Hai Peng Yu

Expression of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen in Lung Cancer Cells and Tumor Neovasculature Endothelial Cells and Its Clinical Significance

Background Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has been found in tumor neovasculature endothelial cells (NECs) of non-prostate cancers and may become the most promising target for anti-tumor therapy. To study the value of PSMA as a potential new target for lung cancer treatment, PSMA expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) tissues and its relationship with clinicopathology were investigated in the current study. Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect PSMA expression in a total of 150 lung specimens of patients with lung cancer. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. Results The percentages of NSCLC patients who had PSMA (+) tumor cells and PSMA (+) NECs were 54.02% and 85.06%, respectively. The percentage of patients younger than 60 years old who had PSMA (+) tumor cells was 69.05%, which was significantly greater than the percentage of patients aged 60 years or older (40.00%, p<0.05). A significant difference was observed in the percentage of NSCLC patients with PMSA (+) NECs and stage I or II cancer (92.98%) and those patients with stage III or IV cancer (76.77%). In the SCLC tissues, NEC PSMA expression (70.00%) did not differ significantly from NSCLC. SCLC tumor cells and normal lung tissues cells were all negative. There was no significant correlation between the presence of PSMA (+) NECs in SCLC patients and the observed clinicopathological parameters. Conclusions PSMA is expressed not only in NECs of NSCLC and SCLC but also in tumor cells of most NSCLC patients. The presence of PSMA (+) tumor cells and PSMA (+) NECs in NSCLC was negatively correlated with age and the clinicopathological stage of the patients, respectively.

Percutaneous cryoablation of liver metastases from breast cancer: Initial experience in 17 patients

AIMnTo assess the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of percutaneous cryoablation for the treatment of liver metastases from breast cancer.nnnMATERIALS AND METHODSnThis study included 39 liver metastases in 17 female breast cancer patients who underwent computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous cryoablation. The mean age of the cohort was 55 years (range 30-66 years). The tumour response was evaluated by CT performed before treatment, 1 month after treatment, and every 3 months thereafter. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) was used to assess the patients quality of life before, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after cryoablation. The primary endpoints were technique effectiveness, quality of life, and complications.nnnRESULTSnThe technical success rate was 92% with no major complication reported. At the 1-month follow-up, the primary technique effectiveness was 87.1% (34 of 39 tumours). At the 3-months follow-up, local tumour progression was observed in six of 39 lesions (15.4%). The 1-year survival from the time of cryoablation was 70.6%. The quality of life symptoms and functioning scales were preserved in patients alive at 3 months after cryoablation. The global quality of life, mean value of pain and fatigue between 3 months after cryoablation and prior to treatment showed statistically significant differences, but no clinical significance.nnnCONCLUSIONSnCryoablation is a safe and effective ablative therapy, providing a high rate of local tumour control in breast cancer liver metastases.

Anti-tumor immunological response induced by cryoablation and anti-CTLA-4 antibody in an in vivo RM-1 cell prostate cancer murine model.

Cryoablation combination therapy with blockade of the T-cell inhibitory receptor CTL-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) may augment the anti-tumor immune response (ATIR). It is crucial to determine the duration of ATIR after cryoablation and anti-CTLA-4 antibody therapy to determine the most appropriate treatment interval of therapy. To investigate the characteristics of ATIR induced by cryoablation and anti-CTLA-4 antibody therapy, we developed au202fprostate cancer model system to test the capacity of cryoablation and anti -CTLA-4 antibody to generate ATIR. Mice were randomly assigned to receive no treatment (group A), cryoablation only (group B), cryoablation plus anti-CTLA-4 antibody (group C), or anti-CTLA-4 antibody only (group D). We collected specimens on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 to study the ATIR through different techniques. Our results indicated that cryoablation induced ATIR and further enhanced this effect and reduced the number of distant metastases through combination with anti-CTLA-4 antibody. ATIR induced by cryoablation was achieved through decreasing regulatory Tu202fcell (Treg) number. The number of Tregs induced by cryoablation was lowest on day 14 but then returned to preoperative levels on day 21, indicating that ATIR induced by cryoablation was time-dependent. However, ATIR induced by anti-CTLA-4 antibody might be mainly achieved through influencing Treg function, which was exactly not by decreasing Treg number and still maintain its ATIR effect on day 21 after therapy. In conclusion, ATIR induced by cryoablation was achieved through decreasing Treg number and is time-dependent, whereas ATIR caused by anti-CTLA-4 antibody was achieved exactly not by decreasing Treg number and not time-dependent in the first 21 days after therapy.

Postoperative adjuvant arterial chemoembolization improves the survival of hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective control study

BackgroundThe survival benefit of postoperative adjuvant transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) remains controversial.AimsWe aim to investigate the survival effect of postoperative adjuvant TACE on the prognosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients (stage B, the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging).MethodsSixty consecutive HBV-related HCC patients (stage B) from February 2006 to May 2009 undergoing surgical resection were included in this study. Of these 60 patients, 34 patients underwent surgery only (Group A) and 26 patients underwent surgery plus TACE (Group B). We followed-up until May 2013. Overall survival rates as well as prognostic factors were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method, the log-rank test or Cox’s proportional hazard model. All patients’ data were collected from the hospital medical records, which were described precisely after accurate clinical samples detection.ResultsThe 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival rates in surgery-only group were 58.8, 32.4 and 12.6xa0%, and the rates in surgery plus TACE group were 73.1, 61.5, and 48.9xa0%, respectively (Pxa0=xa00.033). The median survival time of the two groups after surgery and surgery plus TACE was 15.0xa0months [95xa0% confidence interval (CI) 10.714–19.286] and 35.0xa0months (95xa0% CI 20.974–49.026). In multivariate analysis, hemoglobin, HBeAg, peripheral blood regulatory T cells and tumor size were independent prognostic elements for HBV-related HCC patients (stage B).ConclusionsPostoperative adjuvant TACE improves the survival of patients with HBV-related HCC (stage B) after curative resection compared to surgery only.