Aldo–keto reductase family 1 member B10 (AKR1B10) is associated with several cancers, but the prognostic role in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. We enrolled 359 GC patients who underwent a gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection. AKR1B10 expression was scored using an immunoreactive scoring system based on immunohistochemistry. Adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 or oxaliplatin plus capecitabine was administered to pathological stage II or III disease patients. There were 117 (32.6%) and 242 (67.4%) patients with AKR1B10 overexpression and low expression, respectively. Patients overexpressing AKR1B10 had worse 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates than those with low expression of AKR1B10. Pathological T3–T4 stage, pathological stage III, lymph node ratio ≥25%, and AKR1B10 overexpression were independent prognostic factors for worse DFS and OS in univariate and multivariate analyses. For 162 stage II or III patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical resection and 59 patients with signet ring cell carcinoma histology, AKR1B10 overexpression was also associated with inferior DFS and OS. AKR1B10 was not associated with clinical survival in stage I GC patients. In conclusion, AKR1B10 overexpression may be an independent prognostic factor for worse survival in GC patients who underwent gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection.

Background: The mainstay treatment of biliary tract cancer is complete tumor resection. Prior to surgery, risk stratification may help to predict and plan treatment approaches. In this study, we investigated the possibility of combining serum albumin concentrations and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios (NLR) to create a score as ANS to predict the prognoses of biliary tract cancer before surgery. Methods: This study retrospectively collected serum albumin concentration, neutrophil, and lymphocyte data measured in biliary tract cancer patients slated to receive complete tumor resections within two weeks before surgery. From January 2013 to December 2019, 268 biliary tract cancer patients who had received tumor resections at our hospital were categorized into 3 ANS groups: ANS = 0 (high albumin and low NLR), ANS = 1 (low albumin or high NLR), and ANS = 2 (low albumin and high NLR). Results: Five-year survival rates were 70.1%, 47.6%, and 30.8% in the ANS = 0, 1, and 2 groups, respectively. The median overall survival time for the ANS = 0 group could not be determined by the end of the study, while those for ANS = 1 and ANS = 2 groups were 54.90 months and 16.62 months, respectively. The results of our multivariate analysis revealed that ANS could be used as an independent predictor of overall and recurrent-free survival. A high ANS was also correlated with other poor prognostic factors. Conclusions: The ANS devised for this study can be used to predict postoperative survival in patients with BTC and to guide treatment strategies.

Background: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of HSD17B13 polymorphisms while evaluating the correlation between HSD17B13 gene variants and NASH prevalence in the Taiwanese population. Furthermore, we tried to identify the diagnostic value of liver enzymes as non-invasive biomarkers for NASH in morbidly obese patients. Methods: Severely obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who received liver biopsy during bariatric surgery and controls of liver donors who underwent donor hepatectomy were enrolled from 2016 to 2021. Genotyping was utilized in TaqMan PCR assays. For comparison of NAFLD severity, patients were divided into no NASH (NAFLD activity score, NAS 0–2), borderline NASH (NAS 3–4), and NASH (NAS 5–8). Results: The proportion of HSD17B13 rs72613567 TA allele carriers (T/TA and TA/TA genotypes) was 96% in both groups, corresponding to an estimated TA allele frequency of approximately 50% based on a standard allele-counting method. Among morbidly obese patients, T/TA and TA/TA genotypes were associated with lower odds of NASH prevalence compared with T/T genotype. For the non-invasive predictive factors of NASH, NASH group had significantly higher level of liver enzymes compared to “no NASH” and “borderline NASH” groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed there were moderate predictive values for NASH in AST (AUC = 0.71, p = 0.014) and ALT (AUC = 0.73, p = 0.007). Conclusions: Our study revealed a relatively high prevalence of the loss-of-function TA variant of HSD17B13 in this southern Taiwanese cohort, irrespective of body weight. This variant may contribute to the comparatively lower prevalence of NASH in the region. Additionally, AST and ALT may have potential predictive value for NASH prevalence. Given the single-center design, further larger, population-representative studies are warranted.