Qi Yang

LncRNA SNHG20 promotes migration and invasion of ovarian cancer via modulating the microRNA-148a/ROCK1 axis

AbstractBackgroundOvarian cancer (OC) is characterized by early metastasis and poor prognosis, which threatens the health of women worldwide. Small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20), a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), has been verified to be significantly up-regulated in several tumors, including OC. MicroRNA-148a (miR-148a)/rho-kinase1 (ROCK1) axis plays an important role in the modulation of tumor development. However, whether SNHG20 can regulate OC progression through miR-148a/ROCK1 axis remains unclear. Normal human ovarian epithelial cell line and four OC cell lines were adopted for in vitro experiments. Real-time PCR was performed to assess the levels of SNHG20 and miR-148a. OC cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration were detected using clone formation, flow cytometry, transwell, and wound healing assays, respectively. Tumor xenograft assay was applied to evaluate the effect of SNHG20 on tumor growth in vivo.ResultsSignificant higher expression of SNHG20 was observed in OC cell lines. SNHG20 markedly promoted the invasion, migration, proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of OC cells. SNHG20 enhanced ROCK1 expression by sponging miR-148a, and the direct binding between SNHG20/ROCK1 and miR-148a was identified.ConclusionSNHG20 promoted invasion and migration of OC via targeting miR-148a/ROCK1 axis. The present research may provide a novel insight for the therapeutic strategies of OC.

Quantitative Time-Dependent Diffusion MRI for Diagnosis and Aggressiveness Assessment of Endometrial Cancer: A Prospective Study

Preoperative differentiation of benign and malignant endometrial lesions, along with the identification of aggressive histological types of endometrial cancer (EC), is crucial for guiding treatment strategies. Time-dependent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (TDD-MRI), which allows the characterization of tissue microstructure at the cellular level, is not currently applied for endometrial lesions. This study aimed to evaluate TDD-MRI-derived microstructural parameters for noninvasively distinguishing benign and malignant endometrial lesions and predicting aggressive histological types of EC. This prospective study enrolled 177 patients with clinically suspected EC who underwent TDD-MRI between January 2024 and March 2025. The Imaging Microstructural Parameters Using Limited Spectrally Edited Diffusion method was used to extract microstructural parameters, including the cell diameter (d), intracellular volume fraction ( A total of 130 women (mean ± standard deviation age: 56 ± 14 years) administered uterine curettage or surgery were included in the final analysis. All microstructural parameters showed significant differences between benign endometrial lesions and EC ( TDD-MRI-derived microstructural parameters demonstrated high performance in differentiating benign from malignant endometrial diseases and identifying aggressive types of EC.