Objective To explore the relationship between uric acid, visceral fat thickness and insulin resistance in elderly patients with hypertriglyceridemia (HTG). Methods A total of 347 elderly patients with HTG admitted to the hospital from January 2021 to January 2025 were retrospectively selected, and the related factors of insulin resistance in elderly HTG were analyzed. Results Among the 347 elderly patients with HTG, 218 cases had insulin resistance and 129 cases did not develop insulin resistance, and were included in the insulin resistance group (n=218) and the non-insulin resistance group (n=129) respectively. Compared with the non-insulin resistance group, patients in the insulin resistance group had higher proportions of severe HTG and concurrent fatty liver, higher levels of IL-6, TNF- α, FFA and uric acid, and thicker visceral fat thickness (P<0.05). After logistic regression analysis, it was found that the related factors for insulin resistance in elderly patients with HTG included the severity of HTG, IL-6, FFA, uric acid, and visceral fat thickness (P<0.05). Conclusion The severity of HTG, IL-6, FFA, uric acid, and visceral fat thickness are related to insulin resistance in elderly HTG patients. Clinically, it is necessary to pay attention to targeted interventions for uric acid control and visceral fat reduction in elderly patients with HTG so as to improve the insulin resistance status.

To develop an multimodal interpretable model that integrates whole slide images(WSI) and clinical features, and to validate its efficacy in predicting pathological complete response(pCR) in lung cancer patients following neoadjuvant therapy.

Reactive astrocytes, which exhibit a correlation with the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, are present in a considerable number during the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the underlying factors shaping astrocyte reactivity and neuroinflammation in PD remain inadequately elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7)/FGF receptor 2 (FGFR2) autocrine signaling intensifies astrocyte reactivity and inflammation. Genetic deletion of Arrb2, β-Arrestin2 encoding gene, led to escalated astrocyte reactivity in MPTP-treated mice, which was further substantiated in astrocyte-specific Arrb2 knockdown mice. RNA sequencing profiling of Arrb2 knockout astrocytes identified Fgf7 as a critical effector of astrocyte reactivity. Subsequently, conditional knockdown of Fgf7 and its receptor Fgfr2 in astrocytes elicited advantageous effects for MPTP-treated mice by restraining the inflammatory phenotypic transition of reactive astrocytes. Furthermore, deletion of astrocytic Fgf7 mitigated MPTP-induced pathology in Arrb2 knockout mice. Mechanistically, STAT1 was distinguished as the transcription factor suppressing Fgf7 expression, while β-Arrestin2 counteracted the proteasomal degradation of STAT1 by binding to RNF220, an E3 ubiquitin ligase for STAT1. More importantly, selectively engaging dopamine D2 receptor (Drd2)/β-Arrestin2-biased signaling using the agonist UNC9995 exhibited therapeutic potential in MPTP-treated mice via moderation of astrocytic FGF7 production, thereby restoring balance in astrocyte reactivity. Collectively, our study bridges a crucial knowledge gap by elucidating the novel functions of FGF family members within the central nervous system, particularly within the context of PD. The autocrine signaling of FGF7/FGFR2 represents a novel mechanism and a potential druggable target for modulating astrocyte-derived inflammation.

Trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop2) is a glycoprotein that is barely expressed in normal tissues but highly expressed in malignant tumors; it is remarkably associated with poor prognosis. Various targeted therapeutics against Trop2, such as anti-Trop2 antibodies and antibody-drug conjugate drugs targeting Trop2, have been developed, and some therapeutics have been approved or are in clinical trials for cancer treatment. In this review, we comprehensively discuss the gene structure, mechanism of action, clinical research, drug development, and other aspects of Trop2 to provide references for the clinical development of effective and safe Trop2-targeting drugs.

