OBJECTIVE： To investigate the levels of Lipocalin-2 and YKL-40 in serum samples from esophageal cancer (EC) patients and their relationship with therapeutic effect of neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. METHODS： From January 2021 to August 2022，a total of 200 EC patients who underwent neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the Hankuang General Hospital of North China Medical and Health Group were recruited as research subjects. All patients were examined 5 cycles after treatment，according to the therapeutic effect of patients. They were grouped into effective (128 cases) and ineffective groups (72 cases). The contents of serum Lipocalin-2，YKL-40 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were compared between the two groups before treatment；logistic regression was applied to analyze the influencing factors of neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy therapeutic effect in EC patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was applied to analyze the predictive value of serum Lipocalin-2，YKL-40 and CEA in the therapeutic effect among the patients. RESULTS： Compared with the effective group，the contents of serum Lipocalin-2，YKL-40，and CEA in the ineffective group were significantly increased (P<0.05). Serum Lipocalin-2，YKL-40，and CEA were the factors for the therapeutic effect of the two therapies (P<0.05). ROC curve showed that the AUC of combined serum Lipocalin-2，YKL-40 and CEA predicted the efficacy of the therapy at 0.975，with sensitivity of 95.65%，and specificity of 89.29%. It was better than the three individual predictions (Z_{combination-Lipocalin-2}=23.868，P<0.01；Z_{combination-YKL-40}=3.918，P<0.01；Z_{combination-CEA}=3.742，P<0.01). CONCLUSION： Serum Lipocalin-2 and YKL-40 contents were significantly increased in patients who did not respond to EC neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy，and the combination of Lipocalin-2 and YKL-40 with the traditional tumor marker CEA has good reference value in predicting the therapeutic effect of neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy for EC.

OBJECTIVE： To study the expressions of special-AT-rich sequence binding protein-1(SATB1) and catalytic subunit of the DNA-dependent protein kinase(PRKDC) protein in advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinomas and their relationship with carcinomas—sensitivity to chemoradiotherapy. METHODS： Thirty patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in our hospital were selected as the study subjects. These patients received standard radical radiotherapy and synchronous chemotherapy. Three months after the completion of chemoradiotherapy，the short-term efficacy was evaluated according to the Criteria (RECIST) which classified the patients into two groups： radiotherapy sensitive group (CR+PR) of 16 cases and a chemoradiotherapy insensitive group (SD+PD) of 14 cases. Simultaneously， clinical data such as patient gender，age，pathological grading，clinical staging，tumor location，and survival status were collected. Western Blot assay was used to detect the expression levels of SATB1 and PRKDC proteins in cancer tissues of the patients. Relationships between the expression levels and clinical pathological factors were determined. RESULTS： The PRKDC protein was not expressed in both the sensitive and insensitive groups of carcinomas. Expression levels of SATB1 were higher in the sensitive than the insensitive group (P<0.05). Compared with the insensitive group，the sensitive group had lower tumor differentiation and earlier staging (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in gender，age，lesion location，and 1-year survival between the sensitive and the insensitive groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION： Our data shows that expression of the SATB1 protein was closely related to the sensitivity of esophageal carcinomas to chemoradiotherapy and to the degree of differentiation. The expression may therefore be useful in predicting efficacy of esophageal carcinomas to chemoradiotherapy. On the other hand，PRKDC protein was not expressed in the cancer tissues.

OBJECTIVE： To establish a mouse model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)，and to study the role and mechanism of mitochondrial autophagy in the pathogenesis of NAFLD aggravated by iron overload. METHODS： Seventy-two male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into control group，high iron group，high fat group，and high iron plus high fat group. The mice were fed continuously until the end of the experiment，with 18 mice in each group. The mice were sacrificed at the 8th and 12th weeks，respectively，and were subjected to blood biochemical indexes，liver histopathology；and protein expression levels of mitochondrial dynamicsrelated factors OPA1 and DRP1，autophagy and mitochondrial autophagy-related factors PINK1，Parkin which were detected by Western blot and the mRNA levels of PINK1 and Parkin were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). RESULTS： Compared with the control group，a simple high-fat diet significantly increased the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT)，aspartate aminotransferase (AST)，triglyceride(TG) and total cholesterol (TC) (P<0.05)，promoted hepatic steatosis， reduced the expression of mitochondrial fusion proteins OPA1，increased the expression of mitochondrial fission proteins DRP1，and reduced the expression levels of mitochondrial autophagy-related proteins and genes PINK1 and Parkin (P<0.05). The high-speed rail group upregulated the mRNA expression levels of mitochondrial related factor OPA1 protein and Parkin at weeks 8 and 12 (P<0.05). The combined effect of high-fat and high iron diet further increased serum TG and ALT levels，exacerbated liver damage (P<0.05)，and affected expressions of mitochondrial autophagy-related proteins PINK1 and Parkin，as well as genes PINK and Parkin. CONCLUSION： High-fat diets successfully induced the establishment of a NAFLD modeling in mice. Iron overload promoted elevation of blood lipids and hepatic lipid deposition during the occurrence and development of NAFLD，aggravated liver function and mitochondrial damage，thereby promoted the progression of NAFLD.

