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IntroductionBladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common urologic malignancies and it is urgently needed to identify novel potential prognostic biomarkers for predicting prognosis and progression of patients with BC in clinical practice. Previous research has revealed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) played critical roles in BC, and may serve as novel potential prognostic biomarkers in patients with BC. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to clarify the prognostic potential of lncRNAs in BC patients.MethodsA comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). According to the predefined exclusion and inclusion criteria, a total of 9 recently published articles comprising 13 lncRNAs and 666 BC patients were included into this meta-analysis. We analyzed the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to determine the relationship between lncRNAs expression and survival outcomes. We also analyzed the odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the association between lncRNAs expression and clinicopathological characteristics, including histological grade, gender, multifocality, tumor size, and tumor stage.ResultsOur results revealed that high lncRNAs expression was associated with shorter overall survival in Asian BC patients (pooled HR = 2.32, 95% CI: 1.35–4.00, P = 0.002, random-effect). High lncRNAs expression levels were significantly associated with histological grade (G2-G3 vs. G1: OR = 3.857, 95%CI: 1.293–11.502, P = 0.015, random-effect).ConclusionsIn summary, this meta-analysis has demonstrated that lncRNAs could be used as potential prognostic markers for BC and high lncRNAs expression could predict poor prognosis among Asian BC patients.

Background/Aims: MiR-19b has been reported to be involved in several malignancies, but its role in multiple myeloma (MM) is still unknown. The objective of this study was to explore the biological mechanism of miR-19b in the progression of MM. Methods: First, we performed real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot to study the expression of miR-19b, tuberous sclerosis 1 (TSC1), and caspase-3 in different groups. MTT assay was performed to explore the effect of miR-19b on survival and apoptosis of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Computation analysis and luciferase assay were utilized to confirm the interaction between miR-19b and TSC1. Results: A total of 38 participants comprising 20 subjects with MM and 18 healthy subjects as normal controls were enrolled in our study. Real-time PCR showed dramatic upregulation of miR-19b, but TSC1 was evidently suppressed in the MM group. MiR-19b overexpression substantially promoted clonogenicity and cell viability, and further inhibited apoptosis of CSCs in vitro. Furthermore, miR-19b overexpression downregulated the expression of caspase-3, which induced apoptosis. Using in silico analysis, we identified that TSC1 might be a direct downstream target of miR-19b, and this was further confirmed by luciferase assay showing that miR-19b apparently reduced the luciferase activity of wild-type TSC1 3´-UTR, but not that of mutant TSC1 3´-UTR. There was also evident decrease in TSC1 mRNA and protein in CSCs following introduction of miR-19b. Interestingly, reintroduction of TSC1 abolished the miR-19b-induced proliferation promotion and apoptosis inhibition in CSCs. Conclusion: These findings collectively suggest that miR-19b promotes cell survival and suppresses apoptosis of MM CSCs via targeting TSC1 directly, indicating that miR-19b may serve as a potential and novel therapeutic target of MM based on miRNA expression.

Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) is a silent chemokine receptor which selectively binds angiogenic chemokines without inducing conventional signaling responses. DARC has been reported to inhibit the development of multiple cancers through clearance of angiogenic chemokines. However, its role in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. We investigated the expression of DARC in CRC and explored correlation of DARC expression with clinical pathological features and microvessel density (MVD). The protein expression levels of DARC were detected by immunohistochemistry in 90 CRC and 64 paired unaffected tissues. The mRNA levels of DARC were detected by quantitative real-time PCR in 15 CRC and paired unaffected tissues. MVD in CRC was also assessed by immunohistochemistry of CD34. We found that the mRNA and protein expression levels of DARC were significantly lower in CRC than in the unaffected tissues (p < 0.05). The DARC protein expression levels were positively correlated with DARC mRNA expression levels in both CRC (p < 0.001) and unaffected tissues (p < 0.001). We also found that DARC expression was significantly correlated with tumor differentiation (p < 0.001), lymph node metastasis (p < 0.01) and TNM stage (p < 0.05). Moreover, we observed a strong negative relationship between DARC expression and MVD in CRC (p < 0.001). We showed that DARC expression is down-regulated in CRC and associated with clinical pathological features and MVD of CRC. DARC might be involved in tumorigenesis, progression, angiogenesis, and metastasis of CRC.