Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients have a high mortality rate; thus, new clinical biomarkers and therapeutic options are needed. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs that regulate posttranscriptional gene expression and are commonly deregulated in OSCC and other cancers. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is the most consistently overexpressed miRNA in several types of cancer, and it might be a useful clinical biomarker and therapeutic target. To better understand the role of miR-21 in OSCC, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples from 86 patients with primary OSCC were analyzed by in situ hybridization. We found that miR-21 was primarily expressed in the tumor stroma and in some tumor-associated blood vessels with no expression in the adjacent normal epithelia or stroma. Using image analysis, we quantitatively estimated miR-21 expression levels specifically in the stroma of a cohort of OSCC samples. These miR-21 levels significantly correlated with disease free survival with the highest levels being located in the stroma. Stromal miR-21 expression was independently associated with a poorer prognosis, even after adjusting for clinical parameters (perineural invasion and N-stage) in a multivariate analysis. In summary, we have shown that miR-21 is located in the carcinoma cells, stroma and blood vessels of tumors, and its expression specifically in the stromal compartment has a negative prognostic value in OSCC.

These data support the use of the SLNB technique as an accurate and safe staging tool in patients with OSCC with a cN0 neck. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E1033-E1040, 2016.

Compared with bariatric surgery, less invasive and reversible techniques to counteract obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been developed, including the EndoBarrier Gastrointestinal Liner [duodenal-jejunal bypass sleeve (DJBS)]. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses of eligible trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the DJBS. Five randomized controlled trials (RCTs; 235 subjects) and 10 observational studies (211 subjects) were included. The risk of bias was evaluated as high in all studies. The mean body mass index ranged from 30 to 49.2 kg/m(2) and 10-100% of the subjects had T2D. Meta-analysis showed that the DJBS was associated with significant mean differences in body weight and excess weight loss of -5.1 kg [95% confidence interval (CI) -7.3, -3.0; four trials; n = 151; I(2)  = 37%] and 12.6% (95% CI 9.0, 16.2; four trials; n = 166; I(2)  = 24%), respectively, compared with diet modification. The mean differences in glycated haemoglobin (-0.9%; 95% CI -1.8, 0.0) and fasting plasma glucose (-3.7 mM; 95% CI -8.2, 0.8) among subjects with T2D did not reach statistical significance. Adverse events consisted mainly of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. No deaths occurred. Future high-quality long-term RCTs are needed to further assess efficacy and safety.