OBJECTIVE： To investigate detection methods of trace amounts of bacterial endotoxins in drugs using horseshoe crab reagents，and to reduce use of horseshoe crab resources. METHODS： Using trace amounts of horseshoe crab reagents produced by two different manufacturers，A and B，and using 25 μL of horseshoe crab reagent as the reaction system，the micro dynamic colorimetric method was validated，and the variety applicability was studied. The results were compared with those of constant 100 μL of horseshoe crab reagent detection. In addition，the micro gel method was used to compare the test results of the limulus reagent from two manufacturers A and B with the constant and micro limulus reagent，using 50 μL limulus reagent as the reaction system. RESULTS： The recovery rates of the trace dynamic colorimetric method using the trace horseshoe crab reagent from manufacturer B at concentration points of 0.316 and 0.0316 EU/mL were 82% and 72%，respectively，which were relatively low. In different 6-day standard curves，the negative control time was greater than the reaction time at the lowest point of the standard curve. After double logarithmic transformation，linear regression was performed using the least squares method to calculate the correlation coefficient |r|≥0.980. The results of micro gel method and micro test from the two manufacturers A and B were basically consistent. CONCLUSION： The method of detecting bacterial endotoxins with trace horseshoe crab reagent is basically feasible.

OBJECTIVE： To study the genotoxicity of Agrobacterium pusense in order to provide scientific basis and data support for further toxicological research and application in the field of food industry. METHODS： The bacterial reversion mutation test (Ames test) was conducted using TA97a，TA98，TA100，TA102 and TA1535 strains，with five dose groups of 0.008，0.04，0.2，1 and 5 μL/plate，solvent control group (distilled water)，untreated control group，dimethyl sulfoxide control group (DMSO) and positive control group were also set up. The standard plate incorporation method was used in the study in the presence or absence of S₉ metabolic activation system with 3 parallel plates in each group and repeated once. In mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus test，KM mice were randomly divided into 5 groups according to male and female，with 5 animals per sex in each group. Three dose groups were set up as 2 500，5 000 and 10 000 mg/kg，and negative control group and positive control group (CP，40 mL/kg) were also set up. Chinese hamster lung cells (CHL) were used in chromosome aberration test in vitro，and the chromosome aberration test was performed in 1.25，2.50 and 5.00 μg/mL dose groups，respectively，as well as in negative control group (distilled water) and positive control group (+S₉，15 μg/mL CP；-S₉，0.20 μg/mL MMC). The test was conducted in the presence or absence of S₉ metabolic activation system. RESULTS： In the Ames test，the test article was not toxic. In the presence or absence of S₉，the average number of recurrent colonies in each dose group was less than 2 times that of the negative control group，indicating that the tested article did not induce the increase of reverted colony number，and the average number of recurrent colonies in the positive control group was 2 times higher than that in negative control group. In the micronucleus test of mammalian erythrocytes，the average rates of micronucleated cells in female KM mice in the 3 dose groups were 2.0‰，2.1‰ and 2.4‰，respectively，which had no statistical significance compared with the negative control group (1.8‰) (P>0.05). The average rates of micronucleus containing cells in male KM mice in the 3 dose groups were 2.0‰，2.3‰ and 2.5‰，respectively，which had no statistical significance compared with the negative control group (1.9‰) (P>0.05). While the positive control group cyclophosphamide significantly increased (P<0.01)；In vitro chromosome aberration test of mammalian cells，the total chromosome aberration rates of the 3 dose groups were 2%，3% and 6% with S₉，respectively，which was no significantly different compared with the negative control group (2%) (P>0.05). The total chromosome aberration rates of the 3 dose groups were 2%，3% and 5% without S₉，respectively. Compared with negative control group (2%)，there was no statistical significance (P>0.05)，while the positive control group was significantly increased (P<0.01). CONCLUSION： In the conditions of this study，Agrobacterium pusense was not genotoxic.

OBJECTIVE： To conduct a toxicological safety evaluation of Poria-Kudzu root tablets，a new health product. METHODS： A variety of recommended toxicity tests were conducted: acute oral toxicity，bacterial reverse mutation (Ames test)，mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus，mouse spermatogonial chromosome aberration，and 28-day oral toxicity tests. RESULTS： The median lethal dose (LD₅₀) of the acute oral toxicity test was >15.0 g/kg，which belongs to the non-toxic class. The results of the Ames，mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus，and mouse spermatogonial chromosome aberration tests showed no mutagenic effect. The results of the 28-day oral toxicity test indicated no significant effects on the body weight，food intake，food utilization rate，hematology，blood biochemistry，urine，organ-to-body weight ratio，and histopathology of rats. CONCLUSION： Under the experimental conditions of this study，Poria-Kudzu root tablets was non-toxic，with no relevant genotoxicity. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL)，as determined in rats，was 10.0 g/kg.