Oral cancer, as one kind of mucosal epithelial tumor, constitutes approximately 2% of all cancers, while the most common type, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) represents around 90% histopathology of oral cancers. Although the treatment of OSCC has been improved in recent 20 years, its 5-year survival rate has not raised significantly. The crux to improve the survival rate and prognosis of OSCC patients lies in the early diagnosis and intervention of this disease. Hence, exploring new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for OSCC is therefore an urgent priority. Exosomes, the small membrane vesicles originated from endosomes, have been detected in a wide array of bodily fluids. Exosomes have biological properties of derived cells based on containing a diversity of proteins, lipids, DNA fragments, mRNAs, and non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, piRNAs, circular RNAs, tsRNAs, and ribosomal RNAs, which are delivered to neighboring cells or even transported to distant sites. They participate in cellular communication as well as play an important role in many diseases and immune response. Exosomes have been associated with the tumorigenesis of OSCC, promoting the proliferation, colonization, and metastasis of OSCC by transferring their cargos to the target cells. Furthermore, exosomes participate in the regulation of the tumor microenvironment to affect cancer progression in vivo. In this review, we summarize the crucial role of exosomes in the tumorigenesis and progression of OSCC and discuss the potential clinical application of exosomes in OSCC treatment.

Objective:To explore the expression level of Porphyromonas gingivalis, downstream of tyrosine kinase 3 (DOK3) and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) in the tumor immunomicroenvironment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and the correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients.Methods:A retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinical data of 200 OSCC patients with Porphyromonas gingivalis-positive confirmed by 16S rDNA sequencing technology in the First Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University between June 2008 and June 2020 were collected. The tumor tissues and the corresponding adjacent normal mucosal tissues of 6 OSCC patients (including 3 cases with Porphyromonas gingivalis -positive and 3 cases with Porphyromonas gingivalis-negative) were selected for high-throughput sequencing to screen differentially co-expressed genes. Immunohistochemistry method was used to detect the expressions of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3, and CD206 (a TAM marker). The median H score of OSCC tissues was used as the threshold to categorize the expression level of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3 and CD206 into low-expression (H score < threshold) and high-expression (H score ≥ threshold) groups. The overall survival (OS) analysis was conducted by using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was employed.Results:The high-throughput sequencing results revealed that DOK3 is a differentially co-expressed gene among normal oral mucosa, Porphyromonas gingivalis-positive, and Porphyromonas gingivalis-negative OSCC. In 200 patients with Porphyromonas gingivalis-positive OSCC, 139 exhibited high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis (H score ≥ 7 points), while 61 showed low expression (H score < 7 points). There were statistically significant differences in the expression levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis in patients with different survival status, pathological T stage, pathological N stage, clinical stage, tumor diameter, degree of tumor differentiation and recurrence (all P < 0.05). Among the 139 OSCC patients with high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis, 92 cases showed high expression of DOK3 (H score ≥ 6 points) and 47 showed low expression (H score < 6 points); 78 cases exhibited high expression of CD206 (H score ≥ 6 points), while 61 showed low expression (H score < 6 points). There were statistically significant differences in the DOK3 expression level in the high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis OSCC patients with different age, survival status, pathological T stage, pathological N stage, and recurrence (all P < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the CD206 expression level in the high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis OSCC patients with different pathological T stage, clinical stage, and degree of tumor differentiation (all P < 0.05). The expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis was positively correlated with the expressions of DOK3 and CD206 (both P < 0.01). At the last follow-up on April 6th, 2024, the median follow-up time was 45 months (3 to 106 month range). The median OS time of the 200 patients was 2 429 d, and the 3-year OS rate was 63.9%. The OS of OSCC patients with high expressions of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3, and CD206 was worse than that in those with low expressions (all P < 0.05). Conclusions:The high expression levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3, and TAM are associated with a poor prognosis of OSCC patients, suggesting their potential as key biomarkers for prognostic evaluation.

The research of damp-heat syndrome in modern TCM mainly focuses on inflammatory response, water metabolism, lipid metabolism, hemorheology, intestinal flora and so on. Modern omics techniques such as metabolomics and genomics provide a new perspective for the exploration of the micro-mechanism of damp-heat syndrome. The study found that the abnormal expression of aquaporin is closely related to the formation of "dampness" in damp-heat syndrome, and the release of inflammatory factors reflects the pathological characteristics of "heat". Damp-heat syndrome is often accompanied by dyslipidemia, hemorheological changes and intestinal flora imbalance, showing characteristic changes in urine, blood and saliva metabolomics, and there are differences in gene expression between damp-heat constitution and gentleness constitution. In the future, the pertinence and systematicness of research should be strengthened, the relationship between indicators should be deeply explored, build a biomarker system should be built, the immune-metabolic regulation mechanism should be explored, the multi-target mechanism of heat-clearing and dampness-removing Chinese materia medica should be clarified to further improve the damp-heat syndrome system, and provide theoretical support for clinical treatment.

