Development and validation of a risk stratification model for screening suspected cases of COVID-19 in China

How to quickly identify high-risk populations is critical to epidemic control. We developed and validated a risk prediction model for screening SARS-CoV-2 infection in suspected cases with an epidemiological history. A total of 1019 patients, ≥13 years of age, who had an epidemiological history were enrolled from fever clinics between January 2020 and February 2020. Among 103 (10.11%) cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. Multivariable analysis summarized four features associated with increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, summarized in the mnemonic COVID-19-REAL: radiological evidence of pneumonia (1 point), eosinophils < 0.005 × 10⁹/L (1 point), age ≥ 32 years (2 points), and leukocytes < 6.05 × 10⁹ /L (1 point). The area under the ROC curve for the training group was 0.863 (95% CI, 0.813 - 0.912). A cut-off value of less than 3 points for COVID-19-REAL was assigned to define the low-risk population. Only 10 (2.70%) of 371 patients were proved to be SARS-CoV-2 positive, with a negative predictive value of 0.973. External validation was similar. This study provides a simple, practical, and robust screening model, COVID-19-REAL, able to identify populations at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Cancer-Testis Gene Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Identification of Prognostic Markers and Potential Targets for Immunotherapy

BACKGROUND

Cancer-testis genes can serve as prognostic biomarkers and valuable targets for immunotherapy in multiple tumors because of their restricted expression in testis and cancer. However, their expression pattern in hepatocellular carcinoma is still not well understood. The purpose is to comprehensively characterize the cancer-testis gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma as well as identify prognostic markers and potential targets for immunotherapy.

METHODS

Cancer-testis database and publicly available data sets reporting new cancer-testis genes were integrated, and then restricted them in a testis and hepatocellular carcinoma expression pattern. Pathway enrichment analysis and survival analysis were conducted to evaluate the biological function and prognostic effect of cancer-testis genes. Clustering analysis and coexpression analysis were performed to illustrate cancer-testis gene expression patterns in hepatocellular carcinoma. The association of gene expression of each cancer-testis gene to the corresponding methylation status was detected. Finally, we explored the associations between cancer-testis genes and CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma by TISIDB, and then validated it in an independent hepatocellular carcinoma cohort with 72 patients.

RESULTS

A total of 59 testis-specific genes were identified highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that cancer-testis genes in hepatocellular carcinoma significantly involves in the process of cell cycle regulation. Most of the cancer-testis genes were coexpressed, and cluster analysis suggested that cancer-testis gene expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma is independent of sex, hepatitis status, and histology type. We also found that demethylation might be a regulatory mechanism of cancer-testis gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma. Survival analysis indicated that cancer-testis genes could predict the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, BUB1B was identified contributing to the resistance of CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma and was an independent prognostic factor both for overall survival and disease-free survival.

CONCLUSIONS

Our analysis enables better understanding of cancer-testis genes in hepatocellular carcinoma and provides potential targets for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment. Experimental and clinical studies are needed for further validations.

Early antiviral treatment contributes to alleviate the severity and improve the prognosis of patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

BACKGROUND

At present, the severity of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a focal point.

METHODS

To assess the factors associated with severity and prognosis of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, we retrospectively investigated the clinical, imaging and laboratory characteristics of confirmed 280 cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from 20 January to 20 February 2020.

RESULTS

The median age of patients in the mild group was 37.55 years, whilst that in the severe group was 63.04 years. The proportion of patients aged over 65 years in the severe group was significantly higher than that of the mild group (59.04% vs. 10.15%, P < 0.05). 85.54% of severe patients had diabetes or cardiovascular diseases, which was significantly higher than that of the mild group (51.81% vs. 7.11%, P = 0.025; 33.73% vs. 3.05%, P = 0.042). Patients in the mild group experienced earlier initiation of antiviral treatment (1.19 ± 0.45 vs. 2.65 ± 1.06 days in the severe group, P < 0.001). Our study showed that comorbidity, time from illness onset to antiviral treatment and age >=65 were three major risk factors for COVID-19 progression, whilst comorbidity and time from illness onset to antiviral treatment were two major risk factors for COVID-19 recovery.

CONCLUSIONS

The elderly and patients with underlying diseases are more likely to experience a severe progression of COVID-19. It is recommended that timely antiviral treatment should be initiated to slow the disease progression and improve the prognosis.

