Prostate cancer risk–associated variants have been reported in populations of European descent, African-Americans and Japanese using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To systematically investigate prostate cancer risk–associated variants in Chinese men, we performed the first GWAS in Han Chinese. In addition to confirming several associations reported in other ancestry groups, this study identified two new risk-associated loci for prostate cancer on chromosomes 9q31.2 (rs817826, P = 5.45 × 10−14) and 19q13.4 (rs103294, P = 5.34 × 10−16) in 4,484 prostate cancer cases and 8,934 controls. The rs103294 marker at 19q13.4 is in strong linkage equilibrium with a 6.7-kb germline deletion that removes the first six of seven exons in LILRA3, a gene regulating inflammatory response, and was significantly associated with the mRNA expression of LILRA3 in T cells (P < 1 × 10−4). These findings may advance the understanding of genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer.

Recent studies indicated that the estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) could affect the progression of prostate and bladder tumors, however, its roles in the renal cell carcinoma (RCC), remain to be elucidated. Here, we provide clinical evidence that ERβ expression is correlated in a negative manner with the overall survival/disease-free survival in RCC patients. Mechanism dissection revealed that targeting ERβ with ERβ-shRNA and stimulating the transactivation of ERβ with 17β-estradiol or environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals, all resulted in altering the lncRNA HOTAIR expression. The ERβ-modulated HOTAIR is able to function via antagonizing several microRNAs, including miR-138, miR-200c, miR-204, or miR-217 to impact various oncogenes, including ADAM9, CCND2, EZH2, VEGFA, VIM, ZEB1, and ZEB2, to promote RCC proliferation and invasion. Together, the identification of the ERβ-HOTAIR axis may provide us new biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets to better suppress RCC progression in the future.

CA125, human epididymis secretary protein 4 (HE4) and the Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA) could be used for diagnosing ovarian cancer (OCa). However, it has not been conclusively determined which of these markers yields the best diagnostic accuracy. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic value of these markers. We systematically searched the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases and identified 32 studies that evaluated the role of CA125, HE4 and ROMA in diagnosing OCa. The bivariate random-effects approach was used to calculate the pooled estimates by considering the heterogeneity of major related parameters such as the menopausal status, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages, detection method and blinded design. Three tests yielded similar discriminatory performances in the OCa diagnosis (AUC [95 % CI]-0.89 [0.86-0.92] for HE4; 0.87 [0.84-0.90] for CA125; 0.91 [0.88-0.93] for ROMA). HE4 yielded a higher specificity than CA125 and ROMA (HE4 93.60 [90.00-95.90] >CA125 82.10 [76.60-86.50] and ROMA 82.40 [77.40-86.50]), especially in the premenopausal subgroup (HE4 93.80 [88.40-96.80] >CA125 76.30 [63.30-85.70] and ROMA 85.10 [80.40-88.80]). In contrast, CA125 and ROMA performed significantly better in the postmenopausal subgroup than in the premenopausal subgroup (AUC [95 % CI]-CA125-premenopausal 0.85 [0.82-0.88]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which is prevalent in China, is believed to be induced by environmental carcinogens. Accumulating evidence has shown that individual variation in DNA repair capacity resulting from genetic polymorphism influences risk of environmental carcinogenesis. We therefore investigated the associations between genetic polymorphisms in the DNA repair genes XRCC1 (Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln) and XPD (Asp312Asn and Lys751Gln) and risk of ESCC in an at-risk Chinese population. Genotypes were determined by a PCR-based approach in 433 patients with ESCC and 524 frequency-matched normal controls. We found that individuals with Trp/Trp genotype at XRCC1 Arg194Trp site had a 2-fold increased risk of this disease compared to Arg/Arg genotype (adjusted OR ‫؍‬ 1.98; 95% CI 1.26 -3.12). Furthermore, when compared to Arg/Arg and Arg/Trp genotype combined, homozygote for Trp/Trp genotype significantly increased the risk of developing ESCC, with the adjusted OR being 2.07 (95% CI 1.34 -3.20). However, the XRCC1 Arg399Gln polymorphism was not significantly associated with risk of ESCC, with the adjusted OR being 0.87 (95% CI 0.55-1.37). Neither Asp312Asn nor Lys751Gln polymorphisms in the XPD gene influenced risk of ESCC in our study. These findings suggest that DNA repair gene XRCC1 but not XPD might play a role in esophageal carcinogenesis and might represent a genetic determinant in the development of the cancer.