BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in cancer development and progression, acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. Our previous studies have revealed that miR-148a and miR-152 are significantly down-regulated in gastrointestinal cancers. Interestingly, miR-148b has the same "seed sequences" as miR-148a and miR-152. Although aberrant expression of miR-148b has been observed in several types of cancer, its pathophysiologic role and relevance to tumorigenesis are still largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which miR-148b acts as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer.ResultsWe showed significant down-regulation of miR-148b in 106 gastric cancer tissues and four gastric cancer cell lines, compared with their non-tumor counterparts by real-time RT-PCR. In situ hybridization of ten cases confirmed an overt decrease in the level of miR-148b in gastric cancer tissues. Moreover, the expression of miR-148b was demonstrated to be associated with tumor size (P = 0.027) by a Mann-Whitney U test. We also found that miR-148b could inhibit cell proliferation in vitro by MTT assay, growth curves and an anchorage-independent growth assay in MGC-803, SGC-7901, BGC-823 and AGS cells. An experiment in nude mice revealed that miR-148b could suppress tumorigenicity in vivo. Using a luciferase activity assay and western blot, CCKBR was identified as a target of miR-148b in cells. Moreover, an obvious inverse correlation was observed between the expression of CCKBR protein and miR-148b in 49 pairs of tissues (P = 0.002, Spearman's correlation).ConclusionsThese findings provide important evidence that miR-148b targets CCKBR and is significant in suppressing gastric cancer cell growth. Maybe miR-148b would become a potential biomarker and therapeutic target against gastric cancer.

Thousands of genes have been well demonstrated to play important roles in cancer progression. As genes do not function in isolation, they can be grouped into “networks” based on their interactions. In this study, we discover a network regulating Claudin-4 in gastric cancer. We observe that Claudin-4 is up-regulated in gastric cancer and is associated with poor prognosis. Claudin-4 reinforce proliferation, invasion, and EMT in AGS, HGC-27, and SGC-7901 cells, which could be reversed by miR-596 and miR-3620-3p. In addition, lncRNA-KRTAP5-AS1 and lncRNA-TUBB2A could act as competing endogenous RNAs to affect the function of Claudin-4. Our results suggest that non-coding RNAs play important roles in the regulatory network of Claudin-4. As such, non-coding RNAs should be considered as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets against gastric cancer.

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MiR-148a and miR-152 may be involved in the carcinogenesis of gastrointestinal cancers and might be potential biomarkers in these cancers.

MicroRNAs(miRNA) are noncoding RNAs of about 19–23 nucleotides that are crucial for many biological processes. Members of the microRNA-148/152(miR-148/152) family, which include microRNA-148a(miR-148a), microRNA-148b(miR-148b), and microRNA-152(miR-152), are expressed differently in tumor and nontumor tissues and are involved in the genesis and development of disease. Furthermore, members of the miR-148/152 family are important in the growth and development of normal tissues. Members of the miR-148/152 family regulate target genes and are regulated by methylation of CPG islands. In this review, we report recent studies on the expression of members of the miR-148/152 family, methylation of CPG islands, and their target genes in different diseases, as well as in normal tissues.

Aberrant expression of miR-335 has been frequently reported in cancer studies, suggesting that there is a close correlation between miR-335 and cancer during its development, progression, metastasis and prognosis. The expression of miR-335 in gastric cancer and its effects are not known. Relative expression of miR-335 in 4 gastric cancer cell lines and in 70 gastric cancer tissues was confirmed by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR compared with controls. Transwell cell migration and Matrigel invasion assay in vitro and metastasis formation assay in vivo were used to examine the effects of miR-335 expression on gastric cancer cell invasion and metastasis. The effect of miR-335 expression on gastric cancer cell proliferation was estimated by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Luciferase reporter assay and western blot were used to examine the potential target genes and related pathways. Gene silencing with small-interfering RNA was used to examine the effects of target genes on gastric cancer cell invasion. miR-335 was dramatically downregulated in gastric cancer cell lines than in the normal gastric cell line GES-1. Low expression of miR-335 was significantly associated with lymph-node metastasis, poor pT stage, poor pN stage and invasion of lymphatic vessels. Overexpression of miR-335 suppressed gastric cancer cell invasion and metastasis in vitro and in vivo, but has no significant effects on cell proliferation. Furthermore, miR-335 might suppress gastric cancer invasion and metastasis by targeting Bcl-w and specificity protein 1 (SP1). Taken together, our results provide evidence that miR-335 might function as a metastasis suppressor in gastric cancer by targeting SP1 directly and indirectly through the Bcl-w-induced phosphoinositide 3-kinase-Akt-Sp1 pathway. miR-335 showing altered expression at different stages of gastric cancer could be a target for gastric cancer therapies and could be further developed as a potential prognostic factor.

