Fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio predicts overall survival of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND Fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio(FAR)has been found to be of prognostic significance for several types of malignant tumors.However,less is known about the association between FAR and survival outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients.AIM To explore the association between FAR and prognosis and survival in patients with HCC.METHODS A total of 366 histologically confirmed HCC patients diagnosed between 2013 and 2018 in a provincial cancer hospital in southwestern China were retrospectively selected.Relevant data were extracted from the hospital information system.The optimal cutoff for baseline serum FAR measured upon disease diagnosis was established using the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the crude and adjusted associations between FAR and the overall survival(OS)of the HCC patients while controlling for various covariates.The restricted cubic spline(RCS)was applied to estimate the dose-response trend in the FAR-OS association.RESULTS The optimal cutoff value for baseline FAR determined by the ROC was 0.081.Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model revealed that a lower baseline serum FAR level was associated with an adjusted hazard ratio of 2.43(95%confidence interval:1.87–3.15)in the OS of HCC patients,with identifiable dose-response trend in the RCS.Subgroup analysis showed that this FAR-OS association was more prominent in HCC patients with a lower baseline serum aspartate aminotransferase or carbohydrate antigen 125 level.CONCLUSION Serum FAR is a prominent prognostic indicator for HCC.Intervention measures aimed at reducing FAR might result in survival benefit for HCC patients.

Expression of PANDA, LincRNA-p21, PUMA in lung tissues of lung cancer patients in the Xuanwei and non-Xuanwei areas of Yunnan Province

Aim:To study the expression of PANDA,LincRNA-p21,and PUMA in lung tissue of patients with lung cancer from Xuanwei of Yunnan Province.Methods:Forty-five cases of lung cancer patients from Xuanwei and 42 lung cancer cases from non-Xuanwei were enrolled.Extraction of RNA was done using the Trizol kit.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR assay was done to obtain the relative expression.Results:Expressions of PANDA,LincRNA-p21,and PUMA in male and female patients or in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma were not significantly different(P>0.05).However,expression of LincRNA-p21 in Xuanwei patients was higher than non-Xuanwei patients(P<0.05).Expression of PUMA in tumor tissue was lower than that in normal lung tissue(P<0.05),and i n Xuanwei patients was lower than non-Xuanwei patients(P<0.05).In patients from non-Xuanwei regions,expression of LincRNA-p21 in patients with smoking index>400 was higher than in those<400 and non-smokers.Conclusion:Expressions of PANDA,LincRNA-p21,and PUMA in lung tissues have no gender differences or tissue specificity.High expression of LincRNA-p21 in Xuanwei patients may have relationship with cell damage caused by coal burning pollution in Xuanwei.