Targeting NETosis: nature's alarm system in cancer progression.

Neutrophils are recognized active participants in inflammatory responses and are intricately linked to cancer progression. In response to inflammatory stimuli, neutrophils become activated, releasing neutrophils extracellular traps (NETs) for the capture and eradication of pathogens, a phenomenon termed NETosis. With a deeper understanding of NETs, there is growing evidence supporting their role in cancer progression and their involvement in conferring resistance to various cancer therapies, especially concerning tumor reactions to chemotherapy, radiation therapy (RT), and immunotherapy.

The Impact of Adjuvant Chemotherapy on the Long-Term Prognosis of Breast Malignant Phyllodes Tumors: A Propensity Score-Matched Study.

Background: Malignant phyllodes tumors (MPTs) are rare breast tumors with high risks of local recurrence and distant metastasis. Surgical intervention is the primary treatment, but the effectiveness of adjuvant therapies is uncertain. This study was designed to analyze the prognostic risk factors associated with MPTs and evaluate the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.

Bioactive Nanotherapeutic Ultrasound Contrast Agent for Concurrent Breast Cancer Ultrasound Imaging and Treatment.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) plays a crucial role in cancer diagnosis. The use of ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) is inevitable in CEUS. However, current applications of UCAs primarily focus on enhancing imaging quality of ultrasound contrast rather than serving as integrated platforms for both diagnosis and treatment in clinical settings.

Role of long non-coding RNAs in cancer: From subcellular localization to nanoparticle-mediated targeted regulation.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of RNA transcripts more than 200 nucleotides in length that play crucial roles in cancer development and progression. With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technology, a considerable number of lncRNAs have been identified as novel biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of cancer patients and/or therapeutic targets for cancer therapy. In recent years, increasing evidence has shown that the biological functions and regulatory mechanisms of lncRNAs are closely associated with their subcellular localization.

Niche stiffness sustains cancer stemness via TAZ and NANOG phase separation.

Emerging evidence shows that the biomechanical environment is required to support cancer stem cells (CSCs), which play a crucial role in drug resistance. However, how mechanotransduction signals regulate CSCs and its clinical significance has remained unclear. Using clinical-practice ultrasound elastography for patients' lesions and atomic force microscopy for surgical samples, we reveal that increased matrix stiffness is associated with poor responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, worse prognosis, and CSC enrichment in patients with breast cancer.

DHX37 Impacts Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Lung Adenocarcinoma through Immune Infiltration.

Background: RNA helicases have various essential functions in basically all aspects of RNA metabolism, not only unwinding RNA but also disturbing the interaction of RNA with proteins. Recently, RNA helicases have been considered potential targets in cancers. So far, there has been no detailed investigation of the biological functions of RNA helicase DHX37 in cancers.

M2 macrophage-induced lncRNA PCAT6 facilitates tumorigenesis and angiogenesis of triple-negative breast cancer through modulation of VEGFR2.

As a common female malignancy, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most malignant subtype of breast cancers (BC). This study further studied the role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) prostate cancer-associated transcript 6 (PCAT6) in TNBC. Functional assays, including EdU, wound healing, transwell, and immunofluorescence staining, revealed the effect of PCAT6 on cell proliferation, migration, and EMT process.

Ultrasound Molecular Imaging as a Potential Non-invasive Diagnosis to Detect the Margin of Hepatocarcinoma via CSF-1R Targeting.

Though radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is considered to be an effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but more than 30% of patients may suffer insufficient RFA (IRFA), which can promote more aggressive of the residual tumor. One possible method to counter this is to accurately identify the margin of the HCC. Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF-1R) has been found to be restrictively expressed by tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and monocytes which more prefer to locate at the boundary of HCC.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells in solid tumors: a war against the tumor microenvironment.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell is a novel approach, which utilizes anti-tumor immunity for cancer treatment. As compared to the traditional cell-mediated immunity, CAR-T possesses the improved specificity of tumor antigens and independent cytotoxicity from major histocompatibility complex molecules through a monoclonal antibody in addition to the T-cell receptor. CAR-T cell has proven its effectiveness, primarily in hematological malignancies, specifically where the CD 19 CAR-T cells were used to treat B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and B-cell lymphomas.

Combined use of strain elastography and superb microvascular imaging with grayscale ultrasound according to the BI-RADS classification for differentiating benign from malignant solid breast masses.

Objective: To evaluate the combined use of strain elastography (SE) and superb microvascular imaging (SMI) with grayscale ultrasound (US) according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) classification for differentiating benign from malignant breast masses.

Methods: In total, 166 patients with 177 breast masses categorized as BI-RADS 3-5 were included in the study between April 2016 to September 2017. US, SMI and SE were performed to evaluate each mass.

Assisting anti-PD-1 antibody treatment with a liposomal system capable of recruiting immune cells.

Despite the functions of anti-PD-1 antibodies as immune checkpoint regulators, less than 30% of patients exhibit durable therapeutic responses to anti-PD-1 antibodies. Studies have shown that insufficient infiltration of immune cells might limit the outcome of anti-PD-1 therapy. Therefore, we synthesized an immune cell-recruiting liposomal system (FN-nps) to improve this therapeutic strategy.

Non-Mass Breast Lesions on Ultrasound: Feature Exploration and Multimode Ultrasonic Diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to analyze the features of non-mass breast lesions (NMLs) on B-mode ultrasound (US), color Doppler US, strain elastography (SE) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and to develop a multimode ultrasonic method for NML differentiation. Seventy-one NMLs were included in this retrospective study. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the independent risk factors.

