OBJECTIVES:Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most frequent causes of cancer death worldwide and effective diagnosis is needed. We assessed the diagnostic potential of an autoantibody panel that may benefit early diagnosis.METHODS:We analyzed data for patients with ESCC and normal controls in a test cohort and a validation cohort. Autoantibody levels were measured against a panel of six tumor-associated antigens (p53, NY-ESO-1, matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7), heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), peroxiredoxin VI (Prx VI), and BMI1 polycomb ring finger oncogene (Bmi-1)) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.RESULTS:We assessed serum autoantibodies in 513 participants: 388 with ESCC and 125 normal controls. The validation cohort comprised 371 participants: 237 with ESCC, and 134 normal controls. Autoantibodies to at least 1 of 6 antigens demonstrated a sensitivity/specificity of 57% (95% confidence interval (CI): 52–62%)/95% (95% CI: 89–98%) and 51% (95% CI: 45–57%)/96% (95% CI: 91–99%) in the test and validation cohorts, respectively. Measurement of the autoantibody panel could differentiate early-stage ESCC patients from normal controls (sensitivity 45% (95% CI: 32–59%) and specificity 95% (95% CI: 89–98%) in the test cohort; 46% (95% CI: 35–58%) and 96% (95% CI: 91–99%) in the validation cohort). In either cohort, no significant differences were seen when patients were subdivided by age, gender, smoking status, size of tumor, site of tumor, depth of tumor invasion, histological grade, lymph node status, TNM stage, or early-stage and late-stage groups.CONCLUSIONS:Measurement of an autoantibody response to multiple tumor-associated antigens in an optimized panel assay, to help discriminate early-stage ESCC patients from normal controls, may aid in early detection of ESCC.

BackgroundAcupuncture has been commonly used for preventing migraine attacks and relieving pain during a migraine, although there is limited knowledge on the physiological mechanism behind this method. The objectives of this study were to compare the differences in brain activities evoked by active acupoints and inactive acupoints and to investigate the possible correlation between clinical variables and brain responses.Methods and ResultsA randomized controlled trial and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were conducted. A total of eighty migraineurs without aura were enrolled to receive either active acupoint acupuncture or inactive acupoint acupuncture treatment for 8 weeks, and twenty patients in each group were randomly selected for the fMRI scan at the end of baseline and at the end of treatment. The neuroimaging data indicated that long-term active acupoint therapy elicited a more extensive and remarkable cerebral response compared with acupuncture at inactive acupoints. Most of the regions were involved in the pain matrix, lateral pain system, medial pain system, default mode network, and cognitive components of pain processing. Correlation analysis showed that the decrease in the visual analogue scale (VAS) was significantly related to the increased average Regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in the anterior cingulate cortex in the two groups. Moreover, the decrease in the VAS was associated with increased average ReHo values in the insula which could be detected in the active acupoint group.ConclusionsLong-term active acupoint therapy and inactive acupoint therapy have different brain activities. We postulate that acupuncture at the active acupoint might have the potential effect of regulating some disease-affected key regions and the pain circuitry for migraine, and promote establishing psychophysical pain homeostasis.Trial RegistrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR-TRC-13003635

BackgroundAdvanced neuroimaging approaches have been employed to prove that migraine was a central nervous system disorder. This study aims to examine resting-state abnormalities in migraine without aura (MWoA) patients stratified by disease duration, and to explore the neuroimaging markers for reflecting the disease duration.Methods40 eligible MWoA patients and 20 matched healthy volunteers were included in the study. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis was used to identify the local features of spontaneous brain activity in MWoA patients stratified by disease duration, and analysis was performed to investigate the correlation of overlapped brain dysfunction in MWoA patients with different disease duration (long-term and short-term) and course of disease.ResultsCompared with healthy controls, MWoA patients with long-term disease duration showed comprehensive neuronal dysfunction than patients with short-term disease duration. In addition, increased average ReHo values in the thalamus, brain stem, and temporal pole showed significantly positive correlations with the disease duration. On the contrary, ReHo values were negatively correlated with the duration of disease in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, posterior cingulate cortex and superior occipital gyrus.ConclusionsOur findings of progressive brain damage in relation to increasing disease duration suggest that migraine without aura is a progressive central nervous disease, and the length of the disease duration was one of the key reasons to cause brain dysfunction in MwoA patients. The repeated migraine attacks over time result in resting-state abnormalities of selective brain regions belonging to the pain processing and cognition. We predict that these brain regions are sensitive neuroimaging markers for reflecting the disease duration of migraine patients without aura.

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