Confounded association between proton pump inhibitor use and risk of biliary tract cancer: Result from three cohorts

Recent epidemiological studies suggested that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use was associated with an increased risk of biliary tract cancer (BTC), however, confounders were not adequately controlled. Our study aimed to evaluate PPI use and subsequent risk of BTC and its subtypes in three well-established cohorts. We conducted a pooled analysis of the subjects free of cancers in UK Biobank (n = 463 643), Nurses' Health Study (NHS, n = 80 235) and NHS II (n = 95 869). Propensity score weighted Cox models were used to estimate marginal HRs of PPIs use on BTC risk, accounting for potential confounders. We documented 284 BTC cases in UK Biobank (median follow-up: 7.6 years), and 91 cases in NHS and NHS II cohorts (median follow-up: 15.8 years). In UK biobank, PPI users had a 96% higher risk of BTC compared to nonusers in crude model (HR 1.96, 95% CI 1.44-2.66), but the effect was attenuated to null after adjusting for potential confounders (HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.60-1.49). PPI use was not associated with risk of BTC in the pooled analysis of three cohorts (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.60-1.43). We also observed no associations between PPI use with risk of intrahepatic (HR 1.00, 95% CI 0.49-2.04), extrahepatic bile duct (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.52-2.27) and gallbladder cancers (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.26-1.66) in UK Biobank. In summary, regular use of PPIs was not associated with the risk of BTC and its subtypes.     

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy increases the 5-year overall survival of patients with resectable cervical cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Cervical cancer is a global health challenge in women. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is a recent prospect for alternative cervical cancer treatments. This study investigated the efficacy of NACT against resectable cervical cancer based on the medium and long-term survival of patients with the disease. We searched through PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO and Cochrane Library for relevant reports published by June 2020. The primary outcomes were 3-year and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with resectable cervical cancer. Overall, 22 publications encompassing 5627 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We found NACT not to affect both 3-year PFS and OS as well as 5-year PFS of patients with resectable cervical cancer. However, NACT significantly improves the 5-year OS of patients with resectable cervical cancer (HR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.73–0.94, p = 0.013). Subgroup analysis (RCTs, non-RCTs, NACT + surgery + AT vs. surgery + AT, NACT + surgery + AT vs. CCRT/RT/CRT) further revealed NACT had no significant effect on 5-year PFS of patients with resectable cervical cancer, converse to the 5-year OS subgroup analysis, which validated the beneficial effect of NACT in patients with resectable cervical cancer. In addition, the effect of NACT was most significant in the non-RCTs subgroup (p = 0.012). NACT may improve the long-term prognosis of patients with resectable cervical cancer. However, further large-scale multicenter studies are needed to validate this finding.     

基于网络药理学和临床试验探讨前列消汤对ⅢA型前列腺炎IL-17与Foxp3表达影响研究＊

目的 基于网络药理学进行前列消汤治疗慢性前列腺炎的预测，同时采用临床试验进行验证，证明前列消汤对ⅢA型前列腺炎患者的临床疗效及对前列腺液（Expressed Prostatic Secretion， EPS）中白细胞介素17（interleukin 17， IL-17）及双头叉转录因子p3（Forkhead box p3， Foxp3）表达的影响。方法 采用网络信息学分析方法，筛选出前列消汤在ⅢA型前列腺炎治疗中发挥疗效的主要作用靶点，采用临床随机非盲法，将符合纳入标准的80例ⅢA型前列腺炎湿热下注证患者随机分为观察组和对照组各40例，观察组口服自拟前列消汤，对照组口服银花泌炎灵片。观察治疗前后两组的症状及证候评分情况、前列腺按摩液以及其IL17、Foxp3表达的差异。取40例正常男性前列腺液为正常对照。结果 网络药理学分析结果提示IL17信号通路为前列消汤治疗慢性前列腺炎的重要通路之一，临床试验结果提示经治疗后观察组有效率达89.19%，较对照组的73.68%为优（P < 0.05）。两组患者服药后的临床表现、前列腺按摩液WBC、症状及证候评分均存在明显改善。观察组和对照组IL-17水平较治疗前下降，Foxp3表达较治疗前升高（P < 0.05）。观察组对降低IL-17表达和提升Foxp3表达上较对照组差异更大（P < 0.05）。观察组治疗后与正常组IL-17和Foxp3水平比较差异较小（P > 0.05）。结论 网络药理学能一定程度上预测中药作用于疾病的相应靶点，前列消汤对ⅢA型前列腺炎湿热下注证患者的临床症状有明显改善作用，并能降低IL-17表达，对Foxp3表达有提升作用，在总有效率和对细胞因子的影响上较银花泌炎灵片组明显。     

Factors Associated with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Kinetics and Responses in Pegylated Interferon Alpha-2a Monotherapy for Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Objective Pegylated-interferon monotherapy is the standard treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis B; however, the factors associated with its therapeutic effects remain unclear. Methods Patients with chronic hepatitis B were treated with pegylated interferon α-2a for 48 weeks. We evaluated the kinetics of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) during treatment and follow-up periods and the factors associated with an HBsAg response (defined as a change in HBsAg of ≥-1 log IU/mL from baseline). Results The study population comprised 50 patients. The median baseline levels of hepatitis B virus DNA and HBsAg were 5.00 and 3.40 log IU/mL. The median values of HBsAg reduction from baseline were -0.44 (n=48), -0.41 (n=40), and -0.68 (n=11) log IU/mL at the end of treatment and at 48 and 144 weeks post-treatment, respectively. The rates of HBsAg response were 24.0% and 22.5% at the end of treatment and at 48 weeks post-treatment, respectively. A multivariate analysis identified HBsAg <3.00 log IU/mL as an independent baseline factor contributing to the HBsAg response at the end of treatment and 48 weeks post-treatment (p=1.07×10^-2 and 4.42×10^-2, respectively). There were significant differences in the reduction of the HBsAg levels at 12 weeks of treatment and in the incidence of serum ALT increase during treatment between patients with and without an HBsAg response. Conclusion These findings suggest that the baseline HBsAg level, HBsAg kinetics at 12 weeks of treatment, and ALT increase during treatment are important factors contributing to the HBsAg response in pegylated interferon α-2a monotherapy for patients with chronic hepatitis B.     

Impaired Sensorimotor Gating Using the Acoustic Prepulse Inhibition Paradigm in Individuals at a Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Many robust studies have investigated prepulse inhibition (PPI) in patients with schizophrenia. Recent evidence indicates that PPI may help identify individuals who are at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR). Selective attention to prepulse stimulus can specifically enhance PPI in healthy subjects; however, this enhancement effect is not observed in patients with schizophrenia. Modified PPI measurement with selective attentional modulation using perceived spatial separation (PSS) condition may be a more robust and sensitive index of PPI impairment in CHR individuals. The current study investigated an improved PSSPPI condition in CHR individuals compared with patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and healthy controls (HC) and evaluated the accuracy of PPI in predicting CHR from HC. We included 53 FESs, 55 CHR individuals, and 53 HCs. CHRs were rated on the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes. The measures of perceived spatial co-location PPI (PSCPPI) and PSSPPI conditions were applied using 60- and 120-ms lead intervals. Compared with HC, the CHR group had lower PSSPPI level (Inter-stimulus interval [ISI] = 60 ms, P < .001; ISI = 120 ms, P < .001). PSSPPI showed an effect size (ES) between CHR and HC (ISI = 60 ms, Cohen’s d = 0.91; ISI = 120 ms, Cohen’s d = 0.98); on PSSPPI using 60-ms lead interval, ES grade increased from CHR to FES. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for PSSPPI was greater than that for PSCPPI. CHR individuals showed a PSSPPI deficit similar to FES, with greater ES and sensitivity. PSSPPI appears a promising objective approach for preliminary identification of CHR individuals.     

Defining the dimensions of circulating tumor cells in a large series of breast,prostate, colon,and bladder cancer patients

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of cancer patients are of high clinical relevance. Since detection and isolation of CTCs often rely on cell dimensions, knowledge of their size is key. We analyzed the median CTC size in a large cohort of breast (BC), prostate (PC), colorectal (CRC), and bladder (BLC) cancer patients. Images of patient‐derived CTCs acquired on cartridges of the FDA‐cleared CellSearch^® method were retrospectively collected and automatically re‐analyzed using the accept software package. The median CTC diameter (μm) was computed per tumor type. The size differences between the different tumor types and references (tumor cell lines and leukocytes) were nonparametrically tested. A total of 1962 CellSearch^® cartridges containing 71 612 CTCs were included. In BC, the median computed diameter (CD) of patient‐derived CTCs was 12.4 μm vs 18.4 μm for cultured cell line cells. For PC, CDs were 10.3 μm for CTCs vs 20.7 μm for cultured cell line cells. CDs for CTCs of CRC and BLC were 7.5 μm and 8.6 μm, respectively. Finally, leukocytes were 9.4 μm. CTC size differed statistically significantly between the four tumor types and between CTCs and the reference data. CTC size differences between tumor types are striking and CTCs are smaller than cell line tumor cells, whose size is often used as reference when developing CTC analysis methods. Based on our data, we suggest that the size of CTCs matters and should be kept in mind when designing and optimizing size‐based isolation methods.

Abbreviations

ACCEPT

Automated CTC Classification, Enumeration, and PhenoTyping software

BC

breast cancer

BLC

bladder cancer

CD

computed diameter

CEL

cultured tumor cell (cell line)

CK

cytokeratin

CRC

colorectal cancer

CTC‐L

circulating tumor cells derived from cerebrospinal fluid (liquor)

CTCs

circulating tumor cells

DAPI

4′6‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole

EMT

epithelial–mesenchymal transition

EpCAM

epithelial cell adhesion molecule

IQR

interquartile range

KW test

Kruskal–Wallis test

MWU test

Mann–Whitney U test

NCR

nucleus/cytoplasm ratio

P2A

perimeter to area

PC

prostate cancer

TIF

tagged Image Format files

TXT

text file

μm

micrometer

µm²

square micrometers

     

苦寒药与生物钟基因的关系研究进展＊

苦寒类中药善于清热燥湿以改善机体内环境稳态，目前在临床上被广泛应用于糖尿病、肥胖、炎症、菌群失调等慢性或代谢性疾病，而这些疾病往往都伴随着机体生物钟系统的失衡。改善生物钟失衡可能是苦寒药治疗这些疾病的作用机制之一，同时，在生物钟的调控下，机体新陈代谢及内分泌等行为的节律性波动也可能影响苦寒药的药效。既往对苦寒药在临床应用上的研究大部分集中于胃肠动力及激素等基础研究上，从生物钟基因的角度鲜有见到深入的研究与阐述。因此，本文从临床常用苦寒药对生物钟基因的影响及生物钟基因对苦寒药作用的影响两个方面探讨苦寒药的应用，同时分析二者之间的关系和归纳苦寒药影响生物钟基因共同的物质基础，以期为苦寒药作用多靶点以及指导临床合理用药和中药药性物质基础研究提供参考。     

两种保留自主神经D3根治术治疗中低位直肠癌的安全性及生存质量比较

目的比较腹腔镜保留自主神经D3根治术与开腹术治疗中低位直肠癌的安全性及生存质量差异。 方法回顾性分析2015年6月至2017年8月间84例低位直肠癌患者资料，根据手术方式不同分为腹腔镜组(n＝46)和开腹组(n＝38)，应用SPSS21.0软件完成数据分析。手术相关指标采用( ±s)表示，独立样本t检验；并发症发生率、复发率及生存率等指标采用χ²检验；P<0.05为差异有统计学意义。 结果腹腔镜组患者的手术时间长于开腹组(P<0.05)，而术中出血量、住院时间、尿管保留时间、肛门排气时间均短于开腹组(均P<0.05)。腹腔镜组术后并发症总发生率为6.5%低于开腹组的26.3%(χ²＝4.6517，P<0.05)。两组患者1年局部复发率及生存率差异均无统计学意义(均P>0.05)。腹腔镜组患者术后10 d排尿功能、术后2个月勃起功能、术后2个月射精功能均优于开腹组(均P<0.05)。 结论腹腔镜保留自主神经D3根治术治疗中低位直肠癌安全性较高，复发率及生存率与开腹术相当，并能显著提高患者的生存质量，值得推广应用。