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Background: According to previous studies, low serum total cholesterol (TC) is associated with higher cancer incidence and mortality. However, the prognostic implications of preoperative TC in patients with gastric cancer (GC) remain to be determined., Methods: A total of 1251 patients with GC, who underwent radical gastrectomy between 2005 and 2008, were recruited. Propensity score weighting (PSW) based on a generalized boosted method (GBM) was used to control for selection bias., Results: After balancing the preoperative and operative covariates, low TC was associated with high incidence of complications (severe complication rate: 15.2% (Low TC) vs. 4.7% (Normal TC) vs 5.5% (High TC); p = 0.004). In multivariable analysis, lowering TC was associated with poor OS and RFS in weighted population. [OS: hazard ratio (HR) = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.867-0.980; P = 0.009 and RFS: HR = 0.93; 95% CI = 0.873-0.988; P = 0.02]., Conclusions: Preoperative TC is a useful predictor of postoperative survival and postoperative complications in patients with stage I-III GC and may help to identify high-risk patients for rational therapy, including nutritional support, and timely follow-up., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.)

The proteasome inhibitor (PI), bortezomib (Btz), is effective in treating multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma, but not solid tumors. In this study, we show for the first time that lercanidipine (Ler), an antihypertensive drug, enhances the cytotoxicity of various PIs, including Btz, carfilzomib, and ixazomib, in many solid tumor cell lines by inducing paraptosis, which is accompanied by severe vacuolation derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria. We found that Ler potentiates Btz-mediated ER stress and ER dilation, possibly due to misfolded protein accumulation, in MDA-MB 435S cells. In addition, the combination of Btz and Ler triggers mitochondrial Ca 2+ overload, critically contributing to mitochondrial dilation and subsequent paraptotic events, including mitochondrial membrane potential loss and ER dilation. Taken together, our results suggest that a combined regimen of PI and Ler may effectively kill cancer cells via structural and functional perturbations of the ER and mitochondria.

Cellular and physiological responses to the degradation products of titanium implants are key indicators to determine the quality of biocompatibility of implant devices. The present study investigated titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle-induced cytotoxicity, apoptotic morphological modification, and apoptotic-related gene expressions in the human cervical carcinoma cells. TiO2 nanoparticle-induced cytotoxicity on cancer cells was determined by the sulphorhodamine-B assay. Apoptotic morphological modification such as nuclear fragmentation, rounding, cytoplasm shrinkage, loss of adhesion, and reduced cell volume were observed by an inverted, fluorescence, and confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). The DNA fragmentation study showed the occurrence of necrosis and apoptosis in nanoparticle-treated cells. The qPCR study showed the increased p53 and bax mRNA expression in the nanoparticle-treated cells compared to control. In addition, caspase 3 activity was increased in nanoparticle-treated cells, which indicates the increased auto-catalysis. Taking all these data together, it may suggest that TiO2 nanoparticle could inhibit the growth of HeLa cells.