No abstract

miRNAs are considered promising non-invasive biomarkers. Serum represents the major source of biomarkers, being readily accessible for many analytical tests. Recently, whole blood has drawn increasing interest in biomarker studies due to the presence of cancer-interacting cells and circulating cancer cells. Although Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the seventh most frequent cancer worldwide, fragmented information exists regarding the miRNome characterization in blood and serum. We profiled the circulatory miRNome of paired serum and blood samples from 20 HCC patients, identifying 274 miRNA expressed in serum and 670 in blood, most of them still uncharacterized. 157 miRNA significantly differ between the two biofluids with 28 exclusively expressed in serum. Six miRNA clusters significantly characterize the two compartments, with the cluster containing miR-4484, miR-1281, miR-3178, miR-3613-3p, miR-4532, miR-4668-5p, miR-1825, miR-4487, miR-455-3p, miR-940 having the highest average expression in serum compared to blood. The ontological analysis revealed a role of these miRNAs in cancer progression, vascular invasion and cancer immune surveillance thought the regulation of DUSP1, PD-L1 and MUC1. Taken together, these results provide the most comprehensive contribution to date towards a complete miRNome profile of blood and serum for HCC patients. We show a consistent portion of circulatory miRNAs being still unknown.

Undifferentiated human ATSCs are suitable for cell-based treatment of mandibular defects, even in the absence of previous osteogenic induction in vitro.

Introduction Chronic inflammatory response is one of major contributors in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Inflammatory molecules, such as cytokines and growth factors in the circulation, can be useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of the patients. The stem cell growth factor beta (SCGFβ), a newly found protein, is a secreted sulfated glycoprotein and it functions as a growth factor for primitive hematopoietic progenitor cells. The level of SCGFβ had been reported to be elevated in several cancer types. However, there is very few or even no information on this protein in the study of HCC, even more in clinical studies. Methods A multiplex immunoassay panel of 48 cytokines and growth factors were utilized to screen 68 sera from 29 HCC patients at pretreatment (T0), 1 month (T1), and 6 months (T6) after treatment by either radiofrequency ablation (RF) or transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Treatment response was evaluated according to mRECIST criteria. Results Immunoassay screening showed that the levels of IL-17, CTACK, TNFα, IL-2Rα, IL-8, and SCGFβ were different in Complete Responders (CR) and Nonresponders (NR) groups. At T0 and T1, the SCGFβ level was significantly the highest in NR (23.8 and 40.7 ng/mL, respectively), followed by early recurrence (25.4 and 25.0 ng/mL), and CR (6.7 and 5.3 ng/mL), independently from HCV, stages, and treatment type. Low basal SCGFβ level was associated with longer disease-free survival compared to high SCGFβ. Conclusion In this study, for the first time, we demonstrate that the high level of serum SCGFβ at pre- and posttreatment is associated with HCC nonresponsiveness.