Showing papers in "International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology in 2015"

Essentials of oral cancer.

Abstract: Oral cancer is one of the 10 most common cancers in the world, with a delayed clinical detection, poor prognosis, without specific biomarkers for the disease and expensive therapeutic alternatives. This review aims to present the fundamental aspects of this cancer, focused on squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (OSCC), moving from its definition and epidemiological aspects, addressing the oral carcinogenesis, oral potentially malignant disorders, epithelial precursor lesions and experimental methods for its study, therapies and future challenges. Oral cancer is a preventable disease, risk factors and natural history is already being known, where biomedical sciences and dentistry in particular are likely to improve their poor clinical indicators.

Decreased expression of hsa_circ_001988 in colorectal cancer and its clinical significances.

Abstract: Circular RNA (circRNA) is a type of RNAs which, unlike the better known linear RNA, forms a covalently closed continuous loop. They have emerged recently as a new player in governing fundamental biological processes. However it remains elusive about the correlation of hsa_circ_001988 abundance with colorectal cancer. To investigate the circular RNA expression in colorectal cancer, the targeted hsa_circ_001988 was selected from next generation sequence data base generated in house and then designed divergent primers to amplify hsa_circ_001988 and sequenced it for validation. The expression of hsa_circ_001988 in 31 matched colorectal cancer tissue and normal colon mucosa was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We used ΔCt method and investigated the differences between tumor tissues and normal colon mucosa by paired t-test. One-way analysis of variance was conducted to analyze the relationship between hsa_circ_001988 expression level and clinic pathological factors of patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was built by SPSS to evaluate the diagnostic values. The expression of hsa_circ_001988 was significantly correlated with differentiation (P<0.05) and perineural invasion (P<0.05). The area under ROC curve of hsa_circ_001988 was 0.788 (P<0.05). Those results indicate that hsa_circ_001988 may become a novel potential biomarker in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer and a potential novel target for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Downregulation of long noncoding RNA MALAT1 induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition via the PI3K-AKT pathway in breast cancer

Abstract: The metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) regulates cell motility via the transcriptional or post-transcriptional control of motility-related genes. Whether MALAT1 plays a critical role in cancer progression in breast cancer remains unclear. In this study, we found that MALAT1 was downregulated in breast tumor cell lines and cancer tissue, and showed that knockdown of MALAT1 in breast cancer cell lines induced an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program via phosphatidylinositide-3 kinase-AKT pathways. Furthermore, lower expression of MALAT1 in breast cancer patients was associated with shorter relapse-free survival. Thus, our results indicate for the first time that MALAT1 is a novel regulator of EMT in breast cancer and may be a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer metastasis.

Over-expression of lncRNA DANCR is associated with advanced tumor progression and poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract: Despite advances made in the diagnosis and treatment of human colorectal cancer (CRC), the long-term survival for CRC remains poor. Long non-coding RNA anti-differentiation ncRNA (lncRNA DANCR) was identified to be involved in carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma. While its expression in CRC and potential role in tumor progression is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated the expression level of lncRNA DANCR as well as its association with CRC progression and prognosis. The expression of lncRNA DANCR was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in 104 CRC specimens. The prognostic value of lncRNA DANCR was further analysis. Our results showed that lncRNA DANCR expression was increased in CRC tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues (P<0.05). In addition, tumors with high lncRNA DANCR expression was correlated with TNM stage, histologic grade, and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with high lncRNA DANCR expression had a shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared with the low lncRNA DANCR expression group (P<0.05). Moreover, in a multivariate Cox model, our results showed that lncRNA DANCR expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for both OS and DFS in CRC. Our data indicated that lncRNA DANCR expression might be a novel potential biomarker for CRC prognosis.

Combined identification of long non-coding RNA XIST and HIF1A-AS1 in serum as an effective screening for non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract: Objective: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) XIST and HIF1A-AS1 have been shown to play important regulatory roles in cancer biology, and lncRNA-XIST and HIF1A-AS1 are upregulated in several cancers such as glioblastoma, breast cancer and thoracoabdominal aorta aneurysm, however, its value in the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical significance of serum XIST and HIF1A-AS1 as a biomarker in the screening of NSCLC. Methods: Expression levels of lncRNA-XIST and HIF1A-AS1 in tumor tissues and serum from NSCLC patients were evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR, and its association with overall survival of patients was analyzed by statistical analysis. Moreover, the XIST and lncRNA-XIST expression correlation between tumor tissues and plasma was demonstrated by linear regression analysis. Results: The levels of XIST (P < 0.05) and HIF1A-AS1 (P < 0.05) were significantly increased in tumor tissues or serum from NSCLC patients as compared to those of control group. Correlation of lncRNA-XIST or HIF1A-AS1 expression between tumor tissues and serum from the same individuals was confirmed in NSCLC patients. Moreover, serum levels of XIST and HIF1A-AS1 were significantly decreased after surgical treatment as compared to pre-operative. The ROC curves illustrated strong separation between the NSCLC patients and control group, with an AUC of 0.834 (95% CI: 0.726-0.935; P < 0.001) for XIST and 0.876 (95% CI: 0.793-0.965; P < 0.001) for HIF1A-AS1, however, the combination of XIST and HIF1A-AS1 yielded an AUC of 0.931 (95% CI: 0.869-0.990; P < 0.001), which was significantly improved as compared to XIST or HIF1A-AS1 alone. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that increased serum XIST and HIF1A-AS1 could be used as a predictive biomarker for NSCLC screening, and that combination of XIST and HIF1A-AS1 had a higher positive diagnostic efficiency of NSCLC than XIST or HIF1A-AS1 alone.

