Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the world.Due to the insidious onset and rapid progression and a lack of effective treatments,the prognosis of patients with HCC is extremely poor,with the average 5-year survival rate being less than 10%.The tumor microenvironment(TME),the internal environment in which HCC develops,can regulate the oncogenesis,development,invasion,and metastasis of HCC.During the process of cancer progression,HCC cells can regulate the biological behaviors of tumor cells,cancer-associated fibroblasts,cancer-associated immune cells,and other cells in the TME by releasing exosomes containing specific signals,thereby promoting cancer progression.However,the exact molecular mechanisms and the roles of exosomes in the specific cellular regulation of these processes are not fully understood.Herein,we summarized the TME components of HCC,the sources and the biological traits of exosomes in the TME,and the impact of mechanical factors on exosomes.In addition,special attention was given to the discussion of the effects of HCC-exosomes on different types of cells in the microenvironment.There are still many difficulties to be overcome before exosomes can be applied as carriers in clinical cancer treatment.First of all,the homogeneity of exosomes is difficult to ensure.Secondly,exosomes are mainly administered through subcutaneous injection.Although this method is simple and easy to implement,the absorption efficiency is not ideal.Thirdly,exosome extraction methods are limited in number and inefficient,making it difficult to prepare exosomes in large quantities.It is important to ensure that exosomes are used in sufficient quantities to trigger an effective tumor immune response,especially for exosome-mediated tumor immunotherapy.With the improvement in identification,isolation,and purification technology,exosomes are expected to be successfully used in the clinical diagnosis of early-stage HCC and the clinical treatment of liver cancer.

Objective To investigate the clinical effectiveness of foam sclerotherapy for lower extremity varicose vein with deep venous valve incompetence.Methods A retrospective study was carried out in 124 patients (185 limbs) receiving foam sclerotherapy in our department.Sixty-one limbs diagnosed as deep venous valve incompetence were categorized as the observation group,while 124 limbs without that were the control group.The main outcome were success rate,remission rate of various symptoms and signs,the scores of CEAP and CIVIQ.Results The follow up rate was 69.3％,and the follow-up period ranged from one to nine months.There was no statistical difference in the success rate between the observation group (93.4％) and control group (94.4％)(P＞0.05).However,the symptom of heaviness and oedema and the CIVIQ scores in observation group be inferior to the control group,and the difference of them were statistically significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion Deep venous valve incompetence could not decrease the success rate of foam sclerotherapy,but may influence the remission of some symptoms.It should be supplemented with medical elastic stockings or ringing of femoral veins.

Objective To evaluate the clinic value of multiple tumor markers plus PSA in diagnosing prostate cancer.Methods We collected serum samples of 140 prostate cancer patients with average age of 68 (48-82) years,104 benign prostate hyperplasia patients with average age of 70 (52-87) years,and 162 healthy people with average age of 38 (23-49) years.We had detected PSA levels and also the protein expressions of XAGE-1b,SSX-2,AM ACR and AKAP4.In healthy people,the ranges of the normal values with 95％ data range were determined.Multiple tumor markers and PSA were calculated their positive rate,specificity and sensitivity in diagnosing prostate cancer.We had randomly chosen one positive serum,and analyzed the 4 protein expressions by Western bolt.We detected the serum with the four markers plus PSA by Luminex medthod,then drew ROC curve and calculated AUC area according to the results.Results Among all those samples,PSA levels of 266 samples were under 4tμg/L,86 samples were between 4-10 μg/L,and 54 samples were above 10 μg/L.The positive rates of XAGE-1b,SSX-2,AMACR and AKAP4 in prostate cancer patients were 53.6％ (75/140),34.3％ (48/140),27.9％ (39/140),44.3％ (62/140) respectively.The AUC of XAGE-1b,SSX-2,AMACR,AKAP4 and PSA were 0.666,0.615,0.551,0.768,0.675 respectively.The AUC of their combination was 0.887; The specificity and sensitivity of single PSA detection and combination detection were 60.0％,46.2％ and 80.0％,82.2％.Among those whose PSA value was between 4-10 μg/L,the AUC of single PSA detection was 0.505,the specificity and sensitivity of single PSA detection were 43.2％ and 31.8％; the AUC of the combination detection was 0.803; their specificity and sensitivity were 83.7％ and 73.2％.Conclusions Compared with the single PSA detection,the combination of XAGE-1b,SSX-2,AMACR,AKAP4 and PSA has been greatly improved the specificity and sensitivity in prostate cancer detection.This tool still has significant value even in patients with PSA value between 4-10 μg/L.

