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Left-sided colon cancer (LCC) and right-sided colon cancer (RCC) have distinct characteristics in tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Although existing studies have shown a strong association between gene mutations and TIME, whether the regulatory mechanisms between gene mutations and TIME are different between RCC and LCC is still unclear. In this study, we showed the fractions of CD8+ T cells were higher while those of regulatory T cells were lower in RCC. Besides, a stronger association between gene mutations and TIME was observed in RCC. Specifically, using multi-omics data, we demonstrated the mutations of most top mutated genes (TMGs) including BRAF, PCLO, MUC16, LRP2, ANK3, KMT2D, RYR2 made great contributions to elevated fraction of immune cells by up-regulating immune-related genes directly or indirectly through miRNA and DNA methylation, whereas the effects of APC, TP53 and KRAS mutations on TIME were reversed in RCC. Remarkably, we found the expression levels of several immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-1 and LAG3 were correlated with corresponding DNA methylation levels, which were associated with the mutations of TMGs in RCC. In contrast, the associations between gene mutations and TIME were less significant in LCC. Besides, survival analyses showed APC mutation had adverse impact on immunotherapy while patients with BRAF mutation were more suitable for immunotherapy in colon cancer. We hope that our results will provide a deeper insight into the sophisticated mechanism underlying the regulation between mutations and TIME, and thus boost the discovery of differential immunotherapeutic strategies for RCC and LCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Circular RNAs are novel endogenous RNAs, which are considered to play a role in tumorigenesis. Nevertheless, the role as well as clinical diagnostic value of most circular RNAs in colorectal cancer are still unclear. Materials and Methods: We investigated the circular RNA microarray containing expression profiles in samples of colorectal cancer patients by bioinformatics. The consequence indicated that hsa_circ_0043278 was strongly downregulated. We then measured the expression level of hsa_circ_0043278 in tissue samples of colorectal cancer by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Besides, we also explored the expression condition of the circular RNA in colorectal cancer cell lines including HCT116, SW620, and SW480. Cell counting kit-8, colony formation, and transwell assays, as well as flow cytometry, were applied to detect changes in cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and cell cycle progression. Results: We discovered that circular RNA hsa_circ_0043278 was significantly downregulated in tumor samples (P < 0.0001) as well as cell lines (P < 0.05). The value of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.71, with a sensitivity of 0.72 and specificity of 0.70 (P = 0.0006). Moreover, we found that overexpression of hsa_circ_0043278 suppressed proliferation and migratory abilities while promoting apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that hsa_circ_0043278 inhibited the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer and could be a potential biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnosis. Besides, it hopes to become a target for treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CRISPR/Cas system has stood in the center of attention in the last few years as a revolutionary gene editing tool with a wide application to investigate gene functions. However, the labor-intensive workflow requires a sophisticated pre-experimental and post-experimental analysis, thus becoming one of the hindrances for the further popularization of practical applications. Recently, the increasing emergence and advancement of the in silico methods play a formidable role to support and boost experimental work. However, various tools based on distinctive design principles and frameworks harbor unique characteristics that are likely to confuse users about how to choose the most appropriate one for their purpose. In this review, we will present a comprehensive overview and comparisons on the in silico methods from the aspects of CRISPR/Cas system identification, guide RNA design, and post-experimental assistance. Furthermore, we establish the hypotheses in light of the new trends around the technical optimization and hope to provide significant clues for future tools development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Number of internal rural to urban migrant children in China increased rapidly. The disparity of anemia prevalence among them and children of local permanent residents has been reported, both in big and middle-size cities. There has been no population-based study to explore the associated factors on feeding behaviors in small size cities of China. This study aimed to identify whether there was a difference in the prevalence of anemia between children of rural to urban migrant families and local children under 2 years old in a small coastal city in China, and to identify the associated factors of any observed difference.Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Pinghu, a newly-developing city in Zhejiang Province, China, among the caregivers of 988 children (667 who were identified as children of migrants and 321 locals) aged 6-23 months. Disparity of anemia prevalence were reported. Association between anemia prevalence and socio-economic status and feeding behaviors were explored among two groups respectively.Results: Anemia prevalence among the migrant and local children was 36.6% and 18.7% respectively (aPR 1.86, 95% CI 1. 40 to 2.47). Results from adjusted Poisson models revealed: having elder sibling/s were found as an associated factor of anemia with the aPR 1.47 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.87) among migrant children and 2.58 (95% CI 1.37 to 4.58) among local ones; anemia status was associated with continued breastfeeding at 6 months (aPR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.14) and lack of iron-rich and/or iron-fortified foods (aPR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.89) among the migrant children but not among local ones.Conclusion: Anemia was more prevalent among migrant children, especially those aged 6-11 months. Dislike their local counterparts, migrant children were more vulnerable at early life and seemed sensitive to feeding behaviors, such as, over reliance on breastfeeding for nutrition after aged 6 months, lack of iron-rich and/or iron-fortified foods. Future strategies to narrow the gap of anemia prevalence between the migrant and local children should target more susceptible groups and through improvement of feeding practices among younger children in those kinds of newly-developing areas of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]