Autonomous Nanorobots as Miniaturized Surgeons for Intracellular Applications.

Artificial nanorobots have emerged as promising tools for a wide range of biomedical applications, including biosensing, detoxification, and drug delivery. Their unique ability to navigate confined spaces with precise control extends their operational scope to the cellular or subcellular level. By combining tailored surface functionality and propulsion mechanisms, nanorobots demonstrate rapid penetration of cell membranes and efficient internalization, enhancing intracellular delivery capabilities. Moreover, their robust motion within cells enables targeted interactions with intracellular components, such as proteins, molecules, and organelles, leading to superior performance in intracellular biosensing and organelle-targeted cargo delivery. Consequently, nanorobots hold significant potential as miniaturized surgeons capable of directly modulating cellular dynamics and combating metastasis, thereby maximizing therapeutic outcomes for precision therapy. In this review, we provide an overview of the propulsion modes of nanorobots and discuss essential factors to harness propulsive energy from the local environment or external power sources, including structure, material, and engine selection. We then discuss key advancements in nanorobot technology for various intracellular applications. Finally, we address important considerations for future nanorobot design to facilitate their translation into clinical practice and unlock their full potential in biomedical research and healthcare.

Magnetically Powered Immunogenic Macrophage Microrobots for Targeted Multimodal Cancer Therapy.

Motile microrobots open a new realm for disease treatment. However, the concerns of possible immune elimination, targeted capability and limited therapeutic avenue of microrobots constrain its practical biomedical applications. Herein, a biogenic macrophage-based microrobot loaded with magnetic nanoparticles and bioengineered bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), capable of magnetic propulsion, tumor targeting, and multimodal cancer therapy is reported. Such cell robots preserve intrinsic properties of macrophages for tumor suppression and targeting, and bioengineered OMVs for antitumor immune regulation and fused anticancer peptides. Cell robots display efficient magnetic propulsion and directional migration in the confined space. In vivo tests show that cell robots can accumulate at the tumor site upon magnetic manipulation, coupling with tumor tropism of macrophages to greatly improve the efficacy of its multimodal therapy, including tumor inhibition of macrophages, immune stimulation, and antitumor peptides of OMVs. This technology offers an attractive avenue to design intelligent medical microrobots with remote manipulation and multifunctional therapy capabilities for practical precision treatment.

Autonomous metal-organic framework nanorobots for active mitochondria-targeted cancer therapy.

Nanorobotic manipulation to access subcellular organelles remains unmet due to the challenge in achieving intracellular controlled propulsion. Intracellular organelles, such as mitochondria, are an emerging therapeutic target with selective targeting and curative efficacy. We report an autonomous nanorobot capable of active mitochondria-targeted drug delivery, prepared by facilely encapsulating mitochondriotropic doxorubicin-triphenylphosphonium (DOX-TPP) inside zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) nanoparticles. The catalytic ZIF-67 body can decompose bioavailable hydrogen peroxide overexpressed inside tumor cells to generate effective intracellular mitochondriotropic movement in the presence of TPP cation. This nanorobot-enhanced targeted drug delivery induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and mitochondrial dysregulation to improve the in vitro anticancer effect and suppression of cancer cell metastasis, further verified by in vivo evaluations in the subcutaneous tumor model and orthotopic breast tumor model. This nanorobot unlocks a fresh field of nanorobot operation with intracellular organelle access, thereby introducing the next generation of robotic medical devices with organelle-level resolution for precision therapy.

Bladder cancer diagnosis with a four-miRNA panel in serum.

Background: Bladder cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies. Due to the disadvantage of existing bladder cancer diagnostic tools, miRNAs hold promise as new diagnostic markers. Materials & methods: A total of 224 participants were involved in this three-cohort trial. A total of 15 candidate miRNAs were selected, and miRNAs with diagnostic ability were screened out with quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Diagnostic capability was ascertained by the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve. Bioinformatics analysis was constructed for target gene prediction and functional annotation. Results: Six candidate miRNAs showed significantly different expression between bladder cancer patients and normal controls, and the final diagnostic panel comprised miR-181b-5p, miR-183-5p, miR-199-5p and miR-221-3p. Conclusion: This four-miRNA panel could represent a stable biomarker for bladder cancer diagnosis.

