Our faculty’s research is frequently accepted for inclusion in the most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals, with over 330 articles published in 2015 alone. Below you will find the most recent publications.
The abstracts below are updated daily. For a more complete list, please visit this PubMed link.
Role of mpMRI of the prostate in screening for prostate cancer.
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Role of mpMRI of the prostate in screening for prostate cancer.
Transl Androl Urol. 2017 Jun;6(3):464-471
Authors: Wallis CJD, Haider MA, Nam RK
Abstract
Prostate cancer screening offers the opportunity to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality from this disease. Currently, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is the most widely used screening modality. However, PSA testing continues to have low positive and negative predictive value leading to unnecessary invasive prostate biopsy while missing patients with aggressive forms of the disease. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been gaining an increasingly large role in the management of patients with early stage prostate cancer including diagnosis in patients with abnormal PSA levels, monitoring of patients on active surveillance, and staging prior to definitive interventions. MRI-based prostate cancer risk assessment has been shown to better distinguish between clinically-significant and insignificant tumors than PSA testing alone or from nomograms. Preliminary data indicate that, among unselected patients, MRI outperforms PSA in the identification of patients with clinically significant prostate cancer. Further work is needed to examine the role of mpMRI in prostate cancer screening.
PMID: 28725588 [PubMed]
Exosomal MicroRNAs Are Diagnostic Biomarkers and Can Mediate Cell-Cell Communication in Renal Cell Carcinoma.
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Exosomal MicroRNAs Are Diagnostic Biomarkers and Can Mediate Cell-Cell Communication in Renal Cell Carcinoma.
Eur Urol Focus. 2016 Jun;2(2):210-218
Authors: Butz H, Nofech-Mozes R, Ding Q, Khella HWZ, Szabó PM, Jewett M, Finelli A, Lee J, Ordon M, Stewart R, Krylov S, Yousef GM
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Apart from an invasive biopsy, currently no tools are available to confirm the diagnosis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC); this resulted in approximately 30% of patients being diagnosed with metastatic disease.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether urinary microRNAs (miRNAs) can serve as biomarkers to confirm the diagnosis of ccRCC.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Global miRNA expression was assessed in 28 preoperative urine samples from patients with ccRCC and 18 healthy participants. The independent validation set consisted of 81 ccRCC patients, 24 patients with benign lesions, and 33 healthy participants. We extracted both cell-free and exosomal RNA for miRNA expression analysis using miRNA-specific polymerase chain reaction assays. We also investigated exosomal miRNA secretion in cell line models and performed exosome transfer between RCC and endothelial cell types.
OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Receiver operating characteristic analysis was applied to identify the discrimination power of miRNAs.
RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: Overall, miR-126-3p combined with miR-449a or with miR-34b-5p could significantly distinguish ccRCC patients from healthy participants (miR-126-3p-miR-449a: area under the curve [AUC]: 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7620-0.9151; p<0.001; miR-126-3p-miR-34b-5p: AUC: 0.79; 95% CI, 0.7013-0.8815; p<0.001). The combination of miR-126-3p and miR-34b-5p was also able to distinguish small renal masses (pT1a, ≤4cm) from healthy controls (AUC: 0.79; 95% CI, 0.6848-0.8980; p<0.001). Using miR-126-3p and miR-486-5p in combination, we were able to differentiate between benign lesions and ccRCC (AUC: 0.85; 95% CI, 0.7295-0.9615; p<0.01). The expression of a number of miRNAs returned to a level comparable with health after surgery. Kidney cancer cell lines were found to secrete exosomal miR-126-3p, miR-17-5p, miR-21-3p, and miR-25-3p, and these miRNAs were found to be internalized by other cell types.
CONCLUSIONS: We identified exosomal miRNAs as potential noninvasive diagnostic urinary biomarkers for ccRCC and provided evidence that miRNAs are secreted by the tumor and can function as a tool for intercellular communication.
PATIENT SUMMARY: We identified urinary microRNAs that can serve as diagnostic biomarkers for clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
PMID: 28723537 [PubMed]