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Background: Monosialotetrahexosylganglioside (GM1) is a neuroprotective glycosphingolipid that repairs nerves. Oxaliplatin‐based chemotherapy is neurotoxic. This study assessed the efficacy of GM1 for preventing oxaliplatin‐induced peripheral neurotoxicity (OIPN) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients receiving oxaliplatin‐based chemotherapy. Methods: In total, 196 patients with stage II/III CRC undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy with mFOLFOX6 were randomly assigned to intravenous GM1 or a placebo. The primary endpoint was the rate of grade 2 or worse cumulative neurotoxicity (NCI‐CTCAE). The secondary endpoints were chronic cumulative neurotoxicity (EORTCQLQ‐CIPN20), time to grade 2 neurotoxicity (NCI‐CTCAE or the oxaliplatin‐specific neuropathy scale), acute neurotoxicity (analog scale), rates of dose reduction or withdrawal due to OIPN, 3‐year disease‐free survival (DFS) and adverse events. Results: There were no significant differences between the arms in the rate of NCI‐CTCAE grade 2 or worse neurotoxicity (GM1: 33.7% vs placebo: 31.6%; P =.76) or neuropathy measured by the EORTCQLQ‐CIPN20 or time to grade 2 neurotoxicity using NCI‐CTCAE and the oxaliplatin‐specific neuropathy scale. GM1 substantially decreased participant‐reported acute neurotoxicity (sensitivity to cold items [P <.01], discomfort swallowing cold liquids [P <.01], throat discomfort [P <.01], muscle cramps [P <.01]). The rates of dose reduction or withdrawal were not significantly different between the arms (P =.08). The 3‐year DFS rates were 85% and 83% in the GM1 and placebo arms, respectively (P =.19). There were no differences in toxicity between the arms. Conclusion: Patients receiving GM1 were less troubled by the symptoms of acute neuropathy. However, we do not support the use of GM1 to prevent cumulative neurotoxicity. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02251977). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Although numerous prognostic factors have been reported for colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM), few studies have reported intraoperative blood loss (IBL) effects on clinical outcome after CRLM resection. Methods:We retrospectively evaluated the clinical and histopathological characteristics of 139 patients who underwent liver resection for CRLM. The IBL cutoff volume was calculated using receiver operating characteristic curves. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence free survival (RFS) were assessed using the Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression methods. Results:All patients underwent curative resection. The median follow up period was 25.0 months (range, 2.1–88.8). Body mass index (BMI) and CRLM number and tumor size were associated with increased IBL. BMI (P=0.01; 95% CI = 1.3–8.5) and IBL (P<0.01; 95% CI = 1.6–12.5) were independent OSOs predictors. Five factors, including IBL (P=0.02; 95% CI = 1.1–4.1), were significantly related to RFS via multivariate Cox regression analysis. In addition, OSOs and RFS significantly decreased with increasing IBL volumes. The 5-year OSOs of patients with IBL≤250, 250–500, and >500mL were 71%, 33%, and 0%, respectively (P<0.01). RFS of patients within three IBL volumes at the end of the first year were 67%, 38%, and 18%, respectively (P<0.01). Conclusions:IBL during CRLM resection is an independent predictor of long term survival and tumor recurrence, and its prognostic value was confirmed by a dose–response relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a significant risk factor for lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer (GC) and is closely related to the prognosis and recurrence of GC. This study aimed to establish clinical models, radiomics models and combination models for the diagnosis of GC vascular invasion., Methods: This study enrolled 146 patients with GC proved by pathology and who underwent radical resection of GC. The patients were assigned to the training and validation cohorts. A total of 1,702 radiomic features were extracted from contrast-enhanced computed tomography images of GC. Logistic regression analyses were performed to establish a clinical model, a radiomics model and a combined model. The performance of the predictive models was measured by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve., Results: In the training cohort, the age of LVI negative (-) patients and LVI positive (+) patients were 62.41 ± 8.41 and 63.76 ± 10.08 years, respectively, and there were more male ( n = 63) than female ( n = 19) patients in the LVI (+) group. Diameter and differentiation were the independent risk factors for determining LVI (-) and (+). A combined model was found to be relatively highly discriminative based on the area under the ROC curve for both the training (0.853, 95% CI: 0.784-0.920, sensitivity: 0.650 and specificity: 0.907) and the validation cohorts (0.742, 95% CI: 0.559-0.925, sensitivity: 0.736 and specificity: 0.700)., Conclusions: The combined model had the highest diagnostic effectiveness, and the nomogram established by this model had good performance. It can provide a reliable prediction method for individual treatment of LVI in GC before surgery., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhen, Wei, Song, Liu, Li, Kong, Wei, Fan and Liang.)