Diagnosis of sub-centimetre breast lesions: combining BI-RADS-US with strain elastography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound-a preliminary study in China.

Objectives: To compare the diagnostic efficacies of B-mode ultrasound (US), strain elastography (SE), contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and the combination of these modalities for breast lesions <1 cm in size.

Methods: Between January 2013 and October 2015, 203 inpatients with 209 sub-centimetre breast lesions categorised as BI-RADS-US (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System for Ultrasound) 3-5 were included. US, SE and CEUS were performed to evaluate each lesion.

Incorporating Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound into the BI-RADS Scoring System Improves Accuracy in Breast Tumor Diagnosis: A Preliminary Study in China.

The aim of the study was to develop a scoring model incorporating the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) and the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) scoring system to differentiate between malignant and benign breast lesions. A total of 524 solid breast masses in 490 consecutive patients were evaluated with conventional US and CEUS in this prospective study. Each lesion was scored according to BI-RADS, CEUS, and CEUS-rerated BI-RADS.

Superb microvascular imaging in diagnosis of breast lesions: a comparative study with contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic microvascular imaging.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of superb microvascular imaging (SMI) in breast lesions, comparing with contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic microvascular imaging (MVI).

Methods: From April to November 2015, 132 patients (with 132 breast lesions) were enrolled in the retrospective study. All lesions were evaluated with colour Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), colour SMI (cSMI), monochrome SMI (mSMI) and contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic MVI.

Pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is correlated with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy as an independent prognostic indicator in breast cancer patients: a retrospective study.

Background: A high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) may be related to increased mortality in patients with lung, colorectal, stomach, liver, and pancreatic cancer. To date, the utility of NLR to predict the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has not been studied. The aim of our study was to determine whether the NLR is a predictor of response to NAC and to investigate the prognostic impact of the NLR on relapse-free survival (RFS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) in patients with breast cancer who received NAC.

Production and characterization of a novel long-acting Herceptin-targeted nanobubble contrast agent specific for Her-2-positive breast cancers.

Background: There is an unmet need for specific and sensitive imaging techniques to assess the efficacy of breast cancer therapy, particularly Her-2-expressing cancers. Ultrasonic microbubbles are being developed for use as diagnostic and therapeutic tools. However, nanobubbles circulate longer, are smaller, and diffuse into extravascular tissue to specifically bind target molecules.

Syntactic and discourse skills in Chinese adolescent readers with dyslexia: a profiling study.

This study aims to investigate the relation of syntactic and discourse skills to morphological skills, rapid naming, and working memory in Chinese adolescent readers with dyslexia and to examine their cognitive-linguistic profiles. Fifty-two dyslexic readers (mean age, 13;42) from grade 7 to 9 in Hong Kong high schools were compared with 52 typically developing readers of the same chronological age (mean age, 13;30) in the measures of word reading, 1-min word reading, reading comprehension, morpheme discrimination, morpheme production, morphosyntactic knowledge, sentence order knowledge, digit rapid naming, letter rapid naming, backward digit span, and non-word repetition. Results showed that dyslexic readers performed significantly worse than their peers on all the cognitive-linguistic tasks.

Breast contrast-enhanced ultrasound: is a scoring system feasible? A preliminary study in China.

Objectives: Although many studies about breast contrast-enhanced ultrasound had been conducted, clear diagnostic criteria for evaluating enhancement patterns are still lacking. This study aims to identify significant indicators for breast contrast-enhanced ultrasound and to establish an initial scoring system.

Materials And Methods: Totally 839 patients were included in the study.

Ultrasonic elastography features of phyllodes tumors of the breast: a clinical research.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the ultrasonic elastography features of phyllodes tumors of the breast comparing with fibroadenomas. A retrospective database was queried for the patients diagnosed as phyllodes tumors and fibroadenomas at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital from January 2008 to August 2012. Three hundred and fifty lesions from 323 consecutive patients were included in the study.

Weaknesses in semantic, syntactic and oral language expression contribute to reading difficulties in Chinese dyslexic children.

The present study examined the role of weaknesses in some language skills for the reading difficulties among Chinese dyslexic children. Thirty Chinese dyslexic children were compared with 30 chronological age (CA) controls and 30 reading-level (RL) controls on a number of language and reading measures. The results showed that Chinese dyslexic children performed significantly worse than the CA controls but similarly to the RL controls in many of the linguistic measures except that the dyslexic group also performed significantly less well than the RL group in semantic skills and syntactic skills on multiple modifiers.

Ultrasound elastography of breast lesions in chinese women: a multicenter study in China.

Purpose: Through analysis, the elastograms characteristics of breast lesions of Chinese women, a suitable diagnostic standard of quasistatic ultrasound elastography (UE) for Chinese women was proposed.

Methods: From June 2010 to March 2012, 1036 consecutive female patients (mean age, 44 years old) with breast lesions were recruited into a multicenter retrospective study, which involved 8 centers across China. Each institutional ethic review board approved the study, and all the patients gave written informed consent.

Could ultrasonic elastography help the diagnosis of small (≤2 cm) breast cancer with the usage of sonographic BI-RADS classification?

Objectives: To evaluate the additive value of ultrasound strain elastography (USE) to BI-RADS for the differentiation of benign and malignant breast small lesions.

Methods: Breast masses (≤2 cm) with histological diagnosis examined by ultrasonography and USE in our department from April 2004 to December 2009 were reviewed. Conventional B-mode ultrasound findings were classified according to the BI-RADS classification.