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Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical features, treatment outcomes and prognostic factors of mucosal melanoma of the head and neck (MMHN) in patients who were treated at our institution.Materials and Methods: Between Jan. 1981 and Oct. 2015, 161 patients with non-metastatic MMHN were treated at our institution. The patients' clinical characteristics, treatment modalities, outcomes, prognostic factors, and failure patterns were retrospectively analysed.Results: With a median follow-up time of 74months, the 5-year overall survival rate (OS), local control rate (LC), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were 44.4%, 59.4%, and 49.3%, respectively. Regarding the different treatment modalities, the 5-year OS was 50.0% in the surgery group and 43.1% in the surgery combined with radiotherapy group, while, the 5-year LC rate was 42.5% in the surgery group and 75.3% in the surgery combined with radiotherapy (p<0.001). According to the AJCC 7th edition staging system for MMHN, the 5-year OS for patients with stage III, stage IVA, and stage IVB MMHN were 65.2%, 33.1% and 14.3%, respectively (p<0.001). In the multivariate analysis, the T stage, neck lymph node involvement, and surgical margins were independent prognostic factors for OS; surgical margins and adjuvant radiotherapy were independent prognostic factors for LC.Conclusion: The addition of radiotherapy improves the local control rate of MMHN. T stage, neck lymph node status, and surgical margins are independent prognostic factors for the OS in patients with MMHN. The AJCC 7th edition staging system for MMHN appears to effectively stage this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the effects of elective neck irradiation (ENI) in clinically node-negative (cN0) sinonasal adenoid cystic carcinoma (SNACC).Materials and Methods: Between January 2000 and December 2016, 60 patients with cN0 sinonasal adenoid cystic carcinoma receiving surgery combined with radiotherapy were analyzed retrospectively, there were 39 received ENI (ENI group) and 21 with no ENI (non-ENI group). Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to balance clinical factors and match patients. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model were used to evaluate the impact of ENI on regional relapse risk and survival outcomes.Results: The median follow-up time for our cohort was 82.0 months (12.4-190.7 months). Four patients (6.7%) developed neck nodal relapses, with a median time to progression of 38.8 months. Among them, two patients in ENI group but failed out-field. After PSM, 21 patients were matched in each group. The 7-year regional relapse-free survival (RRFS), distant metastasis free survival (DMFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) between ENI group and non-ENI group were 85.4% vs 73.3% (p = 0.845), 65.2% vs 65.6% (p = 0.548), 68.3% vs 66.2% (p = 0.425), and 87.3% vs 84.0% (p = 0.953). Multivariate Cox analysis showed ENI was not an independent prognostic factor associated with RRFS, DMFS, PFS and OS.Conclusion: Our findings firstly demonstrated the omission of elective neck irradiation in the management of cN0 sinonasal adenoid cystic carcinoma might be safe without compromising disease control and should be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the prognostic factors for early-stage glottic cancer (T1N0M0) treated with radiotherapy alone.Methods and Materials: Between 1958 and 1994, 238 patients (220 male) with T1N0M0 (UICC 1997) squamous cell carcinoma of the glottis were treated with 6- or 8 MV X-ray or 60Co radiation in parallel-opposed fields (median size: 22.5 cm2) over a median of 52 days to a median dose of 68 Gy. Locoregional control (LC) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank and Cox regression analyses were used to identify prognostic factors.Results: The median follow-up time was 127 months (range: 4–410 months). Five- and 10-year OS rates were 84.0% and 74.9%. The 5-year LC rate was 82.2%. Forty-four patients had recurrent disease (41 locally, 2 in cervical lymph nodes, 1 lost to follow-up); 23 had second malignancies. On multivariate analysis, unfavorable prognostic factors for OS were age >65 years (p < 0.001) and second malignancy (p < 0.001). Unfavorable prognostic factors for LC were bulky tumor (p = 0.023), anterior commissure involvement (p = 0.024), and decrease in hemoglobin during treatment (p = 0.025).Conclusions: Radiotherapy alone provides good control of early-stage glottic cancer. Bulky tumor, anterior commissure involvement, and decreasing hemoglobin are negative prognostic factors for LC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: This study is aimed to evaluate the long-term outcomes and management approaches in different histological subtypes of primary nasopharyngeal adenocarcinoma (NPAC).Materials and Methods: 71 patients with NPAC at our institution between 1984 and 2016 were reviewed, including adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) in 43 patients, mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) in 17 patients, and primary traditional adenocarcinoma (AC) in 11 patients. 