HLA-DR⁺ Tumor Cells Show an Association with a Distinct Immune Microenvironment and CD8⁺ T-Cell Exhaustion in HBV-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with hepatitis B virus (HBV) as a major driver. Despite the pivotal role of viral infections in shaping the tumor microenvironment (TME), the mechanistic differences among HBV-, hepatitis C virus (HCV)-, and non-B non-C (NBNC)-associated HCC remain poorly understood. By integrating the largest publicly available single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset of HCC (160 samples from 124 patients) with multi-scale protein-level validation using multiplex immunofluorescence and tissue microarrays (198 HCC specimens), HLA-DR⁺ tumor cells are identified as a distinctive feature of HBVHCC.

A Potential Model for Detecting Crowding-induced Epithelial Cell and Cancer Cell Extrusion.

Overcrowding and cell deformation lead to the shedding of apoptotic and live cells to maintain homeostasis in the epithelium. Recent studies have attempted to explain the effect of extrusion on epithelial homeostasis and tumor metastasis, but lack the requisite quantitative models for testing extrusion. Here, we designed a petri dish inversion model to detect the extrusion ability of both normal epithelial cells and epithelial cancer cells.

MicroRNAs: regulators of cancer metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

Tumor metastasis is the main cause of death in patients with solid tumors. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, in which epithelial cells are converted into mesenchymal cells, is frequently activated during cancer invasion and metastasis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that provide widespread expressional control by repressing mRNA translation and inducing mRNA degradation.

Comparison of laparoscopic vs open liver lobectomy (segmentectomy) for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Aim: To investigate the effects of laparoscopic hepatectomy for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: From 2006 to January 2011, laparoscopic hepatectomies were performed on 30 cases of HCC at Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital. During this same time period, 30 patients elected to undergo conventional open hepatectomy over laparoscopic hepatectomy at the time of informed consent.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of human septin 1 with site-directed mutations.

Septin 1 is a member of an evolutionarily conserved family of GTP-binding and filament-forming proteins named septins, which function in diverse processes including cytokinasis, vesicle trafficking, apoptosis, remodelling of the cytoskeleton, infection, neurodegeneration and neoplasia. Human septin 1 has been expressed and purified, but suffers from severe aggregation. Studies have shown that septin 1 with site-directed mutations of five serine residues (Ser19, Ser206, Ser307, Ser312 and Ser315) has a much lower degree of aggregation and better structural homogeneity and that the mutations cause only slight perturbations in the secondary structure of septin 1.