Bladder cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies. Due to the disadvantage of existing bladder cancer diagnostic tools, miRNAs hold promise as new diagnostic markers. After an experiment composed of 224 participants, the authors screened out six candidate miRNAs that may contribute to diagnosing bladder cancer. The authors also repeatedly verified the reliability of candidate miRNAs. Finally, a combination of multiple miRNAs, consisting of miR-181b-5p, miR-183-5p, miR-199-5p, and miR-221-3p, was better and more reliable in predicting bladder cancer occurrence.

Identification of a three-miRNA panel in serum for bladder cancer diagnosis by a diagnostic test.

Background: Bladder cancer (BC) is the tenth most common cancer in the world. Serum microRNA (miRNA) profiles previously have been reported as non-invasive biomarkers in cancer screening. The non-invasive and reliable diagnostic biomarkers are urgently needed for detecting BC, while cystoscopy is invasive. Our study aimed to identify candidate miRNAs in serum as potential diagnostic biomarkers for BC detection. Methods: This study was including the screening stage, training stage, and validation stage with 137 BC patients and 127 healthy controls (HCs). We identified the expression of 28 serum miRNAs from 5 BC pools and 3 HC pools in the initial screening stage. The other 112 BC patients and 112 HCs were randomly divided into training stage with 30 BC patients and 30 HCs and validation stages with 82 BC patients and 82 HCs. These HCs matched BC patients based on age and gender with P value >0.05. Identified dysregulated miRNAs were further confirmed in the training stage, and validation stages by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The diagnostic value of miRNAs was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Target genes of 3 candidate miRNAs were predicted by bioinformatic analysis. Results: Five miRNAs (miR-106a-5p, miR-145-5p, miR-132-3p, miR-7-5p and miR-148b-3p) in serum were obviously dysregulated in BC patients compared to HCs. The ability to diagnose BC of 3 candidate miRNAs was estimated by AUC, with miR-132-3p (AUC =0.781; sensitivity =68.29%, specificity =81.71%), miR-7-5p (AUC =0.778; sensitivity =59.76%, specificity =84.15%) and miR-148b-3p (AUC =0.837; sensitivity =81.71%, specificity =71.95%). Combined application of these candidate miRNAs with parallel test could improve the diagnostic value (AUC =0.922; sensitivity =90.24%, specificity =81.71%). BNC2, GAS7, and NTRK2, considered as target genes of the three-miRNA panel, may play an important role in the process of BC development. Conclusions: A three-miRNA panel in serum was identified for BC diagnosis in our study, which HCs were used for differential diagnosis. The three-miRNA panel (miR-132-3p, miR-7-5p, and miR-148b-3p) might be performed as a non-invasive and convenient diagnostic tool for BC screening and diagnosis.

A panel of three serum microRNA can be used as potential diagnostic biomarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is cancer with unique epidemiological characteristics, showing obvious ethnicity, gender, and geographical prevalence. More and more evidence shows that microRNAs are stable in serum and are specific to different tumor types. Therefore, miRNA is a new non-invasive biomarker for cancer detection. METHODS: The experiment is divided into three stages, namely, the screening stage, the training stage, and the verification stage. We took 54 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 108 healthy controls as the research objects. We use the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the ROC curve (AUC) to evaluate the diagnostic value of miRNA. Finally, a three-miRNA panel with high diagnostic efficiency was constructed. In addition, we conducted biological information analysis of these miRNAs to explore their functions. RESULTS: In NPC patients, the expression of five serum miRNAs (miR-29c-3p, miR-143-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-3p, and miR-205-5p) is significantly dysregulated. Among them, the diagnostic value of these three miRNAs (miR-29c-3p, AUC = 0.702; miR-143-5p, AUC = 0.733; and miR-205-5p, AUC = 787) is more prominent. The diagnostic panel constructed by them has a higher diagnostic value (AUC = 0.902). Through the analysis of the TCGA data set, the target gene of the three-miRNA panel may be KLF7, NRG1, SH3BGRL2, and SYNPO2. CONCLUSION: The three-miRNA panel (miR-29c-3p, miR-143-5p, and miR-205-5p) may become a novel non-invasive biological marker for nasopharyngeal cancer screening.

