Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29750217›Full record

ArticleEpilepsia open2017

Is autopsy tissue a valid control for epilepsy surgery tissue in microRNA studies?

Paolo Roncon, Silvia Zucchini, Manuela Ferracin, Gianluca Marucci, Marco Giulioni, Roberto Michelucci, Guido Rubboli, Michele Simonato

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Epilepsia open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. From fix to fit into the autoptic human brains.European journal of histochemistry : EJH · 2018
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Paolo RonconDepartment of Medical Sciences Section of Pharmacology and Neuroscience Center University of Ferrara Ferrara Italy.
Silvia ZucchiniDepartment of Medical Sciences Section of Pharmacology and Neuroscience Center University of Ferrara Ferrara Italy.
Manuela FerracinDepartment of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES) University of Bologna Bologna Italy.
Gianluca MarucciSection of Pathology "M. Malpighi" Bellaria Hospital Azienda USL - IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences Bologna Italy.
Marco GiulioniSection of Neurosurgery IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences Bellaria Hospital Bologna Italy.
Roberto MichelucciSection of Neurology IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences Bellaria Hospital Bologna Italy.
Guido RubboliSection of Neurology IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences Bellaria Hospital Bologna Italy.
Michele SimonatoDepartment of Medical Sciences Section of Pharmacology and Neuroscience Center University of Ferrara Ferrara Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are differentially expressed in the brain under pathologic conditions and may therefore represent both therapeutic targets and diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for neurologic diseases, including epilepsy. In fact, miRNA expression profiles have been investigated in the hippocampi of patients with epilepsy in comparison with control, nonepileptic cases. Unfortunately, the interpretation of these data is difficult because surgically resected epileptic tissue is generally compared with control tissue obtained from autopsies. To challenge the validity of this approach, we performed an miRNA microarray on the laser microdissected granule cell layer of the human hippocampus obtained from surgical samples of patients with epilepsy, autoptic nonepileptic controls, and patients with autoptic epilepsy, using the latter as internal control. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to collect autopsy material from documented epilepsy individuals who died of non-epilepsy-related causes-we found only two such cases. However, hierarchical clustering of all samples showed that those obtained from autopsies of patients with epilepsy segregated with the other autoptic samples (controls) and not with the bioptic tissues from the surgery patients, suggesting that the origin of the tissue (surgery or autopsy) may be prevalent over the underlying pathology (epilepsy or not epilepsy). Even taking into account the limitations due to the small number of cases, this observation arises concerns on the use of autopsy tissue as control for this kind of studies.

Indexed as

EpilepsyMicroarraymicroRNAs

Identifiers

PMID29750217
PMCPMC5939384

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.