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OBJECTIVES To evaluate the surrounding tissue stiffness measured by sound touch elastography for differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules (TNs). METHODS Thirty-nine benign and 90 malignant TNs were included in this study. The conventional ultrasound features, the maximum Young modulus value of the stiffness of the TNs (recorded as E), and the stiffness of the 0.5-, 1.0-, 1.5-, and 2.0-mm perinodular regions of the TNs (recorded as Eshell0.5 , Eshell1.0 , Eshell1.5 , and Eshell2.0 , respectively) were prospectively analyzed and compared to histopathologic results. The abundance of collagen fibers at various widths in the perinodular regions of the TNs was evaluated by Masson staining and ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD). The fibrous structures in the perinodular regions of the TNs were classified. RESULTS The various Eshell values of malignant TNs were significantly higher than those of benign TNs (P

Choriocarcinoma is a highly malignant gynaecological tumour. This disease becomes life-threatening once brain haemorrhage or brain herniation occurs. Timely and accurate brain surgery can gain treatment time for patients that have a large number of cerebral haemorrhages and/or brain herniation. This current report describes a case of choriocarcinoma secondary to a hydatidiform mole in a 55-year-old woman that presented with neurological symptoms. Following admission to hospital, computed tomography examination found that lung and brain metastases were accompanied by cerebral haemorrhage. Cerebral hernia occurred during induction chemotherapy treatment and emergency surgery was performed. The patient recovered after individual chemotherapy and rehabilitation treatment. Patients with a very high risk of choriocarcinoma with brain metastasis should be referred to a comprehensive medical centre. Necessary surgical treatment and individualized chemotherapy can reduce the mortality of patients with choriocarcinoma brain metastasis.

// Wen-Bin Liu 1, 2 , Wei-Dong Jia 1, 2 , Jin-Liang Ma 1, 2 , Ge-Liang Xu 1, 2 , Hang-Cheng Zhou 3 , Yan Peng 3 and Wei Wang 4 1 Department of Hepatic Surgery, Anhui Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, P.R. China 2 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hefei 230001, P.R. China 3 Department of Pathology, Anhui Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, P.R. China 4 Department of Medical Oncology, Anhui Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, P.R. China Correspondence to: Wei Wang, email: whouwei@gmail.com Keywords: GTPBP4, hepatocellular carcinoma, oncogene, prognosis, therapeutic target Received: July 02, 2017 Accepted: September 08, 2017 Published: October 05, 2017 ABSTRACT GTP-binding protein 4 (GTPBP4), as a novel member of GTPases involved in the synthesis of 60S subunit and maturation, is closely related to cell proliferation and growth. Till now, a small number of existing studies have found a contradictory dual role of GTPBP4 in cancer. Whether the expression level of GTPBP4 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with the patients’ prognosis or its function and underlying molecular mechanisms still remains unclear. In the present study, the above issues were explored for the first time. Our results showed that GTPBP4 was overexpressed in HCC and knockdown of GTPBP4 delayed cell proliferation, impaired colony formation ability, induced cell cycle arrest in G2/M period and promoted apoptosis in HCC cell lines. Besides, in vivo xenograft nude mice model revealed that GTPBP4 knockdown could significantly suppress HCC tumorigenesis. Gene microarray and further pathway enrichment analyses indicated that ERBB signaling pathway was the most significantly changed one. More importantly, high GTPBP4 expression level significantly correlated to the poor prognosis of HCC patients. Taken together, all these findings suggest that GTPBP4 serves as an oncogene and plays a pivotal role in HCC development, which will be a potential therapeutic target or a biomarker for HCC.

