Texture analysis based on T1 W, T2 W, and DWI could act as imaging biomarkers of tumor response to chemoradiotherapy in NPC patients and serve as a new radiological analysis tool for treatment prediction. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:445-455.

Taken together, our observations elucidate distinct immune responses of monocyte subsets during HIV infection and antiviral therapy and provide new insight into the roles of innate immunity in HIV-related pathogenesis.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common types of cancer and the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide, especially in Eastern Asia. Here, we downloaded the microarray data of lncRNA expression profiles of ESCC patients from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data sets and divided into training, validation and test set. The random survival forest (RSF) algorithm and Cox regression analysis were applied to identify a seven-lncRNA signature. Then the predictive ability of the seven-lncRNA signature was evaluated in the validation and test set using Kaplan-Meier test, time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and dynamic area under curve (AUC). Stratified analysis and multivariate Cox regression also demonstrated the independence of the signature in prognosis prediction from other clinical factors. Besides, the predict accuracy of lncRNA signature was much better than that of tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage in all the three sets. LncRNA combined with TNM displayed better prognostic predict ability than either alone. The role of LINC00173 from the signature in modulating the proliferation and cell cycle of ESCC cells was also observed. These results indicated that this seven-lncRNA signature could be used as an independent prognostic biomarker for prognosis prediction of patients with ESCC.

Background In cancer progression, hypoxia, or low oxygen tension, is a major regulator of tumor aggressiveness and metastasis. However, how cancer cells adapt to the hypoxia and communicate with other mesenchymal cells in microenvironment during tumor development remains to be elucidated. Here, we investigated the involvement of exosomes in modulating angiogenesis and enhancing metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods Differential centrifugation, transmission electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis were used to isolate and characterize exosomes. Colony formation and transwell assay were performed to assess the proliferation, migration and invasion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The tube formation assay and matrigel plug assay were used to evaluate the vascular formation ability of HUVECs in vitro and in vivo respectively. An in vivo nude mice model was established to detect the regulatory role of exosomes in ESCC progression. Microarray analysis was performed to analyze the transcriptome profiles in HUVECs. Results Exosomes derived from ESCC cells cultured under hypoxia played a better role in promoting proliferation, migration, invasion and tube formation of HUVECs in vitro and in vivo than exosomes from ESCC cells cultured under normoxia. Moreover, hypoxic exosomes significantly enhanced the tumor growth and lung metastasis compared with normoxic exosomes in nude mice models. Interestingly, endothelial cells were programmed by hypoxic and normoxic exosomes from ESCC cells which altered the transcriptome profile of HUVECs. Conclusions Taken together, our data identified an angiogenic role of exosomes from ESCC cells which shed light on the further application of exosomes as valuable therapeutic target for ESCC. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1384-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), as the secondary metabolite of molds, is the most predominant and toxic mycotoxin that seriously threatens the health of humans and animals. In this work, an AFB1-responsive hydrogel was synthesized for highly sensitive and portable detection of AFB1. The AFB1-responsive hydrogel was prepared using an AFB1 aptamer and its two short complementary DNA strands as cross-linkers. For visual detection of AFB1, the hydrogel is preloaded with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Upon introduction of AFB1, the AFB1 aptamer binds with AFB1, leading to the disruption of the hydrogel and release of the AuNPs with a distinct color change of the supernatant from colorless to red. In order to lower the detection limit and extend the method to quantitative analysis, a distance-readout volumetric bar chart chip (V-chip) was combined with an AFB1-responsive hydrogel preloaded with platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs). In the presence of AFB1, the hydrogel collapses and releases PtNPs which can catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 to generate O2. The increasing gas pressure moves a red ink bar in the V-chip and provides a quantitative relationship between the distance and the concentration of AFB1. The method was applied for detection of AFB1 in beer, with a detection limit of 1.77 nM (0.55 ppb) where an immunoaffinity column (IAC) of AFB1 was used to cleanup and pre-concentrate the sample, which satisfies the testing requirement of 2.0 ppb set by the European Union. The combination of an AFB1-responsive hydrogel with a distance-based readout V-chip offers a user-friendly POCT device, which has great potential for rapid, portable, selective, and quantitative detection of AFB1 in real samples to ensure food safety and avoid subsequent economic losses.

BackgroundTo assess the feasibility of texture analysis (TA) based on spectral attenuated inversion-recovery T2 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (SPAIR T2W-MRI) for the classification of hepatic hemangioma (HH), hepatic metastases (HM) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsThe SPAIR T2W-MRI data of 162 patients with HH (n=55), HM (n=67) and HCC (n=40) were retrospectively analyzed. We used two independent cohorts for training (n = 112 patients) and validation (n = 50 patients). The TA was performed and textual parameters derived from the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), gray level gradient co-occurrence matrix (GLGCM), gray-level run-length matrix (GLRLM), Gabor wavelet transform (GWTF), intensity-size-zone matrix (ISZM), and histogram features were calculated. The capacity of each parameter to classify three types of single liver lesions was assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Specificity and sensitivity for each of the studied parameters were derived using ROC curves. Four supervised classification algorithms were trained with the most influential textural features in the classification of tumor types. The test datasets validated the reliability of the models.ResultsThe texture analyses showed that the HH versus HM, HM versus HCC, and HH versus HCC could be differentiated by 9, 16 and 10 feature parameters, respectively. The model’s misclassification rates were 11.7, 9.6 and 9.7% respectively. No texture feature was able to adequately distinguish among the three types of single liver lesions at the same time. The BP-ANN model had better predictive ability.ConclusionTexture features of SPAIR T2W-MRI can classify the three types of single liver lesions (HH, HM and HCC) and may serve as an adjunct tool for accurate diagnosis of these diseases.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12880-017-0212-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

We have successfully developed a target-responsive aptamer cross-linked hydrogel for the visual detection of glucose, an important biomedical analyte. In this work, the glucose-responsive hydrogel was prepared using the target aptamer and its two short complementary DNA strands grafted onto a linear polyacrylamide chain as cross-linkers. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with thiol-PEG were encapsulated in the gel and used as the output signal for visible detection. The complex of glucose and its ligand of boronic acid derivatives (Shinkai's receptor) can bind with the aptamer to disrupt the hydrogel, leading to the release of AuNPs with a distinct red colour in the supernatant. By this method glucose can be detected with the naked eye, and the sensor has a detection limit of 0.44 mM in buffer with the help of UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Furthermore, glucose spiked in 50% urine and 30% serum could also be detected respectively with the naked eye, and glucose was quantitatively detected in 50% urine. The hydrogel system provides a non-enzymatic and visual method for glucose detection, and offers promising applications in biotechnology and biomedicine.

Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) plays a significant role in breast cancer treatment. We conduct the study to ascertain the relative molecular targets of effective Chinese herbs in treating stage IV breast cancer.Survival benefit of CHM was verified by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. A bivariate correlation analysis was used to find and establish the effect of herbs in complex CHM formulas. A network pharmacological approach was adopted to explore the potential mechanisms of CHM.Patients in the CHM group had a median survival time of 55 months, which was longer than the 23 months of patients in the non-CHM group. Cox regression analysis indicated that CHM was an independent protective factor. Correlation analysis showed that 10 herbs were strongly correlated with favorable survival outcomes (P<0.01). Bioinformatics analyses suggested that the 10 herbs might achieve anti-breast cancer activity primarily through inhibiting HSP90, ERα and TOP-II related pathways.