Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and ranks third in the leading causes of cancer patients death. Cancer stem cells (HSCs), also known as tumor-initiating cells, have been reported in multiple subtypes of HCC and are considered as the master regulators of HCC initiation, chemotherapy drug resistance, tumor metastasis, and progression. In spite of their clinical importance, the detailed mechanism about how HSCs are intricately regulated in the molecular level remains elusive. MicroRNA (miRNA), a class of newly emerging small noncoding RNAs, has been demonstrated to serve as a vital player in modulating a number of biological activities ranging from embryogenesis to programmed cell death as well as the maintenance of HSCs. In this review, we synthesize these latest findings of miRNA regulation of HSCs and try to elucidate their mechanistic roles in orchestrating cellular equilibrium. This recent progress underlies the functional role of miRNA in cellular transformation of liver cancer, which has largely extended our knowledge how HSCs are controlled by miRNA network, and in the development of novel miRNA-based anticancer therapies specifically targeting HSCs in the coming future.

Summary: The outbreak of pneumonia caused by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was reported in Wuhan City, China. However, the clinical symptoms varied in different reports. Based on results of inter-group difference test, we found that the incidence of diarrhea differed in three recent reports. As 2019-nCoV utilizes the same cell entry receptor ACE2 as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and ACE2 tightly controls intestinal inflammation, to trace the route of infection mediated by 2019-nCoV, we used the single-cell RNA sequencing data for analysis. We found that the ACE2 mRNA was highly expressed in the healthy human small intestine rather than the lung. Besides, single-cell RNA sequencing data showed that ACE2 was significantly elevated in the proximal and distal enterocytes, where the small intestinal epithelium is exposed to the foreign pathogen. Thus, we suspect that ACE2-expressing small intestinal epithelium cells might be vulnerable to 2019-nCoV infection when people eat infected wild animals and diarrhea may serve as an indicator for infection, suggesting that clinicians should pay more attention to patients with diarrhea during the outbreak of pneumonia.

Background and Aims. Computed tomography portal venography (CTPV) shows potential in detecting varices that need treatment and their drainage pathways. However, its agreement with endoscopy requires further study. We investigated the feasibility of CTPV as an alternative tool to endoscopy in screening gastroesophageal varices (GEVs) and developed a CTPV-based model to provide a less invasive assessment of endotherapy for cirrhotic patients with GEVs.Methods. The study included 33 cirrhotic patients with a recent history of variceal hemorrhage. The presence, grade, and classification of GEVs on endoscopy and CTPV were compared (kappa test). Twenty-four patients were treated endoscopically, including 12 for esophageal varices (EVs), 8 for gastric varices (GVs), and 4 for GEVs. Treatment efficacies were assessed with the newly developed CTPV-based method at 1 week and 1 month after treatment. Efficiency evaluated by CTPV and endoscopy was compared by Fisher's exact test to determine whether CTPV is efficient in the assessment of endotherapy efficacy.Results. For the screening and grading/classification of EVs and GVs, substantial agreement (EV kappa: 0.63 and 0.68; GV kappa: 0.62 and 0.75, respectively) was noted between endoscopy and CTPV. The therapeutic efficacy of EVs was higher when assessed by CTPV than when evaluated by endoscopy (37.50% vs. 12.50% at 1 week postoperation,P=0.22; 62.50% vs. 25.00% at 1 month postoperation,P=0.07), but without statistical significance. The same trend was also found in the assessment of therapeutic efficacy for GVs (25.00% vs. 16.67% at 1 week postoperation,P=1; 58.33% vs. 41.67% at 1 month postoperation,P=0.68).Conclusion. CTPV is comparable to endoscopy in the detection of GEVs and in the evaluation of endotherapy efficacy, which suggests that it could be a less invasive alternative for endoscopy in cirrhotic patients with GEVs needing treatment.