Preoperative plasma level of endoglin as a predictor for disease outcomes after radical cystectomy for nonmetastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

Genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer in Taiwan: A genome-wide association study

We conducted the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of prostate cancer (PCa) in Taiwan with 1844 cases and 80,709 controls. Thirteen independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reached genome-wide significance (p < 5 × 10-8 ). Among these, three were distinct from previously identified loci: rs76072851 in CORO2B gene (15q23), odds ratio (OR) = 1.54, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.36-1.76, p = 5.30 × 10-11 ; rs7837051, near two long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) genes, PRNCR1 and PCAT2 (8q24.21), OR = 1.41 (95% CI, 1.31-1.51), p = 8.77 × 10-21 ; and rs56339048, near an lncRNA gene, CASC8 (8q24.21), OR = 1.25 (95% CI, 1.16-1.35), p = 2.14 × 10-8 . We refined the lead SNPs for two previously identified SNPs in Taiwanese: rs13255059 (near CASC8), p = 9.02 × 10-43 , and rs1456315 (inside PRNCR1), p = 4.33 × 10-42 . We confirmed 35 out of 49 GWAS-identified East Asian PCa susceptibility SNPs. In addition, we identified two SNPs more specific to Taiwanese than East Asians: rs34295433 in LAMC1 (1q25.3) and rs6853490 in PDLIM5 (4q22.3). A weighted genetic risk score (GRS) was developed using the 40 validated SNPs and the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for the GRS to predict PCa was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.63-0.71). These identified SNPs provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms of prostate carcinogenesis in Taiwan and underscore the significant role of genetic susceptibility in regional differences in PCa incidence.

Blood-Based Biomarkers as Prognostic Factors of Recurrent Disease after Radical Cystectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Survival outcomes after radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer (BCa) have not improved in recent decades; nevertheless, RC remains the standard treatment for patients with localized muscle-invasive BCa. Identification of the patients most likely to benefit from RC only versus a combination with systemic therapy versus systemic therapy first/only and bladder-sparing is needed. This systematic review and meta-analysis pools the data from published studies on blood-based biomarkers to help prognosticate disease recurrence after RC. A literature search on PubMed and Scopus was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement. Articles published before November 2022 were screened for eligibility. A meta-analysis was performed on studies investigating the association of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the only biomarker with sufficient data, with recurrence-free survival. The systematic review identified 33 studies, and 7 articles were included in the meta-analysis. Our results demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between elevated NLR and an increased risk of disease recurrence (HR 1.26; 95% CI 1.09, 1.45; p = 0.002) after RC. The systematic review identified various other inflammatory biomarkers, such as interleukin-6 or the albumin-to-globulin ratio, which have been reported to have a prognostic impact on recurrence after RC. Besides that, the nutritional status, factors of angiogenesis and circulating tumor cells, and DNA seem to be promising tools for the prognostication of recurrence after RC. Due to the high heterogeneity between the studies and the different cut-off values of biomarkers, prospective and validation trials with larger sample sizes and standardized cut-off values should be conducted to strengthen the approach in using biomarkers as a tool for risk stratification in clinical decision-making for patients with localized muscle-invasive BCa.

Correlation Between Endoglin and Malignant Phenotype in Human Melanoma Cells: Analysis of hsa-mir-214 and hsa-mir-370 in Cells and Their Extracellular Vesicles

Endoglin (CD105) is an auxiliary receptor of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β family members that is expressed in human melanomas. It is heterogeneously expressed by primary and metastatic melanoma cells, and endoglin targeting as a therapeutic strategy for melanoma tumors is currently been explored. However, its involvement in tumor development and malignancy is not fully understood. Here, we find that endoglin expression correlates with malignancy of primary melanomas and cultured melanoma cell lines. Next, we have analyzed the effect of ectopic endoglin expression on two miRNAs (hsa-mir-214 and hsa-mir-370), both involved in melanoma tumor progression and endoglin regulation. We show that compared with control cells, overexpression of endoglin in the WM-164 melanoma cell line induces; (i) a significant increase of hsa-mir-214 levels in small extracellular vesicles (EVs) as well as an increased trend in cells; and (ii) significantly lower levels of hsa-mir-370 in the EVs fractions, whereas no significant differences were found in cells. As hsa-mir-214 and hsa-mir-370 are not just involved in melanoma tumor progression, but they can also target endoglin-expressing endothelial cells in the tumor vasculature, these results suggest a complex and differential regulatory mechanism involving the intracellular and extracellular signaling of hsa-mir-214 and hsa-mir-370 in melanoma development and progression.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Pretreated Plasma Samples Predicts Disease Recurrence in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Radical Cystectomy

Objective

To explore the value of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy analysis of pretreated plasma samples in prediction of bladder cancer (BCa) recurrence after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and radical cystectomy (RC).

Patients and Methods

SERS was used to analyze plasma samples collected before biopsy and treatment in BCa patients undergoing NAC and RC. The value of clinicopathological parameters and distinctive SERS peaks in the prediction of disease recurrence were analyzed in Cox regression proportional hazard analysis and Log rank test. Principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) were employed to process spectral data and construct diagnostic algorithms.

Results

A total of 88 patients with 440 plasma SERS spectra were collected. The SRES spectra from recurrent patients were compared with patients who remained recurrence free. The SERS demonstrated higher levels of circulating free nucleic acid components in recurrent population, which is represented by significantly higher intensities at SERS peaks of 725 cm⁻¹, 1328 cm⁻¹ and 1455 cm⁻¹. The SERS also detected significantly lower levels of tryptophan shown as lower significantly intensities at the 1558 cm⁻¹, which is proved to be an independent predictor of BCa recurrence. The addition of SERS peaks of 1558 cm⁻¹ to classic clinicopathological predictors including pathological tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and pathological downstaging can significantly enhance the power of the predictive model from 0.66 to 0.76 in the area under curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Meanwhile, the PCA-LDA diagnostic model based on SERS spectra reveals a high accuracy of 85.2% in prediction of disease recurrence and the AUC of 0.92 in the ROC curve. When validated in the leave-one-out cross-validation method, the accuracy of the model remained 84.1%.

Conclusion

We show that SERS analysis of plasma before NAC treatment can accurately classify patients with different risks of disease recurrence after surgery and improve the power of clinicopathological predictive models, thus refining clinical decision-making.