BackgroundSclerosing hemangioma (SH) of the lung is a kind of rare pulmonary tumor. Preoperative diagnosis of this tumor is difficult and it is now generally accepted that SH of the lung is benign lesions and surgical excision alone is curative. Herein, we present our experiences of treating 28 patients with SH.MethodsThe medical records of 28 patients with SH from 1994 to 2010 at the Department of Thoracic Surgery in Beijing Chest Hospital were retrospectively reviewed.ResultsThere were 3 male and 25 female patients with sclerosing hemangioma and 50% of the patients were asymptomatic. Preoperatively, all the patients had undergone CT of chest and 5 patients had undergone PET scan but 4 patients were misdiagnosed as malignancy. There was no operative mortality or tumor recurrence despite that three different operative methods were undertaken.ConclusionsSH has a high incidence in middle-aged women. Most of SH is asymptomatic and the symptoms of SH are not related to the tumor size and distribution. The features of chest CT and PET are not specific. Bilateral or multiple lesions should not exclude the possibility of SH. Complete excision of lesion is a curable treatment method and there is no evidence to verify the need of adjuvant therapy.

Findings of this systematic review indicate that NOX activity and expression is associated with tumorigenesis of lung cancer and inhibition of NOX function or mRNA expression significantly blocks lung cancer formation and invasion. Suppressing NOX up-regulation or interfering NOX function in tumor microenvironment may be one important approach to prevent oxidative-stress-related carcinogenesis in the lung.

In order to achieve a synergistic effect on anti-tumour and anti-angiogenesis activity, we designed and constructed a DNA vaccine that expresses MUC1and VEGFR2 in the same reading frame. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-tumour activity of this DNA vaccine. Furthermore, we also investigated the enhanced synergistic anti-Lewis lung carcinoma effect of this DNA vaccine by using GM-CSF as an adjuvant. A series of DNA plasmids encoding MUC1, VEGFR2, GM-CSF, and their conjugates were constructed and injected into mice intramuscularly (i.m.) followed by an electric pulse. The humoral and cellular immune responses after immunization were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT), respectively. To evaluate the anti-tumour efficacy of these plasmids, murine models with MUC1-expressing tumours were generated. After injection into the tumour-bearing mouse model, the plasmid carrying the fusion gene of MUC1 and VEGFR2 showed stronger inhibition of tumour growth than the plasmid expressing MUC1 or VEGFR2 alone, which indicated that MUC1 and VEGFR2 could exert a synergistic anti-tumour effect. Furthermore, mice vaccinated with the combination of the GM-CSF expressing plasmid and the plasmid carrying the fusion gene of MUC1 and VEGFR2 showed an increased inhibition in the growth of MUC1-expressing tumours and prolonged mouse survival. These observations emphasize the potential of the synergistic anti-tumour and anti-angiogenesis strategy used in DNA vaccines, and the potential of the GM-CSF gene as an adjuvant for DNA vaccines, which could represent a promising approach for tumour immunotherapy.