Advances of Cancer Therapy by Nanotechnology

Xu Wang,Yiqing Wang,Zhuo (Georgia) Chen,Dong M. Shin 대한암학회 2009 Cancer Research and Treatment Vol.41 No.1

Recent developments in nanotechnology offer researchers opportunities to significantly transform cancer therapeutics. This technology has enabled the manipulation of the biological and physicochemical properties of nanomaterials to facilitate more efficient drug targeting and delivery. Clinical investigations suggest that therapeutic nanoparticles can enhance efficacy and reduced side effects compared with conventional cancer therapeutic drugs. Encouraged by rapid and promising progress in cancer nanotechnology, researchers continue to develop novel and efficacious nanoparticles for drug delivery. The use of therapeutic nanoparticles as unique drug delivery systems will be a significant addition to current cancer therapeutics.

Metabolic reprogramming and epigenetic modifications in cancer: from the impacts and mechanisms to the treatment potential

Xu Xuemeng,Peng Qiu,Jiang Xianjie,Tan Shiming,Yang Yiqing,Yang Wenjuan,Han Yaqian,Chen Yuyu,Oyang Linda,Lin Jinguan,Xia Longzheng,Peng Mingjing,Wu Nayiyuan,Tang Yanyan,Li Jinyun,Liao Qianjin,Zhou Yuju 생화학분자생물학회 2023 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.55 No.-

Metabolic reprogramming and epigenetic modifications are hallmarks of cancer cells. In cancer cells, metabolic pathway activity varies during tumorigenesis and cancer progression, indicating regulated metabolic plasticity. Metabolic changes are often closely related to epigenetic changes, such as alterations in the expression or activity of epigenetically modified enzymes, which may exert a direct or an indirect influence on cellular metabolism. Therefore, exploring the mechanisms underlying epigenetic modifications regulating the reprogramming of tumor cell metabolism is important for further understanding tumor pathogenesis. Here, we mainly focus on the latest studies on epigenetic modifications related to cancer cell metabolism regulations, including changes in glucose, lipid and amino acid metabolism in the cancer context, and then emphasize the mechanisms related to tumor cell epigenetic modifications. Specifically, we discuss the role played by DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, noncoding RNAs and histone lactylation in tumor growth and progression. Finally, we summarize the prospects of potential cancer therapeutic strategies based on metabolic reprogramming and epigenetic changes in tumor cells.

Risk of Death in Colorectal Cancer Patients with Multi-morbidities of Metabolic Syndrome: A Retrospective Multicohort Analysis

Qingting Feng,Lingkai Xu,Lin Li,Junlan Qiu,Ziwei Huang,Yiqing Jiang,Tao Wen,Shun Lu,Fang Meng,Xiaochen Shu 대한암학회 2021 Cancer Research and Treatment Vol.53 No.3

Purpose The prevalence of multi-morbidities with colorectal cancer (CRC) is known to be increasing. Particularly prognosis of CRC patients co-diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) was largely unknown. We aimed to examine the death risk of CRC patients according to the multiple MetSyn morbidities.Materials and Methods We identified CRC patients with MetSyn from the electronic medical records (EMR) systems in five independent hospitals during 2006-2011. Information on deaths was jointly retrieved from EMR, cause of death registry and chronic disease surveillance as well as study-specific questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate the overall and CRC-specific hazards ratios (HR) comparing MetSyn CRC cohort with reference CRC cohort.Results A total of 682 CRC patients in MetSyn CRC cohort were identified from 24 months before CRC diagnosis to 1 month after. During a median follow-up of 92 months, we totally observed 584 deaths from CRC, 245 being in MetSyn cohort and 339 in reference cohort. Overall, MetSyn CRC cohort had an elevated risk of CRC-specific mortality (HR, 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 1.90) and overall mortality (HR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.84) compared to reference cohort after multiple adjustment. Stratified analyses showed higher mortality risk among women (HR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.04 to 2.27) and specific components of MetSyn. Notably, the number of MetSyn components was observed to be significantly related to CRC prognosis.Conclusion Our findings supported that multi-morbidities of MetSyn associated with elevated death risk after CRC. MetSyn should be considered as an integrated medical condition more than its components in CRC prognostic management.

Desert classification based on a multi-scale residual network with an attention mechanism

Liguo Weng,Lexuan Wang,Min Xia,Huixiang Shen,Jia Liu,Yiqing Xu 한국지질과학협의회 2021 Geosciences Journal Vol.25 No.3

Desert classification is the fundamental for preventing and/or controlling desertification. Topographical features of desert remote sensing images change constantly due to the uncertainty of desert terrain, illumination, and other properties. Therefore, it is a very challenging task to accurately classify desert areas. In order to quickly and accurately classify desert from remote sensing images, this paper proposed a multi-scale residual network based on an attention mechanism. The network used conventional convolutions to perform preliminary feature extraction on images, and subsequently adopted a multi-scale residual module to further process the feature maps. Based on the idea of fusing multi-scale features, the multi-scale residual module effectively reduced information loss and possible gradient disappearance because of using skip connections. By introducing the attention mechanism, dependencies between feature channels were established, as a result, the network could recalibrate channel characteristic responses adaptively. Experimental results showed that the proposed network had better generalization ability and a higher accuracy on classification of multispectral desert remote sensing images compared with other methods.

New Insights Into Refractory Chronic Cough and Unexplained Chronic Cough: A 6-Year Ambispective Cohort Study

Zhang Mengru,Morice Alyn H.,Si Fengli,Zhang Li,Chen Qiang,Wang Shengyuan,Zhu Yiqing,Xu Xianghuai,Yu Li,Qiu Zhongmin 대한천식알레르기학회 2023 Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research Vol.15 No.6

Purpose: Only limited studies have depicted the unique features and management of refractory chronic cough (RCC) and unexplained chronic cough (UCC). These led to the initiation of this study, which reported the demographic characteristics, manifestations, and long-term outcomes on a large series of consecutive RCC/UCC patients, providing a guideline-led real-world clinical experience. Methods: Retrospective baseline information was obtained from Clinical Research Database (January 2016 to May 2021). At least 6 months after the last clinic visit, included subjects were prospectively followed up. Results: Three hundred and sixty-nine RCC and UCC patients (199 females, 53.9%) were analyzed. The median cough duration was 24.0 (12.0–72.0) months. Laryngeal symptoms were reported in 95.9% of the patients. The common triggers for coughing were talking (74.9%), pungent odors (47.3%), eating (45.5%), and cold air (42.8%). RCC was considered in 38.2%, and the remainder of 228 patients had UCC, with an equal sex distribution (P = 0.66). Among the 141 RCCs, 90.8% (128) had refractory reflux cough, which was more responsive to current treatments (P < 0.01). Although most features and test results between RCC and UCC were similar, UCC was more commonly inappropriately treated (P < 0.01). Nineteen (7.7–41.1) months after the final clinic visit, 31.2% still coughed persistently, while 68.8% reported cough improvement or remission. RCC reported more favorable treatment outcomes (including cough improvement, control, and spontaneous remission) than UCC (P < 0.01). Coughs with long duration before the initial cough clinic visit (P < 0.01), frequent urinary incontinence (P < 0.01), and being sensitive to “talking” (P < 0.01) or “cold air” (P < 0.01) were less likely to be solved. Conclusions: The current treatments only improve cough symptoms in two-thirds of patients. Clinical indicators for treatment failure were those coughing for long duration and being sensitive to “talking” or “cold air.”