Gastric and colorectal cancers (GC and CRC) have poor prognosis and are resistant to chemo- and/or radiotherapy. In the present study, the prophylactic effects of dendritic cell (DC) vaccination are evaluated on disease progression and clinical benefits in a group of 54 GC and CRC patients treated with DC immunotherapy combined with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells after surgery with or without chemo-radiotherapy. DCs were prepared from the mononuclear cells isolated from patients using IL-2/GM-CSF and loaded with tumor antigens; CIK cells were prepared by incubating peripheral blood lymphocytes with IL-2, IFN-γ, and CD3 antibodies. The DC/CIK therapy started 3 days after low-dose chemotherapy and was repeated 3–5 times in 2 weeks as one cycle with a total of 188.3±79.8×106 DCs and 58.8±22.3×108 CIK cells. Cytokine levels in patients' sera before and after treatments were measured and the follow-up was conducted for 98 months to determine disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The results demonstrate that all cytokines tested were elevated with significantly higher levels of IFN-γ and IL-12 in both GC and CRC cohorts of DC/CIK treated patients. By Cox regression analysis, DC/CIK therapy reduced the risk of post-operative disease progression (p<0.01) with an increased OS (<0.01). These results demonstrate that in addition to chemo- and/or radiotherapy, DC/CIK immunotherapy is a potential effective approach in the control of tumor growth for post-operative GC and CRC patients.

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Background Shufeng Jiedu capsules (SFJDC), a patented herbal drug composed of eight medicinal plants, is used for the treatment of different viral respiratory tract infectious diseases. Based on its antiviral, anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activity in acute lung injury, SFJDC might be a promising candidate for the treatment of COVID-19. Purpose To evaluate the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and to discover the mechanism of action of SFJDC as a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19. Furthermore, the study should determine the clinical effectiveness of SFJDC for the treatment of COVID-19. Design We analyzed the antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects of SFJDC in a HCoV-229E mouse model on lung index, virus load in the lung, the release of cytokines, and on T- and B-lymphocytes. The mechanism of action was further investigated by network analysis. Additionally, we investigated data from a clinical pragmatic real-world study for patients with confirmed COVID-19, to evaluate the clinical effect of SFJDC and to determine the best time to start the treatment. Results SFJDC significantly reduced the virus load in the lung of HCoV-229E mice (from 1109.29±696.75 to 0±0 copies/ml), decreased inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ in the lung, and increased the amount of CD4 + and CD8 + cells in the blood compared to the model group. Network analysis revealed that SFJDC reduces the activity of NFκB via several signaling pathways. Quercetin, wogonin, and polydatin bind directly to the main protease (M pro ) of SARS-CoV-2. Clinical data showed that SFJDC, added to standard antiviral therapy (AVD), significantly reduced the clinical recovery time of COVID-19 and fatigue (from 3.55±4.09 to 1.19±2.28 days) as well as cough (from 5.67±5.64 to 3.47±3.75) days compared to AVD alone. SFJDC therapy was significantly more effective when used within the first 8 days after the onset of symptoms. Conclusion SFJDC might be a promising drug for the treatment of COVID-19, but large-scale randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trials are needed to complement the real-world evidence. It might be beneficial to start SFJDC treatment as early as possible in suspected cases of COVID-19.

Purpose: Esophageal cancer is one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of cancer; highlighting the need to identify biomarkers for early detection and prognostic classification. Our recent studies have identified inflammatory gene and microRNA signatures derived from tumor and nontumor tissues as prognostic biomarkers of hepatocellular, lung, and colorectal adenocarcinoma. Here, we examine the relationship between expression of these inflammatory genes and micro RNA (miRNA) expression in esophageal adenocarcinoma and patient survival.Experimental Design: We measured the expression of 23 inflammation-associated genes in tumors and adjacent normal tissues from 93 patients (58 Barrett's and 35 Sporadic adenocarcinomas) by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. These data were used to build an inflammatory risk model, based on multivariate Cox regression, to predict survival in a training cohort (n ¼ 47). We then determined whether this model could predict survival in a cohort of 46 patients. Expression data for miRNA-375 were available for these patients and was combined with inflammatory gene expression.Results: IFN-g, IL-1a, IL-8, IL-21, IL-23, and proteoglycan expression in tumor and nontumor samples were each associated with poor prognosis based on Cox regression [(Z-score)>1.5] and therefore were used to generate an inflammatory risk score (IRS). Patients with a high IRS had poor prognosis compared with those with a low IRS in the training (P ¼ 0.002) and test (P ¼ 0.012) cohorts. This association was stronger in the group with Barrett's history. When combining with miRNA-375, the combined IRS/miR signature was an improved prognostic classifier than either one alone.Conclusion: Transcriptional profiling of inflammation-associated genes and miRNA expression in resected esophageal Barrett's-associated adenocarcinoma tissues may have clinical utility as predictors of prognosis. Clin Cancer Res; 16(23); 5824-34. Ó2010 AACR.

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The important role the hydrophilic−lipophilic ability of the surfactant played in interfacial tension (IFT) behavior has been recognized early. The thermodynamic model based on the surfactant affinity difference (SAD) concept has been developed and successfully employed to microemulsions. However, according to the theoretical models developed by Blankschtein et al., the molecular size of the surfactant is another important factor on IFT, which can be reflected by the crosssectional area of the adsorbed surfactant molecules, a s . In this paper, based on the concept of a s , the influences of temperature and electrolyte on IFT were expounded. The experimental results show that ultralow IFTs can be obtained only when the surfactant has appropriate hydrophilic−lipophilic ability and a s . The addition of electrolyte can enhance the hydrophobic ability of the surfactant, which improves the n min value. However, the IFT min values pass through a minimum with increasing NaCl concentration, resulting from the responsible mechanisms of enhancement of adsorption amounts and reducing the size of the hydrophilic part during the low and high NaCl concentration range, respectively. An increase in the temperature appears to cause an increase in the surfactant solubility and a consequent decrease in the n min value. Moreover, the IFT min increases with increasing temperature until a plateau because the molecular motion speeds up, which increases the solvent molecules in the adsorbed layer.

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