Bladder cancer remains a very challenging disease to treat with the high rates of recurrence and progression associated with current therapies. Although the association between bladder cancer pathology and circRNAs remains undetermined, circRNAs signatures may be useful as prognostic and predictive factors and clinical tools for assessing disease state, treatment response and outcome. This study investigates if these circRNAs can be used as biomarkers for bladder cancer diagnosis and predicting treatment response. Herein, qPCR measured the expression of hsa_circRNA_100783, hsa_circ_0000285 and hsa_circRNA_100782 in bladder cancer tissues. It was established that sa_circ_0000285, but not hsa_circRNA_100782 and hsa_circRNA_10078, are significantly reduced in bladder cancer tissues and serum compared to adjacent tissues and healthy controls. Moreover, hsa_circ_0000285 expression was lower in cisplatin-resistant bladder cancer patients than in those who were cisplatin-sensitive. Here, hsa_circ_0000285 was associated with tumor size (p<0.001), differentiation (p<0.001), lymph node metastasis (p=0.038), distant metastasis (p=0.004) and TNM stage (p=0.013). Further analysis showed that hsa_circ_0000285 would be an independent prognostic factor for bladder cancer patient outcome. In conclusion, our study indicates hsa_circ_0000285 may be a novel biomarker for bladder cancer because of its involvement in bladder cancer chemo-sensitivity.

Introduction: Despite the progress made in blood safety, blood transfusion-related infections remain a concern in view of these national statistics. Aim of the Study: To determine the seroprevalence of infectious markers transmissible by blood transfusion in blood donors at the Yamoussoukro Blood Transfusion Center. Method: This is a retrospective study that took place at the Yamoussoukro Blood Transfusion Center. The data were collected from all old and new blood donors deemed suitable for the fixed collection of the year 2020. ELISA tests were used to screen for HIV antibody, HBsAg and HCV antibody; syphilis screening was done using the VDRL (Venereal Disease Research Laboratory) test. Results: All 1160 blood donors of the fixed blood collection in 2020, no positive results for the different blood-borne diseases were recorded. On the other hand, one doubtful result and two unperformed tests were observed for each infectious marker. Conclusions: The seroprevalence of infectious markers in blood donors is very low in fixed collection at the Yamoussoukro Transfusion Center