ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical features and outcomes of recompensation in patients with autoimmune hepatitis （AIH）-related decompensated cirrhosis， to identify independent predictive factors， and to construct a nomogram prediction model for the probability of recompensation. MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted among the adult patients with AIH-related decompensated cirrhosis who were admitted to The Fifth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from January 2015 to August 2023 （n=211）. The primary endpoint was achievement of recompensation， and the secondary endpoint was liver-related death or liver transplantation. According to the outcome of the patients at the end of the follow-up， the patients were divided into the recompensation group （n=16） and the persistent decompensation group（n=150）.The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data with homogeneity of variance， and the Mann-Whitney U rank sum test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data with heterogeneity of variance； the chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups； the Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis； the Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to identify independent predictive factors， and a nomogram model was constructed and validated. ResultsA total of 211 patients were enrolled， with a median age of 55.0 years and a median follow-up time of 44.0 months， and female patients accounted for 87.2%. Among the 211 patients， 61 （with a cumulative proportion of 35.5%） achieved recompensation. Compared with the persistent decompensation group， the recompensation group had significantly higher white blood cell count， platelet count （PLT）， total bilirubin （TBil）， alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， total bile acid， prothrombin time， international normalized ratio （INR）， SMA positive rate， Model for End-Stage Liver Disease （MELD） score， Child-Pugh score， and rate of use of glucocorticoids （all P0.05）， as well as significantly lower age at baseline， number of complications， and death/liver transplantation rate （all P0.05）. At 3 and 12 months after treatment， the recompensation group had continuous improvements in AST， TBil， INR， IgG， MELD score， and Child-Pugh score， which were significantly lower than the values in the persistent decompensation group （all P0.05）， alongside with continuous increases in PLT and albumin， which were significantly higher than the values in the persistent decompensation group （P0.05）. The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that baseline ALT （hazard ratio ［HR］=1.067， 95% confidence interval ［CI］： 1.010 — 1.127， P=0.021）， IgG （HR=0.463，95%CI：0.258 — 0.833， P=0.010）， SMA positivity （HR=3.122，95%CI：1.768 — 5.515， P0.001）， and glucocorticoid therapy （HR=20.651，95%CI：8.744 — 48.770， P0.001） were independent predictive factors for recompensation， and the nomogram model based on these predictive factors showed excellent predictive performance （C-index=0.87，95%CI：0.84 — 0.90）. ConclusionAchieving recompensation significantly improves clinical outcomes in patients with AIH-related decompensated cirrhosis. Baseline SMA positivity， a high level of ALT， a low level of IgG， and corticosteroid therapy are independent predictive factors for recompensation. The predictive model constructed based on these factors can provide a basis for decision-making in individualized clinical management.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, computational pathology has been seamlessly integrated into the entire clinical workflow, which encompasses diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and biomarker discovery. This integration has significantly enhanced clinical accuracy and efficiency while reducing the workload for clinicians. Traditionally, research in this field has depended on the collection and labeling of large datasets for specific tasks, followed by the development of task-specific computational pathology models. However, this approach is labor intensive and does not scale efficiently for open-set identification or rare diseases. Given the diversity of clinical tasks, training individual models from scratch to address the whole spectrum of clinical tasks in the pathology workflow is impractical, which highlights the urgent need to transition from task-specific models to foundation models (FMs). In recent years, pathological FMs have proliferated. These FMs can be classified into three categories, namely, pathology image FMs, pathology image-text FMs, and pathology image-gene FMs, each of which results in distinct functionalities and application scenarios. This review provides an overview of the latest research advancements in pathological FMs, with a particular emphasis on their applications in oncology. The key challenges and opportunities presented by pathological FMs in precision oncology are also explored.
Humans ; Precision Medicine/methods* ; Medical Oncology/methods* ; Artificial Intelligence ; Neoplasms/pathology* ; Computational Biology/methods*

