miR-146a and miR-196a2 polymorphisms in ovarian cancer risk.

We investigated the relationship between miR-146a and miR-196a2 genetic polymorphisms and development of ovarian cancer in a Chinese population. A total of 134 patients and 227 control subjects were involved in our study between January 2012 and October 2014 from China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University. Genotyping of miR-146a and miR-196a2 was accomplished by polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Unconditional multiple-logistic regression analysis indicated that the GG genotype of miR-146a was associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer when compared to the CC genotype, and the adjusted OR (95%CI) was 3.73 (1.79-7.80). Moreover, the CG+GG genotype of miR-146a was associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer compared with the CC genotype (OR = 1.68, 95%CI = 1.06-2.66), and the GG genotype had a higher risk of ovarian cancer than the CC+CG genotype (OR = 3.02, 95%CI = 1.55-5.98). In conclusion, our study suggests that the miR-146a polymorphism is associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer and could be used as a biomarker for ovarian cancer susceptibility.

IL-16 rs4778889 polymorphism contribution to the development of renal cell cancer in a Chinese population.

IL-16 plays an important role in affect the secretion of tumor-related inflammatory cytokines. We aimed to assess the role of interleukin-16 (IL-16) rs4778889 T/C and rs11556218 T/G polymorphisms in the occurrence of renal cell cancer (RCC). This study is composed of 274 RCC patients and 274 control subjects. Genotyping of polymorphisms was performed using polymerase chain reaction combined with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. All statistical analysis was carried out by the SPSS statistical software package, version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Using conditional logistic regression analysis, the TC and CC genotypes of rs4778889 exhibited a higher risk of RCC, with adjusted ORs (and 95%CIs) of 1.79 (1.23-2.62) and 2.67 (1.29-5.69), respectively. Moreover, under dominant and recessive models, individuals carried the rs4778889 polymorphism was exhibited elevated RCC risk, with adjusted ORs (and 95%CI) of 1.93 (1.35-2.76) and 2.11 (1.05-4.45), respectively. No significant differences were observed in rs11556218 genotype frequencies between the study groups. In conclusion, the results of our study reveal an association between the IL-16 rs4778889 polymorphism and heightened risk of RCC.

Association of Beclin-1 and microRNA-30a expression with the severity and treatment response of colorectal cancer.

We investigated the associations between Beclin-1 and microRNA-30a (miR-30a) expression and the severity and treatment response in colorectal cancer (CRC). Our sample size consisted of 139 CRC patients who were treated with surgery alone. Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate the expression and prognostic significance of Beclin-1 in CRC, while the weak expression of Beclin-1 in normal tissue was used as the basis for assessing tumors (control group). Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction quantified miR-30a levels. The expression levels of Beclin-1 and miR-30a were associated with clinical variables and prognoses. Beclin-1 was expressed more highly in CRC tissues than in controls. This expression was related to gender (P = 0.023), histological grade (P = 0.006), M stage (P = 0.004), tumor node metastasis stage (P = 0.020), vascular invasion, and nodal involvement. Patients with higher Beclin-1 expression levels had higher survival rates (P = 0.08) than patients with lower Beclin-1 expression levels. Beclin-1 was a prognostic indicator (P < 0.05) in a multivariate analysis. Beclin-1 was overexpressed in CRC tissues and was correlated with lower levels of miR-30a (P < 0.05, r = -0. 4189). In conclusion, Beclin-1 was a good prognostic indicator in CRC and was correlated with survival rate. Beclin-1 is important in the growth and metastasis of CRC. Apoptosis in CRC might be due to the increased autophagy induced by decreased levels of miR-30a.

Abnormal gene expression profile reveals the common key signatures associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

The aims of this study were to identify the common gene signatures of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC), and to expand the respective protein-protein interaction networks associated with CCRCC regulation. For the latter, we utilized multiple gene expression data sets from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), with which we could analyze the aberrant gene expression patterns at the transcriptome level that distinguish cancer from normal samples. We obtained the GSE781 and GSE6344 clear cell renal cell carcinoma gene expression datasets from GEO, which contained a total of 37 cancer and 37 normal samples. Subsequent R language analysis allowed identification of the differentially expressed genes. The genes that exhibited significant up or downregulation in cancers were entered into the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery to perform analysis of gene functional annotations, resulting in the generation of two protein-protein interaction networks that included the most significantly up or downregulated genes in CCRCC. These allowed us to identify the key factor genes, which could potentially be utilized to separate cancer versus normal samples. The differentially regulated genes are also highly likely to be functionally important regulatory factors in renal cell carcinoma: cell functions showing enrichment of these genes include amine biosynthetic and vitamin metabolic processes, ion binding, extracellular transport function, and regulation of biosynthesis. Together, the results from our study offer further reason to pursue diagnosis and therapy of CCRCC at the molecular level.