In recent years, the incidence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has become the highest lethal rate of cancer worldwide. Molecular assays of EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, NRAS, PIK3CA and Her-2 are widely used to guide individualized treatment in NSCLC patients. Somatic mutations in 112 NSCLC patients, including 7 oncogenic driver genes, were detected by Iontorrent personal genome machine (PGM). Sanger sequencing was used to test and verify the results of PGM. Apart from uncommon mutations of EGFR, 101 NSCLC specimens were tested by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). According to NGS results, mutations were detected in EGFR (58/112, 51.79% of tumors), KRAS (10/112, 8.93%), BRAF (2/112, 1.79%), NRAS (2/112, 1.79%), Her-2 (2/112, 1.79%), PIK3CA (6/112, 5.36%) and TP53 (31/112, 27.69%). There were 27 samples without any somatic mutations in all genes while 24 samples harboured mutations in two or more genes. A total of 61 samples had one or more mutations in a single gene. All alterations of 7 genes were presented and the overall detection rate of NGS and Sanger sequencing was determined to be 51.79% (58/112) and 37.50% (42/112), respectively (χ2=5.88, P=0.015). Compared with Sanger sequencing, the total sensitivity and specificity of NGS assays was 95.24% (40/42) and 77.14% (54/70), respectively. The overall detection rate of NGS and ddPCR was 45.54% (46/101) and 47.52% (48/101), respectively (χ2=0.000598, P=0.98). Compared with ddPCR, the overall sensitivity and specificity of NGS assays was 95.83% (46/48) and 98.11% (52/53), respectively. The findings indicated that the positive mutation rate of EGFR tested by NGS was significantly lower than that by Sanger sequencing, but the difference between ddPCR and NGS was not statistically significant. The high degree of agreement of reportable variants is proposed in both NGS and ddPCR analysis, suggesting the performance of NGS assays in routine clinical detection may be useful in determining the treatment decisions in NSCLC patients.

Objectives: miR-181a is involved in immunity, metabolism, tumor suppression or carcinogenesis reported by many other studies. However, its role in the development of chemosensitivity to adriamycin in low-invasive breast cancer cells remains unclear. The aim of this study is to define the function role of miR-181a in promoting the efficacy of adriamycin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Cell survival analysis was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Apoptotic cells were quantitatively detected using FITC Annexin V apoptosis Detection Kit I. Bcl-2 protein expression was measured by western blot. Luciferase reporter vector with the putative BCL-2 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) was constructed to explore whether BCL-2 was a direct target gene of miR-181a. Real-time PCR was performed to test the expression of miR-181a and Bcl-2 in the selected breast cancer tissue samples. Results: The down-regulation of miR-181a decreased adriamycin-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Transfected with miR-181a mimic in cells resulted in the decreased expression of Bcl-2. The alteration of miR-181a expression did not significantly affect the chemosensitivity to adriamycin in MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR cells with genetic knockout of Bcl-2. miR-181a may suppress Bcl-2 expression by forming imperfect base pairing with the 3'UTR of Bcl-2 gene such that a negative relationship between miR-181a and Bcl-2 in MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR cells is observed. Conclusions: At least in part, the detection of miR-181a may direct the clinical medication in patients with neoadjuvant chemotherapy because of miR-181a enhanced adriamycin-induced apoptosis via targeting Bcl-2.

Hepcidin is a promising serological marker for the differential diagnosis of tumor-related ACD and IDA, clarifying the pathogenesis of these anemias and guiding corrective treatment.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease, the pathogenesis of which is influenced by genetic and epigenetic events. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is extracellular DNA that is present in a number of bodily fluids, including blood, synovial fluid and cerebrospinal fluid. Compared with performing a tissue biopsy, ctDNA examination presents the advantages of minimal invasion and greater convenience. ctDNA is commonly used to identify actionable genomic alterations, monitor treatment responses, unravel therapeutic resistance and potentially detect disease progression prior to clinical and radiological confirmation. The technique can potentially serve as a non-invasive diagnostic tool in personalized medicine, as it demonstrates prognostic value in the management of patients with CRC. ctDNA detection continues to demonstrate inherent advantages compared with other methods, thus serving an increasingly important role in tumor monitoring and oncotherapy. The aim of the current review was to explore the clinical applications of ctDNA in patients with CRC, including early detection and screening, medication guidance, resistance prediction, and residual lesion and recurrence monitoring. Furthermore, several technical methods for ctDNA detection and analysis are explored, as well as other potential biomarkers.

