Prognostic value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer: A meta-analysis

Recently, a series of studies explored the correlation between the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and the prognosis of lung cancer. However, the current opinion regarding the prognostic role of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer is inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis of published articles to investigate the prognostic value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer. The hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. An elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio predicted worse overall survival, with a pooled HR of 1.243 (95%CI: 1.106-1.397; Pheterogeneity=0.001) from multivariate studies and 1.867 (95%CI: 1.487-2.344; Pheterogeneity=0.047) from univariate studies. Subgroup analysis showed that a high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio yielded worse overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (HR=1.192, 95%CI: 1.061-1.399; Pheterogeneity=0.003) as well as small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (HR=1.550, 95% CI: 1.156-2.077; Pheterogeneity=0.625) in multivariate studies. The synthesized evidence from this meta-analysis of published articles demonstrated that an elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio was a predictor of poor overall survival in patients with lung cancer

The Ubiquitin Peptidase UCHL1 Induces G0/G1 Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis Through Stabilizing p53 and Is Frequently Silenced in Breast Cancer

Background: Breast cancer (BrCa) is a complex disease driven by aberrant gene alterations and environmental factors. Recent studies reveal that abnormal epigenetic gene regulation also plays an important role in its pathogenesis. Ubiquitin carboxyl- terminal esterase L1 (UCHL1) is a tumor suppressor silenced by promoter methylation in multiple cancers, but its role and alterations in breast tumorigenesis remain unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: We found that UCHL1 was frequently downregulated or silenced in breast cancer cell lines and tumor tissues, but readily expressed in normal breast tissues and mammary epithelial cells. Promoter methylation of UCHL1 was detected in 9 of 10 breast cancer cell lines (90%) and 53 of 66 (80%) primary tumors, but rarely in normal breast tissues, which was statistically correlated with advanced clinical stage and progesterone receptor status. Pharmacologic demethylation reactivated UCHL1 expression along with concomitant promoter demethylation. Ectopic expression of UCHL1 significantly suppressed the colony formation and proliferation of breast tumor cells, through inducing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Subcellular localization study showed that UCHL1 increased cytoplasmic abundance of p53. We further found that UCHL1 induced p53 accumulation and reduced MDM2 protein level, and subsequently upregulated the expression of p21, as well as cleavage of caspase3 and PARP, but not in catalytic mutant UCHL1 C90Sexpressed cells

Analysis of Microbial Diversity and Flavor Quality of Chopped Pepper Radish in Post-ripening

Comprehending the changes in the microbial community and volatile substances throughout the post-ripening stage of chopped pepper radish is particularly important for revealing the formation of the distinctive flavor of fermented peppers. The microbial communities and volatile compounds of chopped pepper radish in the post-ripening stage were examined in this work using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and headspace solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS), as well as their underlying correlations. Results indicated that 11 dominant fungal genera and 21 dominant bacterial genera (average relative abundance more than 1%) were filtered out. Sensory analysis showed that the flavor and taste of chopped pepper radish were significantly improved after post-ripening (P0.7 and P<0.05) were significantly related to one another. Pediococcus, Lactococcus, and Penicillium were significantly related to 11, 6, and 5 flavor substances, respectively. The findings in this study demonstrated how metabolites changed as chopped pepper radish underwent the post-ripening process and offered evidence to support efforts to raise the quality of chopped pepper radish

Epigenetic identification of mitogen-activated protein kinase 10 as a functional tumor suppressor and clinical significance for hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Mitogen-activated protein kinase 10 (Mapk10) is a member of the c-jun N-terminal kinases (jnk) subgroup in the MAPK superfamily, and was proposed as a tumor suppressor inactivated epigenetically. Its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not yet been illustrated. We aimed to investigate the expression and epigenetic regulation of mapk10 as well as its clinical significance in HCC. Results Mapk10 was expressed in almost all the normal tissues including liver, while we found that the protein expression of MAPK10 was significantly downregulated in clinical samples of HCC patients compared with these levels in adjacent normal tissues (29/46, P < 0.0001). Clinical significance of MAPK10 expression was then assessed in a cohort of 59 HCC cases, which indicated its negative expression was significantly correlated with advanced tumor stage (P = 0.001), more microsatellite nodules (P = 0.025), higher serum AFP (P = 0.001) and shorter overall survival time of HCC patients. Methylation was further detected in 58% of the HCC cell lines we tested and in 66% of primary HCC tissues by methylation-specific PCR (MSP), which was proved to be correlated with the silenced or downregulated expression of mapk10. To get the mechanisms more clear, the transcriptional silencing of mapk10 was reversed by pharmacological demethylation, and ectopic expression of mapk10 in silenced HCC cell lines significantly inhibited the colony formation ability, induced apoptosis, or enhanced the chemosensitivity of HCC cells to 5-fluorouracil. Conclusion Mapk10 appears to be a functional tumor suppressor gene frequently methylated in HCC, which could be a valuable biomarker or a new diagnosis and therapy target in a clinical setting