Jun Zhou

Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma (PACC) is a rare tumor of the exocrine pancreas. It accounts for only 1% of all pancreatic malignancies. A 39-year woman sought treatment for repeated abdominal pain and jaundice. The computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggested diffuse enlargement of the pancreas. 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT showed diffuse enlargement of the pancreas and increased glucose uptake. The endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) biopsy of the pancreas was performed, and the case was finally diagnosed as PACC. After the sixth course of chemotherapy with gemcitabine and albumin paclitaxel, a CT scan showed significant shrinkage of the pancreas. PACC very rarely presents with diffuse enlargement of the pancreas. This case illustrates a rare presentation of PACC with diffuse pancreatic enlargement, which was effectively treated with gemcitabine and albumin paclitaxel chemotherapy. Key Words: Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma, Positron emission tomography/computed tomography, Chemotherapy.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common type of gastrointestinal malignant tumour. Colorectal adenocarcinoma (COAD)—the most common type of CRC—is particularly dangerous. The role of the immune system in the development of tumour-associated inflammation and cancer has received increasing attention recently. Methods: In this study, we compiled the expression profiles of 262 patients with complete follow-up data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database as an experimental group and selected 65 samples from the GEO dataset (of which 46 samples with M0) as a verification group. First, we screened the immune Th17 cells related to the prognosis of COAD. Subsequently, we identified Th17-cells-related hub genes by utilizing co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and LASSO regression analysis. Six genes associated with the prognosis in patients with COAD were identified ,including : KRT23, ULBP2, ASRGL1, SERPINA1, SCIN, and SLC28A2. We constructed a clinical prediction model and analysed its predictive power. Results: The identified hub genes are involved in developing many diseases and closely linked to digestive disorders. Our results suggested that the hub genes could influence the prognosis of COAD by regulating Th17 cells’ infiltration. Conclusions: These newly discovered hub genes contribute to clarifying the mechanisms of COAD development and metastasis. Given that they promote COAD development, they may become new therapeutic targets and biomarkers of COAD.

Background: The clinical success demonstrates the enormous potential of immunotherapy in cancer treatment. Methods: This article presented research linking gastric cancer to immune cells, based on RNA-seq data of Stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) and gene expression profile of GSE84437, 24 kinds of tumor-infiltrating immune cells were quantified by single-sample gene set enrichment analysis. Results: Th2 cells, T helper cells, and Mast cells were identified as prognostic immune cells in both TCGA and GEO groups. Then SUPV3L1 and SLC22A17 were identified as hub genes which may affect immune cell infiltration by correlation analysis. Survival analysis further proved that hub genes and prognostic immune cells are associated with the prognosis of gastric cancer. In gastrointestinal tumors, hub genes and prognostic immune cells also found differences in non-tumor and tumor tissues. Conclusions: We found that three immune cells infiltration are associated with the prognosis of gastric cancer and further identify two hub genes. These two key genes may affect immune cell infiltration, result in the different prognosis of patients.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer and is extremely harmful to human health. In recent years, N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation in eukaryotic mRNA has been increasingly implicated in cancer pathogenesis and prognosis. In this study, we downloaded the expression profile and clinical information of 307 patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and 64 patients from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and univariate Cox analysis revealed that METTL14 was a prognostic m6A RNA methylation regulator. For further study on the related genes of METTL14, weighted gene co‐expression network analysis was used to find the relationship between METTL14 and gene expression, and univariate Cox analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) methods were used to identify hub genes that may be associated with HCC prognosis. The results indicated that cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase, glutamic‐oxaloacetic transaminase 2, and suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 were key genes affecting the prognosis of HCC patients, and m6A methylation of these mRNAs may be regulated by METTL14. Finally, a nomogram was constructed based on the hub gene expression levels, and its prediction accuracy and discriminative ability were measured by the C‐index and a calibration curve. In conclusion, METTL14, an m6A RNA methylation regulator, may participate in the malignant progression of HCC by adjusting the m6A of cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase, glutamic‐oxaloacetic transaminase 2, and suppressor of cytokine signaling 2, and these genes are useful for prognostic stratification and treatment strategy development.

BACKGROUND:The occurrence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is closely related to type 2 diabetes, especially in patients with insulin resistance. The purpose of this research was to elucidate the major genes and transcriptional regulation ...