Aim: We evaluated the incidence, clinicopathological features, prognostic factors and survival of gastric cancer (GC) with bone metastasis in a single large cancer center in China. Patients & methods: Patients with bone metastasis of GC were retrospectively analyzed. Overall survival was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Clinicopathological factors, which were associated with prognostic factors for survival, were evaluated. Results: The incidence of bone metastasis was 11.3% for metastatic GC patients. Median overall survival time was 6.5 months. Multivariate analysis revealed two independent poor prognostic factors: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group ≥2 (p = 0.023) and lack of palliative chemotherapy (p = 0.018). Conclusion: The incidence of bone metastasis from metastatic GC was underestimated. The prognosis of GC with bone metastasis was poor.

miR-34 was reported to be involved in multiple tumors occurrence and development. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of miR-34 on osteosarcoma and related mechanisms. Tumor tissues and non-tumor tissues of 34 patients with osteosarcoma were collected. qRT-PCR detection revealed that miR-34 was significantly down-regulated in tumor tissues (P<0.05). hFOB 1.19 and MG-63 cells were cultured. qRT-PCR detection showed that miR-34 was also significantly down-regulated in MG-63 cells (P<0.05). After transfection by miR-34 mimics, MG-63 cells proliferation in nude mice was significantly impaired (P<0.05), and percentage of apoptosis as well as caspase-3 positive cells proportion of osteosarcoma tissue in nude mice was markly increased (P<0.05). Western blot and immunofluorescence results also demonstrated that TGIF2 relative expression and TGIF2 positive cells proportion were both dramatically decreased (P<0.05). By luciferase reporter assay, we found that TGIF2 was the target gene of miR-34. After transfected by TGIF2 overexpression vector or co-transfected by miR-34 mimics and TGIF2 overexpression vector, we observed that, compared with blank group, tumor volume was significantly increased and apoptotic cells as well as caspase-3 positive cells proportion was obviously decreased in TGIF2 group (P<0.05), while no significant difference was found in these indicators between blank group and TGIF2 + mimics group. We concluded that miR-34 inhibited growth and promoted apoptosis of osteosarcoma in nude mice through targetting regulated TGIF2 expression.

BackgroundThe novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic causes great disruption to cancer care services, which might bring about psychological problems and further lower both physical and mental life quality in cancer patients. Until now, very few studies focused on the psychological distress of patients with advanced melanoma before or during the epidemic. This study aimed to elucidate the fear of progression (FoP), anxiety, depression, and related independent predictors in patients with advanced melanoma during the COVID-19 outbreak.MethodsTwo hundred and seventy-three patients with unresectable stage III or metastatic melanoma were recruited from February 2020 to November 2021, and completed the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-6), and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).ResultsOne hundred and seventy-four (64.7%) patients experienced heighted FoP (FoP-Q-SF: 39.9 ± 11.0), 198 (72.5%) patients reported elevated anxiety (STAI-6: 13.1 ± 3.0), and 62 (22.7%) patients had increased depression (PHQ-9: 6.4 ± 6.1). In multivariate analysis, illness duration (OR = 0.987 for FoP; OR = 0.984 for depression), cancer stage (OR = 14.394 for anxiety) and disease progression (OR = 1.960 for FoP; OR = 23.235 for anxiety; OR = 1.930 for depression) were independent predictors for FoP, anxiety or depression. Additionally, the high levels of FoP, anxiety and depression were significantly positive correlated with each other (r = 0.466 for FoP and anxiety; r = 0.382 for FoP and depression; r = 0.309 for anxiety and depression).ConclusionOur study indicates that FoP, anxiety and depression are persisting among patients with advanced melanoma in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era. Effective psycho-oncological interventions are needed for melanoma patients with psychological distress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.