The microRNA (miR)-183-5p is expressed at high level in the majority of cancer. The purpose of present study was to investigate the role of oncogenic miR-183-5p in prostate cancer (PCa) as biomarker. We carried out our experiment in 50 prostate cancer patients and 40 patients of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 40 adjacent controls tissue. The expression of miR-183-5p was evaluated through reverse transcription qualitative polymerase chain reaction. We found that the expression of miR-183-5p in PCa tissue was significantly up regulated as compared to BPH patients and adjacent normal tissues as control. Additionally, miR-183 expression was correlated with higher prostate-specific antigen, higher Gleason Score and metastatic condition. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that miR-183-5p distinguished PCa patients from BPH patients and also from control. In conclusion, our data suggest that oncogenic miR-183-5p may be useful as a new tissue specific diagnostic biomarker in prostate cancer.

The inevitable development of chemoresistance and unmanageable side effects are the major therapeutic challenges in management of breast cancer imposing an urgent need for identification of novel therapeutic agents. In the present investigation, we report anti-proliferative activity of chloroform fraction of Tinospora cordifolia (TcCF), an Ayurvedic medicinal plant, on breast cancer cells. We found that TcCF inhibited growth of breast cancer cells, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7. More interestingly, we observed TcCF treatment increased intra-cellular ROS levels, altered expression of pro and anti-apoptotic genes, decreased colony formation ability and induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells. We also found that inhibition of ROS abrogated TcCF induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells, emphasizing the role ROS in TcCF induced breast cancer cell death. Furthermore, we identified the presence of pharmacologically active compounds like rutin and quercetin which account for the anti-cancer property of TcCF against breast cancer cells. These data show TcCF is a promising anti-cancer agent against breast cancer cells.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) encodes a cytokine protein, which causes inflammation, maintains immune homeostasis and plays an essential role in oral pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between IL-6 (- 174 and - 572) G/C promoter gene polymorphisms and risk of OSCC among Indians. Single nucleotide polymorphism in IL-6 genes was genotyped in OSCC patients and healthy controls by PCR-RFLP method. Genotype and allele frequencies were analyzed by chi-square test and strength of associations by odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals. Frequency distribution of IL-6 (- 174) G/C gene polymorphism was significantly associated with OSCC patients in comparison to healthy controls (OR: 0.541, CI: 0.356-0.822; p: 0.004. However, frequency of IL-6 (- 572) G/C gene polymorphism was not significantly associated with OSCC patients (p > 0.05). The genotype GC and allele C of IL-6 (- 174) G/C gene polymorphism play a significant role in OSCC susceptibility.