Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the primary fibrogenic cells in the liver, and their activation plays a crucial role in the development and progression of hepatic fibrosis. Here, we report that retinoid X receptor-alpha (RXRα), a unique member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, is a key modulator of HSC activation and liver fibrosis. RXRα exerts its effects by modulating calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase β (CaMKKβ)-mediated activation of AMP-activated protein kinase-alpha (AMPKα). In addition, we demonstrate that K-80003, which binds RXRα by a unique mechanism, effectively suppresses HSC activation, proliferation, and migration, thereby inhibiting liver fibrosis in the CCl₄ and amylin liver NASH (AMLN) diet animal models. The effect is mediated by AMPKα activation, promoting mitophagy in HSCs. Mechanistically, K-80003 activates AMPKα by inducing RXRα to form condensates with CaMKKβ and AMPKα via a two-phase process. The formation of RXRα condensates is driven by its N-terminal intrinsic disorder region and requires phosphorylation by CaMKKβ. Our results reveal a crucial role of RXRα in liver fibrosis regulation through modulating mitochondrial activities in HSCs. Furthermore, they suggest that K-80003 and related RXRα modulators hold promise as therapeutic agents for fibrosis-related diseases.

Objective:To verify the predictive value of the Second Revision of the International Staging System (R2-ISS) in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who underwent first-line autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in a new drug era in China.Methods:This multicenter retrospective cohort study enrolled patients with newly diagnosed MM from three centers in China (Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University; the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University) from June 2008 to June 2018. A total of 401 newly diagnosed patients with MM who were candidates for ASCT were enrolled in this cohort, all received proteasome inhibitor and/or immunomodulator-based induction chemotherapy followed by ASCT. Baseline and follow-up data were collected. The patients were regrouped using R2-ISS. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the survival curve and two survival curves were compared using the log-rank test. Cox regression analysis were performed to analyze the relationship between risk factors and survival.Results:The median age of the patients was 53 years (range 25-69 years) and 59.5% (240 cases) were men. Newly diagnosed patients with renal impairment accounted for 11.5% (46 cases). According to Revised-International Staging System (R-ISS), 74 patients (18.5 %) were diagnosed with stage Ⅰ, 259 patients (64.6%) with stage Ⅱ, and 68 patients (17.0%) with stage Ⅲ. According to the R2-ISS, the distribution of patients in each group was as follows: 50 patients (12.5%) in stage Ⅰ, 95 patients (23.7%) in stage Ⅱ, 206 patients (51.4%) in stage Ⅲ, and 50 patients (12.5%) in stage Ⅳ. The median follow-up time was 35.9 months (range, 6-119 months). According to the R2-ISS stage, the median PFS in each group was: 75.3 months for stage Ⅰ; 62.0 months for stage Ⅱ, 39.2 months for stage Ⅲ, and 30.3 months for stage Ⅳ; and the median OS was not reached, 86.6 months, 71.6 months, and 38.5 months, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in PFS and OS between different groups (both P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ of the R2-ISS were independent prognostic factors for PFS ( HR=2.37, 95% CI 1.30-4.30; HR=4.50, 95% CI 2.35-9.01) and OS ( HR=4.20, 95% CI 1.50-11.80; HR=9.53, 95% CI 3.21-28.29). Conclusions:The R2-ISS has significant predictive value for PFS and OS for transplant-eligible patients with MM in the new drug era. However, the universality of the R2-ISS still needs to be further verified in different populations.

