No abstract

Elevated blood pressure has been implicated as a risk factor for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), but prospective studies were confined to men and did not consider the effect of antihypertensive medication. The authors examined the relation among blood pressure, antihypertensive medication, and RCC in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Blood pressure was measured in 296,638 women and men, recruited in eight European countries during 1992-1998, 254,935 of whom provided information on antihypertensive medication. During a mean follow-up of 6.2 years, 250 cases of RCC were identified. Blood pressure was independently associated with risk of RCC. The relative risks for the highest versus the lowest category of systolic (>/=160 mmHg vs. <120 mmHg) and diastolic (>/=100 mmHg vs. <80 mmHg) blood pressures were 2.48 (95% confidence interval: 1.53, 4.02) and 2.34 (95% confidence interval: 1.54, 3.55). Risk estimates did not significantly differ according to sex or use of antihypertensive medication. Individuals taking antihypertensive drugs were not at a significantly increased risk unless blood pressure was poorly controlled. These results support the hypothesis that hypertension, rather than its medications, increases the risk of RCC in both sexes, while effective blood pressure control may lower the risk.

No abstract

Bladder cancer is a common cancer in the Western world. The current prognosticators such as tumor grade, stage, size, and multifocality do not accurately reflect the clinical outcome. It is of clinical interest to identify biomarkers that could improve diagnostic and/or prognostic predictions. The objectives of this study were to identify deregulated miRNAs in bladder cancer samples and evaluate their potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. We screened 723 miRNAs by microarray and selected a subset of 15 distinctively deregulated miRNAs for further validation by real-time quantitative RT-(q)PCR. Seven miRNAs (miR-20a, miR-106b, miR-130b, miR-141, miR-200a, miR-200a*, and miR-205) were found to be up-regulated and eight miRNAs (miR-100, miR-125b, miR-130a, miR-139-5p, miR-145*, miR-199a-3p, miR-214, and miR-222) were found to be down-regulated in malignant bladder tissue samples compared to healthy tissue. Four miRNAs that have already been described in the literature (miR-141, miR-199a-3p, miR-205, and miR-214) were significantly differentially expressed between nonmuscle-invasive and muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Furthermore, real-time RT-qPCR of all miRNAs provided high overall correct classification (>75%) of bladder cancer diagnosis. Two miRNAs (miR-141 and miR-205) were associated with overall survival time. The verification of tumor-specific miRNA expression profile, together with the observed association of miR-141 and miR-205 expression with overall survival, underline the potential of miRNAs to function as diagnostic and/or prognostic markers of bladder cancer.