Circular RNA, a class of non-coding RNA, is a new group of RNAs and is related to tumorigenesis. Circular RNAs are suggested to be ideal candidate biomarkers with potential diagnostic and therapeutic implications. However, little is known about their expression in human colorectal cancer. In our study, differentially expressed circular RNAs were detected using circular RNA array in paired tumor and adjacent non-tumorous tissues from six colorectal cancer patients. Expression levels of selected circular RNAs (hsa_circRNA_103809 and hsa_circRNA_104700) were measured by realtime polymerase chain reaction in 170 paired colorectal cancer samples for validation. Statistical analyses were conducted to investigate the association between hsa_circRNA_103809 and hsa_circRNA_104700 expression levels and respective patient clinicopathological features. Receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic values. Our results indicated that there were 125 downregulated and 76 upregulated circular RNAs in colorectal cancer tissues compared with normal tissues. We also first demonstrated that the expression levels of hsa_circRNA_103809 (p < 0.0001) and hsa_circRNA_104700 (p = 0.0003) were significantly lower in colorectal cancer than in normal tissues. The expression level of hsa_circRNA_103809 was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.021) and tumor-node-metastasis stage (p = 0.011), and the expression level of hsa_circRNA_104700 was significantly correlated with distal metastasis (p = 0.036). The area under receiver operating characteristic curves of hsa_circRNA_103809 and hsa_circRNA_104700 were 0.699 (p < 0.0001) and 0.616 (p < 0.0001), respectively. In conclusion, these results suggest that hsa_circRNA_103809 and hsa_circRNA_104700 may be potentially involved in the development of colorectal cancer and serve as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

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Sensitive and quantitative characterization of clinically relevant biomarkers can facilitate disease diagnosis and treatment evaluation. Magnetic nanomaterials and their biosensing strategies have recently received considerable attention. Magnetic signals experience little interference from native biological background as most biological molecules have negligible magnetic susceptibilities and thus appear transparent to external magnetic fields. Because of this unique property, magnetic sensing can be applied to both in vivo deep tissue imaging as well as ex vivo point-of-care diagnostics. To exploit this mode of magnetic detection, new advancements in both magnetic material syntheses and sensing technologies have been made. This review focuses on recent developments of magnetic nanomaterials as image contrast agents and diagnostic sensors. These developments have not only enabled precise control of magnetic nanomaterial properties but also expanded the reach of magnetic detection for biomedical diagnostics.

CXCL12 levels in SF were closely related to the radiographic severity of OA. CXCL12 levels in SF may be an alternative biomarker for the progression of OA.

The performance of metallic stents was superior to that of plastic stents for hilar tumor palliation. Unilateral biliary drainage may be as effective as bilateral drainage for patients with hilar biliary obstruction.

BackgroundPrevious studies have demonstrated that the expression of homeobox8 (HOXB8) is higher in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues than in normal tissues; however, the precise role of HOXB8 in human CRC cells remains to be elucidated.MethodsWe generated lentiviral constructs to overexpress and silence HOXB8 in CRC cell lines, and examined their biological functions through MTT, wound healing, colony and transwell, expression of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) related factors through western-blot.ResultsHOXB8 knockdown inhibited cellular proliferation and invasion in vitro as well as carcinogenesis and metastasis in vivo. HOXB8 also induced EMT, which is characterized by the down-regulation of E-cadherin and the up-regulation of Vimentin, N-cadherin, Twist, Zeb1 and Zeb2. Moreover, HOXB8 activated STAT3, which is known to play an oncogenic role in diverse human malignancies.ConclusionsOur results indicate that HOXB8 may be an independent prognostic factor in CRC. Therefore, deserved a deeper research.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12935-018-0717-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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