Aim Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment(SELEX)techniquewas employed to screen and identify nucleic acid aptamers that specifically bind to mouse atherosclerotic pathological tissues,aiming to pro-vide a research foundation for the development of molecular targets and diagnostic reagents for early atherosclerosis.Methods A single-stranded DNA(ssDNA)library with a capacity of 1015～1016 was constructed,which was then subjec-ted to binding-elution(negative selection)with normal mouse vascular tissue slices.The eluted library was subsequently bound to atherosclerotic tissue slices for binding-elution(positive selection).PCR was used to amplify the positive and negative screening products,and agarose gel electrophoresis was used to verify the amplified products.The ssDNA library after multiple rounds of selection was sequenced using T-A cloning and sequencing to obtain the primary structure of the nu-cleic acid aptamers,and the secondary structure was predicted using the Mfold online software.The selected nucleic acid aptamers were labeled with a FAM fluorescent group at the 5'-end and were bound to both positive and negative selection tissue slices,with fluorescence intensity observed under a fluorescence microscope.Image Pro Plus 6.0 was used to cal-culate the relative average fluorescence intensity to evaluate the binding specificity of nucleic acid aptamers.Results After 8 rounds of selection,agarose gel electrophoresis imaging showed PCR amplification products in the positive selection lanes,while no PCR amplification products were observed in the negative selection lanes,indicating the successful acquisi-tion of a nucleic acid aptamer library that specifically binds to atherosclerotic tissues.Five nucleic acid aptamers were i-dentified by T-A cloning and sequencing,and their predicted secondary structures all had stem-loop structures.Immuno-fluorescence staining verified that five nucleic acid aptamers had different degrees of binding with As blood vessels,and the quantitative results of the relative average fluorescence intensity showed that nucleic acid aptamer No.11 had the highest relative average fluorescence intensity value,which can be used as a candidate nucleic acid aptamer for subsequent re-search.Conclusion Specific nucleic acid aptamers that bind to atherosclerotic vesselswere successfully obtained,providing a research foundation for further screening of early molecular targets of Asand developing in vivo early diagnostic reagents.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of inconsistent symptoms and signs of dry eye in patients with Sj?gren syndrome (SS).Methods:A case-control study was performed.Thirty-eight patients (38 eyes) who visited the dry-eye outpatient department at Peking University People's Hospital were enrolled from January to October 2021.The patients were divided into a non-SS (NSS) group (25 cases, 25 eyes) and a SS group (13 cases, 13 eyes) according to without or with SS.The data of right eyes were analyzed.The patients' subjective symptoms were scored and their objective clinical parameters were evaluated.Evaluation of subjective symptoms included Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), Standard Patient Evaluation of eye dryness (SPEED) Questionnaire and Dry Eye Questionnaire-5 (DEQ-5).Objective clinical parameters included Schirmer Ⅰ test (SⅠt), tear film breakup time (TBUT), SICCA ocular staining score (OSS), National Eye Institute (NEI) score, Marx line score, non-invasive tear film breakup time (NIBUT), non-invasive tear meniscus height (NITMH), meibomian gland loss area ratio, the number of corneal subepithelial nerves, total nerve length, mean nerve length, maximum nerve length, minimum nerve length, nerve curvature, and number of dendritic cells.Differences in subjective symptoms and clinical parameters were compared between the two groups, and correlation analysis between ocular symptom scores and objective clinical parameters was performed.