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Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a cornerstone treatment for locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer (PCa). However, its potential effects on the tumor immune microenvironment (TIM) of PCa patients and the underlying mechanism remain largely unclear. To explore the effects of ADT on PCa TIM, RNA sequencing was performed on six paired pre-ADT biopsy and post-ADT PCa lesions, and five paired paracancerous benign tissues from patients receiving neoadjuvant ADT with locally advanced PCa. Bioinformatics methods including ESTIMATE and ssGSEA were used to evaluate the stromal immune score and immune cell infiltration in PCa and paracancerous tissues. Weighted correlation network analysis was used to screen hub genes in the ADT-induced immune remodeling process. The results showed differences exist between PCa and paracancerous tissues in response to ADT. Compared with paracancerous tissues, the immune remodeling effect of ADT in PCa was more intense. ZFP36, JUNB, and SOCS3 served as hub genes in the ADT-induced immune remodeling process and were associated with PSA recurrent-free survival in the TCGA and our neoadjuvant ADT cohort. To investigate the joint action of the above three hub genes, an immune signature score was constructed. The results showed that immune signature score-based immune subtypes reveal the heterogeneity of the immune microenvironment of PCa and showed significant differences in patient prognosis, tumor immune infiltration, mutation burden, and landscape.

The electrocatalytic water splitting, which is driven by renewable energy input to produce oxygen, has been widely regarded as a promising strategy in the future energy portfolio. The two-dimensional structure...

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Abstract. This study was conducted to investigate the biomarkers that appear to be correlated with cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and the adverse reactions (ADRs) to chemotherapy. A total of 100 lung cancer patients were selected and CRF prior to and following chemotherapy was evaluated. The plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1 and the level of 17-hydroxycorticosteroid (17-OHCS) in the urine were analyzed and correlated with CRF and the ADRs associated with chemotherapy. The incidence of CRF was found to be 88.0% and ADRs following chemotherapy occurred in 15.0% of the patients. An increase in the TNF-α and IL-1 levels was detected in patients with CRF. The level of 17-OHCS in the urine was found to be elevated in cases that experienced ADRs following chemotherapy. In conclusion, CRF is closely correlated with increased plasma levels of TNF-α and IL-1. Furthermore, an abnormally elevated 17-OHCS level in the urine may be an important indicator predicting ADR development following chemotherapy.

Through the introduction of multi-frequency sonication in High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), enhancement of efficiency has been noted in several applications including thrombolysis, tissue ablation, sonochemistry, and sonoluminescence. One key experimental observation is that multi-frequency ultrasound can help lower the inertial cavitation threshold, thereby improving the power efficiency. However, this has not been well corroborated by the theory. In this paper, a numerical investigation on the inertial cavitation threshold of microbubbles (MBs) under multi-frequency ultrasound irradiation is conducted. The relationships between the cavitation threshold and MB size at various frequencies and in different media are investigated. The results of single-, dual and triple frequency sonication show reduced inertial cavitation thresholds by introducing additional frequencies which is consistent with previous experimental work. In addition, no significant difference is observed between dual frequency sonication with various frequency differences. This study, not only reaffirms the benefit of using multi-frequency ultrasound for various applications, but also provides a possible route for optimizing ultrasound excitations for initiating inertial cavitation.

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