miR-381-3p suppresses breast cancer progression by inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence indicates that miRNAs are involved in multiple cellular functions and participate in various cancer development and progression, including breast cancer. METHODS: We aimed to investigate the role of miR-381-3p in breast cancer. The expression level of miR-381-3p and EMT transcription factors was examined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The effects of miR-381-3p on breast cancer proliferation and invasion were determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation, and transwell assays. The regulation of miR-381-3p on its targets was determined by dual-luciferase analysis, qRT-PCR, and western blot. RESULTS: We found that the expression of miR-381-3p was significantly decreased in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-381-3p inhibited breast cancer proliferation and invasion, whereas knockdown of miR-381-3p promoted cell proliferation and invasion in MDA-MB-231 and SKBR3 cells. Mechanistically, overexpression of miR-381-3p inhibited breast cancer epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Both Sox4 and Twist1 were confirmed as targets of miR-381-3p. Moreover, transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) could reverse the effects of miR-381-3p on breast cancer progression. CONCLUSIONS: Our observation suggests that miR-381-3p inhibits breast cancer progression and EMT by regulating the TGF-ß signaling via targeting Sox4 and Twist1.

MicroRNA­454­5p promotes breast cancer progression by inducing epithelial­mesenchymal transition via targeting the FoxJ2/E­cadherin axis.

MicroRNAs are important for the regulation of multiple cellular functions and are involved in the initiation and progression of various types of cancer, including breast cancer. Although microRNA (miR)­454­3p is reported to function as an oncogene in several types of human cancer, the role of miR­454­5p in breast cancer remains unknown. The present study demonstrated that miR­454­5p was upregulated in breast cancer and was associated with a poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer. Overexpression of miR­454­5p promoted breast cancer cell viability, migration and invasion in vitro, whereas silencing of miR­454­5p inhibited breast cancer proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and suppressed tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, forkhead box J2 (FoxJ2) was shown to be a target of miR­454­5p and transactivated E­cadherin expression. Moreover, silencing of miR­454­5p reversed the epithelial­mesenchymal transition phenotype through upregulation of the FoxJ2/E­cadherin axis. Collectively, the present findings suggested that miR­454­5p may serve as a novel therapeutic target and prognostic predictor for patients with breast cancer.

Robust image hashing via visual attention model and ring partition.

Robustness is an important property of image hashing. Most of the existing hashing algorithms do not reach good robustness against large-angle rotation. Aiming at this problem, we jointly exploit visual attention model and ring partition to design a novel image hashing, which can make good rotation robustness. In the proposed image hashing, a visual attention model called PFT (Phase spectrum of Fourier Transform) model is used to detect saliency map of preprocessed image. The LL sub-band of saliency map is then divided into concentric circles invariant to rotation by ring partition, and the means and variances of DWT coefficients on concentric circles are taken as image features. Next, these features are encrypted by a chaotic map and the Euclidean distances between normalized encrypted features are finally exploited to generate hash. Similarity between hashes is measured by L 1 norm. Many experimental tests show that our image hashing is robust to digital operations including rotation and reaches good discrimination. Comparisons demonstrate that classification performance of our image hashing outperforms those of some well-known hashing algorithms in terms of receiver operating characteristics curves. Simulation of image copy detection is carried out on an open image database called UCID and the result validates effectiveness of our hashing.

Lugol chromoendoscopic screening for esophageal dysplasia/early squamous cell carcinoma in patients with esophageal symptoms in low-risk region in China.

Detection of esophageal dysplasia/early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is essential for improving 5-year survival. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate whether Lugol chromoendoscopy improves the detection of esophageal dysplasia/early ESCC in patients with esophageal symptoms in a low-incidence region in China. Eligible patients were randomly assigned into two groups who received routine endoscopy or Lugol chromoendoscopy. During endoscopy, between one and five biopsies were taken from visible lesions for routine endoscopy, or unstained areas of >0.5 cm in diameter for Lugol chromoendoscopy. In total, 812 patients were enrolled, 395 for routine endoscopy and 417 for Lugol chromoendoscopy. The overall detection rate of esophageal dysplasia/early ESCC was 10.6% (86/812), the detection rates were 7.3% (29/395) and 13.7% (57/417) in routine and chromoendoscopy groups, respectively (χ2=8.58, P=0.003). The detection rates were 8.3% (48/580), 17.2% (17/99) and 16.5% (22/133), respectively, in patients with reflux, dysphagia and globus sensation symptoms. In the chromoendoscopy group, 213 patients had unstained lesions of >0.5 cm, the detection rates of dysplasia/early carcinoma were 5.3% (4/76) in those with lesions of 0.5-1.0 cm, and 37.2% (51/137) in those with lesions >1.0 cm (χ2=21.46, P<0.001). These results indicate that Lugol chromoendoscopy improves the detection rate of esophageal dysplasia/early carcinoma in patients with esophageal symptoms compared with routine endoscopy. We propose that Lugol chromoendoscopy must therefore be considered in addition to routine endoscopy in patients with esophageal symptoms.

Aortoesophageal fistula: a case misdiagnosed as esophageal polyp.

Aortoesophageal fistula (AEF) is a rare and fatal disorder. It is also a life-threatening cause of massive upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Thoracic aortic aneurysm is the most common cause of AEF. Management of a patient with this disorder requires rapid diagnosis and immediate intervention, which is considered the best way to save the patient's life. We report a case of AEF misdiagnosed as esophageal polyp.