Cancer Incidence and Mortality Survey in Wuwei, Gansu Province, Northwestern China from 2003 to 2012： A Retrospective Population-based Study

Background： Population-based cancer registry collects the data on cancer incidence and mortality deaths from covered population to describe and survey the epidemics in certain areas. The aim of this study was to estimate the cancer incidence and mortality in Wuwei, Gansu province, Northwestern China from 2003 to 2012. The goal is to better understand cancer distribution and long-term development of cancer prevention and treatment in Wuwei. Methods： Data were collected from the Wuwei Cancer Registry between 2003 and 2012. In this registry, data from 46 cancer report centers were included in this analysis. Incidence/mortality rates, age-specific incidence/mortality rates, age-standardized incidence/mortality rates, and cumulative incidence/mortality rates were calculated. Totally, 9,836,740 person-years （5,110,342 for males and 4,726,398 for females） had been monitored over this time period. The gender ratio of male/female was 1.08：1. The number of new cancer cases and related deaths was 24,705 and 17,287 from 2003 to 2012, respectively. Results： The proportion of morphological verification was 74.43%. The incidence of cases identified through death certification only was 1.21%, and the mortality to incidence ratio was 0.70. The average crude incidence was 251.15/100,000 persons （310.61 and 186.87 for males and females per 100,000 persons, respectively）. The age-standardized rates by Chinese standard population （ASR-China） and by world standard population （ASR-world） were 207.76 and 245.42 per 100,000 persons, respectively. The crude cancer mortality was 175.74/100,000 persons （228.34 and 118.86 for males and females per 100,000 persons）. ASR for China and the world was 149.57 and 175.13/100,000 persons, respectively. The most common cancers and leading causes of cancer-related deaths in Wuwei were as follows： cancers of stomach, esophagus, liver, lung, colorectum, breast, cervix, lymphoma, blood （leukemia）, brain, and central nervous system. In Wuwei, during 2003 and 2012, cancer incidence and mortality rates increased by 1.32% and 1.3 l%/year, respectively. During this time, colorectum cancer incidence and mortality rates increased by 2.69% and 7.54%/year, respectively, in Wuwei. The incidence and mortality of other gastric, esophageal, liver, and lung cancers also all increased. Conclusions： The results of this study report a more accurate cancer burden among the population of Wuwei, China. Active research of cancers etiology and effective prevention should be established to reduce the incidence and mortality associated with cancers.

Identification of microRNAs as novel biomarkers for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a study based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and bioinformatics

Background:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have played important roles in the regulation of gene expression in many cancers,but their roles in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) are still unclear.The aim of this study was to determine the potential ESCC-specific key miRNAs from a large sample dataset in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).Methods:Integrative bioinformatics analysis was used to identify key ESCC-specific miRNAs related to the ESCC patients' tumor histological grade and lymphatic metastasis from TCGA.Next,these key miRNA potential gene regulatory functions and relationships with ESCC patients' clinical characteristics and overall survival were analyzed.Finally,three key miRNAs were selected randomly and quantificational real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to validate in 51 newly diagnosed ESCC patients' tissues samples (collected from Nov.2017 to Feb.2019,in Wuwei,China) whether the bioinformatics analyses results were reliable and valid.Two-tailed Student's t test,Pearson Chi-squared test and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used in this study.Results:Thirty-five ESCC-specific miRNAs from TCGA database were investigated (fold-change > 2.0,P < 0.05),and 28 participated in the miRNAs-mRNAs co-expression network construction,while 17 were related with ESCC patients' tumor histological grade,TNM stage,and lymphatic metastasis (P < 0.05).Meanwhile,six miRNAs (including miR-200b-3p,miR-31-5p,miR-15b-5p,miR-141-3p,miR-135b-5p,and miR-195-5p) were correlated with overall survival of ESCC patients (log-rank,P < 0.05).MiR-135b-5p,miR-15b-5p,and miR-195-5p were selected for verification of the expression levels in 51 ESCC patients' tissue samples by using qRT-PCR.We found that the fold-changes between qRT-PCR and TCGA were completely consistent.The results also suggested that miR-135b-5p,miR-15b-5p,and miR-195-5p were significantly correlated with tumor differentiation degrees (P < 0.05),miR-195-5p was significantly correlated with tumor TNM stage (P < 0.05),and miR-135b-5p was significantly correlated with lymph-node metastasis (P < 0.05).MiR-135b-5p,miR-15b-5p,and miR-195-5p expression levels,ESCC patient clinical features association analysis results and the aforementioned TCGA bioinformatics analyses were similar.Conclusion:This study identified key ESCC-related miRNAs.The key miRNAs are worthy of further investigation as potential novel biomarkers for diagnosis,classification,and prognosis of ESCC.

A High-throughput Genomic Tool： Diversity Array Technology Complementary for Rice Genotyping

Diversity array technology （DART^TM） was a genotyping tool characterized gel-independent and high throughput. The main purpose of present study is to validate DArT for rice （Oryza sativa L.）genotyping in a high throughput manner. Technically, the main objective was to generate a rice general purpose gene pool, and optimize this genomic tool in order to evaluate rice germplasm genetic diversity. To achieve this, firstly, a generalpurpose DArT array was developed. Ten representatives from 24 varieties were hybridized with the general-purpose array to determine the informativeness of the clones printed on the array. The informative 1 152 clones were re-arrayed on a slide and used to fingerprint 17 of 24 germplasms. Hybridizing targets prepared from the germplasm to be assayed to the DNA array gave DNA fingerprints of germplasms. Raw data were normalized and transformed into binary data, which were then analyzed by using NTSYSpc （Numerical taxonomy system for cluster and ordination analysis, v. 2.02j） software package. The graphically displayed dendrogram derived from the array experimental data was matched with simple sequence repeats genotyping outline and varieties＇ pedigree deviation of the different varieties. Considering DArT is a sequence-independent genotyping approach, it will be applied in studies of the genetic diversity and the gene mapping of diverse of organisms, especially for those crops with less-developed molecular markers.