Despite the association of several miRNAs with bladder cancer, little is known about the miRNAs' regulatory networks. In this study, we aimed to construct potential networks of bladder-cancer-related miRNAs and their known target genes using miRNA expression profiling and bioinformatics tools and to investigate potential key molecules that might play roles in bladder cancer regulatory networks. Global miRNA expression profiles were obtained using microarray followed by RT-qPCR validation using two randomly selected miRNAs. Known targets of deregulated miRNAs were utilized using DIANA-TarBase database v6.0. The incorporation of deregulated miRNAs and target genes into KEGG pathways were utilized using DIANA-mirPath software. To construct potential miRNA regulatory networks, the overlapping parts of three selected KEGG pathways were visualized by Cytoscape software. We finally gained 19 deregulated miRNAs, including 5 ups- and 14 down regulated in 27 bladder-cancer tissue samples and 8 normal urothelial tissue samples. The enrichment results of deregulated miRNAs and known target genes showed that most pathways were related to cancer or cell signaling pathways. We determined the hub CDK6, BCL2, E2F3, PTEN, MYC, RB, and ERBB3 target genes and hub hsa-let-7c, hsa-miR-195-5p, hsa-miR-141-3p, hsa-miR-26a-5p, hsa-miR-23b-3p, and hsa-miR-125b-5p miRNAs of the constructed networks. These findings provide new insights into the bladder cancer regulatory networks and give us a hypothesis that hsa-let-7c, hsa-miR-195-5p, and hsa-miR-125b-5p, along with CDK4 and CDK6 genes might exist in the same bladder cancer pathway. Particularly, hub miRNAs and genes might be potential biomarkers for bladder cancer clinics.

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Our findings suggested that p16 and p21 may be of value as an adjunct to conventional morphologic criteria in the assessment of problematic uterine smooth muscle tumors.

Anogenital warts related to human papillomavirus (HPV) have been observed in children. Definition of the transmission mode, therapy, and follow-up for long term potential complications is important. A 27-month old girl was admitted with multiple pedunculated red-purple colored cauliflower-like lesions of 1.5 years duration. Clinical/histopathological and microbiological diagnosis was condyloma acuminate due to HPV type 16. After 12 weeks of imiquimod 5% cream application (pea-sized) overnight three times per week, the perianal warts had completely disappeared. The mode of transmission of HPV 16 in our case was probably horizontal, related to the sharing of common personal hygiene items in the women’s shelter. We report herein the case of an infant living in a women’s shelter with giant condyloma acuminata due to HPV 16, which was successfully treated with topical imiquimod therapy. This patient should be followed up for recurrence and potential malignant lesions related to HPV type 16.

This 45-year-old woman was admitted with neck and back pain and difficulty in ambulation that had been progressively worsening for 2 years. Admission MR imaging revealed a cervicomedullary junction tumor and 2 intradural-extramedullary spinal tumors located separately at the levels of T5-6 and T8-9. All masses were successfully resected in a 2-stage operation. Histopathological examination of the surgical specimens revealed that all the lesions were ependymomas. Genetic analysis was performed to determine if the tumors were related. Conventional cytogenetics, multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization (M-FISH), interphase-FISH specific to 22q11, and epidermal growth factor receptor loci analyses of the tumor samples revealed that the lesions originated from the same primary tumor. Although 3 simultaneous tumors in different compartments of the neural axis were diagnosed as ependymoma by histopathological examination, it was not possible to be sure if their multiplicity was due to spread of tumor cells via CSF or if it was due to multicentric foci. Thus, genetic analysis of the tumor samples is essential to confirm the exact mechanism of development of multiple ependymomas.

An increasing number of studies have shown that angiogenesis has an important role in the progression of cancer. The growth of a new network of blood vessels is crucial for tumor growth and metastasis, which is promoted by several proangiogenic factors. Leptin, an essential adipokine that is secreted from fat tissue, is one of these pro-angiogenic factors. It has been shown that the inhibition of leptin-induced angiogenesis resulted in decreased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/VEGFR2, hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) 1α, NF-κB, IL-1 and Notch and reduced the tumor growth in breast cancer. Leptin induces angiogenesis in breast cancer either by upregulating VEGFR2 in endothelial cells or by increasing VEGF/VEGFR2 expression through the Notch, IL-1 and leptin crosstalk outcome (NILCO) pathway. NILCO is a novel mechanism that interacts with proinflammatory and proangiogenic signals, which are critical for cell proliferation and angiogenesis in cancer. Several studies have shown that components of NILCO may affect human cancer incidence and progression. However, to the best of our knowledge, the interactions between Notch, IL-1 and leptin in human colorectal cancer have not been yet studied at the molecular level. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression levels of genes related to the NILCO pathway in human colorectal cancer specimens. The current results demonstrated that leptin, leptin receptor (ObR) b, Notch-1, Notch-4, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-1R, IL-6, JAK-2, STAT-1, STAT-3, VEGFA, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, TNF-α and NF-κB mRNA expression levels in the cancer tissue were increased compared with the normal tissue. No significant changes in the mRNA expression levels of Jagged-1, HIF-1α and TNF receptor 1 were observed. Western blotting revealed that the protein expression levels of IκB were increased in the cancer tissue compared with normal tissue, whereas HIF-1α and phosphorylated STAT-1 levels were decreased. IL-6 and VEGFA plasma concentrations were statistically raised and the leptin plasma concentration was also raised, although significantly, patients with cancer compared with control individuals. Together, the present findings indicated that Notch, IL-1 and leptin may serve a crucial role in the development of colorectal cancer.