37 patients received primary radiotherapy and 34 patients underwent primary surgery.Results: The median time of follow-up was 77 months. The 5-year overall survival rate (OS), locoregional failure-free survival rate (LRFFS) and distant metastasis failure-free survival rate (DFFS) were 69.9%, 67.1% and 77.9%, respectively. Patients who received combined modality therapy had better 5-year OS (73.7% vs 66.2%, p = 0.065) and LRFFS (73.1% vs 64.5%, p = 0.047) than patients receiving single modality therapy. Regarding the different histological subtypes, the survival rates of patients with ACC undergoing primary radiotherapy and primary surgery were similar (5-year OS 82.3% vs 68.8%, LRFFS 70.0% vs 70.8%, p＞0.05). As to patients with MEC and AC, those who underwent primary surgery achieved better 5-year OS (75.6% vs 45.5%, p = 0.001) and LRFFS (70.6%% vs 57.1%, p = 0.014) than those who received primary radiotherapy. Multivariate analyses indicated that histological subtypes and radiotherapy technique were independent factors for OS.Conclusions: The optimal treatment policy for NPAC remained the combination of radiotherapy and surgery. For patients with ACC, radiotherapy could be considered as the primary treatment. Surgery was suggested to be the primary treatment in patients with MEC and AC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the value of preoperative radiotherapy in the comprehensive treatment of locally advanced nasal cavity and paranasal sinus squamous cell carcinomas (LA-NPSCCs).Materials: This retrospective study included 140 patients with stage III-IVB NPSCCs treated with pre-/postoperative radiotherapy plus surgery. The complete resection rate, pathologic complete response (pCR) rate, and orbital content retention rate were calculated. The overall survival (OS), local control (LC), distance metastasis free survival (DMFS) and disease-free survival (DFS) between treatment groups were evaluated.Results: With a median follow-up of 92.3 months, the 5-year OS, LC, DMFS, and DFS of entire cohort were 62.0%, 65.5%, 85.4%, and 57.8%, respectively. The preoperative radiotherapy group achieved similar LC, DFS, DMFS, and OS rates compared to postoperative radiotherapy group, despite higher rates of stage IV and orbital content/apex invasion. The preoperative radiotherapy resulted in significantly improved complete resection rate (93.3% vs 38.0%, p < 0.001). In the preoperative radiotherapy group, one third of patients achieved pathologic complete response. The pCR subgroup achieved statistically higher 5-year OS, LC, DFS (p < 0.05), but similar 5-year DMFS (p > 0.05) compared to non-pCR subgroup. The actual orbital content retention rate in preoperative radiotherapy group was 85.7%, superior to 58.3% in postoperative radiotherapy group (p = 0.049).Conclusion: On the basis of multimodality therapy becoming standard paradigm for LA-NPSCCs, preoperative radiotherapy significantly improved complete resection rate and orbital content retention rate. Therefore, preoperative radiotherapy followed by surgery might be desirable for LA-NPSCCs, especially for those with organ preservation intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In order to investigate the activity of peptides in earthworm tissue and coelomic fluid, we established the peptide separation and purification method in our laboratory. Six antimicrobial peptides were isolated and purified from earthworm tissue liquid homogenate and coelomic fluid, which contained 5–50 amino acid (AA) residues with the same or similar sequence of Ala-Met-Val-Ser-Gly, and named the antibacterial vermipeptides family (AVPF) according to their structure and antibacterial characteristics. In this paper, we introduced a general protocol of AVPF peptide preparation methods from earthworms, including crude peptide preparation and purification by ultrafiltration, ion-exchange chromatography, gel-filtration and HPLC chromatography. The AVPF includes a wide antibacterial spectrum and speciality, performs antimicrobial activities not only to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria but also to fungi. Multi-functions of some peptides of AVPF have been reported. As an example, the resistance of EP3 and EP5 of AVPF to cancer cells, HeLa and MGC803 has been reported. EP5 caused apoptosis of HeLa cell. The threshold value of EP3 that causes apoptosis of HeLa cells was 0.75mg/mL with an apoptotic rate of 48.12%. MGC803 cells showed significant morphological changes when the cells were attached by EP3. Short peptides with 5–7 amino acid residues formed multimers in the PB buffer, a more likely explanation for the antibacterial mechanism of short peptides that causes MGC803 cells to break. The antiviral effect of antimicrobial peptides (EP5) on the pseudorabies virus (PRV) was analyzed using the cytopathic effect (CPE) inhibition test. Results showed that EP5 inhibited the CPE by PRV on BHK cells. The mechanism of antiviral activity of EP5 may be explained by inhibiting the duplication of viral DNA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]