Objective:To investigate the hepatoprotective effect of N-acetylcysteine(NAC)on rats with liver injury induced by cisplatin and its effect on intestinal flora and the expression of interleukin-6(IL-6),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),and nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB).Methods:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group(CG),cisplatin group(CP),and NAC group.The rats in the NAC group were given NAC 15 mg/kg by gavage for 8 consecutive days.At half an hour after intragastric administration on the fifth day,all rats except those in the NC group were given intraperitoneal injection of 8 mg/kg cisplatin to induce acute liver injury.An automatic biochemical analyzer was used to measure the content of aspartate aminotransferase(AST),alanine aminotransferase(ALT),alkaline phosphatase(ALP),and total bilirubin(TBIL);liver index was calculated for the rats;Western blot was used to measure the relative expression levels of NF-κB,IL-6,and TNF-α in liver tissue;the 16S rDNA technique was used to measure and analyze the amplification information of the V3-V4 regions of each sample.Results:Compared with the NC group,the CP group had significant increases in the content of AST,ALT,ALP,and TBIL,while NAC reversed the abnormal liver function caused by cisplatin.Compared with the NC group,the CP group had a sig-nificant increase in liver index(P=0.000),while the NAC group had a significant reduction in liver index compared with the CP group(P=0.007).Compared with the NC group,the CP group had signifi-cant increases in the expression levels of IL-6,TNF-α,and NF-κB,while the NAC group showed reductions in the expression of these genes,with significant differences in the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α(P=0.006 and 0.000).Compared with the NC group,the CP group had a significant increase in the α-diversity index of intesti-nal flora,while compared with the CP group,the NAC group tended to have a reduction in the α-diversity index of intestinal flora.Com-pared with the CP group at the phylum level,the NAC group had an increase in the abundance of Actinobacteria and a reduction in the abundance of Firmicutes.Compared with the CP group at the genus level,the NAC group had a reduction in the abundance of Rumino-coccaceae and increases in the abundance of Bifidobacterium and Allobaculum.Conclusion:NAC can alleviate acute liver injury caused by cisplatin,possibly by downregulating the expression of IL-6,TNF-α,and NF-κB and regulating the abundance and diver-sity of intestinal flora.

Objective To investigate the role and mechanism of RNA-Specific adenosine deaminase 3 (Adar3) in regulating macrophage polarization during Coxsackievirus B3(CVB3)-induced viral myocarditis (VM). Methods Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) from mice were cultured in vitro and induced into M1/M2 macrophages using interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)/lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or interleukin 4 (IL-4), respectively. The mRNA expression levels of Adar1, Adar2, and Adar3 in each group of cells were assessed by real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). Specific siRNAs targeting the Adar3 gene were designed, synthesized, and transiently transfected into M2 macrophages. The mRNA levels of M2 polarization-related marker genes-including arginase 1 (Arg1), chitinase 3-like molecule 3 (YM1/Chi3l3), and resistin-like molecule alpha (RELMα/FIZZ1)-were detected by qRT-PCR. RNA sequencing was performed to analyze the signaling pathways affected by Adar3. The expression levels of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway were further validated using qRT-PCR and Western blot. The adeno-associated virus overexpressing Adar3 was designed, synthesized, and injected into mice via tail vein. Three weeks later, a myocarditis mouse model was established. After an additional week, the phenotype and function of cardiac macrophages, as well as multiple indicators of VM (including echocardiography, body weight, histopathology and serology) were examined. Additionally, the protein levels of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway were assessed. Results Compared to M0-type macrophages, the expression level of Adar3 was significantly increased in M2-type macrophages. After transfection of Adar3 siRNA, the mRNA levels of Arg1, YM1 and FIZZ1 in M2 macrophages were downregulated. RNA sequencing revealed 149 upregulated genes and 349 downregulated genes. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis and subsequent validation experiments indicated that Adar3 modulated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In vivo experiments demonstrated that Adar3 overexpression alleviated the cardiac dysfunction of VM mice. The proportion of M1 macrophages in the heart decreased, while the proportion of M2 macrophages increased. At the same time, the Adar3 overexpression activated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Conclusion Adar3 promotes macrophage polarization toward the M2 phenotype by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, thereby alleviating VM.
Animals ; Adenosine Deaminase/metabolism* ; Macrophages/immunology* ; Wnt Signaling Pathway/genetics* ; Myocarditis/immunology* ; Mice ; Coxsackievirus Infections/metabolism* ; Male ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Enterovirus B, Human/physiology* ; beta Catenin/genetics*

