BackgroundMicroRNAs are stable and easy to detect in plasma. The plasma levels of microRNAs are often changed in disease conditions, including cancer. This makes circulating microRNAs a novel class of biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. Analyses of online microRNA data base revealed that expression level of three microRNAs, microRNA-24 (miR-24), microRNA-320a (miR-320a), and microRNA-423-5p (miR-423-5p) were down-regulated in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, whether the plasma level of these three microRNAs can serve as biomarkers for CRC diagnosis and prognosis is not determined.MethodsPlasma samples from 223 patients with colorectal related diseases (111 cancer carcinoma, 59 adenoma, 24 colorectal polyps and 29 inflammatory bowel disease) and 130 healthy controls were collected and subjected to reverse transcription-quantitative real time PCR (RT-qPCR) analyses for the three microRNAs. In addition, plasma samples from 43 patients were collected before and after surgical treatment for the same RT-qPCR analyses.ResultsThe concentrations of plasma miR-24, miR-320a and miR-423-5p were all decreased in patients with CRC and benign lesions (polyps and adenoma) compared with healthy controls, but increased in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The sensitivity of miR-24, miR-320a and miR-423-5p for early stage of CRC were 77.78 %, 90.74 %, and 88.89 %, respectively. Moreover, the plasma concentration of the three microRNAs was increased in patients after the surgery who had clinical improvement.ConclusionsThe plasma levels of miR-24, miR-320a, and miR-423-5p have promising potential to serve as novel biomarkers for CRC detection, especially for early stage of CRC, which are superior to the currently used clinical biomarkers for CRC detection, such as CEA and CA19-9. Further efforts to develop the three microRNAs as biomarkers for early CRC diagnosis and prediction of surgical treatment outcomes are warrant.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13046-015-0198-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) poses a serious threat to human health and lives. The virus is still spreading throughout the world, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases is increasing. After patients with COVID‐19 are treated and discharged, some have repeated clinical symptoms and become positive for nucleic acid tests a second time. Through analysis and review of the existing literature, the proportion of repositive patients in the discharged patient population and their clinical characteristics were systematically described for the first time. Furthermore, an in‐depth analysis of the causes of repositive nucleic acid tests and the potential transmission of the disease provides the basis for the management and protection of discharged patients with COVID‐19.

Our previous work demonstrates that DHX32 is upregulated in colorectal cancer (CRC) compared to its adjacent normal tissues. However, how overexpressed DHX32 contributes to CRC remains largely unknown. In this study, we reported that DHX32 was overexpressed in human colon cancer cells. Overexpressed DHX32 promoted SW480 cancer cells proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as decreased the susceptibility to chemotherapy agent 5-Fluorouracil. Furthermore, PCR array analyses revealed that depleting DHX32 in SW480 colon cancer cells suppressed expression of WISP1, MMP7 and VEGFA in the Wnt pathway, and anti-apoptotic gene BCL2 and CA9, however, elevated expression of pro-apoptotic gene ACSL5. The findings suggested that overexpressed DHX32 played an important role in CRC progression and metastasis and that DHX32 has the potential to serve as a biomarker and a novel therapeutic target for CRC.

Aim:To investigate whether plasma miR-19a can serve as a biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) diagnosis and prognosis. Materials & methods: Plasma samples from 89 ESCC, 45 benign lesion patients and 80 healthy controls were subjected to RT-qPCR analyses for miR-19a. In addition, plasma samples from 30 patients were collected before and after surgery for the same analyses. Results: Plasma miR-19a was significantly increased in ESCC patients compared with healthy controls. The sensitivity of miR-19a for early stages of ESCC was 68.09%. Combination of miR-19a and cytokeratin 19 fragment 21-1 (Cyfra21-1) further improved the sensitivity to 78.70%. Moreover, plasma miR-19a level was decreased in patients after surgery. Conclusion: Plasma miR-19a may serve as a potential biomarker that complements Cyfra21-1 in detecting early stages of ESCC. Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the leading aggressive malignancies worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in China [1]. The incidence of high-risk EC in China even exceeds 130 per 100,000 individuals [2,3]. The major pathological type of EC is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which has been most frequently identified in Northern Iran and NorthCentral China [4]. Although there has been significant improvement in diagnosis and treatment, the overall 5-year survival rate remains only about 25-30% for patients who receive curative surgery [5,6], while the rate dropped to 13% for patients with lymph node meta stasis [7]. Early detection is critical for improving outcomes and reducing mortality of ESCC patients.Although biopsy and imaging examination have improved the detection rate of ESCC, these methods are invasive or require radiation, greatly limiting their applications [8,9].Currently, traditional tumor markers, such as cytokeratin 19 fragment (Cyfra) 21-1 and squamous cell carcinoma antigen, are used to diagnose and evaluate ESCC progression. However, they both exhibit a low sensitivity. Yamamoto reported that the sensitivity of Cyfra21-1 for the diagnosis of ESCC was only 47.9% [10]. Mealy showed that the sensitivity of squamous cell carcinoma antigen was about 32% [11]. The absence of sufficiently sensitive biomarkers limits early diagnosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel, easy-to-assay biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC to improve outcomes and reduce mortality of ESCC patients. miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs of 21-25 nucleotides in length that negatively regulate target genes [12] and play important roles in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes [13,14] Research Article Bai, Lin, Fang et al. are frequently located in cancer-associated genomic regions or in fragile sites, indicating that the potential great roles in tumorigenesis [15]. Since their discovery in 1993, emerging evidence shows that altered abundances of miRNAs are associated with cancer, such as ESCC [16][17][18], liver cancer [19][20][21] and breast cancer [22][23][24]. miRNAs are detectable in...