Serum-based microRNA biomarkers for major depression: MiR-16, miR-135a, and miR-1202.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common medical condition with a high prevalence leading to emotional abnormality. Despite some drawbacks, depression currently diagnosed using a combination of patient interviews and self-report questionnaires. Recently, there is emerging emphasis to establish biomarkers to diagnosis and clinical management of depression. This case-control study was designed to develop microRNA (miRNA)-based serum biomarker for depression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 39 patients with depression and 36 healthy controls were enrolled. Serum miRNAs gene expression was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis; finally, the data represent as the 2-ΔCt followed by further statistical analysis. RESULTS: The serum level of miR-16 was significantly (P < 0.001) down-regulated (mean: 0.9123 and standard deviation [SD]: 0.06) in compared to normal individuals (mean: 1.6848 and SD: 0.09). The concentration of miR-135a was also catastrophically decreased (P < 0.001) in the patients (mean: 1.160 and SD: 0.07) in compared to control (mean: 1.819 and SD: 0.09). The relative miR-1202 expression levels were significantly lower (P < 0.001) in the patients (mean: 0.1755 and SD: 0.01) than in the healthy individuals (mean: 0.2939 and SD: 0.01). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated the obvious separation between patient and healthy control, with an AUC of 0.75 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.642-0.858, P < 0.001), 0.72 (95% CI = 0.607-0.834, P < 0.001), and 0.74 (95% CI = 0.630-0.861, P < 0.001) for miR-16, miR-135a, and miR-1202, respectively. The data suggest that these miRNAs have a potential to be used as a biomarker of depression with sensitivity 77.8% and specificity of 61.5% for miR-16, 94.4% and 41.0% for miR-135a as well as 86.1% and 61.5% for miR-1202, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that these miRNA can be used as a biomarker of depression diagnosis. MiR-135a and miR-1202 exhibited better sensitivity and specificity, respectively.

Comparison, synthesis and evaluation of anticancer drug-loaded polymeric nanoparticles on breast cancer cell lines.

Breast cancer is a major form of cancer, with a high mortality rate in women. It is crucial to achieve more efficient and safe anticancer drugs. Recent developments in medical nanotechnology have resulted in novel advances in cancer drug delivery. Cisplatin, doxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil are three important anti-cancer drugs which have poor water-solubility. In this study, we used cisplatin, doxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil-loaded polycaprolactone-polyethylene glycol (PCL-PEG) nanoparticles to improve the stability and solubility of molecules in drug delivery systems. The nanoparticles were prepared by a double emulsion method and characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)HNMR). Cells were treated with equal concentrations of cisplatin, doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil-loaded PCL-PEG nanoparticles, and free cisplatin, doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil. The 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay confirmed that cisplatin, doxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil-loaded PCL-PEG nanoparticles enhanced cytotoxicity and drug delivery in T47D and MCF7 breast cancer cells. However, the IC50 value of doxorubicin was lower than the IC50 values of both cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil, where the difference was statistically considered significant (p˂0.05). However, the IC50 value of all drugs on T47D were lower than those on MCF7.