Background: MCM3AP antisense RNA 1 (MCM3AP-AS1) is characterized as an oncogenic lncRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma and glioblastoma. We analyzed TCGA dataset and observed the down-regulation of MCM3AP-AS1 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). The present study was therefore performed to investigate the role of MCM3AP-AS1 in CSCC. Methods: A total of 64 female patients with CSCC (38–68 years old; mean age: 53.1 ± 6.5 years old) were enrolled in the present study. RT-qPCR was performed to evaluate gene expression. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was performed to assess the methylation of miR-93 gene after the overexpression and silencing of MCM3AP-AS1. Cell transfections were performed to investigate the interactions between MCM3AP-AS1 and miR-93. Cell proliferation was assessed by CCK-8 assay. Results: The results showed that MCM3AP-AS1 was down-regulated in CSCC and predicted poor survival. The expression levels of MCM3AP-AS1 were inversely correlated with the expression levels of miR-93. Overexpression of MCM3AP-AS1 led to down-regulation of miR-93, while silencing of MCM3AP-AS1 played an opposite role in CSCC cells. Methylation-specific PCR revealed that MCM3AP-AS1 could positively regulate the methylation of miR-93 gene. Cell proliferation analysis showed that overexpression of MCM3AP-AS1 led to reduced proliferation rate of CSCC cells. Silencing of MCM3AP-AS1 played an opposite role and overexpression of miR-93 reduced the effects of overexpressing MCM3AP-AS1. Conclusions: Therefore, MCM3AP-AS1 may inhibit cell proliferation in CSCC by down-regulating miRNA-93.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are pivotal for tumor progression and metastasis. We investigated the stromal CD86+TAM/CD163+TAM (CD86/CD163) ratio as a novel prognostic biomarker for stage II-III colorectal cancer (CRC). Two independently clinical cohorts of stage II-III CRC were retrospectively enrolled in this study. TAMs were detected using immunohistochemical staining for CD86 and CD163. The stromal CD86/CD163 ratio was calculated as a prognostic biomarker for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). Patients with a low CD86/CD163 ratio had shorter RFS (HR=0.193, p<0.001) and OS (HR=0.180, p<0.001) than patients with a high CD86/CD163 ratio in the training cohort. CD86/CD163 ratio may be an independent predictor for RFS (HR=0.233, p<0.001) and OS (HR=0.224, p<0.001) in the training cohort. We obtained equivalent results in the validation cohort. The CD86/CD163 ratio tends to have better predictive values than tumor stage in the training (AUC: 0.682 vs 0.654, p=0.538) and validation (AUC: 0.697 vs 0.659, p=0.586) cohorts. CD86/CD163 ratio effectively predicts RFS for stage II (HR=0.203, p<0.001) and stage III CRC (HR=0.302, p<0.001). CD86/CD163 ratio also effectively predicts RFS in CRC patients with adjutant chemotherapy (HR=0.258, p<0.001) and without adjutant chemotherapy (HR=0.205, p<0.001). The stromal CD86/CD163 ratio could be used for individual risk assessment of recurrence and mortality for stage II-III CRC. Together with tumor stage, this ratio will aid in the personal treatment.

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Numerous studies have shown that young age is a risk factor in early breast cancer. But for stage IV breast cancer, it is unclear whether age has a similar effect on patient survival. We collected and analyzed data from patients with stage IV breast cancer between January 2010 and December 2015 in SEER database. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was used in this study. 13,069 patients with stage IV breast cancer were included in the analysis, of which 1,135 were young breast cancer patients (≤40 years old). In a multivariate analysis that adjusted for sociodemographic factors, clinical-pathological characteristics and therapeutic methods, the risk of death in patients with stage IV ≤40 years was significantly reduced (hazard ratio [HR], 0.72; 95% CI, 0.65-0.79). Subgroup analyses showed that, with the same adjustment of all factors, young age only significantly reduced the risk of death in patients with luminal A (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68-0.89) and luminal B (HR 0.46; 95% CI, 0.35-0.60) subtypes. Young age at diagnosis is associated with better survival in patients with stage IV breast cancer. The effect of young age at diagnosis on the survival outcome of stage IV breast cancer varies by subtypes.

IntroductionThe prognostic value of tumor-associated macrophages remains unclear in colorectal cancer (CRC). Two tripartite classification systems, namely, ratio and quantity subgroups, were investigated as the prognostic stratification tools for stage II-III CRC.MethodsWe assessed the infiltration intensity of CD86+ and CD206+ macrophages in 449 cases with stage II-III disease by immunohistochemical staining. Ratio subgroups were defined by the lower- and upper-quartile points of CD206+/(CD86++CD206+) macrophage ratio, including the low-, moderate-, and high-ratio subgroups. Quantity subgroups were defined by the median points of CD86+ and CD206+ macrophages and included the low-, moderate-, and high-risk subgroups. The main analysis was recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS).ResultsRatio subgroups (RFS/OS: HR=2.677/2.708, all p<0.001) and quantity subgroups (RFS/OS: HR=3.137/3.250, all p<0.001) could serve as independent prognostic indicators that effectively predicted survival outcomes. More importantly, log-rank test revealed that patients in the high-ratio (RFS/OS: HR=2.950/3.151, all p<0.001) or high-risk (RFS/OS: HR=3.453/3.711, all p<0.001) subgroup exhibited decreased survival outcomes after adjuvant chemotherapy. The predictive accuracy of the quantity subgroups within 48 months was higher than that of the ratio subgroups and tumor stage (all p<0.05).ConclusionsRatio and quantity subgroups could serve as independent prognostic indicators that could potentially be incorporated into the tumor staging algorithm to improve prognostic stratification and provide better predictions of survival outcomes in stage II-III CRC after adjuvant chemotherapy.