Introduction. Esophagus squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has a poor prognosis, a high rate of metastasis, and rapid clinical progression. One hypothesis is that therapeutic failure is due to the presence of cancer stem cells (CSC). Previous studies showed the anticancer effect of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNP) in different cancer cells. In this study, we aim to evaluate the effect of cerium oxide nanoparticles on cell antioxidants, toxicity, as well as cell oxidant level in esophageal cancer (YM1) and cancer stem cell-like (CSC-LC) cell lines. Method. YM1 and CSC-LC spheres were treated with CNP at different concentrations. The cell viability was assessed by using the MTT test. Antioxidant levels (SOD (superoxide dismutase, CAT (catalase), thiol, and TAC (total antioxidant capacity)), antioxidant genes expression (SOD and CAT), ROS (reactive oxygen species), and MDA (malondialdehyde) levels were assessed in both cell lines. Results. CSC-LC had significantly elevated SOX4 and OCT4 pluripotent genes. The ROS and MDA levels were significantly reduced in both YM1 and CSC-LC spheres after treatment with CNP. Also, the antioxidant levels and expressions were elevated significantly in both cell lines after CNP treatment. Conclusion. These results suggest the potential anticancer effect of CNP by elevating antioxidant levels and expressions, and reducing oxidant levels.

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Objective: Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic multisystem inflammatory disease classified as Variable Vessel Vasculitis with unclear etiology. We designed this systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate vitamin D status in Behcet’s disease patients with this background Methods: We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis according to (PRISMA) guidelines. We included all observational studies in humans published in English, evaluating the association of 25(OH)D concentrations in Behcet’s patients. Two reviewers (HRK and AE) independently searched the databases and screened articles based on their titles and abstracts. A third reviewer resolved all disagreements. We performed analysis using Cochrane Program Review Manager Version 5.3. The protocol for this review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020197426). Results: A total of 341 publications were initially identified according to the search strategy. Finally, 12 publications were included in the meta-analysis. We performed this meta-analysis on 1265 participants from different studies with a sample size from 63 to 224 individuals. In studies comparing Active and Inactive subgroups of patients with Behcet’s Disease, we found a significantly lower serum level of vitamin D in patients with Active BD (-0.4; 95%CI: -0.61, -0.25; p<0.00001). We found that the serum level of vitamin D in Behcet’s Disease is significantly higher than Health Controls (0.5; 95%CI: 0.15, 0.50; p=0.00001). Conclusion: We demonstrated that the existing evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that an increased serum level of vitamin D would be associated with substantially lower risk of active Behcet’s disease.

Hydatid cyst is a global zoonotic disease due to Echinococcus granulosus infection. 1 The incidence of hydatid cysts can be 50 per 100,000 person-years in endemic areas. 2 The prevalence of hydatid cysts increases with age and it is more prevalent in women. 3 The most common sites of hydatid cysts in the human body are the liver and lungs (95%). 1 As there are no specific signs and symptoms related to a hydatid cyst, it is usually diagnosed as a result of an incidental finding on imaging examination following an unrelated problem. 4 Even in endemic areas, the presence of primary retroperitoneal hydatid cysts is scarce. However, clinicians, especially surgeons, should consider hydatid cysts as an important differential diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses. 5 Here we report a 22-year-old patient with a retroperitoneal hydatid cyst.