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ObjectiveThe intent of this study was to investigate the relationship between oxidative stress and treatment response in gastric cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.MethodsBlood samples from 108 patients and 108 healthy subjects were collected, and all patients were enrolled in SOX chemotherapy. The patients received four cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Blood samples were collected to determine oxidative stress levels at baseline prior to beginning chemotherapy, and at the end of cycles 2 and 4. The patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy were followed up for several months to years. A survival curve was created according to the follow-up information from the patients. In addition, the correlation between oxidative stress level and treatment effect was evaluated and ROC curves were plotted according to the final collected data.ResultsCompared with the normal group, the levels of the antioxidant index decreased while the peroxide index increased in the patients. Conversely, when patients were compared before and after chemotherapy, the antioxidant index increased but the peroxide index decreased. Furthermore, the antioxidant index increased in the response group while the peroxide index decreased in the non-response group.ConclusionPatients with an increased antioxidant index after chemotherapy have good treatment responsiveness. These indicators can also be used as predictors to judge the patients’ response to chemotherapy.

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third leading cause of tumor related mortality worldwide. Peritoneal metastasis (PM) occurs in more than half of advanced GC patients, leading to poor prognosis. Therefore, the GSE62254 cohort was used to construct a signature consisting of four RNA-binding proteins (RBP) to predict the possibility of PM in GC patients. Then, ROC curves were plotted followed by calculation of AUCs, showing that the signature had a similar predictive accuracy compared with the TNM staging system. Importantly, the capability of prediction was enhanced by combining the classifier and TNM staging. In order to validate the expression of the four RBPs in GC tissues with and without PM, immunohistochemistry was further performed on samples from 108 patients. The differential expression of COL14A1, TNS1, NUSAP1 and YWHAE was in accordance with the emergence of PM. Afterwards, we produced Kaplan–Meier curves according to the signature and differential expression of the RBPs in patients. Finally, CCK-8 assays were performed to verify the effect on cell proliferation, finding that COL14A1 and TNS1 promoted cell proliferation, while NUSAP1 and YWHAE led to suppressed cell proliferation. In conclusion, the four-RBP-based signature, combined with TNM staging, has the potential to predict risk of PM in GC.

A vast majority of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with microsatellite stability (MSS) or proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) are refractory to immunotherapeutic strategies. The current research focusses on the combined treatment strategies for identification and optimization in order to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy among patients with microsatellite stability (MSS), who account for the majority of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) cases. mCRC patients harboring MSS and the BRAFV600E mutation show a worse prognosis and barely benefit from immunotherapy. In this report, we discuss the case of a mCRC patient with MSS and BRAFV600E mutation, who exhibited significant response to the combined treatment with nivolumab and bevacizumab, and has been exhibiting a progression-free survival (PFS) of more than 17 months. Our findings indicate that combined anti-angiogenic therapy can improve the efficacy of immunotherapy, which results in the prolong survival of the patient. This is a case report on MSS and BRAFV600E colorectal cancer which presents with a response to immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic therapy.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence is rising in the young, yet the age of those affected is not clearly defined. In this study, we identify such cohorts and define clinicopathological features of early-onset colon and rectal cancers.Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER) database was queried to compare clinicopathological characteristics of colon and rectal cancers diagnosed during 1973–1995 with those diagnosed during 1995–2014.Results: We identified 430,886 patients with colon and rectal cancers. From 1973–1995 to 1995–2014, colon cancer incidence increased in patients aged 20–44 years, while rectal cancer incidence increased in patients aged ≤54 years. The percent change of cancer incidence was greatest for rectal cancer with a 41.5% (95% confidence interval (CI): 37.4–45.8%) increase compared to a 9.8% (CI: 6.2–13.6%) increase in colon cancer. Colon cancer has increased in tumors located in ascending, sigmoid, and rectosigmoid locations. Adenocarcinoma histology has increased in both colon and rectal cancers (P < 0.01), but mucinous and signet ring cell subtypes have not increased (P = 0.13 and 0.08, respectively). Incidence increases were race-specific, with rectal cancer seeing similar rises in white (38.4%, CI: 33.8–43.1%) and black populations (38.0%, CI: 26.2–51.2%), while colon cancer as a whole saw a rise in white (11.5%, CI: 7.2–15.9%) but not black populations (−6.8%, CI: −14.6–1.9%).Conclusions: Our study underscores the existence of key differences between early-onset colon (20–44 years) and rectal cancers (≤54 years) and provides evidence-based inclusion criteria for future investigations. We recommend that future research of CRC in the young should avoid investigating these cases as a single entity.