BackgroundWhether sonography is an appropriate imaging modality for cervical lymph nodes in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) remains unclear. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of ultrasonography (US) features for lymph node metastasis in PTMC.MethodsSeven hundred twelve patients with PTMC who underwent conventional ultrasonography examinations of the cervical lymph nodes were included. All included cases underwent total thyroidectomy plus prophylactic central lymph node dissection. The included lymph nodes were marked superficially, and the corresponding lymph nodes were completely removed and sent for pathological examination. The US features of lymph nodes with and without metastasis were compared, and the odds ratios of the suspicious US features were determined with univariate and multivariate analyses.ResultsRound shape, loss of an echogenic fatty hilum, cystic change, calcification, and abnormal vascularity were significantly more common in metastatic than nonmetastatic lymph nodes, whereas the boundary and echo did not significantly differ. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that round shape, loss of echogenic fatty hilum, cystic change, calcification, and abnormal vascularity were independent predictive factors for the assessment of metastatic lymph nodes. Round shape had the highest sensitivity of all variables, while loss of an echogenic fatty hilum had the highest specificity and accuracy. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, which was calculated to verify the relationship between the various US features and metastatic lymph nodes, was 0.793.ConclusionsOur study found that the US features of round shape, cystic change, calcification, loss of echogenic fatty hilum, and abnormal vascularity were useful sonographic criteria for differentiating between cervical lymph nodes with and without metastasis.

The prognostic significance of gender remains controversial for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). In this study, we investigated the associations between gender and prognosis in a large cohort of patients with PTC or PTMC that was diagnosed in 2010–2013 and recorded in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry. The mean ± standard deviation duration of survival for all patients with PTC during the study period was 21.47 ± 14.04 months. In Kaplan-Meier analyses of the entire cohort of PTC patients, survival curves for all-cause death and cancer-specific death declined more sharply for men than for women. Similar results were observed in analyses of patients with PTCs > 1 cm and PTMC. After adjusting for potential confounders, hazard rates indicated significantly elevated all-cause mortality for men in analyses of all PTCs, PTCs > 1 cm, and PTMCs. However, in a confounder-adjusted analysis of patients with PTMC, the hazard rate did not indicate significantly higher mortality for men than for women. Our study demonstrated that male gender is an independent poor prognostic factor for all PTCs and for PTCs > 1 cm. However, gender is not an independent prognostic factor for cause-specific survival in PTMC.

High doses of radiation can cause serious side effects and efficient radiosensitizers are urgently needed. To overcome this problem, we developed a biomimetic nanozyme system (CF) by coating pyrite (FeS2) into tumor-derived exosomes for enhanced low-dose radiotherapy (RT). CF system give FeS2 with immune escape and homologous targeting abilities. After administration, CF with both glutathione oxidase (GSH-OXD) and peroxidase (POD) activities can significantly lower the content of GSH in tumor tissues and catalyze intracellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to produce a large amount of ·OH for intracellular redox homeostasis disruption and mitochondria destruction, thus reducing RT resistance. Experiments in vivo and in vitro showed that combining CF with RT (2 Gy) can provide a substantial suppression of tumor proliferation. This is the first attempt to use exosomes bionic FeS2 nanozyme for realizing low-dose RT, which broaden the prospects of nanozymes. Graphical Abstract

Previous studies revealed that the long non-coding RNA nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) exhibits abnormal expression in numerous cancer types, including breast cancer (BC); however, the regulatory mechanism of NEAT1 in BC remains unclear. In the present study, the effect of NEAT1 on the progression of BC and its regulation mechanism was investigated. The expression levels of NEAT1 and microRNA-107 (miR-107) in BC cells were analyzed using the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). NEAT1 was knocked down in BC cells, and mimics-miR-107 or inhibitor-miR-107 were transfected into BC cells. Subsequently, cell proliferation, invasion and migration, apoptosis and cell cycle distribution were determined. The regulatory mechanism of NEAT1, miR-107 and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT1A) was analyzed using a luciferase reporter assay system, western blotting and RT-qPCR. NEAT1 expression was increased in BC cells, whereas miR-107 expression was decreased, compared with normal mammary gland cells. NEAT1 promoted the progression of BC cells through inhibiting apoptosis-associated genes and promoting cell cycle-and invasion-associated gene expression, whereas miR-107 served the opposite function. Furthermore, NEAT1 promoted the expression of CPT1A, which was mediated by miR-107. The results of the present study indicate that NEAT1 promotes the expression of CPT1A by inhibiting miR-107 to improve the progression of BC cells; therefore, NEAT1 is a potential therapeutic target of BC.

