Non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common malignancy along with high mortality rate worldwide. Recently, nucleolar and spindle‐associated protein 1 (NUSAP1) has been reported to be involved in the malignant progression of several cancers. However, in NSCLC, the biological function of NUSAP1 and its molecular mechanism have not been reported. Here, our findings indicated that the NUSAP1 messenger RNA expression level was remarkably upregulated in NSCLC tissues compared with that of adjacent normal tissues. We also found that NUSAP1 gene expression was notably upregulated in NSCLC cell lines (A549, 95‐D, H358, and H1299) compared with that of normal human bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE). Subsequently, the biological function of NUSAP1 was investigated in A549 and H358 cells transfected with NUSAP1 small interfering RNA (siRNA), respectively. Results showed that NUSAP1 knockdown inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation, and promoted cell apoptosis. Furthermore, the number of cell migration and invasion was significantly suppressed by NUSAP1 knockdown. In addition, our results indicated that NUSAP1 knockdown increased the gene expression of B‐cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2), but decreased the expression levels of phosphoinositide 3‐kinase (PI3K) and phosphorylated serine/threonine kinase (p‐AKT). BTG2 siRNA partly abrogates the effect of NUSAP1 knockdown on BTG2 gene expression. Fumonisin B1 (FB1), a AKT activator, reversed the effect of NUSAP1 knockdown on the biological function in NSCLC. Taken together, NUSAP1 knockdown promotes NSCLC cell apoptosis, and inhibits cell proliferation, cell migration, and invasion, which is associated with regulating BTG2/PI3K/Akt signal pathway. Our findings suggest that NUSAP1 is a promising molecular target for NSCLC treatment.

Background: The merits of spontaneous ventilation video-assisted thoracic surgery (SV-VATS) are still controversial. Our team retrospectively evaluated the intraoperative and postoperative advantages of this surgical approach, comparing with mechanical ventilation video-assisted thoracic surgery (MV-VATS).Methods: We did a single center retrospective study at the First Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan Province. 244 patients were eventually assigned to the SV-group and MV-group, and their intraoperative indicators and thoracic surgery postoperative data were included in the comparison. Results:The SV-group exhibited markedly less intraoperative bleeding and postoperative thoracic drainage, and the bleeding volume was correlated with the volume and duration of drainage. Further analysis showed that, patients undergoing SV-VATS had less activation of white blood cells and neutrophils after surgery, but they also had lower serum albumin concentrations. Risks of short-term postoperative complications, including inflammatory reactions, malignant arrhythmias, constipation, and moderate or more pleural effusions, were also significantly reduced in the SV-group. Additionally, hospitalization cost was lower in the SV-group than that in the MV-group.Conclusions: SV-VATS is suitable for various types of thoracic surgery, and effectively reduce intraoperative bleeding and postoperative thoracic drainage. With less postoperative inflammatory response, it reduces the risk of short-term postoperative complications. It is also able to help to reduce the financial burden of patients.

Aim: To investigate the clinicopathological factors affecting the mSHOX2/mPTGER4 assay performance and its application in lung cancer detection in Chinese population. Materials & methods: A total of 455 subjects were recruited in this case–control study (302 untreated lung cancer patients, 153 normal subjects). Blood samples were collected before therapy and the mSHOX2/mPTGER4 level was measured with Epi proLung assay. Results: The mSHOX2/mPTGER4 sensitivity was 75.6% at 84.8% specificity. Both markers showed stage-dependent sensitivity. mSHOX2 was more sensitive to small-cell lung cancer and mPTGER4 was more sensitive to poorly differentiated lung cancer. Sensitivity increased with age but was not affected by sex. The mPRGER4/ mSHOX2 sensitivity was significantly higher than that of protein markers. Conclusion: The mSHOX2/ mPTGER4 assay showed some values with more limitations in lung cancer early detection.