Survival in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: TCC cocktail plus TACE vs TACE alone prospective randomized clinical trial.

Background: Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is commonly used to treat patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, TACE alone has demonstrated unsatisfactory survival benefits. Our previous studies suggested that TACE plus oral medication of thalidomide, carmofur and compound mylabris capsule (TCC cocktail) may be a better therapeutic option.

Methods: In this randomized, open-label, multicenter clinical trial, 72 treatment-naive HCC patients were randomly assigned to receive cTACE alone or cTACE plus oral TCC cocktail between July 2018 and October 2019.

Comparison analysis of different doses bevacizumab plus ICIs and interventional therapy in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a real-world study.

Background: Bevacizumab, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), interventional therapy, either alone or in combination, have demonstrated promising anti-tumor activities in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the optimal dosing strategy for bevacizumab within combination regimens remains undetermined. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of different bevacizumab doses in triple therapy combining bevacizumab, ICIs, and interventional therapy for unresectable HCC.

From Quencher to Promoter: Revisiting the Role of 2,4,6-Trimethylphenol (TMP) in Triplet-State Photochemistry of Dissolved Organic Matter.

Triplet-state dissolved organic matter (DOM*) plays a crucial role in environmental aquatic photochemistry, with 2,4,6-trimethylphenol (TMP) frequently used as a chemical probe or quencher due to its high reactivity with DOM*. However, the influence of TMP-derived oxidation intermediates on the target photochemical reactions has not been comprehensively examined. This study investigated TMP's effect on the photolysis of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), a common antibiotic found in natural waters, in the presence of different DOM sources or model photosensitizer.

Marine Recalcitrant Dissolved Organic Matter Gained by Processing at Sandy Subterranean Estuaries.

The sandy subterranean estuary (STE) connecting fresh groundwater to saline sea water is characterized by strong geochemical (salinity, redox, and pH) gradients, with evidence emerging for its role as a hot spot for consumption of labile substrates. This inspired us to conduct a study to evaluate whether this holds true for dissolved organic matter (DOM), especially given the still mysterious origin of marine recalcitrant DOM. Here, characterization of DOM of 21 groundwater samples (depth 1-13 m, salinity 3.

Successful treatment of tumor lysis syndrome associated with hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report.

Background: Tumor lysis syndrome is a life-threatening complication in the treatment of cancer. However, it rarely occurs in solid tumors, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Case Presentation: We present a 52-year-old male Asian patient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy that resulted in tumor lysis syndrome.

Molecular-level insight into the role of soil-derived dissolved organic matter composition in regulating photochemical reactivity.

Soil-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) links soil and water carbon pools and is an important source of photochemically produced reactive intermediates (PPRIs) in aquatic environments. Despite its importance, the variations in photochemical reactivity of soil-derived DOM molecules in producing PPRIs across broad geographical regions, and the factors driving these variations, remain unclear. Herein, we resolved the apparent quantum yields (Φ(PPRIs)) of hydroxyl radicals (•OH), singlet oxygen (O), and excited triplet-state DOM (DOM*) for irradiated DOM from 22 representative soil reference materials in China, and linked them to soil pH, mineral weathering degree, and DOM characteristics.

Gelation embolism agents suppress clinical TACE-incited pro-metastatic microenvironment against hepatocellular carcinoma progression.

Background: Current embolic agents in transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) encounter instability and easy leakage, discounting TACE efficacy with residual HCC. Moreover, clinical TACE aggravates hypoxia and pro-metastatic microenvironments, rendering patients with HCC poor prognosis.

Methods: Herein, we developed Zein-based embolic agents that harness water-insoluble but ethanol-soluble Zein to encompass doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded mesoporous hollow MnO (HMnO).

Sulfiredoxin-1 promotes the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma by inhibiting TFEB-mediated autophagy and lysosome biogenesis.

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have poor prognosis. As an endogenous antioxidant enzyme involved in a variety of bioprocesses, sulfiredoxin-1 (SRXN1) plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the development of tumors. However, the role and working mechanism of SRXN1 in HCC remain unclear.

