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Background/aim: MicroRNAs (miRs) play an important role in the regulation of cancer-related processes and are promising candidates for cancer biomarkers. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of response to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with selected miR expression profiles, including miR-125b, let-7c, miR-99a, miR-17, miR-143 and miR-145 in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients., Patients and Methods: This retrospective study included 46 patients with mCRC harbouring wild-type RAS gene treated with cetuximab or panitumumab combined with chemotherapy in first- or second-line therapy. The miR expression was assessed using qRT-PCR., Results: Down-regulation of miR-125b and let-7c and up-regulation of miR-17 were found in the tumour tissue (p=0.0226, p=0.0040, p<0.0001). Objective response rate (ORR) was associated with up-regulation of miR-125b (p=0.0005). Disease control rate (DCR) was associated with up-regulation of miR-125b and let-7c (p=0.0383 and p=0.0255) and down-regulation of miR-17 (p=0.0464). MiR-125b showed correlation with progression-free and overall survival (p=0.055 and p=0.006)., Conclusion: The results show that up-regulation of miR-125b is associated with higher ORR and DCR and longer survival; let-7c up-regulation and miR-17 down-regulation are associated with higher DCR in mCRC patients treated with anti-EGFR mAbs., (Copyright© 2020, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Background/aim: Treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) does not reflect immune interactions between tumours and macro-organisms. Serpin B9 is known as an inhibitor of Granzyme B. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the expression of Serpin B9 in CRC and healthy colon tissue on prognosis., Patients and Methods: This retrospective study included 74 CRC patients in all stages. Analysis of gene expression was performed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction with reverse transcription using specific primers and master mix Xceed qPCR SG. Expression was normalized to the reference genes GAPDH, ACTB, and PSMC., Results: Increased expression of Serpin B9 in healthy tissue was significantly associated with longer overall survival (OS). This association was found both in all patients and in the group of patients with distant metastases., Conclusion: The presented results support previous evidence of positive influence of the interaction between immune system and tumour on the prognosis of CRC., (Copyright© 2019, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Aim: The goal of this study was to semiquantitatively detect presence of cancer stem cells markers CD44 and CD133 in immunohistochemically stained paired samples of colorectal cancer (CRC) and colorectal liver metastases (CLM). Level of staining intensity was compared to clinical and pathological characteristics of tumors with the aim to identify impact of CD44 or CD133 expression on tumor behavior., Patients and Methods: Formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples from 94 patients with colorectal tumor and liver metastases were collected at Sikl's Department of Pathology. Samples were stained by antibodies against CD44 and CD133. Presence and intensity of staining was assessed semiquantitatively by three trained researchers., Results: Patients with higher level of CD133 staining in CRC had longer disease free interval (Cox-Mantel P = 0.0244), whereas we found no relation between CD44 expression and overall survival or disease free interval. CD133 expression in CRC and CLM differed based on CRC grading; in case of CD44 we found differences in staining intensity in individual stages of tumor lymph node invasion., Conclusion: Effect of cancer stem cell markers on prognosis of colorectal cancer can vary depending on pathological classification of tumor, and we have shown that CD133, generally considered to be a negative marker, can bear also clinically positive prognostic information in group of patients with colorectal liver metastases.

Introduction: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant primary brain tumor in adults. Recent whole-genome studies revealed novel GBM prognostic biomarkers such as mutations in metabolic enzyme IDH-isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDH1 and IDH2). The distinctive mutation IDH1 R132H was uncovered to be a strong prognostic biomarker for glioma patients. We investigated the prognostic role of IDH1 R132H mutation in GBM patients in West Bohemia., Methods: The IDH1 R132H mutation was assessed by the RT-PCR in the tumor samples from 45 GBM patients treated in the Faculty Hospital in Pilsen and was correlated with the progression free and overall survival., Results: The IDH1 R132H mutation was identified in 20 from 44 GBM tumor samples (45.4%). The majority of mutated tumors were secondary GBMs (16 in 18, 89.9%). Low frequency of IDH1 mutations was observed in primary GBMs (4 in 26, 15.3%). Patients with IDH R132H mutation had longer PFS, 136 versus 51 days (P < 0.021, Wilcoxon), and OS, 270 versus 130 days (P < 0.024, Wilcoxon test)., Summary: The prognostic value of IDH1 R132H mutation in GBM patients was verified. Patients with mutation had significantly longer PFS and OS than patients with wild-type IDH1 and suffered more likely from secondary GBMs.

Aim: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant diseases. The aim of our study was to describe the expression status of 12 selected candidate genes, by comparing paired samples of healthy colon mucosa and tumour tissues and to correlate obtained data with clinical and pathological features, with the goal of revealing associations for individual gene expressions and tumour behaviour., Materials and Methods: Samples from 53 patients with CRC were analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of distant metastases at the time of primary tumour surgery. Expression levels were assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction., Results: We found changes in the expression of 10 out of 12 analyzed genes. Four genes were significantly up-regulated in tumour tissues: leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5; p<0.001), collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1; p<0.001), visinin-like 1 (VSNL1; p<0.001) and versican (VCAN; p=0.001). Six genes were down-regulated: destrin (DSTN; p=0.004), mesoderm induction early response 1, family member 3 (MIER3; p<0.001), acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 5 (ACSL5; p=0.002), mitogen-activated protein kinase 1/ERK (MAPK1; p<0.001), claudin 23 (CLDN23; p<0.001) and solute carrier family 26 (sulfate transporter), member 2 (SLC26A2; p<0.001). We recorded longer overall survival (OS) in the group of patients with higher expression of VSNL1 (p=0.032). Patients with more pronounced down-regulation of CLDN23 had shorter OS (p=0.045). In the group of patients without distant metastases, longer OS and disease-free interval (DFI) were found for patients with higher SLC26A2 expression in tumour tissues (p=0.036 and p=0.011, respectively). In the same group, lower expression of VSNL1 in healthy tissue corresponded to a longer DFI (p=0.020), smaller decrease of SLC26A2 and ACSL5 meant longer DFI (p=0.041 and p=0.040, respectively), as did greater increase of LGR5 expression (p=0.026)., Conclusion: We identified differences in the expression of 10 genes in colorectal cancer tissue compared to healthy colon mucosa, and found prognostic significance for these changes which could be used for the development of a disease risk scoring system.