Potential diagnostic and therapeutic value of circular RNAs in cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have imposed a massive health and financial burden worldwide with high mortality and morbidity. However, the diagnostic value of current biomarkers might be impaired by a wide variety of noncardiac causes. Moreover, cardiovascular outcomes, survival, and prognosis of patients with CVDs remain poor despite advances in treatment. Therefore, novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies are urgently required for timely identification of possible heart diseases in the early stage, which might effectively contribute to reducing the CVDs-caused morbidity and mortality. Circular RNA (circRNA) was initially identified as aberrant byproducts or abnormally spliced transcripts. However, with advances in bioinformatics and high-throughput sequencing technology, circRNAs has become an essential topic on a wide range of biological functions and emerged as novel players in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for CVDs. In this article, we briefly introduce the biogenesis and functions of circRNAs. Moreover, we describe the roles of circRNAs in multiple CVDs, including atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, as well as cardiomyopathy. In addition, we provide an overview on the current challenges and directions for further application.

Second-generation versus first-generation drug-eluting stents in saphenous vein graftdisease: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Second-generation drug-eluting stents (DESs) have become increasingly popular devices for patients with saphenous vein graft (SVG) disease. Second-generation DESs were designed to have more safety and efficacy than first-generation DES, but clinical outcomes in SVG disease remain conflicting. METHODS AND RESULTS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified when comparing second- versus first-generation DESs in SVG disease. The main endpoint was all-cause death. The time of follow-up was at least 30days. The secondary endpoints were major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), target vessel revascularization (TVR), target lesion revascularization (TLR), myocardial infarction (MI), and stent thrombosis. These endpoints were assessed at 30days, 12months and 24months. Four RCTs with 1077 SVG patients undergoing the implantation of DES were collected in the current meta-analysis. As a result, second-generation DES-treated patients had the significantly lower MACE rates at 12months (P=0.03; OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.49,0.97). No differences in two groups were seen in all-cause death, MI, TVR, stent thrombosis and TLR. CONCLUSIONS: Our limited evidence indicated that, second-generation DES in SVG patients, compared with first-generation DES, offered similar levels of safety, but were more effective than the former one.

Nucleus transfer efficiency of ear fibroblast cells isolated from Bama miniature pigs at various ages.

Somatic cell nucleus transfer (SCNT) has been considered the most effective method for conserving endangered animals and expanding the quantity of adult animal models. Bama miniature pigs are genetically stable and share similar biological features to humans. These pigs have been used to establish animal models for human diseases, and for many other applications. However, there is a paucity of studies on the effect of ear fibroblasts derived from different age of adult Bama miniature pigs on nucleus transfer (NT). The present study examined the NT efficiency of ear fibroblasts from fetal, newborn, 1-, 2-, 4-, 6-, 12-month-old miniature pigs by using trypan blue staining, flow cytometry and NT technique, etc., and the cell biological function and SCNT efficiency were compared between groups. The results showed that ear fibroblasts grew well after passage in each group. Spindle-shaped cells initially predominated, and gradually declined with increase of culture time and replaced by polygonal cells. Irregular cell growth occurred in the 2-month-old group and the elder groups. The growth curves of the ear fibroblasts were "S-shaped" in different age groups. The cell proliferation of postnatal ear fibroblasts, especially those from 2-, 4-, 6-, 12-month-old miniature pigs was significantly different from that of fetus ear fibroblasts (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Two-month- and 4-month-old ear fibroblasts had a significantly higher proportion of G1 stage cells (85% to 91%) than those at 6 and 12 months (66% to 74%, P<0.01). The blastocyst rate of reconstructed embryos originating from newborn, 1-, 2-, 4-month-old donor pigs was 6.06% to 7.69% with no significant difference from that in fetus fibroblast group (8.06%). It was concluded that <4-month-old adult Bama miniature pigs represent a better donor cell resource than elder pigs.