Publications by authors named "Zongzhen Xu"

Following the publication of this article, an interested reader drew to the authors' attention that two pairs of protein bands featured in the western blots in Fig. 3A and 5D on p. 679 and 681 respectively appeared to be strikingly similar.

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Background: Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be treated with sorafenib, which is the primary choice for targeted therapy. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of sorafenib is greatly restricted due to resistance. Research has shown that exosomes and circular RNAs play a vital role in the cancer's malignant advancement.

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Objective: This study aimed to compare robotic pancreatoduodenectomy (RPD) with laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy (LPD) in operative and oncologic outcomes.

Background: Previous studies comparing RPD with LPD have only been carried out in small, single-center studies with variable quality.

Methods: Consecutive patients from nine centers in China who underwent RPD or LPD between 2015 and 2022 were included.

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Article Synopsis
  • Ferroptosis is a regulated cell death mechanism linked to treatment resistance and poor outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), emphasizing the need to understand its biological processes.
  • The study focuses on the circular RNA hsa_circ_0128505, which enhances ferroptosis in HCC cells under treatment with lenvatinib by modulating ER-phagy through reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA).
  • It identifies poly (A) binding protein cytoplasmic 4 (PABPC4) as a key protein in the process, acting as an antagonist to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), and reveals its interaction with the circRNA as a possible novel
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Ferroptosis is a kind of cell death closely related to selective autophagy, such as ferritinophagy, lipophagy, clockophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy. However, the role of reticulophagy, which specifically degrades endoplasmic reticulum (ER) fragments (also known as ER-phagy), in ferroptosis regulation is still unclear. In this study, we found that sorafenib (ferroptosis inducer) can effectively activate the receptor protein FAM134B-mediated ER-phagy, and FAM134B knockdown not only blocked ER-phagy but also significantly strengthened cellular sensitivity to ferroptosis without affecting macroautophagy.

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RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) closely regulate the whole lifecycle of most RNA molecules, from the very early stage of transcription to RNA decay. Dysregulation of RBPs significantly affects the fate of cancer-related transcripts. Therefore, it is imperative to fully understand the complicated RBP-RNA regulatory networks in malignant diseases and to explore novel therapeutic targets.

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Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel and unique class of noncoding RNAs that are back-spliced from pre-mRNAs. It has been confirmed that circRNAs are involved in various malignant behaviors of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role of circRNA in the regulation of ferroptosis and the underlying mechanism remain unknown.

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Background: Transduodenal ampullectomy (TDA) is not in wide clinical use due to its low radical effect and a high recurrence rate of tumors. However, TDA is still an effective treatment method; it has great clinical value in cases of duodenal benign tumors, precancerous lesions, and benign and malignant borderline tumors, and can avoid the risks associated with pancreaticoduodenectomy with larger resection range and greater thoroughness than endoscopic papillectomy.

Aim: To investigate the surgical method choice and the coincidence rate of pathological diagnoses in TDA for ampullary neoplasms.

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Circular (circ)RNA is a special type of endogenous RNA consisting of a covalently closed loop structure without 5' to 3' polarity and a polyadenylated tail. Accumulating evidence suggests that circRNAs play important roles in the development and progression of human cancers. However, the role of circRNAs in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is largely unknown.

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Castleman disease (CD) is a rare disorder of lymph nodes and related tissues. CD generally occurs in the mediastinum, as well as in cervical, retroperitoneal and axillary regions. The disease is classified into two major types: unicentric CD (UCD) and multicentric CD.

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant disease with a poor prognosis and high mortality due to a low early diagnosis rate, resistance to systemic treatments and progression to late-stage liver disease. Owing to limitations in the detection of HCC and the lack of awareness of healthcare systems, fewer than 40% of HCC patients are eligible for surgery due to advanced stages of the disease at the time of diagnosis and the occurrence of multiple lesions in the cirrhotic or fibrotic liver. At present, the updated American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) guidelines no longer recommend alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) testing as a part of diagnostic evaluation.

