Combined Streptococcus and Prevotella abundance is regarded as an independent species prognostic biomarker in ESCC patients.

AimTo determine the rate of abdominal lymph node metastasis after radical surgery for esophageal cancer and define the radiotherapy target area.MethodsOf the 1593 patients who underwent R0 radical esophagectomy for thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (TE-SCC), 148 developed abdominal lymph node (LN) metastases within three years of surgery. During that time interval, patients were examined by various imaging methods (enhanced computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography–CT) at set time points. The emerging recurrence pattern, preferred sites for abdominal metastasis, and correlation with added clinical factors were carefully recorded, to permit for delineation of a target area for radiotherapy.ResultsWe found postoperative metastatic abdominal LNs in 9.3% of the patients treated for esophageal cancer. Lesions in the upper, middle, and lower esophageal segments metastasized to abdominal LNs at 2.3%, 7.8%, and 26.6% (P < 0.0001), respectively. Of all cases, 4.8% had fewer than two affected LNs, while 20.1% had more than three metastatic LNs (P< 0.0001). The metastasis rates of negative and positive celiac LNs were 4.6% and 22.7%, respectively. Abdominal LN metastasis rates for the following LNs: 16a2 and 16a1 of para-aortic, celiac artery, posterior surface of the pancreatic head and common hepatic artery were 64.9%, 41.2%, 37.8%, 32.4%, and 20.9%, respectively. The overall rate of metastasis to these groups of LNs was 91.9%.ConclusionThis study determined that stations 16a1 and 16a2 of the para-aortic, truncus coeliacus, posterior surface of the pancreatic head, and arteria hepatica communis lymph nodes were the preferred sites for abdominal LN metastasis, thus defining target areas for postoperative radiotherapy.

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BackgroundLymph node metastasis (LNM) is most common in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The bi-directional spread is a key feature of LNM in patients with thoracic esophageal SCC (TE-SCC). The purpose of this study was to analyze the prognostic factors of survival in patients with TE-SCC with cervical lymph node metastasis (CLM) and validate the staging system of the current American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) in a cohort of Chinese patients.MethodsOf 1715 patients with TE-SCC who underwent radical esophagectomy plus three-field lymph node dissection at a single hospital between January 1993 and March 2007, 547 patients who had pathologically confirmed CLM (296 had surgery only and 251 had surgery + postoperative radiotherapy) were included in this study. The locations of the lymph nodes (LNs) were classified based on the guidelines of the Japanese Society for Esophageal Diseases.ResultsThe rate of CLM was 31.9% for all patients and was 44.2%, 31.5%, and 14.4% for patients with upper, middle, and lower TE-SCC, respectively (P < 0.0001). The rates of metastasis to 101 (paraesophageal lymph nodes), 104 (supraclavicular lymph nodes), 102 (deep cervical lymph nodes) and 103 (retropharyngeal lymph nodes) areas were 89.0%, 25.6%, 3.7% and 0.5%, respectively. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate with CLM was 27.7% (median survival, 27.5 months). The 5-year OS rates were 21.3% versus 34.2% (median survival, 21.9 months versus 35.4 months) for after surgery only versus surgery + postoperative radiotherapy, respectively (P < 0.0001 for both). Multivariate analysis showed that the independent prognostic factors for survival were sex, pT stage, pN stage, number of fields with positive LNs, and treatment modality. In surgery only group, the 5-year OS rates were 24.1%, 16.2% and 11.7%, respectively, when there was metastasis to 101 LN alone, 104 LN alone or both 101 LN and 104 LN. The 5-year OS rates were 17.7%, 22.5% and 31.7%, for patients with upper, middle and lower TE-SCC , respectively (P = 0.112). The 5-year OS rates were 43.0%, 25.5%, 10.2% in patients with 1 field (cervical LNs), 2 fields (cervical + mediastinal, and/or cervical + abdominal LNs), and 3 fields (cervical + mediastinal + abdominal LNs) positive LNs, respectively (P < 0.0001). The number of fields of positive LNs did not impact the OS according to different pN stage (all P > 0.05).ConclusionPatients with TE-SCC with CLM have better prognosis, which supports the current AJCC staging system for esophageal SCC.

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Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is one of the major prognostic factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However there is no consensus regarding the prognostic significance of the location of LNM. Therefore, a novel classification was proposed to identify the lymph node (LN) stations which may be useful in predicting prognosis. A total of 260 ESCC patients were enrolled in this prospective study. The prognostic values of LNM in different lymph node (LN) stations were evaluated by random survival forests (RSF). Their prognostic significance was examined by Cox regression and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). The three most frequently involved LN stations were station 16 (24.49%), station 1 (22.22%) and station 2 (21.05%). Stations 1, 2, 8M, 8L and 16 were grouped as dominant LN stations (DLNS) which showed higher values in predicting overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) than the remaining LN stations, which we define as non-dominant LN stations (N-DLNS). LNM features of DLNS (number of positive LN stations, number of positive LNs and LN ratio), but not those from N-DLNS, served as independent prognostic factors (P<0.05) whenever used alone or when combined with factors from N-DLNS. Furthermore, the area under ROC indicated that DLNS is a more accurate prediction than N-DLNS (P<0.05). This study demonstrated the value of LNM in DLNS in predicting prognosis in surgical ESCC patients, which outperformed those from N-DLNS. Therefore, the method of dominant and non-dominant classification may serve as an additional parameter to improve individualized therapeutic strategies.

Recently, several studies suggested that PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism was correlated with cancer risk. However, past results remained controversial. In this study, we performed a case-control study on the relationship of PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism with risk of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and subsequently carried out a meta-analysis to further assess the association between PPARG c.1347C>T and overall cancer. In our case-control study, after adjusting by age, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking and drinking, a tendency to increased NSCLC risk was noted (CT/TT vs. CC: adjusted OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.97–1.51; P = 0.097). In the meta-analysis, we found a significant association between PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism and overall cancer risk (T vs. C: OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03–1.23; P = 0.006; TT vs. CC: OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.07–1.56; P = 0.008, CT/TT vs. CC: OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.02–1.21; P = 0.014 and TT vs. CT/CC: OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.04–1.52; P = 0.016). In a subgroup analysis by ethnicity, evidence of significant association between PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism and cancer risk was found among Asians and mixed populations. In a subgroup analysis by cancer type, PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism was associated with risk of esophageal cancer and glioblastoma. In addition, in a subgroup analysis by origin of cancer cell, evidence of significant association between PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism and cancer risk was also found among epithelial tumor. In conclusion, the findings indicate PPARG c.1347C>T polymorphism may increase the susceptibility of cancer.