Sarcopenia may be a predictor of pulmonary complications after esophagectomy. Further analysis is needed to clarify whether nutritional intervention improves skeletal muscle mass and thus contributes to reducing postoperative respiratory complications in sarcopenic patients.

Our data showed that tumour infiltrating inflammatory and immune cells may play a pivotal role in ECC progression and a high-risk signature predicted poor prognosis in ECC patients.

Immunotherapy using anti‐PD‐1/PD‐L1 antibodies for several types of cancer has received considerable attention in recent decades. However, the molecular mechanism underlying PD‐L1 expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells has not been clearly elucidated. We investigated the clinical significance and regulatory mechanism of PD‐L1 expression in PDAC cells. Among the various cytokines tested, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α upregulated PD‐L1 expression in PDAC cells through NF‐κB signaling. The induction of PD‐L1 expression was also caused by co‐culture with activated macrophages, and the upregulation was inhibited by neutralization with anti‐TNF‐α antibody after co‐culture with activated macrophages. PD‐L1 expression in PDAC cells was positively correlated with macrophage infiltration in tumor stroma of human PDAC tissues. In addition, survival analysis revealed that high PD‐L1 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis in 235 PDAC patients and especially in patients harboring high CD8‐positive T‐cell infiltration. These findings indicate that tumor‐infiltrating macrophage‐derived TNF‐α could be a potential therapeutic target for PDAC.

Hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC ) has high recurrence rates even after curative hepatectomy. Drug therapy for recurrence of HCC is still limited; therefore, identifying new therapeutic targets is urgently needed. We searched for genes that would predict HCC recurrence from intrahepatic metastasis in an exhaustive DNA microarray database by searching genes associated with high early recurrence rate and having higher expression in the tumor area compared to background liver. We detected lysyl oxidase ( LOX ) and validated the clinical significance of LOX in 358 patients who underwent hepatectomy. Expression of LOX was evaluated by qRT ‐ PCR , and immunohistochemical ( IHC ) staining. High LOX expression group had a significantly higher recurrence rate than the low LOX expression group (2‐year recurrence rate was 64.0% vs 24.2%, P < .0001 for IHC ) and poorer survival rate (5‐year rate was 60.1% vs 86.2%, P < .0001 for IHC ). Multivariate analysis showed that high LOX expression was an independent risk factor for early recurrence ( IHC : HR , 2.52; P < .0001). Bioinformatic analysis showed that LOX expression was associated with hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α ( HIF ‐1α) and the hypoxia cascade, suggesting that HIF ‐1α or hypoxia regulates LOX expression and induces epithelial‐mesenchymal transition ( EMT ). In vitro, LOX and HIF ‐1α were involved in migration and invasion capability. High LOX expression is associated with EMT markers and predicts early recurrence and poor survival in patients with HCC . These findings indicate that lysyl oxidase could be a potential therapeutic target for early recurrence of HCC .

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