Increased expression of lncRNA HULC indicates a poor prognosis and promotes cell metastasis in osteosarcoma.

Abstract: Introduction: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in many diseases including cancer. LncRNA HULC (highly up-regulated in liver cancer) has recently been revealed to be involved in hepatocellular carcinoma development and progression. However, the role and function of HULC in human osteosarcoma remains unknown. Methods: LncRNA HULC expression in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines was detected by quantitative real-time PCR. Then, the association of HULC level with survival of osteosarcoma patients was performed by the Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional regression analyses. Furthermore, the effects of HULC on tumorigenicity of osteosarcoma cells were evaluated by in vitro assays. Results: In the present study, we demonstrated that HULC was significantly up-regulated in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines compared with normal controls, and over-expression of HULC was correlated with clinical stage and distant metastasis. Moreover, higher HULC expression was associated with shorter overall survival of osteosarcoma patients. Furthermore, decreased expression of HULC markedly suppressed osteosarcoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Conclusions: Our results indicated that HULC is a novel molecule involved in osteosarcoma progression, which may provide a new marker of poor prognosis and a potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma intervention.

Antibacterial activity and mechanism of berberine against Streptococcus agalactiae.

Abstract: The antibacterial activity and mechanism of berberine against Streptococcus agalactiae were investigated in this study by analyzing the growth, morphology and protein of the S. agalactiae cells treated with berberine. The antibacterial susceptibility test result indicated minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of berberine against Streptococcus agalactiae was 78 μg/mL and the time-kill curves showed the correlation of concentration-time. After the bacteria was exposed to 78 μg/mL berberine, the fragmentary cell membrane and cells unequal division were observed by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), indicating the bacterial cells were severely damaged. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) study demonstrated that berberine could damage bacterial cells through destroying cellular proteins. Meanwhile, Fluorescence microscope revealed that berberine could affect the synthesis of DNA. In conclusion, these results strongly suggested that berberine may damage the structure of bacterial cell membrane and inhibit synthesis of protein and DNA, which cause Streptococcus agalactiae bacteria to die eventually.

Clinical implication of long non-coding RNA NEAT1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a primary malignancy of the liver, is associated with high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Emerging evidence showed that novel biomarkers are required toward a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of HCC. NEAT1 (nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1, also known as MENe/β), a novel long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), serves as a crucial regulator in several cancers. However, the correlation between NEAT1 expression with tumorigenesis and metastasis in HCC tissues remains out of the question so far. In the current study, the aim was to evaluate the potential role of NEAT1 expression in HCC tissues and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters. Method: The expression of NEAT1 was detected by qRT-PCR, in 95 cases of adjacent non-cancerous liver and their paired HCC tissues, respectively. The associations of NEAT1 with clinicopathological features and other biological factors were further analyzed. Result: Our results revealed that NEAT1 appeared to have higher expression in the HCC tissues, compared with the adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues. High levels of NEAT1 promoted the clinical features of HCC, including the number of tumor nodes, metastasis, clinical TNM stage, the status of portal vein tumor embolus, vaso-invasion and the infi ltration of tumor cells. Additionally, high NEAT1 expression levels were significantly associated with the expression level of MDTH, NM23 and MALAT1. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that NEAT1 acts as a pivotal player in tumorigenesis and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Serum miR-125a-5p, miR-145 and miR-146a as diagnostic biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract: Background: Lung cancer is becoming the leading cause of cancer-related deaths with high mortality worldwide and in China as well. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer accounting for approximately 85% of all cases. Over 70% of cases are at loco-regionally advanced stages or have distant metastasis at the time of presentation with subsequently poor prognosis. MiRNAs are stable molecules in blood and used as biomarkers for the early diagnosis of various malignancy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether circulating miR-125a-5p, miR-145 and miR-146a could be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis of NSCLC through measuring their expression and assess their relationship with clinical pathological factors. Methods: Expression levels of serum miR-125a-5p, miR-145 and miR-146a were detected in 70 pairs of NSCLC patients and healthy controls using quantitative real-time PCR analysis. Results: Serum miR-125a-5p, miR-145 and miR-146a were overexpressed in NSCLC patients compared with healthy controls. Their values of the area under the receiver –operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) were 0.71, 0.84 and 0.78. Optimal sensitivity and specificity were 73.53% and 55.71%, 92.75% and 61.43%, 84.06% and 58.57%, respectively in differentiating NSCLC patients from healthy controls. Conclusions: These preliminary data suggest that serum miR-125a-5p, miR-145 and miR-146a may be useful noninvasive biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis of NSCLC.