Background: We aimed to compare combined intraoperative chemotherapy and surgical resection with curative surgical resection alone in colorectal cancer patients., Methods: We performed a multicenter, open-label, randomized, phase III trial. All eligible patients were randomized and assigned to intraoperative chemotherapy and curative surgical resection or curative surgical resection alone (1:1). Survival actualization after long-term follow-up was performed in patients analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis., Results: From January 2011 to January 2016, 696 colorectal cancer patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to intraoperative chemotherapy and radical surgical resection (n=341) or curative surgical resection alone (n=344). Intraoperative chemotherapy with surgical resection showed no significant survival benefit over surgical resection alone in colorectal cancer patients (3-year DFS: 91.1% vs. 90.0%, P=0.328; 3-year OS: 94.4% vs. 95.9%, P=0.756). However, colon cancer patients benefitted from intraoperative chemotherapy, with a relative 4% reduction in liver and peritoneal metastasis (HR=0.336, 95% CI: 0.148-0.759, P=0.015) and a 6.5% improvement in 3-year DFS (HR=0.579, 95% CI: 0.353-0.949, P=0.032). Meanwhile, patients with colon cancer and abnormal pretreatment CEA levels achieved significant survival benefits from intraoperative chemotherapy (DFS: HR=0.464, 95% CI: 0.233-0.921, P=0.029 and OS: (HR=0.476, 95% CI: 0.223-1.017, P=0.049)., Conclusions: Intraoperative chemotherapy showed no significant extra prognostic benefit in total colorectal cancer patients who underwent radical surgical resection; however, in colon cancer patients with abnormal pretreatment serum CEA levels (> 5 ng/ml), intraoperative chemotherapy could improve long-term survival., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Schistosomiasis is one of the world's major public health problems. Besides praziquantel (PZQ), there is currently no other effective treatment against schistosomiasis. The development of new antischistosomal agents to curb the emergence of PZQ resistance should be a high priority. Oxadiazole-2-oxides have been identified as potential antischistosomal reagents, with thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) being one of their molecular targets., Methods: To develop novel treatment reagents against Schistosoma japonicum, 30 novel oxadiazole-2-oxides were synthesised and their antischistosomal activities on juvenile and adult S. japonicum were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Their inhibitory activities against S. japonicum thioredoxin glutathione reductase (SjTGR) were also analysed., Results: Most of the oxadiazole-2-oxides showed good juvenile and adult S. japonica killing activities in vitro. However, the antischistosomal effects of these compounds were not positively correlated with either their inhibition of SjTGR, or with nitric oxide (NO) release. Compounds 4a, 4b, 7c, 13, 16 and 20 resulted in 87.7%, 83.1%, 87.1%, 84.6%, 90.8% and 69.5%, respectively, mortality in the adult worms, when used to treat infected mice at schistosomula stage. These mortality rates were similar to or higher than that of artemisinin. Furthermore, compounds 4a and 16 resulted in 66.7% and 69.4% reductions in the worm burdens, respectively, when infected mice were treated at the adult worm stage. These treatment effects were similar to PZQ. No differences in activity of the oxadiazole-2-oxides against female and male adult worms were observed. The toxicity of the oxadiazole-2-oxides on mammalian cells appeared to be similar to, or less than, that of PZQ., Conclusions: The antischistosomal activity of the oxadiazole-2-oxides does not depend on NO production or the inhibition of SjTGR activity. There may be other functional targets of the oxadiazole-2-oxides in S. japonicum. Several of the novel oxadiazole-2-oxides synthesised in this study could be used to develop novel antischistosomal drugs and explore potential molecular targets.

