Jie Hua He

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Nasopharynx: 27-Year Experience

Objective/Hypothesis: Nasopharyngeal adenoid cystic carcinoma (NACC) is a rare malignancy with special biological features. Clear consensus is not available regarding the clinical characters, management approaches, and prognostic factors. We presented one institutions experience with this tumor and the outcomes of treatment.

Primary salivary gland type carcinoma of the nasopharynx: Therapeutic outcomes and prognostic factors

Primary salivary gland type nasopharyngeal carcinoma (SNPC) is a rare malignancy with diverse clinical behavior and different prognoses. Previous studies have reported on limited patient populations, and few long‐term studies have outlined outcomes and prognostic factors. Furthermore, controversy exists as to the treatment policy of SNPC. The aim of this study was to define management approaches, therapeutic outcomes, and prognostic factors of SNPC.

Skp2 expression unfavorably impacts survival in resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundThe correlation of S-phase kinase–associated protein 2 (Skp2) with metastasis and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is controversial. The purpose of this study was to explore whether there was a correlation between the expression of Skp2 evaluated by immunohistochemistry and the clinical outcome of patients with operable ESCC, and to further determine the possible mechanism of the impact of Skp2 on survival.MethodsTissue microarrays that included 157 surgically resected ESCC specimens was successfully generated for immunohistochemical evaluation. The clinical/prognostic significance of Skp2 expression was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare the postoperative survival between groups. The prognostic impact of clinicopathologic variables and Skp2 expression was evaluated using a Cox proportional hazards model. A cell proliferation assay and a colony formation assay were performed in ESCC cell lines to determine the function of Skp2 on the progression of ESCC in vitro.ResultsSkp2 expression correlated closely with the T category (p = 0.035) and the pathological tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (p = 0.027). High expression of Skp2 was associated with poor overall survival in resectable ESCC (p = 0.01). The multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that pathological T category, pathological N category, cell differentiation, and negative Skp2 expression were independent factors for better overall survival. In vitro assays of ESCC cell lines demonstrated that Skp2 promoted the proliferative and colony-forming capacity of ESCCs.ConclusionsNegative Skp2 expression in primary resected ESCC is an independent factor for better survival. Skp2 may play a pro-proliferative role in ESCC cells.

Support vector machine-based nomogram predicts postoperative distant metastasis for patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background:We aim to develop effective models for predicting postoperative distant metastasis for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) for the purpose of guiding tailored therapy.Methods:We used data from two centres to establish training (n=319) and validation (n=164) cohorts. All patients underwent curative surgical treatment. The clinicopathological features and 23 immunomarkers detected by immunohistochemistry were involved for variable selection. We constructed eight support vector machine (SVM)-based nomograms (SVM1–SVM4 and SVM1’–SVM4’). The nomogram constructed with the training cohort was tested further with the validation cohort.Results:The outcome of the SVM1 model in predicting postoperative distant metastasis was as follows: sensitivity, 44.7%; specificity, 90.9%; positive predictive value, 81.0%; negative predictive value, 65.6%; and overall accuracy, 69.5%. The corresponding outcome of the SVM2 model was as follows: 44.7%, 92.1%, 82.9%, 65.9%, and 70.1%, respectively. The corresponding outcome of the SVM3 model was as follows: 55.3%, 93.2%, 87.5%, 70.7%, and 75.6%, respectively. The SVM4 model was the most effective nomogram in prediction, and the corresponding outcome was as follows: 56.6%, 97.7%, 95.6%, 72.3%, and 78.7%, respectively.Similar results were observed in SVM1’, SVM2’, SVM3’, and SVM4’, respectively.Conclusion:The SVM-based models integrating clinicopathological features and molecular markers as variables are helpful in selecting the patients of OSCC with high risk of postoperative distant metastasis.

Cyclin D1 expression predicts postoperative distant metastasis and survival in resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose We aim to identify esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients with increased risk of postoperative metastases. Results A high level of cyclin D1 expression, together with poor tumor cell differentiation and advanced tumor stages, increased risk of postoperative metastasis and decreased distant metastasis-free survival in ESCC in both cohorts. A high level of cyclin D1 expression also decreased overall survival in the training cohort (p < 0.01) but not in the validation cohort (p = 0.415). However, when the two cohorts of patients were pooled to obtain a larger case number, a high level of cyclin D1 expression was again demonstrated as an independent predictor that decreased overall survival (p < 0.01). Methods We used data from two institutions to establish training (n = 319) and validation (n = 164) cohorts. Tissue microarrays were generated for immunohistochemical evaluation. The correlation among cyclin D1 expression, clinicopathologic variables, postoperative distant metastases, overall survival, and distant metastasis-free survival were analyzed. Multivariate analyses were used to test the independent factors impacting postoperative distant metastases and survival. The outcomes generated from the training cohort were then tested using the validation cohort and pooled dataset. Conclusions High level of cyclin D1 expression increased distant metastasis, decreased overall survival and distant metastasis-free survival in resectable ESCC. Using a combination of cyclin D1 expression, tumor cell differentiation grade, and tumor stages, identifying patients with increased risk of postoperative metastases becomes possible.