PURPOSE: Postpancreatectomy hemorrhage (PPH) is a life-threatening complication after pancreatoduodenectomy. Stent-graft implantation is an emerging treatment option for PPH. This study reports the outcome of PPH treated with stent-graft implantation. METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective study. Between April 2020 and December 2023, 1723 pancreatectomy cases were collected while we screened 12 cases of PPH after pancreatoduodenectomy treated with stent-graft implantation. Patients' medical and radiologic images were retrospectively reviewed. Technical and clinical success, complications, and stent-graft patency were evaluated. Continuous data are reported as means ± standard deviation when normally distributed or as median (Q₁, Q₃) when the data is non-normal distributed. Categorical data are reported as n (%). A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used for stent patency and patients' survival. RESULTS: Pancreatic fistula was identified in 6 cases (50.0%), and pseudoaneurysm was identified in 3 cases (25.0%), including pancreatic fistula together with pseudoaneurysm in 1 case (8.3%). All pseudoaneurysm or contrast extravasation sites were successfully excluded with patent distal perfusion, thus technical success was achieved in all cases. The overall survival rate at 6 months and 1 year was 91.7% and 78.6%, respectively. One patient had herniation of the small intestine into the thoracic cavity, which caused a broad thoracic and abdominal infection and died during hospitalization. Rebleeding occurred at the gastroduodenal artery stump in 1 case after stent-graft implantation for the splenic artery and was successfully treated with another stent-graft implantation. Two cases of asymptomatic stent-graft occlusion were observed at 24.6 and 26.3 after the operation, respectively. CONCLUSIONS With suitable anatomy, covered stent-graft implantation is an effective and safe treatment option for PPH with various bleeding sites and causes.
Humans ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy/adverse effects* ; Stents ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Hemorrhage/surgery* ; Aged ; Adult

Homeostasis and energy and substance metabolism reprogramming shape various tumor microenvironment to sustain cancer stemness, self-plasticity and treatment resistance. Aiming at them, a lipid-based pharmaceutical loaded with CaO₂ and glucose oxidase (GOx) (LipoCaO₂/GOx, LCG) has been obtained to disrupt calcium homeostasis and interfere with glycometabolism. The loaded GOx can decompose glucose into H₂O₂ and gluconic acid, thus competing with anaerobic glycolysis to hamper lactic acid (LA) secretion. The obtained gluconic acid further deprives CaO₂ to produce H₂O₂ and release Ca²⁺, disrupting Ca²⁺ homeostasis, which synergizes with GOx-mediated glycometabolism interference to deplete glutathione (GSH) and yield reactive oxygen species (ROS). Systematical experiments reveal that these sequential multifaceted events unlocked by Ca²⁺ homeostasis disruption and glycometabolism interference, ROS production and LA inhibition, successfully enhance cancer immunogenic deaths of breast cancer cells, hamper regulatory T cells (Tregs) infiltration and promote CD8⁺ T recruitment, which receives a considerably-inhibited outcome against breast cancer progression. Collectively, this calcium homeostasis disruption glycometabolism interference strategy effectively combines ion interference therapy with starvation therapy to eventually evoke an effective anti-tumor immune environment, which represents in the field of biomedical research.

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite advances in treatment, cancer relapse remains a significant challenge, necessitating novel therapeutic strategies. In this study, we engineered nanobody-based chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cells targeting cadherin 17 (CDH17) for the treatment of GI tumors. In addition, to enhance the efficacy of CAR-NK cells, we also incorporated CV1, a CD47-SIRPα axis inhibitor, to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of this combination. We found that CDH17-CAR-NK cells effectively eliminated GI cancers cells in a CDH17-dependent manner. CDH17-CAR-NK cells also exhibit potent in vivo anti-tumor effects in cancer cell-derived xenograft and patient-derived xenograft mouse models. Additionally, the anti-tumor activity of CDH17-CAR-NK cells is synergistically enhanced by CD47-signal regulatory protein α (SIRPα) axis inhibitor CV1, likely through augmented macrophages activation and an increase in M1-phenotype macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. Collectively, our findings suggest that CDH17-targeting CAR-NK cells are a promising strategy for GI cancers. The combination of CDH17-CAR-NK cells with CV1 emerges as a potential combinatorial approach to overcome the limitations of CAR-NK therapy. Further investigations are warranted to speed up the clinical translation of these findings.

