Search

Purpose: To study the effect of high mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1)-mediated toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: Cell viability was determined using CCK-8 test and colony formation assay, while cell migration and invasion were assessed by Transwell assay. Western blotting was used to determine protein and mRNA expression levels. The effect of TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathway on proliferation of ESCC cells was investigated via in vitro knockdown of HMGB1. Results: Data from in vitro experiments indicated that HMGB1 knockdown significantly decreased the proliferation, migration, and invasion of EC9706 cells in siHMGB1 group, when compared with siNC group (number of invasive cells in siHMGB1 vs. corresponding number in siNC: 26.7 ± 4.5 vs. 68.7 ± 2.5; p < 0.01), and also decreased proliferation, migration and invasion of TE-9 cells in siHMB1, relative to siNC group (number of invasive cells in siHMGB1 vs. corresponding number in siNC: 29.3 ± 3.5 vs. 55.7 ± 3.1; p < 0.01). Moreover, MGB1 knockdown via siTLR4 transfection significantly down-regulated the expressions of TLR4/MyD88 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), but over-expression of TLR4 reversed the inhibition by HMGB1 knockdown on ESCC cells (p < 0.01). Conclusion: These findings suggest that HMGB1-mediated TLR4/MyD88 signal pathway is a potential treatment route for ESCC.

In the one-step preparation of methylal from methanol, achieving high methanol conversion and high methylal yield is a huge challenge. To address this problem, in this study a new Fe–Mo-based catalyst was designed, and the effect of the type and amount of the support on catalytic activity was explored. The results showed that Mo:Fe(2)/HZSM-5(80 + 80), in which HZSM-5(80 + 80) was the catalytic support, had excellent catalytic performance, with the yield of methylal reaching 81.33%, much higher than other reported results of this process. Through XPS, NH3-TPD and PY-FTIR analyses it was found that the formation of Mo5+ promoted coordination of the two terminal oxygens with the Mo double bond in the Fe2(MoO4)3 octahedron, and the higher the B/L acid site ratio, the better the catalytic activity and the higher the selectivity of the target product. The apparent activation energy also further proved that Mo:Fe(2)/HZSM-5(80 + 80) was highly suitable for the one-step production of methylal from methanol.

Objective: Synchronic colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis (SCRPC) was recognized as a predictor of poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) on the survival outcome, which might help determine the treatment management of SCRPC patients. Methods: A total of 103 SCRPC patients following cytoreduction surgery (CRS) and systematic chemotherapy (CT) between 1997 and 2013 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were retrospectively analyzed. The comparison of the clinicopathological variables and systematic inflammatory biomarkers, including NLR, PLR and SII, was performed by Chi-test and Cox regression analysis. According to the results of multivariate analysis, a prognostic nomogram was generated, and its prediction ability was measured by the concordance index (C-index). The survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method and survival comparison between groups was conducted via the log-rank test. Results: Univariate analysis revealed that elevated NLR, PLR and SII were significantly correlate with worse survival outcome. Only low SII value was recognized as an independent favorable prognostic factor for overall survival (HR=1.772, 95% CI=1.015-3.095, P=0.044), except for NLR and PLR. The nomogram could perform well in the prediction of overall survival in SCRPC patients (c-index 0.782). Moreover, SII had strong prognostic discriminatory ability to predict survival outcome for the patients receiving completeness of cytoreduction score (CCR) 0/1 or CCR2/3, rather than NLR and PLR. Conclusions: SII was a better inflammation factor to predict the outcomes of SCRPC patients receiving CRS and systematic CT. Low SII value was the most favorable factor benefiting from different level of CRS and it was useful for determining the appropriate treatment strategy for SCRPC patients.

Based on the previous research on the Fe-Mo based bifunctional catalyst, the team explored the effects of reaction temperature, reaction space velocity and the feed ratio of methanol to air on the catalytic effect of the process, and found out the optimal reaction conditions for the process. The results show that too high reaction temperature is not conducive to the formation of the target product DMM, and this phenomenon is verified by thermodynamic analysis. At the same time, it was found from the analysis of the catalyst's microstructure and surface characteristics that an excessively high reaction temperature would not only cause metal oxides to accumulate on the catalyst surface, blocked channels and reduced specific surface area, but also it will destroy the acid active sites on the catalyst surface, weaken the acidity of the catalyst and reduce the catalytic activity.