[Retracted] microRNA­146b promotes neuroblastoma cell growth through targeting NUMB.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3892/etm.2020.8623.].

Iris metastasis from clear cell renal cell carcinoma: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a common type of tumor that can metastasize to any organs and sites. However, it is extremely rare for ccRCC to metastasize to the iris. Here, we describe a rare case of iris metastasis from ccRCC with a history of left nephrectomy in 2010. CASE SUMMARY: A 62-year-old male was admitted to the hospital due to blurred vision and red eyes, and a mass was found on the iris in the right eye. B-scan ultrasonography revealed a well-bounded high-density lesion at the corner of the anterior chamber at the 3-4 o'clock position. Phacoemulsification with simultaneous intraocular lens implantation and iridocyclectomy was performed in the right eye. The lesion was confirmed to be metastatic ccRCC by histological and immunohistochemical analyses. The patient was still alive at 9 mo after surgical treatment. Ocular metastasis can be an initial sign with a poor prognosis. Timely detection and treatment may improve survival. Clinicians should pay attention to similar metastatic diseases to prevent misdiagnosis leading to missed treatment opportunities. CONCLUSION: This report of the characteristics and successful management of a rare case of iris metastasis from ccRCC highlights the importance of a comprehensive medical history, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and clinical manifestation for successful disease diagnosis.

Skimmianine as a novel therapeutic agent suppresses proliferation and migration of human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via blocking the activation of ERK1/2.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), one of the main histopathological subtypes of esophageal cancer (EC), is characterized by high morbidity and mortality. Clinical treatment for ESCC lacks specific molecular targets and effective therapeutic drugs. Skimmianine (SK), one of the natural fluroquinolone alkaloids, is widely present in Rutaceae family plants. Here, we mainly used CCK-8 assay, clone formation, flow cytometry analysis, wound-healing assay, Transwell assay, western blot, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), molecular docking analysis, tumor xenograft assay, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining to investigate the potential anti-tumor effect of SK on ESCC. We demonstrated that SK inhibited the proliferation of TE-1 and Eca109 cells via inducing the G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest, prevented the migration and invasion of tumor cells via regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro. In addition, SK obviously suppressed the growth of xenografted Eca109 tumors in nude mice. The anti-tumor mechanism of SK could be blocking the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/ERK signaling pathway. Our basic research suggests that SK can be a potential therapeutic agent for ESCC.

microRNA-146b promotes neuroblastoma cell growth through targeting NUMB.

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the abnormal expression of microRNA (miRNA/miR) serves a crucial role in the development of numerous types of human cancer, including neuroblastoma (NB). The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels and biological roles of miR-146b in NB. miR-146b expression levels in NB cell lines and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, and the regulatory effects of miR-146b on NB cell proliferation, invasion and apoptosis in vitro were investigated using CCK-8 assay, transwell invasion assay and flow cytometry. In addition, bioinformatics analysis, western blotting and dual-luciferase reporter assays were used to determine whether NUMB was a target gene of miR-146b. miR-146b expression levels were increased in NB cell lines compared with HUVECs. The knockdown of miR-146b using a miR-146b inhibitor significantly inhibited NB cell proliferation and invasion, but promoted cell apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, it was revealed that miR-146b promoted NB cell proliferation through targeting NUMB. In conclusion, miR-146b was suggested to serve as an oncogene, at least in part, through directly targeting NUMB, which indicated that miR-146b may be a potential therapeutic target for NB treatment.

Histiocytoid breast carcinoma, neither lobular nor ductal? A case report and literature review.

