Tumor cell microenvironment defines cancer development, also in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are believed to be the key contributors to tumor microenvironment in HCC, yet their precise role in cancer progression is still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of human HSCs on progression of HCC using a subcutaneous xenograft nude mouse model. Nude mice were stratified to receive subcutaneous injections of human HCC cell line HepG2 and human HSC line LX-2 (HepG2 + LX-2), HepG2 alone, LX-2 alone, or phosphate-buffered saline. Tumor growth was assessed by measuring tumor size. After 30 days, final tumor size, weight, and histology were assessed. Compared with mice that were only injected HepG2 cells, mice injected with HepG2 + LX-2 exhibited more rapid tumor growth, increased tumor size and weight, higher tumor cell numbers due to increased proliferation and reduced apoptosis, increased fibrotic bands containing LX-2 cells, and increased tumor angiogenesis. In conclusion, HSCs play a significant role in promotion of HCC growth.
Three-dimensional measurement of the pharyngeal airway has been widely used, but the three-dimensional reconstruction of pharyngeal airway has been performed in various ways, especially during the anterior boundary demarcation of the nasopharyngeal airway and oropharyngeal airway. This would inevitably affect the measurement and lead to noncomparison between different studies. Our study provided a novel method for anterior boundary demarcation of pharyngeal airway that defined the anterior boundary of nasopharyngeal airway as the "choana" according to the anatomical definition and defined the anterior boundary of oropharyngeal airway as a plane perpendicular to the long axis of soft palate and through the intersections of the lateral space and inferior space to soft palate according to the physiologic characteristics of soft palate. By 2-step segmentation, a three-dimensional image of pharyngeal airway was eventually reconstructed.Ten computed tomographic scans of pharyngeal airway were included for the anterior boundary demarcation and three-dimensional reconstruction by a medical imaging software (Surgicase 5.0; Materialise Interactive Medical Image Control System, Leuven, Belgium), with the volume and surface area being calculated. By using intraclass correlation coefficient, the reliability between intra- and interobservers of this method was well tested.The method established in this study for anterior boundary demarcation and three-dimensional reconstruction of pharyngeal airway is highly reliable and could more veritably reflect the intrinsic anatomical characteristics of the pharyngeal airway.
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