Background and Objective: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80–85% of all patients with lung cancer and 5-year relative overall survival (OS) rate is less than 20%, so that identifying novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers is urgently demanded. The present study attempted to identify potential key genes associated with the pathogenesis and prognosis of NSCLC.Methods: Four GEO datasets (GSE18842, GSE19804, GSE43458, and GSE62113) were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NSCLC samples and normal ones were analyzed using limma package, and RobustRankAggreg (RRA) package was used to conduct gene integration. Moreover, Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database (STRING), Cytoscape, and Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) were utilized to establish protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of these DEGs. Furthermore, functional enrichment and pathway enrichment analyses for DEGs were performed by Funrich and OmicShare. While the expressions and prognostic values of top genes were carried out through Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and Kaplan Meier-plotter (KM) online dataset.Results: A total of 249 DEGs (113 upregulated and 136 downregulated) were identified after gene integration. Moreover, the PPI network was established with 166 nodes and 1784 protein pairs. Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), a top gene and hub node with higher node degrees in module 1, was significantly enriched in mitotic cell cycle pathway. In addition, Interleukin-6 (IL-6) was enriched in amb2 integrin signaling pathway. The mitotic cell cycle was the most significant pathway in module 1 with the highest P-value. Besides, five hub genes with high degree of connectivity were selected, including TOP2A, CCNB1, CCNA2, UBE2C, and KIF20A, and they were all correlated with worse OS in NSCLC. Conclusion: The results showed that TOP2A, CCNB1, CCNA2, UBE2C, KIF20A, and IL-6 may be potential key genes, while the mitotic cell cycle pathway may be a potential pathway contribute to progression in NSCLC. Further, it could be used as a new biomarker for diagnosis and to direct the synthesis medicine of NSCLC.

Background As one of the most frequently diagnosed cancer diseases globally, colorectal cancer (CRC) remains an important cause of cancer-related death. Although the traditional Chinese herb Hedyotis diffusa Willd. (HDW) has been proven to be effective for treating CRC in clinical practice, its definite mechanisms have not been completely deciphered. Objective The aim of our research is to systematically explore the multiple mechanisms of HDW on CRC. Methods This study adopted the network pharmacology approach, which was mainly composed of active component gathering, target prediction, CRC gene collection, network analysis, and gene enrichment analysis. Results The network analysis showed that 10 targets might be the therapeutic targets of HDW on CRC, namely, HRAS, PIK3CA, KRAS, TP53, APC, BRAF, GSK3B, CDK2, AKT1, and RAF1. The gene enrichment analysis implied that HDW probably benefits patients with CRC by modulating pathways related to cancers, infectious diseases, endocrine system, immune system, nervous system, signal transduction, cellular community, and cell motility. Conclusions This study partially verified and predicted the pharmacological and molecular mechanism of HDW against CRC from a holistic perspective, which will also lay a foundation for the further experimental research and clinical rational application of HDW.

