Diagnostic Value of Serum lncRNA HOTAIR Combined with Galectin-3 in Benign and Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer. LncRNA HOTAIR (HOx Transcript AntIsense RNA) and Galectin-3 are involved in PTC. This study explored the clinical effect of lncRNA HOTAIR/Galectin-3 on PTC patients. METHODS: Subjects were assigned into PTC (160 cases) and benign thyroid tumor groups (150 cases). Fasting peripheral venous blood was collected. LncRNA HOTAIR/Galectin-3 expressions in serum were detected. Subjects were assigned into HOTAIR/Glactin-3 high/low expression groups and their correlation with age, gender, BMI, tumor size, pathological stage, TSH, TPO-Ab, and TG-Ab in PTC was analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was conducted on diagnostic efficacy of HOTAIR or/and Galectin-3. The difference of area under the curve (AUC) was compared and analyzed. RESULTS: HOTAIR and Glactin-3 were higher in PTC group and correlated with tumor pathological stage. Higher HOTAIR/Glactin-3 expression indicated a more advanced TNM stage. LncRNA HOTAIR was positively correlated with TPO-Ab and TG-Ab. AUC of HOTAIR for PTC diagnosis was 0.895, with 96.00% specificity and 80.63% sensitivity. AUC of Glactin-3 for PTC diagnosis was 0.817, with 66.67% specificity and 78.75% sensitivity. AUC of HOTAIR combining with Glactin-3 for PTC diagnosis was 0.969 with 96.00% specificity and 87.50% sensitivity. AUC of lncRNA HOTAIR was higher than that of Glactin-3, while AUC of the combination was higher than that of lncRNA HOTAIR or Glactin-3. CONCLUSION: LncRNA HOTAIR and Glactin-3 were highly expressed in PTC. The combination detection of lncRNA HOTAIR/Glactin-3 had higher diagnostic efficiency on the differential diagnosis of benign thyroid tumor and PTC.

Peripheral Blood Leukocytes and Platelets Serve as Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer.

Background: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes have been reported to be associated with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival in breast cancer (BC) patients. However, little is known about the value of peripheral blood parameter in predicting the prognosis in BC. Methods: In this study, parameters of complete blood count from 417 BC patients with a median 7.6-year follow-up after surgery were collected and correlated with patient survival. Results: It was found that leukocyte counts were positively correlated with disease-free survival (DFS, p = 0.016) and overall survival (OS, p = 0.014), whereas platelet counts were negatively correlated with DFS (p = 0.003) and OS (p = 0.082) in BC. Leukocyte and platelet counts were independent prognostic factors for the BC patient survival. Besides, the prognostic value of leukocyte and platelet counts was further evaluated in the BC patients with different molecular subtypes. Together, BC patients with high leukocyte counts and low platelet counts had better DFS (p = 0.001) and OS (p = 0.017) than the other patients. Conclusion: Parameters of complete blood count could be acquired easily and serve as cost-effective prognostic biomarkers in BC.