3D (bio)printing-assisted viral and non-viral gene delivery systems.

This study investigated the pathological role of variants of ISL1 gene promoter region in a common type of congenital heart disease-atrial septal defect (ASD) by sequencing DNA extracted from 625 subjects, including 332 ASD patients and 293 healthy controls. Four variants in ISL1 gene promoter were found only in patients with ASD and in further functional analyses three of those [g.4923 G>C (rs541081886), g.5079 A>G (rs1371835943), g.5309 G>A (rs116222082)] significantly decreased the transcriptional activities and affected the number and affinity of binding sites of transcription factors. These findings provide new insights into the molecular etiology and potential therapeutic strategy of ASD.

In this study, expression of CHST11 was linked to pulmonary related diseases such as fibrosis and lung cancer progression. It may be possible to provide alternative strategies for pulmonary diseases by targeting CHST11-related events.

Although studies suggest that miR222-3p is dysregulated in prostate cancer (PC) cells and tissues, the possible changes in the level of miR222-3p in the plasma samples of PC patients remain unclear. The plasma level of miR222-3P was analyzed using a quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in 54 men newly diagnosed with PC in comparison to 27 patients with prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 19 healthy individuals. The results indicated that the miR222-3P expression level was significantly higher in PC patients compared to healthy individuals (p = 0.009), although no significant difference was found with the BPH group. miR222-3p with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 74% appears to have a reasonable diagnostic accuracy.