Real-World Data on Treatment Management and Outcomes of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer in Greece (The EpOCa Study).

New treatment modalities have been recently introduced in the management of ovarian cancer (OC). Herein, we sought to investigate their implementation in routine clinical practice and examine the real-world management of OC in Greece. EpOCa was a non-interventional, multicenter, retrospective study in patients with advanced epithelial OC. The primary outcome was to estimate the proportions of the different treatment regimens used per line of therapy, while progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were the key secondary endpoints. A total of 154 patients were enrolled in the study, among whom, 40% were tested for BRCA mutations and 30% were found to be positive. Nearly 90% of patients underwent debulking surgery at diagnosis, with few operations being also recorded upon relapse. Platinum-based chemotherapy (CT) was predominantly used in the first line with half of patients also receiving angiogenesis inhibitor (AI), while non-platinum-based CT was preferred in later lines. The median PFS was 18.2 and 8.8 months in the first- and second-line setting, respectively, whereas the median OS was approximately 50 months. Our study adds to the available, but limited, real world data on the management of ovarian cancer providing evidence regarding the applied treatment strategies and outcomes of patients in Greece.

A comprehensive clinicopathological evaluation of the differential expression of microRNA-331 in breast tumors and its diagnostic significance.

OBJECTIVE: MicroRNA-331 (miR-331) has shown regulatory activity against several genes whose expression has been claimed to be deregulated in breast tumors, including that of epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Herein, the clinical value of miR-331 expression was investigated by analyzing its levels in breast benign and malignant tumors. METHODS: The expression levels of miR-331 were quantified via real-time PCR in 130 malignant and 66 benign breast tissue specimens collected after surgical resection of primary tumors. The generated data were analyzed by applying several statistical tests in order to examine the relationship of miR-331 expression with various established clinicopathological features and survival data of patients. RESULTS: Our data showed that miR-331 was overexpressed in malignant breast tumors compared to their benign counterparts both overall (P = 0.026) and individually when the subgroups of fibroadenoma and invasive ductal carcinoma were analyzed with each other (P = 0.001). ROC curve analysis confirmed the diagnostic value of these variations, providing an AUC value equal to 0.597 (P = 0.026) and 0.663 (P = 0.001), respectively. Furthermore, miR-331 levels were elevated (P = 0.026) in ductal cancerous specimens compared to the lobular ones but failed to correlate with other clinicopathological features or survival data of the breast cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence that miR-331 levels might provide valuable information regarding the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast tumors but present no prognostic value for breast cancer.

Expression Analysis of miR-29b in Malignant and Benign Breast Tumors: A Promising Prognostic Biomarker for Invasive Ductal Carcinoma With a Possible Histotype-Related Expression Status.

BACKGROUND: Aberrations in microRNA levels seem to provide valuable information regarding breast cancer prognosis and therapy. In this study, we sought to analyze miR-29b expression in breast tumors and thus explore its clinical value. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-one malignant and 56 benign breast tissue specimens were collected and subjected to extraction of total RNA, which was polyadenylated and reverse transcribed to cDNA. Subsequently, a highly sensitive quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction protocol was developed and miR-29b levels, estimated via the comparative CT method, were finally subjected to comprehensive statistical analysis. RESULTS: MiR-29b levels did not differ between the analyzed benign and malignant breast tissue specimens, but were found to be significantly (P = .010) decreased in invasive ductal adenocarcinomas compared with their lobular counterparts, albeit receiver operating characteristics curve analysis did not verify the latter correlation. Additionally, miR-29b expression was elevated in samples with positive estrogen receptor status (P = .021) in the overall population, whereas it was negatively correlated (P = .035) with primary tumor staging in the ductal subset and increased in poorly-differentiated tumors of lobular origin (P = .041). Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses showed that patients with ductal carcinoma and elevated miR-29b levels had a significantly longer disease-free survival (P = .010) and a lower risk to relapse (hazard ratio = 0.35, 95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.81; P = .014). CONCLUSION: Our results provide evidence that miR-29b levels constitute a promising biomarker of favorable prognosis for patients with invasive ductal breast carcinoma and imply that its expression status might be affected by the histological origin of breast malignancy.

Clinical evaluation of microRNA-145 expression in renal cell carcinoma: a promising molecular marker for discriminating and staging the clear cell histological subtype.

