Background Previous studies have confirmed that systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) can predict the prognosis and chemotherapy efficacy of various malignant tumors. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study investigated the SII combined with PNI score to predict the efficacy of anti-programmed death 1 (anti-PD-1) antibody sintilimab and XELOX regimen (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) in the treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer. This study aims to evaluate the predictive value of pre-treatment SII-PNI score on the sensitivity of sintilimab immunotherapy combined with XELOX chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer. Methods We registered a prospective clinical study involving 30 locally advanced gastric cancer patients from March 2020 to July 2021. The pre-treatment SII and PNI were calculated from peripheral blood samples, and the cut-off value was calculated by receiver operating characteristic. The SII-PNI score ranged from 0 to 2 and were categorized into the following: score of 2, high SII (≥ 568.5) and low PNI (≤ 52.7); score of 1, either high SII or low PNI; score of 0, no high SII nor low PNI. Results All patients were evaluated by RECIST1.1 criteria after four cycles of sintilimab immunotherapy combined with XELOX chemotherapy, including 5 patients with TRG 3 and 25 patients with non-TRG 3. The SII-PNI score of non-TRG 3 patients was significantly lower than that of TRG 3 patients (P = 0.017). The medial progression free survival of patients with low SII-PNI score was significantly better than that of patients with high SII-PNI score (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that SII-PNI score was an independent prognostic factor for predicting progression-free survival (P = 0.003). Conclusion The pre-treatment SII-PNI score is a significant indicator for predicting chemosensitivity of locally advanced patients after sintilimab immunotherapy combined with XELOX chemotherapy, which can help to identify high-risk groups and predict prognosis. Trial registration: The registered name of the trial is “Prospective clinical study of sintilimab combined with chemotherapy for neoadjuvant therapy in locally advanced gastric cancer”. Its Current Controlled Trials number is ChiCTR2000030414. Its date of registration is 01/03/2020.

Background There is a lack of comparative analyses on the use of carbon nanoparticle suspension injection (CNSI) and indocyanine green (ICG) tracer technology for lymph node detection and their perioperative safety in robotic radical gastrectomy. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on patients who underwent robotic distal gastrectomy between November 2019 and November 2020. Patients were assigned to the CNSI group, the ICG group, or the control group. The number of lymph nodes detected, number of lymph nodes detected at each station, number of micro lymph nodes detected, rate of lymph node metastasis, and inoperative and postoperative recovery were compared. Results Of the 93 patients analyzed, 34 were in the CNSI group, 27 were in the ICG group, and 32 were in the control group. The mean number of lymph nodes retrieved in the CNSI group (48.44) was higher than that in the ICG (39.19) and control (35.28) groups (P = 0.004; P < 0.001), and there was no difference between the ICG and control groups (P = 0.102). The mean number of micro lymph nodes retrieved in the CNSI group (13.24) was higher than that in the ICG (5.74) and control (5.66) groups (P < 0.001). The lymph node metastasis rates in the CNSI, ICG, and control groups were 5.03, 4.63, and 5.93%, respectively (P > 0.05). Conclusion The effect of CNSI on lymph node dissection and sorting was better than that of ICG, and CNSI improved the surgical quality and reduced lymph node staging deviation to a greater extent. CNSI was better than ICG in terms of improving the number of micro lymph nodes detected.

Molecular classifications of gastric cancer (GC) by the Asian Cancer Research Group (ACRG) and The Cancer Genome Atlas Consortium (TCGA) are useful for diagnosis and treatment of GC. However, their clinical significance is unknown. The present study aims to explore the associations between subtypes of GC and prognosis of patients with GC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used in the ACRG molecular classification of GC, while next-generation sequencing technology was used in TCGA molecular classification. The results indicated that, out of a total of 65 cases of GC, some were classified as Epstein-Barr virus positive type (9.2%, 6 of 65), some as microsatellite instability (MSI) type (23.1%, 15 of 65), some as gene stable type (21.5%, 14 of 65) and some as chromosome instability type (46.2%, 30 of 65) according to TCGA typing standard. Of the total 65 GC cases, some were classified as MSI (21.5%, 14 of 65), some as microsatellite stable/epithelial-mesenchymal transition (MSS/eMT; 20.0%, 13 of 65), some as MSS/tumor protein 53 active (TP53 + ; 15.4%, 10 of 65) and some as MSS/TP53 inactive (43.1%, 28 of 65) according to ACRG typing standard. ARCG molecular subtype (P= 0.010) and Lauren classification (P= 0.011) were independently correlated with the overall survival of patients with GC. In conclusion, TCGA classification based on a Chinese population is the same as TCGA typing based on a European population in terms of proportion and clinical characteristics, but there are differences in gene amplification and gene mutation. ACRG molecular classification could be performed by IHC analysis and may be a valuable independent prognostic marker for patients with GC.

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IMPORTANCECarbon nanoparticle suspension injection (CNSI) can be used to visualize lymph node (LN) drainage in gastric cancer. The tracing and diagnostic value of carbon nanoparticle suspension lymphography-guided distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer has not been thoroughly reported. OBJECTIVE To compare the number of lymph nodes identified in patients with gastric cancer receiving a CNSI vs no injection. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This is a retrospective cohort study including patients with clinical T1 to T4 disease who underwent laparoscopic or robotic distal gastrectomy. Data from a cohort of 1225 patients at the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University (Shijiazhuang, China) from November 2019 to February 2021 were analyzed. Patients were divided into the CNSI group and conventional group after 1:1 propensity matching analysis. The mean number of LNs detected was compared between groups, and the diagnostic role of CNSI was analyzed in the CNSI group. Statistical analysis was performed from May to July 2021.EXPOSURE CNSI was peritumorally injected under an endoscope 1 day before surgery in the CNSI group, and the conventional group did not receive any treatment before surgery. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe main outcome was the number of LNs detected.Gastrectomy with systematic D1+ (ie, stations 1, 3, 4sb, 4d, 5, 6, and 7) or D2 (ie, all D1 stations, plus 8a, 9, 11p, and 12a) lymphadenectomy was performed. Black-stained LNs and nonblack-stained LNs were examined separately in the CNSI group. RESULTSA total of 312 consecutive patients (mean [SD] age, 56.7 [10.4] years; 216 [69.2%] men) who underwent distal gastrectomy were enrolled, including 78 patients in the CNSI group, and another 78 patients determined from 1:1 propensity score matching, making an overall cohort size of 156 patients. The mean (SD) number of LNs detected in the CNSI group was 59.6 (21.4), which was significantly higher than that in the conventional group (30.0 [11.3] LNs; P < .001). In the CNSI group, the mean (SD) number of LNs detected at black-stained LN stations was significantly higher than that at nonstained LN stations (9.