Liquid biopsy:Precise diagnosis and therapy for cholangiocarcinoma

The following letter to the editor highlights the review titled“Liquid biopsy in cholangiocarcinoma:Current status and future perspective”in World J Gastrointest Oncol 2021;13:332-350.It is necessary to realize individualized therapy to improve the clinical prognosis of patients with cholangiocarcinoma.

Photodynamic therapy:A next alternative treatment strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma?

Liver cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Of all types of livercancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is known to be the most frequent primaryliver malignancy and has seriously compromised the health status of the generalpopulation. Locoregional thermal ablation techniques such as radiofrequency andmicrowave ablation, have attracted attention in clinical practice as an alternativestrategy for HCC treatment. However, their aggressive thermal effect may causeundesirable complications such as hepatic decompensation, hemorrhage, bile ductinjury, extrahepatic organ injuries, and skin burn. In recent years, photodynamictherapy (PDT), a gentle locoregional treatment, has attracted attention in ablationtherapy for patients with superficial or luminal tumors as an alternative treatmentstrategy. However, some inherent defects and extrinsic factors of PDT havelimited its use in clinical practice for deep-seated HCC. In this contribution, theaim is to summarize the current status and challenges of PDT in HCC treatmentand provide potential strategies to overcome these deficiencies in further clinicaltranslational practice.

Construction of eukaryotic expression vector of humanarresten gene and its secreted expression in HEK 293 cells

The eukaryotic expression vector of human arresten gene was constructed and its secretive expression in human embryonic kidney(HEK 293)cells was detected.Human arresten gene was amplified from recombinant plasmid pGEM-Arr by polymerase chain reaction(PCR),and then digested with restriction endonucleases BamH I and EcoR I.The target fragment was inserted into the BamH I and EcoR I restriction sites of eukaryotic expression vector pSecTag2 to construct pST-AT.Restric-tion analysis and DNA sequencing indicated that the arresten gene was successfully inserted into pSecTag2.The recombinant plasmid was subsequently transfected into HEK 293 cells with LipofectAMINETM2000 Reagent,and the expression of the target gene was detected.Reverse transcription PCR(RT-PCR)revealed that the mRNA of the target gene was transcribed in the transfected HEK 293 cells.Western blot analysis verified that the recombinant protein in supernatants was correct.The supernatants of transfected cells were prepared,and 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiazol(-2-y1)-3,5-di-phenyltetrazoliumbromide(MTT)assay was carried out to assess their effects on the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells,which showed that the recombinant protein could significantly suppress the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro.These results provided a solid foundation to explore the usage of arresten in tumor anti-angiogenic gene therapy.

Successful infrainguinal revascularization with autologousvein for inadvertent stripping of superficial femoral artery:a case report

A referral patient who had previously under-gone varicose vein surgery was admitted as an emergency case.On admission,the patient complained of intolerable pain,paralysis and paresthesia of the affected limb,which was characterized by acute arterial ischemia symptoms.Color Doppler of the artery of the affected limb indicated that no bloodflow signal existed in the superficial femoral artery.During exploratory operation,we found that the right superficial femoral artery instead of the great saphenous vein of the affected limb had been stripped and ligated.Therefore,the intact right great saphenous vein was taken for auto-transplantation by inverse end-to-end anastomosis to the proximal and distal residual superficial femoral artery,which resulted in gradual recovery.Except for ischemic reperfusion injury,no other post-operative complications occurred after a 10 month follow-up;however,the long-term curative effect needs further observation.Here we report our treatment experience.

Treatment of severe diffuse cavernous hemangioma of the lower limb by combination of superficial femoral artery ligation and supergenual thigh amputation

Severe diffuse cavernous hemangioma of the lower limb is rarely seen among young people and sometimes can be a fatal challenge for operation.We reported a case of diffuse cavernous hemangioma invol-ving both skin and muscles of the left lower limb and perineal region in an adolescent patient.The patient who had previously undergone a local hemangioma resection of the foot ultimately ended in superficial femoral artery ligation and supergenual thigh amputation of the left upper leg because of uncontrollable massive bleeding of anastomotic stoma.