After adjusted the three confounders, age, sex and education, we found, smoking, alcohol drinking were the top ranked risk factors for esophageal cancer. When combing smoking and alcohol drinking, the or was 2.73 (95% CI: 1.54 - 4.82) for male, and the proportional attribute relative risk was 51.47%. We also observed that more dietary cellulose and vitamin C intake have protective effects.

CONCLUSIONSmoking and alcohol drinking could increase the risk of esophageal cancer, and taking more dietary cellulose and vitamin C might decrease the risk.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Case-Control Studies ; China ; epidemiology ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Glycolytic metabolism enzymes have been implicated in the immunometabolism field through changes in metabolic status. PGK1 is a catalytic enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Here, we set up a high-throughput screen platform to identify PGK1 inhibitors. DC-PGKI is an ATP-competitive inhibitor of PGK1 with an affinity of K _d = 99.08 nmol/L. DC-PGKI stabilizes PGK1 in vitro and in vivo, and suppresses both glycolytic activity and the kinase function of PGK1. In addition, DC-PGKI unveils that PGK1 regulates production of IL-1β and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Mechanistically, inhibition of PGK1 with DC-PGKI results in NRF2 (nuclear factor-erythroid factor 2-related factor 2, NFE2L2) accumulation, then NRF2 translocates to the nucleus and binds to the proximity region of Il-1β and Il-6 genes, and inhibits LPS-induced expression of these genes. DC-PGKI ameliorates colitis in the dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model. These data support PGK1 as a regulator of macrophages and suggest potential utility of PGK1 inhibitors in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.