Association between serum antinuclear antibody and rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: The relationship between serum antinuclear antibody (ANA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether serum ANA was associated with an increased risk of RA in a case-control study.

Methods: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis hospitalized at Shandong Provincial Hospital from January 2018 to December 2022 were recruited as the case group, and patients with other types of arthritis and healthy people at the same time were taken as the control group.

An Efficient Nomogram for Discriminating Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma From Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study.

Objective: This study aims to establish a nomogram and provide an effective method to distinguish between intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: A total of 1,591 patients with HCC or ICC hospitalized at Shandong Provincial Hospital between January 2016 and August 2021 were included and randomly divided into development and validation groups in a ratio of 3:1. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the independent differential factors between HCC and ICC patients in the development cohort.

Licochalcone E improves insulin sensitivity in palmitic acid-treated HepG2 cells through inhibition of the NLRP3 signaling pathway.

Our previous research demonstrated that compound licochalcone E can reduce glucose tolerance and lipid metabolism in diabetic rats, although its mechanism remains unknown. Here, we used palmitic acid (PA) to establish a PA-treated HepG2 model, and then examined glucose uptake, glucose consumption, and blood lipids to evaluate the effects of licochalcone E within the safe dose range in the model. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of key genes associated with liver gluconeogenesis; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was deployed to evaluate the concentration of inflammatory factors; and laser confocal microscopy and western blot were used to determine the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway-related proteins, respectively.

Value of AFP and PIVKA-II in diagnosis of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma and prediction of vascular invasion and tumor differentiation.

Background: To explore the value of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) in diagnosis of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their relationship with vascular invasion, tumor differentiation and size.

Methods: A total of 433 participants were enrolled in this study including 266 cases with HBV-related HCC, 87 cases with HBV DNA positive benign liver disease and 80 healthy individuals. Then we explored the correlation between AFP, PIVKA-II serum level and several pathological features such as vascular invasion, tumor differentiation and size.

MiR-320 inhibits the growth of glioma cells through downregulating PBX3.

Background: MiR-320 is downregulated in multiple cancers, including glioma and acts as tumor suppressor through inhibiting tumor cells proliferation and inducing apoptosis. PBX3 (Pre-B cell leukemia homeobox 3), a putative target gene of miR-320, has been reported to be upregulated in various tumors and promote tumor cell growth through regulating MAKP/ERK pathway. This study aimed to verify whether miR-320 influences glioma cells growth through regulating PBX3.

Down-expression of miR-152 lead to impaired anti-tumor effect of NK via upregulation of HLA-G.

It is known that chronic HBV infection (CHB) is the major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) because CHB could not only cause liver tumorigenesis but also lead to change of local microenviroment and lower immune response to infected and cancerous cells (immune tolerance). Human leucocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) belongs to a non-classic MHC-I family and was considered to be an immune tolerance molecule, which could bind to immunosuppressive receptors of natural killer cell (NK) and T cells and trigger immunosuppressive signaling. Recently, numerous studies highlighted that microRNAs (miRNAs) were significantly differentially expressed in HCC tumorigenesis, and the expression was tissue-specific, indicating that miRNAs may cause great epigenetic changes in HCC tumorigenesis.

Expression of immunoglobulin-like transcript (ILT)2 and ILT3 in human gastric cancer and its clinical significance.

Immune inhibitory receptors play an important role in organ transplantation, autoimmune diseases and cancers. Immunoglobulin-like transcript (ILT)2 and ILT3 belong to the inhibitory receptors of the ILT family, which have been reported to regulate a broad range of cellular functions involved in the immune response. They contain immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs), which are related to immune regulation.