Cancer is one of the leading cause of death in the world with the prevalence of >10 million mortalities annually. Current cancer treatments include surgical intervention, radiation, and taking chemotherapeutic drugs, which often kill the healthy cells and result in toxicity in patients. Therefore, researchers are looking for ways to be able to eliminate just cancerous cells. Intra-tumor heterogeneity of cancerous cells is the main obstacle on the way of an effective cancer treatment. However, better comprehension of molecular basis of tumor and the advent of new diagnostic technologies can help to improve the treatment of various cancers. Therefore, study of epigenetic changes, gene expression of cancerous cells and employing methods that enable us to correct or minimize these changes is critically important. In this paper, we will review the recent advanced strategies being used in the field of cancer research.

Background Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has the potential to serve as a non-invasive prognostic biomarker in some types of neoplasia. The investigation of plasma concentration of cfDNA may reveal its use as a valuable biomarker for risk stratification of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The present prognostic value of plasma cfDNA has not been widely confirmed in DLBCL subjects. Here, we evaluated cfDNA plasma concentration and assessed its potential prognostic value as an early DLBCL diagnostic tool. Methods cfDNA concentrations in plasma samples from 40 patients with DLBCL during diagnosis and of 38 normal controls were determined with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the multi-locus L1PA2 gene. Results Statistically significant elevation in plasma cfDNA concentrations was observed in patients with DLBCL as compared to that in normal controls ( P <0.05). A cutoff point of 2.071 ng/mL provided 82.5% sensitivity and 62.8% specificity and allowed successful discrimination of patients with DLBCL from normal controls (area under the curve=0.777; P =0.00003). Furthermore, patients with DLBCL showing higher concentrations of cfDNA had shorter overall survival (median, 9 mo; P =0.022) than those with lower cfDNA levels. In addition, elevated cfDNA concentration was significantly associated with age, B-symptoms, International Prognostic Index (IPI) score, and different stages of disease (all P <0.05). Conclusion Quantification of cfDNA with qPCR at the time of diagnosis may allow identification of patients with high cfDNA concentration, which correlates with aggressive clinical outcomes and adverse prognosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hexagonal selenium nanoparticles modified by SiRNA (HSNM-SiRNA) to inhibit epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling in Human non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). After synthesis, HSNM-SiRNA and HSNs were separately exposed to NSCLC cell lines (A549, H1299, H520, and H1975), and incubated for 6 h at 37 °C. Next, the expression of NFKB, MYC, STAT, ELK1, and GAPDH was evaluated by western blot and real-time PCR. The percentage of apoptotic cells and cell cycle progression were measured when exposed to HSNM-SiRNA and HSNs. Both western blot and real-time PCR results showed that HSNM-SiRNA could down-regulate the expression of all EGFR signaling genes. The percentage of apoptotic cells was significantly increased in all cell lines when exposed to HSNM-SiRNA (P>0.05). HSNM-SiRNA in A549 and H1299 cells significantly increased the proportion of cells in G1/G0 phase and significantly decreased the proportion of cells in S phase.

Background: The entomofauna found on animal carrion, which is used as vertebrate model, can help in the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). The aim of this study was to determine the succession pattern of insects on carrion in outdoor and indoor habitats in Fars Province, southwestern Iran. Results: A total of 19 species from nine families were collected. Chrysomya albiceps and Musca domestica were the first species to visit the outdoor carrion while only Musca domestica was seen on the indoor carrion. Sarcophaga crassipalpis, Lucillia sericata, and Histeridae species were observed exclusively on the indoor carrion while Dermestes maculatus, Piophila casei, and some hymenopteran species were the most dominant species seen on the outdoor carrion. Vespula germanica and Vespa orientalis fed on both outdoor and indoor habitats. Conclusion: Insects' succession pattern was found to differ between the two respective habitats. This is really important and could be used in medicolegal cases to estimate the PMI.