Identification of a four-microRNA panel in serum for screening renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to identify serum microRNAs (miRNAs) as potential biomarkers for screening renal cell carcinoma. METHODS: The study was divided into three stages, including screening stage, training stage, and validation stage. In the screening stage, we examined the expression of 30 serum miRNAs from healthy controls (HCs) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. We further studied the dysregulated miRNAs in training (30 RCC and 26 HCs) and validation (73 RCC and 80 HCs) stages. We estimated the diagnostic value of miRNAs by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Finally, bioinformatics analysis were performed towards target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs. RESULTS: Six serum miRNAs (miR-17-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-146a-5p) in RCC patients were obviously differentially expressed compared to those in HCs in training stage and validation stage. To increase diagnostic value, we combined these six serum miRNAs and made a four-microRNA (miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-146a-5p) panel, and AUC of the panel was 0.938 (95% CI: 0.889-0.971; sensitivity=90.79%, specificity=93.75%). The genes targeted by these miRNAs were suggested that they may be involved in the process of cancers by the bioinformatics analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study was performing a four-microRNA panel in serum for screening enal cell carcinoma. The four-miRNA panel (miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-146a-5p) may be perform as a biomarker without invasiveness for RCC screening.

Breast invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosis with a three-miRNA panel in serum.

Aim: Breast cancer, especially invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), is the cause of a great clinical burden. miRNA could be considered as a noninvasive biomarkers for IDC diagnosis. Materials & methods: Two hundred and sixty participants (135 IDC patients and 125 healthy controls) were enrolled in a three-cohort study. The expression of 28 miRNAs in serum were detected with quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Bioinformatic analysis was used for predicting the target genes of three selected miRNAs. Results: The expression level of seven miRNAs (miR-9-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-1-3p, miR-146a-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-125b-5p) was discrepant at the validation cohort. Through statistical test, a three-miRNA panel (miR-9-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-146a-5p) was significant for IDC diagnosis (AUC = 0.880, sensitivity = 86.25%, specificity = 81.25%). Conclusion: The three-miRNA panel in serum could be used as a noninvasive biomarker in the diagnosis of IDC.

miR-30b-5p up-regulation related to the dismal prognosis for patients with renal cell cancer.

The diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is often made late since there is no early symptom, which thus results in dismal patient prognosis. As a result, new biomarkers are urgently needed and efforts should be made to identify their functions in predicting RCC prognosis. microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that are about 20-22 nucleotides in length, and they have been demonstrated to function as prognostic markers in numerous tumors. This study aimed to assess the role of miR-30b-5p in predicting the prognosis of RCC postoperatively. In this study, RNA was extracted from 284 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded kidney cancer tissue samples. After cDNA synthesis, real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was adopted for detecting the relative miR-30b-5p level. Then, the Kaplan-Meier method, Cox regression analysis, and the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis were applied in analyzing the miR-30b-5p effect on the prognosis for patients. Our findings indicated that, following adjustment for age, gender, tumor stage, and tumor size, patients with low miR-30b-5p expression had remarkably longer overall survival. Thus, the miR-30b-5p level might be related to RCC prognosis.

Evaluation of Serum miR-17-92 Cluster as Noninvasive Biomarkers for Bladder Cancer Diagnosis.

Previous studies have shown that the miR-17-92 cluster is involved in the occurrence and development of bladder cancer. However, the role of serum miR-17-92 cluster in the diagnosis of bladder cancer has not been studied. In the present study, we evaluated the expression of miR-17-92 cluster members in bladder cancer tissues by analyzing 428 cases from TCGA database. Next, we collected the sera of 74 bladder cancer patients and 90 controls, and used qRT-PCR to detect the relative expression of the cluster. The results showed that the expression of the cluster members in the sera of patients were significantly higher than that of the controls, and they were positively correlated with the clinical stage and pathological grade of the patients. We evaluated their ability to diagnose bladder cancer using ROC, of which miR-92a-3p (AUC = 0.902), miR-17-5p (AUC = 0.845) and miR-20a-5p (AUC = 0.806) were the most prominent. Finally, we established a diagnostic model by logistic regression (AUC = 0.969). We further validated the results of the study using another dataset from the GEO database. Moreover, we evaluated the prognostic value of the cluster. The results revealed that miR-20a-5p was correlated with recurrence of bladder cancer. In summary, the present study validated the overexpression of serum miR-17-92 cluster in bladder cancer. The model composed of the three cluster members were confirmed to be a promising noninvasive biomarker for bladder cancer diagnosis.