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University People's Hospital (No.RDY2020-03).Written informed consent was obtained from each subject.Results:The OSDI, SPEED and DEQ-5 scores of SS group were 10.9(2.1, 23.1), 4.0(2.0, 7.0) and 7.0(3.5, 9.5), respectively, which were significantly lower than 37.5(26.0, 64.9), 10.5(7.0, 13.0) and 13.0(6.8, 14.3) of NSS group ( Z=-2.70, -3.01, -2.14; all P<0.05).TBUT was longer in the SS group than in the NSS group, and the difference was statistically significant ( Z=-2.10, P=0.038).No significant difference was found in SⅠt, OSS, Marx line score, NIBUT, NITMH, meibomian gland loss area ratio, the number of corneal subepithelial nerves, total nerve length, mean nerve length, maximum nerve length, minimum nerve length, nerve curvature, and number of dendritic cells (all P>0.05).The OSS of nasal conjunctiva was significantly higher in the SS group than in the NSS group ( Z=-2.32, P=0.023).There were no correlations between the subjective symptoms and objective clinical parameters in NSS group (all P>0.05).The SPEED score was positively correlated with the Marx line score of upper eye lid ( rs=0.573, P=0.041) and the OSDI score was negatively correlated with the minimum nerve length ( rs=-0.606, P=0.037) in SS group. Conclusions:Patients with SS dry eye have more nasal conjunctival staining and fewer subjective symptoms than NSS dry eye patients with the same signs, which manifests as a separation of symptoms and signs.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of inconsistent symptoms and signs of dry eye in patients with Sj?gren syndrome (SS).Methods:A case-control study was performed.Thirty-eight patients (38 eyes) who visited the dry-eye outpatient department at Peking University People's Hospital were enrolled from January to October 2021.The patients were divided into a non-SS (NSS) group (25 cases, 25 eyes) and a SS group (13 cases, 13 eyes) according to without or with SS.The data of right eyes were analyzed.The patients' subjective symptoms were scored and their objective clinical parameters were evaluated.Evaluation of subjective symptoms included Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), Standard Patient Evaluation of eye dryness (SPEED) Questionnaire and Dry Eye Questionnaire-5 (DEQ-5).Objective clinical parameters included Schirmer Ⅰ test (SⅠt), tear film breakup time (TBUT), SICCA ocular staining score (OSS), National Eye Institute (NEI) score, Marx line score, non-invasive tear film breakup time (NIBUT), non-invasive tear meniscus height (NITMH), meibomian gland loss area ratio, the number of corneal subepithelial nerves, total nerve length, mean nerve length, maximum nerve length, minimum nerve length, nerve curvature, and number of dendritic cells.Differences in subjective symptoms and clinical parameters were compared between the two groups, and correlation analysis between ocular symptom scores and objective clinical parameters was performed.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University People's Hospital (No.RDY2020-03).Written informed consent was obtained from each subject.Results:The OSDI, SPEED and DEQ-5 scores of SS group were 10.9(2.1, 23.1), 4.0(2.0, 7.0) and 7.0(3.5, 9.5), respectively, which were significantly lower than 37.5(26.0, 64.9), 10.5(7.0, 13.0) and 13.0(6.8, 14.3) of NSS group ( Z=-2.70, -3.01, -2.14; all P<0.05).TBUT was longer in the SS group than in the NSS group, and the difference was statistically significant ( Z=-2.10, P=0.038).No significant difference was found in SⅠt, OSS, Marx line score, NIBUT, NITMH, meibomian gland loss area ratio, the number of corneal subepithelial nerves, total nerve length, mean nerve length, maximum nerve length, minimum nerve length, nerve curvature, and number of dendritic cells (all P>0.05).The OSS of nasal conjunctiva was significantly higher in the SS group than in the NSS group ( Z=-2.32, P=0.023).There were no correlations between the subjective symptoms and objective clinical parameters in NSS group (all P>0.05).The SPEED score was positively correlated with the Marx line score of upper eye lid ( rs=0.573, P=0.041) and the OSDI score was negatively correlated with the minimum nerve length ( rs=-0.606, P=0.037) in SS group. Conclusions:Patients with SS dry eye have more nasal conjunctival staining and fewer subjective symptoms than NSS dry eye patients with the same signs, which manifests as a separation of symptoms and signs.

