The present study aimed to investigate the effects of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) on the immune function of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 114 patients with HCC were selected and their peripheral blood was collected before and 1 month after TACE treatment. Flow cytometry and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR were performed to analyze the changes in immune function in patients before and after treatment. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted for survival analysis. The programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) expression before TACE treatment were significantly higher in patients with poor TACE response compared with those patients with well response. Higher PD-L1 mRNA expression in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells after TACE predicted a superior prognosis. After TACE treatment, the proportion of CD4 + /CD8 + cells were decreased while the expression levels of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) were significantly increased. To conclude, TACE could reduce the proportion of CD4 + /CD8 + cells and improve the mRNA expression levels of PD1 in patients with HCC. The expression levels of PD1 and PD-L1 were closely related to the therapeutic effect of TACE and the prognosis of patients with HCC. TACE combined with immunotherapy may have potential clinical value for patients with HCC.

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Background Abnormalities in serum lipids and lipoproteins have been documented to link to the risk of cancers in recent years, but its prognostic value for cancer is not known. This study retrospectively evaluated the significance of preoperative serum lipids and lipoproteins for NSCLC’s prognosis. Methods A retrospective review was implemented of 551 patients succumbed to NSCLC. A ROC curve was utilized to determine the best cut-off value and area under the ROC curve. Kaplan-Meier and a Cox proportional hazards model were utilized to perform survival analysis. Results With a median follow-up of 42 months, the NSCLC patients in the high TG (> 1.21 mmol/L) and low HDL-C (≤ 1.26 mmol/L) two groups exhibited shorter OS and DFS. In multivariable analysis, preoperative HDL-C and TG can work as independent prognosis factors for OS (P<0.001 for both) and DFS (P<0.05 for both) in patients succumbed to NSCLC. Conclusion Abnormalities of serum lipids and lipoproteins metabolism linked to the survival outcomes of NSCLC. Preoperative serum HDL-C and TG may be promising biomarkers to predict the NSCLC patients’ prognosis.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) results from the collaboration of multiple genetic abnormalities in the transformation of T-cell progenitors. Plant homeodomain finger protein 6 (PHF6) has recently been established as a key tumor suppressor, which is mutated in T-ALL; however, the clinical significance of PHF6 mutations has not been fully determined in adult T-ALL. In the present study, amplification of the PHF6 exons was performed, followed by DNA sequencing to identify the genomic mutations and examine the expression of PHF6 in adult patients with T-ALL. The correlation between PHF6 mutations and clinical features was also analyzed using a χ2 test, and between PHF6 mutations and survival curve using the Kaplan-Meier methods. PHF6 mutations were detected in 27.1% of the Chinese adults with T-ALL (16/59), 10 of which were found to be novel mutations. A significantly lower expression level of PHF6 was observed in T-ALL patients with PHF6 mutations compared with those without mutations. Of the observed mutations in PHF6, 6/16 were frame-shift mutations, indicating a PHF6 dysfunction in those patients. Of note, PHF6 mutations were found to be significantly associated with older age, lower hemoglobin levels, higher frequency of CD13 positivity and higher incidence of splenomegaly or lymphadenopathy. Furthermore, PHF6 mutations were found to be significantly correlated with Notch homolog 1, translocation-associated (Drosophila) (NOTCH1) mutations. The patients with T-ALL with co-existence of the two mutations had a significantly shorter event-free survival and a poor prognosis. The present results indicated that PHF6 is inactivated in adult T-ALL, due to its low expression and mutations. The present data indicated the synergistic effect of PHF6 and NOTCH1 mutations, as well as their co-existence, on the oncogenesis of adult T-ALL, and their potential as a prognostic marker for the disease.