Reassessing the Quantum Yield and Reactivity of Triplet-State Dissolved Organic Matter via Global Kinetic Modeling.

Measuring the quantum yield and reactivity of triplet-state dissolved organic matter (DOM*) is essential for assessing the impact of DOM on aquatic photochemical processes. However, current DOM* quantification methods require multiple fitting steps and rely on steady-state approximations under stringent application criteria, which may introduce certain inaccuracies in the estimation of DOM photoreactivity parameters. Here, we developed a global kinetic model to simulate the reaction kinetics of the /DOM system using four DOM types and 2,4,6-trimethylphenol as the probe for DOM*.

UV-induced photodegradation of emerging para-phenylenediamine quinones in aqueous environment: Kinetics, products identification and toxicity assessments.

Substituted para-phenylenediamine quinones (PPD-quinones) are a class of emerging contaminants frequently detected in the aqueous environment. One of them, N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine quinone (6PPD-Q), was found to cause acute toxicities to aquatic species at extremely low environmental levels. The ubiquitousness and ecotoxicity of such pollutants underscore the importance of their transformation and elimination.

Identification of SGMS2 as a molecule involved in natural killer cell recruitment and its in-deep analysis in the liver cancer microenvironment: Evidence from large populations cohort.

Background: Liver cancer, a common malignancy within the digestive system, presents with a particularly grim prognosis. Within the immune microenvironment, the role of natural killer (NK) cells in liver cancer remains unclear.

Methods: We sourced data on clinical parameters and gene expressions for liver cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program database and carried out all analyses using R software and its relevant codes.

Photo-transformation of wastewater effluent organic matter reduces the formation potential and toxicity of chlorinated disinfection byproducts.

Sunlight exposure can degrade and transform discharged wastewater effluent organic matter (EfOM) in aquatic systems, potentially enhancing the feasibility of reusing wastewater for drinking purposes. However, there remains a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the sunlight-induced changes in the molecular-level composition, characteristics, and chlorine reactivity of EfOM. Herein, we investigated the impact of sunlight on the optical properties, chemical composition, and formation of disinfection byproducts of EfOM using multiple spectroscopic analyses, high-resolution mass spectrometry, chlorination experiments, and in vitro bioassays.

Modeling cross-talk of RNA modification enzymes reveals tumor microenvironment-associated clinical significance and immunotherapy prediction in hepatobiliary malignancy.

RNA modification includes four main types, N6-methyladenosine, N1-methyladenosine, alternative polyadenylation (APA), and adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, involving 41 enzymes that serve as "writers", "readers" and "erasers". By collecting RNA modifying enzyme information in 1759 hepatobiliary malignancy (HBM) samples from 11 datasets, an RNA modification HBM Score (RH_score) was established based on unsupervised cluster analysis of RNA modification-associated differentially expressed genes (DEGs). We identified the imbalanced expression of 41 RNA modification enzymes in HBM, which was scientifically categorized into two groups: RH_Score high and RH_Score low.

Comprehensive Metabolic Profiling and Genome-wide Analysis Reveal Therapeutic Modalities for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Understanding the details of metabolic reprogramming in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is critical to improve stratification for therapy. Both multiomics analysis and cross-cohort validation were performed to investigate the metabolic dysregulation of 562 HCC patients from 4 cohorts. On the basis of the identified dynamic network biomarkers, 227 substantial metabolic genes were identified and a total of 343 HCC patients were classified into 4 heterogeneous metabolic clusters with distinct metabolic characteristics: cluster 1, the pyruvate subtype, associated with upregulated pyruvate metabolism; cluster 2, the amino acid subtype, with dysregulated amino acid metabolism as the reference; cluster 3, the mixed subtype, in which lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and glycan metabolism are dysregulated; and cluster 4, the glycolytic subtype, associated with the dysregulated carbohydrate metabolism.

Dual role of soil-derived dissolved organic matter in the sulfamethoxazole oxidation by manganese dioxide.