Use of a Four-miRNA Panel as a Biomarker for the Diagnosis of Stomach Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been applied to cancer diagnosis taking into account their role in tumorigenesis. The main purpose of our study was to confirm the possibility of using miRNAs as noninvasive biomarkers for stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) diagnosis. METHODS: A total of 246 participants (130 STAD patients and 116 healthy controls (HCs)) were enrolled in this 3-phase study. Five STAD pools and 3 HC pools (with 4 participants in each pool) were used for the screening of the 28 miRNAs using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The training phase (30 STAD patients vs. 24 HCs) and validation phase (80 STAD patients vs. 80 HCs) were used to further verify the identity of these miRNAs. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and bioinformatics analysis were also used. RESULTS: The expression levels of miR-125b-5p and miR-196a-5p were upregulated in STAD serum, compared with the HCs, while miR-1-3p and miR-149-5p showed the opposite result. A four-serum miRNA panel was constructed, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was found to be 0.892 (95% CI: 0.834 to 0.936, sensitivity = 86.25%, specificity = 78.75%). Only miR-125b-5p expression showed a significant difference between STAD patients and NCs in the survival analysis. The neurotrophin signaling pathway was associated with 4 miRNAs identified in STAD patients. CONCLUSION: The four-serum miRNA panel has great potential to be used as a noninvasive biomarker for STAD diagnosis.

Identification of grade-related genes and construction of a robust genomic-clinicopathologic nomogram for predicting recurrence of bladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer (BC) is a common tumor in the urinary system with a high recurrence rate. The individualized treatment and follow-up after surgery is the key to a successful outcome. Currently, the surveillance strategies are mainly depending on tumor stage and grade. Previous evidence has proved that tumor grade was a significant and independent risk factor of BC recurrence. Exploring the grade-related genes may provide us a new approach to predict prognosis and guide the post-operative treatment in BC patients. METHODS: In this study, the weighted gene co-expression network analysis was applied to identify the hub gene module correlated with BC grade using GSE71576. After constructing a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network with the hub genes inside the hub gene module, we identified some potential core genes. TCGA and another independent dataset were used for further validation. RESULTS: The results revealed that the expression of AURKA, CCNA2, CCNB1, KIF11, TTK, BUB1B, BUB1, and CDK1 were significantly higher in high-grade BC, showing a strong ability to distinguish BC grade. The expression levels of the 8 genes in normal, paracancerous, tumorous, and recurrent bladder tissues were progressively increased. By conducting survival analysis, we proved their prognostic value in predicting the recurrence of BC. Eventually, we constructed a prognostic nomogram by combining the 8-core-gene panel with clinicopathologic features, which had shown great performance in predicting the recurrence of BC. CONCLUSION: We identified 8 core genes that revealed a significant correlation with the tumor grade as well as the recurrence of BC. Finally, we proved the value of a novel prognostic nomogram for predicting the relapse-free survival of BC patients after surgery, which could guide their treatment and follow-up.

A three-miRNA panel in serum as a noninvasive biomarker for colorectal cancer detection.

BACKGROUND: Circulating miRNAs have been proved to be promising biomarkers for disease detection in recent years. The present study aimed at exploring available serum miRNA biomarkers for the detection of colorectal cancer. METHODS: A three-phase study was performed to select and validate candidate miRNAs with significant dysregulation in colorectal cancer using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. This study recruited 137 colorectal cancer patients and 145 healthy controls. The diagnostic values of miRNAs were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Bioinformatics analyses were utilized to predict target genes of miRNAs, and to conduct functional annotation and enrichment. RESULTS: miR-30e-3p, miR-31-5p, miR-34b-3p and miR-146a-5p, miR-148a-3p and miR-192-5p were significantly dysregulated in colorectal cancer serum when compared with healthy controls. The panel composed of miR-30e-3p, miR-146a-5p, and miR-148a-3p exhibited strong diagnostic ability. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the three-miRNA panel was 0.883, with a sensitivity of 0.800 and specificity of 0.787. CONCLUSION: The present study identified a three-miRNA panel in serum with a strong diagnostic ability of colorectal cancer, which may be able to serve as a novel noninvasive biomarker for colorectal cancer detection.

