Gastric cancer (GC) is the remaining concern of cancer-associated health burden. Valuable predictive and prognostic indicators support the early diagnosis and improve outcome. Immune escape and inflammation are important cancer hallmarks. The prognostic and diagnostic value of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was reported in some cancers. But these cheap and convenient indexes are far from clinical use. Thus, investigation the alteration of those index on GC is needed to impose the use of those indexes in clinic. The study recruited seventy-seven hospitalized patients newly diagnosed with GC and 90 healthy individuals. The clinical and preclinical data of participants were collected from Hospital Information Management system. This study were approved by the Ethical Committee, Vietnam Military Medical University. The data were analyzed on STATA version 14.0 and GraphPad Prism 8.0. The alteration of immunological system was reported by significantly higher white blood cell count, neutrophils, platelets, PLR, and NLR as well as decreased lymphocytes on GC, compared to healthy individuals. Those indexes were elevated on advanced stage GC, compared to early stage GC. Our receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed the significant specificity and sensitivity of PLR (cutoff 135.0) and NLR (cutoff 2.0) on GC diagnosis with respective area under receiver operating characteristic curve of 84.74% and 85.17%, P < .0001. Besides, our results reported the tendency of increased PLR and NLR and short time from clinical signs to being diagnosed. PLR and NLR have significant specificity and sensitivity in diagnosis and prognosis of GC.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a major health burden with limited curative treatment options. There is a substantial unmet need to develop innovative approaches to impact the progression of advanced HCC. Haprolid is a novel natural component isolated from myxobacteria. Haprolid has been reported as a potent selective cytotoxin against a panel of tumor cells in recent studies including HCC cells. The aims of this study are to evaluate the antitumor effect of haprolid in HCC and to understand its underlying molecular mechanisms. Methods: The efficacy of haprolid was evaluated in human HCC cell lines (Huh-7, Hep3B and HepG2) and xenograft tumors (NMRI-Foxn1^nu mice with injection of Hep3B cells). Cytotoxic activity of haprolid was determined by the WST-1 and crystal violet assay. Wound healing, transwell and tumorsphere assays were performed to investigate migration and invasion of HCC cells. Apoptosis and cell-cycle distribution were measured by flow cytometry. The effects of haprolid on the Rb/E2F and Akt/mTOR pathway were examined by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Results: haprolid treatment significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) was impaired by haprolid treatment and the expression level of N-cadherin, vimentin and Snail was downregulated. Moreover, growth of HCC cells in vitro was suppressed by inhibition of G1/S transition, and partially by induction of apoptosis. The drug induced downregulation of cell cycle regulatory proteins cyclin A, cyclin B and CDK2 and induced upregulation of p21 and p27. Further evidence showed that these effects of haprolid were associated with Rb/E2F downregulation and Akt/mTOR inhibition. Finally, in vivo nude mice experiments demonstrated significant inhibition of tumor growth upon haprolid treatment. Conclusion: Our results show that haprolid inhibits the growth of HCC through dual inhibition of Rb/E2F and Akt/mTOR pathways. Therefore, haprolid might be considered as a new and promising candidate for the palliative therapy of HCC.

The human major histocompatibility complex class I polypeptide-related sequence B (MICB) is a protein that modulates the NK and T cell activation through the NKG2D receptor and is related to several diseases including cancer. The study investigated the prognostic role of soluble MICB (sMICB) protein in the progression of HBV-related liver diseases and to HBV-related HCC treatment. The sMICB serum levels were measured in 266 chronic HBV-infected Vietnamese patients and in healthy controls, and correlated with clinical and laboratory parameters and with therapeutic interventions for HBV-related HCC. Significant differences in both clinical and laboratory parameters were observed among the patient groups with different stages of hepatitis. The platelet counts were significantly decreased with disease progression (P < 0.001). The sMICB serum levels were significantly increased in HBV patients compared to healthy controls (P < 0.0001). Among the patients with different stages of hepatitis, asymptomatic individuals (ASYM) revealed higher sMICB serum levels while liver cirrhosis (LC) patients revealed lower sMICB serum levels (P < 0.0001) compared to other patient groups. Notably, the sMICB serum levels were decreased in treated HCC patient group compared to not-treated HCC patient group (P = 0.05). Additionally, the sMICB levels were significantly correlated with platelet counts in ASYM and HCC patients (r = −0.37, P = 0.009; and r = 0.22, P = 0.025, respectively). Our results demonstrate a potential role of sMICB serum levels and platelet counts during immune response to the HBV infection, liver disease progression and response to the HCC treatment.

Background: Rosuvastatin, most commonly used in the form of calcium salt, belongs to the statin groups of synthetic antihyperlipidemic agents. Rosuvastatin possesses high permeability, however, its aqueous solubility is poor, causing a slow dissolution rate in water. Consequently, this dissolution rate has a decisive role in the release and absorption of rosuvastatin in the gastrointestinal tube. Objective: The aims of this study were to evaluate the absorption of the drug from the self-nano emulsifying drug delivery system of rosuvastatin (Ros SNEDDS) compared to rosuvastatin substance and to develop a level-A in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) for Ros SNEDDS. Methods: An in-house developed LC-MS/MS method was used to determine the concentrations of rosuvastatin in dog plasma. Six beagle dogs received an intravenous dose, Ros SNEDDS, rosuvastatin substance. In vitro dissolution of the Ros SNEDDS was carried out with different conditions. Correlation models were developed from the dissolution and absorption results of Ros SNEDDS. Results: The results showed a 1.7-fold enhanced oral bioavailability and 2.1-time increase of rosuvastatin Cmax in Ros SNEDDS form, compared to the rosuvastatin substance. A 900 ml dissolution medium of pH of 6.6 has demonstrated its suitability, the in vitro dissolution model was studied and supported by the Weibull equation with a weighting factor of 1/y2 as it presented the lowest values of AIC. Conclusion: Ros SNEDDS demonstrated higher bioavailability of rosuvastatin in comparison to rosuvastatin substance and established a level A IVIVC used in future bioequivalence trials.