Purpose To investigate the clinical and patho-logical characteristics,molecular characteristics,treatment and prognosis of systemic ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lympho-ma(ALCL).Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical pathology,immunophenotype,molecular charac-teristics,treatment and prognosis of 18 cases of systemic ALK-ALCL.HE,immunohistochemistry,FISH,and NGS tests were performed,and relevant literatures were reviewed.Results Systemic ALK-ALCL tended to occur in elderly men,often in the advanced stage,mainly in lymph node lesions.The extran-odal primary sites included the primary pancreas and primary thoracic vertebrae.Morphological examination showed 17 cases belong to common type,1 case belong to"Hodgkin like"type.CD30 was diffuse and strongly positive in tumor cells(＞75％),CD2(16/17),CD3(13/18),CD5(4/18),CD7(8/18),CD4(14/18),TIA-1(16/18),CD8(2/16),GATA-3(10/12),EMA(3/5),MUM1(12/12),CD43(6/6)and CD56(2/8)were positive to varying degrees.The Ki67 proliferation index of 30％to 90％,PD-L1(22C3)(TPS=0-100％),ALK,CD15,CD79α and CD20 were all negative.FISH detection:5 cases of TP63 deficiency and 2 cases of DUSP22 deficiency;NGS detection:16 cases of gene mutations occurred,with a fre-quency of 0-11 gene mutations and an average of 4.2 gene mu-tations;ALK-ALCL with TP63 rearrangement was more likely to occur in women,mostly in lymph nodes,late clinical staging,susceptibility to p53 gene abnormalities,low PD-L1 expression rate and high mortality rate.Conclusion Systemic ALK-ALCL with TP63 rearrangement is associated with many adverse factors,the clinical process is often invasive with poor progno-sis.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of albumin-to-fibrinogen ratio (AFR) for postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in infants with ventricular septal defect repair under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on infants diagnosed with ventricular septal defect in Anhui Children's Hospital from January 2019 to July 2023. The infants were divided into AKI group and non-AKI group according to whether AKI occurred in hospital after operation. Demographic data, preoperative data, intraoperative data, postoperative data and laboratory results during CPB were collected. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to find the factors of AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB. Receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn to analyze the predictive value of AFR for postoperative AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB.Results:A total of 215 children were collected, including 28 in AKI group and 187 in non-AKI group. There were no significant differences in age, gender, body weight, height, history of pneumonia and history of chronic heart failure between the two groups, but the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in the AKI group was significantly lower than that in the non-AKI group (0.526±0.028 vs. 0.538±0.030, P = 0.048). The duration of CPB (minutes: 74.1±12.1 vs. 65.8±11.3, P < 0.001), aortic cross-clamping (minutes: 41.7±9.7 vs. 37.2±9.4, P = 0.021) and hypothermic circulation arrest (21.4% vs. 8.6%, P = 0.047) in AKI group were significantly higher than those in non-AKI group, but there were no significant differences in the proportion of ultrafiltration and urine volume between the two groups. The length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay in AKI group was significantly longer than that in non-AKI group (days: 5.3±2.0 vs. 4.0±1.7, P < 0.001), but there were no significant differences in duration of mechanical ventilation and the proportion of postoperative hypotension between the two groups. During CPB, the levels of blood glucose (mmol/L: 9.4±1.3 vs. 8.8±0.8, P < 0.001), blood lactic acid (mmol/L: 2.2±0.3 vs. 2.0±0.3, P = 0.015) and serum creatinine (μmol/L: 79.7±11.5 vs. 74.4±10.9, P = 0.018) in AKI group were significantly higher than those in non-AKI group, while the AFR was significantly lower than that in non-AKI group (8.5±1.3 vs. 10.2±1.6, P < 0.001), but there were no significant differences in the levels of hemoglobin, blood urea nitrogen, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase between the two groups during CPB. Multivariate Logistic regression showed that AFR was a protective factor for AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB [odds ratio ( OR) = 0.439, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 0.288-0.669, P < 0.001]. Blood glucose ( OR = 2.133, 95% CI was 1.239-3.672, P = 0.006) and blood lactic acid ( OR = 5.568, 95% CI was 1.102-28.149, P = 0.038) were risk factors for AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of AFR in predicting AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB was 0.804 (95% CI was 0.712-0.897, P < 0.001). When the optimal cut-off value was less than 9.05, the corresponding sensitivity was 75.0% and the specificity was 72.7%. Conclusions:Low AFR (≤9.05) during CPB is an independent risk factor for AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB. AFR during CPB has a high predictive value for postoperative AKI after ventricular septal defect repair with CPB.

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy between laparoscopic suture and extraperitoneal suture for laparoscopic trocar incision with a length≥10 mm.Methods A total of 138 patients with gynecological surgery under laparoscopy admitted to our hospital from March 2017 to March 2023 were divided into two groups according to their admission time:53 cases in the traditional group(after laparoscopic surgery,the skin and subcutaneous tissue were sutured outside the peritoneum to close the trocar incision 10-12 mm in length)from March 2017 to March 2020,and 85 cases in the improved group(the fascia and peritoneum were sutured intraperitoneally under laparoscopy to close the trocar incision 10-12 mm in length)from April 2020 to March 2023.The postoperative incision complications were compared between the two groups.Results There was 1 case of postoperative incision liquefaction in the improved group,without other complications.There were 1 case of postoperative incision bleeding,2 cases of incision infection,1 case of incision liquefaction,1 case of incision dehiscence,and 1 case of incision hernia in the traditional group.The incidence of postoperative incision complications in the improved group was 1.2％(1/85),significantly lower than that in the traditional group[11.3％(6/53);x2=5.029,P=0.025].Conclusion After gynecological laparoscopic surgery,intra-abdominal suture of incision≥10 mm in length significantly reduces the incidence of postoperative incision complications,but the operation is difficult to perform and requires high suturing techniques.

