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Desmoid tumors are rare neoplasms that are locally invasive. However, optimal treatment strategies for recurrent desmoid tumors remain controversial. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has been reported as a noninvasive modality for treating recurrent desmoid tumors. However, its efficacy against massive desmoid tumors or those with complex anatomies remains unclear.We developed a new therapeutic strategy called low-power cumulative HIFU and applied it to treat recurrent desmoid tumors.We retrospectively collected data from 91 patients with recurrent desmoid tumors who underwent low-power cumulative HIFU treatment after surgical treatment failure. The mean ablation proportion of the HIFU treatment was 69.5%, and the objective response rate was 47.3%. The 5-year estimated progression-free survival rate for these patients was 69.3%.Low-power cumulative HIFU treatment could achieve significant efficacy and long-term control of recurrent desmoid tumors.

Metastatic colorectal cancer with

To evaluate potential protein markers for oxaliplatin-based first-line chemotherapy of metastatic gastric cancer (MGC), we have used proteomic analysis to compare the difference of serum proteomic spectra between responsive and non-responsive MGC patients.Serum samples were collected before chemotherapy.Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation time of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) proteinchip array technology was applied to compare the differences of serous protein spectra between the twenty responsive patients and another fourteen non responsive patients. Cross validation was applied to identify the proper markers for an accurate judgment of prognosis.Fifty proteins were picked out for significantly increased or decreased expression(p0.05, Student t-test). Among them, sixteen protein masses with 1081, 1267, 2941, 2985, 3148, 3165,3199, 3219, 3249, 3281, 4182, 4390, 4482, 4509,4533 and 5001 m/z were chosen as components of the best proteomic biomarker pattern for judgment of chemotherapy prognosis in MGC patients, achieving a sensitivity of 95% (19/20) and a specificity of 78.6%(11/14), respectively.SELDI-TOF-MS screens out the specific protein markers that help oncologists with judging the prognosis of oxaliplatin in combination with fluoropyrimidine, thus orientating first-line palliative chemotherapy for MGC patients.

OCT4, a member of the POU family of gene products, is an octamer motif-binding transcription factor. As it is known to play a crucial role in cancer processes including proliferation, invasion, and chemoradioresistance, it is important to identify the direct targets of OCT4 in living cancer cells. Here, chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq) was used to identify OCT4 binding sites in glioblastoma cancer cells. The results showed that 5438 OCT4 binding sites were localized in the glioblastoma cancer genome and that these sites contained a consensus sequence TTTkswTw (k=T or G, s=C or G, w=A or T), which occurred 3931 times in 2312 OCT4 binding regions. Furthermore, binding motifs of some other transcription factors were identified in OCT4 binding regions. Our results provide a valuable dataset for understanding gene regulation mechanisms underlying the function of OCT4 in glioblastoma cancer.

Previous studies have identified that a hepatits E virus peptide (HEV-p179), spanning amino acids (aa) 439–617 in the 660-aa protein encoded by open reading frame 2(ORF2) of the Chinese epidemic strain (genotype 4), is the minimal size fragment of conformation-dependent neutralization epitope(s). We report here the successful immunization of mice with DNA vaccines expressing the secreted form of HEV-p179 (fused with a human tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) signal sequence) and the tPA-p179-C3d fusion protein (fused with three tandem copies of the murine complement C3d). Analysis of antibody responses in vaccinated mice revealed that immunizations with tPA-p179-C3d3 DNA vaccine dramatically increased both the level and avidity maturation of antibodies against HEV-p179 compared to p179 and tPA-p179 DNA vaccines. In addition, this increased antibody response correlated with neutralizing titers in a PCR-based cell culture neutralization assay. These results indicate that vaccination with C3d conjugated p179 DNA vaccine enhances antibody responses to HEV, and this approach may be applied to overcome the poor immunogenicity of DNA vaccines to generate HEV neutralizing antibodies.

To investigate the effects of different vectors and gene fragments on antigen expression of hepatitis E virus (HEV) DNA immunization.Gene fragments encoding p166 and p179, which contain the neutralization antigenic epitopes of a Chinese strain of HEV genotype IV, were cloned into two different eukaryotic expression vectors (pTR421 and pCDNA3.1), respectively. The in vitro expression level of p166 and p179 in HepG2 cells transfected by each of the recombinant plasmids with lipofectamine2000 was examined by means of immunofluorescence and Western blot. Meanwhile, the in vivo expression level in muscles of mice was examined with immunohistochemistry staining.Four recombinant plasmids, pTR421-166, pTR421-179, pCDNA3.1-166 and pCDNA3.1-179, were constructed successfully and confirmed correct with restriction endonuclease analysis and nucleotide sequencing. The antigen expression was only detected in HepG2 cells transfected by pTR421-179 and in myocytes of the mice injected with pTR421-179. Neither in vitro nor in vivo antigen expression was detected with pTR421-166 although p166 was only 13 amino acids shorter than p179 at N terminus. Neither pCDNA3.1-166 nor pCDNA3.1-179 was expressed in vitro and in vivo.Selection of the vectors and gene fragments is critical to HEV gene expression and HEV DNA vaccine.