Manganese dioxide (MnO) can mediate organic pollutant oxidation in aquatic environments, which has been reported to be inhibited or promoted by dissolved organic matter (DOM) in different studies. It remains unresolved why conflicting results have been observed and whether such results depend on the type and concentration of DOM. Here, we used three types of well-characterized DOM derived from soil heated at 50, 250, or 400 °C (DOM_50, DOM_250, and DOM_400, respectively) to evaluate the impacts of DOM type and concentration and environmental pH on MnO-mediated oxidation of sulfamethoxazole, a widely detected and ecotoxic emerging pollutant.

A Novel Thoracoabdominal Aorta CTA-based Nomogram Model to Identify Ideal Candidates for Transradial Approach Chemoembolization in Patients with Liver Cancer.

High technical complexity limits the wide use of transradial approach (TRA) chemoembolization in the management of liver cancer. We sought to construct a thoracoabdominal aorta CTA-based nomogram model to identify ideal candidates for TRA chemoembolization in patients with liver cancer. Patients who had received thoracoabdominal aorta CTA before TRA chemoembolization from 2018 to 2020 were retrospectively enrolled and randomly divided into a training set and a validation set.

The E3 ubiquitin ligase SOCS-7 reverses immunosuppression via Shc1 signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common primary liver malignancies and is the third leading cause of tumor-related mortality worldwide. Despite advances in HCC treatment, diagnosis at the later stages, and the complex mechanisms relating to the cause and pathogenesis, results in less than 40% of HCC patients being eligible for potential therapy. Prolonged inflammation and resulting immunosuppression are major hallmarks of HCC; however, the mechanisms responsible for these processes have not been clearly elucidated.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon occurrence in forest soils in response to fires: a summary across sites.

Forest fires are important sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils. However, factors controlling PAH production in soils subjected to fires in different sites are poorly understood. Here, we analyzed 143 sets of previously published data to evaluate the concentrations and composition profiles of PAHs in ash and soils associated with forest fires and to assess the impacts of soil depth, fire intensity, post-fire duration, and vegetation type on their occurrence.

Serum LAG-3 Predicts Outcome and Treatment Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients With Transarterial Chemoembolization.

Background: Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) stands for the most commonly utilized therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. This study was to explore the potential predictive and prognostic roles of LAG-3 and PD-L1 as serum biomarkers in HCC patients underwent TACE treatment.

Methods: A total of 100 HCC patients receiving TACE as well as 30 healthy controls were enrolled in the study.

Tumor Mutation Burden-Associated LINC00638/miR-4732-3p/ULBP1 Axis Promotes Immune Escape PD-L1 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Tumor mutation burden (TMB) is associated with immune infiltration, while its underlying mechanism in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. A long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-related competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network can regulate various tumor behaviors, and research about its correlation with TMB and immune infiltration is warranted. Data were downloaded from TCGA and ArrayExpress databases.

Acquired resistance to third-generation EGFR-TKIs and emerging next-generation EGFR inhibitors.

The discovery that mutations in the gene are detected in up to 50% of lung adenocarcinoma patients, along with the development of highly efficacious epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), has revolutionized the treatment of this frequently occurring lung malignancy. Indeed, the clinical success of these TKIs constitutes a critical milestone in targeted cancer therapy. Three generations of EGFR-TKIs are currently approved for the treatment of EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Sulfarotene, a synthetic retinoid, overcomes stemness and sorafenib resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma via suppressing SOS2-RAS pathway.

Background: Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows strong resistance to sorafenib, and the tumor-repopulating cells (TRCs) with cancer stem cell-like properties are considered a driver for its high recurrent rate and drug resistance.

Methods: Suppression of TRCs may thus be an effective therapeutic strategy for treating this fatal disease. We evaluated the pharmacology and mechanism of sulfarotene, a new type of synthetic retinoid, on the cancer stem cell-like properties of HCC TRCs, and assessed its preclinical efficacy in models of HCC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs).

Protein convertase subtilisin/Kexin type 9 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma growth by interacting with GSTP1 and suppressing the JNK signaling pathway.

Objective: Protein convertase subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9) has been found to be closely associated with the occurrence and development of numerous tumors. However, the precise role of PCSK9 and its relationship to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain largely unknown. This study aimed to clarify these issues.