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Objective. Recurrence of endometrial cancer after initial treatment can be complex and difficult to treat. The current main treatment modalities for patients with recurrent endometrial cancer (REC) include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, which vary according to the individual patient. However, REC is often associated with a poor prognosis, and it is therefore important to investigate the risk factors affecting REC prognosis and to explore appropriate treatment modalities to improve the prognosis and treatment strategies for patients with REC. Methods. Totally, 100 patients with REC admitted to our hospital from January 2013 to January 2018 were chosen to be research objects. Their pathological data were analyzed, including age, disease-free interval (DFI), recurrence site, and treatment plan after relapse (definitive local therapy (DLT) and palliative chemotherapy (PC)). According to these parameters, univariate and multivariate factors affecting the prognosis of REC patients and the curative effect of PC were analyzed, and the 3-year overall survival (OS) curve and progression-free survival (PFS) curve were drawn. Results. After 3 years of follow-up, 30 patients had a poor prognosis and 70 had a good prognosis, according to which a single multifactorial analysis was performed for different prognoses, where the results of the single-factor analysis showed significant differences between patients with different prognoses in terms of pathomorphology, pathological grading, TFI, and treatment modality after relapse. Further multifactorial analysis showed that TFI and treatment modality after recurrence were independent factors affecting poor prognosis in REC patients. The 3-year OS and 3-year PFS of REC patients were 74.00% and 70.00%, respectively. Patients whose DFI was less than 12 months or treated with PC after relapse were notably associated with lower levels of 3-year OS and 3-year PFS. In addition, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, DFI, and chemotherapy plan after primary surgery were independent risk factors that affected the PC efficacy of REC patients. Conclusion. DFI and treatment mode after relapse are independent factors affecting the prognosis of REC patients. DLT can obviously improve the prognosis of REC patients. For patients who can only choose PC, chemoradiotherapy and DFI after primary surgery are helpful to predict the chemotherapy effect, and the combination of paclitaxel and platinum drugs should be the first choice for chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have become a promising therapeutic approach against skin aging. Recent studies confirm that exosomes partially mediate the therapeutic effect of stem cells. This study successfully isolated exosomes from the ADSC culture medium and discovered that ADSC-derived exosomes (ADSC-Exos) could alleviate human dermal fibroblast (HDF) senescence and stimulate HDF migration. Moreover, ADSC-Exos increased the type I collagen expression level and reduced the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) activity in HDFs. In addition, we demonstrated that ADSC-Exos significantly inhibited senescence-related protein expression levels of p53, p21, and p16. In conclusion, our results have revealed the antisenescence effects of ADSC-Exos on HDFs and ADSC-Exos may be a novel cell-free therapeutic tool for antiaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GINS2 is overexpressed in several cancers, but little is known about its role in osteosarcoma (OS). A series of in vivo and in vitro experiments were conducted to explore the role of GINS2 in OS. In this study, we demonstrated that GINS2 was found to be highly expressed in OS tissues and cell lines, which was associated with poor outcomes in OS patients. GINS2 knockdown hindered the growth and induced apoptosis in OS cell lines in vitro. Furthermore, GINS2 knockdown effectively inhibited the growth of a xenograft tumor in vivo. By using an Affymetrix gene chip and intelligent pathway analysis, it was demonstrated that the GINS2 knockdown could reduce the expression of several targeted genes and reduce the activity of the MYC signaling pathway. Mechanically, LC-MS, CoIP, and rescue experiments revealed that GINS2 promoted tumor progression through the STAT3/MYC axis in the OS. Moreover, GINS2 was associated with tumor immunity and may be a potential immunotherapeutic target for OS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in the progression of laryngeal cancer (LC). In this study, we aimed to investigate whether miR-149 is associated with the prognosis of patients with LC. A total of 97 laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients who underwent tumor resection were included in our follow-up study. In vitro studies was performed in cancer cell line Hep-2 to explore the antitumor role of miR-149 in LC. We found that the expression of miR-149 was significantly lower in tumor tissues, compared with vocal cord polyp tissues (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that miR-149 expression status is significantly associated with survival duration (log rank test, P<0.05), and multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that patients with low miR-149 expression had shorter survival times compared with patients with high miR-149 expression. In vitro studies revealed that the exogenous expression of miRNA-149 inhibits the proliferation of human Hep-2 cells and induces cell apoptosis. Our study suggests that miR-149 expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma tissues is critically associated with the prognosis of patients, and the ectopic expression of miR-149 in Hep-2 cells inhibits proliferation and cell cycle progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the role of transcutaneous neuromodulation (TN) on the regulation of gastrointestinal hormones and bile acids in patients with functional constipation (FC). Twenty FC patients were treated with TN for four weeks. The effects of TN on symptoms were evaluated by questionnaires. Plasma levels of serotonin (5-HT), motilin, somatostatin, and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) were measured by ELISA and 12 individual bile acids assayed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Results were as follows. (1) TN treatment increased the frequency of spontaneous bowel movement, improved the Bristol Stool Score, and reduced Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptom score and Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life score. (2) FC patients showed decreased plasma levels of 5-HT, motilin, and VIP and an increased plasma level of somatostatin (P<0.05). Four-week TN treatment increased plasma levels of 5-HT and motilin and decreased the plasma level of somatostatin in the FC patients (P<0.05). (3) Taurocholic deoxycholate, taurocholic acid, and taurocholic lithocholic acid were increased in the FC patients (P<0.005) but reduced by TN treatment (P<0.05). This study has suggested that the therapy may improve the symptoms of FC by alleviating the disorders of gastrointestinal hormones and bile acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. This meta-analysis investigated the association between functional COX-2 gene polymorphisms and the risk of oral cancer. Methods. Several electronic databases were searched for published studies using combinations of keywords related to COX-2 gene polymorphisms and oral cancer. After selection of relevant studies, following strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, data was performed using STATA 12.0 software. Results. We retrieved 83 studies from database search using specific search terms. After multiple rounds of selection and elimination, 7 studies were finally identified as suitable to be included in our present meta-analysis, based on their relevance and data integrity. These 7 studies contained a combined total of 2,296 oral cancer patients and 3,647 healthy controls. Our findings demonstrated that +837 T > C (rs5275) polymorphism in COX-2 showed statistically significant differences in gene frequencies in case and control groups in allele model and dominant model. Similar results were obtained with COX-2 gene polymorphism 765 G > C (rs20417). On the other hand, 1195 A > G (rs689466) polymorphism in COX-2 did not confer susceptibility to oral cancers. Conclusion. Based on our results, COX-2 gene polymorphisms, +837 T > C (rs5275) and −765G > C (rs20417), showed clear links with oral cancer susceptibility, and the 1195A > G (rs689466) polymorphism did not show such a correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]