Objective:To explore the clinicopathological and genetic characteristics of sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and new therapeutic targets for sporadic MTC.Methods:Based on family and personal disease history, we identified 32 sporadic MTC who underwent surgical resection from Jan 2010 to Dec 2022. Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical features were analyzed in all patients, while 6 of them were subject to the whole exome sequencing (WES).Results:Compared with those of low-grade sporadic MTC, patients with high-grade tumors were more likely to have lymph node metastasis at presentation ( χ2=4.428, P=0.040); less likely to be cured by biochemical treatment ( χ2=4.072, P=0.044). Pathological grading scheme, biochemical cure, and TNM stage were independent risk factors of disease free survival. WES was performed on 6 pairs of normal tissues. We screened RET and RAS as driver mutations, and the mutation ratio was 3/6 respectively. Patients with RET or RAS mutations had no recurrence. In addition, we detected PDGFRA somatic mutation, with a mutation ratio of 1/6. Conclusions:For sporadic MTC cases, the pathological grading system has important prognostic value, and RET and RAS somatic mutations are the main driver mutations. PDGFRA are potential therapeutic targets for sporadic MTC.

Radiotherapy serves as an effective means in the clinical treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Radiation resistance, denoting the decreased sensitivity of cancer cells to ionizing radiation during radiotherapy, is a common problem in tumor radiotherapy that is closely associated with the occurrence of adverse outcomes like tumor metastasis and recurrence. Focusing on RCC′s radiotherapy resistance, this study elucidated the radiation resistance mechanisms of RCC cells in terms of DNA damage repair, cell cycle arrest, activation of the anti-apoptotic pathway, autophagy, and cancer stem cells. Moreover, it summarized the radiosensitizers currently used in RCC radiotherapy. This study aims to provide a novel approach for the mechanism study of RCC radiotherapy resistance, the improvement of radiotherapy strategies, and the innovative research and development of drugs.

Objective:To study the effects of FLASH irradiation (FLASH-RT) and conventional irradiation (CONV-RT) on gene expression profile in mouse liver, in order to provide theoretical basis of the potential mechanism of FLASH-RT.Methods:A total of 11 C57BL/6J male mice were divided into healthy control group (Ctrl group), CONV-RT group and FLASH-RT group according to random number table method. Mouse abdomen was treated with 12 Gy CONV-RT or FLASH-RT. Then the mice were killed by neck removal, and the liver tissues were collected to extract total RNA for transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) that was then analyzed by bio-informatics analysis to investigate the changes of gene expression profiles. The mRNA expression levels of Stat1, Irf9 and Rela were verified by quantitative real-time PCR assay.Results:1 762 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in group FLASH-RT vs. CONV-RT. Among them, 660 genes were up-regulated and 1 102 genes were down-regulated. 1 918 DEGs were identified in groups FLASH-RT vs. Ctrl. Among them, 728 genes were up-regulated and 1 190 genes were down-regulated. 1 569 DEGs were identified in group CONV-RT vs. Ctrl. Among them, 1 046 genes were up-regulated and 523 genes were down-regulated. According to Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, these DEGs from groups FLASH-RT vs. CONV-RT were involved in various functions including defense response to virus, other organisms in cell components, adenylyltransferase activity in molecular function activity. These DEGs from group FLASH-RT vs. Ctrl were involved in various functions including defense response to other oranisms, endoplasmic reticulum chaperone complex, double-stranded RNA binding and so on. These DEGs from group FLASH-RT vs. CONV-RT were involved in several Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways including influenza A, Herpes simplex infection and so on. These DEGs from group FLASH-RT vs. Ctrl were involved in several KEGG pathways including influenza A, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. Stat1 was likely to be activated by FLASH radiation. The quantitative real-time PCR assay showed that FLASH-RT obviously increased the mRNA expressions of Stat1, Irf9 and Rela ( t=6.62, 2.11, 1.67, P<0.05). Conclusions:FLASH-RT and CONV-RT could alter gene expression profiles in mouse liver tissues, and these DEGs are involved in multiple radiobiological functional pathways. In comparison with CONV-RT, FLASH-RT induces a low level of liver injury, which may due to hypoxia radiation resistance.

