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Yes-associated protein (YAP) is proved to increase miR-29a in the present study, but the relevant molecular mechanism is not clear. Also, growing evidence indicates that the high-level miR-29a promotes the neurite outgrowth by decreasing PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10). Results show that the expression of miR-29a increases but the PTEN decreases during transfecting the N2a cells with the YAP plasmid. Meanwhile, the advancement of neurite outgrowth is presented via using multiple methods to detect the expression of GAP-43 and NF-200, which have a strong association with neurite outgrowth. The expression of miR-29a, GAP-43, and NF-200 shows an opposite tendency compared to the PTEN when YAP is downregulated. By treating N2a cells with miR-29a mimic and inhibitor, we also find the same conclusion. For in silico analysis of miR-29a, its promoter may have a binding site for YAP. Based on a luciferase reporter assay and a chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiment, we demonstrate that YAP could increase the expression of miR-29a by targeting the promoter of miR-29a. In conclusion, the results identify that YAP promotes the neurite outgrowth via targeting the promoter of miR-29a, and it may be an effective therapeutic medicine for the neural disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schwann cell (SC) transplantation as a cell-based therapy can enhance peripheral and central nerve repair experimentally, but it is limited by the donor site morbidity for clinical application. We investigated weather respiratory mucosa stem cells (REMSCs), a kind of ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), isolated from rat nasal septum can differentiate into functional Schwann-like cells (SC-like cells). REMSCs proliferated quickly in vitro and expressed the neural crest markers (nestin, vimentin, SOX10, and CD44). Treated with a mixture of glial growth factors for 7 days, REMSCs differentiated into SC-like cells. The differentiated REMSCs (dREMSCs) exhibited a spindle-like morphology similar to SC cells. Immunocytochemical staining and Western blotting indicated that SC-like cells expressed the glial markers (GFAP, S100β, Galc, and P75) and CNPase. When cocultured with dREMSCs for 5 days, PC12 cells differentiated into mature neuron-like cells with long neurites. More importantly, dREMSCs could form myelin structures with the neurites of PC12 cells at 21 days in vitro. Our data indicated that REMSCs, a kind of EMSCs, could differentiate into SC-like cells and have the ability to promote the differentiation of PC12 cells and form myelin in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study aimed to elucidate the prognostic value of microRNAs (miRNAs) in patients with osteosarcoma., Materials and Methods: Studies were recruited by searching PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang data-bases (final search update conducted January 2017). Eligible studies were identified and the quality was assessed using multiple search strategies., Results: A total of 55 articles that investigated the correlation between miRNA expression and either patient survival or disease recurrence in osteosarcoma was initially identified. Among these, 30 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results of our meta-analysis revealed that elevated levels of miR-21, miR-214, miR-29, miR-9 and miR-148a were associated with poor prognosis in osteosarcoma. Additionally, downregulated miR-382, miR26a, miR-126, miR-195 and miR-124 expression indicated poor prognosis in osteosarcoma., Conclusions: miRNAs may act as independent prognostic factors in patients with osteosarcoma and are useful in stratifying risk., Competing Interests: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors disclose no potential conflicts of interest.

Background: Recently, nomograms have been used as models for risk prediction in malignant tumor because they can predict the outcome of interest for a certain individual based on many variables. This study aimed to establish an effective prognostic nomogram for osteosarcoma based on the clinicopathological factors and microRNA-203., Results: The results showed that miR-203 expression was significantly lower in osteosarcoma tissues compared with the corresponding adjacent tissues ( P < 0.001). Patients with low miR-203 expression had poor overall survival (OS) in osteosarcoma. The histological type, tumor size, AJCC stage and miR-203 expression were integrated in the nomogram. The nomogram showed significantly better prediction of OS than for patients with non-metastatic osteosarcoma. The ROC curve also showed higher specificity and sensitivity for predicting 3- and 5-year osteosarcoma patients' survival compared with AJCC stage. The decision curve analysis also indicated more potential of clinical application of the nomogram compared with AJCC staging system. Moreover, our findings were supported by the validation cohort., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively investigated 301 patients with non-metastatic osteosarcoma. Data from primary cohort ( n = 198) were used to develop multivariate nomograms. This nomogram was internally validated for discrimination and calibration with bootstrap samples and was externally validated with an independent patient cohort ( n = 103)., Conclusions: Our proposed nomogram showed more accurate prognostic prediction for patients with non-metastatic osteosarcoma., Competing Interests: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors disclose no potential conflicts of interest.