Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most common type of malignant tumor survival rate is low in advanced stage, metastatic, and recurrent CC patients. This study aimed at identifying potential genes and drugs for CC diagnosis and targeting therapies. Methods: Three GEO mRNA microarray datasets of CC tissues and non-cancerous tissues were analyzed for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by limma package. GO (Gene Ontologies) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) were used to explore the relationships between the DEGs. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) of these genes was established by the STRING database. MCODE was used for screening significant modules in the PPI networks to select hub genes. Biochemical mechanisms of the hub genes were investigated with Metascape. GEPIA database was used for validating the core genes. According to these DEGs, molecular candidates for CC were recognized from the CMAP database. Results: We identified 309 overlapping DEGs in the 2 tissue-types. Pathway analysis revealed that the DEGs were involved in cell cycle, DNA replication, and p53 signaling. PPI networks between overlapping DEGs showed 68 high-connectivity DEGs that were chosen as hub genes. The GEPIA database showed that the expression levels of RRM2, CDC45, GINS2, HELLS, KNTC1, MCM2, MYBL2, PCNA, RAD54 L, RFC4, RFC5, TK1, TOP2A, and TYMS in CC tissues were significantly different from those in the healthy tissues and were significantly relevant to the OS of CC. We found 10 small molecules from the CMAP database that could change the trend of gene expression in CC tissues, including piperlongumine and chrysin. Conclusions: The 14 DEGs identified in this study could serve as novel prognosis biomarkers for the detection and forecasting of CC. Small molecule drugs like piperlongumine and chrysin could be potential therapeutic drugs for CC treatment.

Objective. To investigate the effect of sarcopenia on the prognosis of stage II-III colorectal cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods. A total of 196 stage II-III colorectal cancer patients who received 8 cycles of postoperative chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. An abdominal CT acquired at 3-4 weeks after surgery was used to calculate the psoas muscle index. Subsequently, once gender-specific receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted and cut-off values of psoas muscle index were defined, the clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of patients with high and low values were compared. Lastly, prognostic models were established based on the independent prognostic factors of relapse-free survival and overall survival identified by COX analysis. Results. Based on the psoas muscle index, the prevalence of sarcopenia was 37.5% among 196 patients. This prevalence has significant correlation with patients’ age and gender. However, it was not related to the AJCC stage, T stage, lymph node metastasis, pathological grade, grade III-IV myelosuppression, or preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level. In addition, both the relapse-free and the overall survival of patients with low and high psoas muscle indexes were significantly different. COX analysis indicated that the psoas muscle index was an independent prognostic factor. Both the overall survival prognostic model based on patients’ psoas muscle index, stage, pathological grade, and preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level and the relapse-free survival prognostic model based on patients’ psoas muscle index, pathological grade, and preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level could accurately predict the prognosis of patients. Conclusion. For stage II-III colorectal cancer patients, the presence of sarcopenia before adjuvant chemotherapy would adversely affect their recurrence-free and overall survival. Prognostic models based on psoas muscle index, stage, pathological grade, and preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level could accurately predict the prognosis in these patients.

e16019 Background: Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is commonly given after the curative resection of gastric cancer (GC) in both Eastern and Western countries. Several studies have investigated the feasibility and safety of S-1 plus docetaxel or S-1 plus cisplatin. However, the best choice of adjuvant treatment for patients with gastric cancer is still debated. Apatinib, an oral small molecular of VEGFR-2 TKI, has been confirmed to improve OS and PFS with acceptable safety profile in patients with advanced gastric cancer refractory to two or more lines of prior chemotherapy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of apatinib combined with S-1/docetaxel for locally advanced gastric cancer (T3-4aN+M0). Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter clinical study. Patients with locally advanced gastric cancer, pathological stage T3-4aN+M0 who underwent D2 lymphadenectomy without prior anti-cancer therapy were included. All these patients were assigned to group A or B. Patients in group A received 6 cycles (21 days a cycle) of adjuvant therapy using S-1 (80-120mg/d, d1-14), and docetaxel (40mg/m2, d1). Group B received the same regimen with the addition of apatinib (250mg, qd.). The primary endpoint was disease-free survival (DFS). The final analysis cutoff date was 30 November, 2020. Results: A total of 45 patients were enrolled from January 2019 to November, 2010 and assigned to group A (21) or group B (24). The DFS was not reached in both of the groups. The 1-year disease-free survival rate was 60% in group A and 90% in the group B, while the difference was not significant. The main AEs in group A were anemia (55%), nausea (50%) and neutropenia (40%); The most common AEs in group B were anemia (45%) neutropenia (40%) and diarrhea (25%). There were no treatment-related deaths. The longest administered time of apatinib with no progression was 457 days. And the median time to receive apatinib was 329 days. Conclusions: Combination of apatinib with S-1/docexal chemotherapy shows clinical benefits in locally advanced gastric cancer (T3-4aN+M0), with tolerable toxicity. The study is still ongoing to reach our final endpoint, DFS. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR2000038900.

Gliomas are the most aggressive of all brain tumors. In this study, it was found that there is a significant expression of transmembrane-like 131 (TMEM131L) in glioma tissues. The relevance of TMEM131L in the diagnosis and clinical prognosis of GBM and LGG was verified by additional clinical correlation and survival analysis. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve reflected the diagnostic effect of TMEM131L on the clinicopathologic features of glioma. As a unique molecular marker for the poor prognosis of overall survival (OS), PFI, and DSS in patients with GCB and LGG, TMEM131L might be employed, according to time-dependent ROC curves and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis at 1, 3, and 5 years. The potential methylation sites of TMEM131L were selected by correlation analysis between TMEM131L and DNA methylation sites. Meanwhile, TMEM131L was significantly correlated with matrix, immunity, and estimated scores of GBM and LGG. The CIBERSORT analysis revealed a significant correlation between immune checkpoint and infiltration of 22 different kinds of immune cells. Coexpression genes of TMEM131L associated with oxidative stress phenotype were screened by the LASSO logistic regression analysis. Nomogram and calibration curves further confirmed that the prognostic model composed of SYT1, CREB3L3, ITPR1, RASGRF2, PDX1, and RASGRF1 has good stability and potential application value for poor prognosis in patients with glioma.