Objective:To analyze the correlation between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cognitive dysfunction.Methods:This is a case-control study. From February 2022 to October 2022, 32 COPD patients (inpatient and outpatient) from the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Rehabilitation Medical Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University and 32 healthy subjects were recruited. All participants underwent a thorough evaluation, which included Montreal Assessment of Cognitive Function (MoCA), visuospatial n-back task included accuracy (ACC) and mean response time (RT), the pulmonary functions including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV 1), one-second rate (FEV 1/FVC) and maximum volume per minute (MVV), Health Survey Short Form (SF-36), and St. George′s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). The correlation between cognitive dysfunction and lung function, SF-36 and SGRQ in COPD patients were analyzed. Results:The prevalence of smoking, hypertension and cardiovascular disease in the two groups were significantly different (all P<0.05). MoCA score, 1-back ACC and 2-back ACC in COPD group were significantly lower than those in healthy control group [(23.86±4.50) vs (27.55±1.29) points, (76.82%±16.60%) vs (90.61%±7.40%), (67.93%±10.10%) vs (78.74%±10.38%), all P<0.001]; 2-back RT was significantly higher than that of healthy group [(316.43±108.17) vs (254.09±101.62) ms, P<0.05]; and the Physiological function (PF), physiological function (RP), emotional function (RE), energy (VT), social function (SF), physical pain (BP) in SF-36 were significantly worse than the healthy control group (all P<0.05). The MoCA score of COPD group was positively correlated with FEV 1/FVC ( r=0.501, P=0.018). The 1-back ACC was positively correlated with FEV 1 and FEV 1/FVC ( r=0.568, 0.634; both P<0.05). The 1-back RT was negatively correlated with FEV 1/FVC and MVV ( r=-0.452, -0.534; both P<0.05). The 2-back ACC was positively correlated with FEV 1/FVC ( r=0.426, P=0.048). The 2-back RT was negatively correlated with MVV ( r=-0.571, P=0.006). In COPD group, MoCA score was negatively correlated with activity, influence and total score in SGRQ ( r=-0.533, -0.466, -0.521; all P<0.05). The 1-back ACC was negatively correlated with activity, influence and total score ( r=-0.552, -0.517, -0.584; all P<0.05). The 1-back RT was positively correlated with activity, influence and total score ( r=0.430, 0.379, 0.417; all P<0.05). The 2-back ACC was negatively correlated with impact and total score ( r=-0.398, -0.412; both P<0.05). Conclusion:COPD patients have impaired cognitive function, which is mainly manifested by the decline of working memory and executive function, and is correlated with the lung function, general health condition and quality of life.

Objective:To investigate the clinicopathologic features and molecular genetics characteristics of sinonasal tract mucosal malignant melanomas(STMMMs)in elderly patients.Methods:The clinicopathological features, immunohistochemical features and BRAF, C-KIT, NRAS mutations of STMMM in ten elderly patients were retrospectively analyzed.Results:Among the 10 patients, 5 were female and 5 were male.The patients were aged 65-81 years, with an average age of(72.5 ± 8.5)years.The lesions in 7 cases were located in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, and in the other 3 cases were located in the nasopharynx.The morphologies of tumor cells under microscope was complex and diverse, showing plasma cell-like, rhabdomyoblast-like, small cell-like, epithelial-like, and spindle cell-like morphologies.Immunohistochemically, HMB-45 and S-100 were generally positive in 10 cases, and the positive rate of Melan A was 70.0%.The genes detection data showed no mutations in BRAF or NRAS genes in all the 10 cases, while C-KIT exon 11 c. 1666_1667insA mutation was found in one case, and the remaining 9 cases were wild-type for C-KIT.All the 10 cases were followed up for 4~50 months.Three cases survived so far.Conclusions:STMMM in elderly patients are rare and easy to be misdiagnosed.Immunohistochemistry and genetic testing provide guidance for accurate diagnosis and targeted therapy.

