Neoadjuvant immunotherapy for patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer (EC) has developed rapidly in recent years. The efficacy and safety outcomes may change the recommended neoadjuvant therapeutic regimens for patients with EC. Systematic screening for articles focusing on the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in locally advanced and surgically resectable EC was performed using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and international tumor congresses. Meta-analysis of non-comparative binary outcomes was carried out to combine the main results. The pooled results were compared with the traditional neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) and chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) using direct comparative analysis. The results were expressed as the risk ratio (RR). A total of 20 articles with 621 patients were included in the present study. The pooled pathological complete response and major pathological response rates were 33.8% (95% CI: 29.6%-37.9%) and 53.5% (95% CI: 47.9%-59%), respectively, in the neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy (nICT) group and 39.8% (95% CI: 27%-53.9%) and 88.8% (95% CI: 64.8%-97.2%) in the neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemoradiotherapy (nICRT) group, respectively. In addition, the pooled grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) rate was 19.4% (95% CI: 11.5%-31.5%) in the nICT group. The results of direct comparison showed that compared with nCRT and nICRT, nICT could improve safety while achieving comparable efficacy. The results of subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis and publication bias evaluation indicated that the above findings were stable and reliable. The current meta-analysis revealed that neoadjuvant immunotherapy in patients with locally advanced EC was safe and effective and nICT could be used as the recommended neoadjuvant therapeutic option for patients with EC. However, additional studies are urgently needed to reveal the long-term outcomes of neoadjuvant immunotherapy.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the prospects of using chemotherapy in combination with atezolizumab in the neoadjuvant or conversion treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Methods: Prior to surgery, untreated patients with limited-stage SCLC received three cycles of neoadjuvant or conversion atezolizumab combined with chemotherapy of etoposide and platinum. The primary endpoint of the trial was pathological complete response (pCR) in the per-protocol (PP) cohort. In addition, safety was assessed based on treatment-related adverse events (AEs) and postoperative complications. Results: Overall, 13 of 17 patients (including 14 males and 3 females) underwent surgery. In the PP cohort, pCR and major pathological response were observed in 8 (8/13, 61.5%) and 12 (12/13, 92.3%) patients, respectively. According to the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, the pCR and major pathological response in the ITT cohort were 47.1% (8/17) and 70.6% (12/17), respectively. In addition, an overall response rate of 100% was recorded in the PP cohort. Moreover, 15 (15/17, 88.2%) patients and 1 (1/17, 5.9%) in the ITT cohort attained partial remission (PR), and complete remission, respectively, with an overall response rate of 94.1%. The median overall survival of the patients of pCR and the median event-free survival of the patients on surgery had not achieved. However, the median overall survival of the patients of non-pCR was 18.2 months and the median event-free survival of the nonsurgical patients was 9.5 months. During the neoadjuvant treatment, the incidence of grade 3 or higher AEs was 58.8% (10/17). Additionally, three patients (17.6%) developed immune-related adverse event (grades 1–2). Conclusion: In patients with SCLC, neoadjuvant or conversion atezolizumab combined with chemotherapy significantly improved pCR with manageable AEs. Therefore, this regimen may be considered a safe and effective treatment for SCLC.

Increasing evidence shows that microRNA (miR)‑381 is involved in the carcinogenesis and biologic progression of various types of cancer in humans. However, its potential biologic role and mechanism in pancreatic cancer remain to be elucidated. In the present study, the expression and functional role of miR‑381 in pancreatic cancer were investigated. It was found that miR‑381 was significantly downregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines. The biological functions of miR‑381 were examined by measuring cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. The miR‑381 target gene and signaling pathway were identified by luciferase activity assay and western blot assay. In vitro experiments confirmed that the enforced expression of miR‑381 markedly suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and induced apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. By contrast, silencing the expression of miR‑381 had the opposite effect. In addition, miR‑381 inhibited xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, ETS1 was identified as a direct target of miR‑381, and western blot analysis showed that miR‑381 negatively modulated the expression of ETS1. It was also demonstrated that miR‑381 serves a key role in pancreatic cancer cells through regulating the phosphoinositide 3‑kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. In conclusion, the data obtained suggested that miR‑381 mediated cell proliferation, migration and invasion by targeting ETS1, partly through PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. These results provide novel insights into understanding the potential effects and molecular mechanism of miR‑381 on pancreatic cancer. miR‑381 may serve as a novel potential marker for pancreatic cancer treatment in the future.

Surgical 3D endoscopy based on structured illumination has been built and evaluated for application in minimally invasive anastomosis surgery which offers advantages of smaller incision, low risk of infection, quick recovery times and reduced blood loss. When combined with robotic manipulations, surgeons can perform surgical tasks with higher precision and repeatability. For reconstructive surgery such as anastomosis, a supervised laparoscopic anastomosis using a surgical robot has recently been reported with an open-surgery approach using a large 3D camera. To push the technology into minimally-invasive setting, we report an endoscopic 3D system based on structured illumination technique to assist the surgical robot, particularly in anastomosis surgery. The recorded structural profile achieves a high depth quantification of 250 um for static objects, with 25 mm depth of field. The proposed system can be integrated into a flexible holding arm to move in accordance with the surgical robotic arm. We characterize the system performance using multiple porcine intestinal tissue samples with variations in surface textures, tissue pigmentation and thickness.