Combination of interventional adenovirus-p53 introduction and ultrasonic irradiation in the treatment of liver cancer

An immunogenomic signature for molecular classification in hepatocellular carcinoma

Immunity plays an important role in tumor development. In this study, we aimed to investigate molecular classification and its prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on immune signature. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to calculate scores of immune pathways for HCC and hierarchical clustering in two databases (The Cancer Genome Atlas [TCGA], Liver Cancer-RIKEN, JP [LIRI_JP]). The scores of the immune microenvironment and the proportions of 22 immune cells were also calculated. Single-sample GSEA (ssGSEA) was used to screen survival prognosis-related immune pathways and calculate the hazard radio of differentially expressed immune-related genes (IRGs), which were validated in clinical samples and multiple datasets. Based on the immune characteristics, we identified three HCC subtypes, namely immunity high (Immunity_H), immunity medium (Immunity_M), and immunity low (Immunity_L), and confirmed that the classification was reliable and predictable. Immunity_H with a higher immune and stromal score indicated better survival rate. Cox regression analysis showed that IL18RAP and IL7R were the protective genes. Immune risk score was the independent risk factor of overall survival in HCC patients. These results indicated that immunogenomic classification could distinguish HCC patients with different immune status, which could impact the prognosis of the patients with HCC.

Ultrasound-guided intertumoral injection of contrast agents combined with human p53 gene for the treatment of breast cancer

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of ultrasound-guided injection of ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) and the p53 gene on the treatment of rats with breast cancer (BC). Assembly of the p53 expression vector as well as that of a rat model with BC consisted of 200 successfully modeled rats randomly divided into 5 groups: p53 gene introduction, p53 gene introduction + ultrasound irradiation, p53 gene introduction + UCAs, p53 gene introduction + UCA + ultrasound irradiation, and UCA + ultrasound irradiation groups. Expression of p53 was detected via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. In the p53 gene introduction + ultrasound irradiation group, we observed increased tumor volume with blood flow signals around and necrotic tumor tissues with an inhibition rate of 36.30%, as well as higher expression of p53 than that in the p53 gene introduction group and p53 gene introduction + UCA group. In the p53 gene introduction + UCA + ultrasound irradiation group, tumor volume increased slightly with reduced blood flow signals and massive degenerative necrosis of tumor cells was identified with inhibition rate of 62.62%, and expression of p53 was higher than that in the rest groups. Taken together, the key findings obtained from the present study elucidate that injection of p53 gene and UCA microbubbles guided by ultrasound could increase the expression of p53, thus inhibiting the tumor growth in rats with BC.

Comparative study of ultrasonic elastography and conventional ultrasound in diagnosis of malignant anus neoplasm

The application value of conventional ultrasound and ultrasonic elastography (UE) in preoperative diagnosis and combined diagnosis of malignant anus neoplasms was investigated. One hundred and twenty patients, whose mass was detected by digital rectal examination, were examined using UE and conventional ultrasound before operation, and the results were compared with those of histopathological examinations after operation, so that the accuracy and imaging features of UE as well as UE combined with conventional ultrasound in diagnosing malignant anus neoplasm were analyzed. Among the 120 patients, 77 were diagnosed with benign lesions and 43 were diagnosed with malignant lesions via pathological diagnosis for anal canal lesion surgery. Conventional ultrasound before operation showed that 53 patients were diagnosed with benign lesions and 26 with malignant lesions. Compared with that in the pathological diagnosis results, the diagnostic accordance rate in preoperative conventional ultrasound was 65.8%. Through UE diagnosis, 66 patients had benign lesions and 39 patients had malignant lesions. Compared with that in the pathological diagnosis results, the diagnostic accordance rate in preoperative UE was 87.5%. After the examination via UE combined with conventional ultrasound before operation, 71 patients were diagnosed with benign lesions and 40 patients were diagnosed with malignant lesions; compared with that in the pathological diagnosis results, the diagnostic accordance rate was 92.5%. In terms of mass qualitative diagnosis, the sensitivity and specificity of conventional ultrasound were 60.5 and 68.8%, respectively; those of UE were 90.7 and 85.7%, respectively, and those of UE combined with conventional ultrasound were 93.0 and 92.2%, respectively. According to the analysis results of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the area under curve (AUC) of malignant anus neoplasm diagnosed via UE was 0.732 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.211-2.534], the AUC via conventional ultrasound was 0.695 (95% CI, 0.517-0.932), and that via UE combined with conventional ultrasound was 0.823 (95% CI, 0.146-4.643). In conclusion, examinations utilizing UE combined with conventional ultrasound can increase the preoperative diagnostic accordance rate in malignant anus neoplasm, which can be used as an effective method for preoperative diagnosis of malignant anus neoplasm.

Evaluation of efficacy and safety for recombinant human adenovirus-p53 in the control of the malignant pleural effusions via thoracic perfusion

A certain number of studies have showed that p53 gene transfer has an anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. This study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of thoracic perfusion of recombinant human adenovirus p53 (rAd-p53, Gendicine) for controlling malignant pleural effusion (MPE). We searched for the relevant studies from the database of MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cochrance Library and CNKI to collect the trials concerning the efficacy and safety of rAd-p53 to treat MPE. Fourteen randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with 879 patients were involved in this analysis. The rAd-p53 combined with chemotherapeutic agents significantly improved the overall response rate (ORR) (P < 0.001; odds ratio = 3.73) and disease control rate (DCR) (P < 0.001; odds ratio = 2.32) of patients with MPE as well as the quality of life (QOL) of patients (P < 0.001; odds ratio = 4.27), compared with that of chemotherapeutic agents alone. In addition, the participation of rAd-p53 did not have an obvious impact on the most of incidence of adverse reactions (AEs) (P < 0.05) except the fever (P < 0.001). However, the fever was self-limited and could be tolerated well. The application of rAd-p53 through thoracic perfusion for treating MPE had a better efficacy and safety, which could be a potential choice for controlling MPE.

Effect of halofuginone on the inhibition of proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cell line

Primary liver cancer is a common cancer and the mortality of liver cancer ranks the second of all malignancy-related deaths in China. The most common primary liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma, accounting for approximately 90% of the total. Because liver is the largest parenchymatous organ in the body undertaking all kinds of important metabolic functions, liver cancer inevitably causes greater harms and its treatment is extremely difficult. Currently, there are still no effective drugs for the treatment of patients with advanced inoperable liver cancer. We observed the strong inhibitory activity of halofuginone on HepG2 cell growth and the cell cycle and apoptosis assays showed that halofuginone arrested the cell cycle and inhibited the induction. And we found that halofuginone inhibits tumor cell cycle possibly by up-regulating p15 and p21 of expression. Then, we found that the proportion of cleaved PARP, caspase-3, 8 and 9 in HepG2 cells increased after halofuginone treatment. And the results showed that halofuginone down-regulated Mcl-1 and c-IAP1 expression. Finally, our results showed halofuginone regulated the activities of JNK and MEK/ERK signaling pathways in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. In summary, this study shows that halofuginone can inhibit the in vitro growth, arrest the cell cycle and induce the apoptosis of HepG2 cells. Its mechanisms of action may be related to the regulation of associated protein expression, up-regulation of JNK, and inhibition of MEK/ERK signaling pathway.