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The colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with microsatellite instability (MSI) have distinct clinicopathological characteristics consisting of factors predicting positive and negative outcomes, such as a high lymph node harvest and poor differentiation. In this study, we measured the value of MSI as a prognostic factor after controlling for these discrepant factors. A total of 603 patients who underwent curative surgery for stages I to III colorectal cancer were enrolled. The patients were divided into microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) and microsatellite stable/microsatellite instability low (MSS/MSI-L) groups. Propensity score matching was used to match clinicopathological factors between the 2 groups. MSI-H patients had a high lymph node harvest (median: 31.0 vs 23.0, P < .001), earlier-stage tumors (P < .001), advanced T stage (89.3% vs 74.0%, P = .018), and poor differentiation (19.6% vs 2.0%, P < .001). Survival analysis showed better survival in the MSI-H group, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = .126). Propensity score matching was performed for significant prognostic factors identified by Cox hazard regression. After the matching, the survival difference by MSI status was estimated to be larger than before, and reached statistical significance (P = .045). In conclusion, after controlling for pathological characteristics, MSI-H could be a potent prognostic factor regarding patient survival.

Many reports have shown the anticancer effects of iron deficient on cancer cells, but the effects of iron-chelators on gastric cancer have not been clearly elucidated. Recently, we reported that iron chelators induced an antiproliferative effect in human malignant lymphoma and myeloid leukemia cells. In the present study, we investigated the antitumor activity of these two iron-chelating agents, deferoxamine (DFO) and deferasirox (DFX), with gastric cancer cell lines, and their apoptosis-inducing effects as the potential mechanism. We found that iron chelators displayed significant antiproliferative activity in human gastric cancer cell lines, which may be attributed to their induction of G1 phase arrest and apoptosis. We also found that iron chelators induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, resulting in the activation of both c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress apoptotic pathways in gastric cancer cells. Taken together, our data suggest that iron chelators induced apoptosis in gastric cancer, involving ROS formation ER stress and JNK activation.

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Five different low-Mach large eddy simulations are compared to the turbulent stratified flame experiments conducted at the Technical University of Darmstadt (TUD). The simulations were contributed by TUD,

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Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) have been involved in metastatic progression and tumorigenesis of many cancer types. However, it remains unclear how BMP-2 contributes to the initiation and development of these cancers. Here, we investigated the role of BMP-2 in colon cancer stem cell (CSC) development from colon cancer cells. We also determined the effects of BMP-2 on CSC development and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human colon cancer cell lines HCT-116 and SW620. We found that BMP-2 enhanced sphere formation of colon cancer cells without serum. Also, BMP-2-induced spheres displayed up-regulation of stemness markers (CD133+ and EpCAM+) and increased drug resistance, hallmarks of CSCs. Importantly, expression of EMT activators p-Smad1/5 and Snail and N-cadherin was increased in the spheres' cells, indicating that BMP-2 signaling might result in CSC self-renewal and EMT. Furthermore, siRNA-mediated knockdown of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in HCT-116 cells reversed BMP-2-induced EMT and stem cell formation. Taken together, our results suggest that the BMP-2 induced STAT3-mediated induction of colon cancer cell metastasis requires an EMT and/or changes in CSC markers.

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