T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a highly aggressive hematologic malignancy with a poor prognosis, despite advancements in treatment. Many patients struggle with relapse or refractory disease. Investigating the role of the super-enhancer (SE) regulated gene ubiquitin-specific protease 20 (USP20) in T-ALL could enhance targeted therapies and improve clinical outcomes. Analysis of histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) data from six T-ALL cell lines and seven pediatric samples identified USP20 as an SE-regulated driver gene. Utilizing the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and BloodSpot databases, it was found that USP20 is specifically highly expressed in T-ALL. Knocking down USP20 with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) increased apoptosis and inhibited proliferation in T-ALL cells. In vivo studies showed that USP20 knockdown reduced tumor growth and improved survival. The USP20 inhibitor GSK2643943A demonstrated similar anti-tumor effects. Mass spectrometry, RNA-Seq, and immunoprecipitation revealed that USP20 interacted with hypoxia-inducible factor 1 subunit alpha (HIF1A) and stabilized it by deubiquitination. Cleavage under targets and tagmentation (CUT&Tag) results indicated that USP20 co-localized with HIF1A, jointly modulating target genes in T-ALL. This study identifies USP20 as a therapeutic target in T-ALL and suggests GSK2643943A as a potential treatment strategy.

AIM: To analyze the effect of the new "dual track integration" training policy on graduate students of master's degree in hematology. METHODS: The graduate students of master's degree majoring in hematology from January, 2013, to September, 2018 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into the "dual track integration" training group and "non-dual track integration" training group. Their health care ethics, basic knowledge in hematology, clinical skills, medical research capabilities, and employment were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences with regard to the health care ethics, and employment by class A tertiary referral hospitals of the dual track group relative to those from the non-dual track group (P>0.05); However, the dual track training group scored much higher on their basic medical knowledge, clinical skills and reasoning than that of the non-dual track training group (P<0.05); The dual track training group published fewer papers than the non-dual track group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The dual track training system enhances significantly clinical skills and basic medical knowledge of graduate students of master's degree. However, more attention needs to be paid to improve their research capabilities.

BACKGROUND: Sibling matched allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is still the first-line treatment for severe aplastic anemia. However, with the increase of patients’ age, the effect of transplantation decreases significantly. OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficacy and safety of unrelated cord blood combined with matched sibling hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of severe aplastic anemia. METHODS: A total of four severe aplastic anemia patients who underwent unrelated cord blood combined with matched sibling hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in First Affiliated Hospital (Yijishan Hospital) of Wannan Medical College from July 2017 to February 2018 were enrolled and their clinical data were used for retrospective analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) All the four patients were male. The median age was 40 years old and the median time from diagnosis to transplantation was 2.5 months. Bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells from a sibling donor as well as a unit of unrelated cord blood with HLA matching ≥ 4/6 were applied. (2) The median stem cells of total nucleated cells and CD34+ were 13.67×108/kg and 2.7×106/kg of the sibling donor, 2.1×107/kg and 1.21×105/kg of the unrelated cord blood, respectively. (3) The median implantation time of neutrophils and platelets was +10 days and +20 days, respectively. (4) After transplantation, one patient was sibling donor chimerism while that of another three patients was double donors. At the follow-up date, among the three cases of mixed chimerism from two donors, one was completely implanted with unrelated cord blood; one was completely implanted with sibling donor; the third case had mixed chimerism with sibling donor and recipient giving up treatment because of infection. (5) Only one patient developed grade II acute graft versus host disease. The incidence of III-IV acute graft versus host disease and chronic graft versus host disease was 0%. (6) Two-year post-transplant disease free survival and overall survival rates were both 75% and graft versus host disease-free and relapse-free survival was 100%. (7) The results show that sibling allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with unrelated cord blood transfusion for the treatment of older patients with severe aplastic anemia has a low incidence of graft versus host disease and a positive effect, but the dynamics for the implantation of two kinds of donor stem cells is worthy of further study.

Objective To investigate the altered spontaneous cerebral activity in patients with type 2 diabetic retinopathy (T2DR). Methods Twenty-one patients with T2DR and sixteen healthy control subject underwent rs-fMRI scans,and the data were analyzed statistically using regional homogeneity(ReHo)method to observe the change of ReHo value.Results Compared to the control group,the T2DR group showed significantly increased ReHo value in the right occipital gyrus,occipital gyrus,inferior occipital gyrus and lingual gyrus regions (t=5.30,P＜0.05,voxel＞30,AlphaSim corrected),and significantly decreased ReHo value in the left posterior cingulate,margin lobe,right inferior parietal lobule,superior temporal gyrus and hippocampus (t=-4.01,-4.86,P＜0.05,voxel＞30, AlphaSim corrected).Conclusion The patients with T2DR showed significantly increased ReHo values in the brain visual cortex and visual pathway that were associated with the injury of brain function regions.It is of important value to evaluate brain dysfunction in patients with T2DR using ReHo method of rs-fMRI.

Objective To investigate the effects of microRNA (miR)106a on the proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells in vitro.Methods 8505C and CGTH-W3 cell lines were used in the study.Overexpression and inhibition of miR106a were achieved by transfection of lentiviral vectors.The changes of gene expression were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot analysis.Cell viability and apoptosis were evaluated by MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively.The caspase-9 activities in parental CGTH-W3 and 8505C cells and transfected sublines were measured.Wound healing and Transwell invasion assays were performed to determine cell migration and invasion.Two-sample t test and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.Results The level of miR106a in 8505C was up-regulated when compared to that in CGTH-W3 cells (t=10.28, P<0.01).Scrambled control and miR106a(-) were also successfully transfected into cells.Inhibition of miR106a suppressed cell viability, migration and invasion while promoted apoptosis and caspase-9 activity of 8505C cells, with significant differences among 8505C, 8505C-control, 8505C-miR106a(-) cells (F=147.0, 19.2, 100.3, 537.8, 804.3;all P<0.01).Overexpression of miR106a promoted cell viability, migration and invasion while inhibited apoptosis and caspase-9 activity of CGTH-W3 cells, with significant differences among CGTH-W3, CGTH-W3-control, CGTH-W3-miR106a(+) cells(F=9.2, 13.3, 622.8, 12.3, 19.6, all P<0.01).In addition, miR106a may up-regulate the expression of MEKK2 and p-ERK1/2.Conclusion Acting as an onco-miR, miR106a might promote the proliferation, migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells and inhibit their apoptosis in vitro.

DTC is the most common endocrine carcinoma and its routine treatment consists of total thyroidectomy and 131I thyroid remnant ablation.Currently,standard follow-up for DTC comprises Tg measurement and neck ultrasound as well as an additional radioiodine scan when indicated.As thyroid cells are assumed to be the only source of Tg in serum,circulating Tg serves as an excellent marker of persistent or recurrent disease in DTC follow-up.With the development of highly sensitive Tg assays,now it is possible to detect very low Tg concentrations which reflect minimal amounts of thyroid tissue without the need for TSH stimulation.This review is to introduce clinical implications of highly sensitive Tg assays.