Protective Role of CTRP3 and CTRP9 in the Development of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: The current study aims to detect the expression of C1q tumor necrosis factor related protein 3 (CTRP3) and CTRP9 in serum of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), so as to provide basis for the prevention and treatment of GDM. METHODS: A total of 129 pregnant women with GDM were selected, and 130 pregnant women with normal glucose metabolism were selected as the control group. The serum levels of CTRP3 and CTRP9 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Pearson's correlation assay was used to compare the correlation between the level of serum CTRP3 and CTRP9 and clinical indicators. ROC analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum CTRP3 and CTRP9. RESULTS: Our data showed that the levels of CTRP3 and CTRP9 in the GDM group were lower than those in the control group, while body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c), hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), IL-6, TNF-α, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINS), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were higher than those in the control group. Pearson's correlation assay showed that serum CTRP3 and CTRP9 was negatively correlated with FPG, FINS, and HOMA-IR. The AUC of the combined diagnosis of GDM was better than that of the single index (0.936 (0.868 - 0.996)), including CTRP3, CTPR9 and FPG. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, low expression of serum CTRP3 and CTRP9 in patients with GDM was negatively correlated with IR and may shed light on revealing the pathogenesis of GDM.

The Diagnostic Value of Serum miR-129 in Breast Cancer Patients with Bone Metastasis.

BACKGROUND: The current study aims to investigate the expression of serum miR-129 in breast cancer patients with bone metastasis and to further study its diagnostic role. METHODS: Serum samples of 60 patients with bone metastasis of breast cancer and 60 patients with non-bone metastasis of breast cancer were collected. The expression of serum miR-129 in breast cancer patients was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The relationship between miR-129 and bone metastasis or bone pain in breast cancer patients with bone metastasis was analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to analyze the diagnostic role of serum miR-129 expression in breast cancer patients with bone metastasis. RESULTS: The expression of miR-129 in serum of breast cancer patients with bone metastasis was significantly lower than that of non-bone metastasis patients. Furthermore, the lower the expression level of serum miR-129 was, the higher the degree of bone metastasis and bone pain was found in breast cancer patients. The ROC curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of miR-129 expression in serum for diagnosis of bone metastasis of breast cancer was 0.941 (95% CI: 0.891 - 0.991) with the sensitivity and specificity of 87.5% and 91.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, decreased serum miR-129 in breast cancer patients can be used as a potential diagnostic marker of bone metastasis in breast cancer patients.

Combined use of Serum miR-499a-5p and CA199 Increases the Diagnostic Sensitivity of Pancreatic Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The current study aims to explore the clinical value of serum miR-499a-5p in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. METHODS: One hundred twenty-four patients with pancreatic cancer (cancer group), 100 patients with benign pancreatic diseases (benign control group), and 100 healthy people (healthy control group) were selected as the observation objects from January 2017 to June 2017. Fasting venous blood samples were collected to detect the levels of CA199 and the relative expression of miR-499a-5p in serum, and to evaluate the diagnostic value for pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: The expression of CA199 in the benign control group and cancer group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group. However, the expression of miR-499a-5p in the cancer group was significantly higher than that in the benign control group and the healthy control group. But no difference of serum miR-499a-5p level was found in the benign control group and the healthy control group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that when used alone, the sensitivity and specificity of miR-499a-5p in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer were better than that of CA199 (p < 0.05). Moreover, when serum miR-499a-5p was combined with CA199, the diagnostic value for pancreatic cancer increased significantly (p < 0.05). Dual luciferase reporter assay showed that PTEN was a target gene of miR-499a-5p. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, miR-499a-5p is a new, non-invasive biomarker, and the combination of miR-499a-5p and CA199 can improve the diagnostic sensitivity of pancreatic cancer.

Significance of Bcl-xL in human colon carcinoma.

AIM: To investigate the clinical significance of Bcl-xL gene in the pathogenesis of human colon carcinoma. METHODS: Fifty-six pair tissue samples from patients with colon cancer were collected, and protein level of the Bcl-xL gene was measured by immunohistochemistry method. The correlation of Bcl-xL expression with clinical index was evaluated. After human colon cancer cell line HT29 was transfected with Bcl-xL small interfering RNA (siRNA), the anchorage-independent growth of cancer cells was detected by colony formation in soft agar and invasion ability of cancer cells was determined by a transwell model. RESULTS: The Bcl-xL expression was higher in cancerous tissue samples than in normal tissue samples (38.78 +/-11.36 vs 0.89 +/- 0.35, P < 0.001), and was associated with the pathological grade, lymph node metastasis and Duke's stage of colorectal carcinoma. Transfection with Bcl-xL siRNA inhibited the colony formation and invasion ability of human colon cancer cell line HT29 in vitro. CONCLUSION: Bcl-xL gene plays an important role in carcinogenesis of human colorectal carcinoma and is associated with malignant biological behaviors of human colorectal carcinoma.