Combination of tumor suppressor miR-20b-5p, miR-30a-5p, and miR-196a-5p as a serum diagnostic panel for renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 3 % of cancer patients. Early detection influences the therapeutic strategy and significantly improves patients' survival rates. Stable existing circulating miRNAs could be a promising diagnostic biomarker. METHODS: Previously our team demonstrated the anti-tumor effect of miR-20b-5p, miR-30a-5p and miR-196a-5p in RCC tissue and cell lines. Here, based on 110 RCC patients and 110 health control, we investigated serum expression of these three miRNAs in the testing set and the validation set separately by using quantitative real-time PCR. A three-miRNA panel with high diagnostic efficiency was constructed. Correlations between these miRNAs and clinical parameters were investigated. Additionally, the TCGA dataset and bioinformatic analysis are used for the functional exploration of these miRNAs. RESULTS: Serum expression levels of miR-20b-5p, miR-30a-5p were significantly reduced in RCC patients, while miR-196a-5p expression level was up-regulated (p < 0.001). miR-20b-5p, miR-30a-5p and miR-196a-5p had moderate diagnostic ability for RCC (AUC = 0.807, 0.766 and 0.719 in the testing set, respectively). The AUC of the three-miRNA panel was 0.949 in the testing set and 0.938 in the validation set. Specifically, the serum expression level of miR-196a-5p was significantly down-regulated in RCC patients with higher Fuhrman grade (p = 0.051). TCGA dataset analysis showed that the three-miRNA panel probably participated in RCC by targeting ITGA4 and NRP2. CONCLUSION: The three-miRNA panel could serve as a promising non-invasive biomarker for RCC detection.

Evaluation of miR-130 family members as circulating biomarkers for the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has shown that the miR-130 family is closely related to the occurrence and development of bladder cancer. We hope to use the miR-130 family members as new, non-invasive, and easily detectable biomarkers for bladder cancer. METHODS: We analyzed 428 cases in The Cancer Genome Atlas-Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma database and verified that the miR-130 family members were significantly overexpressed in bladder cancer. A total of 74 bladder cancer patients and 90 controls were enrolled. The relative expression of the miR-130 family in serum was detected using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The diagnostic efficacy of the miR-130 family members was determined using the receiver operating characteristic method (ROC), and a diagnostic panel was built using logistic regression. The results of the study were further confirmed in an external validation set of 492 samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. RESULTS: The expression of the miR-130 family members (except for miR-301b-3p) in the serum of bladder cancer patients was higher than that in the controls. The diagnostic capabilities for bladder cancer were 0.847 (miR-130a-3p), 0.762 (miR-130b-3p), and 0.892 (miR-301a-3p). We established a three-miRNA panel with an area under the ROC curve as high as 0.961, indicating that it is a promising clinical diagnostic biomarker of bladder cancer with high sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSION: The expression levels of miR-130 family members in serum can effectively distinguish the bladder cancer patients from healthy controls. This finding will facilitate the clinical diagnosis of bladder cancer.

miR-638 acts as an oncogene and predicts poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the function and prognostic value of miR-638 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). METHODS: Expression of miR-638 in RCC tissues and corresponding noncancerous tissues were examined by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). To explore the effects of miR-638 on cell migration, invasion, viability, and apoptosis of RCC cells, wound scratch, transwell, MTT, CCK-8, and flow cytometry assays were performed. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between miR-638 expression and prognosis of RCC patients. Potential target genes of miR-638 were predicted and validated via multiple bioinformatics analyses. RESULTS: miR-638 was upregulated in RCC tissues when compared with corresponding noncancerous tissues (P < 0.05). Upregulation of miR-638 expression by transfection with a synthetic miR-638 mimic promoted cell migration, invasion, and viability and suppressed cell apoptosis. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that upregulation of miR-638 associated with shorter overall survival (OS; P = 0.001). Cox univariate and multivariate regression analysis suggested that miR-638 expression is an independent predictive factor for the prognosis of RCC patients (P = 0.004). KCNQ1, DNAJC6, and PNP were identified as potential target genes of miR-638. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrated that miR-638 functions as an oncogene in RCC and has the potential to be a prognostic biomarker for RCC.

Identification of a four-microRNA panel in serum as promising biomarker for colorectal carcinoma detection.

Background: Screening for colorectal carcinoma (CRC) lacks an efficient, inexpensive and noninvasive approach. The stable presence of serum miRNA is expected to become a new diagnostic marker. Materials & methods: Based on 135 CRC patients and 135 normal controls, this study was conducted in three phases to identify suitable serum miRNA for CRC diagnosis by using quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Bioinformatic assays were used for target genes prediction and functional annotation. Results: Serum expression level of seven miRNAs were significantly different between CRC patients and the normal controls. The final diagnostic panel (area under the curve = 0.893; sensitivity = 81.25%, specificity = 73.33%) consists of miR-203a-3p, miR-145-5p, miR-375-3p and miR-200c-3p. Conclusion: The four-miRNA panel may serve as a novel, noninvasive biomarker for CRC diagnosis and screening.

