A health disparities study of MicroRNA-146a expression in prostate cancer samples derived from African American and European American patients.

Considering the prevalence of prostate cancer all over the world, it is desired to have tools, technologies, and biomarkers which help in early detection of the disease and discriminate different races and ethnic groups. Genetic information from the single gene analysis and genome-wide association studies have identified few biomarkers, however, the drivers of prostate cancer remain unknown in the majority of prostate cancer patients. In those cases where genetic association has been identified, the genes confer only a modest risk of this cancer, hence, making them less relevant for risk counseling and disease management. There is a need for additional biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer. MicroRNAs are a class of non-protein coding RNA molecules that are frequently dysregulated in different cancers including prostate cancer and show promise as diagnostic biomarkers and targets for therapy. Here we describe the role of micro RNA 146a (miR-146a) which may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for prostate cancer, as indicated from the data presented in this report. Also, a pilot study indicated differential expression of miR-146a in prostate cancer cell lines and tissues from different racial groups. Reduced expression of miR-146a was observed in African American tumor tissues compared to those from European Whites This report provides a novel insight into understanding the prostate carcinogenesis.

An Investigation of Atomic Structures Derived from X-ray Crystallography and Cryo-Electron Microscopy Using Distal Blocks of Side-Chains.

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a structure determination method for large molecular complexes. As more and more atomic structures are determined using this technique, it is becoming possible to perform statistical characterization of side-chain conformations. Two data sets were involved to characterize block lengths for each of the 18 types of amino acids. One set contains 9131 structures resolved using X-ray crystallography from density maps with better than or equal to 1.5 Å resolutions, and the other contains 237 protein structures derived from cryo-EM density maps with 2-4 Å resolutions. The results show that the normalized probability density function of block lengths is similar between the X-ray data set and the cryo-EM data set for most of the residue types, but differences were observed for ARG, GLU, ILE, LYS, PHE, TRP, and TYR for which conformations with certain shorter block lengths are more likely to be observed in the cryo-EM set with 2-4 Å resolutions.

Core Canonical Pathways Involved in Developing Human Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM).

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive type of the primary brain tumors with pathologic hallmarks of necrosis and vascular proliferation. The diagnosis of GBM is currently mostly based on histological examination of brain tumor tissues, after radiological characterization and surgical biopsy. The ability to characterize tumors comprehensively at the molecular level raises the possibility that diagnosis can be made based on molecular profiling with or without histological examination, rather than solely on histological phenotype. The development of novel genomic and proteomic techniques will foster in the identification of such diagnostic and prognostic molecular markers. We analyzed the global differential gene expression of a GBM cell line HTB15 in comparison to normal human Astrocytes, and established a few canonical pathways that are important in determining the molecular mechanisms of cancer using global gene expression microarray, coupled with the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA®). Overall, we revealed a discrete gene expression profile in the experimental model that resembled progression of GBM cancer. The canonical pathway analysis showed the involvement of genes that differentially expressed in such a disease condition that included Inositol pathway, Polo like kinases, nNOS signaling, and Tetrapyrrole biosynthesis. Our findings established that the gene expression pattern of this dreaded brain cancer will probably help the cancer research community by finding out newer therapeutic strategies to combat this dreaded cancer type that leads to the identification of high-risk population in this category, with almost hundred percent mortality rate.