RESUMO
The present study aimed to investigate the association between the expression profiles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and the clinical characteristics or prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The findings presented in the present review may provide novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of NPC. For the analyses, medical databases, including PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane library were searched using specific search terms, search strategies and screening strategies. Endnote X9 document management software was then employed to extract documents from January, 2010 to May, 2023. Data were extracted following the prescribed standards. Review Manager 5.4 and STATA 12.0 data analysis software were used for data analysis. A total of 490 publications were analyzed for inclusion. In total, 29 publications, composed of 24 studies with upregulated lncRNAs and 5 studies with downregulated lncRNAs, were included in the final analysis. The analysis revealed that the upregulation of lncRNAs was significantly associated with T stage, N stage and clinical stage, as well as with the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with NPC (P<0.05). However, there was no significant association between the upregulated lncRNAs and sex, M stage or relapse-free survival (RFS) (P>0.05). On the other hand, the suppression of lncRNA expression was significantly associated with N stage, M stage, clinical stage and the OS of patients with NPC (P<0.05), but not with T stage and RFS (P>0.05). Taken together, the present review demonstrates that the up- and downregulation of different lncRNAs was associated with an advanced clinical stage and a shorter OS of patients with NPC. Therefore, lncRNAs may serve as potential prognostic factors in NPC.
RESUMO
Recent baby formula milk powder contamination incidents have shown that the classic markers or standards in milk quality control are insufficient in identifying "manipulated" poor-quality milk. In the present study, we demonstrated for the first time that cow milk contains large amounts of microRNAs (miRNAs) and that the unique expression profile of milk-specific miRNAs can serve as a novel indicator and possible new standard for the quality control of raw milk and milk-related commercial products, such as fluid milk and powdered formula milk. First, using Solexa sequencing, we systematically screened miRNA expression in raw milk and identified a total of 245 miRNAs in raw milk. Unlike other classic biomarkers whose expression levels are nearly identical at different periods of lactation, individual miRNAs can be significantly altered during lactation process, implicating that miRNAs may be a more accurate indicator to reflect the quality alteration of milk. Second, using TaqMan probe-based miRNA quantitative RT-PCR, we further identified seven miRNAs that have a relatively consistent expression throughout the lactation process, and more importantly, the expression profile of these seven milk-specific miRNAs can serve as an ideal biomarker for discriminating poor-quality or "manipulated" milk from pure raw milk, as well as for the quality control of commercial milk products, such as fluid milk and powdered formula milk. Together, our findings provide a basis for understanding the physiological role of milk miRNAs and a new potential standard for determining the quality of raw milk or milk-related commercial products.