BackgroundThe prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detected with the CellSearch System in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is controversial. The aim of our meta-analysis was to evaluate whether the detection of CTCs in the peripheral blood with the standardized CellSearch System has prognostic utility for patients with CRC.MethodsThe PubMed, Science Citation Index, Cochrane Database, Embase, and the references in relevant studies were systematically searched (up to December, 2014). No search restrictions were imposed. Our meta-analysis was performed in Stata software, version 12.0 (2011) (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA), with the odds ratio (OR), risk ratio (RR), hazard ratio (HR), and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as the effect measures. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also conducted.ResultsEleven studies containing 1847 patients with CRC were analyzed. There was a significantly higher incidence of CTCs in the metastasis-positive group than in the metastasis-negative group (OR = 4.06, 95% CI [1.74, 9.50], P < 0.01, I2 = 0%). For hepatic metastasis, a type of metastasis, a higher incidence of CTCs was observed in the hepatic-metastasis-positive group than in the -negative group (OR = 2.61, 95% CI [1.73, 3.96], P < 0.01, I2 = 0%). The presence of CTCs was significantly related to overall survival (HR = 2.00, 95% CI [1.49, 2.69], P < 0.01, I2 = 67.1%) and progression-free survival (HR = 1.80, 95% CI [1.52, 2.13], P < 0.01, I2 = 43.9%) of patients with CRC, regardless of the sampling time. The response rate for the CTC+ groups was significantly lower than that for the CTC− groups at baseline and during treatment (baseline: 33% versus 39%, RR = 0.79, 95% CI [0.63, 0.99], P = 0.04, I2 = 7.0%; during treatment: 17% versus 46%, RR = 0.41, 95% CI [0.22, 0.77], P = 0.01, I2 = 0.0%;).ConclusionsOur meta-analysis indicates that the detection of CTCs in the peripheral blood with the CellSearch System has prognostic utility for patients with CRC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1218-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundPalliative gastrectomy for patients with advanced gastric cancer remains controversial. The objective of the present meta-analysis was to analyze survival outcomes and establish a consensus on whether palliative gastrectomy is suitable for patients with incurable advanced gastric cancer and which type of patients should be selected to receive palliative gastrectomy.MethodsA literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. The results for overall survival in the meta-analysis are expressed as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsOf 1647 articles and abstracts reviewed, 14 studies with 3003 patients were eligible for the final analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that palliative gastrectomy is associated with a significantly improvement in overall survival (HR 0.56; 95%CI 0.39–0.80; p < 0.002) compared that of patients treated without palliative gastrectomy. An improvement in survival was also observed in patients with stage M1 gastric cancer who received palliative gastrectomy (HR 0.62; 95%CI 0.49–0.78; p < 0.0001), especially those with peritoneal dissemination (HR = 0.76, 95%CI 0.63–0.92), liver metastasis (HR = 0.41, 95%CI 0.30–0.55), or distant lymph-node metastasis (HR = 0.36, 95%CI 0.23–0.59). Combined hepatic resection may be beneficial for patients who under palliative gastrectomy (HR 0.30; 95%CI 0.15–0.61; p = 0.0008). The overall survival of patients who underwent palliative gastrectomy combined with chemotherapy was significantly improved (HR 0.63; 95%CI 0.47–0.84; p = 0.002).ConclusionsFrom the results of the meta-analysis, palliative gastrectomy for patients with incurable advanced gastric cancer may be associated with longer survival, especially for patients with stage M1 gastric cancer. Combined hepatic resection for patients with liver metastasis and chemotherapy may be beneficial factors compared to simple palliative gastrectomy.