Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a disease that affects people that live in the alluvial plains along the tributaries of theDanube\nRiver in the Balkan region. BEN is a chronic tubulointerstitial disease with a slow progression to terminal renal failure and has\nstrong association with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). There are several hypotheses about the etiology of BEN, but\nonly the toxic effect of aristolochic acid has been confirmed as a risk factor in the occurrence of the disease. Aberrantly expressed\nmiRNAs have been shown to be associated with many types of cancers. A number of studies have investigated the expression\nof microRNAs in urothelial carcinoma, mainly on urothelial bladder cancer, and only a few have included patients with UTUC.\nHere we present the first study of microRNA profiling in UTUC tissues from patients with BEN (BEN-UTUC) and patients with\nUTUC from nonendemic Balkan regions (non-BEN-UTUC) in comparison to normal kidney tissues. We found 10 miRNAs that\nwere differentially expressed in patients with BEN-UTUC and 15 miRNAs in patients with non-BEN-UTUC. miRNA signature\ndetermined in BEN-UTUC patients differs from the non-BEN-UTUC patients; only miR-205-5p was mutual in both groups.
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