microRNAs Expression as Novel Genetic Biomarker for Early Prediction and Continuous Monitoring in Pulmonary Cancer

LncRNA SNHG7 Promotes the HCC Progression Through miR-122-5p/FOXK2 Axis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor with high mortality and severe complication in China. Numerous studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the regulation of various processes in cancer cells. Our research aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of the lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 7 (SNHG7) in HCC development. The expression of SNHG7, microRNA-122-5p (miR-122-5p), and Forkhead box K2 (FOXK2) was assessed via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. 3-(4,5) -dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) and transwell assays were performed to measure cell viability, migration, and invasion, respectively. The relative protein levels were detected by Western blot. The relationships between miR-122-5p and SNHG7 or FOXK2 were predicted by online software and then confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Animal experiments were conducted to clarify the effects of SNHG7 on proliferation in vivo. To begin with, SNHG7 was upregulated, while miR-122-5p was downregulated in HCC tissues and cells. Downregulation of SNHG7 inhibited cell growth and metastasis. Interestingly, SNHG7 could abolish the effects of miR-122-5p on HCC cells. Furthermore, miR-122-5p targeted FOXK2 and miR-122-5p recovered the effects of FOXK2 downregulation on cell growth and metastasis in HCC cells. Besides, SNHG7 facilitated HCC tumor growth in vivo through the miR-122-5p/FOXK2 axis. The lncRNA SNHG7 boosted the development of HCC by regulating FOXK2 through sponging miR-122-5p.

XIST: A Meaningful Long Noncoding RNA in NSCLC Process

BACKGROUND

A number of studies have proposed that lncRNA XIST plays a role in the development and chemosensitivity of NSCLC. Besides, XIST may become a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC patients. The aim of this review is to reveal the biological functions and exact mechanisms of XIST in NSCLC.

METHODS

In this review, relevant researches involving the relationship between XIST and NSCLC are collected through systematic retrieval of PubMed.

RESULTS

XIST is an oncogene in NSCLC and is abnormally upregulated in NSCLC tissues. Considerable evidence has shown that XIST plays a critical role in the proliferation, invasion, migration, apoptosis and chemosensitivity of NSCLC cells. XIST mainly functions as a ceRNA in the NSCLC process, while XIST also functions at transcriptional levels.

CONCLUSION

LncRNA XIST has the potential to become a novel biomolecular marker of NSCLC and a therapeutic target for NSCLC.

Circulating microRNA biomarkers for lung cancer detection in Western populations

Lung cancer (LC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world. Patients with LC usually have poor prognosis due to the difficulties in detecting tumors at early stages. Multiple studies have shown that circulating miRNAs might be promising biomarkers for early detection of LC. We aimed to provide an overview of published studies on circulating miRNA markers for early detection of LC and to summarize their diagnostic performance in Western populations. A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge to find relevant studies published up to 11 August 2017. Information on study design, population characteristics, miRNA markers, and diagnostic accuracy (including sensitivity, specificity, and AUC) were independently extracted by two reviewers. Overall, 17 studies evaluating 35 circulating miRNA markers and 19 miRNA panels in serum or plasma were included. The median sensitivity (range) and specificity (range) were, respectively, 78.4% (51.7%-100%) and 78.7% (42.9%-93.5%) for individual miRNAs, and 83.0% (64.0%-100%) and 84.9% (71.0%-100%) for miRNA panels. Most studies incorporated individual miRNA markers as panels (with 2-34 markers), with multiple miRNA-based panels generally outperforming individual markers. Two promising miRNA panels were discovered and verified in prospective cohorts. Of note, both studies exclusively applied miRNA ratios when building up panels. In conclusion, circulating miRNAs may bear potential for noninvasive LC screening, but large studies conducted in screening or longitudinal settings are needed to validate the promising results and optimize the marker panels.

Lung Cancer Radiogenomics: The Increasing Value of Imaging in Personalized Management of Lung Cancer Patients

Radiogenomics provide a large-scale data analytical framework that aims to understand the broad multiscale relationships between the complex information encoded in medical images (including computational, quantitative, and semantic image features) and their underlying clinical, therapeutic, and biological associations. As such it is a powerful and increasingly important tool for both clinicians and researchers involved in the imaging, evaluation, understanding, and management of lung cancers. Herein we provide an overview of the growing field of lung cancer radiogenomics and its applications.

Nuclear Transcription Factor Kappa B (NF-кB) and Molecular Damage Mechanisms in Acute Cardiovascular Diseases. A Review

