No abstract

MicroRNAs, as non-coding transcripts, modulate gene expression through RNA silencing under normal physiological conditions. Their aberrant expression has strongly associated with tumorigenesis and cancer development. MiR-20b is one of the crucial miRNAs that regulate essential biological processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, and migration. Deregulated levels of miR-20b contribute to the early- and advanced stages of cancer. On the other hand, investigations emphasize the tumor suppressor ability of miR-20b. High-throughput strategies are developed to identify miR-20b potential targets, providing the proper insight into its molecular mechanism of action. Moreover, accumulated results suggest that miR-20b exerts its effects through diverse signaling pathways, including PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK axes. Restoration of the altered expression levels of miR-20b induces cell apoptosis and reduces invasion and migration. Further, miR-20b can be used as a biomarker in cancer. The current comprehensive review could lead to a better understanding of the miR-20b in either tumorigenesis or tumor regression that may open new avenues for cancer treatment.

A BSTRACT Background and Aim: Seborrheic dermatitis is a common inflammatory disease for which various treatments have been proposed. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of 80-mg Triamcinolone solution diluted with 0.1% normal saline for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis in adults. Methods: For this study, 120 patients with seborrheic dermatitis were considered. After obtaining written and informed consent, patients were treated with 80 mg of Triamcinolone diluted with 0.1% normal saline. To evaluate the effectiveness of Triamcinolone treatment, the scoring index (SI) and the level of patient satisfaction were evaluated at 2 and 4 weeks after the start of treatment and also 4 weeks after the end of treatment. Results: The results of the study showed that 61.67% (74 patients) were satisfied with “good” to “very good” for the Triamcinolone treatment to seborrheic dermatitis. Based on the findings of the study, it was found that the SI before treatment was equal to 2.45 ± 7.45, which after 2 weeks after treatment, this index decreased by 61.6% (SI: 2.86 ± 1.94). In addition, the SI decreased to 88.6% (SI: 0.85 ± 1.02) after 4 weeks. Conclusion: Considering the high decrease in SI, increasing patient satisfaction and observing a low number of cases with recurrence of the disease by Triamcinolone treatment method, it can be concluded that injection of Triamcinolone 80 mg diluted with 0.1% normal saline can be effective and efficient for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis.

Background and Aims: There is now an increasing body of evidence that survivin is a protein, expressed highly in breast cancer. The signaling interaction of protein survivin in breast cancer is still unclear, but physiological regulation of survivin seems to be linked to the breast cancer occurrence and severity of it. Materials and Methods: Serum samples were obtained from April 2015 to November 2017 out of women enrolled in a group undergoing annual breast cancer testing. Routine blood samples were analyzed at the Biochemical Laboratory of Rouhani Babol University Hospital . Results: Serum levels of survivin in patients with breast cancer group increased compared to the healthy controls [207.520±110.284 (mean±SD) vs. 126.212±53.130, ng/L, p<0.001]. Also, we detected a positive correlation between elevated serum survivin level and clinical characteristics of patients with breast cancer. Conclusions: Serum survivin measurement was shown to discriminate patients with breast cancer from healthy controls. However, further studies are needed to confirm this role and its benefits.

The use of advanced preclinical models has become increasingly important in drug development. This is particularly relevant in bladder cancer, where the global burden of disease is quite high based on prevalence and a relatively high rate of lethality. Predictive tools to select patients who will be responsive to invasive or morbid therapies (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and/or surgery) are largely absent. Patient-derived and clinically relevant models including patient-derived xenografts (PDX), organoids, and conditional reprogramming (CR) of cell cultures efficiently generate numerous models and are being used in both basic and translational cancer biology. These CR cells (CRCs) can be reprogrammed to maintain a highly proliferative state and reproduce the genomic and histological characteristics of the parental tissue. Therefore, CR technology may be a clinically relevant model to test and predict drug sensitivity, conduct gene profile analysis and xenograft research, and undertake personalized medicine. This review discusses studies that have utilized CR technology to conduct bladder cancer research.