Screening of an individualized treatment strategy for an advanced gallbladder cancer using patient-derived tumor xenograft and organoid models

Gallbladder cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy with poor sensitivity to postoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy; therefore, the development of individualized treatment strategies is paramount to improve patient outcomes. Both patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDX) and patient-derived tumor organoid (PDO) models derived from surgical specimens can better preserve the biological characteristics and heterogeneity of individual original tumors, display a unique advantage for individualized therapy and predicting clinical outcomes. In this study, PDX and PDO models of advanced gallbladder cancer were established, and the consistency of biological characteristics between them and primary patient samples was confirmed using pathological analysis and RNA-sequencing. Additionally, we tested the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs, targeted drugs, and immune checkpoint inhibitors using these two models. The results demonstrated that gemcitabine combined with cisplatin induced significant therapeutic effects. Furthermore, treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors elicited promising responses in both the humanized mice and PDO immune models. Based on these results, gemcitabine combined with cisplatin was used for basic treatment, and immune checkpoint inhibitors were applied as a complementary intervention for gallbladder cancer. The patient responded well to treatment and exhibited a clearance of tumor foci. Our findings indicate that the combined use of PDO and PDX models can guide the clinical treatment course for gallbladder cancer patients to achieve individualized and effective treatment

A Meta-Analysis of Array-CGH Studies Implicates Antiviral Immunity Pathways in the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is significantly correlated to the accumulation of genomic alterations. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) has been applied to a wide range of tumors including HCCs for the genome-wide high resolution screening of DNA copy number changes. However, the relevant chromosomal variations that play a central role in the development of HCC still are not fully elucidated. METHODS: In present study, in order to further characterize the copy number alterations (CNAs) important to HCC development, we conducted a meta-analysis of four published independent array-CGH datasets including total 159 samples. RESULTS: Eighty five significant gains (frequency ≥ 25%) were mostly mapped to five broad chromosomal regions including 1q, 6p, 8q, 17q and 20p, as well as two narrow regions 5p15.33 and 9q34.2-34.3. Eighty eight significant losses (frequency ≥ 25%) were most frequently present in 4q, 6q, 8p, 9p, 13q, 14q, 16q, and 17p. Significant correlations existed between chromosomal aberrations either located on the same chromosome or the different chromosomes. HCCs with different etiologies largely exhibited surprisingly similar profiles of chromosomal aberrations with only a few exceptions. Furthermore, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis indicated that the genes affected by these chromosomal aberrations were significantly enriched in 31 canonical pathways with the highest enrichment observed for antiviral immunity pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings provide novel and important clues for the implications of antiviral immunity-related gene pathways in the pathogenesis and progression of HCC

Outlier knowledge management for extreme public health events: Understanding public opinions about COVID-19 based on microblog data

Based on complex adaptive system theory and information theory for investigating heterogeneous situations, this paper develops an outlier knowledge management framework based on three aspects—dimension, object, and situation—for dealing with extreme public health events. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we apply advanced natural language processing (NLP) technology to conduct data mining and feature extraction on the microblog data from the Wuhan area and the imported case province (Henan Province) during the high and median operating periods of the epidemic. Our experiment indicates that the semantic and sentiment vocabulary of words, the sentiment curve, and the portrait of patients seeking help were all heterogeneous in the context of COVID-19. We extract and acquire the outlier knowledge of COVID-19 and incorporate it into the outlier knowledge base of extreme public health events for knowledge sharing and transformation. The knowledge base serves as a think tank for public opinion guidance and platform suggestions for dealing with extreme public health events. This paper provides novel ideas and methods for outlier knowledge management in healthcare contexts

Low Expression of Phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2A) Promotes the Progression by Regulating Mitochondrial Morphology and ATP Content and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2A) modulates the levels of cAMP/cGMP and was recently found to be involved in mitochondria function regulation, closely related to multiple types of tumor progression. This study aimed to estimate the prognostic significance and biological effects of PDE2A on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We comprehensively analyzed the PDE2A mRNA expression in HCC based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and investigated the effects of PDE2A on the proliferation and metastatic capacity of HCC cells. PDE2A was downregulated in 25 cancer types, including HCC. Lower PDE2A expression was a protective factor in HCC and was negatively associated with serum AFP levels, tumor status, vascular invasion, histologic grade, and pathologic stage of HCC. Moreover, tumors with low PDE2A expression displayed a decreased immune function. Then, the ROC curve was used to assess the diagnostic ability of PDE2A in HCC (AUC = 0.823 in TCGA and AUC = 0.901 in GSE76427). Patients with low PDE2A expression exhibited worse outcomes compared with those with high PDE2A expression. Additionally, GO functional annotations demonstrated the involvement of PDE2A in the ECM organization, systems development, and ERK-related pathways, indicating that PDE2A might regulate HCC growth and metastasis. The in vitro experiments confirmed that overexpression of PDE2A inhibited proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion in two HCC cell lines (HLF and SNU-368), while inhibition of PDE2A has the opposite results. The mechanism of PDE2A’s effect on HCC cells is attributed to the change of mitochondrial morphology and ATP content. These data demonstrated that PDE2A closely participated in the regulation of HCC proliferation and metastasis and can be used as a predictive marker candidate and a potential therapeutic target for HCC

