Expression of SOX2OT, DANCR and TINCR long non­coding RNAs in papillary thyroid cancer and its effects on clinicopathological features.

Long non­coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are molecules that are >200 base pairs long and do not encode a protein. However, they perform important roles in regulating gene expression. Recent studies have revealed that the changes in the expressions of lncRNAs serve a role in the development and metastases of a number of types of cancer. A number of studies have been published on the association of SOX2 overlapping transcript (SOX2OT), differentiation antagonizing non­protein coding RNA (DANCR) and tissue differentiation­induced non­coding RNA (TINCR) expression with various types of cancer. However, researchers have not yet studied their roles in papillary thyroid cancer or at least, those roles are not clarified. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and clinical significance of SOX2OT, DANCR and TINCR in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). A total of 102 patients with PTC were included in the present study. Reverse transcription­quantitative PCR method was used to determine the relative gene expression levels of lncRNAs and then the relationship between expressions of lncRNAs and clinical characteristics of the subjects was analyzed in detail. Expression levels of SOX2OT (P=0.016) and DANCR (P=0.017) increased in the tumor samples in contrast to the normal tissues. No significant difference was observed in the expression level of TINCR (P=0.298). In addition, SOX2OT expression was associated with micro carcinoma (P<0.001), tumor size (P=0.010) and primary tumor (P=0.006), while DANCR expression was associated with age (P=0.030) and micro carcinoma (P=0.004). The findings of the present study indicated that DANCR may contribute to the development of PTC while SOX2OT may contribute to both the development and progression of PTC.

Possibility of paclitaxel to induce the stemness-related characteristics of prostate cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Drug resistance poses a crucial problem in the treatment of prostate cancer. Recent studies have shown that chemotherapy agents may cause cancer cells to acquire stem cell-like properties, resulting in drug resistance and, eventually, treatment failure. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether long-term paclitaxel exposure causes an increase in the stem cell-like properties of prostate cancer cells. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Paclitaxel-resistant PC-3 cells were generated from parental PC-3 cells by treating them with increasing concentrations of paclitaxel. The expression levels of the stem cell markers NANOG, C-MYC, CD44, and ABCG2 were evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). A sphere formation assay was performed to test the potential of the cells to behave as stem cells, and a wound healing assay was carried out to evaluate migration ability of the cells. RESULTS: The expression levels of C-MYC and NANOG were significantly higher in paclitaxel-resistant PC-3 cells compared to the parental PC-3 cells. However, there was no significant increase in the expression of CD44 or ABCG2. In addition, the sphere-forming capacity and migration ability of resistant PC-3 cells were increased. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study indicate that paclitaxel exposure may increase the stem cell-like properties of PC-3 prostate cancer cells.

Low-penetrance susceptibility variants and postmenopausal oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer.

The risk of breast cancer (BC) in women is high and many factors including genetic factors increase the risk for the disease. It is revealed that the variations of low-penetrance susceptibility genes are important for carcinogenesis as they interact with the environmental and hereditary factors. Recently, the list of BC-associated common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and chromosomal loci in low-penetrance susceptibility genes have been expanded in genomewide association studies. FGFR2, LSP1, MAP3K1, TGFB1, TOX3, 2q35 and 8q loci variations are some examples for these common SNPs. These SNPs and their association with BC risk was investigated in many different populations. Therefore in this study, we aimed to evaluate low-penetrance susceptibility SNPs; namely FGFR2 rs1219648, rs2981579, rs2981582; MAP3K1 rs889312; TOX3 rs3803662; LSP1 rs909116, rs3817198 and SLC4A7 rs4973768 together, for the firsttime in Turkish postmenopausal oestrogen receptor positive BC cases. Following the DNA isolation, multiplex PCR and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with time of flight measurement (MALDI-TOF) based SNP analysis were performed. MAP3K1 rs889312 SNP demonstrated the strongest association with BC risk among the other low penetrant SNPs, it was also associated with BC risk in a dominant model. Only in a ressesive model, TOX3 rs3803662 was associated with BC risk. In addition, rs4973768 CC and rs909116 CC genotypes are correlated with higher tumour size which is not reported in the literature as yet; on the other hand there are no associations between any of the other SNP genotypes and clinopathological parameters. In our opinion, MAP3K1 rs889312 may be a good BC susceptibility biomarker candidate for Turkish population.

