Bratisl Med J
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miR-145 suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition by targeting stem cells in Ewing sarcoma cells.
We aimed to examine the performance of stem cell markers and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in miR-145 transfected EWS cells (TC71, TC106). ⋯ This is the first time in the literature we have shown deregulation of miR-145 inhibits EMT process by targeting stem cell properties leading to the inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis in TC71 and TC106 cells. Based on these results, we propose that miR-145, as an important regulator of SOX2, KLF4 and OCT4 carries crucial roles in EWS tumorigenesis and EMT (Tab. 1, Fig. 4, Ref. 26).
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Anti-inflammatory effect of vitamin D (VD) could be beneficial in improving the survival of glioma patients. The aim of our study was to analyse the serum levels of vitamin D in glioma patients and to find an association with the prognosis of glioma patients and other investigated parameters. ⋯ Levels of VD could influence the prognosis of patients with high-grade gliomas. Serum level of 25(OH)D in low-grade gliomas positively correlated with the percentage of anti-inflammatory acting TREM-2+ monocytes and negatively with TREM-1/TREM-2 ratio. This could be protective against the progression to high-grade glioma, because TREM-2 is associated with protective functions such as: tissue repair, control of local inflammation, or phagocytosis (Tab. 4, Fig. 4, Ref. 79).
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Vitamin D, which has immunomodulatory effect, can reduce risk of infections and concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the levels of vitamin D and severity of COVID-19. ⋯ Adequate levels of vitamin D could suppress inflammation and reduce the severity of COVID-19. Vitamin D supplementation may have an important role in decreasing the impact of the pandemic (Tab. 5, Fig. 2, Ref. 27).
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Diabetes mellitus (DM) and malignancy are recognized among the most common complications increasing mortality in patients after heart transplantation (HTx). Clinical trials have shown a higher risk for different types of tumours in diabetic patients. This risk is potentiated by immunosuppressive therapy in transplant patients. Biguanide metformin has been shown to exhibit anti-tumour activity and we tried to find out whether this effect is valid for heart transplant patients. ⋯ Our study showed a significantly lower incidence of malignancies in metformin-treated patients and slightly better overall survival (Tab. 2, Fig. 3, Ref. 19) Keywords: biguanide, heart graft, malignancy, diabetes mellitus, survival.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, both the channelling of manpower into the COVID-19 services and efforts to limit viral spreading of the disease have led to rescheduling and prioritizing oncological cases that are considered as cases of emergency and any postponement of the cases can lead to health problems. In this study, we aimed to show that the surgical treatment of COVID-19 (-) colorectal cancer patients can be performed in a hospital which was declared as a pandemic hospital. ⋯ We think that with our study we have shown that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the surgical treatment can be performed for patients with colorectal cancer by eliminating COVID-19 suspicions (Tab. 1, Ref. 14).