CircRNAs: potency of protein translation and feasibility of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for head and neck cancers.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a new star noncoding RNA (ncRNA), show stability, conservation, abundance, and tissue and stage specificity. They act as key regulators of biological processes. They target the mRNAs of many other different genes or signaling pathways, and closely link associated genes into regulatory networks.

Integrated analysis of transcriptome profiling predicts potential lncRNA and circRNA targets in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) regulate numerous genes and influence the progression of various human diseases, including cancer. The role of regulatory ncRNAs implicated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), as well as their target genes, remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate specific long non-coding (lnc)RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNAs) and mRNAs associated with the molecular pathogenesis of NPC, and to predict the underlying target genes of specific lncRNAs and circRNAs.

Head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma: follow-up results of four cases and review of the literature.

Head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma (HNRMS) is exceedingly rare and poorly documented. The difficult diagnosis often causes a poor prognosis and high mortality. Hence, we report 4 cases of HNRMS and their follow-up outcomes, and review the clinicopathological features of this rare tumor.

Concurrent alterations of RAGE, RECK, and MMP9 protein expression are relevant to Epstein-Barr virus infection, metastasis, and survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

This study aimed to concurrently investigate the expressions of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), reversion inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and their correlations with clinicopathological properties. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that RECK expression was downregulated in NPC tissues compared with chronic nasopharyngitis (CNT) tissues, while RAGE and MMP9 expressions were upregulated. We further found that RECK expression level was inversely correlated with MMP9 expression level in NPC, whereas RAGE expression level was positively correlated with MMP9 expression level.

Aberrant SATB1 expression is associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection, metastasis and survival in human nasopharyngeal cells and endemic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 1 (SATB1) has been identified as a key factor in the progression of some cancers, functioning as a global genome organizer and chromatin regulator. We examined the levels of SATB1 mRNA expression in NPC cell lines 5-8F (high metastasis) and 6-10B (low metastasis) and immortalized human nasopharyngeal epithelial cells NP69-SV40T by quantitative real-time PCR. We also examined the protein expression levels of SATB1 in 72 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues and 30 cases of normal nasopharyngeal (NNP) tissues by immunohistochemistry, and then assessed the correlations between SATB1 expression and clinicopathological factors.

Silencing SATB1 influences cell invasion, migration, proliferation, and drug resistance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Special AT rich sequence binding protein 1 (SATB1) play an important role in many cancers, but the role of SATB1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is still not full understand. Immunofluorescence staining showed that SATB1 was mainly localized in the nuclei in CNE-2 cell. After successful down-regulation of SABT1 in NPC cell line CNE-2 by shRNA, compared to parental CNE-2 and control shRNA group, the capacity of the proliferation, migration, invasion and drug resistance of CNE-2 cell was reduced, which indicated that SATB1 may be involved in NPC development and progression.

Aberrant expression levels of MTA1 and RECK in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: association with metastasis, recurrence, and prognosis.

Objectives: We investigated the expression and clinical value of MTA1 and RECK genes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods: We examined MTA1 and RECK expression in nasopharyngeal tissue from patients with chronic nasopharyngitis, lymph nodes with metastasis of NPC, and primary NPC tumor tissue by means of in situ hybridization and analyzed their correlation with the clinicopathologic features of NPC.

Results: The positive expression of MTA1 in the NPC tissues and metastatic lymph nodes was significantly higher than that in the chronic nasopharyngitis tissues (p < 0.

Allelic imbalance and abnormal expression of FHIT in endemic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: association with clinicopathological features.

The FHIT gene is involved in the pathogenesis of many cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate allelic imbalance (AI) pattern at FHIT locus and alteration of FHIT gene in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and analyzed potential correlation between AI, FHIT mRNA expression and clinicopathological factors. We examined AI, including loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI), at FHIT locus in 41 cases of NPC by microsatellite analysis and FHIT gene status in 30 cases of NPC by nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing.