Molecular Biomarkers in Ovarian Carcinoma

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of the gynecological cancers because its etiology is not well understood and majority of ovarian cancers are detected at advanced stage, at which point it is typically incurable. Effective screening protocols and earlier disease detection and diagnosis could result in decreased morbidity for women with ovarian cancer. Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is the most frequently used diagnostic biomarker for ovarian cancer; however, it is not overexpressed in the early stage of the disease. Moreover, levels of CA-125 are also elevated in other instances, such as benign ovarian tumors and gynecological inflammation. Investigators are searching for new, specific, and sensitive biomarkers to replace or complement CA-125 in detection of ovarian cancer at an early stage. This review discusses current status and new biomarkers, algorithms for screening, and risk assessment for ovarian cancer

The expression levels of miRNA-15a and miRNA-16-1 in circulating tumor cells of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have major roles in nearly all cellular process including gene expression, and may behave as oncogene or tumor suppressor gene by binding to complementary sequences in the target mRNA. The circulating microRNA-15a (miRNA-15a) and microRNA-16-1 (miRNA-16-1) of 15 healthy adults and of 40 untreated patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBC) were recruited to investigate the expression levels. The expression levels of miRNA-15a, and miRNA-16-1 genes of the untreated DLBCL patients, and healthy individuals with matched age, sex and ethnicity were examined. MicroRNA expression profiles obtained from peripheral blood were investigated. The samples were collected from 40 patients diagnosed with DLBC patients, and from 15 healthy controls. Two miRNAs were selected, and expression profile was examined using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) based on the previous studies. Statistically significant expression level differences (p0.05). On the contrary to the literature, miRNA-16-1 expression level was suppressed in DLBCL group in our study, however no whole gene silencing was performed. MicroRNA-16-1 might be suggested to behave as a tumor suppressor in DLBCL in our study

Frequency of Rearrangements Versus Small Indels Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 Genes in Turkish Patients with High Risk Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Objective: The current rearrangement ratio of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes is not known in the Turkish population. Rearrangements are not routinely investigated in many Turkish laboratories. This creates problems and contradictions between clinics. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution and frequency of rearrangements in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in high-risk families and to clarify the limits of BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing in Turkey