Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to regulate tumor biology and might be used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and potential therapeutic targets. Although up-regulation of lncRNA UCA1 (urothelial carcinoma-associated 1) in several cancers has been found, its role in gastric cancer remains elusive. The aim of this study was to detect the expression of lncRNA UCA1 in gastric cancer and its clinical association. The expression of UCA1 was detected in 112 pairs of tumorous and adjacent normal tissues from patients with gastric cancer, as well as in four gastric cancer cell lines and a human normal gastric epithelium cell line using RT-qPCR. Results showed that UCA1 expression was remarkably increased in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines compared with that in the normal control. Clinicopathologic analysis revealed that high UCA1 expression correlated with worse differentiation, tumor size, invasion depth and TNM stage in gastric cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that increased UCA1 expression contributed to poor overall survival (p = 0.017) and disease-free survival (p = 0.024) of patients. A multivariate survival analysis also indicated that UCA1 could be an independent prognostic marker. The levels of UCA1 in gastric juice from gastric patients were significantly higher than those from normal subjects (p = 0.016). Moreover, validation analysis showed that UCA1 levels were robust in differentiating gastric cancer patients from control subjects [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.721; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.655-0.788, p < 0.01]. These results suggested that UCA1 might serve as a promising biomarker for early detection and prognosis prediction of gastric cancer.

SummaryWnt pathways play an important role in pre-implantation embryo development, blastocyst implantation, and post-implantation uterine decidualisation. However, little is known about the potential role that Wnt signaling plays in patients with unexplained recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (URSM), and no single biomarker with a high predictive value of maternally caused URSM has been identified. We aim to study the molecular mechanisms by which the Wnt pathway controls the progression of early pregnancy by investigating the expression of Dickkopf-1 (DKK1), one of the Wnt agonists, in URSM patients. Plasma and fresh decidual tissues samples were collected from 59 subjects (29 patients with URSM and 30 patients with normal, early pregnancy). Time-resolved immunofluorometric assay system and quantitative real-time RT-PCR were used to determine the serum levels of DKK1 and DKK1 mRNA in the deciduas, respectively. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to measure DKK1 protein levels in the deciduas. Serum DKK1 levels were significantly higher in URSM patients compared to the control group (P < 0·001); the expression of DKK1 mRNA and protein in URSM patients were higher relative to healthy controls (P = 0·013). Glandular epithelium from decidual tissues demonstrated cytoplasmic signals for DKK1 in URSM patients, and DKK1 did not stain in healthy controls. Furthermore, serum DKK1 levels significantly correlated with those in the decidual tissues. Our study suggests that DKK1 may be a valuable biomarker of URSM; it can be reliably and conveniently detected in serum, thus obviating the need for decidual tissue analysis.

ABSTRACT. Many microRNAs (miRNAs) exhibit altered expression levels in cancers, and they may be considered as valuable prognostic biomarkers for cancers. Here we aimed to summarize the recent advances in miR10b involvement in human breast cancer and analyze the predicting role of miR-10b for survival. We searched, Embase, and Wanfang databases to identify studies on the prognostic role of miR-10b expression in breast cancer. A total of 770 patients from 7 eligible studies were included in the analysis. Pooled risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated to estimate the effect. Our results showed that high miR10b expression in patients with breast cancer was significantly associated with poor disease-free survival (DFS) (RR = 1.53; 95%CI = 1.06-2.21; P = 0.02). However, no significant association between miR-10b and overall survival was found in overall studies. Subgroup analysis indicated that high expression of miR-10b was significantly correlated with DFS in Asia (RR = 2.94; 95%CI = 1.71-5.05). The present meta-analysis demonstrated that high expression of miR-10b might predict poor survival in patients with