Uterine adenomatoid tumors are usually solitary lesions. Adenomatoid tumors diffusely infiltrating the entire myometrium have rarely been reported in the literature. A feature common to half of the reported cases of diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor was an immunocompromised status of the patient caused by the medications for renal transplantation. In this article, we describe an unusual case of diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor in a patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Pelvic examination showed an irregular and enlarged uterus. Supracervical hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed with a clinical diagnosis of uterine leiomyoma. Pathological examination showed, in addition to multiple leiomyomas, diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor. We suggested that the diffuse pattern in our patient might be related to immunosuppression secondary to chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

ÖzAmaç: Psoriasis hastalarında ve sağlıklı kontrollerde serum ve deri örneklerinde beyin türevli nörotrofik faktör (BDNF), sinir büyüme faktörü (NGF), tümör nekroz faktör-α (TNF) ve interlökin-6 (IL) düzeylerini belirleyerek metabolik sendrom (MetS) ve psoriasis ilişkisinde nörotrofinlerin yerini değerlendirmeyi amaçladık. Yöntemler: Serum BDNF, NGF, TNF-α ve IL-6 düzeyleri ticari hazır ELISA kitleri ile değerlendirildi. BDNF, NGF, TNF-α ve IL-6 antikorları ile BDNF, NGF, TNF-α ve IL-6'nın derideki ekspresyon düzeyi belirlendi. Bulgular: MetS risk faktörlerinden herhangi birinin eşlik etmediği 39 psoriasis vulgaris hastası, MetS'nin eşlik ettiği 21 psoriasis vulgaris hastası ile 15 sağlıklı kontrol çalışmaya dahil edildi. BDNF'nin serum, epidermal ve dermal infiltrasyon düzeyi kontrol grubunda psoriasis hastalarına göre belirgin olarak yüksek saptandı (p=0,017; p=0,019; p=0,002). Serum NGF, TNF-α ve IL-6 düzeyleri açısından gruplar arasında farklılık saptanmaz iken (p˃0,05), psoriasis hastalarında epidermiste NGF'nin infiltrasyon düzeyi kontrol grubuna göre daha fazla olup istatistiksel olarak anlamlı fark tespit edildi (p=0,003). Psoriasis hasta grupları arasında ise serum BDNF düzeyi, epidermal ve dermal BDNF infiltrasyon düzeyi ve epidermal NGF infiltrasyon düzeyi ise benzerdi (p>0,05). Sonuç: Çalışmamızdaki sonuçlar nörotrofinlerin psoriasis patogenezindeki yerini desteklemektedir. Ancak çalışmamızda psoriasis grupları arasında serum ve doku BDNF, NGF düzeylerinin değişmemiş olması, psoriasis immünopatogenezinde nörotrofinlerin metabolik durumdan bağımsız olarak inflamatuvar süreç ile ilişkili olduğunu düşündürmüştür. Anahtar kelimeler: Beyin türevli nörotrofik faktör, sinir büyüme faktörü, nörotrofin, metabolik sendrom, psoriasis, immünopatogenez Objective: We aimed to evaluate the role of neurotrophins in relation to metabolic syndrome (MetS) and psoriasis by determining brain derived neurotrophic hormon (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL) levels in serum and skin samples of psoriasis patients and healthy controls. Methods: The BDNF, NGF, TNF-α and IL-6 levels were assessed using commercially available ELISA kits. The level of expression BDNF, NGF, TNF-α and IL-6 antibodies was determined by BDNF, NGF, TNF-α and IL-6 Antibodies. Results: Thirty nine psoriasis vulgaris patients without MetS risk factors, 21 patients with psoriasis vulgaris accompanied by MetS and 15 healthy controls were included in the study. The serum BDNF levels, epidermal and the dermal infiltration levels of BDNF were significantly higher in the control group than in the psoriasis patients (p=0.017, p=0.019, p=0.002). There was no difference between the groups in terms of serum NGF, TNF-α and IL-6 levels (p˃0.05), but the infiltration level of NGF in the epidermis was higher in the psoriasis patients than the control group and statistically significant difference was found (p=0.003). Serum BDNF levels, epidermal and dermal BDNF infiltration level and the epidermal NGF stainin...