Objective To investigate the inducing effect of acitrotin on the growth and apoptosis of human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cell line SCC13 and on caspases expression.Methods Human cutaneous squa-mous cell carcinoma cell line SCC13 was treated with five different concentrations of acitrefin [5×10-7,1×10-6,5×10-6,1×10-5,5×10-5mol/L].Cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay.Apoptosis was assessed by en-zyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The cell cycle was assessed by flow cytometry.The protein expressions of caspase-8 and caspase-9 were examined with Western blot.Results Acitretin inhibited the growth ( F = 83.64,96.34 and 123.17, respectively on the first, third and fifth day)and induced the apoptosis of SCC13 cells(F=74.45,107.37,and 64.28, respectively on the first, third and fifth day) in a dose- and time-dependent manner(P<0.05).Acitretin altered cell cycle distribution of SCC13 cells as compared with controls, the G1-phase population increased by 77.66% 72 hours after acitretin treatment, while the control increased only by 63.55%.An active fragment of caspase-8 occurred following 12 hours treatment of acitretin on SCC13 cells, whereas the caspase-9 active fragment occurred 24 hours after acitretin treatment, which increased time-dependently (P<0.01).Conclusion Acitretin plays an important role on the growth inhibition and apoptosis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cells, which may be affected through both Fas receptor way and mitochondria way.

ObjectiveTo observe the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture plus constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) in recovering neurologic function of patients with spastic hemiplegia.MethodSixty patients with post-stroke spastic hemiplegia were randomized into an electroacupuncture group, a CIMT group, and an electroacupuncture+CIMT (integrated) group to receive corresponding intervention in addition tothe ordinary rehabilitation treatment, 20 cases in each group. Before treatment and after 4-week treatment, the modified Ashworth Scale, Clinical Neurologic Deficit Scale, Short-form Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale (FMA), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were adopted for evaluation and comparison.ResultAfter 4-week treatment, the Ashworth score and neurologic deficit score were significantly reduced in the three groups (P<0.01), and the scores in CIMT group were significantly lower than that in the electroacupuncture group (P<0.05), and the scores in the integrated group were markedly lower than that in the other two groups (P<0.05); the FMA and BBS scores were significantly increased after intervention in the three groups (P<0.01), and the scores in CIMT group were higher than that in the elctroacupuncture group (P<0.05), and the scores in the integrated group were higher than that in the other two groups(P<0.05).ConclusionElectroacupuncture plus CIMT can reduce the muscular tension of the affected limb in patients with spastic hemiplegia, and improve the neurologic function, motor function, and the quality of life of the patients.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of total cases of lung cancer, which has the highest incidence and mor-tality in China. Most patients with lung cancer present with advanced stage disease at the time of diagnosis. With the limited develop-ment of cytotoxic chemotherapy for NSCLC therapy, median overall survival in patients receiving platinum-based doublet chemothera-py has been less than one year in several trials. To date, anti-angiogenesis agents combined with chemotherapy, small molecule tyro-sine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and immune checkpoint inhibitors were commonly applied in NSCLC instead of purely chemotherapy, which makes a great breakthrough in NSCLC therapy. This review summarizes and discusses the application of anti-angiogenic therapy in ad-vanced NSCLC.