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  Background & objectives: Cancer is one of the most causes of mortality in worldwide. Components derived from natural plants that induce apoptosis are used for cancer treatment. Therefore investigation of different herbal components for new anti-cancer drug is one of the main research activities throughout the world. According to low cost, oral consumption and easy access to the public extracts of Urtica dioica, in this study we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of this herb on MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells.

  Methods: Cytotoxic effect of Urtica dioica extract was measured using MTT assays. To show induction of apoptosis by this plant TUNEL and DNA Fragmentation test were performed.

  Results: In the present study dichloromethane extracts noticeably killed cancer cells. IC50 values related to human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MDA-MB-468 were 29.46±1.05 µg/ml in 24 hours and 15.54±1.04 µg/ml in 48 hours. TUNEL test and DNA Fragmentation assay showed apoptotic characteristic in the extract treated cells.

  Conclusion: The results showed that MDA-MB-468 cells after treatment with dichloromethane extract of Urtica dioica, induces apoptosis in MDA-MB-468 cancer cells which may be useful in the treatment of cancer.

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Background & objectives: Prostate cancer is one of the main reasons of death between men. Although there are many methods for treatment of this cancer but most of the patients still are died of the postoperative recurrence and metastasis of disease. Over expression of HMGA2 gene was observed in many human malignancies such as colorectal cancer, thyroid, pancreatic carcinoma and lung cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of HMGA2 specific small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) on viability and apoptosis in PC3 prostate adenocarcinoma cell line. 

Methods: siRNA transfection was performed with liposome approach. The cytotoxic effects of siRNA were determined using MTT assay on the PC3 cells and apoptosis was quantified using TUNEL assay.

Results: Transfection with siRNA significantly suppressed the expression of HMGA2 gene in dose dependent manner after 48 hours resulting in spontaneous apoptosis. Moreover, siRNA transfection had effects on prostate cancer cells viability.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that the HMGA2 specific siRNA effectively decreases prostate cancer cells viability and induces apoptosis in this cell line. Therefore it can be considered as a potent adjuvant in prostate cancer therapy.

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Background & objectives: Prostate cancer is one the most common cancer in men whose incidence is increasing in many countries. According to the studies, decreased expression of miR-143 has been reported in prostate cancer. In this study, we replaced miRNA-143 in prostate cancer cells by vector based miRNA-143 and evaluated its inhibitory effects on migration of prostate cancer cells (PC3).
Methods: MTT assay was performed to reach an inhibitory concentration of Genticin antibiotic (G418 (in PC3 cells. Then, miRNA-143 vector was transfected into PC3 cells via JetPEI transfection reagent. The transfected cells were selected by G418 antibiotic according to a 2-week treatment with IC50 concentration. Then, the expression level of miRNA-143 was measured by qRT-PCR method. To evaluate the effect of miRNA-143 in inhibition of migration, scratch wound healing assay was performed.
Results: Results of MTT assay showed the IC50 level of G418 on PC3 cells was obtained to be 141.9 μg / ml. The results of qRT-PCR indicated increased expression of miRNA-143 in PC3 cells transfected with miRNA-143 compared to control cells. Finally, the results of wound healing assay showed migration reduction in transfected cells compared with control cells (empty vector).
Conclusion: The results showed that miRNA-143 play an important role in cell migration during prostate cancer metastasis, and it can be a good candidate for molecular treatments.

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Background & objectives: Micro-RNAs are non-coding RNAs with a length of approximately 22 nucleotides, which, by binding to the target gene's mRNA, regulate its expression and play an important role in tumor suppression. Changes in the expression level of microRNAs play a crucial role in the pathobiology of multiple cancers. In this study, the expression levels of miR-143 and miR-338 were compared in gastric cancer and its margin.
Methods: This case-control study was performed on 35 biopsy samples of gastric cancer and adjacent tissue of the patients who were admitted to Imam Reza Hospital. Total RNA was extracted from the tissue using Trizol reagent and based on the company's instructions. Then, the acquired microRNAs were used to synthetize cDNA. Expression of microRNAs was measured by RT-PCR. U6 was used as a house keeping gene. Statistically, the obtained results were analyzed using Graph pad Prism software.
Results: According to the results obtained in this study, the expression levels of miR-143 (p≤0.1244) and miR-338 (p≤0.0059)  in tumor tissue, compared to the adjacent tissue,  were down-regulated. Reduced expression of miR-143 and miR-338 in the tumor tissue, in comparison to margin tissue, was about four folds.
Conclusion: This study showed that the average expression level of miR-143 and miR-338 was significantly decreased in gastric cancer tissues compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues, and these results strongly suggest that miR-143 and miR-338 may play a key role in gastric cancer progression; therefore, they may be considered tumor markers.

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Backgrounds & objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Micro RNAs are a group of non-coding small RNAs that inhibit the translation of target mRNA. MiR-146a-5p, as a tumor suppressor, has abnormal expression in many cancers. In this basic research, our goal was to restore the expression level of miR-146a-5p to normal level and to investigate its effect on the expression of the MMP9 gene in HT-29 cells.
Methods: this study evaluates the effect of transfection of miR-146a-5p in HT-29 cell line. At first, the HT-29 cell line from colorectal cancer was cultured in RPMI-1640 culture media and then  were transfected with miR-146a-5p using Jet-PEI reagent. qRT-PCR technique was employed to evaluate the expression level of miR-146a-5p and MMP9 genes. The statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 6 software.
Results: According to the obtained data, the onset of the invasion and metastasis, in particular, at the final stage of colorectal cancer may be related to a reduction in the expression of miR-146a-5p. The results of the qrRT-PCR test showed that by increasing the expression level of miR-146a-5p in HT-29 cells, the expression level of MMP9 gene decreased in the miR-146a-5p transfected group compared to the control group.
Conclusions: According to this study, activation of metastatic pathways was due to the down regulation of miR146a-5p. Accordingly, miR-146a-5p can inhibits migration of these cells through down-regulating the expression of metastasis-related genes. Hence, miR-146a-5p can be a new diagnostic biomarker and new therapeutic target for CRC.