Validation of a real-time biliopancreatic endoscopic ultrasonography analytical device in China: a prospective, single-centre, randomised, controlled trial.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is a key procedure for the diagnosis of biliopancreatic diseases. However, the performance among EUS endoscopists varies greatly and leads to blind spots during the operation, which can impair the health outcomes of patients. We previously developed an artificial intelligence (AI) device that accurately identified EUS standard stations and significantly reduced the difficulty of ultrasonography image interpretation.

Preoperative automatic reminder systems and impact on quality and compliance with colonoscopy preparation: A multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: Traditional preoperative reminding services have been applied to enhance the quality of bowel preparation for colonoscopy. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an automated electronic reminder system (E-reminder) on improving bowel preparation and the quality of preoperative education before colonoscopy.

Methods: From August 2021 to March 2022, 833 outpatients aged 50-75 years who underwent colonoscopy were included and randomly assigned to the E-reminder group and the control group.

Achieving Total Enteroscopy by Consecutive Bidirectional Double-balloon Enteroscopy Procedures.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and safety of achieving total enteroscopy by consecutive bidirectional double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) procedures.

Methods: The demographic data, indication, initial insertion route, examination time for each insertion and the entire procedure, total enteroscopy rate, diagnostic yield and adverse events of patients who attempted to achieve total enteroscopy by consecutive bidirectional DBE procedures from January 2014 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: A total of 189 patients were included, and the total enteroscopy rate was 87.

MFAP2 is overexpressed in gastric cancer and promotes motility via the MFAP2/integrin α5β1/FAK/ERK pathway.

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies and its prognosis is extremely poor. This study identifies a novel oncogene, microfibrillar-associated protein 2 (MFAP2) in GC. With integrative reanalysis of transcriptomic data, we found MFAP2 as a GC prognosis-related gene.

Randomised controlled trial of WISENSE, a real-time quality improving system for monitoring blind spots during esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

Objective: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is the pivotal procedure in the diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal lesions. However, there are significant variations in EGD performance among endoscopists, impairing the discovery rate of gastric cancers and precursor lesions. The aim of this study was to construct a real-time quality improving system, WISENSE, to monitor blind spots, time the procedure and automatically generate photodocumentation during EGD and thus raise the quality of everyday endoscopy.

Consensus on the digestive endoscopic tunnel technique.

With the digestive endoscopic tunnel technique (DETT), many diseases that previously would have been treated by surgery are now endoscopically curable by establishing a submucosal tunnel between the mucosa and muscularis propria (MP). Through the tunnel, endoscopic diagnosis or treatment is performed for lesions in the mucosa, in the MP, and even outside the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. At present, the tunnel technique application range covers the following: (1) Treatment of lesions originating from the mucosal layer, .

Doxorubicin combined with Notch1-targeting siRNA for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Notch1, a transmembrane receptor that has a notable role in gastric cancer (GC) as an oncogene, has been reported to be involved in doxorubicin resistance. Thus, Notch1 is a potential therapeutic target for GC. In the present study, the protein levels of Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD; a marker of Notch1 activation) in human GC cell lines and tumor tissues was measured by western blotting.

Wnt6 contributes tumorigenesis and development of colon cancer via its effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell-cycle and migration.

Wnt proteins have been reported to contribute to the progression of various types of cancer. Wnt6 is a member of the Wnt family and may promote tumorigenesis in gastrointestinal cancer and cervical cancer. In the present study, the expression of Wnt6 in human colon cancer cell lines was evaluated, in order to investigate the role of Wnt6 in the development of colon cancer.

Aberrant high expression level of MORC2 is a common character in multiple cancers.

Microrchidia 2 (MORC2) plays important roles in DNA damage repair and lipogenesis, but the clinical and functional role of MORC2 in cancer remains largely unexplored. In this study, we showed that MORC2 was widely expressed in human tissues while significantly up-regulated in most cancer types using immunohistochemical staining and analysis of messenger RNA expression profile of more than 2000 human tissue samples from 15 different organs (lung, prostate, liver, breast, brain, stomach, colon/rectum, pancreas, ovary, endometrium, skin, nasopharynx, kidney, esophagus, and bladder). We also found that the MORC2 expression level in high-grade cancer tissues was much more elevated and associated with unfavorable pathological characteristics, poor overall survival, and disease-free survival in several kinds of cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.

Mutations in the S gene and in the overlapping reverse transcriptase region in chronic hepatitis B Chinese patients with coexistence of HBsAg and anti-HBs.

Background: The mechanism underlying the coexistence of hepatitis B surface antigen and antibodies to HBsAg in chronic hepatitis B patients remains unknown.

Aims: This research aimed to determine the clinical and virological features of the rare pattern.

Methods: A total of 32 chronic hepatitis B patients infected by HBV genotype C were included: 15 carrying both HBsAg and anti-HBs (group I) and 17 solely positive for HBsAg (group II).

Sequence analysis of the HBV S protein in Chinese patients with coexisting HBsAg and anti-HBs antibodies.

The coexistence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies to HBsAg (anti-HBs) in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been discovered and explained for several decades, but debate still exists. This study was to explore the relationship between this special serological pattern and mutations in S gene region. Fifteen patients with coexisting HBsAg and anti-HBs were selected as the experimental group, and 27 patients with HBsAg positive only were selected as the control group.

Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog (PTEN) Represses Colon Cancer Progression through Inhibiting Paxillin Transcription via PI3K/AKT/NF-κB Pathway.