An investigation of the effects of FGFR2 and B7-H4 polymorphisms in breast cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Polymorphisms in FGFR2 are important markers for breast cancer susceptibility in the general population. CHEK2 and FGFR2 polymorphisms with known susceptibility alleles of BRCA1, BRCA2, PTEN, and TP53, can be investigated as potential modifiers of high penetrant risk alleles. Although the B7-H4 gene is highly expressed in many different tumors, there is one published study showing the association of polymorphisms with breast cancer. We aimed to investigate FGFR2 and B7-H4 polymorphisms in breast cancer in the Turkish community. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a group of 31 cases diagnosed with breast cancer and 30 healthy women with matched ages, the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs1219648, rs2981582 in FGFR2 gene were identified by sequence analysis and the SNPs rs10754339, rs10801935, and rs3738414 in the B7-H4 gene were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. RESULTS: Although statistically not significant, the frequency of FGFR2 heterozygous polymorphisms in the group with breast cancer was detected to be higher. In the B7-H4 SNP rs10801935, polymorphic AA, and AG genotype distributions were found in higher frequencies in the breast cancer patients. In contrast to the results of a published study, the present study shows that B7-H4 rs3738414 polymorphism GG genotype was found in higher frequency in the control group than the breast cancer group and the result was statistically significant (P=0.018). CONCLUSION: Larger scale studies are necessary to determine the prevalence of these polymorphisms and association with breast cancer in Turkish community, as this study is the first study performed.

Characterization of double ring chromosome 4 mosaicism associated with bilateral hip dislocation, cortical dysgenesis, and epilepsy.

We present the clinical and molecular findings in a Turkish child with a de novo mosaic ring derived from chromosome 4 with multiple cell-lines; the karyotype was 46,XY,r(4)[83]/45,XY, -4[6]/47,XY,r(4),+r(4)[5]/48,XY,r(4),+r(4),+dic r(4)[1]/46,XY[5]. The patient is a 20-month-old male who was the first pregnancy of nonconsanguineous parents. The baby was delivered at term with a birth weight of 1,700 g (<3rd centile) and a length of 46 cm. The baby had feeding difficulties and vomiting problems. He started walking at age 2 years and delayed language was observed. Facial appearance was normal, but the ears were large with abnormal structure. The hands showed bilateral clinodactyly of the 5th fingers. He had mild mental retardation, and epilepsy. Analysis of chromosomes showed 46,XY,r(4)(::p16.3 --> qter::)[67]/46,XY,r(4;4)(::p16.3 --> qter::p16.3 --> qter::)[2]/46,XY[3] by multicolor banding (MCB) technique. Array CGH delineated the size of the terminal deletion as 900 kb in 4p16.3. The Wolf-Hirschhorn critical region was preserved even though our patient had mild mental and motor retardation. While the mosaicism of the ring 4 could affect the phenotype, the deleted 900 kb distal deletion and clinical features of the patient may provide further insight into characteristic phenotype of the 4p- related syndromes.

Surgery for acute abdomen and MEFV mutations in patients with FMF.

OBJECTIVES: Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by recurrent fever, peritonitis, arthritis, pleuritis, and secondary amyloidosis. In the current study, we sought to determine the frequency of acute surgical abdominal intervention and MEFV gene mutations in FMF patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 159 patients were referred to our department with a diagnosis of FMF. Twenty-six patients (16.4%) had a history of surgical intervention. Of these, 17 (10.7%) were operated on due to appendicitis, and 9 (5.7%) were operated on due to other acute abdomen reasons. Genomic DNA was isolated from the blood samples, and in the isolated DNA samples, 12 MEFV gene mutations were studied. RESULTS: Mutation frequency was detected to be 80.8% in the patients with acute abdomen surgery intervention and 56.4% in the patients without acute abdomen surgical intervention. Upon mutational evaluation of these patients, we noted that the M694V (40.5%) and E148Q (21.4%) mutations occurred most frequently. CONCLUSIONS: The MEFV gene mutation frequency in FMF patients with acute abdomen surgical intervention was significantly higher than that in patients without such intervention. Increased mutation scanning in FMF patients will significantly decrease unnecessary surgical interventions in this patient group.