Abnormal intestinal permeability and microbiota in patients with autoimmune hepatitis.

Abstract: Background: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic, progressive, and immunologically mediated inflammatory liver disorder. The etiology of AIH still remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in intestinal permeability, bacterial translocation, and intestinal microbiome in patients with AIH and to evaluate the correlations of those changes with the stages of the disease. Methods: 24 patients with autoimmune hepatitis and 8 healthy volunteers were recruited for this study. We assessed (1) the integrity of tight junctions within the gut by immunohistochemical analysis of zona occludens-1 and occludin expression in duodenal biopsy specimens; (2) changes in the enteric microbiome by 16S rDNA quantitative PCR; and (3) the presence of bacterial translocation by the level of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) using ELISA. Results: Increased intestinal permeability, derangement of the microbiome and bacterial translocation occurred in AIH, which correlated with the severity of the disease. Conclusions: Autoimmune hepatitis is associated with leaky gut and intestinal microbiome dysbiosis. The impaired intestinal barrier may play an important role in the pathogenesis of AIH.

Long non-coding RNA CCAT2 is up-regulated in gastric cancer and associated with poor prognosis

Abstract: Introduction: Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in tumor progression. The aim of our study was to explore the clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of lncRNA CCAT2 expression in human gastric cancer. Methods: Expression levels of lncRNA CCAT2 in 85 pairs of gastric cancer and adjacent non-tumor tissues were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). In order to determine its prognostic value, overall survival and progression-free survival were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazard analysis. Results: Expression levels of lncRNA CCAT2 in gastric cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent non-tumor tissues. By statistical analyses, high lncRNA CCAT2 expression was observed to be closely correlated with higher incidence of lymph node metastasis and distance metastasis. Moreover, patients with high lncRNA CCAT2 expression had shorter overall survival and progression-free survival compared with the low lncRNA CCAT2 group. Multivariate analyses indicated that high lncRNA CCAT2 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients. Conclusions: Our results suggested that up-regulation of lncRNA CCAT2 was correlated with gastric cancer progression, and lncRNA CCAT2 might be a potential molecular biomarker for predicting the prognosis of patients.

Acute myocardial infarction and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury: A comparison

Abstract: Myocardial infarction (MI) denotes the death of cardiac myocytes due to extended ischemia. Myocardial reperfusion is the restoration of coronary blood flow after a period of coronary occlusion. Reperfusion has the potential to salvage ischemic myocardium but paradoxically can cause injury, a phenomenon called as 'reperfusion injury' (IR). Standard histologic, immunohistochemical and Elisa techniques were used to study the histopathologic, oxidative, apoptotic and inflammatory changes in MI and IR. The IL-6 levels in the LV of the MI group were significantly raised as compared to the IR group (P=0.0008). Plasma IL-6 was also significantly increased in the MI group as compared to the IR group (P=0.031). MI model was also associated with increase in the neutrophil polymorphs number in the infarction related myocardium as compared to the re-perfused myocardium. A significant increase in troponin I level in the MI group as compared to the IR group is also seen (P=0.0001). Our IR model showed enhanced pro-apoptotic mediators like cleaved caspase-3 (P=0.005) and cytochrome c in the myocardium as compared to the MI model. In conclusion, myocardial damage in MI is mainly due to ischemic necrosis and inflammatory mechanisms while apoptosis is the main mechanism of cell death in IR in addition to limited ischemic necrosis.

Combined identification of long non-coding RNA CCAT1 and HOTAIR in serum as an effective screening for colorectal carcinoma.

