Objective:To analyze the sensitivity of cytoplasmic light-chain immunofluorescence with fluorescence in situ hybridization in bone marrow smears (new FISH) for detecting cytogenetic abnormalities in multiple myeloma (MM) .Methods:42 MM patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from April 2022 to October 2023 were enrolled. The patients with MM were detected by new FISH and CD138 immunomagnetic bead sorting technology combined with FISH (MACS-FISH) or cytoplasmic immunoglobulin FISH (cIg-FISH) to analyze cytogenetic detection results using combination probes which included 1q21/1p32, p53, IgH, IgH/FGFR3 [t (4;14) ], and IgH/MAF [t (14;16) ].Results:In 23 patients with MM, the abnormality detection rates of cIg-FISH and new FISH were 95.7% and 100.0%, respectively ( P>0.05). The detection rates of 1q21+, 1p32-, p53 deletion, and IgH abnormalities by cIg-FISH and new FISH were consistent, which were 52.2%, 8.7%, 17.4%, and 65.2%, respectively. The results of the two methods further performed with t (4;14) and t (14;16) in patients with IgH abnormalities were identical. The positive rate of t (4;14) was 26.7%, whereas t (14;16) was not detected. In 19 patients with MM, the abnormality detection rates of MACS-FISH and new FISH were 73.7% and 63.2%, respectively ( P>0.05). The positivity rate of 1q21+, 1p32- and IgH abnormalities detected by MACS-FISH were slightly higher than those detected by new FISH; however, the differences were not statistically significant (all P values >0.05) . Conclusion:The new FISH method has a higher detection rate of cytogenetic abnormalities in patients with MM and has good consistency with MACS-FISH and cIg-FISH.

With the development of the Scientific, Transparent and Applicable Rankings tool for clinical practice guidelines(STAR), the publication of evaluation and ranking for scientificity, transparency and applicability of Chinese guidelines and consensus published in the medical journals in 2021and 2022, as well as the publication of the STAR evaluation and ranking for some specialities, the STAR evaluation and ranking has received widespread attention in the medical community. In order to further enhance its scientificity and transparency, Methodology and Technology Specialization Committee of the STAR Working Group presents this article to introduce sample identification and speciality assignment in the evaluation and ranking process.

Objective:To analyze the distribution of different SF3B1 genotypes in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and its prognostic value.Methods:Totally, 377MDS patients who were initially diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2014 to January 2022 were included in the retrospective analysis.The patients were divided into three different groups according to mutation stcote of SF3B1, including 317 patients with SF3B1 wild type (SF3B1 WT) (214 males and 103 females, 63(49, 71) years old),39 patients with SF3B1 K700E mutation(SF3B1 K700E(17 males and 22 females, 65(52, 73)years old)) and 21 patients with SF3B1 non-K700E mutation(SF3B1 non-K700E)(13 males and 8 females, 67(63, 73) years old). MDS-related 20 gene mutations were detected using targeted sequencing technology; Survival curves were constructed by the Kaplan-Meier method; Cox proportional hazards model was established to evaluate different factors at diagnosis on survival by univariate and multivariate analyses.. Results:Compared with SF3B1 non-K700E patients, SF3B1 K700E patients had a higher median absolute neutrophil count ( P=0.002) and were likely to be in the low/int-1 International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) categories ( P=0.023). A 20-gene targeted sequencing analysis showed that, compared with SF3B1 WT patients, SF3B1 K700E patients were associated with lower frequency of ASXL1 and U2AF1 mutations ( P=0.018 and P=0.003); while compared with SF3B1 non-K700E patients, the frequency of ASXL1 mutation was significantly lower in SF3B1 K700E cases ( P=0.029). Patients with SF3B1 K700E had better overall survival (OS) in comparison with SF3B1 WT and SF3B1 non-K700E in MDS patients ( P<0.001 and P=0.045, respectively). In comparison with SF3B1 WT patients, SF3B1 MUT patients had more favorable OS and progression-free survival (PFS) in MDS without excess blasts ( P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively), but no significant difference was found in MDS with excess blasts ( P>0.05). Compared with SF3B1 WT patients, SF3B1 K700E patients had superior OS and PFS in the int-1 IPSS category ( P=0.010 and P=0.013, respectively). By multivariable analysis, the presence of SF3B1 K700Ewas an independent predictor of superior OS ( HR=0.461,95% CI 0.262-0.811, P=0.007). Conclusion:SF3B1 K700E and SF3B1 non-K700E patients had significantly improved OS in comparison with SF3B1 WT MDS patients. Furthermore, SF3B1 K700E patients were associated with a better OS compared with SF3B1 non-K700E MDS patients. SF3B1 mutation could not overcome the poor prognostic effect of excess blasts, which highlights the importance of the SF3B1 mutation subtype in risk assessment of MDS without excess blasts.

