The Expression of miR-211-5p in Sentinel Lymph Node Metastases of Malignant Melanoma Is a Potential Marker for Poor Prognosis.

Metastatic primary cutaneous melanoma is a frequently fatal disease despite recent therapeutic advances. Biomarkers to stratify patients' prognosis are lacking. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs.

Extracellular vesicles derived from melanoma cells induce carcinoma-associated fibroblasts via miR-92b-3p mediated downregulation of PTEN.

In melanoma, carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are important cellular components in the tumour microenvironment due to their potential to promote tumour growth and metastatic spread of malignant cells. Melanoma cells have the ability to affect non-tumour cells in the microenvironment by releasing extracellular vesicles (EVs). The mechanisms responsible for reprogramming normal dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) into CAFs remain incompletely understood.

Extracellular vesicles from highly invasive melanoma subpopulations increase the invasive capacity of less invasive melanoma cells through mir-1246-mediated inhibition of CCNG2.

Invasive growth is a critical process in tumor progression, requiring the activation of various molecular processes in tumor cells at the invasive front. Intercellular communication between heterogeneous tumor cells enhances cellular activation and adaptation to specific microenvironments. One mechanism of intercellular communication is the delivery of miRNAs through tumor cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs).

Enzyme-assisted high throughput sequencing of an expanded genetic alphabet at single base resolution.

With just four building blocks, low sequence information density, few functional groups, poor control over folding, and difficulties in forming compact folds, natural DNA and RNA have been disappointing platforms from which to evolve receptors, ligands, and catalysts. Accordingly, synthetic biology has created "artificially expanded genetic information systems" (AEGIS) to add nucleotides, functionality, and information density. With the expected improvements seen in AegisBodies and AegisZymes, the task for synthetic biologists shifts to developing for expanded DNA the same analytical tools available to natural DNA.

Enzyme-Assisted High Throughput Sequencing of an Expanded Genetic Alphabet at Single Base Resolution.

Many efforts have sought to apply laboratory evolution (LIVE) to natural nucleic acid (NA) scaffolds to directly evolve functional molecules. However, synthetic biology can move beyond natural NA scaffolds to create molecular systems whose libraries are far richer reservoirs of functionality than natural NAs. For example, "artificially expanded genetic information systems" (AEGIS) add up to eight nucleotides to the four found in standard NA.