Abstract: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) CCAT1 and HOTAIR have been shown to play an important regulatory role in cancer biology, and CCAT1 and HOTAIR are upregulated in several cancers, however, its value in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical significance of plasma CCAT1 and HOTAIR as a biomarker in the screening of CRC. In our study, we found that the levels of HOTAIR (P < 0.05) and CCAT1 (P < 0.05) were significantly higher in plasma of CRC patients than that of the healthy control. Moreover, the levels of lincRNA-p21 (P < 0.05) were obviously decreased in plasma of CRC patients as compared to those of healthy control. There was highly correlated for CCAT1 (R = 0.752, mean differences = -0.06 ± 1.20), HOTAIR (R = 0.739, mean differences = -0.26 ± 0.76) and lincRNA-p21 (R = 0.848, mean differences = -0.41 ± 0.89) in plasma and serum. By receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, plasma CCAT1 provided the higher diagnostic performance for detection of CRC (the area under the ROC curve (AUC), 0.836; P < 0.001; sensitivity, 75.7%; specificity, 85.3%). Moreover, CCAT1 combining with HOTAIR could provide a more effective diagnosis performance (AUC, 0.954, P < 0.001, sensitivity, 84.3%; specificity, 80.2%). Most importantly, this combination was effective to detect CRC at an early stage (85%). In conclusion, our results demonstrated that increased plasma HOTAIR and CCAT1 could be used as a predictive biomarker for CRC screening, and that combination of HOTAIR and CCAT1 had a higher positive diagnostic rate of CRC than HOTAIR or CCAT1 alone.

c-Myc-activated long non-coding RNA H19 downregulates miR-107 and promotes cell cycle progression of non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract: To verify c-Myc can regulate the expression of lncRNA H19 directly in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and clarify the molecular mechanism on how lncRNA H19 promote the cell cycle progression of NSCLC. The mRNA levels of lncRNA H19 in NSCLC tissues and cells, the adjacent tissues and normal cells were determined by RT-PCR. The expression change of lncRNA H19 in NSCLC cells after transfection with pcDNA3.1-c-Myc or c-Myc-siRNA was determined by RT-PCR, respectively. Targeted role of c-Myc on the promoter of H19 was studied by luciferase reporter assay. Chromosome immune coprecipitation (ChIP) was used to confirm the relationship between c-Myc and H19. MiRNAs that have base-pairing with H19 was predicted by online software. The relationship between H19 and miR-107 was determined by disturbing and overexpressing the expression of H19. The influence of the changes of H19 and miR-107 on cell cycle progression was determined by flow cytometry. The mRNA levels of lncRNA H19 in NSCLC tissues and cells were significantly higher than the adjacent tissues and normal cells, respectively. The expression of H19 increased or decreased accordingly with the overexpression and knockdown of c-Myc. The activity of the promoter of H19 was strengthened by c-Myc. While the expression of miR-107 increased or decreased with the overexpression and knockdown of H19, respectively. The number of cells in G2/M stage decreased significantly with the knockdown of H19 and miR-107 compared with the control group. Our study demonstrates that lncRNA H19, which is induced by c-Myc, is up-regulated in NSCLC. H19 influences the mitotic progression of NSCLC cell lines.

Long non-coding RNA UCA1 may be a novel diagnostic and predictive biomarker in plasma for early gastric cancer.

Abstract: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies and ranks the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the gastric cancer pathogenesis is largely unknown. The present study is aimed to identify aberrantly expressed lncRNAs involved in the progression of GC. 33 lncRNAs showed significantly differential expression levels between gastric tumor samples and matched normal tissues from 5 pairs of samples using microarray assay. LncRNAs were classified into different subgroups. The expression levels of 4 lncRNAs: HIF1A-AS1, PVT1, CBR3-AS1 and UCA1 both in tumor and plasma were further confirmed in 20 gastric patients by real-time PCR assay. Then, the correlations between the tissue and plasma of these 4 lncRNA levels were assessed. Our data show that there was a significantly positive correlation of UCA1 expression levels between tumor tissues and plasma (r = 0.931). Furthermore, the specificity and sensitivity of PVT-1 and UCA1 were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The results demonstrated that plasma UCA1 provided the higher diagnostic performance for detection of GC (AUC = 0.928; P < 0.001) than PVT-1 (AUC = 0.731; P < 0.01). Taken together, our study suggested that plasma UCA1 levels could be a promising candidate of noninvasive biomarker for GC early diagnosis.

Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on gastric cancer and its relationship with clinicopathologic factors

Abstract: Background: Targeting the immune checkpoints in solid tumors becomes hot recently. Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is ligand for programmed death 1 (PD-1), which is known to negatively regulate T-cell activation. In the present study, we investigated the expression of PD-L1 in tumor specimens of gastric cancer and its relationships with clinicopathological variables and survival. Methods: The expression of PD-L1 in 132 surgically resected specimens of stage II and III gastric cancer was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in microarray tissue. Results: Expression of PD-L1 was observed in 50.8% (67/132) of gastric cancer tumor specimens. Patients whose tumor size over 5cm had a higher positive rate of PD-L1 expression. There was no relationship between the expression of PD-L1 and other clinicopathological variables including age, gender, clinical stage, location as well as histological differentiation. PD-L1 positive patients had significantly poorer survival than negative patients. The 5-year survival rates was 83.1% in those with PD-L1 negative patients and 50.7% for PD-L1 positive patients (P<0.001). The multivariate analysis indicated that both PD-L1 positive and Tumor-node-metastasis stage were independent prognostic factors in gastric cancer patients (P=0.001 and 0.025, respectively). Conclusions: The expression of PD-L1 was found in half of stages II and III gastric cancer patients. Positive of PD-L1 expression indicated poor survival in Chinese stages II and III gastric adenocarcinoma patients. These results may provide the clue for immunotherapy in the adjuvant treatment setting of gastric cancer patients.

Long non-coding RNA MALAT-1 is downregulated in preeclampsia and regulates proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of JEG-3 trophoblast cells.

Abstract: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), as a newly identified subset of the transcriptome, has been implicated in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript-1 (MALAT-1), a lncRNA that was initially detected in the metastatic lung cancer, was reported to be overexpressed in placenta previa increta/percreta (I/P), which is caused by excessive trophoblast invasion. However, the role of MALAT-1 in the regulation of trophoblast behavior is not fully understood. In this study, we first examined the expression of MALAT-1 in the placentas from the patients with preeclampsia, the pathology of which is associated with inadequate trophoblast invasion, and found that the expression of MALAT-1 was downregulated in the preeclamptic placentas as compared to the normal placentas. We further investigated the function of MALAT-1 in JEG-3 trophoblast cell line using short interfering RNA (siRNA) against MALAT-1 transcripts. Silencing of MALAT-1 in JEG-3 cells suppressed proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. Reduced expression of MALAT-1 by RNA interference resulted in enhanced apoptosis in JEG-3 cells, accompanied with elevated levels of the pro-apoptotic proteins including cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1). Moreover, the migration rate and the invasiveness of JEG-3 cells were suppressed when MALAT-1 was downregulated. In summary, our results suggest that MALAT-1 may play an important role in the regulation of proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, migration and invasion of trophoblast cells, and under-expression of MALAT-1 during early placentation may be involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Long non-coding RNA HOTTIP is up-regulated and associated with poor prognosis in patients with osteosarcoma.

Abstract: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play key roles in cancer development and progression. In this study, we focused on lncRNA HOTTIP and investigated its expression pattern, clinical significance, and biological function in osteosarcoma (OS). In the present study, lncRNA HOTTIP expression in OS tissues was examined and its correlation with clinicopathological features and patient prognosis was analyzed. In vitro assays were performed to understand the biological roles of lncRNA HOTTIP in OS progression. In the study, we found that HOTTIP expression was up-regulated in OS tissues, and correlated with advanced clinical stage and distant metastasis. OS patients with high HOTTIP expression level had poorer overall survival than those with low HOTTIP expression. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis suggested that increased HOTTIP expression was an independent prognostic factor of overall survival in OS patients. Moreover, the results of in vitro assays showed that the suppression of HOTTIP in OS cells significantly reduced cell proliferation, migration and invasion ability. Our study demonstrated that lncRNA HOTTIP play critical roles in OS progression and could represent a novel prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target in OS patients.

Decreased expression of long non-coding RNA MEG3 acts as a potential predictor biomarker in progression and poor prognosis of osteosarcoma.

Abstract: Introduction: Long non-coding RNA MEG3 (lncRNA MEG3) has been showed to involve in a variety of cancers. However, the association between lncRNA MEG3 expression level and the prognosis of osteosarcoma is still unclear. Methods: The expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 in osteosarcoma tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues were detected using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Differences in patient survival were determined using the Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used for univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic values. Results: Our findings showed that expression of lncRNA MEG3 was clearly lower in osteosarcoma tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. The expression of lncRNA MEG3 was associated with clinical stage and distant metastasis (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with low lncRNA MEG3 expression had a shorter overall survival (log-rank test, P<0.05). Furthermore, multivariate analysis revealed that decreased expression of lncRNA MEG3, advanced clinical stage and distant metastasis were all independent predictors to overall survival of osteosarcoma patients. Conclusions: Downregulation of lncRNA MEG3 was associated with poor overall survival of osteosarcoma. LncRNA MEG3 could be a useful biomarker for progression and prognosis of osteosarcoma.

Expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Abstract: The aim of the study is to determine the levels of E-cadherin, vimentin expression in tumor tissues from patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and the relationship between the expression of E-cadherin, vimentin and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, in order to explore its values for predicting the invasion and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma, short survival of patients in many types of cancer. E-cadherin and vimentin expression of 10 benign and 42 OSCC tumor tissues was examined by immunohistochemical staining. E-cadherin is positively expressed in normal oral mucosa epithelium, but vimentin expression is not found in normal oral mucosa epithelia; the E-cadherin and vimentin were expressed in 26 of 42 (61.9%) and 16 of 42 (38.1%), respectively. No statistically difference was found for E-cadherin and vimentin expression in patients with different age, gender and tumor location, E-cadherin and vimentin expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and tissue location (P < 0.05); E-cadherin expression was also significantly associated with tumor stage (P < 0.05); there are significantly difference between infiltrative margin and central area in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma for E-cadherin and vimentin positive expression (P < 0.05). E-cadherin and vimentin positive expression was associated with tumor metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Our study preliminarily confirmed that EMT phenomenon is existed during the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Co-evaluation of E-cadherin and vimentin might be a valuable tool for predicting OSCC patient outcome.

Decreased irisin secretion contributes to muscle insulin resistance in high-fat diet mice.

Abstract: Aims: Recent studies have revealed the relationship between irisin and insulin signaling, while positive associations of muscle FNDC5 with insulin resistance is observed. However, the functional mechanism of irisin on muscle insulin resistance is still obscure. This study aims to investigate the effect of irisin on muscle insulin action. Methods: Diabetic mouse model was established by high fat diet (HFD) induced obesity in C57BL/6 mice. Body indexes and serum levels of triglyceride (TG), blood glucose and insulin were record. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed before being killed. Circulating irisin level was also detected, while FNDC5/irisin expression was determined by RT-PCR and western blot analysis in both muscle and adipose tissues. Insulin action was further evaluated by the phosphorylation of AKT and Erk, and palmitic acid treated muscle cells were introduced for mimicking diabetic status in vitro. Results: Obvious obese feathers associated with type 2 diabetes were observed in HFD feeding mice, with decreased circulating irisin level and FNDC5/irisin secretion in adipose tissues. Although FNDC5/irisin expression showed little change in skeletal muscle, the insulin action was inhibited significantly. Moreover, palmitic acid treated muscle cells showed similar inhibition of insulin action, and FNDC5/irisin expression change. Besides, insulin action could be reversed by irisin addition in muscle cells. Conclusion: HFD induced obese mice showed decreased irisin secretion from adipose tissues, which might contribute to muscle insulin resistance. Furthermore, irisin addition could recover insulin action in palmitic acid treated muscle cells, indicating the importance of irisin for preserving insulin signaling.

Downregulated miR-29c correlates with increased BACE1 expression in sporadic Alzheimer's disease.

Abstract: Background: Beta-site Amyloid precursor protein Cleaving Enzyme 1 (BACE1) is conceived as a potential target for therapies against Alzheimer disease (AD) which is characterized by the accumulation of plaques formed of short β-amyloid (APPβ) peptides. Recently, such microRNAs, as miR-29a, miR-29b-1 have been shown to correlate with abnormally high levels of BACE1 and APPβ in sporadic AD. Methods: In order to confirm whether miR-29c correlates with the BACE1 upregulation in sporadic AD, we firstly evaluated the expression of miR-29c and BACE1, the APPβ accumulation in sporadic AD brain tissues and analyzed the correlation of miR-29c with BACE1. Then we determined the regulation of miR-29c in human heuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells on the BACE1 expression and APPβ accumulation. And finally we determined the targeting to 3’ UTR of BACE1 by miR-29c by a luciferase reporter. Results: It was demonstrated that miR-29c was downregulated in sporadic AD brains, in an association with an upregulation of BACE1 in both mRNA and protein level of BACE1, and also an elevated APPβ accumulation. And the manipulated high level of miR-29c with miR-29c mimics transfection significantly reduced the protein level of BACE1 and APPβ accumulation in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Further luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that miR-29c targets the 3’ UTR of BACE1 and downregulated the BACE1 in HEK293 cells. Conclusion: Present study indicated that miR-29c was downregulated in sporadic AD brains, and it targeted the 3’ UTR of BACE1, reduced the BACE1 expression, and downregulated the APPβ accumulation in vitro.

