Copyright © Lombardo et al.Sarcopenia is a prognostic factor for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Cancer rehabilitation (CR) improves patients' physical function and muscle mass. We investigated the effects of CR on the prognosis of patients with HCC. The present study was a prospective observational study, which analyzed 152 patients with HCC who underwent transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) between 2013 and 2016. Patients were classified into the CR (n=85) and control (n=67) groups. The effects of CR on muscle mass were evaluated by changes in the skeletal muscle index (SMI) before and after TACE. Independent factors associated with survival were evaluated by Cox regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare the survival rate between the CR and control groups. The difference in survival rate between the two groups was also examined after propensity score matching. SMI was significantly increased in the CR group compared with the control group. In Cox regression analysis, independent factors associated with survival were CR and Child-Pugh class A (estimate 1.760, 95% CI 0.914-3.226, P=0.001; estimate 1.602, 95% CI 0.426-2.998, P=0.0129). The survival rate was significantly higher in the CR group than in the control group (median 552 vs. 424 days; P=0.0359). The survival rate was also significantly higher in the CR group than that in the control group after propensity score matching (median 529 vs. 369 days; P=0.0332). CR was associated with prolonged survival in patients with HCC who underwent TACE. Patients with cancer are recommended to maintain physical activity even during cancer treatment. Copyright © Hashida et al.Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is a benign epithelial tumor of the sellar region. Whether primary human cell cultures can be used as a stable research model has yet to be determined. The characteristics of three cultured craniopharyngioma primary cell (CPC) lines were identified using immunofluorescence. The culture duration for each CPC line was 10, 20 and 30 days. Cell lines and paired parental tumor tissues were subsequently analyzed using transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq). Transcriptomic differences between ACP tissues and CPC lines were compared. CPCs maintained the original epithelial lineage markers, including pan-cytokeratin and epithelial cell adhesion molecule. However, the Pearson's correlation coefficient of transcriptomes between each pair of CPC lines and ACP tissues decreased from 0.657 (cultured for 10 days) to 0.61 (cultured for 20 days) and further to 0.547 (cultured for 30 days). The number of differentially expressed genes between ACP tissues and CPCs was increased from 1,247 (cultured for 10 days) to 1,643 (cultured for 20 days) and then to 1,949 (cultured for 30 days). The results of Gene Set Enrichment Analysis demonstrated that the diversity of gene sets increased with longer culture time. Significant differences in the majority of signature gene sets were not observed between ACP tissues and CPCs, with the exception of keratinization phenotype [normalized enrichment score (NES)=-2.02, false discovery rate (FDR)=0.0038] and epithelial cell phenotype (NES=-1.82, FDR=0.032). Cell proliferation (NES=1.78, FDR=0.028) and mitosis (NES=1.93, FDR=0.012) were enhanced in CPCs. Therefore, primary human cell cultures can be used as a suitable research platform for ACP, however further experiments are required. Copyright © Zhang et al.The present study aimed to investigate the role of long noncoding RNA MACC1-AS1 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). In the present study MACC1-AS1 expression as analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The interactions between MACC1-AS1 and miR-34a was analyzed via overexpression experiments. Cell cycle and proliferation analyses were performed to analyze the roles of MACC1-AS1 in regulating cancer cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. It was observed that MACC1-AS1 was upregulated in CSCC, and its expression levels were elevated with the increase in clinical stage. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that MACC1-AS1 may be a sponge of miR-34a, which can target cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6). In CSCC cells, MACC1-AS1 overexpression led to upregulation of CDK6, while miR-34a overexpression had the opposite effect and reduced the effects of MACC1-AS1 overexpression in co-transfected cells. Cell cycle and proliferation analyses demonstrated that MACC1-AS1 and CDK6 promoted cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. By contrast, miR-34a had the opposite effect on cell cycle proliferation and cell proliferation, reducing the effects induced by MACC1-AS1 overexpression. Therefore, the lncRNA MACC1-AS1 may serve as a sponge of miR-34a to upregulate CDK6, thereby promoting cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. Copyright © Jin et al.The aim of the present study was to identify potential therapeutic targets that serve crucial roles in the progression of cervical cancer.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/nt157.html  Clinical data, RNA sequencing (RNAseq)-counts and micro (mi)RNA data regarding cervical squamous cell carcinoma were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas, and analyses were performed using the University of California Santa Cruz database. RNAseq and miRNA data were stratified into 3 groups (according to the patients' age), and genes were re-annotated and preprocessed prior to Mfuzz time clustering analysis. Subsequently, enrichment analyses were performed in order to identify differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) and a protein-protein interaction analysis network was constructed. miRNA-gene, miRNA-lncRNA, and long non-coding (lnc)RNA-mRNA pairs were collected and the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA competing endogenous (ce)RNA network was established. Further enrichment analyses were performed in order to identify crucial mRNAs in the ceRNA network. Finally, survival and drug association analyses were implemented. A total of 269 DEmRNAs [including alcohol dehydrogenase 7 (ADH7), vestigial-like family member 3 (VGLL3) and cytochrome P450, family 26, subfamily B, polypeptide 1 (CYP26B1)], 274 DElncRNAs (including LINC01133) and 16 DEmiRNAs (including miR-3065 and miR-330) were identified. There were 102 lncRNAs, 15 miRNAs, 15 mRNAs and 522 interaction pairs in the ceRNA network. In particular, ADH7 was regulated by miR-3065, and miR-3065 interacted with LINC01133 in the ceRNA network. Furthermore, ADH7 and CYP26B1 were enriched in the retinoic acid metabolic process and the retinol metabolism pathway. ADH7 and VGLL3 were significantly associated with the cervical cancer survival rate. ADH7, VGLL3, CYP26B1, miR-3065, miR-330, miR-499a and LINC01133 play pivotal roles in the progression of cervical cancer in different age groups. Copyright © Ding et al.