J. Clin. Med., Volume 4, Issue 10 (October 2015) – 3 articles , Pages 1853-1907

An increasing number of studies have focused on circulating microRNAs (cmiRNA) in cancer patients’ blood for their potential as minimally-invasive biomarkers. Studies have reported the utility of assessing specific miRNAs in blood as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers; however, the methodologies are not validated or standardized across laboratories. Unfortunately, there is often minimum limited overlap in techniques between results reported even in similar type studies on the same cancer. This hampers interpretation and reliability of cmiRNA as potential cancer biomarkers. Blood collection and processing, cmiRNA extractions, quality and quantity control of assays, defined patient population assessment, reproducibility, and reference standards all affect the cmiRNA assay results. To date, there is no reported definitive method to assess cmiRNAs. Therefore, appropriate and reliable methodologies are highly necessary in order for cmiRNAs to be used in regulated clinical diagnostic laboratories. In this review, we summarize the developments made over the past decade towards cmiRNA detection and discuss the pros and cons of the assays. Full article

Current therapy directed at delaying the progression of diabetic nephropathy includes intensive glycemic and optimal blood pressure control, renin angiotensin-aldosterone system blockade and multifactorial intervention. However, the renal protection provided by these therapeutic modalities is incomplete. There is a scarcity of studies analysing the nephroprotective effect of antihyperglycaemic drugs beyond their glucose lowering effect and improved glycaemic control on the prevention and progression of diabetic nephropathy. This article analyzes the exisiting data about older and newer drugs as well as the mechanisms associated with hypoglycemic drugs, apart from their well known blood glucose lowering effect, in the prevention and progression of diabetic nephropathy. Most of them have been tested in humans, but with varying degrees of success. Although experimental data about most of antihyperglycemic drugs has shown a beneficial effect in kidney parameters, there is a lack of clinical trials that clearly prove these beneficial effects. The key question, however, is whether antihyperglycemic drugs are able to improve renal end-points beyond their antihyperglycemic effect. Existing experimental data are post hoc studies from clinical trials, and supportive of the potential renal-protective role of some of them, especially in the cases of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors. Dedicated and adequately powered renal trials with renal outcomes are neccessary to assess the nephrotection of antihyperglycaemic drugs beyond the control of hyperglycaemia. Full article

Prostate cancer is a major hormone-dependent tumor affecting men, and is often treated by hormone therapy at the primary stages. Despite its initial efficiency, the disease eventually acquires resistance, resulting in the recurrence of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Recent studies suggest that dysregulation of microRNA (miRNA) function is one of the mechanisms underlying hormone therapy resistance. Identification of critical miRNAs involved in endocrine resistance will therefore be important for developing therapeutic targets for prostate cancer. In the present study, we performed an miRNA library screening to identify anti-androgen bicalutamide resistance-related miRNAs in prostate cancer LNCaP cells. Cells were infected with a lentiviral miRNA library and subsequently maintained in media containing either bicalutamide or vehicle for a month. Microarray analysis determined the amounts of individual miRNA precursors and identified 2 retained miRNAs after one-month bicalutamide treatment. Of these, we further characterized miR-216a, because its function in prostate cancer remains unknown. miR-216a could be induced by dihydrotestosterone in LNCaP cells and ectopic expression of miR-216a inhibited bicalutamide-mediated growth suppression of LNCaP cells. Furthermore, a microarray dataset revealed that the expression levels of miR-216a were significantly higher in clinical prostate cancer than in benign samples. These results suggest that functional screening using an miRNA expression library could be useful for identifying novel miRNAs that contribute to bicalutamide resistance in prostate cancer. Full article