Overexpression of long non-coding RNA CCAT1 is a novel biomarker of poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer

Abstract: Introduction: Recent studies have demonstrated that lncRNA CCAT1 was increased in many types of cancers and was involved in various cellular processes related to carcinogenesis. However, the clinical significance and prognostic value of lncRNA CCAT1 in breast cancer (BC) haven’t been investigated. Methods: Expression levels of lncRNA CCAT1 in 92 pairs of BC cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. In order to determine its prognostic value, overall survival and progression-free survival were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazard analysis. Results: Expression levels of lncRNA CCAT1 in BC tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal tissues. High expression of lncRNA CCAT1 was associated with differentiation grade, TNM stage, and lymph node metastases. Kaplan-Meier analysis with the log-rank test indicated that high expression of lncRNA CCAT1 had a decreased overall survival and progression-free survival. Multivariable analysis was further identified high expression of lncRNA CCAT1 as an independent prognosis factor for overall survival and progression-free survival. Conclusions: Our findings provided that the expression of lncRNA CCAT1 was up-regulated in BC and associated with overall survival as well as progression-free survival, suggesting that lncRNA CCAT1 could be a potential prognostic biomarker for BC progression.

High expression of long non-coding RNA ANRIL is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract: Introduction: long non-coding RNA ANRIL (lncRNA ANRIL) has been demonstrated to play a crucial role in cancer progression However, its effects in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been explored The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of lncRNA NRIL in human HCC Methods: In this study, we determined for the first time the expression of lncRNA ANRIL in human HCC by quantitative Real-time-PCR analysis Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate Cox proportional models were used to study the impact on clinical outcome Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to silence lncRNA ANRIL and to explore the effects of reduced lncRNA ANRIL expression on cell growth and metastasis Results: lncRNA ANRIL expression in HCC tissues was significantly higher than in the adjacent non-tumor tissues (P < 005) The expression of lncRNA ANRIL was remarkably associated with the histologic grade and TNM stage of HCC patients (P < 005) In addition, HCC patients with higher lncRNA ANRIL expression had significantly poorer overall survival (P < 005) Multivariate analysis suggested that high lncRNA ANRIL expression was an independent predictor of poor prognosis (P < 005) Moreover, in vitro assays revealed that the decreased expression of lncRNA ANRIL could suppress the cell proliferation, migration and invasion HCC cells Conclusions: Our results suggest that lncRNA ANRIL may serve as an efficient clinical biomarker and a therapeutic target for HCC patients

Expression of CD44 in pancreatic cancer and its significance.

Abstract: Background: CD44 is a potentially interesting prognostic marker and therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer The expression of CD44 has been reported to correlate with poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer in most literatures The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of CD44 in pancreatic caner, and their correlation with the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients Methods: 67 pancreatic cancer samples were collected in Xinhua hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University dating from Jan 2010 to Dec 2012 Immunohistochemistry was applied to test the expression of CD44 in pancreatic cancer The clinical data of the patients were collected including their gender, age, the histology and location, lymph node metastasis and so on The correlation between the CD44 expression and the clinicopathological factors of patients with pancreatic cancer was analyzed by the software SPSS 130 We devise and synthesis of effectively interference of shRNA sequence of CD44, which was transefected to the pancreatic cancer cells PANC-1 Colony formation assay, cell migration assays and western blot were performed Results: The positive rates of CD44 expression in pancreatic samples were 731% (49/67) Univariate analysis showed that there were a significant differences between the CD44 expression and the pancreatic cancer’ T staging, TNM staging, lymph node metastasis, the differentiation degree, tumor location (P < 005) The Cox proportional hazards model showed that differentiation, CD44 expression and nerve invasion were independent prognostic factors Knockdown of CD44 expression in pancreatic cancer cells led to decreased cellular proliferation and migration ability, accompanied by downregulation of p-ERK and p-AKT Conclusion:CD44 were related to the distant metastasis and aggressive malignant behaviors of pancreatic cancer CD44 may regulate tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis partially via PI3K/AKT or MAPK/ERK regulatory pathway

MALAT1 is an oncogenic long non-coding RNA associated with tumor invasion in non-small cell lung cancer regulated by DNA methylation.

Abstract: MALAT1 is an important long noncoding RNA in tumor progression. Here we showed that the expression of MALAT1 was upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer cells (NSCLCs) or tissues as compared with the normal lung cell or tissues. Thus, the knockdown of MALAT1 led to decreased cell migration and invasion. Next we also found that CXCL5 as a downstream gene of MALAT1 regulated cell migration and invasion. However the regulation of MALAT1 expression was rarely known. Here we found that the treatment with SAM suppressed of MALAT1 expression. Finally, we showed that the methylated forms of MALAT1 promoter in lung cancer cells or tissues decreased compared with normal lung cells or tissues. These demonstrated that the expression of MALAT1 was dependent on the methylation. Overall, our findings illuminate the oncogenic function of MALAT1 which is regulated by DNA methylation that might provide potential clinical application in NSCLC.

CCAT1 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and invasion.

