Physiological and Pathological Roles of NTSR2 in Several Organs and Diseases (Review)

Neurotensin (NTS) and its receptors (NTSRs) have long been the subject of study and have shown to have a vital function in a variety of systems. They are specifically implicated in the development of tumors and have both oncogenic and anti-apoptotic effects. Neurotensin receptor 2 (NTSR2), like NTSR1, belongs to the G protein-coupled receptor family and has been linked to analgesia, mental disorders, and hematological cancers. However, several research reports have revealed that it exists in numerous different systems. As a result, it seems to be an extremely promising therapeutic target for a variety of diseases. As NTSR2 is particularly prevalent in the brain and has different distribution and developmental characteristics from NTSR1, it may play a specific role in the nervous system. The present review summarizes the expression and function of NTSR2 in different systems, to highlight its potential as a diagnostic tool or therapeutic target.

Association between Cerebrospinal Fluid and Serum Biomarker Levels and Diagnosis, Injury Severity, and Short-Term Outcomes in Patients with Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is recognized as a global problem that can lead to a range of acute and secondary complications impacting morbidity and mortality. There is still a lack of reliable diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in patients with SCI that could help guide clinical care and identify novel therapeutic targets for future drug discovery. The aim of this prospective controlled study was to determine the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and serum profiles of 10 biomarkers as indicators of SCI diagnosis, severity, and prognosis to aid in assessing appropriate treatment modalities. CSF and serum samples of 15 SCI and ten healthy participants were included in the study. The neurological assessments were scored on admission and at discharge from the hospital using the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Score (AIS) grades. The CSF and serum concentrations of SBDP150, S100B, GFAP, NF-L, UCHL-1, Tau, and IL-6 were significantly higher in SCI patients when compared with the control group. The CSF GBDP 38/44K, UCHL-L1, S100B, GFAP, and Tau levels were significantly higher in the AIS A patients. This study demonstrated a strong correlation between biomarker levels in the diagnosis and injury severity of SCI but no association with short-term outcomes. Future prospective controlled studies need to be done to support the results of this study.

The Regulatory Mechanism of miR-574-5p Expression in Cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small, single-stranded, non-coding RNAs approximately 22 nucleotides in length. The dysregulation of miRNAs has been widely investigated in various pathological processes, including tumorigenesis, providing a biomarker for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. As a member of the miRNA family, miR-574-5p is located on the human chromosome 4p14 and is highly correlated with a high incidence of human cancers. Functional pathways as well as underlying novel mechanisms upregulate or downregulate miR-574-5p, which plays an important regulatory role in tumorigenesis and progression. In this review, we systematically summarize the context-dependent implications of miR-574-5p and review differences in miR-574-5p expression in cancer. We also investigate the intricate functions exerted by miR-574-5p in diverse pathological processes and highlight regulatory pathways, networks, and other underlying novel mechanisms. The clinical applications of miR-574-5p as a diagnostic biomarker, prognostic biomarker, and therapeutic mechanism are also discussed in this paper. On this basis, we anticipate that miR-574-5p will be a promising and effective biomarker and therapeutic target.

Potential Biomarkers of Metastasizing Paragangliomas and Pheochromocytomas

Paragangliomas and pheochromocytomas (PPGLs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors originating from paraganglionic tissue in many sites of the body. Most PPGLs are characterized by nonaggressive behavior but all of them have the potential to metastasize. PPGLs represent a great diagnostic dilemma as it is difficult to recognize tumors that are likely to be metastasizing; criteria of malignancy can be found both in benign and metastatic forms. This review aims to analyze the current knowledge of the nature of metastasizing PPGLs paying particular attention to head and neck paragangliomas (HNPGLs). Potential predictors of the malignancy risk for PPGLs were summarized and discussed. These data may also help in the development of diagnostic and prognostic strategies, as well as in the identification of novel potential therapeutic targets for patients with PPGLs.

Role of miRNA-19a in Cancer Diagnosis and Poor Prognosis

Cancer is a multifactorial disease that affects millions of people every year and is one of the most common causes of death in the world. The high mortality rate is very often linked to late diagnosis; in fact, nowadays there are a lack of efficient and specific markers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. In recent years, the discovery of new diagnostic markers, including microRNAs (miRNAs), has been an important turning point for cancer research. miRNAs are small, endogenous, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression. Compelling evidence has showed that many miRNAs are aberrantly expressed in human carcinomas and can act with either tumor-promoting or tumor-suppressing functions. miR-19a is one of the most investigated miRNAs, whose dysregulated expression is involved in different types of tumors and has been potentially associated with the prognosis of cancer patients. The aim of this review is to investigate the role of miR-19a in cancer, highlighting its involvement in cell proliferation, cell growth, cell death, tissue invasion and migration, as well as in angiogenesis. On these bases, miR-19a could prove to be truly useful as a potential diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic marker.

