Tumors are the second leading cause of death worldwide. Exosomes are a type of extracellular vesicle secreted from multivesicular bodies, with particle sizes ranging from 40 to 160 nm. They regulate the tumor microenvironment, proliferation, and progression by transporting proteins, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules. Compared with other drug delivery systems, exosomes derived from different cells possess unique cellular tropism, enabling them to selectively target specific tissues and organs. This homing ability allows them to cross biological barriers that are otherwise difficult for conventional drug delivery systems to penetrate. Due to their biocompatibility and unique biological properties, exosomes can serve as drug delivery systems capable of loading various anti-tumor drugs. They can traverse biological barriers, evade immune responses, and specifically target tumor tissues, making them ideal carriers for anti-tumor therapeutics. This article systematically summarizes the methods for exosome isolation, including ultracentrifugation, ultrafiltration, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), immunoaffinity capture, and microfluidics. However, these methods have certain limitations. A combination of multiple isolation techniques can improve isolation efficiency. For instance, combining ultrafiltration with SEC can achieve both high purity and high yield while reducing processing time. Exosome drug loading methods can be classified into post-loading and pre-loading approaches. Pre-loading is further categorized into active and passive loading. Active loading methods, including electroporation, sonication, extrusion, and freeze-thaw cycles, involve physical or chemical disruption of the exosome membrane to facilitate drug encapsulation. Passive loading relies on drug concentration gradients or hydrophobic interactions between drugs and exosomes for encapsulation. Pre-loading strategies also include genetic engineering and co-incubation methods. Additionally, we review approaches to enhance the targeting, retention, and permeability of exosomes. Genetic engineering and chemical modifications can improve their tumor-targeting capabilities. Magnetic fields can also be employed to promote the accumulation of exosomes at tumor sites. Retention time can be prolonged by inhibiting monocyte-mediated clearance or by combining exosomes with hydrogels. Engineered exosomes can also reshape the tumor microenvironment to enhance permeability. This review further discusses the current applications of exosomes in delivering various anti-tumor drugs. Specifically, exosomes can encapsulate chemotherapeutic agents such as paclitaxel to reduce side effects and increase drug concentration within tumor tissues. For instance, exosomes loaded with doxorubicin can mitigate cardiotoxicity and minimize adverse effects on healthy tissues. Furthermore, exosomes can encapsulate proteins to enhance protein stability and bioavailability or carry immunogenic cell death inducers for tumor vaccines. In addition to these applications, exosomes can deliver nucleic acids such as siRNA and miRNA to regulate gene expression, inhibit tumor proliferation, and suppress invasion. Beyond their therapeutic applications, exosomes also serve as tumor biomarkers for early cancer diagnosis. The detection of exosomal miRNA can improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing prostate and pancreatic cancers. Despite their promising potential as drug delivery systems, challenges remain in the standardization and large-scale production of exosomes. This article explores the future development of engineered exosomes for targeted tumor therapy. Plant-derived exosomes hold potential due to their superior biocompatibility, lower toxicity, and abundant availability. Furthermore, the integration of exosomes with artificial intelligence may offer novel applications in diagnostics, therapeutics, and personalized medicine.

Persistent left superior vena cava is a rare venous variant that is often combined with cardiovascular malformations. In thoracic surgery, especially mediastinal tumor resection, neglect of this variant may make the surgery difficult and risky, and careful preoperative imaging interpretation and adequate preoperative evaluation play an important role in the perioperative safety of the patient. In this paper, we reported a case of a 17-year-old female patient with a persistent left superior vena cava combined with mediastinal tumors. She was successfully discharged 5 days after thoracoscopic surgery, and after 3 years of postoperative follow-up, no tumor recurrence was observed.

Lysosomes represent a promising target for cancer therapy and reducing drug resistance. However, the short treatment time and low efficiency of lysosomal targeting have limited the application in lysosome-targeting anticancer drugs. In this study, we proposed an adhesive-bandage approach and synthesized a new lysosomal targeting drug, namely long-term lysosome-targeting anticancer drug (LLAD). It contains a SLC38A9-targeting covalently bound moiety and an alkaline component both to prolong the inhibition of SLC38A9 in lysosomes and alkalinize lysosomes. Upon short term and low-dose treatment of HeLa cells, at passage 0, with LLAD, it rapidly alkalinized lysosomes and also can be detected in lysosomes even at passage 15. LLAD induced apoptosis in HeLa cells through long-term lysosomal damage, and showed better long-term anticancer effect than cisplatin in vivo. Overall, our study paves the way for developing long-term lysosomal targeting drugs to treat cancer and overcome the drug resistance of cancer cells, and also provides a candidate drug, LLAD, for treating cancer.

