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Liver cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer‑associated deaths with incidence rates continuously on the rise. Biomarkers are urgently required for early diagnosis and better prognostic classification, which is essential for risk stratification and optimizing treatment strategies in clinical settings. By analyzing the data extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas database using R, the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) β‑site APP‑cleaving enzyme 1 antisense (BACE1‑AS) was discovered to have both high diagnostic and prognostic values in liver cancer, which could serve as a promising biomarker in clinical settings. Precisely, lncRNA BACE1‑AS i s s ignificantly o verexpressed i n l iver c ancer and its levels vary within different subgroups, suggesting its tumorigenic role. Furthermore, higher BACE1‑AS predicts poorer overall survival and relapse‑free survival outcomes. Overall, the present study demonstrated that BACE1‑AS may be involved in liver cancer progression and could serve as a promising biomarker for diagnosis and prognostic evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitin-like modifier-activating enzyme 7 (UBA7) is a specific E1-like ubiquitin-activating enzyme involved in interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) conjugation. UBA7 expression has been reported to be notably decreased in lung cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the changes in UBA7 expression in breast cancer and the association between UBA7 expression and clinical characteristics, and to elucidate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of UBA7 in breast cancer. The clinical data and RNA-sequencing expression values of 1,104 patients with breast cancer were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. The associations between UBA7 expression and clinical characteristics were determined using χ2 and Fisher's exact tests. UBA7 expression values were divided into low and high groups using the optimal cut-off value, as determined by the overall survival (OS) value identified via a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, to further study the association between UBA7 expression and clinical characteristics. The diagnostic capability of UBA7 was assessed via ROC analysis, and Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the prognostic value of UBA7. The results demonstrated that UBA7 expression was decreased in breast cancer, and significant differences were observed between groups with regards to vital status, tumor classification, metastasis classification, histological type, sex, molecular subtype, and expression levels of progesterone receptor, estrogen receptor (ER) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Low and high UBA7 expression levels were associated with age, ER expression, menopause status, Tumor-Node-Metastasis classification stage, margin status, vital status, radiation therapy use, OS and relapse-free survival. Furthermore, patients with low UBA7 expression levels had a poor prognosis. UBA7 expression also demonstrated an ability to diagnose patients at all clinical stages. Taken together, the results indicated that UBA7 expression was significantly decreased in breast cancer, and was associated with clinical characteristics and prognosis. Thus, UBA7 can be deemed as a potential biomarker in breast cancer, and may serve as a target in treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), caused by various mutations in a spectrum of cancer driver genes, may have distinct pathological characteristics and drug responses. Extensive genetic screening and pathological characterization is required for the design of customized therapies to improve patient outcomes. Notably, NSCLC in never-smokers exhibits distinctive clinicopathological features, which are frequently associated with tumorigenic mutations, and thus may be treated as a unique disease entity. However, to the best of our knowledge, these mutations have not been extensively and accurately characterized in an NSCLC study with a large sample size. Therefore, the present study enrolled a large cohort of NSCLC patients, which consisted of 358 never-smokers, for the screening of genetic alterations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), ret proto-oncogene (RET), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) and B-Raf proto-oncogene serine/threonine kinase (BRAF) tumorigenic genes. It was identified that the mutation rate was 47.8, 7.5, 3.6, 1.4 and 0.3% for EGFR, ALK, KRAS, RET and BRAF, respectively. In addition, clinicopathological features associated with these mutations were characterized. EGFR mutations were more frequently observed in female and older patients. By contrast, KRAS mutations were more frequently detected in male patients, and ALK and RET translocations in younger patients. The cancer cells were frequently well-differentiated in carcinoma cases exhibiting EGFR mutations, however, were less differentiated in those with ALK translocations. In conclusion, the present study determined the frequency of oncogenic alterations and associated clinicopathological features in NSCLC exhibited by never-smokers using a large sample size. The results of the present study may enrich our knowledge of NSCLC in never-smokers and provide useful insights for improvement of the outcome of molecularly targeted therapies for the treatment of NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In glioblastomas, the surface glycoprotein CD133 (prominin-1) indicates the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are able to initiate tumor growth and are highly resistant to conventional chemo/radiotherapy. However, a number of studies have reported that certain CD133- glioma cells are able to self-renew and retain tumorigenic potential. In addition, the reliability of CD133 as a CSC marker is controversial due to inconsistent findings with regard to the prognostic values and distribution of CD133. Such controversies may be due to the detection limits using currently available anti-CD133 antibodies. In the present study, novel anti-human CD133 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were generated using two recombinant extracellular domains of human CD133: CD133 ectodomain 1 (amino acids 171-420) and CD133 ectodomain 2 (amino acids 507-716). One of the antibodies produced against CD133 ectodomain 2, C2E1, detected high expression levels of CD133 protein in glioblastoma U87 cells, in contrast to previous studies which did not detect CD133 expression in these cells. The cells exhibited a cytoplasmic distribution pattern of CD133 and produced a 95 kDa band following western blot analysis. In addition, C2E1 was able to bind the full-length glycosylated CD133 on the cell surface and inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells. Therefore, this antibody may be a valuable tool to study CD133 as a CSC marker and may be significant in future cancer treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential role of microRNA (miRNA or miR) in invasion and metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). miRNA-microarray analysis was used to detect the differentially expressed miRNAs between various metastatic levels of NSCLC cells. The microarray results were verified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The most clearly altered miRNA, miR-339-5p, was transfected into NSCLC cells and cell migration and invasion were investigated. The expression of miR-339-5p was 3.4662-fold higher in the lower metastatic NSCLC cells. miR-339-5p significantly decreased tumor-cell migration and the invasion capacity in vitro. In conclusion, miR-339-5p is important in NSCLC invasion and metastasis, indicating that miR-339-5p could be further evaluated as a biomarker for predicting the survival time of patients with NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]