Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are the strongest response predictors to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) therapy, but knowledge of the EGFR mutation frequency on lung adenocarcinoma is still limited to retrospective studies. The PIONEER study (NCT01185314) is a prospective molecular epidemiology study in Asian patients with newly diagnosed advanced lung adenocarcinoma, aiming to prospectively analyze EGFR mutation status in IIIB/IV treatment-naïve lung adenocarcinomas in Asia. We report the mainland China subset results. Eligible patients (≥20 yrs old, IIIB/IV adenocarcinoma and treatment-naïve) were registered in 17 hospitals in mainland China. EGFR was tested for mutations by amplification refractory mutation system using biopsy samples. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected for subgroup analyses. A total of 747 patients were registered. Successful EGFR mutation analysis was performed in 741, with an overall mutation rate of 50.2%. The EGFR active mutation rate is 48.0% (with 1.3% of combined active and resistance mutations). Tobacco use (>30 pack-year vs. 0–10 pack-year, OR 0.27, 95%CI: 0.17–0.42) and regional lymph nodes involvement (N3 vs. N0, OR 0.47, 95%CI: 0.29–0.76) were independent predictors of EGFR mutation in multivariate analysis. However, even in regular smokers, the EGFR mutation frequency was 35.3%. The EGFR mutation frequency was similar between diverse biopsy sites and techniques. The overall EGFR mutation frequency of the mainland China subset was 50.2%, independently associated with the intensity of tobacco use and regional lymph nodes involvement. The relatively high frequency of EGFR mutations in the mainland China subset suggest that any effort to obtain tissue sample for EGFR mutation testing should be encouraged.

LSD1 showed a significantly higher expression, in contrast to the significantly lower expression of E-cadherin, in colon cancer specimens classified as high TNM stage lesions and with distant metastasis. Positive expression of LSD1 and negative expression of E-cadherin may be predictors of a worse colon cancer prognosis.

Radioimmunotherapy with (131)I-chTNT was well tolerated and can be used systemically or locally to treat refractory tumors of the lung.

Contrast-enhanced sonography enables differentiation of viable from necrotic portions of thoracic lesions and has a positive impact on the diagnostic efficacy of sonographically guided transthoracic needle biopsy.

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BackgroundCervical cancer is a common cancer of women in developing countries, and radiotherapy still remains its predominant therapeutic treatment. Collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1A1) has been shown to have a radioresistance effect in previous studies. However, such effect of COL1A1 has not yet been revealed in cervical cancer.MethodsExpression of COL1A1 in cervical cancer tissues and normal tissues was assessed by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The effect of COL1A1 on radioresistance of human cervical cancer cell lines HeLa and CaSki was assessed using the colony formation assay. Apoptosis alterations were analyzed by flow cytometry. In addition, western blotting was used assessed the alterations of several critical apoptosis and signaling pathway related proteins.ResultsThe expression of COL1A1 was significantly increased in cervical cancer tissues compared with normal tissues at the mRNA and protein level. Further, based on COL1A1 knock down and COL1A1 activation cell models, a negative correlation was observed between COL1A1 expression level and radiosensitivity. Moreover, the findings are further supported by apoptosis analysis that COL1A1 activation could inhibit the apoptosis of cervical cancer cells. Subsequently, a significantly decreased expression of p-AKT and Bcl-2, increased expression of Caspase-3 were observed in the LY294002 plus radiation group compared with radiation alone group, while these influences caused by LY294002 or X-ray radiation were reversed after COL1A1 activation.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the only study to profile the mechanisms that COL1A1 plays a crucial role in cervical cells anti-apoptosis induced by radiation. Therefore, our identification of radioresistance-related COL1A1 in cervical cancer could be a starting point to explore the function of collagens, adding a new dimension to our understanding of the cervical cancer, assisting cancer biologists and clinical oncologists in novel therapeutic strategies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12935-017-0443-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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