Objective:This study aimed to evaluate18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) for diagnosis, targeted biopsy and therapy of relapsing polychondritis (RP).Methods:The literature pertaining to the use of 18F-FDG PET-CT in patients with RP was retrieved from the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI and Wanfang databases until July 2015. Clinical characteristics, auxiliary examination results, chest CT findings, tracheoscopy and biopsy findings, high metabolic activity lesions, maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax), 18F-FDG PET-CT-guided biopsy site, pathologic results of biopsy samples, and alteration in high 18F-FDG-uptake lesions after treatment were retrospectively analyzed.Results:Eighteen publications with 26 cases were enrolled. The 5 most common symptoms of RP patients diagnosed with 18F-FDG PET-CT were cough, fever, chest tightness, sore throat, and arthralgia. Of the 26 patients, 23 had multiple and symmetric cartilage lesions with high metabo...

Obesity and inflammation are known to correlate with the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Interleukin (IL)-6, an important regulator of obesity and inflammation, was reported to phenotypically increase in patients with OSAS. This study aimed to investigate whether genetic variants in IL-6 confer susceptibility to OSAS. The study population consisted of 151 patients with OSAS and 75 healthy controls from Southeast China. Five haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) were selected across 21 kb of the IL-6 locus using Haploview software V4.1. The tSNPs were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genotyped by restriction enzyme digestion followed by gel electrophoresis. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype reconstruction were carried out by means of a SHEsis program. No distribution difference of any of the five tSNPs between OSAS patients and controls was observed. However, in non-obese individuals (n=117), the minor allele G (rs1800796) decreased risk of OSAS compared with the major allele C [odds ratio (OR), 0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.26-0.86; p=0.014], and the haplotype TG (rs1880242, rs1800796) conferred a significantly decreased risk of OSAS than single allele G (rs1800796) (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.20-0.74; p=0.003). Moreover, the severity of sleep-disordered breathing (measured by apnea hypopnea index) increased linearly in carriers of the C variant of IL-6 -572G/C polymorphism (14.3+/-5.1, 22.0+/-3.6 and 34.8+/-3.5 for GG, CG and CC, respectively; p=0.012). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to suggest that genetic variants in IL-6 could modify OSAS susceptibility. SNP genotyping of IL-6 is a potential strategy for detecting the risk of breathing disordered diseases in non-obese individuals.

Interleukin-17 (IL-17) plays an important role in cancer progression. Previous studies remained controversial regarding the correlation between IL-17 expression and lung cancer (LC) prognosis. To comprehensively and quantitatively summarize the prognostic value of IL-17 expression in LC patients, a systematic review and meta-analysis were performed. We identified the relevant literatures by searching the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang Data databases, up until April 1, 2017. Overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS) and clinicopathological characteristics were collected from relevant studies. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to estimate the effective value of IL-17 expression on clinical outcomes. Six studies containing 479 Chinese LC patients were involved in this meta-analysis. The results indicated high IL-17 expression was independently correlated with poorer OS (HR = 1.82, 95% CI 1.44–2.29, P < 0.00001) and shorter DFS (HR = 2.41, 95% CI 1.42–4.08, P = 0.001) in LC patients. Further, when stratified by LC histological type (non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer), tumor stage (Ⅰ-Ⅲ,Ⅰ-Ⅳ and Ⅳ), detection specimen (serum, intratumoral tissue and pleural effusion), test method (immunological histological chemistry and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), and HR estimated method (reported and estimated), all of the results were statistically significant. These data indicated that elevated IL-17 expression is correlated with poor clinical outcomes in LC. The meta-analysis did not show heterogeneity or publication bias. The present meta-analysis revealed that high IL-17 expression was an indicator of poor prognosis for Chinese patients with LC. It could potentially help to assess patients’ prognosis and estimate treatment efficacy in therapeutic interventions.

Accumulating studies have confirmed that MASPIN plays an essential role in NSCLC. However, results are still controversial or inconsistent. In the present study, we attempted to identify the clinical significance of MASPIN and its potential molecular roles in NSCLC. The correlation of MASPIN with prognosis and clinicopathological characteristics was assessed by meta-analysis. Additionally, the potential molecular mechanisms of MASPIN in NSCLC was also investigated through several online databases. 2,220 NSCLC patients from 12 high quality studies were included and the results indicated that upregulated MASPIN nucleus and cytoplasm expression was associated with poor OS (HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.01 - 2.04, P < 0.05), elevated MASPIN cytoplasm expression was associated with poor OS (HR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.01 - 2.07, P < 0.05), DFS (HR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.31 - 2.88, P = 0.001) and DSS (HR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.18 - 3.99, P = 0.013). MASPIN both nucleus and cytoplasm location were associated with clinicopathological characteristics. Bioinformatics analysis validated the above results and suggested that SERPINB5 hypomethylated levels were negatively correlated with its mRNA expression. Bioinformatics analysis also revealed the 85 most frequently altered neighboring genes of SERPINB5, and GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed 20 GO terms and 3 KEGG pathways with statistical significance. MASPIN had a statistically negative correlation with NSCLC prognosis, functioning as an oncoprotein by hypomethylation and influencing specific pathways involving the 85 genes identified herein. MASPIN might be a promising prognostic signature in NSCLC.