Circulating tumor cell clustering modulates RNA splicing and polyadenylation to facilitate metastasis.

Circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters exhibit significantly higher metastatic potential compared to single CTCs. However, the underlying mechanism behind this phenomenon remains unclear, and the role of posttranscriptional RNA regulation in CTC clusters has not been explored. Here, we conducted a comparative analysis of alternative splicing (AS) and alternative polyadenylation (APA) profiles between single CTCs and CTC clusters.

Construction and validation of a chemokine family-based signature for the prediction of prognosis and therapeutic response in colon cancer.

The role of chemokines in predicting the prognosis of colon cancer has not been mentioned. Chemokines have been shown to be associated with immune cell chemotaxis and activation, so the expression of chemokine genes in tumor tissue may be related to prognosis. We used a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model based on chemokine gene families to construct a model that can predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients.

Harnessing 3D in vitro systems to model immune responses to solid tumours: a step towards improving and creating personalized immunotherapies.

In vitro 3D models are advanced biological tools that have been established to overcome the shortcomings of oversimplified 2D cultures and mouse models. Various in vitro 3D immuno-oncology models have been developed to mimic and recapitulate the cancer-immunity cycle, evaluate immunotherapy regimens, and explore options for optimizing current immunotherapies, including for individual patient tumours. Here, we review recent developments in this field.

Metastasis risk stratification and response prediction through dynamic viable circulating tumor cell counts for rectal cancer in a neoadjuvant setting.

Purpose: Distant metastasis (DM) and neoadjuvant treatment response prediction remain critical challenges in the management of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical relevance of viable circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for DM or response in patients with LARC in a neoadjuvant setting.

Methods: The detection of viable CTCs at different stages of treatment was planned for consecutive patients from a prospective trial.

Prognostic value of stem-like circulating tumor cells in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Despite increasing interest in the study of circulating tumor cells (CTC) subsets, especially epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stem cells subsets of CTC that play a key role in tumor recurrence and metastasis, there is no evidence from meta-analyses that shows the correlation between stem-like CTCs and prognosis in cancer patients. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to assess its prognostic value. Sixteen articles were screened by searching the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) and Wanfang databases.

Circulating tumour cell isolation, analysis and clinical application.

Background: Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that circulate in the bloodstream after being shed from solid tumours. They can lead to tumour recurrence and metastasis. CTCs play a significant role as biomarkers for early diagnosis, therapy response monitoring, and prognostication.

Single-cell transcriptomics of peripheral blood reveals anti-tumor systemic immunity induced by oncolytic virotherapy.

Oncolytic virus (OV) therapy as a cancer therapy that improves immune status makes it a favorable candidate for optimizing immunotherapy strategies. Existing studies have focused on characterizing the disturbance of the tumor microenvironment (TME) by OV therapy. However, the changes in systemic immunity induced by OV were largely ignored, which would prevent the further understanding and optimization of oncolytic viruses.

SIRPα antibody combined with oncolytic virus OH2 protects against tumours by activating innate immunity and reprogramming the tumour immune microenvironment.

Background: The combination of oncolytic viruses (OVs) with immune checkpoint blockades is a research hotspot and has shown good efficacy. Here, we present the first attempt to combine oncolytic herpes simplex virus 2 (OH2) with an anti-SIRPα antibody as an antitumour treatment. Our results provide unique insight into the combination of innate immunity with OV.

Multi-omics analysis reveals RNA splicing alterations and their biological and clinical implications in lung adenocarcinoma.

Alternative RNA splicing is one of the most important mechanisms of posttranscriptional gene regulation, which contributes to protein diversity in eukaryotes. It is well known that RNA splicing dysregulation is a critical mechanism in tumor pathogenesis and the rationale for the promising splice-switching therapeutics for cancer treatment. Although we have a comprehensive understanding of DNA mutations, abnormal gene expression profiles, epigenomics, and proteomics in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), little is known about its aberrant alternative splicing profiles.

Telomerase positive CTCs with PSMA high expression associated with prostate cancer metastasis.

Background: Whether circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) high expression was related to the metastatic progress in prostate cancer (PCa) remains explored. This study aimed to provide evidence to elucidate this relationship via the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)-based CTC detection method.

Methods: A total of 71 patients were enrolled and divided into the local PCa group (n=44) and metastatic PCa group (n=27).

A signature for pan-cancer prognosis based on neutrophil extracellular traps.

Background: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were originally thought to be formed by neutrophils to trap invading microorganisms as a defense mechanism. Increasing studies have shown that NETs play a pivotal role in tumor progression and diffusion. In this case, transcriptome analysis provides an opportunity to unearth the association between NETs and clinical outcomes of patients with pan-cancer.

Early ligation of the pulmonary vein can reduce the dissemination of shed tumor cells during thoracoscopic lobectomy.