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The P18 peptide is a functional fragment of pigment epithelial-derived factor (PEDF), which is an endogenic angiogenesis inhibitor. This study sought to determine the anti-angiogenic bioactivity of the P18 peptide in hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC) and to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Xenograft tumour growth assays demonstrated the P18 peptide suppressed angiogenesis of HCC in vivo.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most lethal cancers. The Hippo pathway is involved in tumorigenesis and remodeling of tumor microenvironments. Hypoxia exists in the microenvironment of solid tumors, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and plays a vital role in tumor progression and metastasis.

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Objective: Plastic biliary stents used to relieve obstructive jaundice are frequently blocked by sediment, resulting in loss of drainage. We prepared stents coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and compared their ability to resist sedimentation with Teflon stents in a beagle model of obstructive jaundice.

Methods: AgNP-coated Teflon biliary stents were prepared by chemical oxidation-reduction and evaluated in an obstructive jaundice model that was produced by ligation of common bile duct (CBD); animals were randomized to two equal groups for placement of AgNP-coated or Teflon control stents.

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Recurrence and metastasis are the two leading causes of poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 is overexpressed in many types of cancers including HCC and promotes its metastasis. Meloxicam is a selective COX-2 inhibitor that has been reported to exert an anti-proliferation and invasion/migration response in various tumors.

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Sorafenib is a type of multikinase inhibitor that exhibits antiangiogenic and antiproliferative effects; in addition, sorafenib is a unique first-line drug recommended for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the effectiveness of HCC treatment remains poor due to acquired drug resistance. It has been suggested that hypoxia, induced as a results of the antiangiogenic effects of sustained sorafenib treatment, may be an important factor in sorafenib resistance.

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Objectives: Meloxicam, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, has been demonstrated to exert anti-tumour effects against various malignancies. However, up to now, mechanisms involved in meloxicam anti-hepatocellular carcinoma effects have remained unclear.

Materials And Methods: Cell viability and apoptosis were assessed by CCK-8 and flow cytometry.

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Sorafenib (SOR) is a promising treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the precise mechanisms of toxicity and drug resistance have not been fully explored and new strategies are urgently needed for HCC therapy. Meloxicam (MEL) is a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor which elicits antitumor effects in human HCC cells.

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The cysteine protease cathepsin B (Cat B) is important in the progression of tumor cells, however, the function and molecular mechanisms of Cat B in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain to be elucidated. Our previous study demonstrated that integrin αvβ3 regulated the biological behavior of HCC. The present study demonstrated that Cat B was also important in cell proliferation and apoptosis in HCC.

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Angiogenesis is required for the invasion, metastasis and chemoresistance of tumor cells. In addition to vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) is considered to be a promising target for anti-angiogenic therapy. The T7 peptide, an active fragment of full-length tumstatin [the noncollagenous 1 domain of the type IV collagen α3 chain, α3(IV)NC1], has equivalent anti-angiogenic activity to that of full-length tumstatin.

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Background: Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 is overexpressed in many types of cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Meloxicam, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, has shown potential therapeutic effects against HCC, but the mechanisms accounting for its anti-cancer activities remain unclear.

Methods And Findings: Meloxicam inhibited the ability of human HCC cells expressing higher levels of COX-2 to migrate, invade, adhere and form colonies through upregulating the expression of E-cadherin and downregulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -2.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the therapeutic activity of gemcitabine (GCB) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) could be increased by the down-regulation of secretory clusterin (sCLU), a glycoprotein that is considered to play a cytoprotective role in the resistance to chemotherapy.

Methods: The expression of sCLU was detected in HCC tumor tissues and cell lines. A cell viability and apoptosis assay were performed in parental HCC cells or the same cells transfected with sCLU shRNA and treated with or without GCB.

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Background: Recent studies have demonstrated that the CC chemokine receptor 6 (CCR6) may be involved in tumorigenesis and tumor progression of various human malignancies. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance and prognostic value of CCR6 expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: CCR6 protein levels were evaluated by Western blot in samples from 25 HCC and matched adjacent noncancerous liver tissues.

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Secretory clusterin (sCLU) is expressed in numerous cancers and is associated with the resistance to chemotherapy. However, the role of sCLU in the resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to oxaliplatin (OXA), a recently used third-generation platinum agent, remains unclear. The stable transfectants that are depleted of or overexpress sCLU and OXA-resistant cells were generated using human HCC cells.

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