Objective:To analyze the gene mutation spectrum of children with T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) using next generation sequencing technology and to evaluate the value of gene mutations in prognosis stratification.Methods:A case series analysis was made.The clinical data of newly diagnosed pediatric T-ALL patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 1, 2019 to February 29, 2024 were analyzed retrospectively.T-ALL gene mutations were analyzed.The relationships of gene mutations with clinical features and induction of responses to therapy were studied.The effects of gene mutations on overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were examined by the Kaplan-Meier method and COX regression model.Results:A total of 80 newly diagnosed pediatric T-ALL patients were enrolled in the study, with a male-to-female ratio of 3.4∶1.0 and a median age of 8 (range, 2-17) years.A total of 57 mutations were detected in 74 patients, 46.2% (37/74) of whom showed 3 or more gene mutations.The coexistence of mutated genes was obvious. PTEN mutations were more prevalent in male patients ( P=0.018).Initial leukocyte counts were higher in patients with PTEN mutations ( P=0.038) and lower in patients with JAK3 mutations ( P=0.002).Patients with NOTCH1 mutations had a higher positive rate of fusion genes ( P=0.043).Patients with PTEN mutations had a higher rate of minimal residual disease(MRD) remission after 15/19 d of treatment with induction therapy, respectively ( P=0.013).The rate of MRD remission after 33/46 d of treatment with induction therapy was higher in patients with the FBXW7 mutation ( P=0.004) and lower in patients with JAK3 mutations ( P=0.003).Multifactorial COX regression analysis showed that IL7R mutation and three or more gene mutations were independent risk factors for OS and EFS in T-ALL patients(OS: HR=3.252, 7.357, 95% CI: 1.020-10.372, 1.646-32.882; EFS: HR=3.372, 3.009, 95% CI: 1.234-9.214, 1.174-7.708; all P<0.05). Conclusions:Gene mutations are prevalent in T-ALL children and correlate with clinical manifestations and prognosis.The coexistence of mutated genes is obvious.Pediatric T-ALL patients with IL7R mutations and three or more gene mutations have a poorer prognosis.

Objective:To investigate the clinical experience and efficacy of unrelated umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for the treatment of congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAMT).Methods:A case summary was conducted.The clinical data of 2 children with CAMT who were finally cured by unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT in the Department of Pediatric Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from March 2020 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.Related studies were retrieved from databases CNKI, Wanfang and PubMed using search terms including " congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia" and " hematopoietic stem cell transplantation" from the inception to July 2024.The clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment processes, and prognosis of CAMT patients treated by HSCT were then summarized.Results:Both cases exhibited scattered skin haemorrhages throughout the body and carried 2 compound heterozygous mutations with pathogenicity in the MPL gene.Both patients were finally diagnosed with CAMT.Case 1 was a girl aged 3 at the time of transplantation, and case 2 was also a girl, who aged 5 at the time of transplantation.Both of them received unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT and hematopoietic reconstruction was achieved.The time of neutrophil and platelet implantation was 21 and 40 days after transplantation in case 1, and 20 and 31 days in case 2, respectively.The chimerism rate of neutrophil implantation in both children was complete chimerism of donor cells.Implantation syndrome was detected in case 1 following transplantation.Case 2 suffered implantation syndrome, hypertensive encephalopathy, and cytomegalovirus infection following transplantation.Both children showed no graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).Both children had hematopoietic and immune reconstruction after transplantation and their primary diseases were cured.Cases 1 and 2 were followed up for more than 14 and 17 months, respectively.Both of them achieved disease-free survival during the follow up.Literature review of 26 cases with CAMT treated by HSCT, including the above-mentioned 2 cases was conducted, with an overall disease-free survival rate of 92.3%(24/26).Of 12 cases with CAMT typing, 10 were type Ⅰ and 2 were type Ⅱ.Of the 26 cases treated by HSCT, 17 had bone marrow HSCT, with an overall survival rate of 88.2%(15/17), and 2 had peripheral blood HSCT.Seven cases had umbilical cord blood HSCT (6 cases receiving unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT and 1 case receiving related umbilical cord blood HSCT), with an overall survival rate of 100%.Unlike bone marrow and peripheral blood HSCT, unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT did not result in 3-4 grade GVHD. Conclusions:Unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT can achieve good therapeutic effects in CAMT patients when there is no suitable donor.Myeloablative pretreatment is conducive to CAMT patients.

Objective:To analyze the gene mutation spectrum of children with T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) using next generation sequencing technology and to evaluate the value of gene mutations in prognosis stratification.Methods:A case series analysis was made.The clinical data of newly diagnosed pediatric T-ALL patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 1, 2019 to February 29, 2024 were analyzed retrospectively.T-ALL gene mutations were analyzed.The relationships of gene mutations with clinical features and induction of responses to therapy were studied.The effects of gene mutations on overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were examined by the Kaplan-Meier method and COX regression model.Results:A total of 80 newly diagnosed pediatric T-ALL patients were enrolled in the study, with a male-to-female ratio of 3.4∶1.0 and a median age of 8 (range, 2-17) years.A total of 57 mutations were detected in 74 patients, 46.2% (37/74) of whom showed 3 or more gene mutations.The coexistence of mutated genes was obvious. PTEN mutations were more prevalent in male patients ( P=0.018).Initial leukocyte counts were higher in patients with PTEN mutations ( P=0.038) and lower in patients with JAK3 mutations ( P=0.002).Patients with NOTCH1 mutations had a higher positive rate of fusion genes ( P=0.043).Patients with PTEN mutations had a higher rate of minimal residual disease(MRD) remission after 15/19 d of treatment with induction therapy, respectively ( P=0.013).The rate of MRD remission after 33/46 d of treatment with induction therapy was higher in patients with the FBXW7 mutation ( P=0.004) and lower in patients with JAK3 mutations ( P=0.003).Multifactorial COX regression analysis showed that IL7R mutation and three or more gene mutations were independent risk factors for OS and EFS in T-ALL patients(OS: HR=3.252, 7.357, 95% CI: 1.020-10.372, 1.646-32.882; EFS: HR=3.372, 3.009, 95% CI: 1.234-9.214, 1.174-7.708; all P<0.05). Conclusions:Gene mutations are prevalent in T-ALL children and correlate with clinical manifestations and prognosis.The coexistence of mutated genes is obvious.Pediatric T-ALL patients with IL7R mutations and three or more gene mutations have a poorer prognosis.

Objective:To investigate the clinical experience and efficacy of unrelated umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for the treatment of congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAMT).Methods:A case summary was conducted.The clinical data of 2 children with CAMT who were finally cured by unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT in the Department of Pediatric Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from March 2020 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.Related studies were retrieved from databases CNKI, Wanfang and PubMed using search terms including " congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia" and " hematopoietic stem cell transplantation" from the inception to July 2024.The clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment processes, and prognosis of CAMT patients treated by HSCT were then summarized.Results:Both cases exhibited scattered skin haemorrhages throughout the body and carried 2 compound heterozygous mutations with pathogenicity in the MPL gene.Both patients were finally diagnosed with CAMT.Case 1 was a girl aged 3 at the time of transplantation, and case 2 was also a girl, who aged 5 at the time of transplantation.Both of them received unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT and hematopoietic reconstruction was achieved.The time of neutrophil and platelet implantation was 21 and 40 days after transplantation in case 1, and 20 and 31 days in case 2, respectively.The chimerism rate of neutrophil implantation in both children was complete chimerism of donor cells.Implantation syndrome was detected in case 1 following transplantation.Case 2 suffered implantation syndrome, hypertensive encephalopathy, and cytomegalovirus infection following transplantation.Both children showed no graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).Both children had hematopoietic and immune reconstruction after transplantation and their primary diseases were cured.Cases 1 and 2 were followed up for more than 14 and 17 months, respectively.Both of them achieved disease-free survival during the follow up.Literature review of 26 cases with CAMT treated by HSCT, including the above-mentioned 2 cases was conducted, with an overall disease-free survival rate of 92.3%(24/26).Of 12 cases with CAMT typing, 10 were type Ⅰ and 2 were type Ⅱ.Of the 26 cases treated by HSCT, 17 had bone marrow HSCT, with an overall survival rate of 88.2%(15/17), and 2 had peripheral blood HSCT.Seven cases had umbilical cord blood HSCT (6 cases receiving unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT and 1 case receiving related umbilical cord blood HSCT), with an overall survival rate of 100%.Unlike bone marrow and peripheral blood HSCT, unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT did not result in 3-4 grade GVHD. Conclusions:Unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT can achieve good therapeutic effects in CAMT patients when there is no suitable donor.Myeloablative pretreatment is conducive to CAMT patients.

Objective:To explore the clinical features and genetic etiology of a child with Central core disease (CCD).Methods:A child with CCD who was treated at the Children′s Hematology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in February 2022 was selected as the study subject. Muscle biopsy was performed. Peripheral blood samples were collected from the child and his parents for the extraction of genomic DNA. The child was subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES), and candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing.Results:The child, a 12-year-old boy, had manifested motor retardation, facial weakness, ptosis, pectus carinatum, scoliosis, etc. Muscle biopsy showed that the central nucleus muscle fibers and atrophic muscle fibers were mainly type I. WES revealed that the child has harbored c. 10561G>A (p.G3521S) and c. 3448T>C (p.C1150R) compound heterozygous variants of the RYR1 gene. Sanger sequencing confirmed that they were inherited from his mother and father, respectively. Based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, both variants were considered as likely pathogenic (PS4+ PM1+ PM2_Supporting+ PP3; PM1+ PM2_Supporting+ PM3+ PP3). Conclusion:By combining his clinical manifestation and results of muscle pathology and genetic testing, the child was diagnosed with CCD, which may be attributed to the c. 10561G>A (p.G3521S) and c.3448T>C (p.C1150R) compound heterozygous variants of the RYR1 gene.

The clinical data of one child with metanephric stromal tumor (MST) and BRAF V600E gene mutation admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in June 2022 was analyzed retrospectively.Literature was reviewed.The patient, a 2-year-old girl, was diagnosed with a tumor in the left abdomen.The maximum diameter of the tumor was 10.5 cm.A radical nephrectomy was performed on the left kidney, and postoperative pathology revealed MST.Microscopically, the tumor had no envelope and exhibited expansive growth.The tumor cells were fusiform or stellate, and nuclear division was visible in the cell-rich region.Dysplastic blood vessels were seen inside the tumor.The tumor cells around the blood vessels and invaginated renal tubules were arranged like onion skin.CD34 was detected positive by immunohistochemical staining, and BRAF V600E mutation was also detected positive by fluorescent polymerase chain reaction.A total of 21 relevant case reports were retrieved, including 16 in English and 5 in Chinese.Fifty-eight MST patients, including the one in this report were analyzed.These patients were aged 2 days to 15 years, with a median age of 2 years.Except for 2 patients with unknown sex, the ratio of male to female was about 1.4∶1.0.Most MST patients were asymptomatic, with an average tumor size of 5.3 cm.The tumor cell CD34 showed positive expression in different degrees.Eight patients received the BRAF V600E mutation detection, and the results were all positive.Fifty-eight patients underwent nephrectomy and were followed up for 0-156 months, of which 7 patients were assisted with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.During the follow-up, 1 patient died, and 1 patient had a relapse.MST is a rare benign renal stromal tumor. BRAF V600E mutations are detected in a variety of malignancies.This paper is the first to report MST with BRAF V600E mutation in China and points out the importance of molecular detection of BRAF mutation for accurate diagnosis of MST.

Objective:To summarize and analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) with malignant tumors in children, and to improve the understanding of its clinical management.Methods:Clinical data of 50 children with SVCS combined with malignant tumors treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from November 2010 to May 2022 were analyzed retrospectively.The pathological types, clinical manifestations, imaging examination, treatment and prognosis were summarized.The overall survival (OS) rate and event-free survival (EFS) rate were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method.Results:Among the 50 cases, 38 were males and 12 were females, with a male/female ratio of 3.2∶1.0.The median onset was 12.5 (8.0, 14.5) years, and the most common onset occurred in adolescence (66.0%, 33/50). Cough (80.0%, 40/50) was the most common clinical manifestation, followed by face and neck edema (66.0%, 33/50), chest tightness (56.0%, 28/50) and dyspnea (50.0%, 25/50). All the 50 cases were confirmed by histopathological examination, 39 cases(78.0%) were diagnosed as non-Hodgkin′s lymphoma (NHL). NHL was the most common malignant tumor, of which T-lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) accounted for 74.4%(29/39). All the 50 cases were examined by CT examination, involving 42 cases (84.0%) detected with mediastinal masses.Pleural effusion (86.0%, 43/50) and pericardial effusion (70.0%, 35/50) were common imaging findings.The 3-year OS rate and EFS rate of them were 59.7% and 57.9%, respectively.The 3-year OS rate and EFS rate of the 39 children with NHL were 62.9% and 60.9%, respectively.Conclusions:Children with malignant tumors complicated with SVCS are featured by the acute onset, rapid progress and poor prognosis.NHL is the most common cause, especially T-LBL.Cough, edema of face and neck, chest tightness and dyspnea are common clinical manifestations.Early detection and treatment contribute to save children′s lives.

