LLR for HCC is superior to the OLR in terms of its perioperative results and does not compromise the oncological outcomes. Therefore, LLR may be an alternative choice for treatment of HCC.

BackgroundTo investigate the surgical outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with biliary tumor thrombi (BTT).MethodsSurgical outcome of 27 HCC patients with BTT (group I) were compared with randomly selected HCC patients without BTT (group II; n = 270).ResultsOne patient in group I died of hepatic failure within 30 days after resection. The 1-, 3- and 5-year cumulative survival rates of group I were 70.3%, 25.9%, and 7.4%, respectively; these were significantly lower than those of group II (90.6%, 54.0%, and 37.7%) (P <0.001). The rates of early recurrence (≤ 1 year) after resection were significantly higher in group I than group II (70.3% vs. 34.8%) (P < 0.001).ConclusionHCC patients with BTT had a worse prognosis after resection than those without BTT. Resection should be considered for these tumors given the lack of effective alternative therapies.

BackgroundThere is considerable discordance in the curve progression of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients between monozygotic (MZ) twins, indicating that nongenetic factors must be involved in the curve progression of AIS patients. Epigenetic processes may constitute one of these factors and have not yet been investigated in relation to curve progression in AIS patients.MethodsThe genome and methylome of peripheral monocytes were compared between MZ twins discordant for curve progression. Sets of differentially methylated sites were validated using the MassARRAY platform of Sequenome on additional samples.ResultsIn the discovery study, we found evidence suggesting a lack of differences at the genome sequence level and the presence of epigenetic differences related to the curve progression of AIS patients. The top 4 differentially methylated CpG sites associated with curve severity were tested, and only site cg01374129 (CpG site located at chr8:122583383, Hg19) was confirmed in two replication cohorts. The methylation levels of site cg01374129 were significantly lower in the progression group than in the nonprogression group. Cox regression analysis demonstrated that hypo-methylation of site cg01374129 was an independent prognostic factor for curve severity. Site cg01374129 methylation as a marker achieved a sensitivity of 76.4% and a specificity of 85.6% in differentiating between samples from patients with and without curve progression (AUC = 0.827; 95% CI: 0.780 to 0.876).ConclusionIncreased curvature is associated with decreased methylation at site cg01374129. Our results indicate that methylation of site cg01374129 may therefore serve as a promising biomarker in differing between patients with and without curve progression.

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BackgroundAdolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common paediatric spinal deformity. The etiology and pathology of AIS remain unexplained, and have been reported to involve a combination of genetic and epigenetic factors. Since paravertebral muscle imbalance plays an important role in the onset and progression of scoliosis, we aimed to investigate transcriptomic differences by RNA-seq and identify significantly differentially expressed transcripts in two sides of paravertebral muscle in AIS.MethodsRNA-seq was performed on 5 pairs of paravertebral muscle from 5 AIS patients. Significantly differentially expressed transcripts were validated by quantitative reverse polymerase chain reaction. Gene expression difference was correlated to clinical characteristics.ResultsWe demonstrated that ADIPOQ mRNA and H19 is significantly differentially expressed between two sides of paravertebral muscle, relatively specific in the context of AIS. Relatively low H19 and high ADIPOQ mRNA expression levels in concave-sided muscle are associated with larger spinal curve and earlier age at initiation. We identified miR-675-5p encoded by H19 as a mechanistic regulator of ADIPOQ expression in AIS. We demonstrated that significantly reduced CCCTC-binding factor (CCTF) occupancy in the imprinting control region (ICR) of the H19 gene in the concave-sided muscle contributes to down-regulated H19 expression.ConclusionsRNA-seq revealed transcriptomic differences between two sides of paravertebral muscle in AIS patients. Our findings imply that transcriptomic differences caused by epigenetic factors in affected individuals may account for the structural and functional imbalance of paravertebral muscle, which can expand our etiologic understanding of this disease.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s10020-018-0049-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThe beneficial effect of surgical resection for hepatic metastasis from gastric cancer (HMGC) remains elusive. This study was conducted to analyze surgical outcomes of HMGC and determine the prognostic factors associated with survival.ResultsThe in-hospital mortality rate was zero, and the overall morbidity rate was 56%. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rate after surgery was 87.5%, 47.6%, and 21.7%, respectively, with a median survival time of 34.0 months. Multiple liver metastases (hazard ratio [HR] =1.998; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.248-3.198; P = 0.004) and ≥ T3 stage of the primary gastric cancer (HR = 2.065; 95% CI = 1.201–3.549; P = 0.009) were independent prognostic determinants in the multivariate analysis.Materials and MethodsData on surgical resection of 96 patients with HMGC at six institutions in China were analysed retrospectively. Prognostic factors were assessed by multiple stepwise regression analysis using the Cox model.ConclusionsSurgical resection for HMGC is feasible and beneficial to long-term survival in selected patients.

Background: Colorectal cancer remains one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. Colorectal cancer initiating cells (CCICs) are a small subpopulation responsible for malignant behaviors of colorectal cancer. Aberrant activation of the Wnt pathways regulates the self-renewal of CCIC. However, the underlying mechanism(s) remain poorly understood.