Targeting checkpoints for immune cell activation has been acknowledged known as one of the most effective way to activate anti-tumor immune responses. Among them, drugs targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) are approved for clinical treatment though several more are in advanced stages of development, which demonstrated durable response rates and manageable safety profile. However, its therapy efficacy is unsatisfactory in pancreatic cancer (PC), which can be limited by the overall condition of patients, the pathological type of PC, the expression level of tumor related genes, etc. To improve clinical efficiency, various researches have been conducted, and the efficacy of combination therapy showed significantly improvement compared to monotherapy. This review analyzed current strategies based on anti-CTLA-4 combination immunotherapy, providing totally new idea for future research.

This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with ampullary duodenal carcinoma (a-DC) and develop a clinical model to dynamically and accurately predict the risk of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in a-DC patients. Data from 4077 patients (2004–2020) were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to form a training cohort, while 173 cases (2010–2020) from Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital in China were used as an external validation cohort. A reliable LASSO-logistic method was employed to identify independent risk factors for a-DC LNM, and a nomogram was developed based on these factors to assess the risk of a-DC LNM. The nomogram was evaluated using the Akaike information criterion, misclassification error, area under the curve, and likelihood ratio test. Finally, the nomogram’s accuracy and generalizability were externally validated.. After screening using LASSO and logistic regression four variables were identified as independent risk factors for a-DC LNM: sex (P < 0.001), tumor size (P < 0.001), grade (P < 0.001), and tumor extension (P < 0.001). The area under the curve of the nomogram was 74.8

Surgical resection is one of the important means to achieve long-term survival for patients with liver malignant tumor. However, most of the liver malignant tumor has been diagnosed in the middle and late stage, and lose the chance of surgical treatment. For these patients who have lost the chance of surgery, some surgeons have proposed the concept of planned liver resection, which is to reduce tumor stage and increase future liver remnant (FLR) in a planned way, so as to improve the safety of surgery and prolong the survival time of patients after surgery. For patients with FLR insufficiency after prior evaluation or/and treatment, the technique of hepatic hyperplasia is an important part of planned hepatectomy, that is, to effectively increase FLR in a short period of time by various means. Portal vein ligation (PVL) and portal vein embolization (PVE), associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) and liver venous deprivation (LVD) are three main techniques for hepatic hyperplasia. This article reviews the principle, effect and safety of three liver augmentation techniques.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) possesses special biological behavior and clinicopathological characteristics, which is highly invasive and propensity to metastasize to lymph nodes, leading to a worse prognosis than other types of breast cancer. Thus, the development of an effective therapeutic method is significant to improve the survival rate of TNBC patients. In this work, a liposome-based theranostic nanosystem (ILA@Lip) was successfully prepared by simultaneously encapsulating IR 780 as the photosensitizer and lenvatinib as an anti-angiogenic agent, together with banoxantrone (AQ4N) molecule as the hypoxia-activated prodrug. The ILA@Lip can be applied for the near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence diagnostic imaging of TNBC and its lymph node metastasis for multimodal therapy. Lenvatinib in ILA@Lip can inhibit angiogenesis by cutting oxygen supply, thereby leading to enhanced hypoxia levels. Meanwhile, large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were produced while IR 780 was irradiated by an 808 nm laser, which also rapidly exhausted oxygen in tumor cells to worsen tumor hypoxia. Through creating an extremely hypoxic in TNBC, the conversion of non-toxic AQ4N to toxic AQ4 was much more efficiency for hypoxia-activated chemotherapy. Cytotoxicity assay of ILA@Lip indicated excellent biocompatibility with normal cells and tissues, but showed high toxicity in hypoxic breast cancer cells. Also, the in vivo tumors treated by the ILA@Lip with laser irradiation were admirably suppressed in both subcutaneous tumor model and orthotopic tumor models. Utilizing ILA@Lip is a profound strategy to create an extremely hypoxic tumor microenvironment for higher therapeutic efficacy of hypoxia-activated chemotherapy, which realized collective suppression of tumor growth and has promising potential for clinical translation.