Objective:To investigate the effects of ultra-high dose rate radiation (FLASH-RT) and conventional radiation (CONV-RT) on plasma metabolites in glioma mice.Methods:Tocally 21 male C57BL/6J mice bearing intracranial glioma xenograft were randomly divided into healthy control group ( n=3), CONV-RT group ( n=9) and FLASH-RT group ( n=9). The CONV-RT group was administered a single dose of 24 Gy radiation on the head of mice at a dose rate of 0.4 Gy/s, and the FLASH-RT group was administered a single dose of 24 Gy radiation on the head of mice at a dose rate of 60 Gy/s, and the healthy control group was given 0 Gy pseudoradiation under the same condition. Mice blood was collected through the inner canthus vein for plasma separation at 1, 3 and 7 d after radiation in the two radiation groups, and the blood plasma of healthy control group was collected at 7 days after sham radiation. The changes in plasma metabolites were detected by the non-targeted metabolomics based on liquid chromatography mass spectrometry tandem platform. Results:After irradiation, the metabolites in plasma of two irradiation groups had significant difference. Compared with the healthy control group, 12 and 5 differential metabolites were screened out in the FLASH-RT group and CONV-RT group at three time points, respectively. The difference of plasma metabolites had the largest value at 1 day and decreased at 3 and 7 d after radiation. The arachidonic acid and isovaleric acid, involving arachidonic acid metabolism, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and tyrosine metabolism pathways were screened in both FLASH-RT group and CONV-RT group, and the 10 differential metabolites, mainly involving energy metabolism and redox reactions, only existed in the FLASH-RT group.Conclusions:Arachidonic acid and isovaleric acid may be the common sensitive biomarkers to different radiation patterns, which provides ideas for further exploring the molecular mechanism of FLASH-RT in the treatment of glioma.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies in the genitourinary system with a poor prognosis, especially in patients with RCC who have metastases. RCC is conventionally considered not sensitive to radiotherapy. Compared with conventional radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has the characteristics of higher precision, higher irradiation dose, and less damage to the surrounding tissue. In recent years, SBRT has shown definite efficacy in the treatment of primary and advanced metastatic RCC. SBRT combined with targeted therapy and immunotherapy can improve the local tumor control rate and cause fewer adverse reactions in patients with primary and advanced metastatic RCC. This article reviews the literature on the strategy and progress of SBRT in combination with targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

Objective:To investigate the clinicopathological features, immunohistochemical phenotypes and molecular characteristics of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung(ASC)in elderly patients.Methods:Clinical data of 72 ASC patients in the Department of Pathology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from January 2009 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, and 48 patients aged ≥60 years were selected.Clinical manifestations, imaging findings, histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics were collected, and gene mutations were detected by the amplification refractory mutation system(ARMS-PCR).Results:There were 48 patients including 32 males and 16 females with a mean age of 70 years(range: 60-84 years). The maximum diameters of the tumors ranged from 0.3 to 9.0 cm(mean: 2.8 cm). Microscopically, the tumors contained two components, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, with the squamous cell carcinoma tissue showing intercellular bridges and the adenocarcinoma tissue showing papillary, acinar or tubular structures.Immunohistochemistry assays detected varying expression levels of CK7(30/31), CK5/6(20/28), TTF1(12/31), P40(15/17), and P63(12/13). Molecular testing showed that the EGFR mutation rate was 58.8%(10/17)and the ALK fusion mutation rate was 5.9%(1/17), while ROS1 and MET mutations were not detected.All 48 patients underwent surgical resection.Conclusions:ASC cases are relatively rare and prone to misdiagnosis.The diagnosis requires the combination of HE morphology, immunohistochemistry and imaging examination, and surgery is the main treatment option.The mutation rate of the EGFR gene is relatively high in ASC patients.

Pyroptosis is an inflammatory programmed cell death. Unlike apoptosis, pyroptosis is always accompanied by inflammation. It has been found that cell pyroptosis is closely related to the occurrence and development of many diseases. Pyroptosis also plays an important role in radiation injury caused by radiotherapy. Ionizing radiation breaks DNA in cells and induces oxygen free radicals, which are good inducers of pyroptosis. Therefore, this paper reviewed the research progress on the mechanism of cell pyroptosis in radiation injury from the perspective of relative signaling pathways, in order to provide new ideas for weakening or blocking radiation injury.