The Role of Long Non-Coding RNAs in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment.

Tumorigenesis is a complicated process caused by successive genetic and epigenetic alterations. The past decades demonstrated that the immune system affects tumorigenesis, tumor progression, and metastasis. Although increasing immunotherapies are revealed, only a tiny proportion of them are effective.

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.

Clinically relevant orthotopic xenograft models of patient-derived glioblastoma in zebrafish.

An accurate prediction of the intracranial infiltration tendency and drug response of individual glioblastoma (GBM) cells is essential for personalized prognosis and treatment for this disease. However, the clinical utility of mouse patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) models remains limited given current technical constraints, including difficulty in generating sufficient sample numbers from small tissue samples and a long latency period for results. To overcome these issues, we established zebrafish GBM xenografts of diverse origin, which can tolerate intracranial engraftment and maintain their unique histological features.

Strategies for advanced particulate bone substitutes regulating the osteo-immune microenvironment.

The usage of bone substitute granule materials has improved the clinical results of alveolar bone deficiencies treatment and thus broadened applications in implant dentistry. However, because of the complicated mechanisms controlling the foreign body response, no perfect solution can avoid the fibrotic encapsulation of materials till now, which may impair the results of bone regeneration, even cause the implant materials rejection. Recently, the concept of 'osteoimmunology' has been stressed.

Identification of triazolopyridine derivatives as a new class of AhR agonists and evaluation of anti-psoriasis effect in a mouse model.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand-dependent transcription factor, can regulate the immune balance of Th17/22 and Treg cells, which plays an important role in the development and maintenance of the skin barrier. We herein report the discovery of triazolopyridine derivatives as a new class of AhR agonists. Structure-activity relationship analyses led to the identification of the most active compound, 6-bromo-2-(4-bromophenyl)-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyridine (12a), with an EC (50% effective concentration) value of 0.

Nomogram to Predict Intensive Care Following Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: A Useful Clinical Tool to Guide the Decision-Making of Intensive Care Unit Admission.

Background: We aimed to generate and validate a nomogram to predict patients most likely to require intensive care unit (ICU) admission following gastric cancer surgery to improve postoperative outcomes and optimize the allocation of medical resources.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 3,468 patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer from January 2009 to June 2018. Here, 70.

The crosstalk between reactive oxygen species and noncoding RNAs: from cancer code to drug role.

Oxidative stress (OS), characterized by the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), is an emerging hallmark of cancer. Tumorigenesis and development driven by ROS require an aberrant redox homeostasis, that activates onco-signaling and avoids ROS-induced programmed death by orchestrating antioxidant systems. These processes are revealed to closely associate with noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs).

Assessment of indocyanine green fluorescence lymphography on lymphadenectomy during minimally invasive gastric cancer surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: In recent years, indocyanine green fluorescence lymphography has been introduced for lymphatic mapping in gastric cancer surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of ICGFL in lymph node dissection during minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer.

Methods: A systematic review of electronic databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure was performed from the inception to January 2021 for all studies comparing ICGFL with non-ICGFL in GC patients undergoing minimal access gastrectomy.

Hyaluronic Acid-Conjugated Nanoparticles for the Targeted Delivery of Cabazitaxel to CD44-Overexpressing Glioblastoma Cells.

In decades, the efficiency of glioma therapy is far from satisfaction due to the inability of most therapeutics to accumulate at the glioblastoma (GBM) site. Therefore, it is urgent to develop novel tumor-targeted delivery systems for more optimized and effective glioma treatment. In this study, hyaluronic acid modified MPEG-PDLLA polymer (HAML) nanoparticles were used to encapsulate the cabazitaxel (Cab), creating Cab loaded HAML nanoparticles (Cab/HAML NPs) for glioma therapy both and MTT assay and apoptotic study indicated Cab/HAML NPs induced a significant cell growth inhibition and more apoptosis of C6 cells than free Cab study showed that Cab/HAML NPs could significantly improve chemotherapeutic effect to C6 tumor-bearing rats compared with free Cab.

Interleukin-37 promotes colitis-associated carcinogenesis via SIGIRR-mediated cytotoxic T cells dysfunction.

Interleukin-37b (hereafter called IL-37) was identified as fundamental inhibitor of natural and acquired immunity. The molecular mechanism and function of IL-37 in colorectal cancer (CRC) has been elusive. Here, we found that IL-37 transgenic (IL-37tg) mice were highly susceptible to colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) and suffered from dramatically increased tumor burdens in colon.

Deep learning-based AI model for signet-ring cell carcinoma diagnosis and chemotherapy response prediction in gastric cancer.

Purpose: We aimed to develop a noninvasive artificial intelligence (AI) model to diagnose signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) of gastric cancer (GC) and identify patients with SRCC who could benefit from postoperative chemotherapy based on preoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT).

