PURPOSE: Insufficient sensitivity and specificity prevent the use of most existing biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer. Recently, it was reported that serum microRNAs (miRNAs) may be potential biomarkers in many cancer diseases. In this study, we investigated whether serum levels of 5 miRNAs including miR-21, miR-125b, miR-145, miR-155, and miR-365 could discriminate breast cancer patients and healthy controls. METHODS: Serum levels of miRNAs were measured by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 99 breast cancer patients and 21 healthy controls. The abundance change of serum miRNAs were also evaluated following surgical resection in 20 breast cancer patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers. RESULTS: Serum levels of miR-21 and miR-155 was significantly higher, while miR-365 was significantly lower in breast cancer as compared with healthy controls. The serum levels of miR-21 and miR-155 significantly decreased following surgical resection. Additionally, the serum level of miR-155 at stages I and II was significantly higher compared to stage III. The serum miR-145 level was remarkably higher in progesterone receptor (PR)-positive patients than PR-negative. The positivity of miR-21, miR-155, and miR-365 was high compared to CA 153 and CEA in breast cancer. ROC curve analyses of a combination of miR-21, miR-155, and miR-365 yielded much higher area under curve and enhanced sensitivity and specificity in comparison to each miRNA alone. CONCLUSION: The combination of serum miR-21/miR-155/miR-365 may potentially serve as a sensitive and specific biomarker that enables differentiation of breast cancer from healthy controls.
Area Under Curve ; Biomarkers ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, Progesterone ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

A subset of patients of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) present with mutation of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), and such mutants caused an ALS-like disorder when expressed in rodents. These findings implicated SOD1 in ALS pathogenesis and made the transgenic animals a widely used ALS model. However, previous studies of these animals have focused largely on motor neuron damage. We report herein that the spinal cords of mice expressing a human SOD1 mutant (hSOD1-G93A), besides showing typical destruction of motor neurons and axons, exhibit significant damage in the sensory system, including Wallerian-like degeneration in axons of dorsal root and dorsal funiculus, and mitochondrial damage in dorsal root ganglia neurons. Thus, hSOD1-G93A mutation causes both motor and sensory neuropathies, and as such the disease developed in the transgenic mice very closely resembles human ALS.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/enzymology/*pathology ; Animals ; Axons/*pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Ganglia, Spinal/pathology ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Mitochondria/pathology ; Motor Neurons/metabolism/pathology ; Mutation ; Nerve Degeneration/*pathology ; Sensory Receptor Cells/*pathology ; Spinal Cord/*pathology ; Superoxide Dismutase/genetics/*physiology

Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors are newly developed but promising medicine for type 2 diabetes. However, patients with a different renal threshold for glucose excretion (RT(G)) may have a different reaction to this medicine. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of RT(G) and its impact factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The clinical and laboratory data of 36 healthy individuals and 168 in-hospital patients with T2DM were collected and analyzed, RTG was calculated using blood glucose (BG) measured by dynamic BG monitoring, urinary glucose excretion (UGE) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The characteristics of RT(G) were investigated. The risk factors for high RT(G) were analyzed using non-conditional logistic regression analysis. Our results found that RT(G) of the T2DM group was higher than that of the healthy individuals (P < 0.05); and 22.22% from the healthy individuals group but 58.33% from the T2DM group had high RT(G). Age, duration of diabetes, body mass index (BMI), and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) were independently associated with high RT(G) (P < 0.05). Further stratified analysis revealed that RT(G) in T2DM patients increased with age, duration of diabetes, and BMI. In conclusion, RT(G) is increased in patients with T2DM, especially in those with longer diabetic duration, higher BMI, and those who are older. Therefore, these patients may be more sensitive to SGLT-2 inhibitors.

Echinostoma hortense (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) is one of the intestinal flukes with medical importance in humans. However, the mitochondrial (mt) genome of this fluke has not been known yet. The present study has determined the complete mt genome sequences of E. hortense and assessed the phylogenetic relationships with other digenean species for which the complete mt genome sequences are available in GenBank using concatenated amino acid sequences inferred from 12 protein-coding genes. The mt genome of E. hortense contained 12 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 1 non-coding region. The length of the mt genome of E. hortense was 14,994 bp, which was somewhat smaller than those of other trematode species. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated nucleotide sequence datasets for all 12 protein-coding genes using maximum parsimony (MP) method showed that E. hortense and Hypoderaeum conoideum gathered together, and they were closer to each other than to Fasciolidae and other echinostomatid trematodes. The availability of the complete mt genome sequences of E. hortense provides important genetic markers for diagnostics, population genetics, and evolutionary studies of digeneans.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Databases, Nucleic Acid ; Dataset ; Echinostoma* ; Echinostomatidae ; Fasciolidae ; Genes, rRNA ; Genetic Markers ; Genetics, Population ; Genome ; Genome, Mitochondrial* ; Humans ; RNA, Transfer ; Trematoda