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Our data suggest that expression of PD-L1 protein is upregulated by the simultaneous amplification of the PD-L1 and JAK2 genes through JAK-STAT signaling in NCSLC.

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Friction stir welding (FSW) was applied to ultra low-carbon interstitial free steels with mean grain sizes ranging from 0.7 mm, prepared by accumulative roll-bonding, to 27 mm. The steel with the intermediate grain size (1.8 mm) is most preferable for obtaining the highest hardness in the stir zone with the smallest grain size.

Purpose: Lung adenocarcinomas among never-smokers are more common in females than in males. This implies that gender-dependent hormones promote smoking unrelated lung adenocarcinoma. We therefore investigated mRNA expression of aromatase, an intrinsic estrogen synthetase, in lung adenocarcinoma and assessed its correlation to clinicopathologic factors, including EGFR mutations and postsurgical prognosis.Experimental Design: Aromatase mRNA expression in primary tumor samples from 110 patients with lung adenocarcinoma was evaluated with qRT-PCR. Inhibitory effects of the aromatase inhibitor exemestane were assessed in lung adenocarcinoma cell lines (11-18 and HCC4006), which have EGFR mutations, separately and combined with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib.Results: Aromatase gene expression was not correlated with patients' clinicopathologic factors, including EGFR mutation status. High aromatase expression was associated with poor prognosis for both recurrencefree survival (P ¼ 0.004) and overall survival (P ¼ 0.003). In addition, the prognostic significance of aromatase expression was limited to females, never-smokers, and patients with EGFR mutations, but not in their counterparts. HCC4006, which has a low aromatase mRNA expression level, was not sensitive to exemestane, either alone or combined with erlotinib. In contrast, growth of 11-18 cells, which have high aromatase expression, was significantly inhibited by exemestane, both alone and combined with erlotinib.Conclusions: Aromatase is a candidate prognostic factor in patients with lung adenocarcinoma, especially in those with EGFR mutations, and may also be a beneficial therapeutic target in those patients.

Ultrafine grained commercial purity titanium (CP-Ti) was fabricated by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) process up to 6 cycles at ambient temperature. The microstructure was composed of the equiaxed grain structure having a mean grain size of 90 nm and the lamellar boundary structure having a mean lamellar spacing of 70 nm. The specimen ARB processed by 6 cycles were subsequently annealed at various temperatures for 1.8 ks. After annealing at 400 C, the ARB specimen showed the partially recrystallized microstructure composed of recrystallized grains with grain size of approximately 0.5 mm and the recovered ultrafine structure. After annealing at 500 C, the microstructure was filled with the equiaxed recrystallized grains having a mean grain size of approximately 2 mm. The mechanical properties of the ARB processed and subsequently annealed specimens were investigated by tensile test. The tensile strength decreased and the total elongation increased continuously with increasing the annealing temperature. It was found that the tensile strength decreased linearly with increasing the total elongation in a strength-ductility balance plot, which was significantly different from the cases of Al and the interstitial free (IF) steel where the strength-elongation balance showed a trade-off relationship. The result indicates that ultrafine grained Ti has an excellent strength-ductility balance compared with Al and IF steel.

Tensile tests of single crystalline and polycrystalline Mg-Y alloys were carried out at room temperature to investigate the in uence of yttrium on activation of slip systems and to clarify the relationship between ductility of magnesium and the activation of slip systems. Tensile directions of single crystals and polycrystals were parallel to (0001) and their rolling direction, respectively. Mg-(0.6-1.1)at%Y alloy single crystals yielded due to the rst order pyramidal slip (FPCS). Yield stress and ductility of Mg-(0.6-1.1)at%Y alloy single crystals were higher than those of pure magnesium. Mg-0.9at%Y alloy polycrystals showed higher ductility than pure magnesium. The number of grains where second order pyramidal slips were activated was the largest in those where non-basal slips were activated in pure magnesium, while those where FPCS were activated increased with increasing strain in Mg-0.9at%Y alloy. High ductility of Mg-0.9at%Y alloy would be caused by activation of FPCS due to yttrium addition.

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