Uveal melanoma (UM) represents approximately 5-6% of all melanoma diagnoses and up to 50% of patients succumb to their disease. Although several methods are available, accurate diagnosis is not always easily feasible because of potential accidents (e.g., intraocular hemorrhage). Based on the assumption that the profile of circulating miRNAs is often altered in human cancers, we verified whether UM patients showed different vitreous humor (VH) or serum miRNA profiles with respect to healthy controls. By using TaqMan Low Density Arrays, we analyzed 754 miRNAs from VH, vitreal exosomes, and serum of 6 UM patients and 6 healthy donors: our data demonstrated that the UM VH profile was unique and only partially overlapping with that from serum of the same patients. Whereas, 90% of miRNAs were shared between VH and vitreal exosomes, and their alterations in UM were statistically overlapped with those of VH and vitreal exosomes, suggesting that VH alterations could result from exosomal dysregulation. We report 32 miRNAs differentially expressed in UM patients in at least 2 different types of samples analyzed. We validated these data on an independent cohort of 12 UM patients. Most alterations were common to VH and vitreal exosomes (e.g., upregulation of miR-21,-34 a,-146a). Interestingly, miR-146a was upregulated in the serum of UM patients, as well as in serum exosomes. Upregulation of miR-21 and miR-146a was also detected in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded UM, suggesting that VH or serum alterations in UM could be the consequence of disregulation arising from tumoral cells. Our findings suggest the possibility to detect in VH and serum of UM patients "diagnostic" miRNAs released by the affected eye: based on this, miR-146a could be considered a potential circulating marker of UM.

In this study, we demonstrated that ASC transplantation is effective in treating acetaminophen liver injury by enhancing hepatocyte regeneration and inhibiting liver stress and inflammatory signaling.

BACKGROUNDCigarette smoke has been identified as the main cause of oral cavity carcinoma. Recently, the electronic cigarette, a battery-operated device, was developed to help smokers stop their tobacco addiction. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of electronic cigarettes and to establish the possible role of such device in the primary prevention of oral cavity cancer.SUBJECTS AND METHODSThis study included 65 subjects who were divided into three groups (smokers, e-cigarette smokers, and nonsmokers). All subjects were submitted to cytologic examination by scraping of oral mucosa. The slides were microscopically evaluated through a micronucleus assay test.RESULTSThe prevalence of micronuclei was significantly decreased in the e-cigarette smoker group. There were no statistically significant differences in micronuclei distribution according to the type of cigarette, gender, and age.CONCLUSIONSThe use of electronic cigarettes seems to be safe for oral cells and should be suggested as an aid to smoking cessation.

Moro juice counteracts liver steatogenesis in mice with diet-induced obesity and thus may represent a promising dietary option for the prevention of fatty liver.

Abstract:Osteoarthritis is the most common human arthritis characterized by degeneration of articular cartilage. Several studies reported that levels of human cartilage glycoprotein chitinase 3-like-1 (CHI3L1) are known as a potential marker for the activation of chondrocytes and the progression of Osteoarthritis (OA), whereas lubricin appears to be chondroprotective. The aim of this study was to investigate the co-expression and co-localization of CHI3L1 and lubricin in normal and osteoarthritic rat articular cartilage to correlate their modified expression to a specific grade of OA. Samples of normal and osteoarthritic rat articular cartilage were analyzed by the Kellgren-Lawrence OA severity scores, the Kraus' modified Mankin score and the Histopathology Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) system for histomorphometric evaluations, and through CHI3L1 and lubricin gene expression, immunohistochemistry and double immuno-staining analysis. The immunoexpression and the mRNA levels of lubricin increased in normal cartilage and decreased in OA cartilage (normal vs. OA, p < 0.01). By contrast, the immunoexpression and the mRNA levels of CHI3L1 increased in OA cartilage and decreased in normal cartilage (normal vs. OA, p < 0.01). Our findings are consistent with reports suggesting that these two glycoproteins are functionally associated with the development of OA and in particular with grade 2/3 of OA, suggesting that in the future they could be helpful to stage the severity and progression of the disease.