Mitochondrial DNA damage, repair, and replacement in cancer.

Mitochondria are vital organelles with their own DNA (mtDNA). mtDNA is circular and composed of heavy and light chains that are structurally more accessible than nuclear DNA (nDNA). While nDNA is typically diploid, the number of mtDNA copies per cell is higher and varies considerably during development and between tissues.

Polymorphisms within autophagy-related genes as susceptibility biomarkers for pancreatic cancer: A meta-analysis of three large European cohorts and functional characterization.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers with patients having unresectable or metastatic disease at diagnosis, with poor prognosis and very short survival. Given that genetic variation within autophagy-related genes influences autophagic flux and susceptibility to solid cancers, we decided to investigate whether 55,583 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 234 autophagy-related genes could influence the risk of developing PDAC in three large independent cohorts of European ancestry including 12,754 PDAC cases and 324,926 controls. The meta-analysis of these populations identified, for the first time, the association of the BID variant with an increased risk of developing the disease (OR = 1.

Haplotype analysis identifies functional elements in monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) based on common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have identified several loci associated with the risk of monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance (MGUS), a precursor condition for multiple myeloma (MM). We hypothesized that analyzing haplotypes might be more useful than analyzing individual SNPs, as it could identify functional chromosomal units that collectively contribute to MGUS risk. To test this hypothesis, we used data from our previous GWAS on 992 MGUS cases and 2910 controls from three European populations.

Telomere length as a predictor of therapy response and survival in patients diagnosed with ovarian carcinoma.

Impaired telomere length (TL) maintenance in ovarian tissue may play a pivotal role in the onset of epithelial ovarian cancer (OvC). TL in either target or surrogate tissue (blood) is currently being investigated for use as a predictor in anti-OvC therapy or as a biomarker of the disease progression, respectively. There is currently an urgent need for an appropriate approach to chemotherapy response prediction.

Fecal miRNA profiles in colorectal cancers with mucinous morphology.

Diagnostic performance of molecular markers in surrogate tissues like stool may be affected by colorectal cancer (CRC) morphological heterogeneity. The mucinous histotype represents a subgroup of CRC with a peculiar molecular program and unfavorable disease progression. However, the percentage of mucinous morphology necessary to define this subtype is still a matter of debate.