Surgery-led comprehensive treatment is an important consensus in the management of liver carcinoma. Hepatectomy and liver transplantation are the most important means for patients with liver carcinoma to achieve long-term survival. With the development of liver surgery techniques, liver surgery is no longer off-limits. Translational therapy offers the hope of surgical radical treatment for patients with initially unresectable liver carcinoma. This article discusses the conversion therapy for unresectable liver carcinoma with future liver remnant surgery, the downstaging conversion therapy of oncologically unresectable intermediate to advanced liver carcinoma, the timing of surgery after conversion, and safety and efficacy. Prospect for the formation of the standardization of translational therapy for liver carcinoma is made.

Malignant obstructive jaundice is caused by direct invasion or compression of the biliary tract by malignant tumors of the bile duct, pancreas and other systems. Patients are often accompanied by symptoms such as malnutrition, low immune function, and organ damage. The treatments of active preoperative biliary drainage and reasonable reinfusion combined with enteral nutrition can help improve the safety of patients during the perioperative period, reduce postoperative complications, and improve the life quality of patients. This article reviewed the research progress of preoperative biliary drainage, bile recycling methods and precautions in patients with malignant obstructive jaundice, aiming to provide reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment practice.

Objective:To evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with portal vein embolization (PVE) and percutaneous microwave ablation liver partition with PVE for planned hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with insu-fficient remnant liver volume.Methods:The clinical data of 51 patients with initially unresectable HCC due to insufficient remnant liver volume admitted to Zhejiang Provincial Tongde Hospital and Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital from January 2014 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 37 males and 14 females, aged (56.7±11.2) years old. Patients were divided into two groups according to the treatment prior to hepatectomy: percutaneous microwave ablation liver partition combined with PVE (AP group, n=12) and TACE with PVE (TP group, n=39). Patients who successfully underwent planned hepatectomy in the above two groups were marked as resectable AP group ( n=10) and the resectable TP group ( n=29), respectively. Clinical data including the waiting time for surgery and the incidence of complications were analyzed. Patients were followed up by telephone or outpatient review. Kaplan-Meier and log-rank analysis were used for survival comparison. Results:The FLR growth rate was higher in AP group [76.5% (65.3%, 81.6%)] than that in TP group [31.4% (28.2%, 41.9%), P<0.01]. The waiting time for planned hepatectomy in the resectable AP group was 12.0 (11.3, 14.5) d, shorter than that in the resec-table TP group [21.0 (15.0, 29.0) d, P<0.05]. The incidence of postoperative complications was higher in the resectable AP group than that in the resectable TP group [80.0% (8/10) vs. 27.6% (8/29), P<0.05]. There was one perioperative death in the resectable AP group. The survival rate after PVE was lower in AP group than that in TP group, and the survival rate after hepatectomy was also lower in the resectable AP group than that in the resectable TP group (all P<0.05). Conclusion:For HCC patients with insufficient FLR, TACE combined with PVE is a safe and effective method for enlargement of liver remnant, whereas percutaneous microwave ablation liver partition with PVE showed a poor prognosis, despite the higher rate of FLR enlargement and shortened the waiting time for planned hepatectomy.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) presents special biological behavior and clinicopathological characteristics and leads to a worse prognosis than other types of breast cancer. The development of an effective therapeutic method is significant to improve the survival rate of TNBC cancer patients. In this work, an engineered red blood cell membrane (RBCm)-coating salidroside/indocyanine green nanovesicle (ARISP) is successfully prepared for hypoxic targeting phototherapy of TNBC. Salidroside in ARISP effectively ameliorates hypoxia-induced tumorigenesis by downregulating the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), which increases the killing effect of reactive oxygen species on tumor cells during photodynamic therapy (PDT) using the photosensitizer indocyanine green. Besides, ARISP has an anti-LDLR modified RBCm-coating that extends its circulation time in the blood and escapes from immune surveillance and enhances hypoxia-targeted cellular uptake via the overexpressed LDLR receptor in hypoxic tumor sites. Moreover, guided by near-infrared fluorescence imaging and photoacoustic imaging, ARISP can eliminate tumors via high-efficiency phototherapy and inhibit lung and liver metastasis in TNBC models. Cytotoxicity assay of ARISP indicates the excellent biocompatibility with normal cells and tissues. This study provides fulfilling insights into the anticancer mechanism of reducing HIF-1α for enhanced PDT and has a promising therapeutic potential for TNBC treatment.

