Circulating miR-1826 in plasma correlates with circulating tumor cells and is a prognostic marker in colorectal cancer.

Our previous study showed that miR-1826 was a newly identified oncogenic non-coding RNA in colorectal cancer. But the potential relationship between miR-1826 and tumor metastasis has not been fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of circulating miR-1826 and its possible associations with circulating tumor cells in colorectal cancer. Our results first found that serum miR-1826 was significantly upregulated in colorectal cancer patients, compared with that in healthy volunteers ( p = 0.003). Similar results were also found in colorectal cancer with distant metastasis ( p = 0.001) and advanced colorectal cancer ( p < 0.001) patients, respectively. Clinicopathological analysis implied that circulating miR-1826 was positively associated with pT stage ( p = 0.026), lymphatic metastasis ( p = 0.034), distant metastasis ( p = 0.012), and tumor-node-metastasis stage ( p = 0.020). Besides, our univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that high serum miR-1826 expression could act as a prognostic and independent factor for overall survival of colorectal cancer patients ( p < 0.05), which led to a poorer 5-year overall survival rate ( p = 0.025). The area under the curve value of circulating miR-1826 was up to 0.848 ± 0.043, which strongly suggested serum miR-1826 as an effective diagnostic biomarker in colorectal cancer patients ( p < 0.001). Our subsequent experiments demonstrated that patients with high level of circulating tumor cells showed a higher level of miR-1826 expression, compared with the circulating tumor cell-negative patients ( p = 0.011). Similar results also showed that the amount of circulating tumor cells in high miR-1826 group was significantly higher than that in low miR-1826 group ( p = 0.001). Furthermore, the relationship between serum miR-1826 and circulating tumor cells was analyzed using SPSS software and a significant logarithmic relationship was found, which meant that circulating miR-1826 closely correlated with the amount of circulating tumor cells in colorectal cancer patient serum ( r = 0.283, p < 0.01). Our findings strongly suggested that serum miR-1826 could serve as an effective and non-invasive biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer. Circulating miR-1826 may be an important target in colorectal cancer therapy.

Construction of a potential long noncoding RNA prognostic model involved competitive endogenous RNA for patients with gastric cancer.

Increasing evidence has underscored the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) make up the major proportion of the competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) network and can regulate gene expression by competitively binding to miRNAs in the development and progression of tumors. Nevertheless, the role of lncRNA-mediated ceRNAs in gastric cancer (GC) and their regulatory mechanisms have not been elucidated to some extent. This study is aimed at constructing a prognostic risk model for GC based on lncRNAs. A TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) dataset was analyzed using edgeR to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) in GC tissues vs normal tissues. Subsequently, DElncRNAs that could predict GC prognosis were determined using a training set. A prognostic risk model based on the DElncRNAs was then constructed. The performance of the model was tested using a test set. The functions of these lncRNAs in GC were investigated using a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. Analysis of lncRNA expression in 407 TCGA GC cases identified 3 lncRNAs that significantly correlated with prognosis. GC cases with high-risk scores showed markedly poor prognosis relative to those with low-risk scores in both the training and test sets. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis of the relationship between various clinical features and prognosis found that these lncRNAs and stage significantly correlated with GC prognosis. A lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network based on 3 lncRNAs and functional enrichment analysis of interacting mRNA indicated that these genes are enriched in various intracellular receptor signaling pathways, including regulation of muscle system process, and protein deubiquitylation. The current study provides novel insights into the lncRNA-related ceRNA network in GC and sheds lights on underlying 3 lncRNA biomarkers may be independent prognostic signatures in predicting the survival of GC patients.

Simultaneous idiopathic segmental infarction of the great omentum with spontaneous splenic rupture: a rare association.

Idiopathic segmental infraction of the greater omentum (ISIGO) is a rare cause of acute abdomen. One of the main symptoms is right-side abdominal pain, while its etiology is still unclear. Until now, ISIGO simultaneously with spontaneous splenic rupture (SSR) has not been reported. Here, we presented a case of a 35-year old man, who was admitted with an acute abdomen, and the clinical diagnosis was ISIGO with SSR. He had a significant previous medical history of the vein thrombosis of lower limbs. Partial omental resection and splenectomy were performed, and the postoperative recovery of the patient was excellent. We also highlighted several possible theories to explain the etiology of the ISIGO, and emphasized that surgical methods, including laparoscopic surgery and laparotomy, are still the best way to treat the ISIGO at the emergency condition.