Objective:To investigate expression changes of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes(TILs)and their subtypes CD4+TILs,CD8+TILs,CD20+TILs and Foxp3+TILs in paired tumor samples pre-and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NACT)in high-grade serous ovarian cancer(HGSOC)patients and their association with chemotherapy sensitivity and prognosis.Methods:A total of 40 patients with HGSOC who underwent NACT and interval debulking surgery(IDS)at Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from August 2017 to February 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.CD4+TILs,CD8+TILs,CD20+TILs and Foxp3+TILs expressions in paired tumor samples pre-and post-NACT were detected by immunohistochemical staining.Divided patients into two groups based on KELIM score and platinum sensitivity,expressions of TILs,CD4+TILs,CD8+TILs,CD20+TILs and Foxp3+TILs were compared be-tween two groups,and their correlation with prognosis was analyzed.Results:Density of TILs(P=0.003,P=0.01),CD8+TILs(P<0.001,P=0.014)and CD20+TILs(P<0.001,P=0.003)post-NACT in patients with KELIM scores≥1 and platinum sensitivity were in-creased compared with pre-NACT.In contrast,there was no significant change in density of TILs pre-and post-NACT in patients with KELIM scores<1 and platinum resistance.Patients with high expression of CD8+TILs pre-NACT had longer progression free survival(PFS)and overall survival(OS)than patients with lower expression(P<0.001,P=0.011);patients with high expression of TILs post-NACT showed prolonged median PFS and OS(P<0.001,P=0.009);patients with high expression of CD20+TILs post-NACT showed prolonged median PFS(P=0.005).In multivariate analysis,density of CD8+TILs pre-NACT(HR=0.309,P=0.032),density of TILs post-NACT(HR=0.192,P=0.014),age(HR=2.962,P=0.036)were independent prognostic factors for PFS.Conclusion:Patients with HGSOC who have increased TILs density after NACT are more likely to be platinum sensitive.Expression of TILs,CD8+TILs and CD20+TILs in tumor site can serve as effective prognostic factors in HGSOC patients.

Objective This study aims to investigate the effects of FGL2 on the immune response of EBV-infected T cells,including their activation,proliferation,exhaustion,and cytokine profile changes.Methods Primary T cells were infected with EBV at different multiplicities of infection(MOI).Expression of FGL2 in T cells,as well as T-cell activation,proliferation,exhaustion,and cytokine levels,were detected using RT-qPCR,Western blot,ELISA,CCK8,and flow cytometry(FCM),respectively.Further experiments involving FGL2 knockdown and overexpression were conducted to elucidate its specific regulatory role in EBV-infected T cells.Results FGL2 expression was significantly upregulated in EBV-infected T cells(P＜0.05).EBV infection also induced enhanced T cell activation(P＜0.001),proliferation(P＜0.001),and exhaustion(P＜0.01).Compared to the T cells+EBV group,the T cells+EBV+FGL2 overexpression group exhibited higher exhaustion levels(P＜0.01),reduced activation(P＜0.05)and proliferation(P＜0.05),decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels(P＜0.05),and increased anti-inflammatory cytokine levels(P＜0.05).Conversely,the T cells+EBV+FGL2 knockdown group demonstrated the opposite trends,with elevated activation(P＜0.01),proliferation(P＜0.05),pro-inflammatory cytokine levels(P＜0.05),and reduced exhaustion(P＜0.01)and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels(P＜0.05).Conclusion FGL2 suppresses T cell activation and proliferation,exacerbates T cell exhaustion,inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokine release,and promotes anti-inflammatory cytokine secretion during EBV infection,thereby modulating the immune response of T cells.