Introduction. Gene signature has been used to predict prognosis in melanoma patients. Meanwhile, the efficacy of immunotherapy was correlated with particular genes expression or mutation. In this study, we systematically explored the gene expression pattern in the melanoma-immune microenvironment and its relationship with prognosis. Methods. A cohort of 122 melanoma cases with whole-genome microarray expression data were enrolled from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The findings were validated using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. A principal component analysis (PCA), gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), and gene oncology (GO) analysis were performed to explore the bioinformatic implications. Results. Different gene expression patterns were identified according to the clinical stage. All eligible gene sets were analyzed, and the 8 genes (GPR87, KIT, SH3GL3, PVRL1, ATP1B1, CDAN1, FAU, and TNFSF14) with the greatest prognostic impact on melanoma. A gene-related risk signature was developed to distinguish patients with a high or low risk of an unfavorable outcome, and this signature was validated using the TCGA database. Furthermore, the prognostic significance of the signature between the classified subgroups was verified as an independent prognostic predictor of melanoma. Additionally, the low-risk melanoma patients presented an enhanced immune phenotype compared to that of the high-risk gene signature patients. Conclusions. The gene pattern differences in melanoma were profiled, and a gene signature that could independently predict melanoma patients with a high risk of poor survival was established, highlighting the relationship between prognosis and the local immune response.

Gastrinoma is most commonly located in the gastrinoma triangle (comprising of the duodenum, pancreas and bile ducts) or in the adjacent lymph nodes. Due to the low mortality rate, it is often misdiagnosed as other diseases with similar clinical characteristics, such as a solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas (SPTP). Therefore, the current study reports a rare case of gastrinoma located in the tail of the pancreas of a female patient under medical examination, who exhibited no clinical symptoms. The tumor, which was located in the body and tail of the pancreas, was successfully resected and the spleen was preserved. The outcome of surgery combined with the postoperative pathological examination resulted in the patient being misdiagnosed with a SPTP. During the consequent six-year follow-up period, low-density liver lesions and an intractable peptic ulcer gradually appeared. Finally, the patient diagnosis was confirmed as a malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with liver metastases. On June 1, 2011, a liver transplant was successfully performed and the patient has maintained a good overall condition. The underlying clinical and pathological factors that may have resulted in misdiagnosis are investigated in the present study. Through providing our preliminary clinical experiences and lessons, the aim of the present study was to focus the attention of clinicians on this type of cancer in order to improve its diagnosis and treatment.

Wei Jia,1 Wei Wang,1 Chu-shu Ji,1 Jun-yang Niu,2 Ya-jing Lv,1 Hang-cheng Zhou,2 Bing Hu1 1Department of Medical Oncology, 2Department of Pathology, Anhui Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic ofChina Background: Both periostin (PN) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can predict the prognosis of several carcinomas alone. However, coexpression of PN and EGFR in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) still remains unknown. We aimed to clarify their relationship with clinicopathological factors and prognostic significance of their coexpression in ESCC. Patients and methods: In this single-center retrospective study, immunohistochemistry was performed to evaluate the expression of PN and EGFR in ESCC and paracarcinomatous tissues of 83 patients. The quantitative expression levels of PN and EGFR were examined in two ESCC and tumor-adjacent tissues. The levels of PN and EGFR expression were correlated with clinicopathological parameters by the χ2 or Kruskal–Wallis method. Spearman’s rank correlation test was performed to determine the relationship between PN and EGFR expression levels. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to detect the prognostic factors of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: The high expression of PN protein in ESCC tissues was significantly associated with tumor length (P=0.044), differentiation grade (P=0.003), venous invasion (P=0.010), invasion depth (P=0.007), lymphatic metastasis (P=0.000), and tumor stage (P=0.000). The high expression of EGFR protein in ESCC tissues was only significantly related to lymphatic metastasis (P=0.000), invasion depth (P=0.022), and tumor stage (P=0.000). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that high expression of PN was closely correlated to reduced OS (P=0.000) and DFS (P=0.000), which was consistent with EGFR expression. Cox regression analysis identified PN and EGFR as independent poor prognostic factors of OS and DFS in the ESCC patients (P

