Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer with 403,262 diagnoses and 170,000 deaths worldwide in 2018. Although partial or radical nephrectomy can be considered a successful treatment in early-stage or localized RCC, in advanced-stage disease, there is a high risk of metastasis or recurrence with a significantly poorer prognosis. Metastatic RCC is generally resistant to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and, despite several novel therapeutic agents, disease progression and mortality rates remain high. It is necessary to identify new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for the management of this cancer. Knowledge of microRNA (miRNA) has consistently increased in the last year. miRNAs play an important role in several biological processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and cell death. Due to this, miRNAs have been identified as an important key in different diseases, especially in cancer, and several studies show miRNAs as attractive tools and targets for novel therapeutic approaches. Recently several miRNAs (including miR-22, miR-203, miR-301 and miR-193a-3p) have been linked to dysregulated molecular pathways involved with the proliferation of cancerous cells and resistance to therapeutic agents. In the present study, recent data from studies assessing the application of miRNAs as biomarkers, therapeutic targets, or modulators of response to treatment modalities in RCC patients are analyzed.

The treatment of male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic obstruction represents one of the major interesting aspects in urological clinical practice. Although transurethral resection of the prostate is still considered the surgical gold standard for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia with prostate volume <80 mL, various minimally invasive surgical treatments (MITs) have been developed to overcome the limitations of the “conventional” surgery. To date, there are no validated tools to evaluate the surgical outcomes of MITs; however, in the past, BPH-6 has been used for this purpose. In this systematic review, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of MITs according to BPH-6 score system. We focused our attention on MITs based on mechanical devices (prostatic urethral lift and the temporary implantable nitinol device) and techniques for prostate ablation (image guided robotic waterjet ablation and convective water vapor energy ablation). Evidence shows that MITs are capable of leading to an improvement in LUTS without having an overwhelming impact on complications and are a valid alternative to other treatments in patients who wish to preserve their sexual function or in case of inapplicability of conventional surgery. However, comparative studies between these techniques are still missing.

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