Analysis of copy number alterations in bladder cancer stem cells revealed a prognostic role of LRP1B

"Internet Plus" continuous nursing for patients with advanced bladder cancer: A retrospective observational study

The "Internet Plus" system has made continuous nursing intervention much more feasible to implement, especially in terms of malignant tumors. We aimed to evaluate continuous nursing based on "Internet Plus" for patients diagnosed with bladder cancer with hematuria being treated by drug-eluting bead embolization. This retrospective study included 43 patients, diagnosed with bladder cancer with hemorrhages, who had undergone transcatheter bladder arterial chemoembolization by drug-eluting bead embolization at our hospital between January 2017 and January 2023. They were divided into a control (21 patients) and an observation group (22 patients). The Medical Coping Style Scale, disease knowledge (including regular follow-up and interventional treatment), patient satisfaction, and caregiver burden in both groups were compared on the day of discharge and at the 1-month follow-up for each patient. The confrontation score of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, whereas the resignation and avoidance scores were lower. The disease knowledge was higher in the observation group, and the caregiver burden scores of the observation group were significantly lower. The patient satisfaction scores of the control group (84.7 ± 2.6) were lower than those of the observation group (90.5 ± 5.4). Continuous nursing based on "Internet Plus" could improve the quality of life of patients and their satisfaction regarding the meeting of their and their families' psychological and nursing needs.

The prognostic significance and clinical relevance of stem cell characteristic in bladder cancer

Background

Bladder cancer (BLCA) is a common malignant tumor of urinary system and prognostic biomarkers are needed for better clinical decision-making and patient management. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are involved in carcinogenesis, development, metastasis and recurrence of BLCA. This study explored the prognostic and predictive value of CSCs-related genes and laid the groundwork for precision treatment development in BLCA.

Methods

The mRNA data and corresponding clinical information obtained from TCGA-BLCA cohort was used to discover biomarkers and develop CSCs-related prognostic model, which was further validated in GSE32548 and GSE32894 datasets. In addition, the association between CSCs-related risk score and therapeutic efficacy was analyzed to explore the potential predictive value of the prognostic model.

Results

We identified four CSCs-related subtypes and 900 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among subtypes. Then the CSCs-related prognostic model was built based on 16 CSCs-related DEGs with the most significant prognostic value. Patients in the low-risk group had better overall survival than those in high-risk group (P < 0.001; HR, 0.42; 95 %CI, 0.31-0.57). Multivariable Cox analysis in training and test sets confirmed the independence of CSCs-related risk score as a prognostic factor (P < 0.05). The difference of survival between two risk groups were probably due to the significantly varied immune microenvironment based on the analysis of infiltrated immune cells. Additionally, the risk score was significantly associated with chemotherapy sensitivity and the response to anti-PD-L1 therapy (P < 0.05) which suggested a potential predictive value of CSCs-related risk model.

Conclusion

We established a risk classifier based on 16 CSCs-related genes for predicting survival in patients with BLCA. The CSCs-related risk model has both prognostic value and potential predictive value for therapeutic efficacy, which brings us closer to understanding the important role of CSCs in BLCA and may provide guidance for clinical treatment decision-making and patient management. The clinical utility of the CSCs-related risk classifier warrants further studies.

AhRR and PPP1R3C: Potential Prognostic Biomarkers for Serous Ovarian Cancer

The lack of effective screening and successful treatment contributes to high ovarian cancer mortality, making it the second most common cause of gynecologic cancer death. Development of chemoresistance in up to 75% of patients is the cause of a poor treatment response and reduced survival. Therefore, identifying potential and effective biomarkers for its diagnosis and prognosis is a strong critical need. Copy number alterations are frequent in cancer, and relevant for molecular tumor stratification and patients' prognoses. In this study, array-CGH analysis was performed in three cell lines and derived cancer stem cells (CSCs) to identify genes potentially predictive for ovarian cancer patients' prognoses. Bioinformatic analyses of genes involved in copy number gains revealed that AhRR and PPP1R3C expression negatively correlated with ovarian cancer patients' overall and progression-free survival. These results, together with a significant association between AhRR and PPP1R3C expression and ovarian cancer stemness markers, suggested their potential role in CSCs. Furthermore, AhRR and PPP1R3C's increased expression was maintained in some CSC subpopulations, reinforcing their potential role in ovarian cancer. In conclusion, we reported for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a prognostic role of AhRR and PPP1R3C expression in serous ovarian cancer.

Insights into the Peritumoural Brain Zone of Glioblastoma: CDK4 and EXT2 May Be Potential Drivers of Malignancy

Despite the efforts made in recent decades, glioblastoma is still the deadliest primary brain cancer without cure. The potential role in tumour maintenance and progression of the peritumoural brain zone (PBZ), the apparently normal area surrounding the tumour, has emerged. Little is known about this area due to a lack of common definition and due to difficult sampling related to the functional role of peritumoural healthy brain. The aim of this work was to better characterize the PBZ and to identify genes that may have role in its malignant transformation. Starting from our previous study on the comparison of the genomic profiles of matched tumour core and PBZ biopsies, we selected CDK4 and EXT2 as putative malignant drivers of PBZ. The gene expression analysis confirmed their over-expression in PBZ, similarly to what happens in low-grade glioma and glioblastoma, and CDK4 high levels seem to negatively influence patient overall survival. The prognostic role of CDK4 and EXT2 was further confirmed by analysing the TCGA cohort and bioinformatics prediction on their gene networks and protein-protein interactions. These preliminary data constitute a good premise for future investigations on the possible role of CDK4 and EXT2 in the malignant transformation of PBZ.

Effects of Nursing Care for the Treatment of Patients with Bladder Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Purpose. In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis were used to examine the effectiveness of nursing care in the treatment of bladder cancer patients. The platforms of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were used to conduct a thorough literature search. Methods. The searching approach was used to find the fundamental characteristics of 5 studies. Sample size ranged from 52 to 131,852, and total sample size was 151,166. The study was looked up in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science, with the most recent search being done in July 2022. Utilizing a standardized form, two independent reviewers gathered pertinent information from research that qualified as literature (17). Review Manager 5.3 used the data to examine the literature. Statistics were deemed significant at $p<0.05$ . Results. We discovered that more bladder cancer patients with T1+T2 tumor stages were receiving nursing care than those with T1+T2 tumor stages were receiving control care (mean difference =1.27, 95% CI: 1.20-1.35, $p<0.00001$ ). The proportion of bladder cancer patients with T3+T4 tumor stage in the nursing care group was lower than the proportion of patients with T3+T4 tumor stage in the control group (mean difference = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01-1.14; $p<0.00001$ ). The difference between the number of bladder cancer patients receiving radiotherapy in the nursing care group and the control group was not statistically significant (mean difference = 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.99-1.16, $p=0.11$ ). There were fewer patients with bladder cancer receiving chemotherapy in the nursing care group than that in the control group (mean difference = -0.02, 95% CI: -0.0-0.02, $p<0.00001$ ). The incidence rate of patients with bladder cancer with major complications in nursing care group was lower than that of patients with bladder cancer with major complications in control group (mean difference = 0.41 95% CI: 0.18-0.93, $p=0.03$ ). When compared to patients with bladder cancer who had serious complications in the control group, the hospital death rate for nursing care patients had a greater incidence of bladder cancer patients (mean difference = 4.64 95% CI: 4.46-4.82, $p<0.00001$ ). Conclusion. This study demonstrated that the effects of nursing care reduced the incidence rate of chemotherapy and the frequency of severe problems in bladder cancer patients.