Immune-related adverse events requiring hospitalization in patients with lung cancer: implications and insights.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are associated with a distinct spectrum of toxicities. Data on irAE hospitalization rates and clinical course of patients with thoracic malignancies are lacking.

Methods: Patients with advanced thoracic malignancy treated with ICI (2/2016 to 6/2021) were retrospectively identified.

Screening and surveillance of esophageal cancer by magnifying endoscopy with narrow band imaging improves the survival of hypopharyngeal cancer patients.

Introduction: Patients with head and neck cancer may develop a second primary neoplasm (SPN) of the esophagus due to field cancerization. This study investigated the impacts of esophageal cancer screening using magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) on the outcomes of hypopharyngeal cancer patients.

Methods: Patients with hypopharyngeal cancer diagnosed from 2008 to 2021 in a tertiary hospital were reviewed retrospectively.

Molecular insight into the specific enzymatic properties of TREX1 revealing the diverse functions in processing RNA and DNA/RNA hybrids.

In various autoimmune diseases, dysfunctional TREX1 (Three prime Repair Exonuclease 1) leads to accumulation of endogenous single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and DNA/RNA hybrids in the cytoplasm and triggers immune activation through the cGAS-STING pathway. Although inhibition of TREX1 could be a useful strategy for cancer immunotherapy, profiling cellular functions in terms of its potential substrates is a key step. Particularly important is the functionality of processing DNA/RNA hybrids and RNA substrates.

A predictive survival model for patients with stage IV oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with chemoradiation.

Purpose: To evaluate the pre-treatment and post-treatment clinical factors associated with rate of survival at 1, 3, and 5 years in stage IV oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation with/without neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study involved 128 Stage IV oropharyngeal cancer patients that were treated at our tertiary referral center between 2008 and 2020. The pre-treatment and post-treatment clinical parameters including nutritional status and inflammatory markers were retrospectively reviewed.

Postchemoradiotherapy systemic inflammation response index predicts treatment response and overall survival for patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer.

Background/purpose: To explore the clinical utility of the systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) in the prediction of patients with poor treatment response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).

Methods: A total of 167 stage III-IVB (AJCC 7th edition) nasopharyngeal cancer patients who received CCRT were retrospectively collected. The SIRI was calculated using the following formula: SIRI = neutrophil count × monocyte count/lymphocyte count (10/L).

Spotted Temporal Lobe Necrosis following Concurrent Chemoradiation Therapy Using Image-Guided Radiotherapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Background: To explore spotted temporal lobe necrosis (TLN) and changes in brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) in a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Case presentation: a 57-year-old male was diagnosed with stage III NPC, cT1N2M0, in 2017. He underwent concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) with cisplatin (30 mg/m) and 5- fluorouracil (5-FU, 500 mg/m) plus IGRT with 70 Gy in 35 fractions for 7 weeks.

Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation Potentially Decreases Body Weight Loss and Improves Survival in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors.

This retrospective observational cohort study aims to assess the outcomes and associated factors in head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors with dysphagia, and to investigate the relationship between outcomes and speech and swallowing rehabilitation (SSR). We enrolled patients who were diagnosed with HNC between October 2016 and July 2018; we included 393 patients who developed dysphagia after definite treatment and were referred to speech-language pathologists (SLPs). We then classified patients into groups according to whether they received SSR.

Endoscopic Screening for Second Primary Tumors of the Esophagus Among Head and Neck Cancer Patients.

Malignancies of the head and neck (HN) region and esophagus are among the most common cancers worldwide. Due to exposure to common carcinogens and the theory of field cancerization, HN cancer patients have a high risk of developing second primary tumors (SPTs). In our review of 28 studies with 51,454 HN cancer patients, the prevalence of SPTs was 12%.

A predictive model for advanced oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with chemoradiation.

Background: To analyze clinical characteristics in the prediction of death within 1 year in advanced oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with chemoradiation.

Methods: One hundred forty-seven advanced oropharyngeal cancer patients who underwent curative-intent chemoradiation treatment were retrospectively enrolled. The pre-treatment clinical parameters including inflammatory markers were reviewed.

Nutritional status at diagnosis is prognostic for pharyngeal cancer patients: a retrospective study.

Background: Malnutrition in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Several nutrition indicators have been reported to be related to the prognosis of HNC. However, the prognostic effect of these multiple nutrition factors in HNC is not well elucidated.

Therapeutic Zfra4-10 or WWOX7-21 Peptide Induces Complex Formation of WWOX with Selective Protein Targets in Organs that Leads to Cancer Suppression and Spleen Cytotoxic Memory Z Cell Activation In Vivo.

Synthetic Zfra4-10 and WWOX7-21 peptides strongly suppress cancer growth in vivo. Hypothetically, Zfra4-10 binds to the membrane Hyal-2 of spleen Z cells and activates the Hyal-2/WWOX/SMAD4 signaling for cytotoxic Z cell activation to kill cancer cells. Stimulation of membrane WWOX in the signaling complex by a WWOX epitope peptide, WWOX7-21, is likely to activate the signaling.

Impact of parent-child relationship and sex on trajectories of children internalizing symptoms.

