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BackgroundThis study aimed to develop and validate a computed tomography (CT)-based radiomics model to predict microsatellite instability (MSI) status in colorectal cancer patients and to identify the radiomics signature with the most robust and high performance from one of the three phases of triphasic enhanced CT.MethodsIn total, 502 colorectal cancer patients with preoperative contrast-enhanced CT images and available MSI status (441 in the training cohort and 61 in the external validation cohort) were enrolled from two centers in our retrospective study. Radiomics features of the entire primary tumor were extracted from arterial-, delayed-, and venous-phase CT images. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method was used to retain the features closely associated with MSI status. Radiomics, clinical, and combined Clinical Radiomics models were built to predict MSI status. Model performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.ResultsThirty-two radiomics features showed significant correlation with MSI status. Delayed-phase models showed superior predictive performance compared to arterial- or venous-phase models. Additionally, age, location, and carcinoembryonic antigen were considered useful predictors of MSI status. The Clinical Radiomics nomogram that incorporated both clinical risk factors and radiomics parameters showed excellent performance, with an AUC, accuracy, and sensitivity of 0.898, 0.837, and 0.821 in the training cohort and 0.964, 0.918, and 1.000 in the validation cohort, respectively.ConclusionsThe proposed CT-based radiomics signature has excellent performance in predicting MSI status and could potentially guide individualized therapy.

Graphical abstract DCs act as sentinels for the immune system. DCs capture antigens locally and become mature, characterized by up-regulation of chemokine receptors (CCR7 and CXCR4), adhesion molecule (L-selectin), co-stimulator molecules (CD40, CD80 and CD86) and MHC II. Under high concentration of CCL21 in draining lymph nodes (LNs), mature DCs traffic to LNs via afferent lymph vessels and present antigens to T cells, resulting in the development of arthritis. HCQ impaires DC maturation via blocking TLR9 signaling, retrains DC migration to LNs, and prevents the initiation and progression of RA.

Behavior alterations in fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) contribute to a pivotal role in pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). MiRNAs are closely involved in a variety of pathologic conditions. In the present study, we aimed to screen for the aberrant expression of miRNAs in rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA-FLS) to further identify the altered expression of miR-26a-5p in RA-FLS and to investigate the role of miR-26a-5p in RA. The altered expression of miR-26a-5p in RA-FLS was screened by microarray analysis and confirmed by quantitative real time PCR. The effect of miR-26a-5p on proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, and invasion in RA-FLS were studied. The verification of miR-26a-5p target mRNA and downstream signaling pathway was elucidated by bioinformatics analysis, dual luciferase reporter assay, and western blot. Expression of miR-26a-5p was higher in RA-FLS than in fibroblast-like synoviocytes from osteoarthritis patients and trauma patients. Overexpression of miR-26a-5p RA-FLS promoted cells proliferation, G1/S transition, cells invasion, and resisted apoptosis in RA-FLS, whereas it led to contrary effects when inhibiting the expression of miR-26a-5p. The 3′UTR of tensin homolog (PTEN) was directly targetted by miR-26a-5p and activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway was observed when overexpression of miR-26a-5p. Our study suggested that miR-26a-5p has a complementary role in cells proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis of RA-FLS, which may be attributed to its activation effect on PI3K/AKT signaling pathway via targetting PTEN. MiR-26a-5p is likely to be a clinically helpful target for novel therapeutic strategies in RA.

Neutrophils play a central role in innate immunity and are rapidly recruited to sites of infection and injury. Neutrophil apoptosis is essential for the successful resolution of inflammation. Necrostatin-1 (Nec-1,methyl-thiohydantoin-tryptophan (MTH-Trp)), is a potent and specific inhibitor of necroptosis[1] (a newly identified type of cell death representing a form of programmed necrosis or regulated non apoptotic cell death) by inhibiting the receptor interacting protein 1(RIP1) kinase. Here we report that Nec-1 specifically induces caspase-dependent neutrophils apoptosis and overrides powerful anti-apoptosis signaling from survival factors such as GM-CSF and LPS. We showed that Nec-1 markedly enhanced the resolution of established neutrophil-dependent inflammation in LPS-induced acute lung injury in mice. We also provided evidence that Nec-1 promoted apoptosis by reducing the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1 and increasing the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax. Thus, Nec-1 is not only an inhibitor of necroptosis, but also a promoter of apoptosis, of neutrophils, enhancing the resolution of established inflammation by inducing apoptosis of inflammatory cells. Our results suggest that Nec-1 may have potential roles for the treatment of diseases with increased or persistent inflammatory responses.

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ObjectivesTo compare the proteomics of synovial fluid (SF)-derived exosomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), gout, and osteoarthritis (OA) patients.MethodsExosomes were separated from SF by the Exoquick kit combined ultracentrifugation method. Tandem mass tags (TMT)-labeled liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) technology was used to analyze the proteomics of SF-derived exosomes. Volcano plot, hierarchical cluster, gene ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were conducted.ResultsA total of 1,678 credible proteins were detected. Sixty-nine differentially expressed proteins were found in gout, compared with OA, axSpA, and RA simultaneously. Twenty-five proteins were found highly expressed in gout uniquely, lysozyme C and protein S100-A9 included, whose bioinformatic analysis was significantly involved in “neutrophil degranulation” and “prion diseases”. Eighty-four differentially expressed proteins were found in axSpA, compared with OA, gout, and RA simultaneously. Thirty-nine proteins were found highly expressed in axSpA uniquely, RNA-binding protein 8A and protein transport protein Sec24C included, whose bioinformatic analysis was significantly involved in “acute-phase response” and “citrate cycle”. One hundred and eighty-four differentially expressed proteins were found in RA, compared with OA, gout, and axSpA simultaneously. Twenty-eight proteins were found highly expressed in RA uniquely, pregnancy zone protein (PZP) and stromelysin-1 included, whose bioinformatic analysis was significantly involved in “serine-type endopeptidase inhibitor activity” and “complement and coagulation cascades”. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) result showed that the exosome-derived PZP level of SF in RA was higher than that in OA (p < 0.05).ConclusionOur study for the first time described the protein profiles of SF-derived exosomes in RA, axSpA, gout, and OA patients. Some potential biomarkers and hypothetical molecular mechanisms were proposed, which may provide helpful diagnostic and therapeutic insights for inflammatory arthritis (IA).

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