Objective:To establish and validate a lipid parameter-based prognostic model for predicting recurrence free survival (RFS) in pancreatic cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and pathological data of 155 patients who underwent pancreatic cancer resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy at Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University between January 2019 and December 2022. The patients were randomly divided into a training set ( n=108) and a validation set ( n=47) in a 7∶3 ratio. X-tile software was used to determine cutoff values for lipid parameters. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to construct a model predicting RFS, which was then visualized using a nomogram. The model's predictive performance, accuracy and stability, and clinical application value were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA), respectively. Individual risk scores for recurrence were calculated based on the nomogram model, and X-tile software was employed to identify optimal cutoff values for risk stratification, which was used to divide patients into low-risk and high-risk groups. Survival differences between two groups were analyzed using survival curves. Results:Among lipid parameters, patients with higher apolipoprotein A1 level had obviously longer RFS than those with low apolipoprotein A1 level (10.17 months vs 8.92 months, HR=0.397, 95% CI 0.237~0.664); patients with high total cholesterol level had obviously shorter RFS than those with low total cholesterol level (8.33 months vs 16.27months, HR=3.382, 95% CI 1.901~5.824) ; patients with high low-density lipoprotein level had obviously shorter RFS than those with low low-density lipoprotein level (8.53 months vs 11.43 months, HR=1.617, 95% CI 1.013~2.582) ; patients with high lipoprotein(a) had shorter RFS than those with low lipoprotein(a) (8.53 months vs 14.43 months, HR=2.640, 95% CI 1.514-4.604) ; and all the differences were statistical significant (all P value <0.05). Univariate Cox regression analysis identified advanced T stage, advanced N stage, high total cholesterol level, high low-density lipoprotein level, low apolipoprotein A1 level, high apolipoprotein B level, and high lipoprotein(a) level as risk factors for RFS. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that tumors located in the pancreatic body or tail ( HR=0.63, 95% CI 0.36-0.86, P=0.042), advanced T stage ( HR=4.85, 95% CI 1.47-16.04, P=0.010), advanced N stage ( HR=0.48, 95% CI 0.26-0.87, P=0.015), elevated total cholesterol levels ( HR=3.61, 95% CI 1.46-8.91, P=0.005), high density lipoprotein levels ( HR=0.48, 95% CI 0.26-0.87, P=0.015), and elevated lipoprotein(a) levels ( HR=3.17, 95% CI 1.61-6.24, P<0.001) were independent risk factors for RFS. The nomogram model incorporating these six factors above demonstrated an AUC of 0.78 (95% CI 0.70-0.87) in the training set and 0.75 (95% CI 0.59-0.91) in the validation set. Calibration curves indicated a high degree of agreement between predicted and observed outcomes. DCA suggested that the model provides substantial clinical benefit. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that patients in the high-recurrence risk group from training set and validation set both had significantly shorter RFS compared to those in the low-recurrence risk group (6.93 months vs 12.13 months, HR=4.024, 95% CI 2.594-6.243; 6.85 months vs 11.93 months, HR=2.314, 95% CI 1.227-4.362); and all the differences were statistical significant (all P value <0.05). Conclusions:The nomogram model based on lipid parameters can effectively predict recurrence free survival in patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy after pancreatic cancer surgery.

Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the common malignant tumors among men, and its incidence has been increased in China across these years. Radiotherapy is the mainstay therapy for PC. Due to the special biological characteristics of PC and the development of precision radiotherapy technology, hypofractionated regimens of radiotherapy are progressing rapidly, which has been increasingly applied in clinical practice and extensively studied by more and more researchers. In this review, the biological mechanisms of hypofractionated regimens, related clinical research, and practical applications of hypofractionated radiotherapy (such as definitive radiotherapy, postoperative adjuvant / salvage radiotherapy, oligometastasis radiotherapy, and pelvic lymph node radiotherapy) were summarized and its efficacy and toxicity profiles were analyzed, aiming to provide reference for scientific promotion of short‐course, hypofractionated precision radiotherapy for PC in China.

