It is recommended that atypical papillary lesions at CNB undergo surgical excision, and it is reasonable to follow patients with benign lesions with serial imaging. Lesion type, mammographic findings, and article publication year were significantly associated with underestimation.

In adults, the presence of the BRAF mutation in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) has been demonstrated to be strongly associated with aggressive cancer-cell characteristics and poor patient prognosis. In contrast, the frequency of this mutation in pediatric PTC has undergone limited study, and the few available estimates range from 0 to 63%. Furthermore, the role of the BRAF mutation in pediatric PTC is controversial; thus, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and role of the BRAF mutation in 48 pediatric patients with PTC, aged 3-13 years. Of these patients, 41 were diagnosed with classic PTC, five were found to have a follicular variant of PTC, and two to exhibit a diffuse sclerosing PTC variant. The BRAF mutation was identified to be present in 35.4% of the 48 analyzed patients, and in 41.5% of the patients diagnosed with classical PTC. Furthermore, the presence of the BRAF mutation was found to be associated with a patient age at diagnosis of less than ten years (P=0.011), the performance of a thyroidectomy (P=0.03), exhibited tumor multifocality (P=0.02) and/or extra-thyroidal invasion (P=0.003), and both a low MACIS (Metastases, Age, Completeness of resection, Invasion, Size)(P=0.036) and AMES (Age, Metastasis, Extent of tumor, Size)(P=0.001) score. Together, these data suggest that the presence of the BRAF mutation may be negatively correlated with partial aggressive clinicopathological features of pediatric PTC.

Background: Early diagnosis can significantly reduce colorectal cancer deaths. We sought to identify serum PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) that could serve as sensitive and specific noninvasive biomarkers for early colorectal cancer detection.Methods: We screened the piRNA expression profile in sera from 7 patients with colorectal cancer and 7 normal controls using small RNA sequencing. Differentially expressed piRNAs were measured in a training cohort of 140 patients with colorectal cancer and 140 normal controls using reverse transcription quantitative PCR. The identified piRNAs were evaluated in two independent validation cohorts of 180 patients with colorectal cancer and 180 normal controls. Finally, the diagnostic value of the identified piRNAs for colorectal adenoma (CRA) was assessed, and their expression was measured in 50 patients with lung cancer, 50 with breast cancer, and 50 with gastric cancer. Results:The piRNAs piR-020619 and piR-020450 were consistently elevated in sera of patients with colorectal cancer as compared with controls. A predicative panel based on the two piRNAs was established that displayed high diagnostic accuracy for colorectal cancer detection. The two-piRNA panel could detect small-size and early-stage colorectal cancer with an area under the ROC curve of 0.863 and 0.839, respectively. Combined use of the two piRNAs could effectively distinguish CRA from controls. Aberrant elevation of the two piRNAs was not observed in sera of patients with lung, breast, and gastric cancer.Conclusions: Serum piR-020619 and piR-020450 show a strong potential as colorectal cancer-specific early detection biomarkers.Impact: The field of circulating piRNAs could allow for novel tumor biomarker development.

Background: Long non-coding RNA H19 (lncRNA H19) has been implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis of breast cancer through regulating epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT); however, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Methods: LncRNA H19 and TNFAIP8 were identified by qRT-PCR and western blotting. CCK-8 assay, clone formation assay, transwell assay, and flow cytometry assay were performed to determine cell proliferation, migration, invasion and cell cycle of breast cancer respectively. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were utilized to evaluate the protein expression levels of p53, TNFAIP8, and marker proteins of EMT cascades in vivo. Dual luciferase reporter assay and RNA pull down assay were conducted to evaluate the interactions of lncRNA H19, p53 and TNFAIP8. Results: The expression of lncRNA H19 and TNFAIP8 was up-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Functionally, knockdown of lncRNA H19 or TNFAIP8 coused the capacities of cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were suppressed, and cell cycle arrest was induced, as well as that the EMT markers were expressed abnormal. Mechanistically, lncRNA H19 antagonized p53 and increased expression of its target gene TNFAIP8 to promote EMT process. Furthermore, silencing of lncRNA H19 or TNFAIP8 also could inhibit tumorigenesis and lymph node metastases of MDA-MB-231 cells in xenograft nude mouse models. Conclusions: Our findings provide insight into a novel mechanism of lncRNA H19 in tumorigenesis and metastases of breast cancer and demonstrate H19/p53/TNFAIP8 axis as a promising therapeutic target for breast cancer, especially for TNBC.

Ultrasound-mediated targeted delivery (UMTD), a novel delivery modality of therapeutic materials based on ultrasound, shows great potential in biomedical applications. By coupling ultrasound contrast agents with therapeutic materials, UMTD combines the advantages of ultrasound imaging and carrier, which benefit deep tissue penetration and high concentration aggregation. In this paper we introduced recent advances in ultrasound contrast agents and applications in tumor therapy. Ultrasound contrast agents were categorized by their functions, mainly including thermosensitive, pH-sensitive and photosensitive ultrasound contrast agents. The various applications of UMTD in tumor treatment were summarized as follows: drug therapy, transfection of anti-oncogene, RNA interference, vaccine immunotherapy, monoclonal antibody immunotherapy, adoptive cellular immunotherapy, cytokine immunotherapy, and so on. In the end, we elaborated on the current challenges and provided perspectives of UMTD for clinical applications.