MCP-1-Loaded Poly(l-lactide--caprolactone) Fibrous Films Modulate Macrophage Polarization toward an Anti-inflammatory Phenotype and Improve Angiogenesis.

Tissue engineering approaches such as the electrospinning technique can fabricate nanofibrous scaffolds which are widely used for small-diameter vascular grafting. However, foreign body reaction (FBR) and lack of endothelial coverage are still the main cause of graft failure after the implantation of nanofibrous scaffolds. Macrophage-targeting therapeutic strategies have the potential to address these issues.

Association Between EphA1 and Tumor Microenvironment in Gastric Carcinoma and its Clinical Significance.

BACKGROUND With the growing global burden of gastric carcinoma (GC) and the urgent need for biomolecular targeted therapies, this study aimed to elucidate the relationship between EphA1 and the tumor microenvironment (focusing primarily on the key inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and tumor angiogenic cytokine VEGF) to identify a new potential therapeutic target. MATERIAL AND METHODS IHC and qRT-PCR were performed to quantify the protein and gene expression levels of EphA1, IL-6, and VEGF in normal mucosal tissues, carcinoma tissues, and paracarcinomatous tissues from 57 GC patients. Spearman's rank correlation test was performed to determine the relationship between EphA1, IL-6, and VEGF expression levels.

Senna alexandrina extract supplementation reverses hepatic oxidative, inflammatory, and apoptotic effects of cadmium chloride administration in rats.

Senna alexandrina is traditionally used for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but little information is available concerning its potential protective effects against cadmium, which is a widespread environmental toxicant that causes hepatotoxicity. Here, we explored the effects of S. alexandrina extract (SAE) on cadmium chloride (CdCl)-induced liver toxicity over 4 weeks in rats.

Perioperative analgesia with parecoxib sodium improves postoperative pain and immune function in patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: Acute postoperative pain can result in immune dysfunction, which can be partly mitigated by efficient pain management. Opioids that have been widely applied to analgesia have been shown to suppress immune function, which has a negative impact on the treatment of patients with cancer. This study investigated the effects of perioperative fentanyl analgesia alone or in combination with parecoxib sodium on postoperative pain, immune function, and prognosis in patients undergoing hepatectomy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Analyses of a Panel of Transcripts Identified From a Small Sample Size and Construction of RNA Networks in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world. Dysregulation of mRNAs and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) plays critical roles in the progression of HCC. Here, we investigated HCC samples by RNA-seq and identified a series of dysregulated RNAs in HCC.

Endovascular repair of type B aortic dissection with the restrictive bare stent technique: morphologic changes, technique details, and outcomes.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to present our experience and assess the morphologic changes of the descending aorta after the restrictive bare stent (RBS) technique in the treatment of type B aortic dissection (TBAD).

Patients And Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of 22 consecutive patients with TBAD who underwent RBS treatment between February 2012 and June 2016. Indications for the RBS procedure included radiological evidence of true lumen (TL) compression or collapse and/or tortuosity index (TI) of the descending aorta >1.

Effect of Huaier granule on recurrence after curative resection of HCC: a multicentre, randomised clinical trial.

Objective: There is little evidence that adjuvant therapy after radical surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) improves recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS). We conducted a multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase IV trial evaluating the benefit of an aqueous extract of Murr (Huaier granule) to address this unmet need.

Design And Results: A total of 1044 patients were randomised in 2:1 ratio to receive either Huaier or no further treatment (controls) for a maximum of 96 weeks.

Oncofetal gene SALL4 reactivation by hepatitis B virus counteracts miR-200c in PD-L1-induced T cell exhaustion.

A chronic viral or tumor microenvironment can push T cells to exhaustion by promoting coinhibitory ligand expression. However, how host factors control coinhibitory ligand expression and whether viral infection breaks this control during tumor progress is unknown. Here we show a close negative correlation between SALL4 or PD-L1 and miR-200c in tumors from 98 patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

Knockdown of GTPBP4 inhibits cell growth and survival in human hepatocellular carcinoma and its prognostic significance.

GTP-binding protein 4 (GTPBP4), as a novel member of GTPases involved in the synthesis of 60S subunit and maturation, is closely related to cell proliferation and growth. Till now, a small number of existing studies have found a contradictory dual role of GTPBP4 in cancer. Whether the expression level of GTPBP4 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with the patients' prognosis or its function and underlying molecular mechanisms still remains unclear.

Real-time multi-target ranging based on chaotic polarization laser radars in the drive-response VCSELs.

According to the principle of complete chaos synchronization and the theory of Hilbert phase transformation, we propose a novel real-time multi-target ranging scheme by using chaotic polarization laser radar in the drive-response vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). In the scheme, to ensure each polarization component (PC) of the master VCSEL (MVCSEL) to be synchronized steadily with that of the slave VCSEL, the output x-PC and y-PC from the MVCSEL in the drive system and those in the response system are modulated by the linear electro-optic effect simultaneously. Under this condition, by simulating the influences of some key parameters of the system on the synchronization quality and the relative errors of the two-target ranging, related operating parameters can be optimized.

Synaptotagmin-7 is overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and regulates hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation via Chk1-p53 signaling.

Background: Synaptotagmin-7 (Syt-7) is a member of the synaptotagmin (Syt) family, which plays an important role in many physiological and pathological processes. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study describing its function in tumors, particularly in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, in this study, we examined the role of Syt-7 in HCC and attempted to elucidate its underlying mechanism.