Low Expression of Phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2A) Promotes the Progression by Regulating Mitochondrial Morphology and ATP Content and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2A) modulates the levels of cAMP/cGMP and was recently found to be involved in mitochondria function regulation, closely related to multiple types of tumor progression. This study aimed to estimate the prognostic significance and biological effects of PDE2A on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We comprehensively analyzed the PDE2A mRNA expression in HCC based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and investigated the effects of PDE2A on the proliferation and metastatic capacity of HCC cells. PDE2A was downregulated in 25 cancer types, including HCC. Lower PDE2A expression was a protective factor in HCC and was negatively associated with serum AFP levels, tumor status, vascular invasion, histologic grade, and pathologic stage of HCC. Moreover, tumors with low PDE2A expression displayed a decreased immune function. Then, the ROC curve was used to assess the diagnostic ability of PDE2A in HCC (AUC = 0.823 in TCGA and AUC = 0.901 in GSE76427). Patients with low PDE2A expression exhibited worse outcomes compared with those with high PDE2A expression. Additionally, GO functional annotations demonstrated the involvement of PDE2A in the ECM organization, systems development, and ERK-related pathways, indicating that PDE2A might regulate HCC growth and metastasis. The in vitro experiments confirmed that overexpression of PDE2A inhibited proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion in two HCC cell lines (HLF and SNU-368), while inhibition of PDE2A has the opposite results. The mechanism of PDE2A’s effect on HCC cells is attributed to the change of mitochondrial morphology and ATP content. These data demonstrated that PDE2A closely participated in the regulation of HCC proliferation and metastasis and can be used as a predictive marker candidate and a potential therapeutic target for HCC

Original Article Impact of multiple Alcohol Dehydrogenase gene polymorphisms on risk of laryngeal, esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancers in Chinese Han population

Abstract: Alcohol intake is positively associated with the risk of upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancers; but its effect on gastric or colorectal cancer is controversial. Previous study had identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) genes associated with UADT cancers in European and Japanese populations. We sought to determine if these SNPs associated with laryngeal, esophageal, gastric or colorectal cancer in Chinese population. We conducted a case-control study among 1577 cases and 1013 healthy controls from northwest China. Five SNPs associated with UADT cancers risk were selected from previous genome-wide association studies and genotyped using Sequenom Mass-ARRAY technology. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by unconditional logistic regression adjusting for age and gender. We identified that the minor alleles of rs1789924 and rs971074 were associated with decreased risk of laryngeal cancer (OR = 0.311; 95% CI = 0.161-0.602; P < 0.001) and esophagus cancer (OR = 0.711; 95% CI = 0.526-0.962; P = 0.027) in allelic model analysis, respectively. In the genetic model analysis, we found the "C/T" genotype of rs1789924 was associated with decreased laryngeal cancer risk in codominant model (P = 0.046) and overdominant model (P = 0.013); the "C/T-T/T" genotype of rs1789924 was associated with reduced risk of laryngeal cancer under dominant model (P = 0.013). Additionally, none of the SNPs was associated with gastric or colorectal cancer in our study. Our data shed new light on the association between ADH SNPs and respiratory and digestive tract cancers susceptibility in the Han Chinese population

Optical imaging of gastric cancer with near-infrared heptamethine carbocyanine fluorescence dyes

Near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging agents are promising tools for noninvasive cancer imaging. Here, we explored the tumor-specific targeting ability of NIRF heptamethine carbocyanine MHI-148 dye in cultured gastric cancer cells, gastric cancer cell-derived and patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDX) models. We show that the NIRF dye specifically accumulated in tumor regions of both xenograft models, suggesting the potential utility of the dye for tumor-specific imaging and targeting in gastric cancer. We also demonstrated significant correlations between NIRF signal intensity and tumor volume in PDX models. Mechanistically, the higher cellular uptake of MHI-148 in gastric cancer cells than in normal cells was stimulated by hypoxia and activation of a group of organic anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP) genes. Importantly, this NIRF dye was not retained in inflammatory stomach tissues induced by gastric ulcer in mice. In addition, fresh clinical gastric tumor specimens, when perfused with NIR dye, exhibited increased uptake of NIR dye in situ. Together, these results show the possibility of using NIRF dyes as novel candidate agents for clinical imaging and detection of gastric cancer

