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Chia-Lin Chou,1,2 Tzu-Ju Chen,1,3– 5 Wan-Shan Li,1,3,5 Sung-Wei Lee,6 Ching-Chieh Yang,7,8 Yu-Feng Tian,2 Cheng-Yi Lin,9 Hong-Lin He,10 Hung-Chang Wu,8,11 Yow-Ling Shiue,5,12 Chien-Feng Li,12– 14 Yu-Hsuan Kuo5,8,11,12 1Department of Medical Technology, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology, Tainan, 717, Taiwan; 2Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan; 3Department of Pathology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan; 4Department of Clinical Pathology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan; 5Institute of Biomedical Science, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, 804, Taiwan; 6Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, 736, Taiwan; 7Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan; 8College of Pharmacy and Science, Chia Nan University, Tainan, Taiwan; 9Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan; 10Department of Pathology, E-DA Hospital & E-DA Cancer Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, 82445, Taiwan; 11Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 12Institute of Precision Medicine, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, 804, Taiwan; 13Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan; 14National Institute of Cancer Research, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, 35053, TaiwanCorrespondence: Yu-Hsuan Kuo; Chien-Feng Li, No. 901, Zhonghua Road Yongkang Dist, Tainan City, Taiwan, Tel +886-6-2812811, Fax +886-6-2510218 ; Fax +886-6-2510218, Email beethovan@gmail.com; angelo.p@yahoo.com.twPurpose: For locally advanced rectal cancer, neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) allows tumor downstaging and makes curative radical proctectomy possible. However, we lack a genetic biomarker to predict cancer prognosis or treatment response. W

Chia-Lin Chou,1,2 Tzu-Ju Chen,2– 4 Cheng-Yi Lin,5 Sung-Wei Lee,6 Shih-Chang Wang,7 Shou-Sheng Chu,7 Ching-Chieh Yang7,8 1Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 2Institute of Biomedical Sciences, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 3Department of Pathology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 4Department of Optometry, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology, Tainan, Taiwan; 5Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 6Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan, Taiwan; 7Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 8Department of Pharmacy, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, TaiwanCorrespondence: Ching-Chieh YangDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Chi-Mei Medical Center, No. 901 Zhonghua Road, Yung Kang District, Tainan City 701, TaiwanTel +88662812811-53501Email cleanclear0905@gmail.comBackground: In a data mining search for potential therapeutic targets to improve the outcome of rectal cancer, we identified PCSK1 as the cell–cell signaling gene most significantly associated with poor response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of PCSK1 expression in rectal cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant CCRT.Methods: Endoscopic biopsy specimens from 172 rectal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant CCRT followed by curative surgery were assessed immunohistochemically for PCSK1 expression, and H-scores were determined. Expression levels of PCSK1 were further analyzed for correlations with clinicopathologic features, tumor regression grade, metastasis-free survival, disease-specific survival, and recurrence-free survival.Results: PCKS1 overexpression was significantly associated with pretreatment tumor status (T3– 4; p = 0.009), pretreatment nodal status (N1

Yu-Ching Wei,1,2 Sheau-Fang Yang,2,3 Shih-Lun Chang,4,5 Tzu-Ju Chen,5,6 Sung-Wei Lee,7 Hung-Sung Chen,1 Li-Ching Lin,8 Chien-Feng Li6,9,10 1Department of Pathology, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 2Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 3Department of Pathology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 4Department of Otolaryngology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 5Department of Optometry, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology, Tainan, Taiwan; 6Department of Pathology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 7Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan, Taiwan; 8Department of Radiation Oncology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 9National Institute of Cancer Research, National Health Research Institute, Tainan, Taiwan; 10Department of Biotechnology, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, Taiwan Purpose: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a heterogeneous disease. We searched for genes that function in cell adhesion in GSE12452, a published transcriptomic database. We found that POSTN, which encodes periostin (POSTN), was significantly upregulated in NPC tumorigenesis. Herein, we sought to analyze the expression of POSTN and its prognostic significances in patients with NPC. Materials and methods: In this single-institution retrospective study, we determined and analyzed POSTN expression by immunohistochemistry and H-score method, respectively, in 124 patients with NPC. The results indicated that POSTN expression was correlated with the clinicopathologic features, disease-specific survival (DSS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) of NPC. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses to determinate the statistical significance. Results: High POSTN expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.004) and adv