MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are widely expressed in organisms and are implicated in the regulation of most biological functions. The present study investigated the association of plasma miRNAs with the clinical outcomes of dual antiplatelet therapy in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Plasma miRNA levels were screened using high-throughput Illumina sequencing to evaluate the antiplatelet efficacy of clopidogrel and aspirin. Six plasma miRNAs (miR-126, miR-130a, miR-27a, miR-106a, miR-21, and miR-142) were associated with clopidogrel-treated platelet aggregation. These miRNAs were validated in a prospective cohort of 1230 CAD patients using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). High plasma miR-142 levels were associated with a high risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), with a hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.83 (1.30-2.59) at a false discovery rate of <5%. Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus, heart failure, calcium channel blocker application, and a high plasma miR-142 level were independent risk factors of MACE. The levels of the six plasma miRNAs were not significantly associated with bleeding events during the 3-year follow-up. In conclusion, plasma miR-142 is potential marker to predict MACE in CAD patients after PCI.

In order to explore the prognosis of tumor mutation burden (TMB) and the relationship with tumor infiltrating immune cells in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we downloaded somatic mutation data and transcriptome profiles of 376 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort. We divided the samples into high-TMB and low-TMB groups. A higher TMB level indicated improved overall survival (OS) and was associated with early pathological stages. One hundred and nine differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in HCC. Moreover, based on four hub TMB-related signatures, we constructed a TMB Prognostic model (TMBPM) that possessed good predictive value with area under curve (AUC) of 0.701. HCC patients with higher TMBPM scores showed worse OS outcomes (p < 0.0001). Moreover, DCs subsets not only revealed higher infiltrating abundance in the high-TMB group, but also correlated with worse OS and hazard risk for high-TMB patients in HCC. Meanwhile, CD8+ T cells and B cells were associated with improved survival outcomes. In sum, high TMB indicates good prognosis for HCC and promotes HCC immune infiltration. Hence, DCs and the four hub TMB-related signatures can be used for predicting the prognosis in HCC as supplements to TMB.