Purpose
To develop an ultrasound (US)-based radiomics score for preoperative prediction of microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods
Between January 1, 2012, and October ...31, 2017, a total of 482 HCC patients who underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) were retrospectively reviewed. The study population was divided into a training cohort (
n
= 341) and a validation cohort (
n
= 141) based on a cutoff time of January 1, 2016. Radiomics features were extracted from the grayscale US images of HCC. After features selection, a radiomics score was developed from the training cohort. The incremental value of the radiomics score to the clinic-pathological factors for MVI prediction was assessed in the validation cohort with respect to discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness.
Results
The US-based radiomics score consisted of six selected features. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the radiomics score, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and tumor size were independent predictors of MVI. The radiomics nomogram (based on the three factors) showed better performance for MVI detection (area under the curve AUC 0.7310.647, 0.815 than the clinical nomogram (based on AFP and tumor size) (0.634 0.543, 0.724) (
p
= 0.015). Both nomograms showed good calibration. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that in terms of clinical usefulness, the radiomics nomogram outperformed the clinical nomogram.
Conclusion
The US-based radiomics score was an independent predictor of MVI in HCC. Combining the radiomics score with clinical factors improved the prediction efficacy.
Key points
• Radiomics can be applied in US images.
• US-based radiomics score was an independent predictor of MVI.
• Radiomics nomogram incorporated with the radiomics score showed good performance for MVI prediction.
Emerging evidence suggests that epithelial‐mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) play important roles in tumor metastasis and recurrence. Understanding molecular mechanisms that regulate the EMT process is ...crucial for improving treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in HCC; however, the mechanisms by which miRNAs target the EMT and their therapeutic potential remains largely unknown. To better explore the roles of miRNAs in the EMT process, we established an EMT model in HCC cells by transforming growth factor beta 1 treatment and found that several tumor‐related miRNAs were significantly decreased. Among these miRNAs, miR‐125b expression was most strongly suppressed. We also found down‐regulation of miR‐125b in most HCC cells and clinical specimens, which correlated with cellular differentiation in HCC patients. We then demonstrated that miR‐125b overexpression attenuated EMT phenotype in HCC cancer cells, whereas knockdown of miR‐125b promoted the EMT phenotype in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we found that miR‐125b attenuated EMT‐associated traits, including chemoresistance, migration, and stemness in HCC cells, and negatively correlated with EMT and cancer stem cell (CSC) marker expressions in HCC specimens. miR‐125b overexpression could inhibit CSC generation and decrease tumor incidence in the mouse xenograft model. Mechanistically, our data revealed that miR‐125b suppressed EMT and EMT‐associated traits of HCC cells by targeting small mothers against decapentaplegic (SMAD)2 and 4. Most important, the therapeutic delivery of synthetic miR‐125b mimics decreased the target molecule of CSC and inhibited metastasis in the mice model. These findings suggest a potential therapeutic treatment of miR‐125b for liver cancer. Conclusion: miR‐125b exerts inhibitory effects on EMT and EMT‐associated traits in HCC by SMAD2 and 4. Ectopic expression of miR‐125b provides a promising strategy to treat HCC. (Hepatology 2015;62:801–815)
The photo-induced polymerization to covalently link metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) by flexible polymer chains is reported for the first time, which endows MOPs with enhanced processability, ...dispersity, and hydrostability. The resultant hybrid material exhibits 9 times higher capacity and much better reusability than bulk MOPs in the adsorption of methylene blue.
Metal-organic polyhedra are covalently linked by flexible polymer chains through photopolymerization, endowing the materials with enhanced processability, dispersity, and hydrostability.
What a turnover! An efficient chiral iridium catalyst that bears a tridentate spiro aminophosphine ligand catalyzes the asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones with excellent enantioselectivities (up to ...99.9 % ee) and extremely high turnover numbers (TONs; as high as 4 550 000).
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive disease that is often accompanied by metabolic syndrome and poses a high risk of severe liver damage. However, no effective pharmacological ...treatment is currently available for NASH. Here we report that CASP8 and FADD-like apoptosis regulator (CFLAR) is a key suppressor of steatohepatitis and its metabolic disorders. We provide mechanistic evidence that CFLAR directly targets the kinase MAP3K5 (also known as ASK1) and interrupts its N-terminus-mediated dimerization, thereby blocking signaling involving ASK1 and the kinase MAPK8 (also known as JNK1). Furthermore, we identified a small peptide segment in CFLAR that effectively attenuates the progression of steatohepatitis and metabolic disorders in both mice and monkeys by disrupting the N-terminus-mediated dimerization of ASK1 when the peptide is expressed from an injected adenovirus-associated virus 8-based vector. Taken together, these findings establish CFLAR as a key suppressor of steatohepatitis and indicate that the development of CFLAR-peptide-mimicking drugs and the screening of small-molecular inhibitors that specifically block ASK1 dimerization are new and feasible approaches for NASH treatment.
Objective
To assess significant liver fibrosis by multiparametric ultrasomics data using machine learning.
Materials and Methods
This prospective study consisted of 144 patients with chronic ...hepatitis B. Ultrasomics—high-throughput quantitative data from ultrasound imaging of liver fibrosis—were generated using conventional radiomics, original radiofrequency (ORF) and contrast-enhanced micro-flow (CEMF) features. Three categories of features were explored using pairwise correlation and hierarchical clustering. Features were selected using diagnostic tests for fibrosis, activity and steatosis stage, with the histopathological results as the reference. The fibrosis staging performance of ultrasomics models with combinations of the selected features was evaluated with machine-learning algorithms by calculating the area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC).
Results
ORF and CEMF features had better predictive power than conventional radiomics for liver fibrosis stage (both
p
< 0.01). CEMF features exhibited the highest diagnostic value for activity stage (both
p
< 0.05), and ORF had the best diagnostic value for steatosis stage (both
p
< 0.01). The machine-learning classifiers of adaptive boosting, random forest and support vector machine were found to be optimal algorithms with better (all mean AUCs = 0.85) and more stable performance (coefficient of variation = 0.01–0.02) for fibrosis staging than decision tree, logistic regression and neural network (mean AUC = 0.61–0.72, CV = 0.07–0.08). The multiparametric ultrasomics model achieved much better performance (mean AUC values of 0.78–0.85) than the features from a single modality in discriminating significant fibrosis (≥ F2).
Conclusion
Machine-learning-based analysis of multiparametric ultrasomics can help improve the discrimination of significant fibrosis compared with mono or dual modalities.
Key Points
• Multiparametric ultrasomics has achieved much better performance in the discrimination of significant fibrosis (≥ F2) than the single modality of conventional radiomics, original radiofrequency and contrast-enhanced micro-flow.
• Adaptive boosting, random forest and support vector machine are the optimal algorithms for machine learning.
Pyrolysis of lignocellulose biomass to produce various fuels and chemicals has gained increasing interest in recent decades. An in-depth understanding of the biomass pyrolysis reaction mechanisms is ...essential for the advancement of pyrolysis techniques. Quantum chemistry (QC) modeling is a powerful approach for the pyrolysis mechanism investigation at the atomic/molecular level. Despite a short history of only about 2 decades, its application to the biomass pyrolysis mechanism exploration has been well-developed, along with the fast advances of supercomputer and computational codes in the new century. This review addresses the recent progress on the pyrolysis mechanism of the three basic biomass components (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) by QC modeling. On the basis of the QC modeling results reported in the literature, the current review critically summarizes the key developments about the pyrolysis chemistry of biomass by focusing on their microscopic elementary reactions, the formation routes of typical products, bimolecular interactions within or between biomass components, and catalytic effects of various catalysts. Notably, there are great gaps between the theoretical models employed in QC modeling and the natural biomass substance in the pyrolysis process. Therefore, a brief analysis of the challenges and future research perspectives is provided for the biomass pyrolysis mechanism research.
RATIONALE:Use of ACEIs (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors) and ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers) is a major concern for clinicians treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in ...patients with hypertension.
OBJECTIVE:To determine the association between in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB and all-cause mortality in patients with hypertension and hospitalized due to COVID-19.
METHODS AND RESULTS:This retrospective, multi-center study included 1128 adult patients with hypertension diagnosed with COVID-19, including 188 taking ACEI/ARB (ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 interquartile range, 55–68 years; 53.2% men) and 940 without using ACEI/ARB (non-ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 interquartile range 57–69; 53.5% men), who were admitted to 9 hospitals in Hubei Province, China from December 31, 2019 to February 20, 2020. In mixed-effect Cox model treating site as a random effect, after adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, and in-hospital medications, the detected risk for all-cause mortality was lower in the ACEI/ARB group versus the non-ACEI/ARB group (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.42 95% CI, 0.19–0.92; P=0.03). In a propensity score-matched analysis followed by adjusting imbalanced variables in mixed-effect Cox model, the results consistently demonstrated lower risk of COVID-19 mortality in patients who received ACEI/ARB versus those who did not receive ACEI/ARB (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.37 95% CI, 0.15–0.89; P=0.03). Further subgroup propensity score-matched analysis indicated that, compared with use of other antihypertensive drugs, ACEI/ARB was also associated with decreased mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.30 95% CI, 0.12–0.70; P=0.01) in patients with COVID-19 and coexisting hypertension.
CONCLUSIONS:Among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and coexisting hypertension, inpatient use of ACEI/ARB was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with ACEI/ARB nonusers. While study interpretation needs to consider the potential for residual confounders, it is unlikely that in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB was associated with an increased mortality risk.
Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the gynecologic malignant tumor with high mortality. Accumulating evidence indicates that M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) can secret EGF to participate ...in ovarian cancer growth, migration, and metastasis. An EGF-downregulated lncRNA, LIMT (lncRNA inhibiting metastasis), was identified as a critical regulator of mammary cell migration and invasion. Nevertheless, whether EGF secreted from M2-like TAMs regulates LIMT expression in ovarian cancer progression remains largely unknown.
Methods: The human OC cell lines OV90 and OVCA429 were recruited in this study. The differentiation of the human monocyte cell line THP-1 into M2-like TAMs was confirmed using flow cytometry within the application of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). ELISA was performed to detect EGF concentration in co-culture system of M2-like TAMs and OC cell lines. Moreover, CCK-8, flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining of Ki67 were performed to assess the capacity of cell proliferation. Besides, cell migration and invasion were determined by wound healing and transwell assays. Furthermore, the expression levels of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and EGFR/ERK signals were analyzed by qRT-PCR and western blot. Female athymic nude mice (8-12 weeks of age; n = 8 for each group) were recruited for in vivo study.
Results: In the present study, THP-1 cells exhibited the phenotype markers of M2-like TAMs with low proportion of CD14
+
marker and high proportion of CD68
+
, CD204
+
, CD206
+
markers within the application of PMA. After co-culturing with M2-like TAMs, EGF concentration in the supernatants was significantly increased in a time-dependent manner. Besides, OC cells presented better cell viability, higher cell proliferation, and stronger migration and invasion. The expression of EMT-related markers N-cadherin, Vimentin and EGFR/ERK signals were markedly up-regulated, while E-cadherin was significantly decreased. However, these effects induced by co-culture system were reversed by the application of AG1478 (an EGFR inhibitor) or LIMT overexpression. Furthermore, the endogenous expression of LIMT was decreased in OC cell lines compared with the control group. Also, the in vivo experiments verified that the inhibition of EGFR signaling by AG1478 or overexpression of LIMT effectively repressed the tumor growth.
Conclusion: Taken together, we demonstrated that EGF secreted by M2-like TAMs might suppress LIMT expression via activating EGFR-ERK signaling pathway to promote the progression of OC.
PDF
