MicroRNAs offer tools to identify and treat invasive cancers. Using highly invasive isogenic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells, established using in vitro and in vivo selection protocols from poorly invasive parental cell populations, we used microarray expression analysis to identify a relative and specific decrease in miR-491-5p in invasive cells. Lower expression of miR-491-5p correl...

Genomic instability frequently results in changes in gene expression or altered regulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Research into the tumorigenic impact of these genes has led to the current acceptance of many of these genes as drivers of tumorigenesis. In the past decade, studies of small, non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), have gained notice in the cancer research fi...

491 Introduction To a large extent, chemistry is still an empirical science, building its progress on an ever increasing flood of data and information. Thus, it was realized quite early on, that this flood can only be managed by storing it in electronic form. With more than 20 million compounds known, who could know them all? And this flood constantly increases, more than one million new compou...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have critical roles in the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a highly invasive and metastatic cancer that is widely prevalent in Southern China. miR-491-5p has been implicated in multiple types of cancer; however, its biological role and underlying mechanism in NPC have not been fully explored. In the present study, we found that miR-491-5p was downregulated in N...

AIM Atorvastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, used in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, has been previously shown to regulate ABCB1 expression in vivo and in vitro. We hypothesized that the statin could regulate gene expression of ABCB1 transporter via microRNAs. METHODS Expression of microRNAs and ABCB1 mRNA was examined in atorvastatin-treated and control cells using real-time PCR. ...

The UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A enzymes are involved in the phase II metabolism of many important endogenous and exogenous compounds. The nine UGT1A isoforms exhibit high interindividual differences in expression, but their epigenetic regulation is not well understood. The purpose of the present study was to examine microRNA (miRNA) regulation of hepatic UGT1A enzymes and determine whe...

I. Biotechnology-Current and Potential Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 II. The Risks of Biotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 76 A. Environmental and Human Health Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 B. Social Risks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 III. Regulatory Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . ...

T lymphocyte-mediated immune responses are critical for antitumour immunity; however, T cell function is impaired in the tumour environment. MicroRNAs are involved in regulation of the immune system. While little is known about the function of intrinsic microRNAs in CD8(+) T cells in the tumour microenvironment. Here, we found that miR-491 was upregulated in CD8(+) T cells from mice with colore...

We will be closely following the book ”Essentials of Stochastic Processes”, 2nd Edition, by Richard Durrett, for the topic ‘Finite Discrete time Markov Chains’ (FDTM). These preliminary notes are for giving an overview, and for providing some guidance on what to aim at while studying this topic. An FDTM has a finite number of states on which it can rest at discrete times 1, 2, · · · . Usually t...