Abstract. Acquired resistance to gefitinib remains a major challenge in cancer treatment. In the present study, the effect of exosomes on the transmission of gefitinib resistance from gefitinib-resistant HCC827 lung cancer cells (H827R) to their gefitinib-sensitive counterparts and the potential underlying mechanisms by which this occurs was investigated. Exosomes were obtained from the cell supernatant using ultracentrifugation and the ExoQuick-TC exosome precipitation solution. Drug resistance was assessed by flow cytometry, apoptosis assays and cell counting kit-8 assays. The expression of microRNA (miR)-21 was analyzed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Exosomes released by H827R cells (R/exo) may decrease the sensitivity of the human NSCLC HCC827 cell line to gefitinib. The results indicated that miR-21 expression was increased in R/exo and R/exo-treated H827S cells. However, miR-21 inhibition abrogated exosome-mediated drug resistance. Phosphorylated-protein kinase B (p-Akt), which is downstream of miR-21, was downregulated following gefitinib treatment; however, R/exo pretreatment elevated p-Akt levels and promoted the activation of Akt. By contrast, miR-21 inhibition reduced p-Akt expression. Therefore, the induction of miR-21 via exosomes and the activation of Akt may be mechanisms by which exosomes mediate the transfer of drug resistance.

Background:The aim of the research was to explore a cost effective, fast, easy to perform, and sensitive method for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation testing. Methods: High resolution melting analysis (HRM) was introduced to evaluate the efficacy of the analysis for dectecting EGFR mutations in exons 18 to 21 using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues and plasma free DNA from 120 patients. Results: The total EGFR mutation rate was 37.5% (45/120) detected by direct sequencing. There were 48 mutations in 120 FFPE tissues assessed by HRM. For plasma free DNA, the EGFR mutation rate was 25.8% (31/120). The sensitivity of HRM assays in FFPE samples was 100% by HRM. There was a low false-positive mutation rate but a high false-negative rate in plasma free DNA detected by HRM. Conclusions: Our results show that HRM analysis has the advantage of small tumor sample need. HRM applied with plasma free DNA showed a high false-negative rate but a low false-positive rate. Further research into appropriate methods and analysis needs to be performed before HRM for plasma free DNA could be accepted as an option in diagnostic or screening settings.

Resveratrol, a phytoalexin found in a range of plant products, may exert a variety of pharmacological activities. In this study, we investigated the effect of resveratrol on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vivo, and we found that the pretreatment with resveratrol can effectively protect mice against LPS-induced ALI. Mice were pretreated with 1 mg/kg resveratrol for 3 days before challenging with a dose of 15 mg/ kg LPS. The histological result showed that resveratrol can suppress the edema, inflammatory cell infiltration, and alveolar structure damage of lungs in ALI mice, and a decrease in the lung W/D ratio was also observed in mice with resveratrol pretreatment. Additionally, resveratrol markedly decreased the production of inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1b and MIP-1a and prevented the release of nitric oxide (NO) through inhibiting the expression of inducible NO synthase in lung tissues. Furthermore, the pretreatment with resveratrol suppressed the nuclear translocation of NFjB in lung tissues, which may be partly responsible for its effect on the ALI. In conclusion, the results presented here may suggest resveratrol as a potential therapeutic agent for treating ALI in the future. Anat Rec, 294:527-532, 2011. V V C 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: resveratrol; acute lung injury; lipopolysaccharide; NF-jB Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common clinical problem, which is characterized by the upregulation of inflammatory mediators in the host and followed by an onset of dyspnea, severe hypoxemia, and pulmonary edema, thus leading to significant morbidity and mortality (Erickson et al., 2009;Martinez et al., 2009). Several animal models have been developed to study the pathophysiologic mechanism involved in ALI, and the intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of the outer cell wall of most gram-negative bacteria, is one of the most common accepted models. ALI represents a state of excess production of inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules (Ware and Matthay, 2000); and the release of LPS is a major stimulus for release of cytokines, which may further cause pulmonary damage leading to ALI (Ware et al., 2007). Although great advances in understanding the pathophysiology of ALI had been achieved, the available therapies have not reduced the mortality or increased the quality of life in survivors.Upregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) increased the production of nitric oxide (NO), which was observed in ALI both in animal models and humans

Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers and has very poor treatment outcome. Biomarkers useful for screening and assessing early therapeutic response may significantly improve the therapeutic outcome but are still lacking. In this study, serum samples from 218 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, 34 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients and 171 matched healthy controls from China were analyzed for 11 proteins using the Luminex multiplex assay. Eight of the 11 proteins (OPN, SAA, CRP, CYFRA21.1, CEA, NSE, AGP and HGF) are significantly elevated in NSCLC and SCLC (p = 10−5−10−59). At the individual protein level, OPN has the best diagnostic value for NSCLC (AUC = 0.92), two acute phase proteins (SAA and CRP) have AUC near 0.83, while CEA and CYFRA21.1 also possess good AUC (0.81 and 0.77, respectively). More importantly, several three-protein combinations that contain OPN and CEA plus one of four proteins (CRP, SAA, CYFRA21.1 or NSE) have excellent diagnostic potential for NSCLC (AUC = 0.96). Four proteins (CYFRA21.1, CRP, SAA and NSE) are severely reduced and three proteins (OPN, MIF and NSE) are moderately decreased after platinum-based chemotherapy. Therapeutic response index (TRI) computed with 3–5 proteins suggests that approximately 25% of the NSCLC patients respond well to the therapy and TRI is significantly correlated with pre-treatment protein levels. Our data suggest that therapeutic response in NSCLC patients can be effectively measured but personalized biomarkers may be needed to monitor different subsets of patients.