This study aimed to comprehensively examine the association of gallstones, cholecystectomy, and cancer risk. Multivariable logistic regressions were performed to estimate the observational associations of gallstones and cholecystectomy with cancer risk, using data from a nationwide cohort involving 239 799 participants. General and gender-specific two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was further conducted to assess the causalities of the observed associations. Observationally, a history of gallstones without cholecystectomy was associated with a high risk of stomach cancer (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=2.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.50-4.28), liver and bile duct cancer (aOR=2.46, 95% CI 1.17-5.16), kidney cancer (aOR=2.04, 95% CI 1.05-3.94), and bladder cancer (aOR=2.23, 95% CI 1.01-5.13) in the general population, as well as cervical cancer (aOR=1.69, 95% CI 1.12-2.56) in women. Moreover, cholecystectomy was associated with high odds of stomach cancer (aOR=2.41, 95% CI 1.29-4.49), colorectal cancer (aOR=1.83, 95% CI 1.18-2.85), and cancer of liver and bile duct (aOR=2.58, 95% CI 1.11-6.02). MR analysis only supported the causal effect of gallstones on stomach, liver and bile duct, kidney, and bladder cancer. This study added evidence to the causal effect of gallstones on stomach, liver and bile duct, kidney, and bladder cancer, highlighting the importance of cancer screening in individuals with gallstones.
Humans ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Gallstones/complications* ; Female ; Male ; Cholecystectomy/statistics & numerical data* ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors ; Aged ; Adult ; Neoplasms/etiology* ; Stomach Neoplasms/epidemiology*

OBJECTIVE: Several epidemiological observational studies have related particulate matter (PM) exposure to Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but many confounding factors make it difficult to draw causal links from observational studies. The objective of this study was to explore the causal association between PM _2.5 exposure, its absorbance, and IBD. METHODS: We assessed the association of PM _2.5 and PM _2.5 absorbance with the two primary forms of IBD (Crohn's disease [CD] and ulcerative colitis [UC]) using Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore the causal relationship. We conducted two-sample MR analyses with aggregated data from the UK Biobank genome-wide association study. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms linked with PM _2.5 concentrations or their absorbance were used as instrumental variables (IVs). We used inverse variance weighting (IVW) as the primary analytical approach and four other standard methods as supplementary analyses for quality control. RESULTS: The results of MR demonstrated that PM _2.5 had an adverse influence on UC risk (odds ratio [ OR] = 1.010; 95% confidence interval [ CI] = 1.001-1.019, P = 0.020). Meanwhile, the results of IVW showed that PM _2.5 absorbance was also causally associated with UC ( OR = 1.012; 95% CI = 1.004-1.019, P = 0.002). We observed no causal relationship between PM _2.5, PM _2.5 absorbance, and CD. The results of sensitivity analysis indicated the absence of heterogeneity or pleiotropy, ensuring the reliability of MR results. CONCLUSION Based on two-sample MR analyses, there are potential positive causal relationships between PM _2.5, PM _2.5 absorbance, and UC.
Humans ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Particulate Matter/analysis* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/genetics* ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Crohn Disease/genetics* ; Colitis, Ulcerative/genetics* ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Risk Factors ; Environmental Exposure

