Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine
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Gap junctions, which mediate intercellular communication, are key players in digestive homeostasis. They are also frequently involved in gastrointestinal and liver pathology. ⋯ Cxs, Panxs, and their channels underlie a wide spectrum of gastrointestinal and liver diseases, including gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory intestinal conditions, acute liver failure, cholestasis, hepatitis and steatosis, liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, infectious gastrointestinal pathologies, and gastrointestinal and liver cancer. This could open promising perspectives for the characterization of new targets and biomarkers for therapeutic and diagnostic clinical purposes in the area of gastroenterology and hepatology.
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Altered expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is associated with the development and invasion of cancers by regulating post-transcriptionally gene function. Possibility of detection of miRNA expression in patients' plasma or serum makes them valuable biomarkers of different neoplasms. In the present study, we investigated the potential role of miR-944 and miR-3662 expression analysis as novel lung cancer biomarkers and their lung tumor specificity in plasma samples of 90 patients with lung cancer and 85 healthy individuals using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis. ⋯ Moreover, miR-944 has shown diagnostic accuracy for operable squamous cell carcinoma detection (AUC = 0.982), whereas miR-3662 has shown the diagnostic accuracy for operable adenocarcinoma (AUC = 0.926). Higher stage of lung cancer correlated with higher miRNA expressions. Our results suggest that the profile of studied miRNAs could be further evaluated and considered as potential lung cancer biomarkers.