Yan Xiao

Clinical response and safety of apatinib monotherapy in recurrent, metastatic cervical cancer after failure of chemotherapy: a retrospective study

To observe the safety and short-term efficacy of apatinib in the treatment of recurrent, metastatic cervical cancer in patients who have already received more than two kinds of comprehensive treatment. Forty-eight patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer after radiotherapy or surgery who received apatinib between June 2016 and June 2017 were involved in this study. These patients experienced progression after first-line or second-line chemotherapy. There were 38 patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma, 8 with adenocarcinoma, and 2 with adenosquamous carcinoma. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were reviewed and evaluated. All patients had complete follow-up records, and the median follow-up time was 14.5 months (5.5-20.5 months). Among the 48 patients, 14.58% achieved a partial response and 52.08% achieved stable disease. The overall response rate and disease control rate were 14.58% and 66.67%, respectively. The median time that the 48 patients received oral apatinib was 8.2 months. The median PFS was 4.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI]=3.31-5.26) and OS was 13.9 months (95% CI=8.37-17.96). The main apatinib-related adverse reactions were leukopenia (37.5%), neutropenia (41.67%), hemorrhage (37.5%), hypertension (33.33%), proteinuria (12.5%), fatigue (37.5%), and hand-foot syndrome (27.08%). Most of them were grade 1-2, and no drug-related death occurred. Apatinib can improve the disease control rate of recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer when chemotherapy has failed, and the treatment is well tolerated. This represents that apatinib may be a new treatment option for metastatic cervical cancer patients.

Molecular Imaging of Ovarian Follicles and Tumors With Near‐Infrared II Bioconjugates

AbstractFollicular tracking is typically conducted using ultrasound technology, but its effectiveness is constrained by limited resolution. High‐resolution imaging of deep tissues can be accomplished using luminescence imaging in the near‐infrared II window (NIR‐II, 1000–1700 nm); however, the contrast agents that are used lack specificity. Here, it is reported that the FDA‐approved indocyanine green (ICG)‐conjugated recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) protein can target early follicles with long‐term effectiveness. A novel high‐resolution NIR‐II imaging approach is developed for monitoring follicular development as well as ovulation using multi‐color imaging of ovarian vessels with a combination of non‐overlapping downconversion nanoparticles (DCNPs). The results showed that the ability to monitor early follicles of around 50 µm in diameter exceeded the spatial and temporal resolution of ultrasound or MRI without the reproductive damage associated with computed tomography radiation, and this enabled the clinical identification of the follicular reserve in patients with infertility diseases such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In addition, NIR‐II imaging clearly targeted ovarian tumors and showed micro‐metastatic lesions, thus providing a new tool for monitoring tumors in vivo and guiding surgical resection.