The current American Joint Committee (AJCC) on Cancer TNM classification does not describe the treatment of multifocal papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMCs) with a total tumour diameter (TTD) >1 cm. Herein, we investigated this PTMC subgroup in terms of extrathyroidal extension (ETE), local infiltration, central lymph node metastasis (LNM), and prognosis. Consecutive patients (n = 1102) were identified and the proportions of LNM, ETE, and local infiltration were similar between PTCs with a unifocal tumour diameter >1 cm and ≤2 cm and PTMCs with a multifocal TTD >1 cm and ≤2 cm. The proportions of LNM, ETE, and local infiltration were also similar between PTMCs with a unifocal diameter ≤1 cm vs. multifocal TTD ≤1 cm. However, when comparing PTMCs with a unifocal diameter ≤1 cm vs. multifocal TTD >1 cm, significant differences were observed. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, significant differences were observed between PTMCs with a unifocal diameter ≤1 cm vs. multifocal TTD >1 cm and multifocal TTD ≤1 cm vs. multifocal TTD >1 cm. Accordingly, TTD may represent a more accurate criterion for tumour size of PTCs and should be considered in the revised AJCC staging system.According to the World Health Organization classification system, papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) is defined as thyroid cancer measuring less than or equal to 1.0 cm in its greatest dimension th edition of the American Joint committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumour, node, metastasis (TNM) classification system for differentiated thyroid cancer defines T1a tumours as those with a tumour diameter ≤1 cm (PTMC) without extrathyroidal extension (ETE), and this subgroup of patients are recommended to undergo lobectomy. However, the AJCC classification system, along with the guidelines recommended by the American Thyroid Association, defines the tumour size according to the traditional intraglandular maximal tumour diameter, and whether the subgroup of patients with multifocal PTMC and a total tumour diameter (TTD) >1 cm shares the same features and prognosis as those with traditional PTMCs remain unclear.Hence, in the present study, we aimed to demonstrate whether the TTD should be used as a more accurate criterion for tumour size of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) and should be added as an additional prognostic factor in the AJCC classification system. ResultsOverall, the postoperative follow-up period ranged between 18-148 months, with a median follow-up of 61.0 months. Clinicopathological characteristics of the papillary thyroid microcarcinoma patients (n = 1102) and papillary thyroid carcinoma (1 < unifocal with diameter ≤ 2 cm) (n = 210) were present in Table 1. Among the 390 multifocal PTMC cases, 32.6% (n = 127) and 67.4% (n = 263) were unilateral and bilateral, respectively. A total

Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family are critical transcription factors, which have been proved as prognostic predictors for a number of cancers. However, the prognostic roles of STAT family in breast cancer patients remain in dispute. In this study, we mined the 'Kaplan-Meier plotter' (KM plotter) online database to explore the prognostic roles of STAT family mRNA expression in breast cancer including overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), as well

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Aim of the studyThe treatment for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC), which is a tumor measuring less than 1 cm, is still a subject of controversy. The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the patients diagnosed with PTMC in terms of their clinical and histopathological features.Material and methodsA total of 153 consecutive patients with PTMC were treated, and their clinical and histopathological characteristics were reviewed. The tumor diameter was observed to range from 1.0 mm to 10 mm (mean of 5.8 mm). Histologically, 138 (90.2%) cases of classical papillary carcinoma and 15 (9.8%) cases of the follicular variant were noted. Multicentric tumors were found in 37 (24.2%) patients, of whom 12 (7.8%) had more than one PTMC on the same side and 25 (16.3%) displayed bilateral PTMC.ResultsThe proportions of capsular invasion and lymph node metastasis were 11.8% (18/153) and 48.1% (39/81), respectively. One patient showed distant metastasis during follow-up and died fifteen months after the operation. PTMC showed a high incidence of multifocality and lymph node metastasis in the level VI central compartment. The optimal surgical strategy for PTMC was total thyroidectomy and central compartment node dissection.ConclusionsFrozen tissue sections should be made for the prompt diagnosis of PTMC in all the thyroid nodules, except when the malignant diagnosis was already confirmed by cytology.