Histiocytoid breast carcinoma (HBC) is a rare type of breast cancer with controversial histogenesis, which is characterized by abundant foamy cytoplasm, fuzzy cell boundary, linear or annular infiltration, eccentric large irregular nuclei or prominent nucleoli and low mitotic activity. HBC has been considered to be a variant of lobular carcinoma, a variant of apocrine ductal carcinoma, and an apocrine variant of lobular carcinoma and to resemble lipid-rich carcinoma. We presented a case of 75-year-old woman with a 5-cm mass in the left breast. The mass was yellow-beige on cut section. HBC was diagnosed including invasive carcinoma (IC) of apocrine differentiation (diameter about 5 mm) which was surrounded by extensive carcinoma in situ (CIS, diameter about 25 mm) of apocrine type, and a 4-mm invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) in grade II. The distance between HBC and IDC was 4 mm. There was extensive (42 of 43 lymph nodes) metastasis and intravascular tumor emboli. The tumor extended into peripheral nerve. The pathology showed histiocytoid breast carcinoma with a smaller conventional invasive ductal carcinoma in adjacent area. She received a left modified radical mastectomy. However, on the follow-up imaging techniques, the mass showed no response. We discussed the pathology and immunohistochemical finding, and reviewed the literatures. We found that this case was a unique type of HBC.

[Detection of TERC gene amplification by fluorescence in-situ hybridization in cervical intraepithelial lesions].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility and practical value of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) detection of TERC gene amplification in cervical intraepithelial lesions (CIN) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). METHODS: Tissue microarray was constructed to cover 150 cases of various cervical conditions, including 24 cases of normal cervical mucosa, 78 cases of CINs (CINI, 25 cases; CINII, 21 cases and CINIII, 32 cases) and 48 cases of SCC. FISH was used to detect TERC gene amplification. RESULTS: TERC gene amplification was detected in 8% (2/25) CINI, 47.6% (10/21) CINII, 71.9% (23/32) CINIII and 87.5% (42/48) SCC. There were significant differences among these groups (P < 0.05). The amplification rates of TERC gene in SCC, CINIII and CINII were significantly higher than those of normal cervical epithelium and CINI (P < 0.05). Significant differences were also observed among CINI and CINII, CINIII and SCC (P < 0.05), and between CINII and SCC (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between normal cervical epithelium and CINI, CINII and CIN III, and between CINIII and SCC (P > 0.05). FISH detection of amplification of TERC gene in CINI and CINII-III demonstrated the following statistics: sensitivity of 62.3%, specificity of 92.0%, accuracy of 71.8%, positive and negative predictive values of 94.3% and 53.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: FISH detection is a reliable method in detecting TERC gene amplification using paraffin tissue sections. When histological evaluation becomes difficult, TERC amplification detectable by FISH may offer a diagnostic distinction of CINI from CINII. Moreover, TERC amplification may be used as a biomarker in predicting CIN progression to invasive cancer.

[Expression of Twist in papillary thyroid carcinomas and its roles in differential diagnosis].

OBJECTIVE: To study Twist expression in thyroid papillary carcinoma (PTC) by immunohistochemistry and to assess its usefulness as marker in the differential diagnosis of PTC, follicular adenomas (FA) and benign papillary lesions (BPL). METHODS: Fifty cases of PTC, 48 cases of FA and 47 cases of BPL were evaluated using manual tissue chip and SP immunohistochemical stain to detect the expression of Twist and HBME-1, and comparing the staining to that of cytokeratin 19 (CK19). RESULTS: In PTC, positive rates of Twist, HBME-1 and CK19 were 100% (48/48), 94.0% (47/50) and 78.0% (39/ 50) respectively; in FA, positive rates were 0, 6.7% (3/45) and 0 respectively; in BPL, positive rates were 7.0% (3/34), 2.1% (1/47) and 0, respectively. The differences between PTC and FA and between PTC and BPL were both statistically significant (P = 0. 000). The sensitivity of Twist, HBME-1 and CK19 was 100%, 94.0% and 78.0%; the specifity was 96.4%, 95.7% and 100%; overall accurary was 97.7%, 95.1% and 91.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Positive rates of Twist is higher than the other markers in PTC. Immunohistochemical staining of Twist has important significance in the differential diagnosis of thyroid lesions. Twist immunohistochemistry maybe helpful in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of PTC.