Abstract. This study aimed to evaluate the biological functions of excision repair cross complementation goup 1 (ERCC1) in cell proliferation, cell cycle, invasion and cisplatin response of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Firstly, ERCC1 gene was successfully transfected into H1299 cells by gene cloning and transfection techniques. Then, cell proliferation was determined with the cell growth curve and colony-forming assays. Flow cytometry (FCM) was employed to investigate the cell cycle distribution. The ability of cell invasion was estimated by means of Matrigel invasion assays. Response of NSCLC cells to cisplatin was detected utilizing MTT assays, and the intracellular drug concentrations were determined by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Expression of the two cell membrane proteins, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and multidrug resistanceassociated protein (MRP), was also evaluated utilizing FCM technique. By contrast, ERCC1 expression in the NSCLC A549 cells was silenced by small interfering RNA (siRNA) through RNAi technique. In addition, the cytotoxic effect of cisplatin on A549 cells was detected by MTT assays. In the present study, the results demonstrated that ERCC1 had no effect on cell proliferation, cell cycle and the ability of invasion, but showed significant impact on cisplatin response of the NSCLC H1299 cells. Furthermore, siRNA-induced suppression of ERCC1 evidently enhanced sensitivity to cisplatin of NSCLC A549 cells. Therefore, it is confirmed that ERCC1 is a chemotherapy-tolerating gene and a promising predictor in tailoring chemotherapy of NSCLC.

Background: Lung cancer is a heterogeneous malignant tumor involving more than 50 histological subtypes. Currently, molecularly targeted drugs have been shown to have promising applications in the clinical treatment of lung cancer. This study aims to explore the expression patterns and prognostic potential of enolase 2 (ENO2) in lung cancer.Methods: Differential expressions of ENO2 in lung cancer cases were analyzed using the Oncomine database. Meanwhile, the prognostic potentials of ENO2 in lung cancer were assessed by deploying the Kaplan-Meier plotter database.Results: Forty-one studies reported a significant difference in ENO2 expression between tumors and the normal healthy control tissues. Among all the studies, there was an upregulation of ENO2 in 29 studies, and downregulation in 12 studies. 9/41 studies revealed upregulated ENO2 in distinct types of tumor tissues, including cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, sarcoma, and lung cancer. Furthermore, upregulated ENO2 was identified in 365 cases of lung cancer (P<0.05).By analyzing the Kaplan-Meier Plotter database, the ENO2 level was negatively correlated to the overall survival of lung cancer patients (P<0.05). Subsequently, subgroup analysis revealed that the prognostic potential of ENO2 was much more pronounced in lung adenocarcinoma patients (P<0.05).Conclusions: ENO2 is upregulated in lung cancer tissues and linked to the prognosis. It can be used as a therapeutic target for developing lung cancer drugs.

Background Conflicting data have been reported on the prognostic impact of the extent of lymphadenectomy during esophagectomy for esophageal cancer (EC) after neoadjuvant therapy, especially after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). Methods A comprehensive online search was performed to explore the association between increased lymph node yield (LNY) and survival of patients with EC, in which the overall survival (OS) was set as the primary outcome. In addition to analysis of the entire cohort, subgroup analyses of different induction therapy and different populations were also performed. Findings A total of 19528 patients from twelve studies were included in our study. The pooled data revealed that more lymph node harvested was associated with better OS (HR = 0·87; 95% CI: 0·79–0·95, p < 0·001). Notably, a higher LNY was associated with better OS if the threshold was less than 18. However, more thorough lymphadenectomy might not bring additional survival benefits when it came to a cutoff value more than 18. The subgroup analysis further revealed that a higher LNY after nCRT was associated favorable survival. In terms of subset analysis of different populations, increased LNY was associated with longer OS in Western populations but not in Eastern. Interpretation Increased LNY during esophagectomy after neoadjuvant therapy, especially after nCRT, might be associated with improved OS. More studies are warranted to assess the survival benefits of a higher LNY receiving neoadjuvant therapy plus esophagectomy, especially in Eastern populations. Funding Supported by the projects from Suzhou Key Laboratory of Thoracic Oncology (SZS201907), Suzhou Key Discipline for Medicine (SZXK201803), the Science and Technology Research Foundation of Suzhou Municipality (SYS2018063, SYS2018064), Municipal Program of People's Livelihood Science and Technology in Suzhou (SS2019061) and Major Project for Social Development, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology (SBE2020750085).

Background: Lung cancer has become the most common malignant tumor worldwide, with the highest rates of morbidity and mortality. The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be simple, rapid, and minimally invasive, thus endowing them with a high value in the diagnosis of malignant tumors. We aimed to explore the correlation between CTCs in peripheral blood and benign or malignant solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs).Methods: A total of 223 patients with SPNs from January 2018 to May 2020 were recruited. During the same period, 20 healthy volunteers were recruited as controls. Venous blood samples were collected from participants for detecting CTCs using a folate receptor (FR)-positive cell detection kit, as well as tumor biomarkers.Results: A significant difference in the level of CTCs were observed between the malignant SPNs group, the benign SPNs group, and the control group, which was markedly higher in the malignant SPNs group (10.48±3.49 FU/3 mL) than both the benign SPNs and control groups (6.38±0.53 and 4.45±1.21 FU/3 mL, respectively) (P<0.001). In addition, the level of CTCs was significantly higher in the benign SPNs group than in the control group (P=0.023). In particular, in the malignant SPNs group, patients older than 60 years (11.45±3.92 FU/3 mL) presented a notably higher level of CTCs than other patients (9.55±2.74 FU/3 mL). The patients were then classified according to the pathological subtypes of lung cancer. There was a significant difference in level of CTCs among patients with squamous cell carcinoma (9.10±1.94 FU/3 mL), adenocarcinoma (10.77±3.71 FU/3 mL), and adenosquamous cell carcinoma (11.78±2.61 FU/3 mL). Binary logistic regression analysis suggested that CTCs were an independent risk factor of malignant SPN (OR =3.698, 95% CI: 1.136-11.035, P=0.030). The sensitivity and specificity of CTCs in diagnosing malignant SPNs was significantly higher than tumor biomarkers (single or combined) [sensitivity =89.1%; specificity =92.3%; area under curve (AUC) (95% CI) =0.907 (0.861-0.942)].Conclusions: Peripheral blood CTCs can be used in the diagnosis of malignant SPNs and are recommended for clinical application.

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