Due to early onset of local invasion and distant metastasis, pancreatic cancer is the most lethal human malignant tumor, with a 5 year survival rate of less than 5%. As a effective chemotherapy drug for pancreatic cancer patients, gemcitabine is reported to inhibit cell proliferation as a nucleotide analog. In this study, we investigated the role of gemcitabine in immune regulation of pancreatic cancer. Our data showed that the level of soluble ULBP2 (sULBP2), a ligand of NKG2D receptor, decreased in the supernatants of pancreatic cancer cell lines when gemcitabine was added, and sULBP2 level correlated with NK92 cells cytotoxicity to pancreatic cancer cell lines. Importantly, our data showed that gemcitabine promoted PANC-1 cells and MIA PaCa-2 immune evasion by reducing ADAM10 expression, a metalloproteinase involved in sULBP2 shedding from cell membrane. Knockdown of ADAM10 clearly downregulated sULBP2 levels in the culture supernatants and cells became more susceptible to NK92 cytotoxicity. Serum samples and tumor samples were obtained from 45 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between the serum level of sULBP2 with ADAM10 expression in PDAC tissues. In conclusion, our data demostrated that gemcitabine inhibits ULBP2 ectodomain shedding through the suppression of ADAM10 and enhance NK cells cytotoxicity by NKG2D-ULBP2 interaction. The results extends our understanding of gemcitabine in the treatment of pancreatic cancer from cell proliferation inhibition to immune regulation.

Periostin (PN), originally named as osteoblast-specific factor-2 (OSF-2), has been involved in regulating adhesion and differentiation of osteoblasts. Recently many studies have shown that high-level expression of PN is correlated significantly with tumour angiogenesis and prognosis in many kinds of human cancer. However, whether and how periostin expression influences prognosis in osteosarcoma remains unknown. This study aimed to examine the expression of PN in patients with osteosarcoma and explore the relationship of PN expression with clinicopathologic factors, tumour angiogenesis and prognosis. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine the expression of PN in osteosarcoma and osteochondroma respectively. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and CD34 were also examined in tissues from the osteosarcoma patients mentioned above. The results showed that PN expression was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in osteosarcoma (80.9%) than in osteochondroma (14.7%). Increased PN protein expression was associated with histological subtype (P = 0.000), Enneking stage (P = 0.027) and tumour size (P = 0.009). The result also showed that high expression of PN correlated with VEGF expression (r = 0.285; P = 0.019) and that tumours with PN-positive expression significantly had higher microvessal density (44.6 ± 13.7 vs. 20.6 ± 6.5; P = 0.000) compared to those in normal bone tissues. Additionally, the expression of PN was found to be an independent prognostic factor in osteosarcoma patients. In conclusion, our findings suggest that PN may have an important role in tumour progression and may be used as a prognostic biomarker for patients with osteosarcoma.

To summarize EUS-FNA test performance in suspected pancreatic malignancy with meta-analysis.Two reviewers searched MEDLINE (PubMed and Ovid from January 2002 to January 2012) database to identify relevant studies. The reference lists of the trials were manually searched. Included studies used histopathology or clinical and morphological (CT and MRI and US) follow-up as the "gold standard" and provided sufficient data to construct a diagnostic 2 × 2 table. A statistical program of Meta-Disc was used to calculate the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive LR, negative LR, DOR, and the SROC curve. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were calculated to evaluate potential sources of heterogeneity.A total of 15 studies with 1860 patients were included for the analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of EUS-FNA were 92 % (95 % CI = 91-93 %, p 0.001, I (2) = 69.6 %) and 96 % (95 % CI = 93-98 %, p = 0.006, I (2) = 54.9 %), respectively. The positive LR and negative LR were 14.24 (95 % CI = 7.78-26.07) and 0.09 (95 % CI = 0.07-0.13), respectively. The area under the curve was 0.974. The subgroup analysis of six studies with rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) showed a pooled sensitivity of 95 % (95 % CI = 93-96 %), with p value equal 0.622 and I (2) = 0. The sensitivity analysis of ten high-quality studies (a score of ≥4) showed a pooled sensitivity of 94 % (95 % CI = 93-96 %, p = 0.144, I (2) = 33.1 %), and the pooled specificity was 0.95 (95 % CI, 0.91-0.97).EUS-FNA had overall excellent specificity and sensitivity in accurately diagnosing solid pancreatic masses. ROSE could help to improve the accuracy of diagnostic test.

