Clinical impact of pretreatment albumin-globulin ratio in patients with colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence have revealed that pretreatment albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) may be a predictor of prognosis among patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, these findings are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment AGR in CRC. METHODS: A systematic meta-analysis was conducted by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. RESULTS: A total of 9 studies with 7939 patients were finally included. Low pretreatment AGR was associated with worse overall survival (pooled hazard ratio [HR]: 2.07, 95% CI: 1.60-2.67, P < .001) and disease-free survival/progress-free survival (pooled hazard ratio [HR]: 2.10, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34-3.31, P = .001). Subgroup analyses revealed that the pooled correlation did not alter these results. Moreover, low pretreatment AGR were associated with elderly patients, tumor diameter (≥50 mm), tumor node metastasis stage (III-IV), depth of tumor (T3-4), and CA19-9 (>37 U/mL). CONCLUSION: The present meta-analysis suggests that low pretreatment AGR was associated with advanced clinicopathological features and worse prognosis, suggesting AGR is a useful prognostic biomarker for CRC patients.

Molecular Network-Based Identification of Circular RNA-Associated ceRNA Network in Papillary Thyroid Cancer.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have displayed dysregulated expression in several types of cancer. Nevertheless, their function and underlying mechanisms in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remains largely unknown. This study aimed to describe the regulatory mechanisms in PTC. The expression profile of circRNA was download from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The mRNA and miRNA data of PTC was downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network by Cytoscape. The interactions between proteins were analyzed using the STRING database and hubgenes were identified using MCODE plugin. Then, we conducted a circRNA-miRNA-hubgenes regulatory module. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were conducted using R packages "Clusterprofile". We identified 14 differential expression circRNAs (DEcircRNA), 3106 differential expression mRNAs (DEmRNA), 142 differential expression miRNAs (DEmiRNA) and in PTC. Twelve circRNAs, 33 miRNAs, and 356 mRNAs were identified to construct the ceRNA network of PTC. PPI network and module analysis identified 5 hubgenes. Then, a circRNA-miRNA-hubgene subnetwork was constructed based on the 2 DEcircRNAs, 3 DEmiRNAs, and 4 DEmRNAs. GO and KEGG pathway analysis indicated DEmRNAs might be associated with PTC onset and progression. These ceRNAs are critical in the pathogenesis of PTC and may serve as future therapeutic biomarkers.

microRNA­3941 targets IGF2 to control LPS­induced acute pneumonia in A549 cells.

The present study aimed to investigate the potential roles and regulatory mechanism of microRNA (miR)-3941 in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)­induced acute pneumonia. The expression of miR­3941 in child patients with acute pneumonia was detected and A549 cells were treated with LPS to establish the cellular model of acute pneumonia. The effects of miR­3941 in LPS­induced cell injury were investigated by assessing cell viability, apoptosis and inflammation. In addition, the regulatory relationship between miR­3941 and insulin­like growth factor 2 (IGF2) was explored, as well as the association between miR­3941 and the phosphatidylinositol­4,5­bisphosphate 3­kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) pathway. miR­3941 was significantly down­regulated in patients with acute pneumonia (P<0.01). In the cell model of acute pneumonia, LPS treatment significantly induced cell injury via inhibiting cell viability (P<0.05 or P<0.01), inducing cell apoptosis (P<0.01) and enhancing the production of cytokines [interleukin (IL)­6, IL­8 and tumor necrosis factor­α; P<0.01 or P<0.001]. LPS treatment also resulted in a significantly decreased expression of miR­3941 in A549 cells (P<0.01) and the overexpression of miR­3941 significantly alleviated LPS­induced cell injury (P<0.05). In addition, IGF2 was confirmed as a direct target gene of miR­3941. Knockdown of IGF2 significantly alleviated LPS­induced cell injury (P<0.05, P<0.01 or P<0.001), which was significantly reversed by suppression of miR­3941 (P<0.05, P<0.01 or P<0.001). Furthermore, inhibition of miR­3941 was demonstrated to activate the PI3K/AKT pathway, which was inhibited following knockdown of IGF2. The present study indicates that miR­3941 is downregulated in child patients with acute pneumonia and that downregulation of miR­3941 may promote LPS­induced cell injury in A549 cells via targeting IGF2 to regulate the activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway. Therefore, miR­3941 may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of acute pneumonia in child patients.