Lei Song

T cell exhaustion and promoting effector function. Supporting this notion, knockout of a butyric acid-producing gene in Fn abolishes its anti-PD-1 boosting effect. In patients with MSS CRC, high intratumoral Fn predicts favorable response to anti-PD-1 therapy, indicating Fn as a potential biomarker of immunotherapy response in MSS CRC.

BACKGROUND: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are widely used in chemotherapy, but the reported PICC thrombosis incidence varies greatly, and risks of PICC thrombosis are not well defined. This study was to investigate the incidence and risk factors of PICC-related upper extremity vein thrombosis in cancer patients. METHODS: This was a prospective study conducted in two tertiary referral hospitals from May 2010 to February 2013. Cancer patients who were subject to PICC placement were enrolled and checked by Doppler ultrasound weekly for at least 1 month. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied for identification of risk factors. RESULTS: Three hundred and eleven cancer patients were enrolled in the study. One hundred and sixty (51.4%) developed PICC thrombosis, of which 87 (54.4%) cases were symptomatic. The mean time interval from PICC insertion to thrombosis onset was 11.04±5.538 days. The univariable logistic regression analysis showed that complications (odds ratio [OR] 1.686, P=0.032), less activity (OR 1.476, P=0.006), obesity (OR 3.148, P=0.000), and chemotherapy history (OR 3.405, P=0.030) were associated with PICC thrombosis. Multivariate analysis showed that less activity (OR 9.583, P=0.000) and obesity (OR 3.466, P=0.014) were significantly associated with PICC thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of PICC thrombosis is relatively high, and nearly half are asymptomatic. Less activity and obesity are risk factors of PICC-related thrombosis.

This retrospective study analyzed a large population of gastric cancer (GC) patients treated between 2010 and 2015 to investigate the clinical features and predictive risk factors for developing secondary primary malignancies (SPMs). The cumulative incidence of SPM was assessed using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Competing risk analyses adjusted for mortality were conducted using stratified Cox proportional hazard regression models and multivariate analyses to identify independent predictors of SPM. A total of 3289 out of 167,747 GC patients were included in the analytic cohort, with 155 patients diagnosed with SPM. Patients whose histologic type other than adenocarcinomas (AC) and signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) emerged as an independent risk factor for developing SPM (hazard ratio [HR] 2.262, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.146-4.465, P = 0.019) in multivariate Cox regression analysis. The surgical method, including biopsy/local excision (HR 2.3, [CI] 1.291-4.095, P = 0.005) and subtotal/total resection ([HR] 1.947, [CI] 1.028-3.687, P = 0.041), chemotherapy ([HR] 1.527, [CI] 1.006-2.316, P = 0.047), and histologic type ([HR] 2.318, [CI] 1.193-4.504, P = 0.013)), were identified as independent risk factors in the competitive risk model. Subgroup analyses, stratified by chemotherapy, revealed an increased risk of SPM among older patients. Furthermore, a nomogram was developed and internally validated to predict the cumulative incidence of SPM in GC patients (C-index = 0.73 for 72 months). These findings suggested that in specific histologic types of GC, the lymph node infiltration region missed after local surgical resection, and concomitant chemotherapy would have an increased risk of SPM for cancer survivors.

Background and objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a highly heterogeneous disease, making treatment and prognosis prediction challenging. Early diagnosis of CRC and identification of gene expressions associated with its onset are crucial for prognosis, especially before clinical symptoms appear. This study aims to explore potential key genes involved in CRC and evaluate their clinical application in predicting the disease. Methods: This study utilizes differential expression analysis and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify novel susceptibility modules and key genes associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). Through KEGG and GO analyses, we aim to investigate the potential functions of these key genes. Subsequently, we will construct a Nomogram model and assess its diagnostic value for CRC using ROC curves. Based on genome-wide association studies, a Mendelian randomization analysis will be conducted to determine the causal relationship between these key genes and CRC. Finally, we will explore the association between these key genes, which are causally linked to CRC risk factors, and immune cell infiltration. Results: A gene co-expression network was constructed using WGCNA, from which key modules related to colorectal cancer (CRC) were identified, along with 963 overlapping key genes derived from WGCNA. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses revealed that these genes are involved in the biosynthesis of ribonucleoprotein complexes, rRNA metabolic processes, chromatin organization-regulated signaling pathways, as well as cell cycle, DNA replication, and ribosome-related pathways. Using Cytoscape software, we identified the top five highly expressed genes: CDC2, CCNB1, CCNA2, TOP2A, and CCNB2. We then developed a Nomogram model, which effectively predicts the risk of CRC. The performance of this model in CRC diagnosis was further validated through ROC curve analysis, showing promising diagnostic accuracy. Finally, we focused on CDC2 and observed a causal relationship between CDC2 and immune cell infiltration in CDAD. Through inverse variance-weighted analysis, we found that CDC2 significantly increased the risk of CDAD, with an OR of 1.0005 (95% CI = 1.0001-1.001, P = 0.01). Conclusion: We successfully identified the core genes associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). This finding provides important insights for further research into early diagnostic methods for CRC, while also contributing to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying CRC risk genes.