Angiogenic factor with G-patch and FHA domains 1 (AGGF1) is a factor implicating in vascular differentiation and angiogenesis. Several lines of evidence indicate that aberrant expression of AGGF1 is associated with tumor initiation and progression. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and prognostic value of AGGF1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as well as its relationship with clinicopathological factors and tumor angiogenesis. Immunohistochemistry was performed to evaluate the expression of AGGF1 in HCC and paracarcinomatous tissues collected from 70 patients. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and CD34 expression levels were examined in the 70 HCC tissues. Prognostic significance of tumoral AGGF1 expression was determined. Notably, AGGF1 expression was significantly higher in HCC than in surrounding non-tumor tissues (65.7 vs. 25.7 %; P

There are few large sample, single-center series that focus on the methods of diagnosis, treatment and long-term survival of patients with Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (pNENs).Forty-seven patients with pNENs treated at Anhui province hospital affliated of Anhui Medical University during January 2002 to December 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical data were collected and statistically analyzed.The sensitivity of abdominal ultrasound, CT and MRI was 71.2% (28/39), 92.3% (38/41), and 75% (6/8), respectively. All patients received operation. 46 underwent radical surgery, pancreatic fistula in 9 patients, seroperitoneum in 4 patients, incisional infection in 4 patients. The cases of grade G1, G2, and G3 were 22, 19, and 6, respectively. The cases of stage I, II, III and IV were 32, 11, 4, and 0, respectively. The overall 1-, 3, and 5-year survival rates were 94.9%, 88.4%, and 84.4%. Univariate analysis showed that TNM, WHO classification, lymph nodes metastasis, vascular and neural invasion were risk factors of pNENs.Sprial CT was an optimal diagnostic method, while surgery was the first choice for treatment. Surgical resection in pNENs results in long-term survival. TNM, WHO classification, lymphatic metastasis, vascular and neural invasion were closely related to the prognosis of pNENs.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of matrix metalloproteinase-9 overexpression on clinical outcome of gastric cancer using a meta-analysis.Relevant studies concerning the association between Matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression and survival of patients with gastric cancer were collected from electronic databases. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (Cls) were calculated to estimate the association. Subgroup analysis was calculated to evaluate potential sources of heterogeneity. Besides, we also assessed the relationship between Matrix metalloproteinase-9 level and relevant clinicopathological parameters by estimating the Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% Cls.Ten studies with 1,478 patients were included to perform a meta-analysis of the survival results. Pooled HRs indicated that MMP-9 overexpression had a negative impact on the over survival (OS) of patients with gastric cancer (HR = 1.69, 95% Cl: 1.29-2.23, P = 0.00), without significant heterogeneity (chi2 = 14.17, I2 = 36.5%, P = 0.117). Similarly, high level of MMP-9 tended to be correlated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 1.91, 95% Cl: 1.40-2.59, P0.05) and presence of vascular invasion (OR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.52-4.59, P0.05).This meta-analysis shows that Matrix metalloproteinase-9 overexpression is a poor prognostic factor in patients with gastric cancer. However, larger scale and randomized studies are needed to confirm its potential clinical value.

Peroxiredoxin 1 (Prdx1) is a member of the peroxiredoxin family of antioxidant enzymes and implicated in cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. The aim of the present study was to determine the expression and diagnostic and prognostic significance of Prdx1 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Prdx1 expression was examined in 76 HCC patients and 20 healthy volunteers. The relationships between Prdx1 expression and clinicopathological features were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was used to calculate the diagnostic accuracy of serum Prdx1, serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and their combination. The prognostic impact of Prdx1 on overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of HCC patients was investigated. Prdx1-positive rate was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in HCC (77.1 %) than in adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues (18.4 %). Prdx1 immunoreactivity was positively correlated with tumor vascular endothelial growth factor expression and microvessel density. Prdx1 expression was significantly associated with tumor size, microvascular invasion, Edmondson grade, tumor capsula status, serum AFP, and tumor-node-metastasis stage. The combination of serum Prdx1 and AFP had a markedly higher area under the curve than serum Prdx1 alone. Positive Prdx1 expression was associated with unfavorable OS (p = 0.004) and DFS (p = 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed intra-tumoral Prdx1 staining as an independent poor prognostic marker for OS (p = 0.006) and DFS (p = 0.002). Taken together, our data suggest that increased Prdx1 expression is associated with tumor angiogenesis and progression in HCC and serves as a promising biomarker for detection and prognosis of this malignancy.

