Background: Growing evidence has suggested that immune-related genes play crucial roles in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nevertheless, the utility of immune-related genes for evaluating the prognosis of HCC patients are still lacking. The study aimed to explore gene signatures and prognostic values of immune-related genes in HCC. Methods:We comprehensively integrated gene expression data acquired from 374 HCC and 50 normal tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis and univariate Cox regression analysis were performed to identify DEGs that related to overall survival. An immune prognostic model was constructed using the Lasso and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Furthermore, Cox regression analysis was applied to identify independent prognostic factors in HCC. The correlation analysis between immune-related signature and immune cells infiltration were also investigated. Finally, the signature was validated in an external independent dataset.Results: A total of 329 differentially expressed immune-related genes were detected. 64 immune-related genes were identified to be markedly related to overall survival in HCC patients using univariate Cox regression analysis. Then we established a TF-mediated network for exploring the regulatory mechanisms of these genes. Lasso and multivariate Cox regression analyses were applied to construct the immune-based prognostic model, which consisted of nine immune-related genes. Further analysis indicated that this immune-related prognostic model could be an independent prognostic indicator after adjusting to other clinical factors. The relationships between the risk score model and immune cell infiltration suggested that the nine-gene signature could reflect the status of tumor immune microenvironment. The prognostic value of this nine-gene prognostic model was further successfully validated in an independent database.Conclusions: Together, our study screened potential prognostic immune-related genes and established a novel immune-based prognostic model of HCC, which not only provides new potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets, but also deepens our understanding of tumor immune microenvironment status and lays a theoretical foundation for immunotherapy.

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Purpose: Endometrial glandular dysplasia (EmGD) has been recently proposed to be a putative precursor to endometrial serous carcinoma (ESC). The purpose of this study is to determine if EmGD is genetically linked to ESC and if it can be used for early detection. Experimental Design: The tumor suppressor p53 gene was sequenced from serial samples of benign and neoplastic endometria with serous differentiation. The study group contained 15 neoplastic uteri and the control group had 12 age-matched benign uteri. A total of 139 informative samples were obtained, including 55 resting endometrium, 37 EmGD, 25 serous endometrial intraepithelial carcinoma (EIC), and 22 ESC. At least one representative section from each uterus was used for p53 immunohistochemical staining to correlate p53 overexpression with gene mutation status.Results: The mutations of p53 were detected in 0%, 43%, 72%, and 96% in resting endometrium, EmGD, serous EIC, and ESC, respectively. More than 50% of the neoplastic uteri showed at least one identical p53 gene mutant among lesions of EmGD, serous EIC, and/or ESC. The majority of lesions showed overexpression of p53 protein, which was significantly correlated with p53 gene mutation (P < 0.01).Conclusions: This genetic evidence strongly supports that EmGD represents the precancer of ESC or serous EIC. Mutation of p53 gene is probably one of the most important factors to initiate the endometrial serous carcinogenesis. Correct identification of EmGD will provide us an opportunity of early diagnosis and a potentially effective therapeutic modality to control ESC.Endometrial cancer is diagnosed in f39,080 women yearly in the United States and causes f7,400 deaths, with a worldwide incidence and mortality of 142,000 and 42,000, respectively (1, 2). A dualistic model of endometrial carcinogenesis has been proposed since the 1980s based on light microscopic appearance, clinical behavior, and epidemiology (3, 4). Type I, those with endometrioid histology, comprise 70% to 80%, whereas type II, those of serous and clear cell carcinomas (CCC), comprise f15% of newly diagnosed cases of endometrial cancer. Type I cancers, with a relatively good prognosis, arise from proliferating endometrium, are associated with unopposed estrogen exposure, and are often preceded by atypical endometrial hyperplasia or endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia. In contrast, type II endometrial cancers, with a disproportional patient death, develop from resting endometrium (RE), have no hormonal risk factors, and are often preceded by endometrial glandular dysplasia (EmGD; refs. 5 -8).In the last decade, progress has been greatest in molecular and histologic resolution of precursor of type I cancer, resulting in a cohesive model of endometrial carcinogenesis encompassing both genetic and hormonal factors, revised precancer diagnostic criteria, and novel prevention strategies (9). In contrast to type I precancer, studies on the type II precancer are very much limited until recent years. Serous endometrial intraepithelial carc...

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a neurotropic virus that causes various clinical manifestations in young children, ranging from asymptomatic to fatal. Different pathotypes of EV71 notably differ in virulence. Several virulence determinants of EV71 have been predicted. However, these reported virulence determinants could not be used to identify the EV71 strains of subgenotype C4, which mainly circulate in China. In this study, VP1 sequences of 37 EV71 strains from severe cases (SC-EV71) and 192 EV71 strains from mild cases (MC-EV71) in mainland China were analyzed to determine the potential virulence determinants in the capsid protein VP1 of EV71. Although most SC-EV71 strains belonged to subgenotype C4a, no specific genetic lineages in C4a were correlated with EV71 virulence. Interestingly, amino acid substitutions at nine positions (H22Q, P27S, N31S/D, E98K, E145G/Q, D164E, T240A/S, V249I, and A289T) were detected by aligning the VP1 sequences of the SC-EV71 and MC-EV71 strains. Moreover, both the constituent ratios of the conservative or mutated residues in the MC-EV71 and SC-EV71 strains and the changes in the VP1 3D structure resulting from these mutations confirmed that the conservative residues (22H, 249V, and 289A) and the mutated residues (27S, 31S/D, 98K, 145G/Q, 164E, and 240A/S) might be potential virulence determinants in VP1 of EV71. Furthermore, these results led to the hypothesis that VP1 acts as a sandwich switch for viral particle stabilization and cellular receptors attachment, and specific mutations in this protein can convert mild cases into severe cases. These findings highlight new opportunities for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro activities of rifampin, colistin, sulbactam and tigecycline alone and in combination against extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDR-Ab). Twenty-five XDR-Ab strains were isolated from patients. Broth microdilution assay was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for rifampin, colistin, sulbactam and tigecycline against XDR-Ab strains. The checkerboard microdilution method was used to determine the in vitro activities of potential therapeutic combinations of these four antimicrobial agents. Accordingly, the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) and FIC index (FICI) were calculated for each of the combinations. According to our results, when tested as single drugs, rifampin, colistin or tigecycline had good bacteriostatic activity against XDR-Ab, whereas sulbactam was not as active against XDR-Ab isolates. On the other hand, when tested in combination, the combinations of colistin/rifampin, rifampin/sulbactam, rifampin/tigecycline and sulbactam/tigecycline showed good in vitro activities against XDR-Ab isolates. More importantly, these combination regimens could exert addictive or partially synergistic effects at the sub-MIC levels against XDR-Ab strains. Compared with single drugs, most of the combinations of these antimicrobial agents could exert partially synergistic and/or addictive effects, which might provide a better alternative when treating XDR-Ab infections.