Evaluation of Desmin, α-SMA and hTERT expression in pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer

Background: Pulmonary fibrosis is a clinical problem with an enigmatic etiology with no effective therapy. Current therapies for lung fibrosis are ineffective for progression of lung fibrosis and preventing respiratory failure. Objectives: The aim of this study is to explore the expression of Desmin, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and the telomerase subunit: human telomerase reverse transcriptase (h-TERT) in a spectrum of lung tissue samples consist of lung fibrosis, lung cancer, and healthy controls. Materials and Methods: The expression of Desmin, α-SMA and hTERT were studied in samples of 15 pulmonary fibrosis samples, 16 samples of lung cancer and 14 healthy controls investigated. We evaluated Desmin, α-SMA as well as the expression of components of telomerase (TERT), by methods: RNA Extraction and cDNA synthesis, Real-Time quantitative PCR, Immunohistochemistry, all prepared from lung tissue paraffin blocked. Results: α-SMA marker detected 1(8.3%) of healthy control and 11(91.7%) of lung fibrosis samples. The difference between groups was significant (p<0.001). Also the difference between healthy control 1(6.7%) and lung cancer 14 (93.3%) for α-SMA marker was a significant (P<0.001). It was a significant difference between healthy control and lung cancer for TERT expression (P=.005). TERT was not positive in any sample of neither healthy control nor lung fibrosis. For TERT, it was a significant difference between lung fibrosis and lung cancer by Fisher’s Exact Test (P=.004). Expression of TERT and α-SMA between small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was not statistically significant (P=.700, P=0758), respectively. Conclusions: We recommend more investigation to regard α-SMA, Desmin in patients with lung fibrosis and follow them for possible cancer risk. Also, more study is needed to regard TERT as a marker in lung cancer. Assessment of these markers may have future implication to explain the same way of pathogenesis and carcinogenesis of fibrosis and cancer and for prevention or treatmen

Exosomes in Cancer Liquid Biopsy: A Focus on Breast Cancer

The important challenge about cancer is diagnosis in primary stages and proper treatment. Although classical clinico-pathological features of the tumor have major prognostic value, the advances in diagnosis and treatment are indebted to discovery of molecular biomarkers and control of cancer in the pre-invasive state. Moreover, the efficiency of available therapeutic options is highly diminished, and chemotherapy is still the main treatment due to lack of enough specific targets. Accordingly, finding the new noninvasive biomarkers for cancer is still an important clinical challenge that is not achieved yet. There are current technologies to screen, diagnose, prognose, and treat cancer, but the limitations of these implements and procedures are undeniable. Liquid biopsy as a noninvasive method has a promising future in the field of cancer, and exosomes as one of the recent areas have drawn much attention. In this review, the potential capability of exosomes is summarized in cancer with the special focus on breast cancer as the second cause of cancer mortality in women all around the world. It discusses reasons to choose exosomes for liquid biopsy and the studies related to different potential biomarkers found in the exosomes. Moreover, exosome studies on milk as a specific biofluid are also discussed. At last, because choosing the method for exosome studies is very challenging, a summary of different techniques is provided