Important miRs of pathways in different tumor types

Randomness and preserved patterns in cancer network

Breast cancer has been reported to account for the maximum cases among all female cancers till date. In order to gain a deeper insight into the complexities of the disease, we analyze the breast cancer network and its normal counterpart at the proteomic level. While the short range correlations in the eigenvalues exhibiting universality provide an evidence towards the importance of random connections in the underlying networks, the long range correlations along with the localization properties reveal insightful structural patterns involving functionally important proteins. The analysis provides a benchmark for designing drugs which can target a subgraph instead of individual proteins.

Clinical significance of microRNA-625 expression in colorectal cancer

AIM: To analyze the association of expression of microRNA-625 (miR-625) with clinicopathological characteristics and survival in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS: The expression level of miR-625 was determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 78 human colorectal cancer tissue specimens and matched tumor-adjacent colorectal tissue specimens. The association of miR-625 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and survival in CRC patients was then analyzed.

RESULTS: Compared with tumor-adjacent normal mucosal specimens, miR-625 was significantly down-regulated in CRC tissue specimens (2.748 vs 0.769, P = 0.021). MiR-625 expression was decreased in CRC cell lines HCT116 and SW480 compared with Caco-2 cell line, which has a lower metastatic potential (0.634, 0.941 vs 2.048, both P < 0.05). Lower expression of miR-625 was positively associated with advanced lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis and overall survival (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that miR-625 may serve as an efficient clinical biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for the inhibition of metastasis in CRC.