BACKGROUND: Although the benefits of early tracheostomy have been discussed in numerous studies, it is still unclear whether it is safe to perform early tracheostomy on unstable stroke patients. The purpose of this study is to assess the influences of the timing of tracheostomy on the incidence of complications following surgical tracheostomy in stroke patients. METHODS: We retrospectively performed chart reviews of 95 stroke subjects who underwent tracheostomy. In terms of timing, procedures performed within 7 d of intubation were categorized as early tracheostomy, and those performed after 7 d were categorized as standard tracheostomy. The incidence of complications following tracheostomy was compared between the two groups. The risk factors for complication were also investigated. RESULTS: Among the 95 subjects, 59 (62.1%) received early tracheostomy and 36 (37.9%) received standard tracheostomy. The overall incidence of tracheostomy complications was 24.2%, and there was no significant difference in incidence between the two groups. A comparison of risk factors between the groups with and without complications revealed no significant differences in age, sex, body mass index, Glasgow coma scale score, stroke type, or history of underlying disease. However, activated partial thromboplastin time was significantly higher in the group with complication. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications in stroke subjects undergoing early versus standard tracheotomy.

Constitutive activation of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) 3 is a major distinguishing feature of various human cancer cells and its activation leads to survival, proliferation, and metastasis of tumor cells. Whether the anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, and anti-invasive effects of capsazepine (Capz), a synthetic analog of capsaicin, are linked to its capability to inhibit STAT3 activation was investigated. We found that Capz suppressed both constitutive and IL-6-inducible STAT3 activation in human prostate carcinoma cells. Capz also suppressed nuclear translocation and DNA binding activity of STAT3. The suppression was mediated through the inhibition of activation of the upstream kinases JAK1/2 and c-Src. Treatment with the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) inhibitor pervanadate treatment reversed the Capz-induced down-regulation of STAT3, thereby suggesting the involvement of a PTP. Capz induced the expression of PTPϵ protein and mRNA. Moreover, knockdown of PTPϵ by small interfering RNA suppressed the induction of PTPϵ, reversed the inhibition of STAT3 activation, suggesting the critical role of PTPϵ in its possible mechanism of action. Capz downregulated the expression of STAT3-regulated proliferative, antiapoptotic, angiogenetic, and metastatic gene products; and this correlated with suppression of cell proliferation and invasion, the accumulation of cells in sub-G1 phase of cell cycle, and induction of apoptosis. Overexpression of phosphorylated STAT3 led to the attenuation of Capz-mediated cleavage of PARP as compared to the control. Thus, overall, our results suggest that Capz is a novel inhibitor of STAT3 activation and thus may have a potential in negative regulation of growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis of tumor cells. Citation Format: Jong Hyun Lee, Chulwon Kim, Seok-Geun Lee, Junhee Lee, Jung-woo Lee, Kwang Seok Ahn. Capsazepine attenuates JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway, proliferation, survival of prostate carcinoma DU145 cells through induction of the protein tyrosine phosphatase epsilon (PTP-epsilon). [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3807. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3807