OBJECTIVES: We propose a multi-scale jaw cyst segmentation model, AConvLSTM U-Net, which is based on bidirectional dense connections and attention mechanisms to achieve accurate automatic segmentation of mandibular cyst images. METHODS: A dataset consisting of 2592 jaw cyst images was used. AConvLSTM U-Net designs a MBC on the encoding path to enhance feature extraction capabilities. A DPD was used to connect the encoder and decoder, and a bidirectional ConvLSTM was introduced in the jump connection to obtain rich semantic information. A decoding block based on scSE was then used on the decoding path to enhance the focus on important information. Finally, a DS was designed, and the model was optimized by integrating a joint loss function to further improve the segmentation accuracy. RESULTS: The experiment with AConvLSTM U-Net for jaw cyst lesion segmentation showed a MCC of 93.8443%, a DSC of 93.9067%, and a JSC of 88.5133%, outperforming all the other comparison segmentation models. CONCLUSIONS The proposed algorithm shows a high accuracy and robustness on the jaw cyst dataset, demonstrating its superior performance over many existing methods for automatic segmentation of jaw cyst images and its potential to assist clinical diagnosis.
Humans ; Jaw Cysts/diagnostic imaging* ; Algorithms ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Neural Networks, Computer

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the mechanism by which transforming growth factor‑β (TGF‑β) regulates major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and its role in immune evasion of HCC. METHODS: HCC cells treated with TGF‑β alone or in combination with SB-431542 (a TGF-β type I receptor inhibitor) were examined for changes in MHC-I expression using RT-qPCR and Western blotting. A RNA interference experiment was used to explore the role of miR-23a-3p/IRF1 signaling in TGF‑β‑mediated regulation of MHC-I. HCC cells with different treatments were co-cultured with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and the changes in HCC cell proliferation was assessed using CCK-8 and colony formation assays. T-cell cytotoxicity in the co-culture systems was assessed with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and JC-1 mitochondrial membrane potential assays, and T-cell activation was evaluated by flow cytometric analysis of CD69 cells and ELISA for TNF-α secretion. RESULTS: TGF‑β treatment significantly suppressed MHC-I expression in HCC cells and reduced T-cell activation, leading to increased tumor cell proliferation and decreased HCC cell death in the co-culture systems. Mechanistically, TGF-β upregulated miR-23a-3p, which directly targeted IRF1 to inhibit MHC-I transcription. Overexpression of miR-23a-3p phenocopied TGF‑β‑induced suppression of IRF1 and MHC-I. CONCLUSIONS We reveal a novel immune escape mechanism of HCC, in which TGF‑β attenuates T cell-mediated antitumor immunity by suppressing MHC-I expression through the miR-23a-3p/IRF1 signaling axis.
Humans ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/metabolism* ; Liver Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Interferon Regulatory Factor-1/metabolism* ; Transforming Growth Factor beta/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Tumor Escape ; Coculture Techniques

Objective: : The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between spermine synthase (SMS) expression, tumor occurrence, and prognosis in lower-grade gliomas (LGGs). Methods: : A total of 523 LGG patients and 1152 normal brain tissues were included as controls. Mann-Whitney U test was performed to evaluate SMS expression in the LGG group. Functional annotation analysis was conducted to explore the biological processes associated with high SMS expression. Immune cell infiltration analysis was performed to examine the correlation between SMS expression and immune cell types. The association between SMS expression and clinical and pathological features was assessed using Spearman correlation analysis. In vitro experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of overexpressing or downregulating SMS on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion, and key proteins in the protein kinase B (AKT)/epithelialmesenchymal transition signaling pathway. Results: : The study revealed a significant upregulation of SMS expression in LGGs compared to normal brain tissues. High SMS expression was associated with certain clinical and pathological features, including older age, astrocytoma, higher World Health Organization grade, poor disease-specific survival, disease progression, non-1p/19q codeletion, and wild-type isocitrate dehydrogenase. Cox regression analysis identified SMS as a risk factor for overall survival. Bioinformatics analysis showed enrichment of eosinophils, T cells, and macrophages in LGG samples, while proportions of dendritic (DC) cells, plasmacytoid DC (pDC) cells, and CD8+ T cells were decreased. Conclusion : High SMS expression in LGGs may promote tumor occurrence through cellular proliferation and modulation of immune cell infiltration. These findings suggest the prognostic value of SMS in predicting clinical outcomes for LGG patients.