Abstract: It has been reported that CCAT1 is involved in the development of malignancies including colon cancer and gastric cancer. However, the role of CCAT1 in HCC still remains unknown. Real-time PCR was performed to test the relative expression of CCAT1 in HCC tissues and cell lines. We performed Chi-Square Analysis to study the correlation between clinical characteristics and CCAT1 expression. Based on the correlation, cell proliferation assay, cell invasion assay, wound healing assay and cell apoptosis assay were conducted in two HCC cell lines to examine the regulatory effect of CCAT1 on the HCC cells. The results indicated that the expression of CCAT1 was significantly increased in HCC tissues and cells compared with controls. We also found that the abnormally expressed CCAT1 could promote cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that the aberrant expression of CCAT1 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro.

MicroRNA-204 targets JAK2 in breast cancer and induces cell apoptosis through the STAT3/BCl-2/survivin pathway.

Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important regulators that potentially play critical roles in cancer cell biological processes. Previous studies have shown that miR-204 plays an important role in various human cancers. However, the underlying mechanisms of this microRNA in breast cancer remain largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated that miR-204 expression level was markedly reduced in both the human breast cancer tissue and cultured breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231). Overexpression of miR-204 inhibited the proliferation and promoted the apoptosis in breast cancer cells, which were reversed by co-transfection of miR-204 inhibitor. We validated that Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), as a direct target of miR-204, is overexpressed in breast cancer. Knockdown of JAK2 suppressed cell viability and induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Moreover, the level of miR-204 is negatively correlated with p-STAT3 and anti-apoptotic genes BCl-2 and surviving in breast cancer. In conclusions, miR-204 targets JAK2 and suppressed JAK2 and p-JAK2 expression in breast cancer, which further inhibit the activation of STAT3, BCl-2 and survivin. These findings indicate that manipulation of miR-204 expression may represent a novel therapeutic strategy in the treatment of breast cancer.

Procoagulant role of neutrophil extracellular traps in patients with gastric cancer.

Abstract: Background: Patients with gastric cancer (GC) commonly exhibit a hypercoagulable state that results in significant morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have shown that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) trigger coagulation through an intrinsic pathway and contribute to thrombus initiation and progression. In this study, we aimed to determine the procoagulant activity (PCA) of NETs in patients with GC. Methods: NET formation and their PCAs were assessed in 48 patients with GC and 36 healthy controls using immunofluorescence microscopy of neutrophil markers and extracellular DNA as well as a modified capture ELISA technique, and thrombin-antithrombin complex and clot (fibrin) spectroscopic detection, respectively. Results: Here we showed that neutrophils isolated from patients with GC displayed significantly enhanced NET formation compared with those from healthy controls; furthermore, plasma or platelets obtained from patients with GC induced control neutrophils to release NETs. In addition, NETs released by GC neutrophils significantly increased the potency of control plasma to generate thrombin and fibrin. Notably, these procoagulant effects were dramatically attenuated by application of DNase I. We further found that spontaneous NET formation in patients with GC was significantly higher than that in controls, increased with tumor- node-metastasis stage elevation, and positively correlated with thrombin-antithrombin complex levels and D-dimers. Additionally, the effect of DNase I on cell-free plasma generation of fibrin was dependent on the concentration of NET formation. Conclusion: These results suggest that GC creates a systemic environment that primes neutrophils to release procoagulant NETs. Thus, targeting NETs might improve the coagulopathy of patients with GC.

Calcium alginate enhances wound healing by up-regulating the ratio of collagen types I/III in diabetic rats.

Abstract: Calcium alginate has been proved to favor the skin ulcer healing and collagen synthesis was a critical factor for the wound closure. The present study was to elucidate the mechanism of calcium alginate on the diabetes skin ulceration. Calcium alginate dressing was applied daily on the full-thickness exercising wound created on the back of diabetic rat model as Alg-group (n=6), and the vaseline dressing was used as control (n=6). Rats were respectively sacrificed and the wound tissues were removed and used for the evaluation of various biochemical analysis contained collagen (type I and III) by Western blotting and hydroxyproline level changes by ELISA assay at 3 d, 7 d and 14 d after wounding. The expression of skin collagen I in Alg-group was enhanced from day 3 (0.66±0.25 vs. 0.42±0.09, P 0.05). And the ratio of collagen I/III in Alg-group was greater than that of Vas-group at day 7 (1.07±0.31 vs. 0.77±0.11, P<0.05) and 14 (1.18±0.30 vs. 0.83±0.14, P<0.05). The hydroxyproline level in skin homogenate of Alg-group was higher than that of Vas-group from day 3 (30.29±0.92 ng/ml vs. 27.52±0.83 ng/ml, P<0.05) to day 14 (89.58±4.97 ng/ml vs. 79.30±4.42 ng/ml, P<0.05). Calcium alginate accelerates the process of wound healing through improving type I collagen synthesis and increasing ratio of collagen I/III in diabetic rats.