Background: Aberrant DNA methylation is a crucial epigenetic regulator that is closely related to the occurrence and development of various cancers, including breast cancer (BC). The present study aimed to identify a novel methylation-based prognosis biomarker panel by integrally analyzing gene expression and methylation patterns in BC patients. Methods: DNA methylation and gene expression data of breast cancer (BRCA) were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). R packages, including ChAMP, SVA, and MethylMix, were applied to identify the unique methylation-driven genes. Subsequently, these genes were subjected to Metascape for GO analysis. Univariant Cox regression was used to identify survival-related genes among the methylation-driven genes. Robust likelihood-based survival modeling was applied to define the prognosis markers. An independent data set (GSE72308) was used for further validation of our risk score system. Results: A total of 879 DNA methylation-driven genes were identified from 765 BC patients. In the discovery cohort, we identified 50 survival-related methylation-driven genes. Finally, we built an eight-methylation-driven gene panel that serves as prognostic predictors. Conclusions: Our analysis of transcriptome and methylome variations associated with the survival status of BC patients provides a further understanding of basic biological processes and a basis for the genetic etiology in BC.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the perioperative and long-term outcomes of robot-assisted hemicolectomy (RAH) versus laparoscopy-assisted hemicolectomy (LAH) for left-sided colon cancers. Patients who underwent RAH and LAH from January 2012 to December 2018 were reviewed retrospectively. Patient characteristics and perioperative outcomes were compared between the two groups. Follow-up consultations were conducted to evaluate the long-term outcomes of these procedures. A total of 460 patients were included (RAH, n = 205; LAH, n = 255). There was no difference in patient characteristics between the two groups. Compared with the LAH group, the RAH group showed longer operative time (150.23 ± 43.77 min vs. 125.85 ± 38.67 min, p < 0.001) and higher surgery cost (6.33 ± 1.50 vs. 2.88 ± 0.72 thousand $, p < 0.001) and total hospital cost (14.97 ± 3.05 vs. 9.05 ± 2.31 thousand $, p < 0.001). No significant differences in tumor pathology, TNM staging, and perioperative outcomes were observed. There were no obvious differences in the 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) or 3-year and 5-year disease-free survival. Cox multivariate analyses showed that age, body mass index, and intravascular cancer embolus were independent risk factors for OS. Moreover, the robotic approach was not an independent risk factor for prognosis of left-sided colon cancers. RAH is an appropriate operation method for left-sided colon cancer, with perioperative and long-term outcomes comparable to those of laparoscopy. Meanwhile, RHA has longer operative time and higher cost.

Background: Immunodeficiency diseases (IDDs) are associated with an increased proportion of cancer-related morbidity. However, the relationship between IDDs and malignancy readmissions has not been well described. Understanding this relationship could help us to develop a more reasonable discharge plan in the special tumor population. Methods: Using the Nationwide Readmissions Database, we established a retrospective cohort study that included patients with the 16 most common malignancies, and we defined two groups: non-immunodeficiency diseases (NOIDDs) and IDDs. Results: To identify whether the presence or absence of IDDs was associated with readmission, we identified 603,831 patients with malignancies at their time of readmission in which 0.8% had IDDs and in which readmission occurred in 47.3%. Compared with NOIDDs, patients with IDDs had a higher risk of 30-day (hazard ratio (HR) of 1.32; 95% CI of 1.25–1.40), 90-day (HR of 1.27; 95% CI of 1.21–1.34) and 180-day readmission (HR of 1.28; 95% CI of 1.22–1.35). More than one third (37.9%) of patients with IDDs had readmissions that occurred within 30 days and most (82.4%) of them were UPRs. An IDD was an independent risk factor for readmission in patients with colorectal cancer (HR of 1.32; 95% CI of 1.01–1.72), lung cancer (HR of 1.23; 95% CI of 1.02–1.48), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) (HR of 1.16; 95% CI of 1.04–1.28), prostate cancer (HR of 1.45; 95% CI of 1.07–1.96) or stomach cancer (HR of 2.34; 95% CI of 1.33–4.14). Anemia (44.2%), bacterial infections (28.6%) and pneumonia (13.9%) were the 30-day UPR causes in these populations. (4) Conclusions: IDDs were independently associated with higher readmission risks for some malignant tumors. Strategies should be considered to prevent the causes of readmission as a post discharge plan.