Oral cancer, as one kind of mucosal epithelial tumor, constitutes approximately 2% of all cancers, while the most common type, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) represents around 90% histopathology of oral cancers. Although the treatment of OSCC has been improved in recent 20 years, its 5-year survival rate has not raised significantly. The crux to improve the survival rate and prognosis of OSCC patients lies in the early diagnosis and intervention of this disease. Hence, exploring new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for OSCC is therefore an urgent priority. Exosomes, the small membrane vesicles originated from endosomes, have been detected in a wide array of bodily fluids. Exosomes have biological properties of derived cells based on containing a diversity of proteins, lipids, DNA fragments, mRNAs, and non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, piRNAs, circular RNAs, tsRNAs, and ribosomal RNAs, which are delivered to neighboring cells or even transported to distant sites. They participate in cellular communication as well as play an important role in many diseases and immune response. Exosomes have been associated with the tumorigenesis of OSCC, promoting the proliferation, colonization, and metastasis of OSCC by transferring their cargos to the target cells. Furthermore, exosomes participate in the regulation of the tumor microenvironment to affect cancer progression in vivo. In this review, we summarize the crucial role of exosomes in the tumorigenesis and progression of OSCC and discuss the potential clinical application of exosomes in OSCC treatment.

Aim Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment(SELEX)techniquewas employed to screen and identify nucleic acid aptamers that specifically bind to mouse atherosclerotic pathological tissues,aiming to pro-vide a research foundation for the development of molecular targets and diagnostic reagents for early atherosclerosis.Methods A single-stranded DNA(ssDNA)library with a capacity of 1015～1016 was constructed,which was then subjec-ted to binding-elution(negative selection)with normal mouse vascular tissue slices.The eluted library was subsequently bound to atherosclerotic tissue slices for binding-elution(positive selection).PCR was used to amplify the positive and negative screening products,and agarose gel electrophoresis was used to verify the amplified products.The ssDNA library after multiple rounds of selection was sequenced using T-A cloning and sequencing to obtain the primary structure of the nu-cleic acid aptamers,and the secondary structure was predicted using the Mfold online software.The selected nucleic acid aptamers were labeled with a FAM fluorescent group at the 5'-end and were bound to both positive and negative selection tissue slices,with fluorescence intensity observed under a fluorescence microscope.Image Pro Plus 6.0 was used to cal-culate the relative average fluorescence intensity to evaluate the binding specificity of nucleic acid aptamers.Results After 8 rounds of selection,agarose gel electrophoresis imaging showed PCR amplification products in the positive selection lanes,while no PCR amplification products were observed in the negative selection lanes,indicating the successful acquisi-tion of a nucleic acid aptamer library that specifically binds to atherosclerotic tissues.Five nucleic acid aptamers were i-dentified by T-A cloning and sequencing,and their predicted secondary structures all had stem-loop structures.Immuno-fluorescence staining verified that five nucleic acid aptamers had different degrees of binding with As blood vessels,and the quantitative results of the relative average fluorescence intensity showed that nucleic acid aptamer No.11 had the highest relative average fluorescence intensity value,which can be used as a candidate nucleic acid aptamer for subsequent re-search.Conclusion Specific nucleic acid aptamers that bind to atherosclerotic vesselswere successfully obtained,providing a research foundation for further screening of early molecular targets of Asand developing in vivo early diagnostic reagents.

Objective:To explore the expression level of Porphyromonas gingivalis, downstream of tyrosine kinase 3 (DOK3) and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) in the tumor immunomicroenvironment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and the correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients.Methods:A retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinical data of 200 OSCC patients with Porphyromonas gingivalis-positive confirmed by 16S rDNA sequencing technology in the First Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University between June 2008 and June 2020 were collected. The tumor tissues and the corresponding adjacent normal mucosal tissues of 6 OSCC patients (including 3 cases with Porphyromonas gingivalis -positive and 3 cases with Porphyromonas gingivalis-negative) were selected for high-throughput sequencing to screen differentially co-expressed genes. Immunohistochemistry method was used to detect the expressions of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3, and CD206 (a TAM marker). The median H score of OSCC tissues was used as the threshold to categorize the expression level of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3 and CD206 into low-expression (H score < threshold) and high-expression (H score ≥ threshold) groups. The overall survival (OS) analysis was conducted by using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was employed.Results:The high-throughput sequencing results revealed that DOK3 is a differentially co-expressed gene among normal oral mucosa, Porphyromonas gingivalis-positive, and Porphyromonas gingivalis-negative OSCC. In 200 patients with Porphyromonas gingivalis-positive OSCC, 139 exhibited high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis (H score ≥ 7 points), while 61 showed low expression (H score < 7 points). There were statistically significant differences in the expression levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis in patients with different survival status, pathological T stage, pathological N stage, clinical stage, tumor diameter, degree of tumor differentiation and recurrence (all P < 0.05). Among the 139 OSCC patients with high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis, 92 cases showed high expression of DOK3 (H score ≥ 6 points) and 47 showed low expression (H score < 6 points); 78 cases exhibited high expression of CD206 (H score ≥ 6 points), while 61 showed low expression (H score < 6 points). There were statistically significant differences in the DOK3 expression level in the high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis OSCC patients with different age, survival status, pathological T stage, pathological N stage, and recurrence (all P < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the CD206 expression level in the high expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis OSCC patients with different pathological T stage, clinical stage, and degree of tumor differentiation (all P < 0.05). The expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis was positively correlated with the expressions of DOK3 and CD206 (both P < 0.01). At the last follow-up on April 6th, 2024, the median follow-up time was 45 months (3 to 106 month range). The median OS time of the 200 patients was 2 429 d, and the 3-year OS rate was 63.9%. The OS of OSCC patients with high expressions of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3, and CD206 was worse than that in those with low expressions (all P < 0.05). Conclusions:The high expression levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis, DOK3, and TAM are associated with a poor prognosis of OSCC patients, suggesting their potential as key biomarkers for prognostic evaluation.

The treatment of head and neck cancer is dominated by surgery and radiochemotherapy.For elderly patients,however,the rationality of invasive treatment is questioned in clinical practice.Although the proportion of geriatric patients with head and neck canc-er is increasing,there are few consistent standards in the literature and guidelines.From the perspective of evidence-based medicine,this paper presents current evidence for treatment so as to provide specific recommendations for treating head and neck cancer in the elderly.Furthermore,based on a systematic literature review,a clinical algorithm is proposed to evaluate the treatment risk of elderly patients with head and neck cancer.