To identify protein markers for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by a comparative proteomic method.Comparative analysis on the pancreatic peripheral blood protein profiling from 20 pancreatic cancer patients, 10 chronic pancreatitis patients and 20 cancer-free controls from May 2007 to September 2008 was carried out by two-dimensional fluorescence electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). Differentially expressed proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The significance difference proteins were confirmed by Western-blot.A differentially expressed proteins: complement 3 (C3) was identified. The gray level of C3 in pancreatic cancer tissue, chronic pancreatitis, and normal control group were 1.63 ± 0.28, 0.65 ± 0.13 (t = 11.81, P = 0.00) and 0.88 ± 0.19 (t = 9.93, P = 0.00), respectively. C3 was high expression in pancreatic cancer group compared with normal control group. The expression of C3 was higher in pancreatic cancer group than in chronic pancreatitis group. The high expression of C3 in pancreatic carcinoma was confirmed by Western blot.2D-DIGE and MALDI-TOF-MS technology is a quick, easy and practical method to screen for specific biomarkers in serum of patients with pancreatic carcinoma. The identified protein C3 in this study may be as specific serum biomarkers of pancreatic carcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal cancer with a poor prognosis. Our previous proteomic analysis found apolipoprotein E (ApoE) protein to be up-regulated in the sera of patients with PDAC. In this study, we sought to confirm this finding and investigate the relationship between ApoE and PDAC. We measured ApoE expression in tissues from PDAC patients and normal controls (NC) by real-time PCR, western blot, and immunohistochemistry. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to measure the levels of ApoE and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) in the sera from patients with PDAC and NC. Real-time PCR and western blots showed that the ApoE mRNA and protein levels were up-regulated in PDAC tissues. The immunohistochemical results revealed that overexpression of ApoE was detected in 43 of 55 (78.2 %) PDAC cases and 3 of 20 (15 %) NC. High levels of ApoE were more likely in PDAC patients with advanced T status and TNM stages (p = 0.023 and p = 0.018, respectively). The ELISA results also confirmed that ApoE levels were elevated in the sera of PDAC patients. The sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing PDAC from NC were 76.2 and 71.4 %, respectively, for ApoE, 66.7 and 85.7 %, respectively, for CA19-9, and 81.0 and 85.7 %, respectively, for their combination. These results suggest that ApoE may be a potential PDAC-related biomarker and alone or in combination with other markers may provide additional information for the diagnosis and clinical management of PDAC.

Periostin (PN) is a kind of secreted glycoprotein, which is closely related to the metastatic potential and prognosis of many kinds of tumors in recent studies. However, the expression level of PN in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with tumor angiogenesis and prognosis remain unclear. Here Immunohistochemistry assay was used to determine the expression of PN in HCC and corresponding adjacent tissues from 71 patients. VEGF and CD34 were only examined in HCC tissues of patients mentioned above. Immunohistochemically, the expression of PN in HCC was judged to be positive in 73.2 % (52/71) compared with 19.7 % (14/71) in corresponding adjacent tissues, and it was associated with tumor nodules (P = 0.070), microvascular invasion (P = 0.013), Edmondson grade (P = 0.003), tumor capsula (P = 0.038) and TNM stage (P = 0.000); besides, tumors with PN-positive group expressed higher VEGF (82.7 vs. 26.3 %, χ (2) = 20.195, P = 0.000) and had higher MVD (80.5 ± 36.5 vs. 24.0 ± 19.9, t = -6.395, P = 0.000) than those in PN-negative group. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Cox regression model was performed for multivariate survival analysis. In particular, the expression of PN was found to be an independent factor for predicting overall and disease-free survival of HCC. It is possible that the expression level of PN in HCC is associated with tumor metastatic potential and angiogenesis. Its abnormal expression could be a predictive factor to anticipate HCC patient's prognosis after surgery.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide and is difficult to detect at its early stages when treatment is most effective. Therefore, we performed a comparative proteomic study to identify new biomarkers for the detection of PDAC. Serum samples from patients with PDAC, chronic pancreatitis and normal controls were compared using two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). Differentially expressed separated proteins were subsequently identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF–MS). Then, transthyretin (TTR), one of the differentially expressed proteins, was validated through real-time PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry. Finally, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were employed to confirm the levels of transthyretin in the sera. A total of 21 protein spots showed greater than 1.5-fold changes in expression level in the sera from PDAC patients compared with the normal controls. Among the identified proteins, validation experiments verified the differential expression of transthyretin in PDAC tissue, confirming the proteomic data showing that transthyretin was significantly elevated in patients with PDAC. The ELISA results revealed that the sensitivity and specificity for TTR and CA19-9 in distinguishing PDAC patients from normal individuals were 90.5, 47.6, 66.7 and 85.7 %, respectively, and 81.0 and 85.7 % for their combination. These results suggest that the level of transthyretin is elevated in patients with PDAC. In combination with CA19-9, transthyretin may provide additional information for the detection of PDAC and should be further investigated.