Objective:To explore the prognostic factors of primary plasma cell leukemia (pPCL) in the era of novel agents.Methods:The clinical data of 66 patients with pPCL treated at the Department of Haematology, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University from 2011 to 2022 were retrospectively collected to analyze their prognostic factors.Results:Among the 66 patients with pPCL, the median age was 59 (range: 29-79) years. The median overall survival (OS) duration was 19.0 (95% CI 10.4-27.6) months, and the median progression-free survival (PFS) duration was 11.0 (95% CI 6.5-15.6) months. The median OS and PFS were significantly longer in patients with the best post-treatment response of very good partial remission (VGPR) or better than in patients with a response of partial remission (PR) or worse (median OS: 33.0 months vs 6.0 months, P<0.001; median PFS: 16.0 months vs 3.0 months, P<0.001). OS was significantly longer in patients who underwent autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation than in those who did not undergo transplantation (49.0 months vs 6.0 months, P=0.002), and there was a trend toward a longer PFS in patients who underwent transplantation than in those who did not undergo transplantation (19.0 months vs 8.0 months, P=0.299). The median OS and PFS were significantly longer in patients who received maintenance therapy than in those who did not receive maintenance therapy (median OS: 56.0 months vs 4.0 months, P<0.001; median PFS: 20.0 months vs 2.0 months, P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that hypercalcemia was an independent risk factor ( HR=3.204, 95% CI 1.068-9.610, P=0.038) for patients with pPCL, while receiving maintenance therapy ( HR=0.075, 95% CI 0.022-0.253, P<0.001) and post-treatment response of VGPR or better ( HR=0.175, 95% CI 0.048-0.638, P=0.008) were independent protective factors for patients with pPCL. Conclusions:In the era of novel agents, hypercalcemia, receiving maintenance therapy, and post-treatment response of VGPR or better are independent prognostic factors for pPCL.

Objective:To investigate the clinical features and prognosis of multiple myeloma(MM)patients who resisted to the combination of bortezomib,lenalidomide and dexamethasone(VRD). Methods:The clinical features and prognosis of 150 patients with newly diagnosed MM in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital who were treated with VRD from January 2015 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed by SPSS software. Results:Among a total of 150 MM patients,21 patients resisted to VRD,including 14 patients with primary refractory to VRD and 7 patients with early relapse.In the VRD-resistant group(n=21),the median age of patients was 58 years(37-70 years),and female patients were more common(61.9％);Durie-Salmon stage:17 patients were DS stage Ⅲ,4 patients were DS stage Ⅱ;44.4％of those patients were cytogenetic high risk.CD20 positive rate was higher in the VRD-resistant group(P=0.014).The overall survival(OS)of MM patients in the VRD-resistant group was significantly lower than that in the VRD-nonresistant group(34 months vs not achieved,P＜0.001).In the VRD-resistant group,the median OS of MM patients receiving autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was significantly longer than that of non-transplant patients(34 months vs 16 months,P=0.038).Drug resistance and non-autologous transplantation are independent adverse prognostic factors for newly diagnosed MM patients receiving VRD induction chemotherapy.COX multivariate analysis showed that age＞65,cytogenetic high risk and non-autologous stem cell transplantation may be adverse prognostic factors for VRD-resistant MM patients. Conclusion:Positive CD20 was more common in MM patients with VRD resistence,which may indicate more aggressive biological characteristics in VRD-resistent MM patients.The VRD-resistent MM patients had poor prognosis,they can obtain disease remission from salvage chemotherapy including daratumumab,and the survival of them also can be improved after autologous stem cell transplantation.

Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of CD56 expression in newly diagnosed MM (NDMM).Methods:A total of 332 NDMM patients were enrolled in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2021, with a median age of 60 years and a male to female ratio of 1.2∶1. CD56 expression on myeloma cells was detected by flow cytometry before induction therapy. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) data were collected. In order to reduce the confounding factors, the propensity score matching technique was used to match CD56 positive versus negative patients at a ratio of 1∶1.Results:Among 332 patients, CD56 positivity rate was 65.1% (216/332). Patients with CD56 expression had significantly longer median OS (58.4 vs. 43.1 months, P=0.024) and PFS (28.7 vs. 24.1 months, P=0.013) than those with negative CD56. Univariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that CD56 expression was positively correlated with OS ( HR=0.644, 95 %CI 0.438-0.947, P=0.025) and a favorable prognostic factor for PFS ( HR=0.646, 95 %CI 0.457-0.913, P=0.013). The favorable effect of CD56 expression on PFS was confirmed in multivariate analysis ( HR=0.705, 95 %CI 0.497-0.998, P=0.049), but OS was not affected ( P>0.05).In the propensity score matching analysis, 194 patients with 97 in each group were identified. CD56 positivity consistently predicted longer PFS (34.2 vs.25.1 months, P=0.047), but not OS (63.4 vs.43.1 months, P=0.056). Conclusion:These results demonstrate that CD56 expression is a favorable prognostic factor for PFS of newly diagnosed MM patients.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) on treatment remission and survival of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients.Methods:A total of 243 new diagnosed MM patients (age ≤65 years) who had received auto-HSCT were selected, and 176 MM patients (age ≤65 years) who had not received auto-HSCT were selected as the control group to evaluate the effect of auto-HSCT on the remission and survival. To balance the distribution of prognostic factors between auto-HSCT and non-auto-HSCT patients, the propensity score matching technique was used to reduce the bias between groups in a 1∶1 scale, 64 in each group, and correlation analysis was performed.Results:A total of 128 patients (64 cases in each group) were screened by propensity score matching analysis. 64 patients received auto-HSCT after induction therapy. After auto-HSCT, 24 patients (37.5%) obtained sCR, 16 patients (25.0%) obtained CR, 15 patients (23.4%) obtained VGPR, and 9 patients (14.1%) obtained PR. The efficacy of patients with auto-HSCT was significantly better than that of non-auto-HSCT patients ( P=0.032) . Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly longer in auto-HSCT patients compared with non-auto-HSCT patients[PFS: 42.2 (95% CI 29.9-54.5) months vs 22.4 (95% CI 17.1-27.7) months, P=0.007; OS: 87.6 (95% CI 57.3-117.9) months vs 53.9 (95% CI 36.1-71.7) months, P=0.011]. Multivariate analysis confirmed that auto-HSCT had a favorable effect on OS ( HR=0.448, 95% CI 0.260-0.771, P=0.004) and PFS ( HR=0.446, 95% CI 0.280-0.778, P=0.003) . Conclusion:These results demonstrated that auto-HSCT was a favorable prognostic factor for newly diagnosed MM patients.

Objective: To compare the sensitivity of 8-color panels and next generation flow cytometry (NGF) for detecting minimal residual disease of multiple myeloma patients. Methods: 8-color-membrane antigens (8C-Mem) panel was built including CD45, CD38, CD138, CD19, CD56, CD81, CD27 and CD117 to identify the plasma cells, while 8-color-cytoplasmic antigens (8C-Cyto) panel was built including CD45, CD38, CD138, CD19, CD56, CD81, cKappa (cK) and cLambda (cλ) , and 8-color-two-tubes (8C-2tubes) panel were built including 8C-Mem and 8C-Cyto panels, the data of three groups was analyzed by Diva software. NGF uses Infinicyt software to fuse 8C-2tubes data to further analyze the expression of plasma antigens. Bone marrow aspiration obtained from 20 controls and 76 multiple myeloma patients who achieved complete remission were measured and analyzed. Results: Positive MRD samples were discriminated in 88.2% of the specimen evaluated through either abnormal plasma cells (aPCs) or clonal plasma cells (cPCs) by NGF antigens panel, Among of them, consistency was 94.7%. The median percentage of cPCs was 0.3530%, The lowest sensitivity of NGF was 0.0003%. In 8-color panels, the positive MRD rates of 8C-Mem, 8C-Cyto and 8C-2tubes panels were 84.2%, 85.5% and 86.8%, respectively, which lower than that of NGF (P<0.001) . The positive MRD rate of 8C-Mem and 8C-Cyto panels were lower than that of 8C-2tubes panel (P<0.001) , and the positive MRD rate of 8C-Mem panel was lower than that of 8C-Cyto panel (P<0.001) . Sensitivity and specificity of NGF was higher than that of 8-color panels. 8C-2tubes panel has the best sensitivity, accuracy, negative predicted value, positive predicted value and specificity than other 8-color panels. However, huge data and low efficiency for analysis is the disadvantage. 8C-Cyto panel was the second choice, and 8C-Mem panel was the last. Conclusions Membrane and cytoplasmic light chain is a better method for multiple myeloma-MRD detection and NGF panel is an ideal approach. 8C-Cyto panel is recommended in 8-MFC groups.