MiRNA-21 is recognized as the main active candidate and high expression in many solid tumors consequential cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and closely related to metastasis of disease. The study aimed to evaluate the serum miRNA-21 expression and therapy outcome in breast cancer patients and cell lines. Seventy-five histopathologically confirmed newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were included in the study; before and after therapy, patient's blood sample were collected and analyzed for serum microRNA-21 expression by quantitative real-time PCR. In patients, 8.9 mean fold increased microRNA-21 expression was observed compared to controls. Increased expression was found to be associated with advanced stage (11.72-fold), lymph node involvement (11.12-fold), and distant metastases (20.17-fold). After treatment significant decrease in miRNA-21 expression was observed and found to be significant (p < 0.0001). Patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy had significant impact on miRNA-21 suppression and found to be significantly associated with different clinicopathological features of patients. Increased miRNA-21 expression was also found to be significantly associated with poor survival of breast cancer patients (p = 0.002). MicroRNA-21 expression could be used as promising predictive indicators for breast cancer prognosis. MicroRNA-21 over-expression was associated with response to neoadjuvant therapy and may perhaps be considered as primary treatment choice.
Cell free DNA (cf-DNA) refers to all non -ncapsulated DNA present in the blood stream which may originate from apoptotic cells as a part of the physiological cell turnover, or from cancer cells or fetal cells. Recent studies have highlighted the utility of cfDNA analysis for genetic profiling of cancer, non-invasive prenatal testing besides many other clinical applications. In our review we discuss the sources of cfDNA in the body, the techniques most commonly being used for its isolation and analysis, the applications of cfDNA testing and the associated pros-cons. We conclude that for prenatal testing, cfDNA analysis provides an effective, non-invasive and safer alternative to traditional amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling tests. Also, in cancer patients, cfDNA analysis is useful for genetic profiling and follow-up during treatment. However, standardization of methods of isolation and analysis has become crucial for the success of widespread use of cfDNA analysis.
Team based learning (TBL) is a time tested teaching-learning (T-L) tool involving collaborative learning but has hardly been tested for teaching clinical biochemistry to undergraduate medical students. The present study was designed to (a) compare problem solving skills of first year MBBS students after attending a TBL session on 'organ function test' with that of the students taught the same topic by didactic lecture, (b) assess their perception towards TBL and (c) evaluate if difference in academic standing and gender influence the learning outcome of TBL.One Hundred first professional MBBS students were divided by stratified randomization into two groups. Group I was exposed to TBL to teach 'organ function tests', while group II was taught the same topic by traditional lecture. The outcome of the T-L sessions was assessed by a test for problem solving skills. Student perception towards TBL was assessed from students' response to a questionnaire. No significant difference between the two groups in problem solving skills could be discerned. High achievers performed better after TBL session, while the low achievers were more benefited by traditional lecture method. The female students showed better academic performance after TBL in comparison to male students. The students gave positive feedback for TBL as an instructional technique. We conclude that TBL gives satisfaction, is not inferior to lecture in effectiveness and hence should be used as a T-L method for undergraduate medical students. Moreover, being more effective for female students and high achievers, it is judicious to utilize TBL more frequently for them in an attempt to provide the best individualized teaching.
Background: Chronic inflammation is one of the critical causes to promote initiation and metastasis of solid malignancies including lung cancer. Inflammatory biomarkers, fibrinogen (Fib) and albumin (Alb), are significantly correlated with survival of other cancer. Here, we aim to investigate the prognostic roles of Alb to Fib ratio (AFR), Fib and Alb in lung cancer and to establish a novel effective nomogram combined with AFR. Methods: 412 lung cancer (LC) patients diagnosed between Feb 2005 and Dec 2014 were recruited in this retrospective study. the survival data were obtained by 3 years' following-up. The prognostic roles of AFR, Fib, Alb, NLR, PLR and MLR were identified by X-tile software, Kaplan-Meier curve, Cox regression model and time-dependent ROC.Results: In our study, the optimal cut-off values of AFR, Fib, Alb, NLR, PLR and MLR were 7.8, 3.3 mg/dL, 39.0 g/L, 2.7, 144.0 and 0.2, respectively. Low AFR (adjusted HR ¼ 1.820, 95%CI¼1.250-2.652 for LC; adjusted HR ¼ 2.308, 95%CI¼1.478-3.606 for NSCLC), high Fib (adjusted HR ¼ 1.575, 95%CI¼1.108-2.238 for LC; adjusted HR ¼ 1.892, 95%CI¼1.257-2.846 for NSCLC), low Alb (adjusted HR ¼ 1.524, 95%CI¼1.157-2.006 for LC; adjusted HR ¼ 1.811, 95%CI¼1.326-2.474 for NSCLC) were significantly associated with increased risk of death for LC patients, especially for NSCLC patients in all stages; high NLR was obviously associated with poor survival in LC individuals (adjusted HR ¼ 1.405, 95%CI¼1.066-1.852), particularly NSCLC (adjusted HR ¼ 1.552, 95%CI¼1.129-2.133) and TNM IV stage (adjusted HR ¼ 1.92, 95%CI¼1.201-3.071) patients, and high PLR (adjusted HR ¼ 1.391, 95%CI¼1.064-1.820 for LC; adjusted HR ¼ 2.186, 95%CI¼1.186 -4.033 for TNM IV stage) was significantly increased risk of death for advanced stage LC patients. Moreover, the area under curves (AUCs) within AFR, Fib, NLR were higher than that within Alb and PLR for prediction of survival of NSCLC patients; c-index of predicted nomogram for NSCLC including AFR was higher than that without these additional parameters (c-index¼ 0.731 vs.0.719). Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that circulating pre-treatment AFR was a promising prognostic biomarker to improve the predicted efficacy of nomogram for NSCLC.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.