Collagen is a kind of natural biomedical material and collagen based three-dimensional porous scaffolds have been widely used in skin tissue engineering. However, these scaffolds do not meet the requirements for artificial skin substitutes in terms of their poor mechanical properties, short supply, and rejection in the bodies. All of these factors limit their further application in skin tissue engineering. A variety of methods have been chosen to meliorate the situation, such as cross linking and blending other substance for improving mechanical properties. The highly biomimetic scaffolds either in structure or in function can be prepared through culturing cells and loading growth factors. To avoid the drawbacks of unsafety attributing to animals, investigators have fixed their eyes on the recombinant collagen. This paper reviews the the progress of research and application of collagen-based 3-dimensional porous scaffolds in skin tissue engineering.
Animals ; Biocompatible Materials ; Biomimetics ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Collagen ; chemistry ; Porosity ; Skin ; Skin, Artificial ; Tissue Engineering ; Tissue Scaffolds

Objective To evaluate and compare the value of interleukin(IL)-6,IL-8,tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α,and soluble form of triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (sTREM)-1 in neonatal infection and detect the relationship between them.Methods Eighty-five full-term newborns who were admitted to the neonatal ward of Shanghai Children's Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University were enrolled,according to the locations and severity of infection,the patients were divided into three groups:systemic infection group (n =27),local infection group(n =28),and non-infection group (n =30).The level of plasma sTREM-1 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,and the levels of IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α were measured using cytometric bead array.Results (1) The levels of sTREM-1,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α were significantly higher in infants with systemic infection group than local infection group and non-infection group(P ＜0.05).(2) There were 17 survivors and 10 deaths in systemic infection group,and the level of sTREM-1 in the non-survivor [(121.64 ±49.31) pg/ml] was higher than the survivor[(73.13 ± 34.92) pg/ml,P =0.006].But the levels of IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α were not statistically significant in the survivor and the death (P ＞ 0.05).(3) Based on the receiver operating characteristic analysis,cutoff values were identified for each variable that maximized both the sensitivity and specificity.These markers were considered positive if sTREM-1 ≥43.75 pg/ml,IL-6 ≥ 89.80 pg/ml,IL-8 ≥569.55 pg/ml and TNF-α ≥ 24.80 pg/ml.Among these indexes,the sensitivities were 85.5％,89.1％,70.1％ and 69.5％ respectively; the specificity were 80.0％,100％,100％ and 93.3％ respectively.Compared the area under curve(AUC) of them,IL-6(AUC =0.981)＞ sTREM-1 (AUC =0.868) ＞ TNF-α (AUC =0.864) ＞ IL-8 (AUC =0.852).sTREM-1 was correlated with IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α(Spearman coefficient of rank r =0.532,P ＜0.01 ;r =0.420,P ＜0.01 ;r =0.531,P ＜0.01).Conclusion (1) The levels of plasma sTREM-1,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α were higher in neonatal infections;(2) sTREM-1 was associated with prognosis; (3) sTREM-1 was correlated with IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α.

Objective To observe the changes of serum soluble form of triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cell-1 (sTREM-1) level in full-term newborns with infection and to investigate the relationship between serum sTREM-1 and neonatal bacterial infection.Methods Eighty-five full-term newborns admitted to the neonatal ward of Shanghai Children s Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University were selected into this study.According to the locations and severity of infection,patients were divided into 3 groups: severe infection group (n = 27),mild infection group (n = 28),non-infection group (n = 30).The samples of infection groups were collected before using antibiotics and within 48 h after infection symptom occurred; others were collected during hospitalization.For the neonates with organ dysfunction in the severe infection group,samples were also collected at the third and seventh day of infection.Serum sTREM-1 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Analysis of variance was used to compare the difference between groups.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to calculate the sensitivity,specificity,positive and negative predictive value and Youden index.Results (1) Serum sTREM-1 level of severe infection group[(91.2±47.3) pg/ml] was significantly higher than that of mild infection group[(68.8 + 30.4) pg/ml] and non-infection group[(35.5±17.6) pg/ml],respectively (P＜0.05).(2) Serum sTREM-1 level of the survival newborns (n= 17) in the severe infection group was lower than that of dead ones[(73.1±34.9) pg/ml vs (121.6±49.3) pg/ml,t= - 2.995,P = 0.006].(3) For the survival patients,the serum sTREM-1 level decreased in the first week of infection,while that of dead patients increased,the cut-off value was 100.6 pg/ml.(4) Based on the ROC analysis,43.8 pg/ml was selected as the the cut-off value,area under the curve was 0.868,and sensitivity was 85.5%,specificity 80.0%,positive predictive value 0.887,negative predictive value 0.750,Youden index 0.655.Conclusions Serum sTREM-1 level increases in neonatal infection.The change of serum sTREM-1 level in patients with severe infection is correlated to the prognosis.

The triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM) -1 is a recently identified molecule involved in the inflammatory response.It belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily,it was reported that it has relation with inflammatory response mediated by several microbial components,besides its soluble form was observed and identified at significant levels in bacterial infection of neonate.So it may become a valuable diagnostic marker of serious bacterial infection in neonate.