Objective To evaluate the safety and mid- to long-term efficacy of surgical correction of isolated partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection (IPAPVC). Methods We retrospectively collected consecutive patients who were diagnosed with IPAPVC and underwent surgical correction at Fuwai Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Fuwai Yunnan Cardiovascular Hospital from June 2009 to May 2019, summarized the basic preoperative and intraoperative data of patients, analyzed the postoperative and mid- to long-term follow-up results. Results A total of 54 patients were enrolled, including 29 males and 25 females, with an average age of 16.20±2.40 years, ranging from 1 month to 62 years. There were 28 (51.9%) patients with varying degrees of arrhythmia, 22 (40.7%) patients with cardiac insufficiency, and 39 (72.2%) patients with pulmonary hypertension. According to Bordy's typing, 14 (25.9%) patients were classified as type A, 23 (42.6%) type B, 4 (7.4%) type C, 5 (9.3%) type D and 8 (14.8%) mixed type. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed in the whole group of patients and the accuracy of staging diagnosis was 66.7% (36/54), and cardiac CT angiography (CTA) was performed in 37 patients and the accuracy of staging diagnosis was 94.6% (35/37). All surgical procedures were assisted with cardiopulmonary bypass, aortic cross-clamping time was 0-219 (67.02±5.23) min, cardiopulmonary bypass time was 40-261 (105.09±5.23) min, and there was no serious intraoperative complication. Postoperative tracheal intubation time was 0-230 (13.33±4.20) h, intensive care unit stay was 0-13 (1.89±0.28) days, postoperative hospital stay was 5-18 (7.20±0.38) days, and follow-up time was 16-140 (62.58±5.12) months. There were 2 (3.7%) all-cause postoperative deaths, including 1 in-hospital death and 1 death during the follow-up, and there was no intraoperative death. Among the survivors, there were 3 patients with surgery-related complications: 1 patient had atrial septal defect with the second surgical treatment, 1 early obstruction of the superior vena cava and 1 arrhythmia. Two patients had complications of IPAPVC (atrial fibrillation, collateral circulation) prior to surgery and underwent the second surgery with a poor prognosis, and 1 patient had preoperative cardiac insufficiency and atrial fibrillation, whose symptoms persisted for a long time during the follow-up. Conclusion IPAPVC accounts for a lower percentage of partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection, transthoracic echocardiography combined with CTA improves diagnostic accuracy, and IPAPVC should be treated with elective surgery after diagnosis. The surgical approach should be individualized with imaging features such as disease staging, number of drains and drainage location. Surgical treatment of IPAPVC is safe and effective, and regular follow-up is warranted.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between the expression of GLI1 and im-mune invasion and clinical prognosis in gastric cancer.To study the effect of GLI1 expression on drug resistance in gastric cancer.Methods:The expression difference of GLI1 in gastric cancer and normal tissues was analyzed by using TCGA database,and the effect of clinical features and GLI1 gene ex-pression level on prognosis of patients with gastric cancer was analyzed.The correlation between GLI1 gene expression and tumor immune cell infiltration in gastric cancer tissues was analyzed to explore its influence on drug resistance of chemotherapy drugs and targeted drugs.Clinical samples were collect-ed to analyze the difference of GLI1 expression in gastric cancer and paracancer tissues.Results:The expression of GLI1 in gastric cancer tissues was 1.7 times that in normal tissues,and the overall sur-vival and disease-free survival of patients with high expression are shorter than those with low ex-pression(P＜0.05).The interstitial score,immune score and abundance of immunoinfiltrating cells were higher in the high expression of GLI1 in gastric cancer tissues.High expression of GLI1 reduces drug sensitivity and is positively correlated with the expression of immune checkpoint markers PDCD1(P＜0.05).GLI1 expression was significantly increased in patients with subdifferentiated gastric cancer.Conclusions:GLI1 expression is associated with the prognosis and immune infiltration of patients with gastric cancer,and it may lead to poor prognosis of patients by regulating chemotherapy resis-tance,which may be a potential therapeutic target and molecular marker for gastric cancer.

Objective:To analyze the specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies level in the population after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Henan Province.Methods:A total of 5 178 peripheral venous blood samples were collected from 10 districts (counties) in Henan Province according to the national seroepidemiological survey program for COVID-19, and the method of cluster random sampling was adopted from March 6 to 15, 2023. Descriptive analysis was used for the basic data, history of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 infection of the respondents. The specific IgG antibody of SARS-CoV-2 was detected using chemiluminescence method. Statistical analysis was performed by using rank sum test, Kruskal Wallis test, and Dunn′s test.Results:The overall positive rate of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibody was 83.35%(4 316/5 178). There were statistically significant differences in the specific IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 produced by people of different sexes, different ages, infected or not, vaccinated or not, and vaccinated with different doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine ( Z=3.60, H=195.32, Z=6.10, 18.08, H=382.70, respectively, all P<0.001). The specific IgG antibodies produced by unvaccinated+ uninfected group, unvaccinated+ infected group, vaccinated+ uninfected group, and vaccinated+ infected group were 3.54(0.98, 11.00), 60.65(2.33, 84.80), 133.00(59.80, 173.00), and 142.00(98.30, 176.00), respectively. And the difference was statistically significant( H=354.62, P<0.001). The specific IgG antibodies of uninfected people increased with the increase of inoculum times( H=287.00 and 98.48, both P<0.001). The specific IgG antibodies of people who were not infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the groups of whose interval from the last inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to blood collection was less than three months, three to six months and more than six months were 171.86(156.04, 196.57), 71.71(17.08, 110.38) and 132.14(57.59, 172.25), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( H=19.93, P<0.001). Among them, the absolute difference between the less than three months group and the three to six months group was statistically significant ( Z=3.67, P<0.001), and the absolute difference between the less than three months group and the more than six months group was statistically significant ( Z=3.47, P<0.001). The specific IgG antibodies level in the less than three months group was the highest. Conclusions:There is a certain correlation between the number of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses and the specific IgG antibodies level in uninfected people. The specific IgG antibodies could maintain a high level for three months after immunization.

Objective To investigate the value of histone deacetylase 3(HDAC3)in evaluating the risk of slow/no reflow in AMI patients after PCI.Methods A total of 280 AMI patients undergo-ing PCI in our hospital from June 2020 to June 2022 were recruited,and according to TIMI blood flow grading,they were divided into slow/no reflow group(TIMI≤grade 11,n=54)and normal flow group(TIMI＞grade Ⅱ,n=226).The demographic characteristics,underlying diseases,baseline data at admission,and preoperative results of coronary angiography and laboratory tests were compared between the two groups.Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the influencing factors for slow/no reflow in AMI patients after PCI,and ROC curve was drawn to analyze the predictive value of related indicators for slow/no reflow.Results Obvi-ously larger proportions of smoking history and Killip grade Ⅱ,higher heart rate,longer reperfu-sion time,and higher serum levels of LDL-C,NLR,D-D and HDAC3 were observed in the slow/no reflow group than the normal flow group(P＜0.05,P＜0.01).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that reperfusion time,NLR and HDAC3 were influencing factors for slow/no reflow in AMI patients after PCI(P＜0.05,P＜0.01).The AUC value of reperfusion time+NLR in predicting the slow/no reflow after PCI in AMI patients was 0.798(95％CI:0.664-0.922,P=0.002),with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.87 and 0.73,respectively.And when serum HDAC3 level was combined in the prediction,the AUC value was 0.903(95％CI:0.790-0.922,P＜0.01),with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.93 and 0.84,respectively.Conclusion Preoperative HDAC3 level is an influencing factor for slow/no reflow in AMI patients after PCI.Based on reperfusion time and NLR,combination of the 3 indicators can provide additional predictive value for slow/no reflow in these patients.

Objective To investigate the effects of high-risk human papillomavirus 16 E6 protein(HPV16 E6 protein)on invasion and migration of cervical cancer SiHa cells via regulating the expression of expression miR-23a.Methods Tissue samples from 100 patients with cervical cancer HPV-negative,100 HPV-positive patients,and 100 paracancerous normal tissues were collected;cervical cancer SiHa cells were divided into blank group,E6 overexpression group,negative transfection group,and E6 + miR-23a mimics group.The expression of miR-23a and HPV16 E6 mRNA were detected by qRT-PCR;MTT assay was used to detect the cell proliferation inhibition rate;flow cytometry to detect the apoptosis;Transwell chamber assay to detect cell invasion,and scratch test to detect the ability of cell migration.The expression of HPV16 E6,apoptosis related proteins(Caspase-3,Bax,Bcl-2),and migration related proteins(MMP-2,MMP-9)was detected by WB.Results The expression level of miR-23a was decreased in cervical cancer tissues,and that was lower in HPV positive cervical cancer tissues.Overexpression of E6 decreased the expression level of miR-23a,cell proliferation inhibition rate,apoptosis rate,Caspase-3 and Bax protein expression,and increased the expression of Bcl-2 protein,scratch healing rate,inva-sion cell number,MMP-2,MMP-9 protein expression(P<0.05);miR-23a mimics reversed the effects of E6 overexpression on the above indicators.Conclusion HPV16 E6 promotes the invasion and migration of cervical cancer cells,which may be related to the regulation of miR-23a expression.