Long-term survival and risk factors in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma:A Kaplan-Meier and cox regression study

BACKGROUND The global incidence of esophageal cancer(EC)remains high.Despite advan-cements in medical technology and deeper research into the causes and treatment methods of EC,the effectiveness of treatment for EC is still unsatisfactory.Therefore,it is crucial to address the urgent problem of improving the long-term survival rate of EC patients and providing personalized treatment.AIM To analyze the survival prognosis and influencing factors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 115 patients with pT3N0M0 ESCC who underwent radical surgery alone from January 1,2013,to December 31,2019.The Kaplan–Meier method was used to evaluate the 1-year,3-year,and 5-year survival rates and median survival time of the patients.The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the hazard ratios(HRs)and 95%confidence intervals(95%CIs)of risk factors.RESULTS The 1-year,3-year,and 5-year overall survival(OS)rates for the 115 EC patients analyzed were 85.22%,50.43%,and 37.48%,respectively.The median OS was 37.00(95%CI:24.93-49.07)months,and the median disease-free survival was 21.00(95%CI:14.71-27.29)months.Both univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that high body mass index(BMI;HR=1.137,95%CI:1.054-1.226),positive perineural invasion(PNI;HR=13.381,95%CI:4.899-36.547),and smoking(HR=2.415,95%CI:1.388-4.203)were independent risk factors for a poor prognosis.In contrast,compared to the upper thoracic location of the tumor,middle thoracic(HR=0.441,95%CI:0.240-0.810)and lower thoracic(HR=0.328,95%CI:0.144-0.750)locations were protective factors.CONCLUSION BMI,tumor location,PNI,and smoking are associated with the prognosis of ESCC patients.This study highlights the prognostic risk factors for T3N0M0 ESCC patients and offers personalized insights for clinical treatment.

Predicting prognosis of rectal cancer patients with total mesorectal excision using molecular markers

AIM:To explore the prognostic variables in rectal cancer patients undergoing curative total mesorectal excision and the effect of postoperative chemotherapy in advanced rectal cancer. METHODS:A total of 259 consecutive rectal cancer patients treated with curative total mesorectal excision between 1999 and 2004 were collected. p53,p21,PCNA,and CD44v6 were examined using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The correlation between clinicopathological or molecular variables and clinical outcomes,including local recurrence,metastasis,disease-free survival and overall survival,was analyzed. RESULTS:The median follow-up was 44 mo. Five-year survival rates and 5-year disease free survival rates were 75.43% and 70.32%,respectively. Multi-analysis revealed TNM staging,preoperative CEA,and CD44v6 level were independent risk factors predicting overall survival or disease free survival. The hazard ratio of peroperative CEA was 2.65 (95% CI 1.4-5) and 3.10 (95% CI 1.37-6.54) for disease free survival and overall survival,respectively. The hazard ratio of CD44v6 was 1.93 (95% CI 1.04-3.61) and 2.21 (95% CI 1.01-4.88) for disease free survival and overall survival,respectively. TNM staging was the only risk factor predicting local recurrence. Postoperative chemotherapy without radiotherapy did not improve patients' outcome. CONCLUSION:TNM staging,preoperative CEA and CD44v6 were independent prognostic factors for rectal cancer patients with total mesorectal excision. Postoperative chemotherapy may be only used together with radiotherapy for rectal cancer patients.

Clinical Observation of Patients with Hematologic Malignancies Treated with Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

To evaluate the therapeutic effect of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), we performed HSCT in 30 patients with hematologic maligancies. Of the 30 patients, 10 underwent autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT), 13 underwent myeloablative allogeneic HSCT while 7 underwent nonmyeloablative allogeneic HSCT, which were designated as autologous group, myeloablative group and nonmyeloablative group, respectively. All patients except the one who underwent cord blood transplantation, were successfully engrafted. Median time for the granulocytes≥0.5×10\+9/L and platelets≥20×10\+9/L were 12 days and 13 days respectively in autologous group, 16 days and 19 days in myeloablative group, 15 days and 12 days in nonmyeloablative group. In myeloablative group, acute graft-versus-host diseases (aGVHD) was observed in 3 patients, all of which were I—Ⅱgrade. Oral mucous cGVHD was observed in 1 patient. In nonmyeloablative group, 1 patient developed intestinal aGVHD grade Ⅳ and cutaneous cGVHD was induced by donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) in 3 patients. 1 patient had hematological relapse in autologous group. 1 patient had cytogenetic relapse in myeloablative group. In nonmyeloablative group 3 patients had cytogenetic relapse and were cured by DLI, 1 patient had hematological relapse. 4 of the 30 patients died of infection (2 patients), grade Ⅳ aGVHD (1) and relapse (1) respectively. 26 patients are still alive. 3 years overall survival (OS) and 3 years disease free survival (DFS) were 100 % and 64.81 % respectively in autologous group, 78.75 % and 63 % respectively in myeloablative group while both 66.67 % in nonmyeloablative group. In conclusion, autologous group had less transplant-related complications and mortality. Active prophylaxis of relapse could significantly promote DFS. The transplant-related mortality limited DFS in myeloablative group. More relapses occurred in nonmyeloablative group, but could be cured by DLI.

