ObjectivesWe aimed to determine the demographic characteristics of giant cell tumor around the knee in China.MethodsBetween March 2000 and June 2014, patients with primary giant cell tumor around the knee were recruited from 6 institutions located in different regions of China, and were reviewed retrospectively the clinical features according to gender and age.Results334 qualified patients were included in this study. The sex ratio was 1.14:1 (178/156), with mean ages of 36.9 years in men and 33.1 years in women, constituting a significant difference (P=0.007). The prevalence of pathological fracture was 32.9% overall (28.7% in men and 37.8% in women). The prevalence of simple fracture was significantly higher in women (26.3%) than in men (15.2%), P=0.042. Tumor location and staging did not differ significantly according to sex (P>0.05). However, comparing with >40 years old, those patients aged ≤40 were more likely to have a right knee tumor (56.7% vs. 44.7%, P=0.042), less likely to have Enneking stage 3 disease (18.6% vs. 35.0%, P=0.005), and less likely to have both soft-tissue extension and a mass (18.6% vs. 34.0%, P=0.009).ConclusionsGiant cell tumor around the knee was more common in men than in women, although female patients were younger on average. Further, cases among patients ≤40 years old were observed to be milder than cases among older patients. The results suggest that efficient treatment and preservation of function should both be valued for young patients with giant cell tumor around the knee.

Giant cell tumors of the distal radius are challenging for surgeons because they are associated with high recurrence rates and poor functional outcomes. Between June 2005 and October 2015, patients with primary giant cell tumors of the distal radius were recruited from seven orthopedic centers in China. The patients’ clinical features and demographic characteristics were obtained from medical records and reviewed retrospectively. Overall, 48 cases of giant cell tumors of the distal radius were assessed in this study. These patients were more likely to be between 20 and 40 years of age, to have a Campanacci grade of III, and to undergo a surgical style of resection. The prevalence of pathological fractures was 12.5% overall (20.0% in men and 4.3% in women). The prevalence of local recurrence was 30.0% overall (38.1% in men and 21.1% in women) during the average follow-up period of 62.5 months, with a pulmonary metastasis rate of 5.0%. Giant cell tumors of the distal radius were predominant in men and were more likely to recur locally than around the knee. These findings suggest that it is crucial to evaluate the optimal surgical approach for balancing local recurrence control and functional outcomes to reduce the disease burden.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) remains one kind of devastating neurological damage, and specific molecular mechanisms involved need to be understood deeply. Currently, circular RNAs (circRNAs), as a newly discovered type of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), have been under active investigation. Through functional interactions with disease-associated microRNAs (miRNAs), exosome-derived circRNAs have been extensively implicated in various organ pathogenesis. Nevertheless, the functional involvement of circulating circRNAs in SCI onset, progression as well as repair remains poorly explored until now. Of note, there still lacks clinical and experimental evidence in this regard. To obtain some relevant knowledge in this field, this study was originally designed to have a general overview of differentially expressed circRNAs derived from circulating exosomes in SCI rats in comparison with the control rats. It turned out that 709 types of downregulated circRNAs and 346 kinds of upregulated circRNAs were preliminarily screened out. Functional enrichment analyses including kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway and gene ontology (GO) were performed to evaluate the possible biological functions of upregulated as well as downregulated circRNAs involved in SCI. Furthermore, five types of upregulated circulating circRNAs including chr4:208359914–208362182+, chr15:20088296–20092102+, chr1:175098934– 175134845–, chr1:175099657– 175128203–, and chr1:175104454– 175134845–, and plus five kinds of downregulated circulating circRNAs including chr11:74154652– 74159524–, chr12:45412398– 45412635–, chr7:137630261– 137648924–, chr6:6280974–6281188+, and chr4:225251864–225254087+, were verified through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). At last, taking these differentially expressed circRNAs in the center, the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA gene interaction network was constructed to predict the possible functionalities of circRNAs in SCI through anticipating specific interactive miRNAs, giving new insights into how circRNAs contribute to this pathological process. Taken together, these findings suggest the possible involvement and functional significance of circRNAs in SCI.