The morbidity and mortality of gastric cancer are high, while the overall therapeutic effect is poor without satisfactory. Clinical obstacles, such as low early-diagnosis rate, tumor heterogeneity, lack of accurate classification and precise treatment, therapeutic resistance, recurrence and metastasis, are the key point issues to the lower efficacy in treatment of gastric cancer. In order to solve these clinical problems, it is necessary to devote more energy to the basic research of gastric cancer, including tumor genomics; gene editing; tumor microenvironment; inflammation, aging and tumor; cell differentiation disorders; autophagy and cell death; metabolic disorders; immunotherapy and drug development. This paper will summarize the clinical obstacles in the treatment of gastric cancer, and describe the directions of basic research on these clinical problems in future, so as to provide notions for the translational research of gastric cancer.

Translational medicine refers to translating basic research achievements into the clinical application for diagnosis and treatment. There are still many issues of gastric cancer to be solved in clinical diagnosis and treatment. We need to focus on clinical questions, by means of basic research and multidisciplinary intersection approach, to further improve the overall efficacy of gastric cancer. Based on Ruijin Hospital′s translational research experiences, in this paper, the authors describe the future direction in the field of translational research, such as the etiology and pathogenesis of gastric cancer, tumor markers for early diagnosis, prediction of recurrence and metastasis, classification criteria, evaluation of chemotherapy, tumor heterogeneity, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and research platform establishment. In addition, here we share our perspective of the research on serum biomarkers, specific antibodies and improvement of drug delivery for gastric cancer.

Objective To analyze the dosimetric advantages of CT-guided interstitial brachytherapy for recurrent cervical cancer. Methods A total of 16 patients with recurrent cervical cancer after radical surgery and adjuvant external beam radiotherapy received interstitial brachytherapy with CT-guided implantation of metal needles. The high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV) was given 36 Gy in 6 fractions.D90for HR-CTV in the brachytherapy and the cumulative D2 cm3values for the bladder,rectum,and sigmoid colon in the previous external beam radiotherapy and the brachytherapy were analyzed.Results The mean D90value for HR-CTV was 52.5±3.3 Gy. The cumulative D2 cm3values for the bladder, rectum, and sigmoid colon were 85.6±5.8 Gy,71.6±6.4 Gy,and 69.6±5.9 Gy,respectively.The mean number of metal needles was 6.1±1.5 in each brachytherapy. The actual 1-year overall survival and local control were 81% and 69%, respectively. Conclusions CT-guided interstitial brachytherapy for recurrent cervical cancer shows good dose-volume histogram parameters and few complications, so it may be clinically feasible. However,its long-term clinical efficacy needs further observation.

OBJECTIVE:To optimize the extraction technology of garlic oil. METHODS:Using extraction rate of garlic oil as index,based on single factor test,Box-Behnken response surface method was used to optimize conditions of steam distillation method for the extraction of garlic as fermentation time,solid to liquid ratio,fermentation temperature and the verification test were made for the optimized technology. RESULTS:The optimal extraction technology was as follows as fermentation time of 4.5 h,solid to liquid ratio of 1:7,fermentation temperature of 55 ℃. The average extraction rate of garlic oil in verification test was 0.32%(RSD=1.43%,n=3);the relative error between the measured value and predicted value was 0.06%. CONCLUSIONS:Box-Behnken response surface method is simple,reasonable and feasible to optimize the extraction technology of garlic oil,which can provide a scientific basis for industrial production.

Objective To examine the dosimetric advantages of three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT)-guided interstitial brachytherapy (BT) for target volume and surrounding normal tissue in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer,and to provide a simple and effective clinical treatment approach.Methods A total of 52 patients who had poor tumor response to external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with a residual tumor greater than 5 cm at the time of BT were included.The patients were treated by 3D CT-guided interstitial BT using a hybrid applicator comprised of uterine tandem and free metal needles.The high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV),intermediate-risk clinical target volume (IR-CTV),and organs at risk (OAR) were contoured.The total dose,including external beam radiotherapy and high dose-rate BT,was biologically normalized to conventional 2 Gy fractions (EQD2).D90and D100for both HR-CTV and IR-CTV,and D2 ccfor the bladder,rectum,and sigmoid were analyzed.Results The mean D90value for HR-CTV was 88.4±3.5 Gy.The D2 ccfor the bladder,rectum,and sigmoid were 81.1±5.6,65.7±5.1,and 63.1±5.4 Gy,respectively.D2 cc≤90 Gy for the bladder and D2 cc≤70 Gy for the sigmoid were observed in all the patients.D2 cc≤70 Gy for the rectum was observed in 89% of patients.Conclusions 3DCT-guided interstitial BT has a significant dosimetric advantage for target volume accompanied by few minor complications,and thereby may be clinically feasible for treating locally advanced cervical cancer.However,its long-term efficacy and possible toxicities will require further clinical observation.

