The influence of microsatellite instability (MSI) on the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) requires more investigation. We assessed the role of MSI status in survival of individuals diagnosed with primary colorectal cancer. In this retrospective cross-sectional study the MSI status was determined in 158 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumors and their matched normal tissues from patients who underwent curative surgery. Cox proportional hazard modeling was performed to assess the clinical prognostic significance. In this study we found that MSI-H tumors were predominantly located in the colon versus rectum (p = 0.03), associated with poorer differentiation (p = 0.003) and TNM stage II/III of tumors (p = 0.02). In CRC patients with stage II, MSI-L cases showed significantly poorer survival compared with patients who had MSI-H or MSS tumors (p = 0.04). This study indicates that MSI-L tumors correlate with poorer clinical outcome in patients with stage II tumors (p = 0.04) or in tumors located in the colon (p = 0.02). MSI-L characterizes a distinct subgroup of CRC patients who have a poorer outcome. This study suggests that MSI status in CRC, as a clinical prognostic marker, is dependent on other factors, such as tumor stage and location.

Background: Acute pancreatitis is the most common complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) ranges between 15 and 20% among patients at high risk of developing PEP. The efficacy of indomethacin administration in the prevention of PEP is rather debatable. In the present randomized trial study, we evaluated whether or not the combination of indomethacin and epinephrine in comparison to the single administration of indomethacin differs in the pathogenesis and prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis. Patients and Methods: One hundred and ninety-two patients were randomized in a double-blinded manner into 3 groups: the epinephrine group (group A), the indomethacin group (group B), and the combined epinephrine and indomethacin group (group C). After the procedure, patients were evaluated for the PEP development. Results: During the procedure, 66 patients were randomized to the epinephrine group (group A), 68 cases to the indomethacin group (group B), and 58 individuals to the indomethacin-epinephrine group (group C). The mean age of patients in the epinephrine group was 59.59 ± 15.680 years, in the indomethacin group it was 58.06 ± 17.125 years, and in the combination group it was 59.62 ± 15.369 years. In the present study, we did not observe a significant difference between the 3 groups in sex, age, pre-ERCP amylase, lipase, and patient and procedure risk factors including pancreatic duct (PD) dilation (p = 0.404), PD cannulation (p = 0.329), and difficult cannulation (p = 0.076) among others. PEP developed in 7 of the 192 individuals (3.6%), 6 PEP cases occurred in the indomethacin group and 1 in the epinephrine group (p = 0.016). Univariate analysis of risk factors for PEP in patients with and without pancreatitis revealed no significant difference between the pancreatitis group and the non-pancreatitis group. Conclusion: In comparison to the administration of indomethacin alone, a single application of epinephrine and the combination of epinephrine and indomethacin seem to be effective in reducing the cases of PEP. A further randomized clinical trial with a larger sample size is required to confirm the efficacy of our medication in the prevention of pancreatitis after ERCP.

Gastric cancer (GC) is the second cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Interleukin (IL)-16 has a vital role in the development and homeostasis of the immune system. In the present study, we evaluated an exon variant rs4072111 C/T polymorphism and 3' UTR variant rs1131445 C/T within the miRNA binding with gastric cancer susceptibility in Iranian population. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood samples according to phenol chloroform extraction. The genotypes of IL-16 polymorphisms rs1131445 T/C and rs4072111 T/C were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. In this case control study, a total of 256 patients with gastric cancer (238 cases (92.9 %) non-cardia and 18 cases (7.1 %) cardia) and 300 healthy control subjects were evaluated. In the present study, we found a significant association between rs4072111 of IL-16 gene and risk of GC in Iranian population. Individuals with CT genotype showed a significant association with 1.79-fold increased risk of GC (P = 0.008; adjusted OR 1.792; 95 % CI 1.164-2.759). The significant association was also detected for T allele of rs4072111 and increased risk of GC (P < 0.001; adjusted OR 1.981; 95 % CI 1.354-2.900). We also observed statistically a significant relationship between rs1131445 of IL-16 CT genotype and GC risk. Carriers of IL-16 CT genotype compared with TT genotype had 1.44 times higher increased likelihood of GC (P = 0.048; adjusted OR 1.445; 95 % CI 1.003-2.084). After stratification according to gender, we observed that in rs1131445, CT and CC male carriers had a higher risk of GC than females (P = 0.08; adjusted OR 1.608; 95 % CI 0.945-2.737 and P = 0.08; adjusted OR 2.186; 95 % CI 0.897-5.325, respectively). We also observed that for male carriers with C allele in rs1131445, there was a 1.53-fold higher risk of GC risk than female subjects (P = 0.029; adjusted OR 1.53; 95 % CI 1.04.4-2.248). We found that the rs1131445 T/C and rs4072111 T/C variants of IL-16 were significantly associated with increased risk of GC in Iranian population.

Organoids have extensive applications in many fields ranging from modelling human development and disease, personalised medicine, drug screening, etc. Moreover, in the last few years, several studies have evaluated the capacity of organoids as transplantation sources for therapeutic approaches and regenerative medicine. Nevertheless, depending on the origin of the cells and anatomical complications, an organoid transplant may make tissue regeneration difficult. However, some essential aspects of organoids including the morphological alterations and the growth pattern of the matched tumour and their healthy derived organoids have received less attention. Therefore, the current work focused on culturing matched healthy and tumour organoids from the same patient with colorectal cancer (CRC) and assessed their timed growth and structural differences on a daily basis. The healthy organoids underwent proliferation and branching morphogenesis, while the tumour organoids did not follow the same pattern, and the majority of them developed cystic structures instead. However, the number and size of tumour organoids were different from one patient to another. The differential morphological changes of the healthy versus human colonic tumour organoids likely linked to distinct molecular and cellular events during each day. Thus, while their specific structural features provide valuable in vitro models to study various aspects of human intestinal/colon tissue homeostasis and CRC which avoid or replace the use of animals in research, this model may also hold a great promise for the transplantation and regenerative medicine applications.

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer in males and the second in females in Iran. Males are more likely to develop CRC than women and age is considered as a main risk factor for colorectal cancer. Prevalence of colorectal cancer has been increasing in Asian countries. Aim: The object of this study was to determine the clinical and pathology characteristics of colorectal polyps in Iranian patients and to investigate the variation between our populations with other populations. Materials and Methods: A total of 167 patients with colorectal polyps were included in our study. All underwent colonoscopy during 2009-2013 and specimens were taken through polypectomy and transferred to pathology. All data in patient files including pathology reports were collected and analyzed by SPSS 16 software. A two-tailed test was used and a P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean age of participants was 57±15. Some 84 were females (50.3%) and 83 males (49.7%). Total of 225 polyps were detected which 119 (52.9%) were in males and 106 (47.1%) were in females. Solitary polyps were observed in 124 patients (74%), 26 (15.6%) had two polyps and 17 (10.1%) with more than two polyps (three to five). Rectosigmoid was the site of most of the polyps (63.1%), followed by 19.6% in the descending colon, 7.6% in the transverse, 5.8% in the ascending, and 3.1% in the cecum, data being missing in two cases. Conclusions: Recto sigmoid was site of most of the polyps. The most prevalent type of lesion was adenomatous polyps detected in 78 (34.7%). Mixed hyperplastic adenomatous type observed in 70 (31.1%). This high prevalence of adenomatous polyps in Iranian patients implies the urgent need for screening plans to prevent further healthcare problems with colorectal cancer in the Iranian population.