1. What study design was used? (200 words minimum) 2. How did the study design limit the findings of the article? (100 words minimum) 3. Could a better study design be

Differential MIR-21 Expression in Plasma From Mesenteric
Versus Peripheral Veins

An Observational Study of Disease-free Survival in Surgically Resected Colon
Cancer Patients

z-R

Mariano Monzo, MD, PhD, Francisco Martı́ne

MS
Ra

Abbreviations: CRC = colorectal cancer, CT = computed

tomography, DFS = disease-free survival, miRNA = microRNA,

MV = mesenteric vein, PV = peripheral vein.

circulating miR-21 in C
ing miRNAs from an ar
from a peripheral vein

Editor: Maria Kapritsou.
Received: June 18, 2014; revised and accepted: September 5, 2014.
From the Molecular Oncology and Embryology Laboratory, Human
Anatomy Unit, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS,
Barcelona (MM, AN, SS, IM, CM, RT); Department of Medical Oncology
and Surgery, Hospital Municipal de Badalona, Badalona, Spain (FM-R, IM,
RH).
Correspondence: Mariano Monzo, Department of Human Anatomy and

Embryology, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Casanovas
143, 08036 Barcelona, Spain (e-mail: [email protected]).

This study was partially supported by a grant from SDCSC (Servei de
Donació del Cos a la Ciència). RT is recipient of an APIF (Ajuts de
Personal Investigador Predoctoral en Formació) grant from the Uni-
versitat de Barcelona. Neither of these funding bodies had a role in the
design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and
interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manu-
script; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Copyright # 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0, where it is
permissible to download, share and reproduce the work in any medium,
provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or
used commercially.
ISSN: 0025-7974
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000000145

Medicine � Volume 94, Number 1, January 2015

Isabel Moren

Alfons Navarro, PhD, Sandra Santasusagna,

Rut Tejero, PhD, and

Abstract: Findings on the role of plasma miR-21 expression in

colorectal cancer are contradictory. Before reaching a peripheral vein

(PV), microRNAs released by the tumor are dispersed throughout the

body. We hypothesized that blood drawn from the mesenteric vein

(MV) near the site of the primary tumor could provide more homo-

geneous information than blood drawn from the PV.

We have analyzed miR-21 expression in matched samples of tumor

tissue, normal tissue, MV plasma, and PV plasma in 57 surgically

resected patients with colon ca