A Three-microRNA Panel in Serum: Serving as a Potential Diagnostic Biomarker for Renal Cell Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for about 120,000 death each year. Although surgery is a routine treatment, RCC could be fatal if not diagnosed at an early stage. This study aims to search for suitable serum biomarkers and construct a miRNA panel with high diagnostic sensitivity or specificity. METHODS: Totally 146 RCC patients and 150 normal control were involved in this three-stage study. Serum expression levels of 30 miRNAs selected from literature were tested by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) in the screening stage, the testing stage, and the validation stage. The diagnostic efficiency of miRNAs was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under curve (AUC) analysis. A panel with the highest diagnostic efficiency was constructed by backward stepwise logistic regression analysis. Additionally, bioinformatics analysis was used to investigate potential biological functions and mechanisms of candidate miRNAs. RESULTS: MiR-224-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-129-2-3p and miR-182-5p with low to moderate diagnostic ability (AUC = 0.692, 0.778, 0.687 and 0.745, respectively) were selected as candidate miRNAs after the three-stage study. The final diagnostic panel was consisted by miR-224-5p, miR-34b-3p and miR-182-5p with AUC = 0.855. No significance has been found between these four miRNAs and tumor location, Fuhrman Grade and AJCC clinical stages of RCC. Bioinformatic analysis suggested that the three-miRNAs panel may participate in tumorigenesis of RCC by targeting CORO1C. CONCLUSIONS: The three-miRNA panel in serum could serve as a non-invasive diagnostic biomarker of RCC.

A combination of four serum miRNAs for screening of lung adenocarcinoma.

Serum microRNAs (miRNAs), with their noticeable stability and unique expression pattern in patients with various diseases, are robust novel non-invasive biomarkers for cancer detection. The objective of this study was to identify specific serum miRNAs as potential biomarkers for screening lung adenocarcinoma. The study was divided into a screening phase, training phase, and validation phase. The expression of 46 serum miRNAs from lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients and healthy controls (HCs) were examined in the screening phase. The expression of the most dysregulated miRNAs was further verified in training (30 LUAD vs. 30 HCs) and validation (82 LUAD vs. 90 HCs) phases. Seven serum miRNAs (miR-142-5p, miR-203a-5p, miR-409-3p, miR-223-3p, miR-150-5p, miR-486-5p and miR-146a-5p) in LUAD patients were significantly dysregulated compared to those in HCs. Their ability to diagnose lung cancer was also significant, with miR-142-5p (AUC = 0.743), miR-409-3p (AUC = 0.755), miR-223-3p (AUC = 0.828) and miR-146a-5p (AUC = 0.745) being more prominent. The combined use of these four could enhance diagnostic value (AUC = 0.933). Our findings define a distinct miRNA expression profile in the serum of LUAD patients. The four-miRNA panel (miR-142-5p, miR-409-3p, miR-223-3p and 146a-5p) may be considered as a novel, non-invasive biomarker for LUAD early detection.

Comprehensive analysis of biomarkers for prostate cancer based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death. In the present research, we adopted a comprehensive bioinformatics method to identify some biomarkers associated with the tumor progression and prognosis of PCa. METHODS: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were applied for exploring gene modules correlative with tumor progression and prognosis of PCa. Clinically Significant Modules were distinguished, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were used to Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were used in selecting potential hub genes. RNA-Seq data and clinical materials of prostate cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were used for the identification and validation of hub genes. The significance of these genes was confirmed via survival analysis and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: 2688 DEGs were filtered. Weighted gene co-expression network was constructed, and DEGs were divided into 6 modules. Two modules were selected as hub modules which were highly associated with the tumor grades. Functional enrichment analysis was performed on genes in hub modules. Thirteen hub genes in these hub modules were identified through PPT networks. Based on TCGA data, 4 of them (CCNB1, TTK, CNN1, and ACTG2) were correlated with prognosis. The protein levels of CCNB1, TTK, and ACTG2 had a degree of differences between tumor tissues and normal tissues. CONCLUSION: Four hub genes were identified as candidate biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for further studies of exploring molecular mechanisms and individual therapy on PCa.