Background: Due to tumor heterogeneity, the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) are difficult. DNA methylation is an important regulator of gene expression, which may help the diagnosis and therapy of patients with LUSC. Methods: In this study, we collected the clinical information of LUSC patients in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and the relevant methylated sequences of the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) database to construct methylated subtypes and performed prognostic analysis. Results: Nine hundred sixty-five potential independent prognosis methylation sites were finally identified and the genes were identified. Based on consensus clustering analysis, seven subtypes were identified by using 965 CpG sites and corresponding survival curves were plotted. The prognostic analysis model was constructed according to the methylation sites’ information of the subtype with the best prognosis. Internal and external verifications were used to evaluate the prediction model. Conclusions: Models based on differences in DNA methylation levels may help to classify the molecular subtypes of LUSC patients, and provide more individualized treatment recommendations and prognostic assessments for different clinical subtypes. GNAS, FZD2, FZD10 are the core three genes that may be related to the prognosis of LUSC patients.

Background: Enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) are demonstrated to be closely associated with tumourigenesis and cancer progression. However, the role of eRNAs in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains largely unclear. Thus, a comprehensive analysis was constructed to identify the key eRNAs, and to explore the clinical utility of the identified eRNAs in LUAD. Methods: First, LUAD expression profile data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and eRNA-relevant information were integrated for Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Spearman’s correlation analysis to filtered the key candidate eRNAs that was associated with survival rate and their target genes in LUAD. Then, the key eRNA was selected for subsequent clinical correlation analysis. KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were undertaken to explore the potential signaling pathways of the key eRNA. Data from the human protein atlas (HPA) database were used to validate the outcomes and the quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was conducted to measure eRNA expression levels in tumor tissues and paired normal adjacent tissues from LUAD patients. Finally, the eRNAs were validated in pan-cancer. Results: As a result, TBX5-AS1 was identified as the key eRNA, which has T-box transcription factor 5 (TBX5) as its regulatory target. KEGG analysis indicated that TBX5-AS1 may exert a vital role via the PI3K/AKT pathway, Ras signaling pathway, etc. Additionally, the qRT-PCR results and the HPA database indicated that TBX5-AS1 and TBX5 were significantly downregulated in tumour samples compared to matched-adjacent pairs. The pan-cancer validation results showed that TBX5-AS1 was associated with survival in four tumors, namely, adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), LUAD, lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), and uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC). Correlations were found between TBX5-AS1 and its target gene, TBX5, in 26 tumor types. Conclusion: Collectively, our results indicated that TBX5-AS1 may be a potential prognostic biomarker for LUAD patients and promote the targeted therapy of LUAD.

Introduction: Chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is a precancerous disease that is difficult to treat. Even after eradication of the Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection, complete resolution of the symptoms is difficult to achieve. The fortifying the spleen, clearing heat, activating blood method (FSCHABM) has an excellent curative effect in the treatment of CAG. A real-world study is particularly suitable for researching the treatment of CAG, but there are currently no reports on CAG trials. Our aim is to design a high-quality trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of FSCHABM in treating CAG patients. Methods and analysis: This protocol is designed as a real-world study for 10 years. A total of 5000 participants will be assigned to a FSCHABM treatment group or a non-FSCHABM treatment group at a 1:1 ratio at the first Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Patients are given 1-2 courses of a 24-week-long treatment. The participants will be followed up for observation and measurement of the following indicators: the primary outcome is the histopathological indicator; the secondary outcome includes evaluation of gastric lesions, syndrome curative effect, evaluation of symptoms, evaluation of quality of life, evaluation of anxiety and depression, economic evaluation and other indicators. This is the first real-world study evaluating the therapeutic effect of FSCHABM in the treatment of CAG in clinical practice. This protocol can provide a reference for future multi-center, randomized, controlled trials. Strengths and limitations of this study: it is the first time to carry out TCM study related to CAG by using the real-world study. A large number of patients and a long-term study can effectively reflect the effect of TCM treatment and reduce the bias. The precise research protocol makes the whole research more accurate and reliable. The limitations of implementing this protocol are expending a lot of time, manpower and economic resources inevitably. Ethics and dissemination: this study was approved by Ethical committee of the first Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Study findings will be shared with participants, healthcare providers, and policymakers through research reports, conference presentations, and the Internet. The results will also be disseminated through publication in peer reviewed journals. Trial registration: The registration number, ChiCTR1900027177, was assigned by the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on 3 November 2019. Funding: This work was supported by Guangdong natural science fund project, China (2019),No.2019A1515011145; Major research project of Guangzhou University of Chinese medicine, China (2019), No.A1-2606-19-110-007; The first affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese medicine “innovation foster hospital” clinical research project, China (2019), No.2019IIT19; Guangdong natural science foundation (PhD) project, China (2017), No.2017A030310121; The first affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese medicine “innovation foster hospital” innovation research team project, China (2017), No.2017TD05; The first affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese medicine “innovation foster hospital” Youth scientific research talent training program, China (2015), No.2015QN09.