Overexpression of Acyl-CoA Ligase 4 (ACSL4) in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma and its Prognosis.

BACKGROUND Recently, accumulating studies have found that ACSL4 dysregulation is related to a great number of malignant tumors. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between ACSL4 expression level and clinical prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS The Oncomine and TCGA databases were used to predict the expression of ACSL4 mRNA in HCC and its association with HCC prognosis.

A single-center experience of sorafenib monotherapy in patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) have a poor prognosis and the therapeutic options available for treating ICC are limited. Sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and 3, platelet derived growth factor receptor-β, B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase and C-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase, is a novel reference standard for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Sorafenib has previously been demonstrated to exhibit significant antitumor activity in various cholangiocarcinoma cell lines and in xenograft ICC models.

Bovine lactoferricin P13 triggers ROS-mediated caspase-dependent apoptosis in SMMC7721 cells.

Bovine lactoferricin P13 (LfcinB-P13) is a peptide derived from LfcinB. In the present study, the effect of LfcinB-P13 on the human liver cancer cell line SMMC7721 was investigated and . The results of the present study indicate that LfcinB-P13 significantly decreased SMMC7721 cell viability (P=0.

High expression of TRIM11 correlates with poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Tripartite Motif Containing 11 (TRIM11), a member of TRIM proteins is overexpressed in gliomas and lung cancer. However, the role of TRIM11 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown.

Basic Procedures: Herein, we aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance role of TRIM11 in HCC.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma-propagating Cells are Detectable by Side Population Analysis and Possess an Expression Profile Reflective of a Primitive Origin.

The recent identification of "Side Population" (SP) cells in a number of unrelated human cancers has renewed interests in the hypothesis of cancer stem cells. Here we isolated SP cells from HepG2 cells and 18 of the 21 fresh hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue samples. These SP cells have higher abilities of forming spheroids, invasion and migration.

A novel multi-target RNAi adenovirus inhibits hepatoma cell proliferation, migration, and induction of angiogenesis.

The pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a multi-step process involving many genes. Consequently, single gene targeting therapy has limited efficacy, making combination therapy targeting multiple genes a necessity. Based on our previous findings, we constructed a single vector mediating simultaneous expression of multiple short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) against human vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), chemokine C-C motif receptor 1 (CCR1), and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), three genes closely related to HCC progression that act through separate pathways.

Prognostic value of polarized macrophages in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after curative resection.

As the most predominant tumour-infiltrating immune cells, tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) are significant for fostering tumour growth, progression and metastasis. CD68-positive TAMs display dissimilarly polarized programmes comprising CD11c-positive pro-inflammatory macrophages (M1) and CD206-positive immunosuppressive macrophages (M2). The aim of this study is to determine the prognostic significance of diametrically polarized TAMs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their application to risk stratification of patients according to their specific prognostic values.

Expression and clinical significance of Nectin-4 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: Nectin-4 is a member of the Nectin family of four Ca(+)-independent immunoglobulin-like cell adhesion molecules and implicated in cell adhesion, movement, proliferation, differentiation, polarization, and survival. The aberrant expression of Nectin-4 has been found in a variety of tumors; however, its expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still poorly understood. This study was to investigate the expression of Nectin-4 and its clinical significance in the patients with HCC.

Tissue engineered skin for diabetic foot ulcers: a meta-analysis.

To evaluate the effectiveness of tissue engineered skin in the management of diabetic foot ulcer. We searched PubMed, EMBASE and ISI Web of Science database in order to obtain the randomized controlled trial with interventions of tissue engineered skin. A meta-analysis was used to compare the effectiveness between tissue engineered skin and conventional treatment in the patients with diabetic foot ulcer.

STAT3 activation mediates epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Background/aims: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is critical for the development of the invasion and metastasis in human cancers. Recently, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) activation has been linked to EMT program in breast cancer. However, the actual association of STAT3 activation with EMT, and its mediated tumor invasion and metastasis remains elusive in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Prognostic significance and clinicopathological features of hypoxic inducible factor-2alpha expression in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objectives: To assess the association between hypoxic inducible factor-2alpha (HIF-2α) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by meta-analysis.

Methods: This study was carried out at Anhui Province Hospital, Hefei, Anhui, China in February 2014. We searched various databases for studies published in English or Chinese up to February 28, 2014.

Anatomical right hemicolectomy: a novel surgical method and its clinical application.

Background/aims: Presently, the notion of traditional right hemicolectomy has not met the rapidly developed requirements for precise gastrointestinal surgical procedures. In this study, we introduced a novel surgical method, namely "anatomical right hemicolectomy," and evaluated the safety and short-term effects of this method for the treatment of right hemicolon carcinoma.

Methodology: The clinical data of 10 cases with progressive right hemicolon carcinoma underwent anatomical right hemicolectomy from January 2013 to February 2014 were collected and analyzed retrospectively.

STAT3 cooperates with Twist to mediate epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is critical for the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, to date, the association of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) with EMT, and its mediated tumor invasion and metastasis in HCC, remain elusive. We investigated the relationship between STAT3 activation and EMT, and the underlying mechanisms involved in HCC progression.

Kindlin-2: a novel prognostic biomarker for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

The association of aberrant expression of Kindlin-2 with tumor progression has been reported in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of Kindlin-2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to evaluate its clinical and prognostic significance. The mRNA and protein levels of Kindlin-2 in HCC and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were examined by real-time PCR and western blotting.