Fengyuan Chen

Background: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation regulators have been implicated in the carcinogenesis and progress of a variety of cancers. Until now, the effects of them on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) have been poorly understood. Methods: We used the GEO databases to systematically evaluate the expression profiles of 36 m6A RNA methylation regulators in ICC patients and produced a signature to assess its prognostic values. In vitro experiments were implemented to confirm the expression level. Results: Compared to normal intrahepatic bile duct tissues, more than half of these 36 genes showed different levels of expression in ICC tissues. Two groups emerged from the consensus cluster analysis of these 36 genes. The two cluster of patients had significantly different clinical outcomes. In addition, we created a m6A-related prognostic signature that performed exceptionally well in the prognostic categorization of ICC patients, based on the ROC curves, Kaplan-Meier curves, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Further research showed that there was a significant association between the m6A-related signature and the manifestations of tumor immune microenvironment in ICC. The expression level and biological effect of METTL16, one of the two m6A RNA methylation regulators incorporated in the signature, were confirmed and explored by using in vitro experiments. Conclusions: This analysis revealed the predictive roles of m6A RNA methylation regulators in ICC.

Background: Lymph node status has a strong predictive effect on the prognosis of all patients with gastric cancer. It is unclear whether the positive lymph node ratio (PLNR) is a reliable prognostic factor for gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC). Methods: Patients with SRCC were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database for the years 1998–2013. Cutoff values of positive lymph node ratio (PLNR) were decided using X-tile program. Survival was determined using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify prognosticator of gastric signet ring cell carcinoma. Results: A total of 1,884 cases were identified. 0.8 as the optimal cutoff value to separate the patients into high and low risk subsets in accordance of cancer-caused survival in SRCC patients (the number as 0.8, P0.8 remained to have a poorer prognosis compared with those with PLNR Conclusions: PLNR is of great significance in the evaluation of prognosis for patients with SRCC.

Wei F, et al. J Gastric Cancer. 2019 Dec;19(4):393-407. https://doi.org/10.5230/jgc.2019.19.e36

Aim: The study reviews the literature related to ischaemic colitis (IC) as the evidence base to identify factors predicting severity.Method: A systematic review of the literature was conducted on the predictors of the severity of IC. Severe IC or adverse outcome of IC was defined as a patient requiring surgery or who died. MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were searched from inception to 15 January 2015. Manual searches of reference lists from potentially relevant papers and meetings were also performed.Results: In all, 22 studies involving 2823 patients were identified; 19 were case series, two were case–control studies and one was a cohort study. The overall adverse outcome rate was 22.0% (620/2823). The prognostic predictors for surgery or mortality which were most frequently reported included right sided IC, peritonitis, shock or arterial hypotension (< 90 mmHg), male gender, tachycardia and lack of rectal bleeding. Thirteen studies relating to the right colon from which data could be extracted were further analysed. The right colon was involved in 277 cases, with an incidence of adverse outcomes of 48.4% (134/277), while in the non‐right colonic involvement group the incidence was significantly lower at 12.1% (142/1175) (P = 0.000).Conclusion: The incidence of adverse outcome in patients with IC remains high. Male gender, tachycardia, lack of rectal bleeding, peritonitis, shock or arterial hypotension (< 90 mmHg) and right sided IC are predictors of poor prognosis. Right‐sided IC, shock or arterial hypotension (< 90 mmHg) and signs of peritonitis may be the most significant predictors of severity.

缺血性结肠炎(ischemic colitis, IC)是急性下消化道出血的常见病因, 近年来的检出率和患病率逐年上升. 多见于老年人, 大多数IC病例为一过性和自限性, 仅有少数病例为重症, 容易被误诊或漏诊. 为提高对该病的认识, 本文着重对IC诊断与治疗的研究进展作一综述.

Beta-adrenergic blockade has been hypothesized to have a protective effect on intestinal dysfunction and increased intestinal permeability associated with the epinephrine surge after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Wister rats were subjected to either a weight drop TBI, and intraperitoneally injected or not with labetalol, or a sham procedure (18 rats per group). After 3, 6, or 12h (6 rats per subgroup), intestinal permeability to 4.4 kDa FITC-Dextran and plasma epinephrine levels were measured as was intestinal tight junction protein ZO-1 expression at 12h. Terminal ileum was harvested to measure levels of intestinal tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and to evaluate histopathology. In TBI group vs. sham group, intestinal permeability (P<0.01) was significantly higher at all time-points, and intestinal ZO-1 expression was lower at 12h. In TBI with vs. without labetalol group, 1) intestinal permeability was significantly lower at 6 and 12h (94.31±7.64 vs. 102.16±6.40 μg/mL; 110.21±7.52 vs. 118.95±7.11 μg/mL, respectively); 2) levels of plasma epinephrine and intestinal TNF-α were significantly lower at 3, 6 and 12h; and 3) intestinal ZO-1 expression was higher at 3, 6 and 12h (p=0.018). Histopathological evaluation showed that labetalol use preserved intestinal architecture throughout. In a rat model of TBI, labetalol reduced TBI-induced sympathetic hyperactivity, and prevented histopathological intestinal injury accompanied by changes in gut permeability and gut TNF-α expression.