Background/aims Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal disease with an increasing incidence worldwide. Due to lack of early diagnosis and poor prognosis, it is rather critical to improve the early diagnosis of PDAC. A comparative proteomic method was used to analyze serum proteins to find a new potential specific marker. Methods Comparative analysis of the pancreatic peripheral blood protein profiling from 40 pancreatic cancer patients, 10 pancreatic benign tumor patients, 10 chronic pancreatitis patients and 40 cancer-free controls. The samples were carried out by 2D-differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and differentially expressed proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Two up-regulated proteins were further validation by real time RT-PCR, Western blot analysis and Immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results We identified fourteen differently expressed proteins in PDAC group compared with cancer-free control group, including 9 up-regulation and 5 down-regulation proteins. Increased Complement C3 and alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein (AHSG) were further confirmed by real time RT-PCR, Western blot analysis and IHC. The expressions of Complement C3 and AHSG were higher in PDAC than that in other groups. Conclusions These results suggest that Complement C3 and AHSG might be the potential tumor markers in PDAC screening and diagnosis. The finding of inflammation mediated factor Complement C3 revealed that inflammation might be closely related with the occurrence and development process of PDAC.

Background Recent studies have found that periostin (PN), as a kind of secreted glycoprotein, is closely related to the metastatic potential and prognosis of many kinds of tumors. This study aimed to examine the expression of PN in patients with osteosarcoma and explore the relationship of PN expression with clinicopathologic factors and prognosis. Methods PN was detected by histopathological and immunohistochemical methods in 62 cases of osteosarcoma and 62 of osteochondroma. Detailed pathological and clinical data were collected by reviewing medical records. Results The results showed that increased PN protein expression was prevalent in osteosarcoma and was significantly associated with pathologic subtype (P =0.000), tumor size (P =0.016) and Enneking stage (P =0.047). Additionally, expression of PN was found to be an independent prognostic factor in osteosarcoma patients. High expression of PN protein is closely correlated to the tumor progression and poor survival of osteosarcoma. Conclusions Our data suggest that PN is a promising biomarker for identifying individuals with poor prognostic potential and suggests its possible use as a prognostic marker in patients with osteosarcoma.

Fluorescent carbon nanodots (C-dots; 4.3 ± 0.8 nm) from fresh tender ginger juice provide high suppression of the growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2), with low toxicity to normal mammary epithelial cells (MCF-10A) and normal liver cells (FL83B). The inhibition is selective to HepG2 over other tested cancer cells, including human lung cancer cell line (A549), human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231), and human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). Western blot results reveal that the C-dots up-regulate the expression of p53 protein only in the HepG2 cell line. The 50% inhibiting concentration (IC50) value of the C-dots on HepG2 cells is 0.35 mg mL−1. Image cytometry results show significant uptake of C-dots by HepG2 cells that induce intracellular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS, 18.2-fold increased), while other cells remain almost the same in ROS levels after treatment with C-dots (1.11 mg mL−1). The C-dots trigger the pro-apoptotic factor to promote HepG2 cell apoptosis. The C-dots effectively inhibit the growth of tumors in nude mice (104 ± 14 vs. 3.7 ± 0.2 mg with and without treatment within 14 days).