Objective:To explore the quality of inventory samples of a biobank stored in a deep freezer from 0 to over 10 years in Shanghai Ruijin Hospital. Methods:We extracted 24 pairs of stocked gastric cancer samples between 2003 and 2014. We used 1%aga-rose gel electrophoresis to analyze DNA and RNA purity and integrity while adding the RNA integrity number (RIN) for precise analysis. Bicinchonininc acid (BCA) assay was used for protein concentration evaluation. Coomassie brilliant blue method was used for protein integrity assay. Results: The samples were divided into four groups according to cryopreservation period (<2 years, 3-5 years, 6-8 years, and>9 years). No significant difference in DNA integrity was found between the groups (P>0.05);however, DNA degradation in normal gastric mucosa was faster than that in gastric cancer tissue (P=0.023). The RIN significantly declined when the storage period was 6 years or longer (P=0.018). No significant difference in protein concentration was observed between different groups. Using Coo-massie brilliant blue method, we found significant differences in preserved proteins with different molecular weights. Proteins with varying molecular weights were detected in the groups with the following cryopreservation periods:>9 years, a small number of low-molecular-weight (average 36.5 KD) proteins;6-8 years, medium-molecular-weight (average 65.63KD) proteins;3-5 years, high-molecu-lar-weight (average 127.5 KD) proteins;<2 years, high-molecular-weight (average 160 KD) proteins. Conclusion:Cryopreservation does not exert an obvious effect on DNA. If the cryopreservation period is more than 5 years, serious degradation of RNA should occur;like-wise, degradation of proteins with higher molecular weight should occur.

Chuangxinmycin (CM) from Actinoplanes tsinanensis was an antibiotic discovered by Chinese scientists about 40 years ago. It contains a new heterocyclic system of indole fused with dihydrothiopyran, whose biosynthetic mechanism remains unclear. CM is used as an oral medicine in the treatment of bacterial infections in China. The simple structure makes CM as an attractive candidate of structure modification for improvement of antibacterial activity. Recently, we analyzed the secondary metabolites of Actinoplanes tsinanensis CPCC 200056, a CM producing strain, as a natural CM analogue. We discovered the first natural CM analogue 3-demethylchuangxinmycin (DCM) as a new natural product. Compared to CM, DCM exhibited a much weaker activity in the inhibition of the bacterial strains tested. The finding provides valuable information for the structure-activity relationship in the biosynthesis of CM.

Today, the comprehensive surgical treatment for gastrointestinal cancer is almost in the perfect stage. It is difficult to further improve the curative effect by surgery only. To improve the overall curative effect of gastrointestinal tumor, translational medicine research should be promoted in the fields of the early diagnosis, etiology and pathogenesis and comprehensive treatment. Researches of discovering the new tumor markers for early diagnosis of tumor, etiology and pathogenesis involve many aspects, including environmental factors, genetic susceptibility, variation and accumulation of genetics, and epigenetic changes, which should be transferred to new methods of treatment. This review summarizes the gastrointestinal tumor-associated hot topics in the field of basic research and its progress, and provides the clinical clues from their conversion.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Humans

This study was ai med to observe the taste-masking effects of Neotame on bitter Chinese herbal ingredients. Five kinds of herbal ingredients, which include Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, Cortex Phellodendri chinensis, Coptis chinensis Franch, Gentiana scabra Bunge, Andrographis paniculata, were selected to measure the bitterness degree of decoctions with berberine solution as the benchmark. The decreasing of bitterness degree was used as index. Healthy volunteers were recruited to taste and compare the changes of bitterness of decoctions with the taste-masking effects of Neotame. Different concentrations of Neotame were selected in the determination of the influence on changes of bitterness. The results showed that when the concentration of Neotame was at 0.012 5‰-0.4‰, taste-masking effects of Neotame on selected herbal decoctions were in a concentration-dependent fashion. When the concentration of Neotame was 0.4‰, the reduced bitterness of S. baicalensis Georgi and Cortex P. chinensis decoctions were 1.22 and 1.77, by 70.11% and 71.88%, respectively. Three highly-bitter herbal ingredients C. chinensis Franch, G. scabra Bunge and A . paniculata were also reduced in bitter taste by 49.12%, 50.87% and 38.39%, with the bitter reduced value (△I) of 1.78, 2.02 and 1.43, respectively. It was concluded that Neotame exerted taste masking potential on bitter herbal ingredients with different bitter degrees.

MicroRNA are endogenous non-coding small RNA composed of approximately 18 - 23 nucleotides, mainly participating in post-transcription gene regulation. More and more data show that miR-21 is over-expressed in many human cancer cells and it was involved in cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis, closely related to tumorigenesis and the development of carcinoma as oncogene. Here, we will make a review about miR-21' s target gene, biosynthesis and regulation and clinical significance in order to provide a valued data for the future study and clinical application.