Truth telling for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Henan,China

Objective: This study aims to investigate the truth-telling status and the relevant factors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) patients in Henan, China.Methods: A cross-sectional study from April to June 2015 using questionnaires was given to 301 family members of hospitalized ESCC patients based in three affiliated hospitals of Zhengzhou University(i.e., The First Hospital, The Second Hospital, and Tumor Hospital) and Anyang Tumor Hospital.Results: Among the 41.9%(126/301) hospitalized ESCC patients who knew of their true diagnoses, only 4.0% patients were informed by their corresponding responsible doctors, 39.7% by their family members, and 56.3% by themselves. Univariate analyses showed that disclosure of confirmed ESCC diagnosis to patients was correlated with gender, family history of cancer(FHC), education level, vocation, hospital administrative level, and attitudes of family members(P < 0.05). Furthermore,multivariate analysis indicated that attitude of family members was the most important and an independent factor for diagnosis disclosure. Those patients with a negative FHC, under-education, manual occupation, advanced stages, and hospitalized in municipal hospitals exhibited a low rate of truth telling.Conclusions: Truth telling for ESCC patients in Henan is not prevalent and may be improved through consultation with family members, particularly for patients with a negative FHC, poor education, manual occupation, and advanced stages.

N-linked glycoproteomic profiling in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND Mass spectrometry-based proteomics and glycomics reveal post-translational modifications providing significant biological insights beyond the scope of genomic sequencing.AIM To characterize the N-linked glycoproteomic profile in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)via two complementary approaches.METHODS Using tandem multilectin affinity chromatography for enrichment of N-linked glycoproteins,we performed N-linked glycoproteomic profiling in ESCC tissues by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE)-based and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification(iTRAQ)labeling-based mass spectrometry quantitation in parallel,followed by validation of candidate glycoprotein biomarkers by Western blot.RESULTS 2-DE-based and iTRAQ labeling-based quantitation identified 24 and 402 differentially expressed N-linked glycoproteins,respectively,with 15 in common,demonstrating the outperformance of iTRAQ labeling-based quantitation over 2-DE and complementarity of these two approaches.Proteomaps showed the distinct compositions of functional categories between proteins and glycoproteins with differential expression associated with ESCC.Western blot analysis validated the up-regulation of total procathepsin D and high-mannose procathepsin D,and the downregulation of total haptoglobin,high-mannose clusterin,and GlcNAc/sialic acid-containing fraction of 14-3-3ζ in ESCC tissues.The serum levels of glycosylated fractions of clusterin,prolinearginine-rich end leucine-rich repeat protein,and haptoglobin in patients with ESCC were remarkably higher than those in healthy controls.CONCLUSION Our study provides insights into the aberrant N-linked glycoproteome associated with ESCC,which will be a valuable resource for future investigations.