Polymorphisms in Genes of Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Key Enzymes Are Associated with Early Recurrence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Alterations of activity and expression in tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle key enzymes have been indicated in several malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). They play an important role in the progression of cancer. However, the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes encoding these key enzymes on the recurrence of HCC has not been investigated. In this study, we genotyped 17 SNPs in genes encoding TCA cycle key enzymes and analyzed their association with recurrence-free survival (RFS) in a cohort of 492 Chinese HCC patients by Cox proportional hazard model and survival tree analysis. We identified 7 SNPs in SDHC, SDHD, FH, and IDH2 genes to be significantly associated with the RFS of HCC patients. Moreover, all these SNPs were associated with the early recurrence (within 2 years after surgery) risk of diseases. Cumulative effect analysis showed that these SNPs exhibited a dose-dependent effect on the overall and early recurrence. Further stratified analysis suggested that number of risk genotypes modified the protective effect on HCC recurrence conferred by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization treatment. Finally, the survival tree analysis revealed that SNP rs10789859 in SDHD gene was the primary factor contributing to HCC recurrence in our population. To the best of our knowledge, we for the first time observed the association between SNPs in genes encoding TCA cycle key enzymes and HCC recurrence risk. Further observational and functional studies are needed to validate our findings and generalize its clinical usage

Modeling sediment texture of river-deltaic wetlands in the Lower Barataria Bay and Lower Breton Sound, Louisiana, USA

© 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Wetlands in the Mississippi River Delta Plain (MRDP) have been suffering from a high rate of land loss. Sediment cores have been drilled into the wetlands to understand their growth and degradation and to provide subsurface information for the coastal protection and restoration projects. However, few three-dimensional (3D) stratigraphy models have been developed for the wetlands on a regional scale, due to difficulties in correlating large amount of spatial scattered subsurface data and integrated visualization of stratigraphic features and topobathymetric features. In this study, a 3D model was constructed in the Lower Barataria Bay (LBB) and the Lower Breton Sound (LBS), covering an area of 190 km2 and extending from 0.5 to − 4 m in elevation. Sediment composition (sand%, silt%, and clay%) was spatially interpolated, using a compositional kriging method, extended from ordinary kriging by a log-ratio transformation. Instead of visualizing three composition components independently, sediment composition was translated into sediment texture to be visualized as sediment types. Modeling results intuitively show spatial distribution of stratigraphic features and their spatial relationships with topobathymetric features such as marsh surface, river channel, and dredging channels. Results show a silty depositional package, which consists of crevasse splays and periodic overbank flooding deposits, made up the largest portion of the wetlands. A clayey blanket is observed to cover most part of the LBB and landward side of the LBS. A large area of clayey blanket in the seaward part of the LBS has apparently been eroded away, which is likely caused by coastal reworking processes

NIRF Optical/PET Dual-Modal Imaging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Heptamethine Carbocyanine Dye

Combining near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) and nuclear imaging techniques provides a novel approach for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis. Here, we report the synthesis and characteristics of a dual-modality NIRF optical/positron emission tomography (PET) imaging probe using heptamethine carbocyanine dye and verify its feasibility in both nude mice and rabbits with orthotopic xenograft liver cancer. This dye, MHI-148, is an effective cancer-specific NIRF imaging agent and shows preferential uptake and retention in liver cancer. The corresponding NIRF imaging intensity reaches 109/cm2 tumor area at 24 h after injection in mice with HCC subcutaneous tumors. The dye can be further conjugated with radionuclide 68Ga (68Ga-MHI-148) for PET tracing. We applied the dual-modality methodology toward the detection of HCC in both patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDX) models and rabbit orthotopic transplantation models. NIRF/PET images showed clear tumor delineation after probe injection (MHI-148 and 68Ga-MHI-148). The tumor-to-muscle (T/M) standardized uptake value (SUV) ratios were obtained from PET at 1 h after injection of 68Ga-MHI-148, which was helpful for effectively capturing small tumors in mice (0.5 cm × 0.3 cm) and rabbits (1.2 cm × 1.8 cm). This cancer-targeting NIRF/PET dual-modality imaging probe provides a proof of principle for noninvasive detection of deep-tissue tumors in mouse and rabbit and is a promising technique for more accurate and early detection of HCC