The vast majority of malignancies detected in renal parenchyma are diagnosed as renal cell carcinoma (RCC), whose subtype discrimination and determination of prognosis may contribute to the selection of the adequate therapy. Recently, a new class of small non-coding RNAs, known as microRNAs, has proven to be among the most promising biomarkers for providing this information. Herein, we sought to add up to this knowledge by evaluating the expression levels of microRNA-145 (miR-145) in RCC. For that purpose, total RNA from 58 cancerous and 44 adjacent non-cancerous renal tissues was firstly extracted and then polyadenylated and reverse transcribed to cDNA. MiR-145 levels were finally analyzed by developing and applying a highly sensitive real-time PCR protocol, while their clinical significance was determined via comprehensive statistical analysis. Our data showed that miR-145 was significantly downregulated in cancerous samples and could discriminate between clear cell and non-clear cell subtypes. Moreover, miR-145 expression was found to be correlated with primary tumor staging of cancerous samples, something also noticed in the clear cell RCC subset, in which miR-145 levels were negatively correlated with tumor size as well. Overall, these results indicate that miR-145 might constitute a promising molecular marker for RCC classification and staging.

Cisplatin and Paclitaxel Alter the Expression Pattern of miR-143/145 and miR-183/96/182 Clusters in T24 Bladder Cancer Cells.

Although cisplatin-based chemotherapy is considered to be the treatment of choice for metastatic bladder cancer, its efficacy and tolerability has proven to be limited. MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs, whose genes are frequently organized in clusters. These molecules constitute posttranscriptional regulators of mRNA expression and are claimed to be deregulated in cancer. miR-143/145 and miR-183/96/182 clusters have been extensively studied in bladder cancer cells. Herein, we tried to add up to this knowledge by assessing the expression levels of the five mature microRNAs derived from the aforementioned clusters in T24 bladder cancer cells exposed to either cisplatin or paclitaxel. For both compounds, the viability of treated T24 cells was estimated via the MTT colorimetric assay and the Trypan Blue exclusion method, while a fraction of the cells was left to recover. The expression levels of all mature microRNAs were finally quantified both in treated and in recovered cells by performing real-time PCR. According to our data, cisplatin and paclitaxel strongly decreased T24 cells' viability, showing in parallel the ability to significantly down-regulate miR-143 levels, and up-regulate the expression levels of miR-145, miR-183, miR-96, and miR-182, which, in their total, demonstrated case-specific variations after recovery period.

Gemcitabine impacts differentially on bladder and kidney cancer cells: distinct modulations in the expression patterns of apoptosis-related microRNAs and BCL2 family genes.

Bladder and renal cancer are two representative cases of tumors that respond differentially to gemcitabine. Previous studies have shown that gemcitabine can trigger apoptosis in various cancer cells. Herein, we sought to investigate the impact of gemcitabine on the expression levels of the BCL2 family members BCL2, BAX, and BCL2L12 and the apoptosis-related microRNAs miR-182, miR-96, miR-145, and miR-16 in the human bladder and kidney cancer cell lines T24 and Caki-1, respectively. Cancer cells' viability as well as the IC50 doses of gemcitabine were estimated by the MTT assay, while the detection of cleaved PARP via Western blotting was used as an indicator of apoptosis. Furthermore, T24 and Caki-1 cells' ability to recover from treatment was also monitored. Two different highly sensitive quantitative real-time RT-PCR methodologies were developed in order to assess the expression levels of BCL2 family genes and microRNAs. Exposure of cancer cells to gemcitabine produced the IC50 values of 30 and 3 nM for Caki-1 and T24 cells, correspondingly, while cleaved PARP was detected only in Caki-1 cells. T24 cells demonstrated the ability to recover from gemcitabine treatment, whereas Caki-1 cells' recovery capability was dependent on the initial time of exposure. BCL2 and BAX were significantly modulated in treated Caki-1 cells. Instead, T24 cells exhibited alterations only in the latter, as well as in all studied microRNAs. Therefore, according to our data, bladder and renal cancer cells' response to gemcitabine is accompanied by distinct alterations in the expression levels of their apoptosis-related genes and microRNAs.

Cytotoxic activity of sunitinib and everolimus in Caki-1 renal cancer cells is accompanied by modulations in the expression of apoptosis-related microRNA clusters and BCL2 family genes.

