Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the superiority of the high-sensitivity modified Glasgow prognostic score (HS-mGPS) before surgery in patients with gastric cancer. Patients and Methods: The participants of this retrospective study comprised 552 patients with gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy at the Fukuoka University Hospital. The HS-mGPS was calculated before surgery based on cutoff values of 0.3 mg/dl for C-reactive protein and 3.5 g/dl for albumin, and correlations between the HS-mGPS and the clinicopathological parameters and prognosis were evaluated. In addition, the superiority of the HS-mGPS to the mGPS as a prognostic indicator was examined in detail. Results: The mGPS was 0 in 494 patients, 1 in 24 patients and 2 in 34 patients. In contrast, the HS-mGPS was 0 in 411 patients, 1 in 75 patients and 2 in 66 patients. Both the mGPS (p < 0.0001) and HS-mGPS (p < 0.0001) were good prognostic predictors in gastric cancer patients who underwent gastrectomy. Of the 494 patients with an mGPS of 0 before surgery, 51 and 32 exhibited an HS-mGPS of 1 and 2, respectively. The patients who exhibited migration in the HS-mGPS demonstrated a significantly more unfavorable prognosis than the patients with an HS-mGPS of 0 (p < 0.0001). The prognostic impact of the HS-mGPS was especially clear in stage I and IV patients (p = 0.0027, p = 0.017). The HS-mGPS was found to be a superior prognostic predictor compared to the mGPS in a multivariate analysis (p = 0.0002). Conclusions: The HS-mGPS before surgery is a superior prognostic predictor in patients with gastric cancer.

Gastric stump carcinoma was initially reported by Balfore in 1922, and many reports of this disease have since been published. We herein review previous reports of gastric stump carcinoma with respect to epidemiology, carcinogenesis, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, Epstein-Barr virus infection, clinicopathologic characteristics and endoscopic treatment. In particular, it is noteworthy that no prognostic differences are observed between gastric stump carcinoma and primary upper third gastric cancer. In addition, endoscopic submucosal dissection has recently been used to treat gastric stump carcinoma in the early stage. In contrast, many issues concerning gastric stump carcinoma remain to be clarified, including molecular biological characteristics and the carcinogenesis of H. pylori infection. We herein review the previous pertinent literature and summarize the characteristics of gastric stump carcinoma reported to date.

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Three-dimensional (3D) organoid culture holds great promises in cancer precision medicine. However, Matrigel and stem cell-stimulating supplements are necessary for culturing 3D organoid cells. It costs a lot of money and consumes more time and effort compared with 2D cultured cells. Therefore, the establishment of cheaper and Matrigel-free organoid culture that can maintain the characteristics of a part of 3D organoids is demanded. In the previous study, we established a dog bladder cancer (BC) 3D organoid culture system by using their urine samples. Here, we successfully isolated cells named “2.5D organoid” from multiple strains of dog BC 3D organoids using 2.5 organoid media. The cell proliferation speed of 2.5D organoids was faster than parental 3D organoid cells. The expression pattern of stem cell markers was close to 3D organoids. Injection of 2.5D organoid cells into immunodeficient mice formed tumors and showed the histopathological characteristics of urothelial carcinoma similar to the injection of dog BC 3D organoids. The 2.5D organoids had a similar sensitivity profile for anti-cancer drug treatment to their parental 3D organoids. These data suggest that our established 2.5D organoid culture method might become a reasonable and useful tool instead of 3D organoids in dog BC research and therapy.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a hepatic disorder with deposition of fat droplets, and has a high risk of progression to steatosis-related hepatitis and irreversible hepatic cancer. Metronidazole (MNZ) is an antiprotozoal and antimicrobial agent widely used to treat patients infected with anaerobic bacteria and intestinal parasites; however, MNZ has also been shown to induce liver tumors in rodents. To investigate the effects of MNZ on steatosis-related early-stage hepatocarcinogenesis, male rats treated with Nnitrosodiethylamine following 2/3 hepatectomy at week 3 were received a control basal diet, high fat diet (HFD), or HFD containing 0.5% MNZ. The HFD induced obesity and steatosis in liver, accompanied by altered expression of Pparg and Fasn, genes related to lipid metabolism. MNZ increased nuclear translocation of lipid metabolism-related transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma in hepatocytes, together with altered liver expression of lipid metabolism genes (Srebf1, Srebf2, Pnpla2). Furthermore, MNZ signi cantly increased the number of preneoplastic liver foci, accompanied by DNA double-strand breaks and late-stage autophagy inhibition, as re ected by increased levels of γ-H2AX, LC3, and p62. Therefore, MNZ could induce steatosis-related hepatocarcinogenesis by inducing DNA double-strand breaks and modulating autophagy in HFD-fed rats.