Background/Aims: In this study, we investigated the effect of post-surgical parenteral nutrition on patients with gastric cancer (GC) and its possible mechanism. Methods: A total of 108 patients were invited to assess for eligibility and 28 patients were excluded. The eighty patients were randomized to either a study group (1 L peripheral intravenous nutrition, 700 kcal) or a control group (1 L isotonic electrolyte solution). Parenteral nutrition was started on day 1 post-surgery and maintained for 4-8 days. Levels of albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PAB), hemoglobin (Hb) were measured before and after treatment. Self-rating Scale of Life Quality (SSLQ) and Quality of life (QoL) was assessed to analyze the patients’ quality of life. Psychological status was evaluated using both the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A/D) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Immune function was evaluated by flow cytometric analysis of the levels of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ cells. Results: Following post-surgical parenteral nutrition, the levels of ALB, PAB and Hb were significantly higher in the study group than those in the control group. QoL and SSLQ scores were also significantly increased, while HAD-A/D and PHQ-9 scores were significantly reduced. Furthermore, the percentages of CD3+ and CD4+ cells, but not CD8+ cells, as well as the CD4+/CD8+ ratio were significantly increased in the study group. There were no significant differences in these parameters between the control and study group prior to surgery. Conclusion: The results suggest that post-surgical parenteral nutrition can significantly improve the nutritional and psychological status, QoL, and immune function of patients treated surgically for GC.

Aim: Ulcerative colitis (UC) has been considered a risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). However, effective biomarkers for predicting UC-associated CRC are lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to screen biomarkers associated with UC-related CRC, which could be used to evaluate UC-associated CRC early, and provide possible mechanisms involved in UC-associated CRC. Efficient bioinformatics analysis could help to explore potential biomarkers. Method: Two public datasets, including 44 UC without CRC samples and 17 UC-associated CRC samples were chosen from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Sva package was used to remove batch effects, and then we screened out differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with the limma package. STRING and Cytoscape were used to achieve protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and hub genes. The survival curves between high and low gene expression were performed by a log-rank test based on the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) program. To validate the hub gene expression, we compared their expression between normal and colorectal cancer based on Oncomine. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry was used to validate the expression of selected differentially expressed proteins Results: 405 DEGs were identified, including 256 down-regulated genes and 149 up-regulated genes in UC-associated CRC tissues. 16 hub genes were identified. And among them, RPL6, RPL7, and RPL35 were related to the poor prognosis of patients. Higher expression of RPL6, RPL7, and RPL35 was validated in CRC tissues based on Oncomine. Moreover, higher expression of RPL7 was observed in CRC sample tissues compared to normal colorectal tissues(p=0.004) or UC tissues (p=0.009). However, the expression of RPL6 and RPL35 in CRC tissues was not significantly increased compared to UC tissues or normal tissues. Conclusion: Our study showed that overexpressed RPL7 may be a potential tumor oncogene and could act as a prognostic factor in clinical diagnosis and treatment during UC-associated CRC.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with body composition changes, which are associated with clinical prognosis, response to therapy, and quality of life in IBD patients. Therefore, it is critical to review the body composition distribution in IBD, summarize the potential factors affecting body composition distribution, and take steps to improve the body composition distribution of IBD patients as early as possible. In the current review, we searched PubMed via keywords ‘inflammatory bowel disease’, or ‘IBD’, or ‘Crohn’s disease’, or ‘CD’, or ‘ulcerative colitis’, or ‘UC’, and ‘body composition’. Malnutrition and sarcopenia are common in IBD patients and are associated with the clinical course, prognosis, and need for surgery. Disease activity, reduced nutrition intake, vitamin D deficiency, and intestinal dysbiosis are factors contributing to changed body composition. Early use of biological agents to induce remission is critical to improving body composition distribution in IBD patients, supplementation of vitamin D is also important, and moderate physical activity is recommended in IBD patients with clinical remission.