This article has been retracted. Please see the Retraction Notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-14-218.

本研究回顾性分析2016年1月至2018年12月在浙江省人民医院肝胆胰外科接受腹腔镜解剖性右半肝切除的42例原发性肝癌患者的临床资料。其中19例采用循中肝静脉和肝后下腔静脉平面法（肝静脉组），23例采用阻断入右肝血流后按缺血线法（缺血线组）。肝静脉组在手术时间［（234.21±50.59）min比（276.52±76.19）min］、术中出血量［（388.42±125.05）ml比（479.13±149.15）ml］、术后住院时间［（7.53±2.86）d比（9.48±3.15）d］较缺血线组有显著优势（均 P<0.05）。两组术后总并发症发生率无明显差异，围手术期均无死亡病例发生。术后中位随访时间31个月，肝静脉组复发8例，死亡3例，缺血线组复发10例，死亡4例。本研究显示腹腔镜循中肝静脉和肝后下腔静脉平面右半肝切除减少术中出血、缩短手术及住院时间，是一种安全、有效的肝切除术式。

重症急性胰腺炎(severe acute pancreatitis, SAP)是具有病情发展迅猛、进展快、病死率高等特点的常见外科急腹症。随着SAP研究的不断深入，治疗理念不断更新，合理的外科干预始终是降低重症急性胰腺炎患者病死率的关键，原则是既要避免外科干预不足又要避免干预的过度。本文对SAP外科干预时机及指征、外科干预方式的选择作一综述。

肝脏外科在近现代发展中经历了楔形肝切除、规则肝叶切除、不规则局部切除、解剖性肝段切除以及精准肝切除的过程,其中腹腔镜循肝中静脉下腔静脉精准右半肝切除术被认为是更符合解剖性肝切除、精准肝切除要求的手术方式,其目标是实现彻底清除目标病灶、安全完成右半肝切除、患者预后及生存质量最优化.本文对腹腔镜循肝中静脉下腔静脉精准右半肝切除术的临床应用作一综述.

Aims: Lysine acetyltransferase 6B (KAT6B), is a histone acetyltransferase implicated to have a role in tumor suppression. However, the relationship between KAT6B and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. The purpose of this study was to detect the expression of KAT6B in HCC tissues and analyze its connection with the clinicopathological features of HCC. Methods: First, we performed immunohistochemical staining on 250 HCC tissues and 222 non-tumor liver tissues to examine the expression of KAT6B.Then the relation between KAT6B expression and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed by chi-square test, and the overall survival analysis was conducted by Kaplan-Meier survival method. In addition, based on the Oncomine expression array online and the UALCAN database, we compared KAT6B expression differences between normal liver tissues and HCC tissues more broadly. Results: Compared with normal tissues, KAT6B expression was significantly lower in HCC tissues. Low KAT6B expression was found to be related to gender, AFP level, and tumor size. According to the online database, KAT6B expression was found to be decreased in HCC tissues and high in normal tissues. Conclusions: Lower expression of KAT6B is associated with poor prognosis of HCC, and KAT6B may be a potential tumor suppressor in liver cancer.

