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Prostate cancer is the most frequent malignancy affecting men worldwide. Due to the low sensitivity and specificity of the prostate-specific antigen test and the digital rectal exam as screening modalities, several alternatives are being studied. This study aimed to evaluate the application of MMP-9 and its regulators (TIMP-1, RECK, and miR-338-3p) as diagnostic and prognostic indicators of prostate cancer. A total of 134 randomly selected patients under investigation for prostate cancer submitted to a transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy were enrolled in the study; of these, 61 were positive for the disease (cases), and 73 were negative (control group). The tissue samples were further analyzed by gene and miR-338-3p expression analysis using qRT-PCR (one randomly selected fragment of each patient). Approximately 58% of the patients with prostate cancer presented MMP9 upregulation, while 73%, 65%, and 69% downregulated IMP-1, RECK, and miR-338-3p, respectively. MiR-338-3p was expressed at lower levels in patients with PSA concentrations exceeding 20 ng/mL (p=0.045) and abnormal DRE (p=0.006), while the RECK was more expressed in patients with abnormal DRE (p=0.01). We found that most patients with prostate cancer overexpressed MMP-9; on the other hand, most of them underexpressed TIMP-1, RECK, and miR-338-3p. MiR-338-3p presented as a possible predictor of poor prognosis. Further studies are warranted to evaluate these biomarkers as prognosis factors better., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The new identified protein telomeric zinc-finger associated protein (TZAP) is a negative regulator of telomere length. Since telomere length and telomere maintenance mechanisms are essential to cancer progression, TZAP is considered a new player in cancer biology. Here we aimed to analyze TZAP using the Cancer Genome Atlas data in a Pan-Cancer approach. We gathering data from TCGA Pan-Cancer studies utilizing cBioPortal, GEPIA and UALCAN. In total we analyzed 33 types of cancer (n=9664) and their respective controls (n=711). TZAP is transcribed in all cancers but less than 5% of all tumors show any somatic changes. TZAP was downregulated in kidney chromophobe carcinoma, and upregulated in esophageal cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, kidney renal clear cell carcinoma and in liver hepatocellular carcinoma. Globally, TZAP expression is related to favorable prognosis, associated to better overall and disease-free survival. Looking to specific tumors, TZAP expression has a dual behavior. Its downregulation is associated with poor prognosis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma, in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma, kidney papillary cell carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma and pancreas adenocarcinoma. On the contrary, in adrenocortical carcinoma, colon and rectal cancer, brain lower grade glioma and prostate adenocarcinoma the upregulation of TZAP is related with poor prognosis. TZAP expression has a positive correlation with TRF1 and TRF2 in normal tissue but not in cancer. Our analyses indicate that TZAP has an important role in oncology and may be considered as a potential biomarker., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

COVID-19 represents a public health emergency, whose mechanism of which is not fully understood. It is speculated that microRNAs may play a crucial role in host cells after infection by SARS-CoV-2. Thus, our study aimed to analyze the expression of miR-200c-3p in saliva samples from patients with COVID-19. One handred eleven samples from patients with COVID-19 were divided into 4 groups. Group I: 39 patients negative for Covid-19; Group II: 37 positive and symptomatic patients, with no indication of hospitalization; Group III: 21 patients with respiratory disorders (hospitalized); Group IV: 14 patients with severe conditions (oxygen therapy). The expression levels of miR-200c-3p were determined using qPCR. We found greater expression of miR-200c-3p in patients in group IV ( p <0.0001), and also verified that patients aged ≥42 years had a higher expression of this miR ( p =0.013). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the expression of miR-200c-3p and systemic arterial hypertension are factors independently associated with patients in group IV ( p <0.0001). Our results suggest that miR-200c-3p is a predictor of severity independent of COVID-19 risk factors, which could represent a way of screening patients affected by SARS-CoV-2., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.