Publications by authors named "Xue-ke Zhao"

Article Synopsis
  • * In a liver fibrosis model induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl), nintedanib demonstrated its ability to reduce inflammation and prevent accumulation of fibrotic tissue.
  • * The study found that nintedanib inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation by targeting the Src signaling pathway, suggesting a potential role for nintedanib in treating liver fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) is classified as Siewert type II adenocarcinoma at the esophagogastric junction in Western countries. The majority of GCA patients do not exhibit early warning symptoms, leading to over 90% of diagnoses at an advanced stage, resulting in a grim prognosis, with less than a 20% 5-year survival rate.

Method: Metabolic features of 276 GCA and 588 healthy controls were characterized through a widely-targeted metabolomics by UPLC-MS/MS analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hepatic stellate cell hyperactivation is a central link in liver fibrosis development, transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) is a key activator of HSCs.

Aims: This study investigated whether anlotinib attenuates CCl4 induced liver fibrosis in mice and explored its antifibrotic mechanism.

Methods: We used the human hepatic stellate cell line LX-2 for in vitro assays and used TGF-β1 to induce hepatic fibrosis in LX-2 cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of this work is to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of patients with nuclear pedigree of esophageal cancer. The clinicopathological data and follow-up information of 3,260 patients from different nuclear pedigree of esophageal cancer who underwent radical resection of esophageal cancer were collected, and the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of the patients were analyzed. The male to female ratio of 3,260 patients with esophageal cancer was 1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The impact of hospital volume on the long-term survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not been well assessed in China, especially for stage I-III stage ESCC. We performed a large sample size study to assess the relationships between hospital volume and the effectiveness of ESCC treatment and the hospital volume value at the lowest risk of all-cause mortality after esophagectomy in China.

Aim: To investigate the prognostic value of hospital volume for assessing postoperative long-term survival of ESCC patients in China.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This study was intended to construct a brand new prognostic nomogram after combine clinical and pathological characteristics to increases prognostic value in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods: A total of 1,634 patients were included. Subsequently, the tumor tissues of all patients were prepared into tissue microarrays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Keratin pearls (KP) is an important indicator of the degree of tumor cell differentiation of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). However, the independent prognostic value of KP in ESCC patients remains unclear. The hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) stained tissue microarrays (TMAs) or whole slides of the patients were prepared to identify the existence of KP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Krüppel-like factor (KLF) has a role in the occurrence, development and metabolism of cancer. We aimed to explore the role and potential molecular mechanism of KLF13 in the growth and migration of liver cancer cells.

Methods: The expression of KLF13 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues was higher than that in normal tissues according to analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Some studies indicated that gender is associated with prognostic of cancer, However, currently the prognostic value of gender for gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) survival is unclear. The aim of our study is to reveal the influence of gender on the prognosis of patients with GCA.

Patients And Methods: A total of 42,345 cases Chinese GCA patients were enrolled from our previously established GCA and esophageal cancer databases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus (PMME) is a rare malignant disease and has not been well characterized in terms of clinicopathology and survival.

Aim: To investigate the clinical features and survival factors in Chinese patients with PMME.

Methods: The clinicopathological findings of ten cases with PMME treated at Henan Provincial People's Hospital were summarized.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This study compared the survival outcomes of different surgical approaches to determine the optimal approach for gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) and aimed to standardize the surgical treatment guidelines for GCA.

Methods: A total of 7103 patients with GCA were enrolled from our previously established gastric cardia and esophageal carcinoma databases. In our database, when the epicenter of the tumor was at or within 2 cm distally from the esophagogastric junction, the adenocarcinoma was considered to originate from the cardia and was considered a Siewert type 2 cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In China, it has been well recognized that some female patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) have different overall survival (OS) time, even with the same tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, challenging the prognostic value of the TNM system alone. An effective predictive model is needed to accurately evaluate the prognosis of female ESCC patients.

