Centromere protein F (CENP-F), a cell cycle-regulated centromere protein, has been shown to affect numerous tumorigenic processes. This study aimed to clarify the prognostic significance of CENP-F expression in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The levels of CENP-F messenger RNA and protein were higher in ESCC cell lines than in the normal tissues. An immunohistochemical analysis of paired tissue specimens showed that the CENP-F expression was higher in tumorous tissues than in the adjacent non-tumorous tissues (P < 0.001). Moreover, there was a significant correlation between CENP-F expression and gender (P = 0.012), clinical stage (P = 0.039), and T classification (P = 0.026). Patients with higher CENP-F expression had shorter overall survival than those with lower CENP-F expression (P = 0.009). Multivariate Cox analysis indicated that CENP-F expression is an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.582, 95% confidence interval = 0.397-0.804, P = 0.041). Importantly, it was found that zoledronic acid (ZOL) could significantly enhance the chemotherapeutic sensitivity of ESCC cell lines with high CENP-F expression to cisplatin, although ZOL alone only exhibited a minor inhibitory effect to ESCC cells. In summary, these findings demonstrate that CENP-F may serve as a valuable molecular marker for predicting the prognosis of ESCC patients. In addition, the data indicate a potential benefit of combining ZOL with cisplatin in ESCC, suggesting that CENP-F expression may have therapeutic implications.

Background: To study the molecular mechanism of cisplatin chemotherapy resistance in colorectal cancer cells and to explore the effect of miRNA in regulating the expression of glucose transporter 3 (SLC2A3) and the proliferation and migration of colon cancer cells. Methods: All samples were obtained from the People’s Hospital of Wuhai, Wuhai, China between June 2019 and June 2020. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was carried out to check the expression of miR-103a in these cell lines. Western blotting and Luciferase reporter gene detection confirmed the regulation of the miR-103a/SLC2A3 axis. Western blotting detected the activation of SLC2A3, caspased-9 and -3. Results: The expression of SLC2A3 protein in colon cancer cell lines was significantly higher than that of normal colon cancer cells, while the expression of SLC2A3 miRNA showed no significant difference (P<0.05). Then, through clone formation analysis, SLC2A3 was closely related to the proliferation of human colon cancer cells. Functional recovery experiments showed that increasing the expression of miR-103a could reverse the abnormal proliferation caused by overexpression of SLC2A3. Conclusion: Overall, miR-103a can inhibit the proliferation of human colon cancer cells by targeting SLC2A3, and this result will provide a potential target for the treatment of colon cancer.

Background: The objective of this review was to assess the risk of lower limb amputation (LLA) in type 2 diabetic patients based on the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) versus dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors (DPP4i) or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1a). Methods: PubMed, CENTRAL, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase were referenced for articles published up to 5 February 2023. All types of studies comparing the drugs for LLA risk and reporting hazard ratios (HR) were included. Results: Thirteen studies with 2,095,033 patients were included. Meta-analysis of eight studies comparing SGLT2i with Dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors (DPPi) showed that there was no difference in the risk of LLA between the two drug groups (HR: 0.98 95% CI: 0.73, 1.31 I2 = 89%). The outcomes were unchanged on sensitivity analysis. Another pooled analysis of six studies found no significant difference in the risk of LLA between SGLT2i and GLP1a users (HR: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.60; I2 = 69%). The exclusion of a single study showed an increased risk of LLA with SGLT2i (HR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.60; I2 = 14%). Conclusion: The current updated meta-analysis found no significant difference in the risk of LLA between SGLT2i and DPP4i users. A tendency of increased risk of LLA was noted with SGLT2i as compared to GLP1a. Further studies shall increase the robustness of current findings.

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