Objective: The sequence of vessel ligation in lobectomy can significantly affect the hematogenous spread of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Vein-first ligation substantially reduces CTC dissemination and achieves favorable survival compared with artery-first ligation. In this study, we further explored whether the timing of pulmonary vein (PV) ligation determined according to the early and late PV ligation technique is associated with CTC dissemination.

MicroRNA-200b-3p as a biomarker for diagnosis and survival prognosis of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome caused by acute paraquat poisoning.

Background: Acute paraquat poisoning-induced multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) leads to the high mortality. This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of microRNA-200b-3p (miR-200b-3p), an upstream inhibitor of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), in acute paraquat poisoning patients for the prediction of MODS and survival.

Methods: This study enrolled 80 patients with MODS induced by paraquat and 94 healthy volunteers.

Improving the diagnosis of prostate cancer by telomerase-positive circulating tumor cells: A prospective pilot study.

Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is limited in identifying prostate cancer (PCa) with modestly elevated PSA levels. Therefore, a robust method for the diagnosis of PCa is urgently needed.

Methods: A total of 203 men with a PSA level of ≥4 ng/ml were eligible for enrollment in this study from July 2018 to May 2021, and randomly divided into a training set (n=78) and a validation set (n=125).

Identification of an ACK1/TNK2-based prognostic signature for colon cancer to predict survival and inflammatory landscapes.

Activated Cdc42-associated kinase 1 (ACK1), a kind of tyrosine kinase, is considered to be an oncogene in many cancers, and it is likely to become a potential target for cancer treatment. We found that the expression of the ACK1 gene in colon cancer was higher than that in normal tissues adjacent to cancer, and high expression of the ACK1 gene was associated with poor prognosis of patients. We assessed the prognosis of colon cancer based on ACK1-related genes and constructed a model that can predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients in colon cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

Establishment of gastric signet ring cell carcinoma organoid for the therapeutic drug testing.

Signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) has specific oncogenesis and phenotypic and treatment resistance heterogeneity. Systemic therapies are often ineffective, and predictive biomarkers to guide treatment are urgently needed. Tumor organoids have recently emerged as an ideal model for drug testing and screening.

Senescence as a dictator of patient outcomes and therapeutic efficacies in human gastric cancer.

Senescence is believed to be a pivotal player in the onset and progression of tumors as well as cancer therapy. However, the guiding roles of senescence in clinical outcomes and therapy selection for patients with cancer remain obscure, largely due to the absence of a feasible senescence signature. Here, by integrative analysis of single cell and bulk transcriptome data from multiple datasets of gastric cancer patients, we uncovered senescence as a veiled tumor feature characterized by senescence gene signature enriched, unexpectedly, in the noncancerous cells, and further identified two distinct senescence-associated subtypes based on the unsupervised clustering.

Prognostic Significance of NLR About NETosis and Lymphocytes Perturbations in Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma With Tumor Thrombus.

Background: Non-metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with tumor thrombus showed a greater tendency for developing metastases after surgery. Early identification of patients with high risk of poor prognosis is especially important to explore adjuvant treatment of improving outcomes. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was a systemic inflammation marker and outcome predictor in RCC, reflecting the chaos in systemic immune status in cancer as myeloid cell expansion and lymphatic cell suppression.

Telomerase-positive circulating tumor cells are associated with poor prognosis via a neutrophil-mediated inflammatory immune environment in glioma.

Background: Gliomas are the most common aggressive cancer in the central nervous system. Considering the difficulty in monitoring glioma response and progression, an approach is needed to evaluate the progression or survival of patients with glioma. We propose an application to facilitate clinical detection and treatment monitoring in glioma patients by using telomerase-positive circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and to further evaluate the relationship between the immune microenvironment and CTCs in glioma patients.

Exploration of a Novel Prognostic Risk Signature and Its Effect on the Immune Response in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly invasive and metastatic carcinoma with different molecular characteristics and clinical outcomes. In this work, we aimed to establish a novel gene signature that could predict the prognosis of NPC patients. A total of 13 significant genes between the recurrence/metastasis (RM) group and the no recurrence/metastasis (no-RM) group were identified by machine learning from RNA-Seq data including 60 NPC tumor biopsies.

Multiomics Analysis Reveals Distinct Immunogenomic Features of Lung Cancer with Ground-Glass Opacity.

Ground-glass opacity (GGO)-associated lung cancers are common and radiologically distinct clinical entities known to have an indolent clinical course and superior survival, implying a unique underlying biology. However, the molecular and immune characteristics of GGO-associated lung nodules have not been systemically studied. To provide mechanistic insights for the treatment of these radiologically distinct clinical entities.

Correlation between PD-L1 expression ON CTCs and prognosis of patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are considered to be related to the prognosis of cancer patients. CTC is a powerful indicator for recurrence or metastasis. The relationship, however, between the expression of programmed cell death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) on CTCs in peripheral blood and the prognosis, is still controversial.