Introduction: Parenting and parental-child relationship may lead children to develop behavior disorders that can affect many aspects of their later life. This study aimed to examine the impact of parent-child relationship and sex on the development of internalizing symptoms in children.

Methods: Childhood and Adolescent Behaviors in Long-term Evolution (CABLE) is a longitudinal healthy-lifestyle research for which 18 elementary schools were randomly selected respectively in Taipei and Hsinchu in Taiwan.

Strategies by which WWOX-deficient metastatic cancer cells utilize to survive via dodging, compromising, and causing damage to WWOX-positive normal microenvironment.

Proapoptotic tumor suppressor WWOX is upregulated in the early stage of cancer initiation, which probably provides limitation to cancer growth and progression. Later, WWOX protein is reduced to enhance cancer cell growth, migration, invasiveness and metastasis. To understand how WWOX works in controlling cancer progression, here we demonstrate that apoptotic stress mediated by ectopic WWOX stimulated cancer cells to secrete basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in order to support capillary microtubule formation.

Identification of SEPTIN12 as a novel target of the androgen and estrogen receptors in human testicular cells.

SEPTIN12 (SEPT12) is a testis-enriched gene that is downregulated in the testis of infertile men with severe spermatogenic defects. While SEPT12 is involved in spermatogenic failure and sperm motility disorder, SEPT12 transcriptional regulation is still unknown. Here we report the promoter region of SEPT12 as a 245 bp segment upstream of the transcription start site.

Structural basis of adaptor-mediated protein degradation by the tail-specific PDZ-protease Prc.

Peptidoglycan (PG) is a highly cross-linked, protective mesh-like sacculus that surrounds the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane. Expansion of PG is tightly coupled to growth of a bacterial cell and requires hydrolases to cleave the cross-links for insertion of nascent PG material. In Escherichia coli, a proteolytic system comprising the periplasmic PDZ-protease Prc and the lipoprotein adaptor NlpI contributes to PG enlargement by regulating cellular levels of MepS, a cross-link-specific hydrolase.

Interaction of Zap70 and CXCR4 receptor at lamellipodia that determines the directionality during Jurkat T cells chemotaxis.

Directional migration of T-lymphocytes is a key process during immune activation and is tightly regulated both temporally and spatially. The initial cell membrane protrusion at a particular site is critical for determining the direction of cell migration. In this study, we found that ZAP-70 protein appeared not only at the margin of the spreading areas of polarized Jurkat T cells but also formed clusters near the center of the cell body on a fibronectin plate.

Clinical-associated characteristics and microbiological features of bloodstream nontyphoidal salmonella infection in adult patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Bloodstream nontyphoidal salmonella (NTS) infection is rare, but its associated characteristics and microbiological features in immunocompromised patients are worth paying attention to, particularly for those receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). No studies so far have analyzed post-transplant bloodstream NTS infection. Therefore, we reviewed 423 adult patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic SCT from 2003 to 2014.

Treatment for the endocrine resistant breast cancer: Current options and future perspectives.

Endocrine resistance remains a challenge and an unmet need for managing hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. The mechanisms of endocrine resistance are multifaceted and are likely to evolve over time following various single or combination therapies. The purpose of this review article is to provide general understanding of molecular basis of endocrine resistance of breast cancer and to offer comprehensive review on current treatment options and potential new treatment strategies for endocrine resistant breast cancers.

Nitrosomonas europaea biofilm formation is enhanced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Biofilms are useful in biotechnology applications such as wastewater treatment, where aggregation of cells on surfaces can increase retention of slow-growing organisms such as ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). The formation and morphological development of polymicrobial biofilms including AOB are not thoroughly understood. Here, we investigated the formation of Nitrosomonas europaea AOB biofilms in flow cell systems.

Cubitanoids and Cembranoids from the Soft Coral Sinularia nanolobata.

Two new cubitanoids, nanoculones A and B (1 and 2), and three new cembranoids, nanolobols A-C (3-5), as well as six known compounds, calyculone I (6), sinulariuol A (7), sinulariols C, D, H, and J (8-11), were isolated from the soft coral Sinularia nanolobata, collected off the coast of the eastern region of Taiwan. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. Cytotoxicity of compounds 1-11 was evaluated.

Disrupting VEGF-A paracrine and autocrine loops by targeting SHP-1 suppresses triple negative breast cancer metastasis.

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) had an increased likelihood of distant recurrence and death, as compared with those with non-TNBC subtype. Regorafenib is a multi-receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitor targeting oncogenesis and has been approved for metastatic colorectal cancer and advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Recent studies suggest regorafenib acts as a SHP-1 phosphatase agonist.

Enterovesical fistula caused by regressive change of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: A case report.

Enterovesical fistula (EVF) is a rare complication of diverticulitis, as well as Crohn's disease, intestinal malignancy, radiotherapy and trauma. EVF formation is associated with inflammation of the involved bowel segments. The current study presents the case of a 35-year-old man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who developed pneumaturia, fecaluria and recurrent urinary tract infections following chemotherapy, accompanied by regressive change of the lymphoma.