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Background: First-line treatments for metastatic pancreatic cancer are chemotherapy regimens consisting of 5-fluorouracil or gemcitabine; however, there are no biomarkers to help determine which patients might benefit from which treatment regimens. We aimed to show that microRNAs let-7c and 7d can be used as independent predictive biomarkers for metastatic pancreatic cancer., Methods: A total of 55 patients who had first-line chemotherapy with FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine+capecitabine were included. Patients were divided into groups based on let-7c and let-7d levels and chemotherapy treatment as let-7c-7d high FOLFIRINOX, let7c-7d high gemcitabine+capecitabine, let-7c-7d low FOLFIRINOX, and let-7c-7d low gemcitabine+capecitabine. Blood samples were taken from patients before chemotherapy for microRNA let-7c and 7d analysis. MicroRNA isolation was performed using a miRNeasy Serum/Plasma Kit and identified using spectrophotometric measurements. After isolation, microRNA was converted to cDNA using a microRNA cDNA Synthesis Kit with poly (A) polymerase tailing. The expression of microRNA was examined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction., Results: The overall survival of patients who received FOLFIRINOX treatment with a high let-7c-7d level was statistically significantly longer than those who received gemcitabine+capecitabine with a high let-7c-7d level. In addition, patients with low let-7c expression receiving FOLFIRINOX progressed significantly 2.104 times earlier than patients with high let-7c expression receiving FOLFIRINOX., Conclusion: The serum MicroRNA let-7c level was found to be an independent predictive biomarker in the FOLFIRINOX treatment group.

Primary mesenchymal tumors of the colon are extremely rare tumors among soft tissue sarcomas. These tumors are more aggressive and have poorer prognosis than adenocarcinoma of the colon. Here, we presented 3 cases of primary mesenchymal tumors of the colon. Their histopathological diagnoses are leiomyosarcoma, pleomorphic liposarcoma, and desmoplastic small round cell tumor, respectively. The rarity of primary mesenchymal tumors of the colon makes it difficult to approach the treatment and predict the prognosis of these rare tumors.