BackgroundChinese herbal injections (CHIs) have been proven beneficial to patients with gastric cancer for improving clinical efficacy and relieving adverse reactions (ADRs) of chemotherapy. A network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted in this study to assess the comparative efficacy and safety of CHIs combined with FOLFOX regimen for treating gastric cancer.ResultsA total of 2316 records were searched, and 81 eligible RCTs involving 15 types of CHIs and 5978 patients were included in the NMA. The results showed that patients who received Shengqifuzheng+ FOLFOX, Compound kushen+ FOLFOX, Huachansu+ FOLFOX, Astragalus+ FOLFOX, Kangai+ FOLFOX, and Lentinan injection + FOLFOX could significantly improve clinical efficacy than using FOLFOX single, and their odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)s were 1.57 (1.19,2.09), 2.12 (1.62,2.78),1.72 (1.08,2.80), 3.06 (1.01,8.99), 2.01 (1.52,2.70), and 1.99 (1.20,3.38) respectively. Furthermore, the therapy of Aidi+ FOLFOX, Shenqifuzheng+ FOLFOX, Compound Kushen+ FOLFOX, Huachansu+ FOLFOX, Astragalus polysaccharides+ FOLFOX, Kangai+ FOLFOX, Ginseng polysaccharide+ FOLFOX, Lentinan+ FOLFOX, Xiaoaiping+ FOLFOX, and Shenmai injection + FOLFOX could also achieve a higher performance status compared with FOLFOX regimen alone. Similarly, patients who received CHIs combine with FOLFOX regimen were associated with a significantly decrease the incidence of leucopenia, gastrointestinal reaction and hepatic dysfunction. Cluster analysis demonstrated that Astragalus polysaccharides+ FOLFOX, and Kangai+ FOLFOX seemed optimal therapies in improving clinical efficacy and performance status; Astragalus polysaccharides+ FOLFOX was superior in reducing leucopenia and gastrointestinal reaction; Disodium Cantharidinate and Vitamin B6+ FOLFOX was associated with favorable effects in reducing gastrointestinal reaction and hepatic dysfunction. By contrary, receiving FOLFOX regimen single was proved to rank the worst for these outcomes.Materials and MethodsA comprehensive literature search was performed in several electronic databases to identify randomized controlled trial (RCTs) regarding CHIs for gastric cancer until January 10, 2017. The quality assessment was accomplished according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool and the methodological section of the CONSORT statement. And a random-effects model NMA was utilized to compare different CHIs combined with FOLFOX regimen with regard to efficacy and safety. Data were analyzed using STATA 12.0 and Win-BUGS 1.4 software.ConclusionsThe results of this NMA suggested that among 15 types of CHIs, Astragalus polysaccharides injection combined with FOLFOX regimen seemed optimal for patients with gastric cancer in improving clinical efficacy and performance status, and relieving ADRs. However, our findings should be confirmed by more prospectively designed, large-sample and multi-center RCTs.

Background:The optimal Chinese herbal injections (CHIs) combined with XELOX regimen for patients with gastric cancer remains elusive. The aim of our network meta-analysis (NMA) is to explore the best options among different CHIs for gastric cancer.Methods:PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), Wan-fang Database, Cqvip Database (VIP), China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc) were searched to identify RCTs which focused on CHIs against gastric cancer. The quality assessment of included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Standard pair-wise and Bayesian NMAs were performed to compare the efficacy and safety of different CHIs combined with the XELOX regimen via Stata 13.0 and WinBUGS1.4 software.Results:A total of 2316 records were searched, the network of evidence included 26 eligible RCTs involving 13 types of CHIs and 2154 patients. The results suggested that Shenqifuzheng+ XELOX, Huachansu+ XELOX, Kangai+ XELOX, Javanica oil emulsion+ XELOX, Aidi injection+ XELOX might be the optimal treatment for gastric cancer in improving the performance status than using XELOX regimen single, with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 2.74 (1.24, 6.17), 8.27 (1.74, 42.43), 4.28 (1.80, 10.48), 5.14 (1.87, 16.28), 0.20 (0.090, 0.44). At the aspects of ADRs (adverse reactions), Compound Kushen+ XELOX, Lentinan+ XELOX, Xiaoaiping injection+ XELOX could obviously relieve leukopenia than only receiving XELOX regimen, and their ORs and 95% CIs were 5.62 (1.41, 36.24), 8.16 (2.25, 29.43), 5.69 (1.85, 15.77). Furthermore, Disodium cantharidinate and vitamin B6+ XELOX, Shenqifuzheng+ XELOX, Kangai+ XELOX, Lentinan+ XELOX could obviously relieve the nausea and vomiting than receiving the XELOX regimen alone, with ORs and 95% CIs of 5.29 (1.30, 23.96), 2.50 (1.16, 5.26), 2.42 (1.06, 5.63), 9.04 (3.24, 26.73). Nevertheless, CHIs combined with XELOX regimen did not confer higher better clinical effectiveness rate over receiving XELOX regimen alone, with nonstatistically significant between-group differences.Conclusions:As the available evidence suggested that CHIs combined with XELOX regimen could provide treatment benefits for patients with gastric cancer. Among 13 types of CHIs, Javanica oil emulsion and Compound Kushen injection is the optimal treatment in improving the clinical effectiveness rate and performance status, and Lentinan injection was superior in relieving ADRs.