MicroRNA-671-3p inhibits the development of breast cancer: A study based on in vitro experiments, in-house quantitative polymerase chain reaction and bioinformatics analysis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are highly conserved small noncoding RNA molecules involved in gene regulation. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that miRNAs act as oncogenes or antioncogenes in various types of cancer, including breast cancer (BC). However, the exact role of miR­671­3p in BC has not yet been reported. In the present study, in vitro experiments were implemented to explore the effects of miR­671­3p on the proliferation and apoptosis of BC cells, and reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction was conducted using in­house clinical BC samples to address the expression level and clinical value of miR­671­3p in BC. Simultaneously, miR­671­3p target genes were collected, and subsequent bioinformatics analyses were executed to probe the potential signaling pathway through which miR­671­3p influenced the occurrence and progression of BC. According to the results, the expression level of miR­671­3p was lower in BC tissues compared with that in adjacent non­tumorous tissues (P=0.048), and the area under the curve was 0.697 (95% confidence interval=0.538­0.856), with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.818 and 0.579, respectively. Forced miR­671­3p expression in the BC cell line MDA­MB­231 evidently arrested cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis. Furthermore, in silico enrichment analyses suggested that miR­671­3p may be involved in the initiation and progression of BC through the targeting of genes associated with the Wnt signaling pathway. In conclusion, the present study findings suggested that miR­671­3p may function as a tumor suppressor in BC by influencing the Wnt signaling cascade, which provides a prospective molecular target for the therapy of BC.

Clinical significances of p27 in digestive tract cancers: a comprehensive analysis on immunohistochemistry staining, published literatures, microarray and RNA-seq data.

In the present study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis on the clinical roles of p27 protein and p27 gene in digestive tract cancers (DTCs). First, we performed immunohistochemistry staining and found that p27 protein was down-regulated in DTCs. Then we collected 62 publications and calculated the combined hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to clarify the relationships of p27 protein expression with prognoses and clinicopathological parameters. The overall HRs indicated that the down-regulated p27 protein was an independent prognostic biomarker for overall survival (HR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.38-1.81, P < 0.0001) but not for disease-free survival and cancer-specific survival. The combined ORs indicated that a low expression of p27 protein was positively related to lymph node metastasis (OR: 2.15, 95% CI: 1.57-2.96, P < 0.0001), distant metastasis (OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.12-3.63, P = 0.019) and pathology grading (OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.75-2.62, P < 0.0001). Additionally, 60 DTCs-related microarray and RNA-seq datasets were obtained to investigate the expression level and clinical value of p27 gene in DTCs patients. We found that the expression level of p27 gene in DTCs was similar to that in normal controls. And no significant associations of p27 gene expression with prognoses and clinicopathological factors were observed. In conclusion, according to our results, it was p27 protein, but not p27 gene, that can function as an effective biomarker to predict the clinical outcome in patients with DTCs. The down-regulation of p27 protein in DTCs may not result from the altered expression of p27 gene.

The impact of atosiban on pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Atosiban is administered to women undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) to improve pregnancy outcomes. However, the results of this treatment were controversial. We conducted this meta-analysis to investigate whether atosiban improves pregnancy outcomes in the women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). METHODS: Databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, China BioMedicine, and Google Scholar were systematically searched. Meta-analyses were performed to investigate whether atosiban improves pregnancy outcomes in the women undergoing IVF. RESULTS: Our results showed that atosiban was associated with higher implantation (OR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.17-2.27; P = 0.004) and clinical pregnancy (OR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.31-2.57; P < 0.001) rates. However, atosiban showed no significant association with the miscarriage, live birth, multiple pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy rates. When a further subgroup analysis was performed in the women undergoing repeated implantation failure (RIF), implantation (OR = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.45-2.57; P < 0.001), clinical pregnancy (OR = 2.48, 95% CI: 1.70-3.64; P <0.001) and the live birth (OR = 2.89, 95% CI: 1.78-4.67; P < 0.001) rates were significantly higher in the case group. Nevertheless, no significant difference was detected in the miscarriage and multiple pregnancy rates between the case and control groups. CONCLUSION: Atosiban may be more appropriate for women undergoing RIF and play only a limited role in improving pregnancy outcomes in the general population of women undergoing IVF. These conclusions should be verified in large and well-designed studies.