Due to the insufficient long-term protection and significant efficacy reduction to new variants of current COVID-19 vaccines, the epidemic prevention and control are still challenging. Here, we employ a capsid and antigen structure engineering (CASE) strategy to manufacture an adeno-associated viral serotype 6-based vaccine (S663V-RBD), which expresses trimeric receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike protein fused with a biological adjuvant RS09. Impressively, the engineered S663V-RBD could rapidly induce a satisfactory RBD-specific IgG titer within 2 weeks and maintain the titer for more than 4 months. Compared to the licensed BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm, China), a single-dose S663V-RBD induced more endurable and robust immune responses in mice and elicited superior neutralizing antibodies against three typical SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses including wild type, C.37 (Lambda) and B.1.617.2 (Delta). More interestingly, the intramuscular injection of S663V-RBD could overcome pre-existing immunity against the capsid. Given its effectiveness, the CASE-based S663V-RBD may provide a new solution for the current and next pandemic.

Photothermal therapy has been intensively investigated for treating cancer in recent years. However, the long-term therapeutic outcome remains unsatisfying due to the frequently occurred metastasis and recurrence. To address this challenge, immunotherapy has been combined with photothermal therapy to activate anti-tumor immunity and relieve the immunosuppressive microenvironment within tumor sites. Here, we engineered silica-based core‒shell nanoparticles (JQ-1@PSNs-R), in which silica cores were coated with the photothermal agent polydopamine, and a bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) inhibitor JQ-1 was loaded in the polydopamine layer to combine photothermal and immune therapy for tumor elimination. Importantly, to improve the therapeutic effect, we increased the surface roughness of the nanoparticles by hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching during the fabrication process, and found that the internalization of JQ-1@PSNs-R was significantly improved, leading to a strengthened photothermal killing effect as well as the increased intracellular delivery of JQ-1. In the animal studies, the multifunctional nanoparticles with rough surfaces effectively eradicated melanoma via photothermal therapy, successfully activated tumor-specific immune responses against residual tumor cells, and further prevented tumor metastasis and recurrence. Our results indicated that JQ-1@PSNs-R could serve as an innovative and effective strategy for combined cancer therapy.

Objective:To investigate the regulating molecules and acting mechanism of TAB182 in HR pathway.Methods:TAB182 in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells was knocked down by shRNA strategy, the TAB182 knockdown MCF-7 as the TAB182 knockdown group, and the MCF-7 cell using the shRNA negative control as the TAB182 negative control group. RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR were performed to screen and verify the differentially expressed genes of HR pathway related to TAB182 depression. Western blot was used to detect protein expression. Immunofluorescence staining of nuclear RAD51 and BrdU was used to check the 3′ ssDNA formation by the end resection. The cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were measured by flow cytometry. Cloning formation assay was used to evaluate the sensitivity TAB182-knockdown cells to radiation.Results:Both quantitative RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR assays showed that TAB182-knockdown significantly decreased the mRNA expression of RPA2( t=17.97, P<0.05). Compared with the TAB182 negative control group, the protein level of RPA2, the number of RAD51 foci, and the 3′ ssDNA-binding nuclear protein marker BrdU in TAB182-knockdown cells were significantly reduced. At 4, 8, and 12 h after actinomycin D treatment, the attenuation of RPA2 mRNA in the TAB182-knockdown cells was accelerated ( t=5.37, 3.79, 3.69, P<0.05). Compared with the TAB182 negative control group, the radiosensitivity and radiation-induced apoptosis in the TAB182-knockdown group were increased ( t=3.48, 11.05, P<0.05), and at 24 h after irradiation, the cell cycle block time was prolonged ( t=8.40, P<0.01). Conclusions:TAB182 plays a role in maintaining RPA2 mRNA stability, thereby promoting HR repair. TAB182 knockdown cells are highly sensitive to ionizing radiation.