Background/Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with a high rate of recurrence. Immunohistochemical analysis of the marker of proliferation Ki-67 (MKI67) is used to assess proliferation activity of HCC The regulation of MKI67 expression remains unclear in HCC This study aims to explore the association between MKI67 expression and gene variants. Methods: A total of 195 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients were genotyped using Illumina HumanExome BeadChip-12-1_A (242,901 markers). An independent cohort (97 subjects) validated the association of polymorphism determinants and candidate genes with MKI67 expression. The relationships between MKI67 with p53 and variants of candidate genes in the clinical outcomes of HCC patients were analyzed. Results: We found that MKI67 combined with p53 was associated with a 3-year recurrence-free survival and five variants near TTN and CCDC8 were associated with MKI67 expression. TTN harboring rs2288563-TT and rs2562832-AA+CA indicated a favorable outcome for HCC patients. Conclusion: Variants near TTN and CCDC8 were associated with MKI67 expression, and rs2288563 and rs2562832 in TTN are potential biomarkers for the prediction of clinical outcomes in HBV-related HCC patients.

BackgroundRupture of anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm often leads to cognitive impairment, especially memory complaints. The medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed), a node of the default mode network (DMN), has been extensively revealed to participate in various cognitive processes. However, the functional connectivity (FC) characteristics of SFGmed and its relationship with cognitive performance remain unknown after the rupture of the ACoA aneurysm.MethodsResting-state functional MRI (fMRI) and cognitive assessment were acquired in 27 eligible patients and 20 controls. Seed-based FC between unilateral SFGmed and the rest of the brain was calculated separately, and then compared their intensity differences between the two groups. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation between abnormal FC and cognitive function in patients with ruptured ACoA aneurysm.ResultsCognitive impairment was confirmed in 51.9% of the patients. Compared with the controls, patients suffering from ruptured ACoA aneurysm exhibited a similar FC decline between each side of SFGmed and predominant nodes within DMN, including the precuneus, angular gyrus, cingulate cortex, left hippocampus, left amygdala, left temporal pole (TPO), and left medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). Besides, significantly decreased FC of left SFGmed and left insula, right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), as well as right mOFC, were also found. In addition, only enhanced insular connectivity with right SFGmed was determined, whereas increased FC of the left SFGmed was not observed. Correlation analyses showed that lower total cognitive performance or stronger subjective memory complaints were related to reduced connectivity in the SFGmed and several cortical regions such as the angular gyrus and middle cingulate cortex (MCC).ConclusionOur results suggest that patients with ruptured ACoA aneurysm exist long-term cognitive impairment and intrinsic hypoconnectivity of cognition-related brain regions within DMN. Deactivation of DMN may be a potential neural mechanism leading to cognitive deficits in these patients.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to verify whether the prevalence of intracranial aneurysm (IA) in patients with acoustic neuroma is greater than that in age-and sex-matched controls and to evaluate the independent risk factors related to the occurrence of IA. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 231 patients diagnosed with acoustic neuroma at our institute between 2015 and 2019 and 489 controls from the medical examination center. Cerebrovascular angiography was acquired from all subjects to assess the presence of IA or not. The prevalence of IA and risk factors associated with a higher IA occurrence were compared, respectively. Results: Cerebral aneurysms were detected in 23 patients (10.0%) and 11 controls (2.2%). The prevalence of IA was significantly different between patients with acoustic neuroma and controls (p < 0.001), and the difference was mainly reflected in the age of 50 and above. In the subgroup analysis, there were distinct differences in several clinical features including age, hypertension, and tumor volume, and cystic change between patients coexisted with IA or not. However, age was a unique independent risk factor for coexistence of IA in patients with acoustic neuroma after multivariate logistic regression (OR 1.050, 95% CI 1.008-1.093, p = 0.019). Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that patients with acoustic neuroma have a higher prevalence of IA than the general population. Older age is correlated with greater occurrence of IA in these patients.

Intracranial aneurysm (IA) is one of the main causes of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) leading to a high percentage of disability and mortality worldwide. In addition to environmental factors, the risk of rupture or prognosis of intracranial aneurysm is also closely related to gene. Thus, a lot of genetic studies have been used to explore associated risk genes as well as variant loci of intracranial aneurysm and found several chromosome variates including 9p21.3 (CDKN2BAS) related to Intracranial aneurysm. However, due to differences in population and the existence of SNP, it is still not determined that whether these genetic changes can be identified as independent risk factors for intracranial aneurysm. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of CDKN2BAS SNPs to explore its association with intracranial aneurysms and the results show a significance relation between rs10757272, rs1333040, and rs6475606 with intracranial aneurysm. This will open a new perspective for future intracranial aneurysm gene research and therapy.