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Background The most common cancers detected in women are breast, thyroid, colorectal, uterine corpus, lung, and ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is responsible from more than 150.000 death annually worldwide. This cancer is detected in the late stage, and is characterised with poor prognosis, therefore most cases result with death. The fact that this cancer manifests itself in the late stage and is characterized by a poor prognosis, is caused death in the majority of cases. Therefore, the diagnosis and the treatment of the disease have to be improved for a better quality of life for patients. MicroRNAs are the noncoding RNAs in the length of 19–24 nucleotides which show suppressor effect on target genes. miRNAs are included in the pathology of various diseases including cancer. miRNAs being as the biomarker candidates in diagnosis, and their use in treatment as the inhibitors of the molecules mimicking the miRNA showed that they may be used as the new therapeutic target and agents. Methods We detected with our group in our prior study conducted with disconcordant ovarian cancer twins that many miRNA molecules were different in ovarian cancer compared with the molecules in healthy sibling. The expression level of miR-142-3p that was selected from the miRNAs detected in the previous study was compared, and investigated in a wider ovarian cancer group, and in healthy control group. miR-142-3p expression level was investigated using the real-time PCR method in the present study involving 147 patients, and 100 healthy control group. The differences in the expression levels of miR-142-3p detected in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of ovarian cancer patients, and healthy control were statisticaly evaluated. Results The expression level of miR-142-3p was detected to have increased 3.11 fold in ovarian cancer patients compared with the levels in healthy controls, and the difference was statistically significant (p:0.00). These results suggest that miR-142-3p that was found significantly increased in the peripheral blood samples of ovarian cancer patients compared with the healthy controls might be used as a sensitive, noninvasive biomarker in the early diagnosis, and treatment and follow up of ovarian cancer.

Purpose. Various molecular variations are known to result in different gene variants in the FGFR4 gene, known for its oncogenic transformation activity. The goal of this study was to investigate the FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg variant that plays role in the progression of cancer and retinal growth and may be an effective candidate variant in the Turkish population in retinoblastoma patients with no RB1 gene mutation. Methods. Using the Sanger sequencing methods, the FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg variant was bidirectionally sequenced in 49 patients with non-RB1 gene mutation in retinoblastoma patients and 13 healthy first-degree relatives and 146 individuals matched by sex and age in the control group. Results. In Turkish population-specific study, the FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg variant was found in 27 (55.1 percent) of 49 patients; mutation was found in 7 (53.8 percent) of these patients’ 13 healthy relatives screened. When FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg mutation status is evaluated in terms of 146 healthy controls, in 70 (47.9 percent) individuals, mutation was observed. Our analysis showed that the FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg allele frequency, which according to different databases is seen as 30 percent in the general population, is 50 percent common in the Turkish population. Conclusions. In patients with advanced retinoblastoma who were diagnosed with retinoblastoma prior to 24 months, the FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg allele was found to be significantly higher. As a result, these results indicate that the polymorphism of FGFR4 p.Gly388Arg may play a role in both the development of tumors and the progression of aggressive tumors.