Aim: To construct a novel prognostic model with clinical and reproductive data for Chinese female patients with ESCC, and to assess the incremental prognostic value of the full model compared with the clinical model and TNM stage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

While genetic alterations in several regulators of the cell cycle have a significant impact on the gastric carcinogenesis process, the prognostic role of them remains to be further elucidated. The TCGA-STAD training set were downloaded and the mRNA expression matrix of cell cycle genes was extracted and corrected for further analysis after taking the intersection with GSE84437 dataset. Differentially expressed mRNAs were identified between tumor and normal tissue samples in TCGA-STAD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common aggressive malignancies worldwide, particularly in northern China. The absence of specific early symptoms and biomarkers leads to late-stage diagnosis, while early diagnosis and risk stratification are crucial for improving overall prognosis. We performed UPLC-MS/MS on 450 ESCC patients and 588 controls consisting of a discovery group and two validation groups to identify biomarkers for early detection and prognosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hepatic stellate cell (HSC) hyperactivation is a central link in liver fibrosis development. HSCs perform aerobic glycolysis to provide energy for their activation. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) promotes aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells or fibroblasts, while FAK-related non-kinase (FRNK) inhibits FAK phosphorylation and biological functions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA), which has been classified as type II adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction in western countries, is of similar geographic distribution with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in China, and even referred as "sister cancer" by Chinese oncologists. The molecular mechanism for GCA is largely unknown. Recent studies have shown that decreased expression of E-cadherin is associated with the invasion and metastasis of multiple cancers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Breast cancer is more likely to metastasize to the bone. Previous researches have revealed that the vitamin D receptor (VDR) contributes to breast cancer progression and bone metastasis in mouse and human breast cells, and hairless (Hr) protein interacts with VDR in the mammalian hair cycle. This study aimed to explore the expression of VDR/Hr in breast cancer, and the correlation between VDR/Hr and prognosis, bone metastasis, and metastasis-related prognosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the key effector cells mediating the occurrence and development of liver fibrosis, while aerobic glycolysis is an important metabolic characteristic of HSC activation. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) induces aerobic glycolysis and is a driving factor for metabolic reprogramming. The occurrence of glycolysis depends on a high glucose uptake level.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus (PSCE) is a highly invasive malignant tumor with a poor prognosis compared with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Due to the limited samples size and the short follow-up time, there are few reports on elucidating the prognosis of PSCE, especially on the establishment and validation of a survival prediction nomogram model covering general information, pathological factors and specific biological proteins of PSCE patients.

Aim: To establish an effective nomogram to predict the overall survival (OS) probability for PSCE patients in China.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The role of focal amplifications and extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is unknown in gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA). Here, we identify frequent focal amplifications and ecDNAs in Chinese GCA patient samples, and find focal amplifications in the GCA cohort are associated with the chromothripsis process and may be induced by accumulated DNA damage due to local dietary habits. We observe diverse correlations between the presence of oncogene focal amplifications and prognosis, where ERBB2 focal amplifications positively correlate with prognosis and EGFR focal amplifications negatively correlate with prognosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

NAP1L1 has been reported to be significantly involved in the carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Yet, its detailed molecular basis is still to be determined. Based on the analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, NAP1L1 mRNA was found to be upregulated and predicted the poor prognosis initially.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Dubin-Johnson syndrome (DJS) is a benign autosomal recessive liver disease involving mutations of the gene. It is characterized by chronic or intermittent conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, with chronic idiopathic jaundice as the main clinical manifestation. Genetic alterations of the gene are commonly used for diagnosing DJS; however, the causative point mutation in Chinese patients remains unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Preoperative pulmonary function plays an important role in selecting surgical candidates and assessing postoperative complications. Reduced pulmonary function is associated with poor survival in several cancers, but the prognostic value of preoperative pulmonary function in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is unclear. Nutritional and systemic inflammation parameters are vital to cancer survival, and the combination of these parameters improves the prognostic value.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrotic lung disease without effective therapy. Animal models effectively reproducing IPF disease features are needed to study the underlying molecular mechanisms. Tree shrews are genetically, anatomically, and metabolically closer to humans than rodents or dogs; therefore, the tree shrew model presents a unique opportunity for translational research in lung fibrosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Liver fibrosis is involved in the progression of most chronic liver diseases. Even though we have made a huge progress in order to understand the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis, however, there is still a lack of productive treatments. Being a traditional Chinese medicine, Platycodin D (PD), an oleanane kind of triterpenoid saponin has been put to extensive use for treating different kinds of illnesses that include not just anti-nociceptive, but also antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer for thousands of years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF