Int J Med Sci
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Background: Adenine exhibits potential anticancer activity against several types of malignancies. However, whether adenine has anticancer effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells is incompletely explored. Methods: Human HCC cell lines HepG2 and SK-Hep-1 (p53-wild type) and Hep3B (p53-deficient) were used as cell model. ⋯ Inhibition of AMPK activation or knockdown of AMPK restored the decreased cell growth of HepG2 and SK-Hep-1 cells in response to adenine. Conclusions: These findings reveal that adenine reduces the cell growth of HepG2 and SK-Hep-1 but not Hep3B cells, attributing to the AMPK/p53-mediated S phase arrest and apoptosis. It suggests that adenine has anticancer potential against p53-wild type HCC cells and may be beneficial as an adjuvant for HCC treatment.
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Postoperative BMI Loss at One Year Correlated with Poor Outcomes in Chinese Gastric Cancer Patients.
Purpose: The present study focused on the long-term prognostic value of dynamic body mass index (BMI) change in gastric cancer patients who underwent gastrectomy. Methods: Clinical data from a total of 576 gastric cancer patients who underwent radical gastrectomy were collected. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to demonstrate the association between dynamic BMI variables (BMI before surgery, 1 month, 6 months or 12 months after surgery) and prognosis (DFS and OS). ⋯ The prognostic value of postoperative BMI loss at one year was consistent among most clinicopathological subgroups, except for tumor site (interaction p=0.025 for OS). Conclusion: In Chinese gastric cancer patients who underwent gastrectomy, higher postoperative BMI (≥ 23) was significantly associated with longer survival time, whereas severe BMI loss (>10%) at one year after surgery was associated with worse outcomes. Thus, body weight maintenance after treatment is important, and dynamic monitoring of body weight and nutritional status should be emphasized in clinical practice.
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Observational Study
Vitamin D Status and Pregnancy Complications: Serum 1,25-di-hydroxyl-Vitamin D and its Ratio to 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D are Superior Biomarkers than 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D.
Vitamin D (VitD) deficiency during pregnancy has been associated with adverse neonatal outcomes and increased risk of late pregnancy complications. We planned to correlate serum VitD biomarkers; 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-VitD) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-diOH-VitD) levels; and their ratio with the frequency of feto-maternal pregnancy complications. A prospective cross-sectional case-control study was conducted at Aljouf Maternity and Children Hospital, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia, during the period of September 1, 2017 to September 30, 2019. 322 pregnant women were stratified into 2 groups: controls (110 cases) and complicated group (212 cases). ⋯ ROC analysis showed very high sensitivity and specificity, to differentiate patients from controls, only for 1,25-diOH-VitD (AUC = 0.965; 0.947 - 0.983, p <0.001) followed by the ratio but not 25-OH-VitD. In conclusions, 25-OH-VitD did not show significant changes except for GDM. 1,25-diOH-VitD levels and the ratio showed strong associations with pregnancy complications. Serum 1,25-di-OH-VitD and its ratio to 25-OH-VitD are more reliable and physiologically relevant biomarkers for VitD status in pregnancy.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of outcomes in intrauterine insemination, in vitro fertilisation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection in men with and without varicocele.
Objectives: To investigate the differences in clinical pregnancy, miscarriage, and live birth rates when male partners were diagnosed with a varicocele and to compare these outcomes to those without and study the outcomes based on the grade of varicocele. Methods: The retrospective study was based on a cohort of consecutive infertile couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) at the Reproductive Center of Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to the Shandong University during the period between January 2017 and December 2018. A total of 4203 couples comprised of men with and without varicocele undergoing the first ART cycle (1501 intrauterine inseminations (IUI), 1623 in vitro fertilisations (IVF) and 1079 intracytoplasmic sperm injections (ICSI)) were included. ⋯ In IVF, ORs for live birth where men were diagnosed with grades 1 or 2 varicocele were also lower than those for men with grade 3,whereas a higher miscarriage rate was found when men had grades 1 or 2 varicocele than when men had grade 3. However, for ICSI, no significant outcomes were found in grades 1, 2 or 3 varicocele versus the no varicocele group. Conclusions: The increasing grade of varicocele was negatively associated with sperm parameters and can alter the outcome of further IUI/IVF.
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Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy, chemo-resistance is the main cause for treatment failure. Our previous studies have found that SKOV3 could promote immune escape and tumor progression via Notch1 pathway. Therefore, Notch1 is suspected to be involved in chemo-resistance. ⋯ Notch1 affected apoptosis of cells through Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), increasing the proportion of cells in S phase and G2 phase, thus affecting drug resistance. Conclusion: Notch1 affects EOC cells chemo-resistance by regulating EMT. This may provide a new target for the treatment of ovarian cancer.