Evaluation of astrocytoma cell proliferation using diffusion-weighted imaging: correlation with expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen

The role of ADC value and Ki-67 index in predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced stages of olfactory neuroblastoma

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the efficacy of pretreatment ADC and Ki-67 index in the prediction of the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in advanced olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB) patients.

METHODS

A total of 21 advanced ONB patients (mean 43.48 years ± 14.26; range 25-69 years; 13 men and 8 women) with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) before NACT between June 2015 and October 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were categorized into responders and non-responders according to RECIST 1.1 after two cycles of NACT. The clinical data, ADCmean value, and Ki-67 index were analyzed.

RESULTS

Kadish stage, ADCmean value, and Ki-67 index showed statistical significance between responders and non-responders. Patients with Kadish C stage were more likely to respond to platinum-based NACT (p = 0.035). Patients with the lower ADCmean value showed response to NACT (p = 0.002) and the cutoff point was 1.04 × 10-3 mm2/s. Patients with the higher Ki-67 index showed response to NACT (p = 0.003) and the cutoff point was 17.5%. Predictive performance of Ki-67 index and ADCmean value showed no significance between responders and non-responders (p = 0.865). A significant negative correlation was found between ADCmean value and Ki-67 index (r = -0.539, p = 0.038).

CONCLUSIONS

The pretreatment ADCmean value, Ki-67 index and Kadish stage have the potential to predict the response to NACT in advanced ONB patients.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE

This is the first study that investigated the feasibility of DWI in predicting the response to NACT in ONB patients and showed that Kadish stage, pretreatment ADCmean and Ki-67 index may play an important role in the prediction.

miR-137 acts as a tumor suppressor via inhibiting CXCL12 in human glioblastoma

Up to date, miR-137 has been demonstrated as a tumor suppressor in many kinds of human malignancies. In the present study, we conducted transfection, western blot and RT-PCR to explore the role of miR-137 in the development of human glioblastoma (GBM). Here, we found that miR-137 expression was obviously down-regulated in GBM tissues and cells rather than matched non-tumor tissues and NHA cells. However, the expression of C-X-C motif ligand 12 (CXCL12) mRNA and protein were up-regulated in GBM tissues and cells. In vitro, miR-137 mimics inhibited GBM cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and the 3′-untranslated regions (3′-UTR) of CXCL12 were a direct target of miR-137. In addition, miR-137 mimics also inhibited the expression of EGFR, Bcl-2 and MMP2/9 proteins, but increased the expression of Bax protein. Notably, CXCL12 over-expression attenuated miR-137-inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, while CXCL12 siRNAs promoted miR-137 inhibition effects. In vivo, miR-137 mimics also suppressed tumor growth in nude mice xenograft model. In conclusion, miR-137 serves as a tumor suppressor by inhibition of CXCL12 in human GBM. Thus, miR-137-CXCL12 can be recommended as a useful and effective target for treatment of GBM.