Introduction: Multimodality therapy, including preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and total mesorectal excision (TME), has effectively reduced local recurrence rates of rectal cancer over the past decade. However, the benefits and risks of the addition of neoadjuvant CRT to surgery need to be evaluated. This study was to compare the efficacy of TME with versus without preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) involving XELOX regimen (oxaliplatin plus capecitabine) in Chinese patients with stages II and III mid/low rectal adenocarcinoma., Methods: We randomly assigned patients to the TME group (TME without preoperative CCRT) or CCRT + TME group (TME with preoperative CCRT). The primary endpoint was disease-free survival (DFS); the secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), local and distant recurrence, tumor response to CRT, toxicity, sphincter preservation, and surgical complications. An interim analysis of the potential inferiority of DFS in the CCRT + TME group was planned when the first 180 patients had been followed up for at least 6 months., Results: A total of 94 patients in the TME group and 90 patients in the CCRT + TME group were able to be evaluated. The 3-year DFS and OS rates were 86.3 % and 91.5 % in the whole cohort, respectively. The 3-year DFS rates of the TME and CCRT + TME groups were 85.7% and 87.9 % (P = 0.766), respectively, and the 3-year OS rates were 90.7 % and 92.3 % (P = 0.855), respectively. The functional sphincter preservation rates of the TME and CCRT + TME groups were 71.3 % and 70.0 % (P = 0.849), respectively. In the TME group, 16 (17.0 %) patients were proven to have pTNM stage I disease after surgery. In the CCRT + TME group, 32 (35.6 %) patients achieved a pathologic complete response (pCR)., Conclusions: Preliminary results indicated no significant differences in the DFS, OS, or functional sphincter preservation rates between the TME and CCRT + TME groups. However, preoperative CCRT with XELOX yielded a high pCR rate. Newer techniques are needed to improve the staging accuracy, and further investigation is warranted., Clinical Trial Registration Number: Chi CTR-TRC-08000122.

A series of 1H-2,3-dihydroperimidine derivatives was designed, synthesized, and evaluated as a new class of inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) with IC50 values in the micromolar range. Compounds 46 and 49 showed submicromolar inhibitory activity against PTP1B, and good selectivity (3.48-fold and 2.10-fold respectively) over T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatases (TCPTP). These results have provided novel lead compounds for the design of inhibitors of PTP1B as well as other PTPs.

The synthesis and structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies of praziquantel derivatives with activity against adult Schistosoma japonicum are described. Several of them showed better worm killing activity than praziquantel and could serve as leads for further optimization.

Objective: We quantified endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) engraftment into the endothelial layer as an index of progenitor-mediated endothelial repair. Studies were conducted in C57BL/6J and in apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE(-/-)) mice. We also investigated the possibility that high-density lipoproteins (HDL) may promote progenitor-mediated endothelial repair., Methods and Results: Thoracic aortic sections from C57BL/6J and apoE(-/-) mice were analyzed for evidence of progenitor-derived endothelium as determined by the number of stem cell antigen-1-positive (Sca-1+) cells in the endothelial layer. EPCs (Sca-1+ cells) were significantly increased after endothelial damage induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration in C57BL/6J mice. The number of EPCs was greater in the aortic endothelium of untreated apoE(-/-) than in untreated C57BL/6J mice and was similar to the number observed in LPS-treated C57BL/6J mice. The number of EPCs in the aortic endothelium of apoE(-/-) mice more than doubled after intravenous infusion of reconstituted HDL., Conclusions: EPCs are recruited into the aortic endothelial layer of mice in response to an inflammatory insult. EPCs are also increased in the aortic endothelium of untreated apoE(-/-) mice. The observation that number is further increased in apoE(-/-) mice after injection of HDL suggests a role for HDL in promoting progenitor-mediated endothelial repair.

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is abundantly expressed in the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) of atherosclerotic lesions but not in normal vessels. CTGF is able to promote VSMC proliferation and migration and influences the composition of extracellular matrix. The mechanisms for controlling these events remain unclear. We studied the effects of CTGF on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) by introducing a CTGF over-expression construct into VSMC. We found that the over-expression of CTGF significantly increased the activity of MMP-2 in VSMC conditioned medium. MMP-2 activity was similarly increased by exogenous CTGF treatment, and this effect could be blocked by an anti-CTGF antibody. We also showed that the increased MMP-2 activity was due to an increase in MMP-2 mRNA levels in VSMC. We further studied the mechanisms involved in the regulation of MMP-2 mRNA levels and found that the AP-2 transcription factor is responsible for most of the CTGF-induced MMP-2 transcription. Because MMP-2 is an important factor directly involved in controlling cell movement and the turnover of extracellular matrix, our study may provide a mechanism for CTGF-promoted VSMC migration.