Objective:To study the causes of hemorrhage after laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) and to develop countermeasures in its prevention.Methods:The clinical data of 215 patients who underwent LPD at the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital from December 2013 to May 2020 were reviewed. The patients’ clinical data including gender, age, comorbidities and postoperative complications such as bleeding, pancreatic fistula, biliary fistula and intraperitoneal infection were studied, with the aims to analyze the causes, clinical manifestations and treatment results of post-pancreaticoduodenectomy hemorrhage (PPH) after LPD.Results:Of 215 patients, there were 132 males and 83 females, aged (60.7±10.3) years. PPH occurred in 20 patients, incidence rate was 9.30%(20/215). Early hemorrhage was mainly caused by inadequate hemostasis or loosening of vascular clips, while delayed hemorrhage was mainly caused by gastrointestinal fistula with vascular erosion, arterial injury by intraoperative energy instruments or pseudoaneurysms. Among the 20 patients, 6 patients had early hemorrhage and 14 delayed hemorrhage. There was 1 patient with grade A, 10 with grade B and 9 with grade C hemorrhage. Thirteen patients developed pancreatic fistula, 1 biliary fistula, and 2 intraperitoneal infection. One patient responded well to conservative treatment. Hemostasis was successfully achieved by gastroscopy ( n=1) and interventional therapy ( n=7). Eleven patients required laparotomy for hemostasis. In this study, 14 of 20 patients survivied PPH and 6 patients died. The mortality rate was 30% (6 of 20 patients with PPH). Conclusions:Early hemorrhage was caused by inadequate hemostasis or loosening vascular clips, while delayed hemorrhage was related to gastrointestinal fistula with vascular erosion, arterial injury by intraoperative energy instrument or pseudoaneurysm. Careful hemostasis, adequate protection of blood vessels, and accurate anastomosis should be performed in LPD. DSA angiography should be used for arterial hemorrhage which progressed very rapidly. Interventional therapy including embolism and stenting were means to control arterial bleeding in PPH. Decisive surgical exploration when interventional therapy failed was important in reducing the mortality rate of these patients.

Objective:To study the technical and essential steps in laparoscopic selective devascularization with paraesophageal veins-preservation.Methods:To retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 13 cirrhotic patients who underwent laparoscopic selective pericardial devascularization for portal hypertension at the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital from January 2019 to March 2020. There were 9 males and 4 females with age ranging from 41 to 83 years (median 51 years). The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications and follow-up data were analyzed.Results:All the 13 patients completed theoperation, no patient stopped the operation or transferred to laparotomy. The operation time was (170±32) min.The intraoperative bleeding was (160±30) ml. The postoperative hospital stay was (6.1±1.1) days. There were no complications, including pancreatic leakage and intra-abdominal infection. On follow-up which ranged from 1 to 15 months, one patient developed portal vein thrombosis, no upper gastrointestinal rebleeding.Conclusions:Preservation of esophageal veins in laparoscopic selective devascularization is an accurate surgery which requires close teamwork and rich experience in laparoscopic surgery. The preservation of the main trunk of the gastric coronary vein and integrity of the esophageal veins are the keys to the surgery which is safe and feasible.

Background and objective The N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein attachment protein receptor YKT6 is a key protein that controls the release of exosomes, was reported to play important roles in multiple cancers. However, the role of YKT6 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unknown. Methods Here we first used bioinformatics tools to analyze the YKT6 mRNA expression in HCC. In addition, we retrospectively collected 330 cancer tissue specimens from HCC patients and 180 para-cancerous tissue specimens, and detected YKT6 expression using immunohistochemical staining. Then the relationship between YKT6 expression and the clinical characteristics of HCC was analyzed, Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression model were also performed to evaluate the impact of YKT6 expression on prognosis of HCC. Protein-protein interaction network of YKT6, and the gene enrichment analysis (GSEA) database were used to predict possible signal pathways regulated by YKT6 in HCC. Results The high expression rate of YKT6 in HCC (72.40%, 239/330) was higher than that in adjacent tissues (17.80%, 32/180, p < .001), and high expression of YKT6 was correlated with tumor size (p = 0.002), Edmondson Grade (p < .001), metastasis (p < .001), microvascular invasion (p = .005), AFP level (p = .002). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that HCC patients with high YKT6 expression level had poorer prognosis. Meanwhile, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that Edmondson grade (p = .009), metastasis (p = .049), YKT6 expression (p = .037) are independent risk factors for poor prognosis of HCC. Conclusions: Our results suggested that the upregulated expression of YKT6 is closely related to the progression HCC, which may be used as a potential biomarker for poor prognosis in HCC.