Objective:The clinical characteristics and prognosis of 20 patients with small B-lymphocyte proliferative disease with t (14;19) (q32; q13) were analyzed to improve the understanding of such rare cases.Methods:The clinical data of 20 patients with t (14; 19) (q32; q13) small B lymphocyte proliferative disease treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from April 2013 to December 2020 were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Among them, 10 cases were chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 10 cases were other small B-cell malignancies.Results:Among the 20 cases, 10 were male and 10 were female, and the median age at diagnosis was 53.5 (35-88) years old. All patients had absolute lymphocytosis, 19 patients had lymphadenopathy, and 10 patients had splenomegaly. With a median follow-up of 36 (4-163) months, three patients died, and 11 patients had a time to treatment (TTT) ≤12 months. Ten patients (50%) were accompanied by +12, two patients (2/17, 12%) were accompanied by 13q-. Moreover, we found that t (14;19) was associated with unmutated immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable (IGHV) somatic mutation (17/19, 89%) and a biased use of IGHV4-39 (7/17, 41%) was observed. Next-generation sequencing detected one or more gene mutations in 14 (14/17, 82%) cases and a total of 25 gene mutations had been revealed, of which the most frequent were NOTCH1 (35%) , followed by SF3B1 (24%) and KMT2D (18%) . For 10 CLL patients, five (50%) were defined as Rai Ⅲ/Binet C. It is noteworthy that among the 20 cases, two cases actually involved Richter transformation.Conclusions:Small B-cell malignant tumors with abnormal t (14; 19) show unique clinical biological characteristics, often accompanied by a variety of adverse prognostic factors, and tend to have an aggressive clinical course.

OBJECTIVE: To detect chromosomal aberrations by using cytoplasmic light chain immunofluorescence with fluorescence in situ hybridization (cIg-FISH), and to explore the correlation of del(17p13) with clinical characteristics, drug response and prognosis among patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM). METHODS: Clinical data of 198 cases of NDMM was collected. cIg-FISH and a specific probe (TP53) were used to detect karyotypic abnormalities in bone marrow samples derived from the patients. Correlation between karyotypic abnormalities and clinical data was analyzed. RESULTS: Nineteen of the 198 patients (9.6%) were found to have a karyotype involving del(17p13). The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with or without del(17p13) was significantly different (P<0.01). No significant difference was found in OS and PFS between patients carrying a del(17p13) on bortezomib and non-bortezomib regimen (OS: P = 0.873; PFS: P = 0.610). CONCLUSION cIg-FISH is a simple and convenient method for the detection of karyotypic anomalies in multiple myeloma. Del(17p13) is an indicator for poor prognosis for multiple myeloma patients. Bortezomib cannot improve the survival disadvantage of del(17p13).

Objective To investigatethe significance of serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 125,car cinoembryonic antigen (CEA),cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1),neuron-specific enolase (NSE),and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) in the diagnosis of bone metastasis from lung cancer.Methods A total of 222 patients,including 91 lung cancer patients with bone metastasis (49 males,42 females,average age (60.07± 10.60) years;group A),75 lung cancerpatientswithout bone metastasis (57 males,18 females,average age (62.20± 12.63) years;group B),56 patients with benign lung diseases (34 males,22 females,average age (61.45± 10.66) years;group C) were recruited from January 2015 to January 2016.The electrochemiluminescence was applied to detect serum levels of CA125,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE and SCCA.Kruskal-Wallis,Wilcoxon rank sum test,x2 test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were used to analyze data.Results The levels of serum CA125,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE in group A were higher than those in group B and C (H values:13.45-44.96,all P＜0.05);while SCCA was not significantly different among the 3 groups (H=2.56,P＞0.05).The areas under ROC curves for CA125,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE,SCCA were 0.667,0.702,0.602,0.664,0.440,respectively.The positive rate of serum NSE in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients was higher than that in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (17/18 vs 32.88％ (24/73);x2=22.11,P＜0.05);CEA was highly expressed in adenocarcinoma,and SCCA was highly expressed in squamous cell carcinoma.Patients with grade Ⅲ+ Ⅳ metas tasis (n =52) had higher levels of CA 125,CEA,NSE compared to patients with Ⅰ + Ⅱ metastasis (n =39;z values:from-2.54 to-0.32,all P＜0.05).The sensitivity of combined detection of 5 tumor markers was 97.80％ (89/91),which was significantly higher than that of single tumor marker (x2 values:35.46-138.23,all P＜0.05).Conclusion Serum levels of CA125,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE and SCCA play a role in the diagnosis of bone metastasis from lung cancer,and the combined detection of the 5 tumor markers contribute to the early detection of bone metastases.

