Aim. Biochemical markers, including microRNAs (miRs), may facilitate the diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer. This study was aimed at assessing serum miR-155 expression in patients with breast cancer and receptors. Methods. This case-control study was conducted on 36 patients with breast cancer and 36 healthy individuals. After RNA extraction from the patient’s serum, cDNA was synthesized. The expression of miR-155 was measured using RT-qPCR. Demographic and histochemical data were extracted from patient documents. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results. The mean age of subjects in breast cancer and control groups was 47.64±8.19 and 47.36±7.52 years, respectively. The serum miR-155 expression was higher in the cancer group (1.68±0.66) compared to the control group (p<0.0001). There was a significant relationship between serum miR-155 expression and the tumor grade (p<0.001), tumor stage (p<0.001), and tumor size (p<0.001) of the patients. However, no relationship between miR-155 expression and the presence of lymph node involvement (p=0.15), HER2 (p=0.79), Ki-67 (p=0.9), progesterone receptor (p=0.54), and estrogen receptors (p=0.84) was found. The ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC was 0.89 (77.78% sensitivity and 88.89% specificity), and the cutoff was 1.4 (Youden index: 0.6667) for detecting breast cancer. Conclusion. The findings of this study revealed that serum miR-155 may serve as a potential noninvasive molecular biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis and can help predict the grade of the disease.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRs) are a group of small non-coding and single-stranded RNAs of 18 to 25 nucleotides. The study of microRNAs is one of the new ways to detect cancer. In this study, the serum expression of miR-223 in patients with GC was measured and compared with the control group. Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 39 patients with GC and 39 control subjects who visited the Reza Radiotherapy and Oncology Center, Mashhad, Iran, due to gastrointestinal complaints. The demographic information was collected, and the serum levels of miR-223 were measured using the real-time PCR technique in all study subjects. The association between the GC of miR-223 and tumor staging and cancer progression was assessed. Results: The miR-223 expression in GC patients was 3.10-fold higher than that of the control group (p<0.0001). The miR-223 expression was significantly higher in the GC stages and grades compared to the control group (p<0.0001 each). However, there was no significant effect for age, smoking, and gender on miR- 223 expression in GC and controls. At the optimal cutoff value of 0.7436, the maximal sensitivity of 89.74% and specificity of 84.62% were achieved for miR-223 (p<0.001). The sensitivity and specificity for miR-223 for differentiating low grades from high grade were 92.31% and 73.08% (p=0.0003), and for differentiating low stages from the high stage was 81.82% and 39.29% respectively (p=0.696). Conclusion: This study revealed that miR-223 could be considered as a non-invasive diagnostic marker in the early diagnosis of GC.

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Myxofibrosarcoma is a soft tissue sarcoma (STS) prevailing in the elderly and is associated with metastasis and mortality. In this case, an 88-year-old male is presented with a progressively enlarging mass in the posterior thorax. The physical examination revealed a solid, irregular, painful mass on palpation. Doppler ultrasonography and high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a 60 × 38 mm hypoechoic tumor in the left paraspinal thoracic area with a little vascularity with no adherence and invasion. Radical excisional surgery was performed. The histopathology findings were in line with myxofibrosarcoma except for CD34. He underwent high dose radiotherapy due to the reported not assessable margins at one side. The patient was asymptomatic and recurrent free in the 12 months follow up assessment. It was the first known case of the non-metastatic intermediate grade of myxofibrosarcoma in the thorax. Due to its deceptive findings, myxofibrosarcoma should always be considered in the assessment of chest wall tumors.