Objective:To compare the accuracy of two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and conventional 2D ultrasound in measuring bladder volume in pelvic tumor patients, using computed tomography (CT) as the reference.Methods:A set of bladder phantoms were constructed to compare CT and ultrasound measurements with actual injected volumes. Clinical data of 104 pelvic tumor patients who received radiotherapy at the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between August and December 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Portable transabdominal ultrasound was used to obtain the largest bladder cross-section, and the maximum diameters in the left-right (LR), anterior-posterior (AP), and superior-inferior (SI) directions (D LR, D AP, D SI) were measured. The 2D ultrasound volume was calculated as V=0.523 × D LR × D AP × D SI. Full-bladder transverse videos were recorded and processed in Matlab R2016a through frame extraction(60 images), followed by contrast enhancement, edge detection segmentation, cubic spline interpolation, and image smoothing to achieve 3D reconstruction. Paired t-tests, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and Bland-Altman analyses were performed to assess systematic bias and consistency between ultrasound methods and CT. Multivariate linear regression was applied to evaluate the effects of slice thickness, posture, age, and other factors on CT measurements. Results:In the phantom study, deviations of 2D ultrasound and CT from actual injected volumes were (0.73±3.05) ml ( t=-0.48, P=0.667) and (1.52±11.27) ml ( t=0.17, P=0.875), with ICC values>0.999. In the clinical study, mean bladder volumes measured by 3D-reconstructed ultrasound, conventional 2D ultrasound, and CT were (373.5±153.31), (314.89±135.28), (382.82±157.57) ml, respectively. The 3D-reconstructed method showed excellent agreement with CT (ICC=0.98; Bland-Altman mean bias=-9.32 ml, P=0.096), while 2D ultrasound also showed good consistency (ICC=0.91), but significantly underestimated bladder volume (mean bias=-67.93 ml, P<0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that 2D ultrasound had the best agreement with CT in the medium-volume group (200-500 ml, ICC=0.902), whereas agreement decreased in the small-volume (<200 ml, ICC=0.884) and large-volume (>500 ml, ICC=0.840) groups (all P<0.001). The 3D-reconstructed ultrasound maintained excellent consistency with CT across all subgroups (all ICC>0.95), and the measured bladder volume was not statistically significant. Multivariate regression showed that slice thickness, posture, age, sex, and surgical status had no significant effects on CT measurements. Conclusions:Ultrasound with 3D reconstruction enables accurate bladder volume monitoring through true 3D contour reconstruction, while conventional 2D ultrasound systematically underestimates bladder volume and requires correction.

Objective:To compare the preliminary efficacy and adverse events of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with or without immunotherapy in bladder preservation therapy for localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) confined to the pelvis.Methods:Clinical data of 60 patients with MIBC who received CRT with or without immunotherapy for bladder preservation at the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2016 to June 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into CRT plus immunotherapy group and CRT-alone group. Survival outcomes, bladder function preservation, recurrence and metastasis, as well as early and late radiation toxicities were evaluated. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for between-group comparisons. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and survival rates were compared by the log-rank test. Results:In the CRT plus immunotherapy group ( n=23), the median follow-up was 20 months. The median OS and median PFS were not reached. The 2-year OS, PFS, LRFS, and DMFS rates were 95.7%, 70.7%, 70.7%, and 92.9%, respectively, and 22 patients (96%) preserved normal bladder function. Patients with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) combined positive score (CPS) ≥1 had significantly higher 1-year PFS rate than those with CPS <1 (100% vs. 66.7%, P=0.004). In the CRT-alone group ( n=37), the median follow-up was 37 months, with median OS and PFS of 68 and 19 months, respectively. The 2-year OS, PFS, LRFS, and DMFS rates were 92.0%, 41.1%, 60.9% and 81.5%, respectively, and 33 patients (89%) preserved normal bladder function. Compared with the CRT-alone group, the CRT plus immunotherapy group showed a significant improvement in PFS ( χ2=4.38, P=0.036), while no significant differences were observed in OS, LRFS, or DMFS (all P>0.05). The incidence of acute hematologic toxicity in the CRT plus immunotherapy group and CRT-alone group were 52% (12/23), 27% (10/37) respectively, and late genitourinary toxicity was 22% (5/23), 8% (3/37), respectively, with no significant differences in overall acute or late toxicities (all P>0.05). Conclusions:For localized MIBC, bladder preservation with CRT combined with immunotherapy significantly improves PFS compared with CRT alone, while maintaining comparable safety. The PD-L1 status may serve as a favorable predictor for immunotherapy efficacy.