Inhibition of immune checkpoint proteins (checkpoints) has become a promising anti-esophageal cancer strategy. We here tested expressions of immune checkpoints in human esophageal cancers. Our results showed the expressions of many immune checkpoints, including CD28, CD27, CD137L, programmed death 1 (PD-1), T cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (TIM-3), T cell Ig and ITIM domain (TIGIT), CD160, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), CD200, CD137 and CD158, were dysregulated in peripheral T cells of esophageal cancer patients. Further, the expressions of PD-1, TIM-3 and TIGIT were upregulated in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), which might be associated with TILs exhaustion. Meanwhile, the expressions of PD-1 and TIM-3 on CD4+ T cells were closely associated with clinic pathological features of esophageal cancer patients. These results indicate that co-inhibitory receptors PD-1, TIM-3 and TIGIT may be potential therapeutic oncotargets for esophageal cancer.

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Objective: To investigate the effect and mechanism of a Chinese herbal formula MG in ameliorating estrogen deficiency bone loss. Methods: 10-month old female rats were randomly divided into three groups: ovariectomized (OVX), OVX treated with MG decoction (OVX-M) and OVX treated with estrogen injection (OVX-E). The urinary pyridinoline creatinine ratio (Pyd/Cr), deoxypyridinoline creatinine ratio (Dpd]Cr), and plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined at the baseline, 1, 4, 8 and 12 postoperative weeks. Results: Our data showed an average increase of 93 % in Pyd/Cr (P < 0. 001), 180 % in Dpd/Cr (P <0. 005) and 59 % in plasma ALP (P < 0. 001) respectively in the OVX group after ovariectomy. Compared with OVX rats, the increase of the OVX-M group were prevented 39% in Pyd/Cr, 102% in Dpd/Cr and 19% in ALP respectively (P < 0.05). Conelaslon: The herbal formula MG possesses a therapeutic effect on estrogen dependent bone loss by inhibiting the bone turnover as estrogen replacement. KEYWORDSChinese herb, bone marker, ovariectomized rat * It is a part of the research of the Chinese-Australian Government Joint Project (1997-C12) supported by Guangdong and Guangzhou