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It aimed to explore the effect of C-reactive protein (CRP) combined with neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the early prediction of anastomotic leakage (AL) after rectal cancer surgery and to improve the prediction accuracy. In this study, gold (Au)/ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic nanoparticles were first synthesized and modified with polyacrylic acid (PAA). After modification, they underwent CRP antibody detection. Then, 120 patients with rectal cancer who underwent Dixon surgery were selected as the research objects to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of CRP combined with NLR in predicting AL. It was found that the diameter of the Au/Fe3O4 nanoparticles prepared in this study was about 45 nm. After adding 60 μg of antibody, the diameter of PAA-Au/Fe3O4 was 226.5 nm, the dispersion coefficient was 0.16, the standard curve between CRP concentration and luminous intensity was y = 8,966.5 x + 2,381.3, and R2 = 0.9944. Besides, the correlation coefficient was R2 = 0.991, and the linear regression equation was y=1.103 x - 0.0022 compared with the nephelometric method. By analyzing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of CRP combined with NLR to predict AL after Dixon surgery, the cut-off point was 0.11 on the first day after the surgery, the area under the curve was 0.896, the sensitivity was 82.5%, and the specificity was 76.67%. The cut-off point on the third day after the surgery was 0.13, the area under the curve was 0.931, the sensitivity was 86.67%, and the specificity was 90%. On the fifth day after the surgery, the cut-off point, the area under the curve, the sensitivity, and the specificity were 0.16, 0.964, 92.5%, and 95.83% in turn. In conclusion, PAA-Au/Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles could be used for clinical examination of patients with rectal cancer, and CRP combined with NLR could improve the prediction accuracy of AL after rectal cancer surgery.

Background/aims: Most studies have found that right-sided colon cancer (RCC) has worse prognosis than left-sided colon cancer (LCC), especially in stage III, but the reported prognosis of stage II colon cancer is variable. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of tumor location on survival outcomes in stage II colon cancer., Materials and Methods: Patients with stage II colon cancer were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from 2004 to 2009. The effect of tumor location on overall survival and cancer-specific survival was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression models and propensity score matching., Results: Of 16,519 patients, 69.6% had RCC and30.4% had LCC. In unadjusted analyses, RCC had a 13% increased overall mortality risk (hazards ratio [HR], 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-1.19; p<0.001) but an18% reduction in cancer-specific mortality risk compared with LCC (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.76-0.89; p<0.001). After propensity scores matching analyses, RCC had a 21% reduced overall mortality risk (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.72-0.87; p<0.001) and a 49% reduction in cancer-specific mortality risk compared with LCC (HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.44-0.60; p<0.001)., Conclusion: When adjusted for multiple clinicopathological features, stage II RCC showed better prognosis than stage II LCC.

Objective: To explore association of the expression levels of adenylate cyclase-associated protein 2 (CAP2) in gastric cancer tissues with the histopathology and long-term prognosis of the malignancy., Methods: This study was conducted among a total of 105 patients with gastric cancer undergoing radical gastrectomy in our hospital between January, 2010 and October, 2013. Immunohistochemistry was used to quantitatively assess the expression of CAP2 in gastric cancer tissues and the adjacent tissues. Based on the median relative expression level of CAP2 of 3.5, the patients were divided into low CAP2 expression group ( n =52) and high CAP2 expression group ( n =53). The Cox regression model was used to analyze the effect of CAP2 expression on the 5-year survival rate of the patients, and ROC curve analysis was used to assess the predictive value of CAP2 expression for the patients' long-term survival., Results: Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the expression levels of CAP2 ( P &lt; 0.01) and Ki67 ( P &lt; 0.01) were significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in the adjacent tissues, and the expression level of CAP2 was positively correlated with Ki67 ( P &lt; 0.01), peripheral blood CEA ( P &lt; 0.01) and CA19-9 ( P &lt; 0.01). The percentages of patients with CEA≥5 μg/L, CA19-9≥37 kU/L, pathological grade of G3-G4, T stage of 3-4, and N stage of 2-3 were significantly higher in patients with high CAP2 expression than in those with low CAP2 expression ( P &lt; 0.05). Kaplan- Meier survival analysis showed that the 5-year survival rate was significantly lower in patients with a high CAP2 expression ( P &lt; 0.01). A high expression level of CAP2, CEA≥5μg/L, CA19-9≥37 and pathological grades G3-G4 were all independent risk factors for shortened 5-year survival after radical gastrectomy ( P &lt; 0.01). With the relative expression level of 3.45 as the cut-off value, the sensitivity of CAP2 was 70.15% for predicting death 5 years after the surgery, with a specificity of 71.05% and an area under the curve of 0.779 ( P &lt; 0.01)., Conclusions: CAP2 is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues in close relation with the tumor progression. CAP2 is an independent risk factor for 5-year survival rate after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer and can be of clinical value in prognostic evaluation of the patients.

Objective: To investigate the protective effect of procyanidin B2 (PCB2) on the intestinal barrier and against enteritis in mice with trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis and explore the possible mechanism., Methods: A mouse model of TNBS-induced colitis was established in male Balb/c mice aged 6-8 weeks. The successfully established mouse models were randomly divided into PCB2 treatment group ( n =10) and model group ( n =10) and were treated with daily intragastric administration of PCB2 (100 mg/kg, 0.2 mL) and 0.2 mL normal saline, respectively. After 4 weeks, the disease symptoms, intestinal inflammation, intestinal mucosal cell barrier function and the changes in PI3K/AKT signaling were evaluated using HE staining, immunofluorescence assay and Western blotting., Results: The disease activity index of the mice was significantly lower and the mean body weight was significantly greater in PCB2 group than in the model group in the 3rd and 4th weeks of intervention ( P &lt; 0.05). The levels of colonic inflammation and intestinal mucosal inflammatory mediators IL-1β and TNF-α were significantly lower while IL-10 was significantly higher in PCB2 group than in the model group ( P &lt; 0.05). Compared with those in the model group, the mice in PCB2 treatment group showed a significantly lower positive rate of bacterial translocation in the mesenteric lymph nodes and a lower thiocyanate-dextran permeability of the intestinal mucosa ( P &lt; 0.05). Western blotting showed that PCB2 treatment significantly increased the expressions of claudin-1 and ZO-1 ( P &lt; 0.05) and significantly lowered the expression levels of p-PI3K and p-AKT in the intestinal mucosa as compared with those in the model group ( P &lt; 0.05)., Conclusions: PCB2 suppresses intestinal inflammation and protects intestinal mucosal functions and structural integrity by inhibiting intestinal PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, suggesting the potential of PCB2 as a new drug for Crohn's disease.