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Vasomotion is the oscillation of vascular tone which gives rise to flow motion of blood into an organ. As is well known, spontaneous contractile organs such as heart, GI, and genitourinary tract produce rhythmic contraction. It imposes or removes pressure on their vessels alternatively for exchange of many substances. It was first described over 150 years ago, however the physiological mechanism and pathophysiological implications are not well understood. This study aimed to elucidate underlying mechanisms and physiological function of vasomotion in human arteries. Conventional contractile force measurement, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot analysis were employed to study human left gastric artery (HLGA) and uterine arteries (HUA). RESULTS: Circular muscle of HLGA and/or HUA produced sustained tonic contraction by high K+ (50 mM) which was blocked by 2 µM nifedipine. Stepwise stretch and high K+ produced nerve‐independent spontaneous contraction (vasomotion) (around 45% of tested tissues). Vasomotion was also produced by application of BayK 8644, 5‐HT, prostagrandins, oxytocin. It was blocked by nifedipine (2 µM) and blockers of intracellular Ca2+ stores. Inhibitors of Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels (DIDS and/or niflumic acid) and ATP‐sensitive K+ (KATP) channels inhibited vasomotion reversibly. Metabolic inhibition by sodium cyanide (NaCN) and several neuropeptides also regulated vasomotion in KATP channel‐sensitive and ‐insensitive manner. Finally, we identified TMEM16A Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels and subunits of KATP channels (Kir 6.1/6.2 and sulfonylurea receptor 2B [SUR2B]), and c‐Kit positivity by Western blot analysis. We conclude that vasomotion is sensitive to TMEM16A Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels and metabolic changes in human gastric and uterine arteries. Vasomotion might play an important role in the regulation of microcirculation dynamics even in pacemaker‐related autonomic contractile organs in humans. SIGNIFICANCE: •Vasomotion is the oscillation of vascular tone which gives rise to flow motion of blood into an organ. As is well known, spontaneous contractile organs such as heart, GI, and genitourinary tract produce rhythmic contraction. It imposes or removes pressure on their vessels alternatively for exchange of many substances.•It was first described over 150 years ago, however the physiological mechanism and pathophysiological implications are not well understood. This study aimed to elucidate underlying mechanisms and physiological function of vasomotion in human arteries.•The mechanisms and physiological function of vasomotion in human arteries located in pacemaker based spontaneous contractile organs.•This is the first reports as in the following aspects:•Human gastroepiploic artery and uterine artery produced vasomotion activated by stretch and TMEM16A‐Ca2+‐activated Cl− channel. It was regulated by metabolism and neuropeptides.•The role of c‐Kit positive protein identified in these organs will be important for vasomotion too.•Clinical research relevance: These results will reveal other avenues by which it may be possible to treat circulation‐related human GI tract diseases such as angionenesis, GI cancer, malabsorption, and motility disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6 (CEACAM6) is an important regulator of cell adhesion, invasion, and metastasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional roles of CEACAM6 in lung adenocarcinoma and to identify miRNAs that inhibit the growth, migration, and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells by targeting CEACAM6 . CEACAM6 expression is associated with poor prognosis of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and CEACAM6 has important functional roles in controlling the growth, migration, and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, miR-29a can suppress the growth, migration, and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells by targeting CEACAM6 . Therefore, miR-29a/CEACAM6 axis represents a potential therapeutic target for treatment of lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating cell-free microRNAs (miRNAs) are potential cancer biomarkers. The aim of this study was to identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed between benign pleural effusion (BPE) and lung adenocarcinoma-associated malignant pleural effusion (LA-MPE). The expression level of cell-free miRNA was investigated in 107 patients with pleural effusion. Microarrays were used to screen 160 miRNAs in a discovery set comprising 20 effusion samples (ten BPEs and ten LA-MPEs). Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the profiling results obtained for the discovery set and those obtained for a validation set comprising 42 BPEs and 45 LA-MPEs. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the identified miRNAs and other common tumor markers, such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin fragment (CYFRA) 21-1. Microarray profiling showed that miR-198 was significantly downregulated in LA-MPE compared with BPE ( p = 0.002). The miRNA microarray analysis results were confirmed by qRT-PCR ( p < 0.001) using the validation set. The AUCs for miR-198, CEA and CYFRA 21-1 in the validation set were 0.887, 0.898 and 0.836, respectively. The diagnostic performance of miR-198 was comparable with that of CEA, but better than that of CYFRA 21-1. The AUC for all three markers combined was 0.926 (95% confidence interval, 0.843-0.973) with a sensitivity of 89.2% and a specificity of 85.0%. The present study suggests that cell-free miR-198 from patients with pleural effusion might have diagnostic potential for differentiating LA-MPE from BPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]