Purpose: Our study aimed to describe the clinical features of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) and identify the predictors of poor outcomes. Patients and methods: The clinicopathological variables and treatment strategies of 100 UPS patients who underwent surgical resections at a single institution between November 2004 and July 2016 were reviewed. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression method were conducted for survival analysis. Results: The median follow-up time was 94 months (range, 1.5–154 months). R0 resection was applied for 72 cases, and the median tumor size was 5.75cm (range, 1–30cm). Tumor grades of 45 patients were intermediate grade (G2), and 54 patients were with advanced stage (stage III/IV). Twenty-seven patients presented with tumors involving important structures, in which the nerve was the most frequently invaded structure (n=12). During the follow-up, 40 patients suffered from postoperative local recurrence, and distant metastasis was observed in 25 patients which mainly metastasized to the lung (n=14). The 5-year OS rate, 5-year LRFS rate, and 5-year MFS rate was 53%, 55%, and 70%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor presentation, tumor size, and important structures involved (p=0.033, p=0.004, and p=0.033, respectively) were independent prognostic factors associated with OS. Meanwhile, age, resection quality and tumor grade were independent prognostic factors for LRFS (p=0.033, p=0.045, and p=0.007, respectively) and tumor depth was significantly associated with MFS (p=0.050) in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Primary treatment of UPS should be conducted by experts in large sarcoma center. Wide surgical margin provides sufficient control of the disease recurrence.

Liposarcoma is a malignant tumor of mesenchymal origin with significant tissue diversity. It is composed of adipocytes with different degrees of differentiation and different degrees of heteromorphosis. It is not sensitive to traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy and has a poor prognosis. In recent years, with the rapid development of basic immunology, molecular genetics and tumor molecular biology, the histological classification of liposarcoma has become increasingly clear. More and more new methods and technologies, such as gene expression profile analysis, the whole genome sequencing, miRNA expression profile analysis and RNA sequencing, have been successfully applied to liposarcoma, bringing about a deeper understanding of gene expression changes and molecular pathogenic mechanisms in the occurrence and development of liposarcoma. This study reviews the present research status and progress of cellular and molecular alterations of liposarcoma and corresponding clinical treatment progress.

Background: The present study was designed to explore the underlying role of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) in reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and apoptosis in osteosarcoma (OS) cells induced by hypoxia. Methods: In OS cells, ROS accumulated and apoptosis increased within 24 h after exposure to low HIF-1α expression levels. A co-expression analysis showed that HIF was positively correlated with Forkhead box class O1 (FoxO1) expression and negatively correlated with CYP-related genes from the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) datasets. Hypoxia also considerably increased HIF-1α and FoxO1 expression. Moreover, the promoter region of FoxO1 was directly regulated by HIF-1α. We inhibited HIF-1α via siRNA and found that the ROS accumulation and apoptosis induced by hypoxia in OS cells decreased. In this study, a murine xenograft model of BALB-c nude mice was adopted to test tumour growth and measure the efficacy of 2-ME + As₂O₃ treatment. Results: Ad interim knockdown of HIF-1α also inhibited manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), catalase and sestrin 3 (Sesn3) expression in OS cells. Furthermore, hypoxia-induced ROS formation and apoptosis in OS cells were associated with CYP450 protein interference and were ablated by HIF-1α silencing via siRNA. Conclusions: Our data reveal that HIF-1α inhibits ROS accumulation by directly regulating FoxO1 in OS cells, which induces MnSOD, catalase and Sesn3 interference, thus resulting in anti-oxidation effects. The combination of an HIF-1α inhibitor (2-mercaptoethanol,2-ME) and ROS inducer (arsenous oxide, As₂O₃) can prohibit proliferation and migration and promote apoptosis in MG63 cells in vitro while inhibiting tumour growth in vivo.

BACKGROUND: Fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) belongs to the tyrosine kinase receptor family. Little is known about the effect of FGFR4 on gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, the objective of the current study was to elucidate the role of FGFR4 in the tumorigenesis and progression of GC. METHODS: FGFR4 and some common prognosis markers, including p53, neu, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), were detected in 71 tissue samples from patients with GC using immunohistochemical analysis. In addition, a series of functional assays were carried out using small interfering RNA (siRNA) and included proliferation assays, clone assays, and apoptosis detection. RESULTS: Cytoplasmic FGFR4 expression in GC tissues was negative (7% of samples), low (14.1% of samples), intermediate (40.8%), and high (38% of samples). FGFR4 expression was associated with lymph node status and with PCNA and neu expression (P < .05). The 5‐year relative survival rate was 61.5% in patients who had GC with low FGFR4 expression but was only 42% in patients who had high FGFR4 expression (P = .058). A subgroup analysis of the patients who had high FGFR4 expression revealed that those with stage III and IV disease had a worse prognosis (P = .044). Moreover, knockdown of FGFR4 expression led to decreased proliferation and an increased rate of apoptosis in the MKN45 and SGC7901 GC cell lines (P < .05). Western blot analysis demonstrated that the expression of caspase 3 increased, whereas the expression of extra‐large B‐cell lymphoma (Bcl‐xL) decreased in MKN45 and SGC7901 cells after FGFR4‐siRNA transfection. CONCLUSIONS: FGFR4 expression in GC tissue was extremely high. The current results indicated that FGFR4 may contribute to the progression of GC by regulating proliferation and antiapoptosis, indicating that FGFR4 may be a potential, novel drug target against GC. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, plaque-like tumor of the cutaneous tissue occurring more on the trunk than the extremities and neck. More than 95% of DFSP present anomalies on the 17q22 and 22q13 chromosomal regions leading to the fusion of COL1A1 and PDGFB genes. Surgery is the optimal treatment for DFSP, but less effective in locally advanced or metastatic patients, as is the case with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to assess retrospectively the therapeutic activity and safety of imatinib on 22 Chinese patients with locally inoperative or metastatic DFSP at a single institution.In the collected data of 367 Chinese patients with DFSP, we analyzed retrospectively 22 patients with locally advanced or metastatic DFSP, all of whom received imatinib therapy at 1 center from January 2009 to October 2014. Patients were administered with imatinib at an initial dose of 400 mg and escalated to 800 mg daily after they developed imatinib resistance. The median follow-up time was 36 months, and the median treatment time was 15 months.The results showed that 10 locally advanced DFSP patients and 12 metastatic DFSP patients received imatinib therapy. Apart from 1 patient who developed primary imatinib resistance, 15 patients achieved partial remission (PR), and 6 patients achieved stable disease (SD). Both fibrosarcomatous DFSP and classic DFSP patients demonstrated similar response to imatinib. Median PFS was estimated to be 19 months. Median overall survival (OS) has not been reached, and estimated 1- and 3-year OS rates were 95.5% (21/22) and 77.3% (17/22), respectively. Four out of 10 patients with primarily unresectable DFSP received complete surgical resection after neoadjuvant treatment of imatinib.Imatinib therapy is well tolerated with a safety profile and is the therapy of choice in locally inoperative or metastatic DFSP. Neoadjuvant treatment of locally advanced or metastatic DFSP with imatinib improves surgical outcomes and may facilitate resection of difficult tumors.