Circular RNAs in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma: Their Microarray-Based Identification, Analytical Validation, and Potential Use in a Clinico-Genomic Model to Improve Prognostic Accuracy

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) may act as novel cancer biomarkers. However, a genome-wide evaluation of circRNAs in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) has yet to be conducted. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and validate circRNAs in ccRCC tissue with a focus to evaluate their potential as prognostic biomarkers. A genome-wide identification of circRNAs in total RNA extracted from ccRCC tissue samples was performed using microarray analysis. Three relevant differentially expressed circRNAs were selected (circEGLN3, circNOX4, and circRHOBTB3), their circular nature was experimentally confirmed, and their expression-along with that of their linear counterparts-was measured in 99 malignant and 85 adjacent normal tissue samples using specifically established RT-qPCR assays. The capacity of circRNAs to discriminate between malignant and adjacent normal tissue samples and their prognostic potential (with the endpoints cancer-specific, recurrence-free, and overall survival) after surgery were estimated by C-statistics, Kaplan-Meier method, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, decision curve analysis, and Akaike and Bayesian information criteria. CircEGLN3 discriminated malignant from normal tissue with 97% accuracy. We generated a prognostic for the three endpoints by multivariate Cox regression analysis that included circEGLN3, circRHOBT3 and linRHOBTB3. The predictive outcome accuracy of the clinical models based on clinicopathological factors was improved in combination with this circRNA-based signature. Bootstrapping as well as Akaike and Bayesian information criteria confirmed the statistical significance and robustness of the combined models. Limitations of this study include its retrospective nature and the lack of external validation. The study demonstrated the promising potential of circRNAs as diagnostic and particularly prognostic biomarkers in ccRCC patients.

Oncogenic role of neurotensin and neurotensin receptors in various cancers

Neurotensin (NTS) has long been recognized as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator in the central nervous system and as an endocrine agent in the periphery via actions mediated through neurotensin receptors (NTSRs). Many studies support a role for NTS in the endocrine, autocrine and paracrine growth stimulation of cancer, with oncogenic actions described for NTS in different types of cancers and cancer cell lines at each step of cancer progression, ranging from tumour growth and survival to metastatic spread. The mechanisms underlying the effects of the NTS/NTSR system in cell proliferation, migration and invasion, as well as the anti-apoptotic effects of this system, have been elucidated in different types of cancers, and include mitogen-activated protein kinases, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and RhoGTPases. The present mini review summarizes recent findings relating to the oncogenic function of the NTS/NTSR system.

miRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Despite improvements in HCC therapy, the prognosis for HCC patients remains poor due to a high incidence of recurrence. An improved understanding of the pathogenesis of HCC development would facilitate the development of more effective outcomes for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC at earlier stages. miRNA are small, endogenous, non-coding, ssRNA that are 21-30 nucleotides in length and modulate the expression of various target genes at the post-transcriptional and translational levels. Aberrant expression of miRNA is common in various human malignancies and modulates cancer-associated genomic regions or fragile sites. As for the relationship between miRNA and HCC, several studies have demonstrated that the aberrant expression of specific miRNA can be detected in HCC cells and tissues. However, little is known about the mechanisms of miRNA-related cell proliferation and development. In this review, we summarize the central and potential roles of miRNA in the pathogenesis of HCC and elucidate new possibilities that may be useful as diagnostic and prognostic markers, as well as novel therapeutic targets in HCC.

MicroRNAs as Biomarkers in Cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, which in recent years have emerged to have enormous potential as biomarkers. Recently, there have been significant developments in understanding miRNA biogenesis, their regulatory mechanisms and role in disease process, and their potential as effective therapies. The identification of miRNAs as biomarkers provides possibilities for development of less or non-invasive and more specific methods for monitoring tumor growth and progression. This review summarizes the recent developments in methods to detect and quantitate miRNAs in body fluids and their applications as biomarkers in cancers. The prospect of miRNAs as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers with clinical applications is significant as more evidence points to their central role in cancer pathobiology.

FUS-immunoreactive intranuclear inclusions in neurodegenerative disease

Neuronal intranuclear inclusions (NIIs) are a histopathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders. However, the role played by NIIs in neurodegenerative pathogenesis remains enigmatic. Defining their molecular composition represents an important step in understanding the pathophysiology of these disorders. Recently, a nuclear protein, "fused-in-sarcoma" (FUS) was identified as the pathological protein in two forms of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-IF, formerly known as neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease, and FTLD-UPS, formerly known as atypical FTLD-U), both of which are characterized by the presence of NII. The objective of the present study was to determine the range of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by FUS-positive NIIs. Immunostaining for FUS revealed intense reactivity of NIIs in FTLD-IF and FTLD-UPS as well as in Huntington's disease, spinocerebellar ataxias 1 and 3, and neuronal intranuclear inclusion body disease. In contrast, there was no FUS staining of NIIs in inherited forms of FTLD-TDP caused by GRN and VCP mutations, fragile-X-associated tremor ataxia syndrome, or oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. In a cell culture model of Huntington's disease, NIIs were intensely FUS-positive. NII-bearing cells displayed loss of the normal diffuse nuclear pattern of FUS staining. This suggests that sequestration of nuclear FUS by NIIs may interfere with its normal nuclear localization.