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Purpose: To investigate the association between fluorine-2-deoxy- d-glucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) parameters, serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and tumor response in patients with rectal cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). Methods: Sixty-four patients with T3-4 and/or node-positive rectal cancer receiving nCRT followed by surgery were prospectively studied. PET/CT was performed before, and in 28 patients, both before and after nCRT. The pre-/post-nCRT maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax) values, differences between pre-/post-nCRT SUVmax (∆SUVmax), response index of SUVmax (RI-SUVmax), mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), and CEA were measured. The ability of PET/CT parameters and CEA to predict Mandard's tumor regression grade (TRG) and pathological complete remission (pCR) were evaluated. Results: 31 patients were identified as responders (TRG 1-2), and 19 exhibited pCR. For responders, significant differences were found for ΔSUVmax (24.88 vs. 15.39 g/ml, p = 0.037), RI-SUVmax (0.76 vs. 0.63, p = 0.025), ΔSUVmean (14.43 vs. 8.65 g/ml, p = 0.029), RI-SUVmean (0.77 vs. 0.63, p = 0.011), CEA-pre (6.30 vs. 27.86 μg/L, p < 0.001), CEA-post (2.22 vs. 5.49 μg/L, p = 0.002), ΔCEA (4.08 vs. 23.13 μg/L, p < 0.001), and RI-CEA (0.25 vs. 0.55, p = 0.002). Differences between pCR and non-pCR patients were noted as RI-SUVmean (0.77 vs. 0.65, p = 0.043), MTV-pre (9.87 vs. 14.62 cm, p = 0.045), CEA-pre (5.62 vs. 22.27 μg/L, p = 0.002), CEA-post (1.95 vs. 4.72 μg/L, p = 0.001), and ΔCEA (3.68 vs. 17.99 μg/L, p = 0.013). Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that RI-SUVmean exhibited the greatest accuracy in predicting responders, whereas CEA-post and ΔCEA exhibited the greatest accuracy in predicting pCR. Conclusions: F-FDG PET/CT parameters and CEA are accurate tools for predicting tumor response to nCRT in rectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study the regulatory effect of YTH domain-containing protein 2 (YTHDC2), a member of N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) readers, on the osteogenic or adipogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs)., Methods: YTHDC 2 expression was knocked down by small interfering RNA (siRNA) in vitro . Osteogenic differentiation and adipogenic differentiation of hBMSCs were induced after YTHDC 2 knockdown in order to study the changes in the differentiation phenotype of hBMSCs. Alkaline phosphatase staining (ALP staining) and alizarin red S staining were performed to examine osteogenic activity and calcium-nodular formation. Nile red staining was performed to examine lipid-droplet formation. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to assess the expression of osteogenesis and adipogenesis-related genes. RNA-sequencing was performed to identify the transcriptome changes after YTHDC 2 knockdown and to explore the potential regulatory mechanism by which YTHDC2 regulated the diferentiation of hBMSCs., Results: In this study, we found that siRNA-induced YTHDC 2 knockdown resulted in increased ALP activity and calcium-nodular formation of hBMSCs during osteogenic differentiation, and significantly upregulated the expression of osteogenesis-related genes. In addition, the lipid-droplet formation capacity of hBMSCs was decreased during adipogenic differentiation. The expression of adipogenesis-related genes was significantly down-regulated. Gene-set enrichmen analysis of RNA-seq data showed that YTHDC2 was significantly correlated with ribosome function and mRNA-translation-related signaling pathways., Conclusion: The findings indicate that YTHDC2 knockdown can promote the osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs and inhibit the adipogenic differentiation. YTHDC2 knockdown may cause changes in ribosome function., (Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

Objective: To investigate the association of nutritional status with treatment compliance and toxicities in patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy (CRT) after gastrectomy., Methods: From September 2010 to May 2012, 40 patients with gastric cancer received adjuvant CRT in the Department of Radiation, Shanghai Cancer Center. Data including clinical data, weight loss of perioperative period, dynamic changes of weight, NRS 2002 score, PG-SGA score, lymph cell count and serum albumin during CRT, toxic effects and nutritional interventions were collected. Treatment compliance of CRT and adjuvant chemotherapy was recorded. Associations among nutrition, toxicities and treatment compliance were statistically studied., Results: Weight loss percentage from pre-operation to pre-CRT(T1-T2) was 10.0%, which was significantly higher than that of 4.3% during CRT(T3) (P<0.05). Adverse reaction incidence of digestive tract during T3 was 95.0% (38/40). Patients with weight loss >5% during T3 had higher ratio of >II degree digestive tract adverse reaction [91.3% (21/23) vs. 76.5% (13/17), P<0.01] and higher ratio of >3 symptoms of digestive tract[82.4% (14/17) vs. 39.1% (9/23), P<0.05] as compared to those with weight loss ≤5% during T3. Fourteen patients (35.0%) did not complete the synchronous CRT. Factors related to incompletion of CRT were weight loss >7% after surgery (T1) or >10% during T1-T2, malnourishment before CRT, dependence on nutritional support during CRT. Factors related to incompletion of adjuvant chemotherapy were weight loss >5% during CRT(T3), requirement for nutritional support and NRS 2002 score ≥5 at the end of radiation (all P<0.05)., Conclusions: Nutritional deterioration before CRT may aggravate the toxicities and reduce compliance of CRT in patients with radical resection of gastric cancer. Malnutrition during CRT may impair compliance to adjuvant chemotherapy. Therefore, early and persistent nutritional interventions are crucial considerations of strategies of multidisciplinary treatment for patients with gastric cancer.