Identification of Prognostic Biomarkers of Glioblastoma Based on Multidatabase Integration and Its Correlation with Immune-Infiltration Cells.

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant of all known intracranial tumors; meanwhile, most patients have a poor prognosis. In order to improve the poor prognosis of GBM patients as much as possible, it is specifically significant to identify biomarkers related to the gene diagnosis and gene therapy. Methods: In this study, a total of 343 GBM specimens and 259 nontumor specimens were collected from four Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database; then, we analyzed the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the above data. Through Venn diagram analysis, 54 common upregulated DEGs and 22 common downregulated DEGs were triumphantly recognized. Results: On the basis of the degree of formation communication in protein-protein interaction network (PPIN), the 10 upregulated central genes were ranked, incorporating LOX, IGFBP3, CD44, TIMP1, FN1, VEGFA, POSTN, COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL3A1. By combining the expression levels and the clinical features of GBM, we found that four hub genes (TIMP1, FN1, POSTN, and LOX) were significantly upregulated and related to poor prognosis of GBM. Meanwhile, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that TIMP1 could be one of the independent prognostic factors for GBM patients. Furthermore, TIMP1 was particularly correlated with the immune marker of macrophage M1, macrophage M2, neutrophils, tumor-associated macrophage, and Tregs. We then analyzed the role of TIMP1 in GBM cancer cell lines by relevant experiments, which indicated that TIMP1 knockdown resulted in the decreased cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings demonstrated that TIMP1 might be a new biomarker to determine prognosis and immune infiltration of GBM patients.

Opioids in cancer: The κ­opioid receptor (Review).

The κ­opioid receptor (KOR) is one of the primary receptors of opioids and serves a vital role in the regulation of pain, anesthesia, addiction and other pathological and physiological processes. KOR is associated with several types of cancer and may influence cancer progression. It has been proposed that KOR may represent a new tumor molecular marker and provide a novel basis for molecular targeted therapies for cancer. However, the association between KOR and cancer remains to be explored comprehensively. The present review introduces KOR and its association with different types of cancer. Improved understanding of KOR may facilitate development of novel antitumor therapies.

MicroRNA and cyclooxygenase-2 in breast cancer.

Cancer remains a major public health problem worldwide and the latest statistics show that breast cancer (BC) is among the most frequent in women. MicroRNAs (miRNAs; miRs) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) are new diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for monitoring BC. COX-2 is a prominent tumor-associated inflammatory factor highly expressed in human tumor cells, including BC. Expression of COX-2 contributes to tumor growth, metastasis and recurrence. MiRs are a group of short (~22 nucleotides), noncoding regulatory RNAs that downregulate gene expression post-transcriptionally and play vital roles in regulating cancer development and progression. Interestingly, there are a group of miRNAs differentially expressed in breast tumor tissue. Understanding the pathway linking miRNAs to COX-2 can provide novel insight for suppressing COX-2 expression via gene silencing thereby leading to the development of selective miRNA inhibitors. Further research can also reveal key intermediate players and their potential as therapeutic targets. Given the association between different miRNAs and COX-2 expression in BC, this review presents a comprehensive overview of the current literature concerning how miRNAs and COX-2 signaling interact in BC progression.

Interplay between cyclooxygenase­2 and microRNAs in cancer (Review).

Tumor­associated inflammation and aberrantly expressed biomarkers have been demonstrated to play crucial roles in the cancer microenvironment. Cyclooxygenase­2 (COX­2), a prominent inflammatory factor, is highly expressed in tumor cells and contributes to tumor growth, recurrence and metastasis. Overexpression of COX­2 may occur at both transcriptional and post­transcriptional levels. Thus, an improved understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of COX­2 can facilitate the development of novel antitumor therapies. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small non­coding RNAs that act as translation repressors of target mRNAs, and play vital roles in regulating cancer development and progression. The present review discusses the association between miRNAs and COX­2 expression in different types of cancer. Understanding the regulatory role of miRNAs in COX­2 post­transcription can provide novel insight for suppressing COX­2 expression via gene silencing mechanisms, which offer new perspectives and future directions for the development of novel COX­2 selective inhibitors based on miRNAs.