The present study aimed to compare the pattern of distant recurrence between patients with non-metastatic rectal cancer treated with pre-operative (OP) and those treated with post-operative (post-OP) chemoradiotherapy (CRT). ALC-0159 molecular weight A total of 631 patients with newly diagnosed non-metastatic rectal cancer who had received pre-OP or post-OP CRT with curative intent surgery between August 2008 and April 2015 were identified. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was performed to account for baseline differences between the two arms. Overall, 449 and 182 patients were treated with pre-OP and post-OP CRT, respectively. Sex, tumor location, clinical tumor stage, CRT regimen and adjuvant chemotherapy regimen were significantly different between the two arms. The median follow-up duration was 55.4 months (range, 53.7-57.1). The 5-year distant recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were not significantly different between the pre-OP and post-OP CRT arms (RFS, 67.5 vs. 71.6%, P=0.595 and OS, 81.9 vs. 77.0%, P=0.449), and no difference was observed in the distant recurrence patterns. Following IPTW, there was still no difference in distant RFS (pre-OP vs. post-OP CRT; hazard ratio (HR)=0.62; P=0.911), but pre-OP CRT was significantly associated with lower peritoneal recurrence (pre-OP vs. post-OP CRT; HR, 0.13; P=0.032). In addition, there was no significant difference in OS between the two arms (pre-OP vs. post-OP CRT; HR, 0.85; P=0.665). In conclusion, although distant RFS was not significantly different between the two arms, pre-OP CRT was significantly associated with a lower risk of peritoneal recurrence than post-OP CRT in patients non-metastatic rectal cancer.Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to serve a crucial role in the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC); however, the underlying molecular mechanisms of lncRNA KIF9-AS1 in the tumorigenesis of NPC remains poorly understood. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to analyze the expression levels of KIF9-AS1 and microRNA (miR)-16, and Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing and Transwell assays were used to determine the cell viability, invasion and migration, respectively, of NPC cells. In addition, a dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to analyze the direct interaction between KIF9-AS1 and miR-16. NPC stage was classified according to the seventh edition of the AJCC staging system. The results revealed that KIF9-AS1 expression levels were upregulated in NPC tissues and cell lines. In addition, miR-16 was demonstrated to directly interact with KIF9-AS1 and inhibit KIF9-AS1 expression levels, whereas the miR-16 inhibitor rescued the effects of the KIF9-AS1-knockdown in NPC cells. Furthermore, the expression levels of KIF9-AS1 were upregulated, while those of miR-16 were downregulated in NPC tissues. Notably, the expression levels of KIF9-AS1 were observed to be significantly more upregulated in advanced tumors (III-IV vs. I-II) and patients with high KIF9-AS1 expression levels exhibited a worse prognosis. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggested that KIF9-AS1 may promote the progression of NPC by targeting miR-16, thus KIF9-AS1 may be a novel molecular target for NPC therapy.Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is a common type of cancer among women with an increasing worldwide incidence rate. However, there are no specific and sensitive molecular biomarkers for DTC diagnosis or prognosis. Angiopoietin-like protein 1 (ANGPTL1) may be a novel tumor suppressor in lung, breast, colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, little is known about the influence of ANGPTL1 on the malignant properties of thyroid cancer cells or DTC recurrence in patients. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of ANGPTL1 on thyroid cancer malignancy or recurrence. The present study examined the mRNA levels of ANGPTL1 in thyroid cancer and paracancerous tissues using RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. The present study also determined the effects of ANGPTL1 on thyroid cancer cell proliferation using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Associations were identified among ANGPTL1 expression levels and thyroid cancer proliferation, migration and metastasis using The Cancer Genomth benign thyroid nodules. In conclusion, ANGPTL1 may be a novel predictive biomarker for DTC diagnosis and recurrence in patients with DTC.The long non-coding (lnc)RNA associated with poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (AWPPH) serves as an oncogene in several cancers, such as liver and bladder cancers, however, to the best of our knowledge, its function in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia is unknown. The results of the present study revealed that the expression levels of lncRNA AWPPH and Rho-associated protein kinase 2 (ROCK2) were upregulated in the bone marrow of patients with pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia compared with healthy controls. Expression levels of lncRNA AWPPH and ROCK2 were positively correlated with each other. lncRNA AWPPH and ROCK2 overexpression promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of Loucy cells, an acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line. Overexpression of lncRNA AWPPH resulted in upregulation of ROCK2 expression in Loucy cells. Similarly, ROCK2 overexpression also resulted in upregulation of lncRNA AWPPH in Loucy cells, suggesting an element of reciprocity in the function of lncRNA AWPPH and ROCK2. It was concluded that lncRNA AWPPH promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of cancer cells in pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia possibly through interactions with ROCK2.Kindler syndrome (KS) is a rare subtype of epidermolysis bullosa that is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner with mutations in FERMT1. A number of mutations in FERMT1 have been identified in KS. The current study reported a 33-year-old Chinese man who exhibited a wide variety of clinical features, including formation of blisters, photosensitivity, cutaneous atrophy and poikiloderma, telangiectasia of the face and neck, contracture of the end limbs, nail dystrophy, muscle, eye and oral damage, tympanitis, esophagus narrowing, pneumothorax and palmoplantar keratoderma. The patient's parents were healthy and the patient had no siblings or children. Peripheral blood was obtained from the patient, his parents and 100 controls, who were admitted to the Dermatology Clinic of Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital, Shanghai, China. A multi-gene panel test consisting of 541 genetic loci of monogenic hereditary diseases was performed. The results identified one novel homogenous mutation in the patient c.1885_1901del (p.