Protocol for identifying immune checkpoint on circulating tumor cells of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by single-cell RNA sequencing.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are regarded as the "seeds" of tumor metastasis. Identifying immune checkpoints on CTCs is essential for establishing efficient immunotherapies to prevent tumor metastasis. Here, we present a protocol for isolating CTCs and obtaining single-cell suspensions from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma liver metastatic patients.

Immune checkpoint HLA-E:CD94-NKG2A mediates evasion of circulating tumor cells from NK cell surveillance.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), shed by primary malignancies, function as "seeds" for distant metastasis. However, it is still largely unknown how CTCs escape immune surveillance. Here, we characterize the transcriptomes of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma CTCs, primary, and metastatic lesions at single-cell scale.

Loss of MHC-I antigen presentation correlated with immune checkpoint blockade tolerance in MAPK inhibitor-resistant melanoma.

Immune checkpoint blockade and MAPK-targeted combined therapy is a promising regimen for advanced melanoma patients. However, the clinical benefit from this combo regimen remains limited, especially in patients who acquired resistance to MAPK-targeted therapy. Here, we systematically characterized the immune landscape during MAPK-targeted therapy in patients and mouse melanoma models.

Dexamethasone for Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) frequently occur after thyroidectomy. Previous studies have investigated the effects of preoperative dexamethasone for alleviating PONV in various cancers, but studies focused on papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) were limited. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a single preoperative dose of dexamethasone to prevent PONV in patients with PTC.

Single-cell transcriptomic profiling unravels the adenoma-initiation role of protein tyrosine kinases during colorectal tumorigenesis.

The adenoma-carcinoma sequence is a well-accepted roadmap for the development of sporadic colorectal cancer. However, cellular heterogeneity in aberrant epithelial cells limits our understanding of carcinogenesis in colorectal tissues. Here, we performed a single-cell RNA sequencing survey of 54,788 cells from patient-matched tissue samples, including blood, normal tissue, para-cancer, polyp, and colorectal cancer.

Improvement of PD-1 Blockade Efficacy and Elimination of Immune-Related Gastrointestinal Adverse Effect by mTOR Inhibitor.

During the past decades, immunotherapy, especially the antibody-mediated immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has shown durable tumor inhibition and changed the paradigm of cancer treatment. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that ICB treatment induces severe immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and the side effect even leads to the discontinuation of lifesaving treatment. Here, we found that ICB treatment induces colitis in melanoma patients and promotes the infiltration of CD8 effector T cells into colitic lesions.

Combination of MAPK inhibition with photothermal therapy synergistically augments the anti-tumor efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade.

The combination of MAPK-targeted therapy and immune checkpoint blockade is one of the most promising regimens for patients with advanced melanoma. However, the synergistic efficacy of the combo regimen is still controversial in clinical trials. Here, we report that MAPK inhibition induced T-cell suppression within tumor microenvironment is mediated by attenuation of HSP27/HSP70 and deficiency of neoantigen presentation.

Curcumin-Induced Global Profiling of Transcriptomes in Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells.

Background: Curcumin, one of the promising candidates for supplementary therapy in cancer treatment, has been demonstrated by numerous preclinical and clinical evidence to be beneficial in treating various cancers. Apart from the critical role in a deluge of pathological processes, some mRNAs, in particular, microRNAs (miRNAs), are also involved in the anti-tumor activity. Therefore, our research focused on the possible effects of curcumin on small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells and drew a comprehensive transcriptomes profile by high throughput sequencing to understand the molecular mechanism of curcumin as an anti-tumor agent.

Integrin-Src-YAP1 signaling mediates the melanoma acquired resistance to MAPK and PI3K/mTOR dual targeted therapy.

Activation of PI3K/AKT pathway is one of the most recurrent resistant mechanisms for BRAF-targeted therapy, and the combination of MAPK and PI3K/AKT inhibitors becomes one of the most promising regimens for BRAF-targeted relapsed melanoma patients. Although the potent drug efficacy was observed in preclinical experiments and early clinical trials, the dual-drug resistance is inevitable observed. In this study, we systematically explored the mechanisms of dual-drug resistance to MAPKi and PI3K/mTORi in melanoma.

Intraoperative application of inactivated Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients undergoing lateral neck dissection for metastatic thyroid cancer: A randomized, parallel group, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: We hypothesize that the intraoperative, prophylactic application of Pseudomonas aeruginosa can decrease postoperative chylous fistula and enhance recovery after surgery in patients with thyroid cancer undergoing lateral neck lymph node dissection.

Method: In this single-center trial, we assigned randomly 200 patients with thyroid cancer who had proven lateral lymph node metastasis to groups receiving either 2 mL Pseudomonas aeruginosa spray (Pseudomonas aeruginosa group) or 2 mL saline spray (control group) in the lateral cervical surgical field. The primary end points were the rate of chylous fistula, mean difference in the duration and volume of drainage fluid, days of postoperative hospital stay, and overall cost.

Differential diagnosis of pancreatic serous cystadenoma and mucinous cystadenoma: utility of textural features in combination with morphological characteristics.

Background: Texture analysis of medical images has been reported to be a reliable method for differential diagnosis of neoplasms. This study was to investigate the performance of textural features and the combined performance of textural features and morphological characteristics in the differential diagnosis of pancreatic serous and mucinous cystadenomas.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 59 patients with pancreatic serous cystadenoma and 32 patients with pancreatic mucinous cystadenoma at our hospital.