Background. Cancerous embryo antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) are commonly used in clinical practice to assist in diagnosing CRC. However, their sensitivity is very low. This study aims to investigate the clinical significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor endothelial cells (CTECs) compared with CEA and CA19-9 in the auxiliary diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Methods. 115 pathologically confirmed CRC patients and 20 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. CTCs and CTECs were enriched and identified by subtraction enrichment and immunostaining-fluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH). A logistic regression was used to establish a model for the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and the diagnostic efficacy of CTCs, CTECs, CEA, CA19-9, and their combinations was analyzed. Results. The CTC ( ) and CTEC ( ) level was significantly higher in CRC patients than that in healthy controls. For CRC patients, CTC and CTEC level was significantly correlated with tumor stage and lymph node metastasis status, but not with sex, age, tumor location, and degree of differentiation. The positive rate of CTCs, CTECs, CEA, and CA19-9 in CRC patients was 87.8%, 39.1%, 28.7%, and 26.1%, respectively. To distinguish CRC patients from controls, the area under the curve (AUC) of CTC was 0.889, which was much higher than 0.695 of CTEC, 0.696 of CEA, and 0.695 of CA19-9. Establishing ROC curve by logistic regression algorithm, the highest AUC was 0.935, which combined CTCs with CTEC, CEA, and CA19-9. Conclusions. CTCs combined with CTEC, CEA, and CA19-9 are useful to improve the diagnostic efficiency, which has high clinical significance in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the correlations among heavy metals concentration, histologic subtypes and molecular characteristics in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: In this study, an NGS panel of 82 tumor-associated genes was used to identify genomic alternations in 180 newly diagnosed patients with NSCLC. The concentrations of 18 heavy metals in the serum samples were detected by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results: A total of 243 somatic mutations of 25 mutant genes were identified in 115 of 148 patients with LUAD and 45 somatic mutations of 15 mutant genes were found in 24 of 32 patients with LUSC. The genomic alternations, somatic interactions, traditional serum biomarkers, and heavy metals were markedly different between patients with LUAD and LUSC. Moreover, patients with LUSC were significantly positively correlated with Ba, but not LUAD. Lastly, patients with EGFR mutations presented significant negative correlations with Cd and Sr, whereas patients with TP53 mutations showed a significant positive correlation with Pb. Conclusion: The genomic alternations, somatic interactions, traditional serum biomarkers, and heavy metals were different between patients with LUAC and LUSC, and heavy metals (e.g., Ba, Pb, and Cd) may contribute to the tumorigenesis of NSCLC with different histological and molecular subtypes.

Purpose: Bone metastasis (BoM) has been closely associated with increased morbidity and poor survival outcomes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Given its significant implications, this study aimed to systematically compare the biological characteristics between advanced NSCLC patients with and without BoM.

Purpose: Although growing studies have reported the disturbances of trace elements (TEs) homeostasis was closely associated with the occurrence of colorectal cancer (CRC), the clinical value of TEs in CRC with different molecular subtypes was largely unknown. This study aimed to explore the correlation between KRAS mutations/MSI status and serum TEs levels in patients with CRC.