The mGPS appeared to be a reliable, preoperatively defined predictive marker with widely standardized protocol in non-metastatic RCC, and should therefore be considered in treatment decision making for RCC patients.

IntroductionThe combination of platelet count and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (COP-NLR) has been shown to provide prognostic information in several cancers, whereas its prognostic value in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has not been reported. The objective of the present study was to examine the preoperative prognostic value of the COP-NLR in patients with localized RCC undergoing nephrectomy.Material and MethodsThe record of 268 patients, who underwent nephrectomy due to a diagnosis of RCC at our institute was analyzed in the study. The cut-off value of platelet count and NLR were defined by receive operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and the areas under the curve (AUC). Patients with both an increased platelet count (> 310×109/l) and an elevated NLR (> 3.85) were assigned to the score 2, and patients with one or neither of these indicators were assigned to the score 1 or 0, respectively. The impact of the COP-NLR and other clinicopathological characteristics on overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were evaluated using the univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis.ResultThe median follow-up duration after surgical resection was 60 months. Multivariate analysis using the 10 clinicopathological findings selected by univariate analyses demonstrated that the preoperative COP-NLR was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR: 2.32, 95%CI: 1.22 to 4.26, p=0.011) and RFS (HR: 1.91, 95%CI: 1.02 to 3.53, p=0.044).ConclusionThe findings of the current study suggested that the preoperative COP-NLR is an independent prognostic indicator of OS and RFS for patients with localized RCC.

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Programmed cell death (PCD), known as hypersensitive response cell death, has an important role in plant defense response. The signaling pathway of PCD remains unknown. We employed AAL toxin and Nicotiana umbratica to analysis plant PCD. AAL toxin is a pathogenicity factor of the necrotrophic pathogen Alternaria alternata f. sp. lycopersici. N. umbratica is sensitive to AAL toxin, susceptible to pathogens, and effective in Tobacco rattle virus-based virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). VIGS analyses indicated that AAL toxin-triggered cell death (ACD) is dependent upon the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase MEK2, which is upstream of both salicylic acid-induced protein kinase (SIPK) and wound-induced protein kinase (WIPK) responsible for ethylene (ET) synthesis. ET treatment of MEK2-silenced N. umbratica re-established ACD. In SIPK- and WIPK-silenced N. umbratica, ACD was compromised and ET accumulation was not observed. However, in contrast to the case of MEK2-silenced plants, ET treatment did not induce cell death in SIPK- and WIPK-silenced plants. This work showed that ET-dependent pathway and MAP kinase cascades are required in ACD. Our results suggested that MEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascades have roles in ET biosynthesis; however, SIPK and WIPK have other roles in ET signaling or another pathway leading to cell death by AAL toxin.

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