Worldwide, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) represent one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality, and acute coronary syndromes are responsible for a large number of sudden cardiac deaths. One of the main challenges that still exist in this area is represented by the early detection and targeted monitoring of the pathophysiology involved in CVDs. During the last couple of years, researchers have highlighted the importance of molecular and epigenetic mechanisms involved in the initiation and augmentation of CVDs, culminating in their most severe form represented by acute myocardial infarction. One of the most studied molecular factors involved in this type of pathology is represented by nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB), as well as the involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs). It has been suggested that miRNAs can also be involved in the complex process of atheromatous plaque vulnerabilization that leads to an acute cardiac event. In this review paper, we describe the most important molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of CVDs and atheromatous plaque progression and vulnerabilization, which include molecular mechanisms dependent on NF-κB. For this paper, we used international databases (PubMed and Scopus). The keywords used for the search were “miRNAs biomarkers”, “miRNAs in cardiovascular disease”, “NF-κB in cardiovascular disease”, “molecular mechanism in cardiovascular disease”, and “myocardial NF-κB mechanisms”. Numerous molecular reactions that have NF-κB as a trigger are involved in the pathogenesis of CVDs. Moreover, miRNAs play an important role in initiating and aggravating certain segments of CVDs. Therefore, miRNAs can be used as biomarkers for early evaluation of CVDs. Furthermore, in the future, miRNAs could be used as a targeted molecular therapy in order to block certain mechanisms responsible for inducing CVDs and leading to acute cardiovascular events.

Systematic review and critique of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers of stage I-II non-small cell lung cancer

Selected circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been suggested for non-invasive screening of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), however the numerous proposed miRNA signatures are inconsistent. Aiming to identify miRNAs suitable specifically for stage I-II NSCLC screening in serum/plasma samples, we searched the databases "Pubmed", "Medline", "Scopus", "Embase" and "WOS" and systematically reviewed the publications reporting quantitative data on the efficacy [sensitivity, specificity and/or area under the curve (AUC)] of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers of NSCLC stage I and/or II. The 20 studies fulfilling the search criteria included 1110 NSCLC patients and 1009 controls, and were of medium quality according to Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies checklist. In these studies, the patient cohorts as well as the control groups were heterogeneous for demographics and clinicopathological characteristics; moreover, numerous pre-analytical and analytical variables likely influenced miRNA determinations, and potential bias of hemolysis was often underestimated. We identified four circulating miRNAs scarcely influenced by hemolysis, each featuring high sensitivity (> 80%) and AUC (> 0.80) as biomarkers of stage I-II NSCLC: miR-223, miR-20a, miR-448 and miR-145; four other miRNAs showed high specificity (> 90%): miR-628-3p, miR-29c, miR-210 and miR-1244. In a model of two-step screening for stage I-II NSCLC using first the above panel of serum miRNAs with high sensitivity and high AUC, and subsequently the panel with high specificity, the estimated overall sensitivity is 91.6% and overall specificity is 93.4%. These and other circulating miRNAs suggested for stage I-II NSCLC screening require validation in multiple independent studies before they can be proposed for clinical application.

Analysis of microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles reveals 11 key biomarkers associated with non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for more than 85% of lung cancer cases which cause most of cancer-related deaths globally. However, the results vary largely in different studies due to different platforms and sample sizes. Here, we aim to identify the key miRNAs in the carcinogenesis of NSCLC that might be potential biomarkers for this cancer.

METHODS

Meta-analysis was performed on miRNA profile using seven datasets of NSCLC studies. Furthermore, we predicted and investigated the functions of genes regulated by key miRNAs.

RESULTS

Eleven key miRNAs were identified, including 2 significantly upregulated ones (hsa-miR-21-5p and hsa-miR-233-3p) and 9 downregulated ones (hsa-miR-126-3p, hsa-miR-133a-3p, hsa-miR-140-5p, hsa-miR-143-5p, hsa-miR-145-5p, hsa-miR-30a-5p, hsa-miR-30d-3p, hsa-miR-328-3pn, and hsa-miR-451). The functional enrichment analysis revealed that both up- and downregulated miRNAs were proportionally associated with regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter. According to transcription factor analysis, there were 65 (43.9%) transcription factors influenced by both up- and downregulated miRNAs.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, 11 meta-signature miRNAs, as well as their target genes and transcription factors, were found to play significant role in carcinogenesis of NSCLC. These target genes identified in our study may be profitable to diagnosis and prognostic prediction of NSCLC as biomarkers.

Polymorphisms of pri-miR-219-1 are associated with the susceptibility and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer in a Northeast Chinese population

Occurrence and development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a complex process affected both by gene and environment. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in microRNAs’ (miRNAs) biogenesis influenced the expression of mature miRNAs, further had an impact on risk of NSCLC. Our study focused on the correlation between rs213210, rs421446 or rs107822 polymorphisms in pri-miR-219-1 and susceptibility or prognosis of NSCLC in Chinese. A case-control study of 405 new-diagnosis patients and 405 controls was performed. Ten ml venous blood from each subject was collected for genotype test via using TaqMan allelic discrimination methodology and SPSS was performed for statistical analyses. We found that CC genotype in rs213210 (OR=3.462, 95%CI=2.222-5.394, P<0.001) compared with TT genotype and GG genotype in rs107822 (OR=3.553, 95%CI=2.329-5.419, P<0.001) compared with AA genotype showed significantly increased risk of NSCLC. Haplotype analysis showed that pri-miR-219-1 haplotype C_rs213210C_rs421446G_rs107822 was a dangerous haplotype for lung cancer. And polymorphisms in pri-miR-219-1 have showed no relationship with overall survival of NSCLC. Overall, these findings firstly showed that rs213210 and rs107822 could be meaningful as genetic markers for lung cancer risk.