Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 6, 2020; 8(5): 874-886
Published online Mar 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i5.874
Significance of 125I radioactive seed implantation on growth differentiation factor and programmed death receptor-1 during treatment of oral cancer
Gang Xue, Yao Feng, Jia-Bin Li
Gang Xue, Department II of Prosthodontics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, Jiamusi 154000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Yao Feng, Department I of Endodontics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, Jiamusi 154000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Jia-Bin Li, Department II of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, Jiamusi 154000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Xue G designed the research and performed the research; Feng Y analyzed the data; Li JB wrote the paper. Xue G and Feng Y contributed equally to this work.
Supported by Heilongjiang Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission Research Project, No. 2017-413.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University Ethics Committee.
Informed consent statement: All patients in our study provided informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jia-Bin Li, MSc, Attending doctor, Department II of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, No.522, Hongqi Street, Jiamusi 154000, Heilongjiang Province, China. jiping199210@126.com
Received: November 19, 2019
Peer-review started: November 19, 2019
First decision: December 4, 2019
Revised: December 12, 2019
Accepted: January 8, 2020
Article in press: January 8, 2020
Published online: March 6, 2020
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Oral cancer (OC) is the most common malignant tumor in the oral cavity, and is mainly seen in middle-aged and elderly men. Its morbidity is still among the highest of all systemic malignant tumors. In recent years, morbidity due to OC has increased year by year. At present, OC is mainly treated clinically by surgery or combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy; but recently, more and more studies have shown that the stress trauma caused by surgery and the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy seriously affect the prognosis of patients. The disadvantages of OC treatment have gradually been exposed, and it is essential to identify an OC treatment with low side effects and marked efficacy.

Research motivation

125I radioactive seed implantation therapy is a type of brachytherapy, which means that under the guidance of imaging equipment, 125I radioactive seeds are directly implanted into tumor tissue through percutaneous punctures to irradiate the tumor.

Research objectives

It has been proved that 125I radioactive seed implantation therapy has a significant effect on head and neck neoplasms, and relevant research has proved that it has some effects on OC. However, there is currently limited clinical research on 125I radioactive seed implantation therapy and it is not widely used in OC. We speculate that 125I radioactive seed implantation therapy is expected to be an effective treatment for OC in the future.

Research methods

A total of 184 OC patients admitted to The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University from May 2015 to May 2017 were selected as research subjects for prospective analysis. Of these patients, 89 who received 125I radioactive seed implantation therapy were regarded as the research group (RG) and 95 patients who received surgical treatment were regarded as the control group (CG). The clinical efficacy, incidence of adverse reactions and changes in growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) and programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) during treatment in both groups were compared.

Research results

The efficacy and recurrence rate in the RG were better than those of the CG, but there were no differences between the two groups in terms of the incidence of adverse reactions, prognosis and survival. During treatment, GDF11 and PD-1 in the RG were lower than those in the CG. By ROC curve analysis, both GDF11 and PD-1 had predictive value for efficacy and recurrence.

Research conclusions

125I radioactive seed implantation therapy has clinical efficacy in OC patients, reduces the recurrence rate, and has significant potential in clinical application. The detection of GDF11 and PD-1 during the treatment of OC patients has good predictive value for efficacy and recurrence, and GDF11 and PD-1 may be potential targets for OC treatment in the future.

Research perspective

125I radioactive seed implantation therapy has efficacy and high safety in the treatment of OC, and it may be the first treatment choice in the future.