Prognostic significance of primary tumor localization in stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ colon cancer

AIM To investigate the effects of tumor localization on disease free survival(DFS) and overall survival(OS) in patients with stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ colon cancer.METHODS This retrospective study included 942 patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ colon cancer, which were followed up in our clinics between 1995 and 2017. The tumors from the caecum to splenic flexure were defined as right colon cancer(RCC) and those from splenic flexure to the sigmoid colon as left colon cancer(LCC).RESULTS The median age of the patients was 58 years(range: 19-94 years). Male patients constituted 54.2%. The rates of RCC and LCC were 48.4%(n = 456) and 51.6%(n = 486), respectively. During the median follow-up of 90 mo(range: 6-252 mo), 14.6% of patients developed recurrence and 9.1% of patients died. In patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ disease with or without adjuvant therapy, DFS was similar in terms of primary tumor localization(stage Ⅱ; P = 0.547 and P = 0.481, respectively; stage Ⅲ; P = 0.976 and P = 0.978, respectively). In patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ disease with or without adjuvant therapy, OS was not statistically significant with respect to primary tumor localization(stage Ⅱ; P = 0.381 and P = 0.947, respectively; stage Ⅲ; P = 0.378 and P = 0.904, respectively). The difference between median OS of recurrent RCC(26 ± 6.2 mo) and LCC(34 ± 4.9 mo) cases was eight months(P = 0.092).CONCLUSION Our study showed no association of tumor localization with either DFS or OS in patients with stage Ⅱ or Ⅲ colon cancer managed with or without adjuvant therapy. However, post-recurrence OS appeared to be worse in RCC patients.

Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in the patients with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors

Objective To evaluate the long-term therapeutic effects of autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT) on the treatment of hematological and solid tumors.Methods Fifty-one patients were recruited in this auto-PBSCT study, in which several potentially important parameters were studied including the optimal time for stem cell collection, the dose of stem cell reinfusion, the time of hematopoietic reconstitution, the disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), complications related to transplantation, and maintenance chemotherapy after auto-PBSCT.Results After APBSCT, 3-year and 5-year survival rates of NHL were 83.3%; those of AML were 74.7%; those of MM were 37.9% and 19%; those of ALL were 40% and 0% respectively. Hematopoietic reconstitution was greatly promoted by granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). The mean time for patients' neutrophil to recover up to >0.5×109/L after APBSCT was 11.14 days in the group of the patients receiving G-CSF in contrast to 17.6 days in the group receiving no G-CSF. The most common complications of transplantation were fever, liver dysfunction and hypokalaemia, which were curable. No death was due to transplantation related complications.Conclusion Comparing with conventional chemotherapy, our study suggests that auto-PBSCT is a very important therapeutic option that can significantly improve the prognosis in the patients with hematological and solid tumors, especially in the patients with AML and NHL.

Association of an anaplastic lymphoma kinase pathway signature with cell de-differentiation, neoadjuvant chemotherapy response, and recurrence risk in breast cancer

Background:Aberrant activation of anaplastic lymphoma kinase(ALK)signaling has been found to be involved in the tumorigenesis of multiple types of cancer.The aim of this study was to determine the role of this pathway in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.Methods:An ALK pathway signature that we generated previously was used to compute the ALK pathway activity in 6381 breast cancer samples from 42 microarray datasets,and the associations between ALK pathway signature score and clinical variables were examined using logistic regression and survival analyses.Results:Our results indicated that high ALK pathway activity was a significant risk factor for hormone receptor-negative,high-grade breast cancer in the 42 datasets.ALK pathway activity was positively associated with pathological complete response(pCR)in 15 datasets annotated with patient’s neoadjuvant chemotherapy response information(overall odds ratio=1.67,P<0.01),and this association was more significant in HER2-negative and grade 1&2 tumors than in HER2-positive and grade 3 tumors.ALK pathway activity was also positively associated with recurrence risk in breast cancer patients from 30 datasets annotated with survival information(overall hazard ratio=1.21,P<0.01),particularly in patients with age>50 years old,with positive lymph nodes,or with residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Conclusions:ALK may be involved in breast cancer tumorigenesis,and ALK pathway signature score may serve as a prognostic biomarker for breast cancer.