ObjectiveTo summarize the mechanism of action of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) inhibitors, the application in breast cancer in recent years and the advances in the study of their bio-markers of effects. MethodRelevant literatures on PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and the study in the field of breast cancer were reviewed and summarized.ResultsIn recent years, the monotherapy of immune checkpoint inhibitors represented by PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors or in combination with other therapies had brought new hope for patients with breast cancer especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, only a small number of patients could benefit from breast cancer immunotherapy. The current researchers think that the efficacy of these drugs is related to PD-L1 expression in tumor tissue, tumor mutation burden (TMB), high level of microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and deficient mismatch repair (dMMR).ConclusionBreast cancer can benefit from the immunotherapy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, but formulating personalized medicine model, finding biomarkers that can predict efficacy and selecting patients with breast cancer who can benefit from it for targeted therapy are the new requirements in the new era of breast cancer immunotherapy.
Objective To assess value and limitations of non-invasive methods in assessing liver fibrosis．Methods By summarized current situation and advancement of serum fibrotic markers, ultrasound, CT and MRI in assessing liver fibrosis, we investigated their value and limitations. Results In addition to diagnosis, non-invasive methods of assessing liver fibrosis assess severity of liver fibrosis. For liver fibrosis, however, non-invasive methods can not monitor effectively reaction to therapy and progression. Conclusion Non-invasive methods play important roles in diagnosis and assessing severity of liver fibrosis, and reduce the need of liver biopsy.
ObjectiveTo study the preoperative evaluation value of serum tumor markers (CA72-4, CEA, CA199 and CA125) in patients with gastric cancer. MethodsSerum levels of tumor markers (CA72-4, CEA, CA199 and CA125) and clinical pathological data of 70 patients with gastric cancer before operation who underwent surgical treatment in the Gastrointestinal Surgery Department of Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University in June 2013 to 2014 June were retrospectively analyzed. ResultsThere were some connection between the concentration of the serum CA72-4 and the tumor diameter, TNM staging, invasion depth, and the number of lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05), between CA199 and tumor size, TNM staging, and invasion depth (P < 0.05), between CEA, CA125 and tumor diameter, TNM staging and distant metastasis (P < 0.05), but the CA72-4, CA72-4, CEA and CA125 had nothing to do with patient' age and gender. ConclusionThe serum tumor markers of CA724, CEA, CA199, and CA125 have clinical application value in preoperative evaluation of gastric cancer.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the value of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), ferritin, D-dimer, fibrinogen degradation product (FDP), white blood cell (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in diagnosis and prognosis of severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP).MethodsThis was a prospective observational study. One hundred and seventy-seven candidates were divided into 3 groups: SCAP group including 61 SCAP patients, CAP group including 56 patients with normal community-acquired pneumonia group and HP group including 60 healthy people. Initial level of above biomarkers was compared and analyzed in the three groups. Then the efficiency of diagnosing and predicting the outcome of SCAP by single and combined index were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Meanwhile the patients in SCAP group were divided into two groups according to the CEA level named CEA increasing group and normal group, between which the differences in prognosis and biomarker level were compared.ResultsThe initial level of all biomarkers increased in two pneumonia groups and exceeded the HP group (P< 0.01) while between SCAP and CAP groups, all indexes in SCAP group were higher than the CAP group (P< 0.001). The areas under the ROC of CEA, ferritin, D-dimer, CRP, WBC and united respectively were 0.800, 0.834, 0.769, 0.898, 0.756 and 0.956. The sensitivity of united index was 91.8% while specificity was 90.5%. Among SCAP group, only CEA level made sense to predict the prognosis (P< 0.01). There were significant differences in intubation rate, mortality, length of RICU stay and FDP, D-dimer between CEA increasing group and normal group (P< 0.05).ConclusionsHigh level CEA, ferritin, D-dimer, CRP and WBC have significant value in diagnosis of SCAP. And the combined index has higher diagnostic value than single one. SCAP with increased CEA level indicates more serious condition and poor prognosis.
Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (PLAM) is a rare chronic multi-system neoplastic disease that occurs in women of childbearing age. It lacks specific clinical manifestations and requires reliable biomarkers to achieve precise management. In recent years, with the emergence of emerging biomarkers, the detection rate of PLAM has been significantly improved, which can better monitor disease progression and provide timely feedback on the efficacy. These emerging biomarkers mainly include vascular endothelial growth factor-D, vitamin D-binding protein, CT score and prostaglandins. This article will focus on the current research results, and summarize the research progress of emerging biomarkers in PLAM diagnosis, prognosis evaluation, and disease monitoring, aiming to provide new ideas for the research and treatment of PLAM.
Ferroptosis is a unique way of cell death discovered in recent years, which involves the lethal process of iron ion accumulation and lipid peroxidation, which is obviously different from the traditional cell death pathway such as apoptosis and necrosis. For a long time, tuberculosis has been a major infectious disease in the field of global public health, which brings a serious burden to the society because of its high morbidity and mortality. The emergence of drug resistance aggravates the difficulty of treating tuberculosis, and new treatment strategies and drug targets are urgently needed. Combined with the latest research progress at home and abroad, This article will discuss the molecular mechanism of ferroptosis and pulmonary tuberculosis and the relationship between signal pathways, biomarkers and related genes, in order to provide a new perspective for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
ObjectiveTo analyze the effects of alcohol consumption on oral flora of middle-aged and elderly men from the core area of southwestern China, and explore the relationship between excessive-alcohol-consumption-related flora and alcohol-related cancer.MethodsFrom March to June 2018, saliva samples of target subjects were collected for 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, and a questionnaire survey which took drinking history of each participant as the target variable was conducted. According to the amount of alcohol consumed, the subjects were divided into non-drinking group, moderate-drinking group, and excessive-drinking group. The microbial analysis of α diversity, analysis of group difference of oral flora abundance, bacterial function prediction, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve model prediction were carried out.ResultsA total of 59 subjects were included. There were 23 cases (39.0%) in the non-drinking group, 23 cases (39.0%) in the moderate-drinking group, and 13 cases (22.0%) in the excessive-drinking group. The average age was (61.90±8.85) years. Excessive drinking increased the abundance of oral flora (P<0.05), and could change the abundance of specific genus such as Peptostreptococcus and TM7［G-6］ (P<0.05) and regulate cancer-related pathways (P<0.05). ROC analysis found that a panel of three genus oral bacteria such as TM7［G-6］ might effectively distinguish the non-drinking group from the excessive-drinking group (area under curve=0.915).ConclusionsGenus of Peptostreptococcus and TM7_［G-6］ are the potential oral flora biomarkers for the excessive-drinking of target subjects. Some excessive drinking-related flora are closely related to oral cancer.
Objective To summarize the research progress of microRNA （miRNA） as a tumor marker in peripheral blood. Methods The domestic and international published literatures about circulating miRNA as a tumor marker in recent years were reviewed. Results The miRNA expression has universality，stability and specificity，and it is related to the occurrence and development of viarous diseases. Conclusion Circulating miRNA shows a broad application prospect in clinical diagnosis， treatment， and prognosis of tumor and other diseases.
Objective To explore the role of cyclin B1 (CCNB1), cyclin B2 (CCNB2) and cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) using bioinformatic data. Methods First, RNA expression data were downloaded from two datasets in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and DESeq2 software was used to identify deferentially expressed genes (DEGs). Subsequent analyses were conducted based on the results of these DEGs: protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed with STRING database; the modules in PPI network were analyzed by Molecular Complex Detection software, and the most significant modules were selected, the genes included in these modules were the hub genes; high-throughput RNA sequencing data from other databases were used to verify the expression of these hub genes to confirm whether they were DEGs; survival curve analyses of the confirmed DEGs were conducted to select genes that had significant influence on the survival of LUAD; the expression of these hub genes in different stages of LUAD were also analyzed. Then, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis was performed for these selected hub genes using KOBAS database. MuTarget tool was used to analyze the correlations between the expression of these selected hub genes and gene mutation status in LUAD. The potential value of these hub genes in the treatment of LUAD was explored based on the drug information in GDSC database. Finally, immunohistochemical data from Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database were used to verify the expression of these hub genes in LUAD again. Results According to the expression data in GEO, 594 up-regulated genes and 651 down-regulated genes were identified (P<0.05), among which 30 hub genes were selected for subsequent analyses. The RNA high-throughput sequencing data of other databases verified that 18 genes were DEGs, among which 8 hub genes had significant impact on disease-free survival in LUAD (P<0.05). Moreover, the 8 genes were differentially expressed in different stages of LUAD, which were higher in the middle and late stage of LUAD. Among the 8 genes. CCNB1, CCNB2 and CDK1 were significantly enriched in the cell cycle pathway. The expression of CCNB1, CCNB2 and CDK1 in LUAD was closely related to the TP53 mutation status. In addition, CDK1 was associated with four drugs, revealing the potential value of CDK1 in the treatment of LUAD. Finally, immunohistochemical data from HPA database verified that CCNB1, CCNB2 and CDK1 were highly expressed in LUAD in the protein level. Conclusion Overexpression of CCNB1, CCNB2 and CDK1 are associated with poor prognosis of LUAD, indicating that the three genes may be prognostic biomarkers of LUAD and CDK1 is a potential therapeutic target for LUAD.
Objective To investigate the value of tumor type M2 pyruvate kinase ( M2-PK) in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. Methods A total of 146 patients with pleural effusion during January 2006 to December 2008 were recruited at the department of respiratory medicine of the Shantou Affiliated Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen Medical College. Pleural effusion was malignant in 72 cases ( 52 cases with lung cancer and 20 cases with metastatic lung cancer) and benign in 74 cases ( 54 cases with infective pleural effusion and 20 with transudation effusion) . The patients were divided into a malignant pleural effusion group, an infective pleural effusion group, and a transudation group.Then the infective group was further divided into subgroups of tuberculosis pleural effusion group andparapneumonic effusion group. The concentration of tumor M2-PK in pleural fluid obtained during the first thoracocentesis was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay( ELISA) . Results The concentration of tumor M2-PK was significantly higher in the malignant pleural effusion group compared with the benignpleural effusion groups ( P lt; 0. 01) . Significant differences were also found in the concentration of tumor M2-PK between malignant pleural effusion caused by lung cancer and metastatic lung cancer( P lt; 0. 05) .When the cutoff value of tumor M2-PK was set at 18. 68 U/mL, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion was 87. 6% , 86. 0% , and 87. 4%, respectively. Furthermore,the detection of tumor M2-PK in combination with CEA showed better diagnostic sensitivity( 96. 0% ) ,specificity ( 85. 0% ) , and accuracy ( 91. 1% ) . Conclusions The detection of tumor M2-PK in pleural effusion is of some clinical significance in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pleural effusion.The detection of tumor M2-PK in combination with CEA is a good diagnostic tool with high sensitivity andspecificity.