Objective Using Z-score to assess the prevalence of proximal aorta dilatation in middle-aged and aged individuals during routine transthoracic echocardiogram examinations and to identify its risk factors. Methods A total of 823 middle-aged or elderly patients on routine transthoracic echocardiogram examinations were consecutively enrolled. The internal diameters of the sinus of Valsalva (SoV ) and the ascending aorta (AA ) were measured. Z-scores were calculated according to the proposed equation for SoV and AA. A dilated aortic root was defined as a Z-score ≥1.96 or the diameter of SoV or AA ≥ 40 mm. The prevalence of proximal aorta dilatation and associated factors were analyzed. Results The prevalences of proximal aorta dilatation ,SoV dilatation ,and AA dilatation were 26.1%(25/823 ) ,6.0%(49/823 ) ,and 23.7%(195/823 ) , respectively.In the aortic root dilatation group ,age and the proportion of obesity were higher (both P＜0.05) ,and there were more female subjects (30.5% or 117/384 vs.22.3% or 98/439 ,P＜0.01) . The incidences of left atrial dilation ,left ventricular dilation ,left ventricular hypertrophy ,and aortic regurgitation in the aortic root dilatation group were higher than those in the non-aortic root dilatation group(P＜0.05 ) .Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that sex (OR＝ 1.827 ,95% CI :1.248-2.673 ,P＝0.002) ,hypertension (OR＝1.441 ,95% CI :1.000-2.075 ,P＝0.050)and left ventricular hypertrophy (OR＝1.827 ,95% CI :1.248-2.673 ,P＝0.002)were independently correlated with aortic root dilatation. Conclusions The prevalence of proximal aorta dilatation is high in middle-aged and aged individuals. Proximal aorta dilatation is related to sex ,age ,and body size ,and it is often accompanied by structural abnormalities of the heart.

Objective To investigate the risk factors for acute ischemic stroke in patients with lower extremity atherosclerosis (LEA).Methods The consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to hospital within 7 d after onset were enrolled retrospectively.Color Doppler flow imaging was used to detect LEA.The demographic characteristics,vascular risk factors,and laboratory parameters were identified and analyzed.Results A total of 156 patients with acute ischemic stroke were enrolled,including 138 with LEA.Univariate analysis showed that age (69.5± 11.8 years vs.60.4± 11.5 years;t =3.063,P =0.003) and the proportion of patients with hypertension (81.1％ vs,55.6％;x2 =2.467,P =0.014) in the LEA group were significantly higher than those in the non-LEA group.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment for confounders such as gender,baseline systolic blood pressure,diabetes mellitus,and ischemic heart disease,age (odds ratio [OR] 1.059,95％ confidence interval [CI] 1.016-1.105;P=0.007),and hypertension (OR 3.128,95％ CI 1.084-9.026,P =0.035) were the independent risk factors for acute ischemic stroke complicated with LEA.Conclusions Age and hypertension are associated with acute ischemic stroke complicated with LEA.

Background and purpose:Overexpression of inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2 A-2 (I2PP2A) in many tumors including gastric cancer suggests that I2PP2A may contribute to the development of gastric cancer. To further study the biological function of I2PP2A and its role in gastric cancer, we established a BGC823 cell line for stable expression of shRNA targeting human I2PP2A gene. Methods: A double-stranded shRNA targeting the I2PP2A was designed, synthesized and was inserted into a lentivirus vector (pGLV2), and the insertion was identiifed by restriction endonuclease analysis and DNA sequencing. BGC823 cells were then transfected with the packaged recombinant lentivirus, and resistant cell clones were selected with puromycin. The expression of I2PP2A was examined using real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blot. Results:Sequencing result proved that recombinant lentivirus vector pGLV2-shRNA-I2PP2A was constructed correctly. RT-PCR and Western blot results conifrmed that the expression of I2PP2A was signiifcantly down-regulated in this infected BGC823 cell line. The efifciency of siRNA interference of I2PP2A could be up to about 90%. Conclusion:A lentiviral vector carrying a shRNA targeting the I2PP2A gene is successfully constructed, and a BGC823 cell line stably expressing I2PP2A shRNA is established with this lentiviral system.

Objective To construct eukaryotic vectors expressing short hairpin RNAs ( shRNAs ) targeting at the CIP2 A gene and to explore its effects on gastric cell line BGC-823 .Methods Four oligonucleotides targeting the CIP2A gene were synthesized and cloned into the eukaryotic expression plasmid pGPU 6.The recombinant plas-mids, pGPU6/GFP/Neo-CIP2A-shRNA-1, 2, 3 and 4, were introduced into BGC-823 cells by lipofectamine-me-diated transfection and the infection rate was observed by fluorescence microscope .The gene silencing efficiency was measured by real-time PCR and Western blot .The effects on proliferation of BGC-823 cells were detected by CCK-8 .Results DNA sequencing and enzyme digestion analysis confirmed the identity of the four recombinant shRNA expression vectors .Immunofluorescsence demonstrated that transfection efficiency was above 70%.Trans-fection of shRNA-1, 2, 3 and 4, significantly knocked down the expression of CIP 2A mRNA and protein at 24, 48 and 72 h after transfection .Compared with the 2 , 3 and 4 , shRNA-1 had the more strong inhibitory effect on the expression of CIP2A mRNA and protein.The CCK-8 assay showed that the anti-proliferation effect on BGC-823 cells was significant ( P<0.05 ) .Conclusions The recombinant vector may effectively inhibit the expression of CIP2A in BGC-823 cells and depress the proliferation of BGC-823 cells.