Sunitinib and everolimus are two of the antineoplastic agents indicated for the management of metastatic renal cancer. Although both of the above compounds were primarily designed as antiangiogenic factors, preclinical studies claim that these drugs can also trigger apoptosis. Herein, we sought to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of sunitinib and everolimus against renal cancer cells Caki-1 and moreover to assess their impact on the expression levels of three BCL2 family members and three apoptosis-related microRNA clusters upon incubation with the drugs or following recovery from treatment. The cytotoxic effect of sunitinib and everolimus on Caki-1 cells' viability was estimated by the MTT assay, while cleaved PARP, assayed via Western Blotting, served as a marker of programmed cell death. As for the expression levels of the BCL2 family members BCL2, BAX and BCL2L12 and those of the mature microRNAs of the miR-183/96/182, miR-143/145, and miR-15a/16 clusters, they were quantified via real-time PCR. Our results showed that both agents induced a time- and dose-dependent decrease in cell viability and promoted cleavage of PARP. In parallel, significant modulations were observed in the expression levels of miR-145, miR-15a, and miR-16 in case of sunitinib, whereas BCL2, BAX, miR-145 and miR-15a expression was strongly affected by everolimus. Overall, our data support the notion that sunitinib and everolimus are able to directly induce cell death in renal cancer cells and simultaneously affect the expression levels of their apoptosis-related microRNAs and BCL2 family members upon this process.

L-DOPA decarboxylase mRNA levels provide high diagnostic accuracy and discrimination between clear cell and non-clear cell subtypes in renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most frequent type of kidney cancer. RCC patients frequently present with arterial hypertension due to various causes, including intrarenal dopamine deficiency. L-DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is the gene encoding the enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of dopamine in humans. Several studies have shown that the expression levels of DDC are significantly deregulated in cancer. Thus, we herein sought to analyze the mRNA levels of DDC and evaluate their clinical significance in RCC. DESIGN AND METHODS: DDC levels were analyzed in 58 surgically resected RCC tumors and 44 adjacent non-cancerous renal tissue specimens via real-time PCR. Relative levels of DDC were estimated by applying the 2(-ΔΔC)T method, while their diagnostic accuracy and correlation with the clinicopathological features of RCC tumors were assessed by comprehensive statistical analysis. RESULTS: DDC mRNA levels were found to be dramatically downregulated (p<0.001) in RCC tumors, exhibiting remarkable diagnostic accuracy as assessed by ROC curve analysis (AUC: 0.910; p<0.001) and logistic regression (OR: 0.678; p=0.001). Likewise, DDC was found to be differentially expressed between clear cell RCC and the group of non-clear cell subtypes (p=0.001) consisted of papillary and chromophobe RCC specimens. Furthermore, a statistically significant inverse correlation was also observed when the mRNA levels of DDC were analyzed in relation to tumor grade (p=0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that DDC constitutes a highly promising molecular marker for RCC, exhibiting remarkable diagnostic accuracy and potential to discriminate between clear cell and non-clear cell histological subtypes of RCC.

Human L-DOPA decarboxylase mRNA is a target of miR-145: A prediction to validation workflow.

l-DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is a multiply-regulated gene which encodes the enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of dopamine in humans. MicroRNAs comprise a novel class of endogenously transcribed small RNAs that can post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of various genes. Given that the mechanism of microRNA target recognition remains elusive, several genes, including DDC, have not yet been identified as microRNA targets. Nevertheless, a number of specifically designed bioinformatic algorithms provide candidate miRNAs for almost every gene, but still their results exhibit moderate accuracy and should be experimentally validated. Motivated by the above, we herein sought to discover a microRNA that regulates DDC expression. By using the current algorithms according to bibliographic recommendations we found that miR-145 could be predicted with high specificity as a candidate regulatory microRNA for DDC expression. Thus, a validation experiment followed by firstly transfecting an appropriate cell culture system with a synthetic miR-145 sequence and sequentially assessing the mRNA and protein levels of DDC via real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Our analysis revealed that miR-145 had no significant impact on protein levels of DDC but managed to dramatically downregulate its mRNA expression. Overall, the experimental and bioinformatic analysis conducted herein indicate that miR-145 has the ability to regulate DDC mRNA expression and potentially this occurs by recognizing its mRNA as a target.