Calcific aortic valve disease is a common, severe heart condition that is currently with no proven, effective drug treatment and requires a surgical valve replacement or an entire heart explanation. Thus, developing novel, targeted therapeutic approaches becomes a major goal for cardiovascular disease research. To achieve this goal, isolated heart valve interstitial cells could be an advanced model to explore molecular mechanisms and measure drug efficacy. Based on this progress, molecular mechanisms that harbor components of inflammation and fibrosis coupled with proteins, for example, BMP-2, TLRs, RANKL, Osteoprotegerin, have been proposed. Small molecules or antibodies targeting these proteins have shown promising efficacy for either reversing or slowing down calcification development in vitro. In this review, we summarize these potential therapeutics with some highlights of interstitial cellular models.
Objective
To evaluate the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) in predicting the biochemical recurrence (BCR) of patients treated with robot‐assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP).
Methods
The clinical data of 136 patients treated with RALP in the Department of Urology, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University were retrospectively analyzed. The endpoint of observation was BCR. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was evaluated to determine the optimal cutoff value of PNI. The correlation of the PNI with BCR was estimated using Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards model.
Results
The optimal cutoff value of the PNI was 46.03 according to the ROC curve. (95% confidence interval: 0.604–0.805, Youden index = 0.401, sensitivity = 82.5%, specificity = 57.6%, p < 0.01). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that clinical staging, prostate‐specific antigen, and PNI were independent prognostic factors for predicting BCR in patients treated with RALP.
Conclusion
PNI is an independent prognostic factor for predicting BCR in patients treated with RALP. The incorporation of the PNI into risk assessments may provide additional prognostic information.
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