The tumor suppressor gene phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is frequently mutated in colon cancer. However, the potential contribution of loss of PTEN to colon cancer progression remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that PTEN overexpression or knockdown in Lovo colon cancer cells decreased or increased paxillin expression, respectively.

Thymoquinone Pretreatment Overcomes the Insensitivity and Potentiates the Antitumor Effect of Gemcitabine Through Abrogation of Notch1, PI3K/Akt/mTOR Regulated Signaling Pathways in Pancreatic Cancer.

Background: The gemcitabine-insensitivity remains the main challenge for pancreatic cancer treatment. Thymoquinone, the predominant bioactive ingredient of Nigella sativa, has been shown to possess promising anti-cancer and chemo-sensitizing effects on pancreatic cancer, however, its meticulous mechanism is still indistinct.

Aim: The objective of the present study was to investigate the potency of thymoquinone in combination with gemcitabine in inducing apoptosis and preventing the development of gemcitabine-insensitivity in pancreatic cancer cells.

Inhibition of the p38 MAPK pathway sensitizes human gastric cells to doxorubicin treatment in vitro and in vivo.

Gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Doxorubicin-based chemotherapeutic regimes have been the mainstay of systemic treatment for disseminated gastric cancer for numerous years. However, the efficacy of doxorubicin is severely limited due to chemoresistance.

Fujinon intelligent color enhancement for the diagnosis of early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and precancerous lesion.

Background/aims: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is a common malignant tumor in recent years, and the key for improving the survival rate is early diagnosis and treatment. Computed virtual chromoendoscopy with the Fujinon intelligent color enhancement (FICE) system was reported to improve visualization of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions in gastroscopy and colonoscopy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of FICE in the diagnosis of early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and precancerous lesions.

Recombinant human trefoil factor 3 ameliorates bowel injury: its anti-inflammatory effect on experimental necrotizing enterocolitis.

Aim. Recombinant human trefoil factor 3 (intestinal trefoil factor) has been suggested to be partially protective against necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), but the mechanisms of this protection have not been defined. We investigated whether the protective effects of rhTFF3 are the result of an anti-inflammatory response.

PTEN inhibits the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer via downregulation of FAK expression.

The tumor suppressor gene phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is essential in inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis. However, the mechanism by which PTEN restricts gastric cancer progression and metastasis remains largely elusive. Here we demonstrated that PTEN overexpression or knockdown in gastric cancer cells led to the downregulation or upregulation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and decreased or increased cell invasion, respectively.

[Diagnosis of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding among different age groups by double balloon enteroscope].

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of double balloon enteroscope (DBE) on obscure gastrointestinal bleeding(OGIB) and to analyze etiological characteristics among different age groups.

Methods: The clinical data of patients undergoing DBE due to OGIB in the Department of Gastroenterology in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2007 to January 2012 were retrospectively analyzed and compared among different age groups. Patients were divided into the young group(age≤40, n=86), the middle age group(aged 41-59, n=81), and the elderly group (age≥60, n=49).

Overexpression of AKT decreases the chemosensitivity of gastric cancer cells to cisplatin in vitro and in vivo.

Cisplatin (CDDP) is one of the most efficacious and widely used cytotoxic anticancer drugs used for the treatment of numerous types of cancer. However, its efficacy is limited as a result of acquired drug resistance. AKT overexpression may provide a potential mechanism leading to the resistance of human gastric cancer cells; however, the precise mechanism of the development of CDDP drug resistance remains uncertain.

Regulation of AKT gene expression by cisplatin.

The use of chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of cancer is an effective therapeutic measure. However, chemoresistance affects the effectiveness of the treatment. AKT overexpression has been observed in chemoresistance.

The DNA methyltransferase inhibitor zebularine induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor zebularine has been reported to potentiate the anti-tumor effect by reactivating the expression of tumor suppressor genes and apoptosis-related genes in various malignant cells. However, the apoptotic signaling pathway in gastric cancer cells induced by zebularine is not well understood. In the study, the effects of zebularine on the growth and apoptosis of gastric cancer cells were investigated by MTT assay, Hoechst assay, Western blot analysis, flow cytometric analysis of annexin V-FITC/PI staining, and TUNEL assay.

RNAi knockdown of the Akt1 gene increases the chemosensitivity of gastric cancer cells to cisplatin both in vitro and in vivo.

Aim: To examine the in vitro and in vivo effects of a combined treatment of cis-d iamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin) with downregulation of Akt1 expression in gastric cancer cells.

Materials And Methods: Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) was used to silence the Akt1 gene. pGCSIL-Akt1 small hairpin RNA (shRNA) was stably transfected into gastric cancer cells (SGC7901 and BGC823).

Curcumin reverses chemoresistance of human gastric cancer cells by downregulating the NF-κB transcription factor.

Gastric cancer remains one of the major health problems worldwide. Chemotherapy is an important therapeutic modality for gastric cancer, but the success rate of this treatment is limited because of chemoresistance. The ubiquitously expressed transcription factor NF-κB has been suggested to be associated with chemoresistance of gastric cancer.

LY294002 potentiates the anti-cancer effect of oxaliplatin for gastric cancer via death receptor pathway.

Aim: To examine the effects of combined treatment of oxaliplatin and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase inhibitor, 2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (LY294002) for gastric cancer.

Methods: Cell viability was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Apoptotic cells were detected by flow cytometric analysis and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay.