To study the effects of arginine supplementation in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) on lymphocytic immune function in postoperative patients with gastric cancer. Thirty six patients with gastric cancer receiving TPN were eligible for entry into randomized and prospective clinical trial of the study. T cell subsets, NK cell activity, plasma IL-2 content and peripheral blood CD25 were measured in before and after parenteral nutrition of the patients. Results: usual TPN could not improve lymphocytic immunosuppression of postoperative patients with gastric cancer. The patients receiving arginine supplementation in TPN might enhance lymphocytic immune function by increasing CD4 level, IL-2 production and NK cell activity, but there was no significant effect of arginine on CD25 expression. Conclusion: there are some effects of supplement with arginine on releasing of the cellular immunosuppression and restoring of lymphocytic immune function.
ObjectiveTo explore the expression of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) in different subtype of breast cancer and its relationship to prognosis. MethodsThree hundred and thirty-eight patients with breast cancer from January 2007 to December 2009 in this hospital were collected. All these patients were categorized into three subtypes which was luminal, HER-2 positive, and triple negative according to the results of immunohistochemical stain. SP immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of PDCD4 in the different subtype of breast cancer. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the prognosis. Results①The positive rate of PDCD4 expression was 73.37%(146/199), 30.16%(19/63), and 35.53%(27/76) in the luminal, HER-2 positive, and triple negative breast cancer, respectively. The expression of PDCD4 was downregulated especially in the HER-2 positive and triple negative breast cancer(χ2=38.315, P=0.000; χ2=33.746, P=0.000) as compared with the luminal breast cancer. 2 The disease free survival and overall survival rates in the PDCD4 positive patients were significantly higher than those in the PDCD4 negative patients(P < 0.05) despite the subtypes.③Cox model revealed that T staging, N staging, and PDCD4 were the independent prognostic factors for disease free survival and that histological grade, T staging, N staging, and PDCD4 were the independent prognostic factors for overall survival. ConclusionsPDCD4 expression is downregulated in all subtypes of breast cancer especially in HER-2 positive and triple negative breast cancer, and the loss of PDCD4 expression is correlated to poor prognosis. PDCD4 is an independent prognostic factor of breast cancer.