Safflower yellow (SY) is the main active ingredient isolated from the traditional Chinese medicine Carthamus tinctorius, which is a valuable natural edible pigment that is widely used to treat cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of SY on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. In this study, we showed that SY decreased the degree of injury and inhibited the release of inflammatory factors in the liver of a diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced HCC mouse model. Flow cytometry and immunoblotting showed that SY increased the infiltration of CD8+ T cells and Gr-1+ macrophages to improve the immune microenvironment by affecting the expression of collagen fibers. Further cellular experiments showed that SY degraded the collagens in the liver cells through the TGF-β/Smad signalling pathway. SY also regulated the gut microbiota which may contribute to the immune microenvironment. In conclusion, SY exhibited a potent effect on the development of HCC by enhancing liver immune infiltration by promoting collagen degradation and modulating the gut microbiota. This study provides novel insights into the mechanism of SY as a candidate for the treatment of HCC in the future.

The safety and feasibility of laparoscopic versus open liver resection (LLR vs. OLR) associated lymphadenectomy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) are still controversial. The aim of the present study was to compare short and long-term outcomes. We reviewed data on 43 consecutive patients who underwent curative liver resection with associated lymphadenectomy for ICC. The short-term outcomes including postoperative morbidity and mortality, and the long-term outcomes including overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were compared. The median survival, 1- and 3-year OS in LLR and OLR groups were 22.5 months, 76.9% and 47.1%, and 12.1 months, 43.1% and 20.0%, respectively. The median survival, 1- and 3-year RFS in LLR and OLR groups were 10.3 months, 27.8% and 0%, and 8.1 months, 24.0% and 4.0%, respectively. The results showed that LLR obviously reduced intraoperative blood loss (median, 375 vs. 500ml, p = 0.016) and postoperative hospital stay (median, 6 vs. 9 days, p = 0.016). Moreover, there was no significant difference in short-term outcomes including postoperative morbidity (including wound infection, bile leakage, liver failure and pneumonia) and mortality within 30 days, and long-term outcomes including OS and RFS between LLR and OLR. (all p > 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that CA19-9 level, TNM stage, and tumor differentiation were independent risk factors for OS and RFS. LLR for ICC is safety and feasibility compared with OLR. The advantage of LLR was to reduce intraoperative blood loss and postoperative hospital stay.

It has been reported that diet and nutrition play important roles in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we investigated the potential tumor-promoting mechanisms of a high-fat diet (HFD) in mice with dietondiethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocarcinogenesis. HFD significantly decreased the survival rate and induced severe liver dysfunction in DEN-induced mice, as indicated by increased serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (ALT), glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels and increased liver index, liver nodule count, and γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) activity. Moreover, an increased number of fat droplets and HCCs were found in the livers of the HFD mice, who displayed little collagen in and around the liver cancer groove and the infiltration of large number of inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, compared with the control mice. HFD also significantly increased proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), cyclin D1, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and interleukin-1 (IL-1) expression levels in the liver. In vitro, we found that the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) percentage increased in macrophages after palmitic acid treatment, as well as the secretion of inflammatory factors and cytokines such as interleukin-6(IL-6), interleukin-10(IL-10), CCL2, Interferon γ (IFN-γ), and TNF. Thus, our results demonstrate that an HFD may promote DEN-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice by destroying liver function and enhancing the inflammatory response by recruiting and polarizing macrophages in the liver. This study could therefore provide new insights into the tumor promoting effects of an HFD in HCC.