Methods: A total of 855 GC patients with 855 single GCs were included, of which 249 patients were diagnosed as SRCC by histopathologic examinations. The AI model was generated with clinical, handcrafted radiomic, and deep learning features.

A Tumor-Specific Ferric-Coordinated Epigallocatechin-3-gallate cascade nanoreactor for glioblastoma therapy.

Introduction: Numerous options for treatment of glioblastoma have been explored; however, single-drug therapies and poor targeting have failed to provide effective drugs. Chemotherapy has significant antitumor effect, but the efficacy of single-drug therapies in the clinic is limited over a long period of time. Thus, novel therapeutic approaches are necessary to address these critical issues.

Inhibition of NPC1L1 disrupts adaptive responses of drug-tolerant persister cells to chemotherapy.

Entering a drug-tolerant persister (DTP) state of cancer cells is a transient self-adaptive mechanism by which a residual cell subpopulation accelerates tumor progression. Here, we identified the acquisition of a DTP phenotype in multidrug-resistant (MDR) cancer cells as a tolerance response to routine combination treatment. Characterization of MDR cancer cells with a DTP state by RNA-seq revealed that these cells partially prevented chemotherapy-triggered oxidative stress by promoting NPC1L1-regulated uptake of vitamin E.

Cholesterol modified DP7 and pantothenic acid induce dendritic cell homing to enhance the efficacy of dendritic cell vaccines.

Dendritic cell (DC)-based cancer vaccines have so far achieved good therapeutic effects in animal experiments and early clinical trials for certain malignant tumors. However, the overall objective response rate in clinical trials rarely exceeds 15%. The poor efficiency of DC migration to lymph nodes (LNs) (< 5%) is one of the main factors limiting the effectiveness of DC vaccines.

Sertaconazole provokes proapoptotic autophagy via stabilizing TRADD in nonsmall cell lung cancer cells.

Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed and lethal cancers characterized by relatively low overall cure and poor survival rates with great challenge for consistent effective clinical treatment. Here we demonstrated that the antifungal sertaconazole displays potent anti-NSCLC effect by promoting apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Further studies found that sertaconazole induces complete autophagic flux, which contributes to sertaconazole-induced apoptosis and subsequent growth suppression in NSCLC cells.

PHLDB2 Mediates Cetuximab Resistance via Interacting With EGFR in Latent Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer.

Background & Aims: Latent metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC) frequently develops months or years after primary surgery, followed by adjuvant therapies, and may progress rapidly even with targeted therapy administered, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we aim to explore the molecular basis for the aggressive behavior of latent metastasis in CRC.

Methods: Transcriptional profiling and pathway enrichment analysis of paired primary and metastatic tumor samples were performed.

Mitophagy in neurological disorders.

Selective autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that removes excess protein aggregates and damaged intracellular components. Most eukaryotic cells, including neurons, rely on proficient mitophagy responses to fine-tune the mitochondrial number and preserve energy metabolism. In some circumstances (such as the presence of pathogenic protein oligopolymers and protein mutations), dysfunctional mitophagy leads to nerve degeneration, with age-dependent intracellular accumulation of protein aggregates and dysfunctional organelles, leading to neurodegenerative disease.

Co-Delivery of Paclitaxel and shMCL-1 by Folic Acid-Modified Nonviral Vector to Overcome Cancer Chemotherapy Resistance.

Acquired chemoresistance presents a major clinical impediment, which is an urgent problem to be solved. Interestingly, myeloma cell leukemia-1 (MCL-1) and folate receptor expression levels are higher in chemotherapy-resistant patients than in pretreatment patients. In this study, a multifunctional folic acid (FA)-targeting core-shell structure is presented for simultaneous delivery of shMCL-1 and paclitaxel (PTX).

Application of Gross Tissue Response System in Gastric Cancer After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Primary Report of a Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: We previously established a gross tissue response (GTR) system to evaluate the intraoperative response of perigastric tissue in patients with gastric cancers to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This prospective cohort study aims to confirm the relationship between gross tissue response and clinicopathological characteristics and explore the possibility of using the GTR system to predict the difficulty of surgery and the occurrence of postoperative complications within 30 days.

Methods: A total of 102 patients with gastric cancer from January 2019 to April 2020 were enrolled in this study.

Psychological intervention to treat distress: An emerging frontier in cancer prevention and therapy.

Psychological distress, such as chronic depression and anxiety, is a topical problem. In the context of cancer patients, prevalence rates of psychological distress are four-times higher than in the general population and often confer worse outcomes. In addition to evidence from epidemiological studies confirming the links between psychological distress and cancer progression, a growing body of cellular and molecular studies have also revealed the complex signaling networks which are modulated by psychological distress-derived chronic stress during cancer progression.