ACSL4 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression via c-Myc stability mediated by ERK/FBW7/c-Myc axis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly heterogeneous, multigene-driven malignant tumor. Long chain acyl-CoA synthetase 4 (ACSL4), an enzyme has pivotal roles in arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism. However, its function and the underlying molecular mechanisms in HCC are still not fully elucidated. Here, we identified ACSL4 as a novel marker for AFP high subtype HCC through transcriptome profiling. ACSL4 was frequently upregulated in HCC samples and associated with poor prognosis. Functionally, ACSL4 knockdown resulted in decreased cell growth, whereas ectopic ACSL4 expression facilitated tumor formation in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, ACSL4 stabilized the oncoprotein c-Myc through ubiquitin–proteasome system in an ERK/FBW7-dependent manner. Cell growth ability mediated by ACSL4 elevation was partly attenuated by c-Myc depletion using siRNA or its inhibitor 10058-F4. In contrast, the effects of ACSL4 silencing were partially reversed by c-Myc overexpression via FBW7 knockdown. Clinically, ACSL4 expression was positively correlated with c-Myc in HCC. In conclusion, ACSL4 is a novel marker for AFP high subtype HCC. Our data uncovered a new mechanism by which ACSL4 promotes HCC progression via c-Myc stability mediated by ERK/FBW7/c-Myc axis and could be a valuable prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target in HCC.

PKM2 upregulation promotes malignancy and indicates poor prognosis for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Although pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) has been shown to be among the crucial enzymes that regulate aerobic glycolysis in multiple tumour cells, its role in the treatment and prognosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) remains unclear. This study primarily aimed to determine whether the expression status of PKM2 is potentially associated with the clinical outcomes of ICC.

METHODS

PKM2 expression was evaluated in ICC cell lines and tissues via real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence assays, and Western blot, and its prognostic value was determined according to its impact on the overall survival of patients.

RESULTS

We found that PKM2 is highly expressed in ICC, and this was correlated with patient survival. Moreover, we found that PKM2 knockdown could considerably inhibit ICC cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in vitro.

CONCLUSIONS

PKM2 was overexpressed in ICC, and it may regulate proliferation, invasion, and migration and lead to poor prognosis. Thus, PKM2 might be a potential independent prognostic factor for ICC.

CCND1, NOP14 and DNMT3B are involved in miR-502-5p-mediated inhibition of cell migration and proliferation in bladder cancer

OBJECTIVES

Downregulation of miR-502-5p has emerged as a critical factor in tumour progression in several cancers. Herein, we elucidated the role of miR-502-5p in bladder cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RT-qPCR was performed to examine the expression of miR-502-5p in bladder cancer. And DNA methylation analysis showed that epigenetic mechanisms may contribute to the downregulation of miR-502-5p. Then, wound-healing assay, transwell assay, colony formation assay, CCK8 assay and flow cytometry analysis were applied to evaluate the function of miR-502-5p in bladder cancer cell lines. Western blot was conducted to measure the protein levels of related genes. Furthermore, dual-luciferase reporter assay, in vivo tumorigenesis assay and immunohistochemical staining were also conducted as needed.

RESULTS

MiR-502-5p is frequently downregulated in BCa. Meanwhile, hypermethylation of CpG islands contributes to the downregulation of miR-502-5p. Functionally, overexpression of miR-502-5p inhibited cell proliferation and migration in vitro and repressed tumour growth in vivo. CCND1, DNMT3B and NOP14 were identified as direct targets of miR-502-5p. Interestingly, DNMT3B and miR-502-5p established a positive feedback loop in the regulation of bladder cancer. In addition, rescue experiments further validated the direct molecular interaction between miR-502-5p and its targets.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study proposed and demonstrated that the miR-502-5p-mediated regulatory network is critical in bladder cancer; this network may be useful in the development of more effective therapies against bladder cancer.

Duo of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate and doxorubicin loaded by polydopamine coating ZIF-8 in the regulation of autophagy for chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy

To achieve highly systemic therapeutic efficacy, chemotherapy is combined with photothermal therapy for chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy; however, this strategy suffers from high toxicity and unsatisfactory sensitivity for cancer cells. Herein, we developed a pH- and photothermal-responsive zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) compound for loading a dual-drug in the tumor site and improving their curative effects. Since autophagy always accompanies tumor progression and metastasis, there is an unmet need for an anticancer treatment related to the regulation of autophagy. Green tea polyphenols, namely, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and doxorubicin (DOX), both of which exhibit anticancer activity, were dual-loaded via polydopamine (PDA) coating ZIF-8 (EGCG@ZIF-PDA-PEG-DOX, EZPPD for short) through hierarchical self-assembly. PDA could transfer photothermal energy to increase the temperature under near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. Due to its pH-response, EZPPD released EGCG and DOX in the tumor microenvironment, wherein the temperature increased with the help of PDA and NIR laser irradiation. The duo of DOX and EGCG induced autophagic flux and accelerated the formation of autophagosomes. In a mouse HeLa tumor model, photothermal-chemotherapy could ablate the tumor with a significant synergistic effect and potentiate the anticancer efficacy. Thus, the results indicate that EZPPD renders the key traits of a clinically promising candidate to address the challenges associated with synergistic chemotherapy and photothermal utilization in antitumor therapy.

NKILA, a prognostic indicator, inhibits tumor metastasis by suppressing NF-κB/Slug mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma

The metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major obstacles hindering its therapeutic efficacy, leading to low surgical resection rate, high mortality and poor prognosis. Accumulating evidence has shown that both long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and NF-κB play vital roles in the regulation of cancer metastasis. However, the clinical significance and biological function of NKILA (NF-κB interacting lncRNA) and its interaction with NF-κB in HCC remain unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that NKILA was down-regulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, and decreased NKILA expression was significantly associated with larger tumor size and positive vascular invasion in HCC patients. NKILA reduction was an independent risk factor of HCC patients' poor prognosis, and the 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of patients with low and high NKILA expression were 15.6% and 60.0%, respectively. Moreover, NKILA inhibits migration and invasion of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, NKILA prevents Slug/epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway via suppressing phosphorylation of IκBα, p65 nuclear translocation and NF-κB activation. In conclusion, these results indicate that NKILA might serve as an effective prognostic biomarker and a promising therapeutic target against HCC metastasis.

Carboxylated wood-based sponges with underoil superhydrophilicity for deep dehydration of crude oil

Carboxylated wood-based sponges with underoil superhydrophilicity are elegantly developed via a top-down strategy from natural woods and demonstrated outstanding performances in the deep dehydration of water cut crude oil.

Spontaneous rupture of solid pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas: A case report and review of literature

INTRODUCTION

Solid pseudopapillary tumors (SPT) account for 1% to 3% of all pancreatic tumors. They have low malignant potential with a favorable prognosis, and predominantly occur in young women. The pathogenesis and clinical behavior of SPT are still uncertain. In addition, most ruptures of SPT were associated with blunt abdominal trauma, while spontaneous ruptures seemed to be quite rare. Up to now, there have been only 3 spontaneous ruptured SPT cases reported worldwide.

PATIENT CONCERNS

Here, we reported a 22-year-old female patient with left lower abdominal pain. Computed tomography (CT) showed that a hemorrhagic complex solid cystic mass located in the lesser omentum sac.

DIAGNOSIS

According to pathological findings of tumor specimen, the diagnosis of solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas was made.

INTERVENTIONS

Distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy was carried out.

OUTCOMES

The patient recovered to normal status within 10 days after surgery.

CONCLUSION

Besides, we reviewed about 50 cases in literatures to find out the clinical characteristics and differential diagnostic strategies of SPT.

ACADS acts as a potential methylation biomarker associated with the proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinomas

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) constantly rank among the malignancies with the highest death tolls on the global scale. Moreover, HCC are associated with a limited set of therapeutic options. This is particularly true in the case of advanced stage cancers, where long-term survival is uncommon. For the inoperable, advanced HCC patients, chemotherapy is the main modality of treatment. Due to the lack of known molecular targets, the efficacy of the chemotherapy is limited.

CONCLUSION

These findings clearly indicate that DNA methylation plays a key role in regulating ACADS expression and that it can be a potential therapeutic target for treating HCC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A thorough comparative analysis of 282 cancer samples with 47 normal samples from GEO datasets resulted in the observation that that the level of ACADS was significantly downregulated in HCC. Loss-of-function analyses were then conducted to understand the biological function of ACADS in HCC. It was noted that ACADS was involved in the proliferation and metastasis of HCC. Experiments involving the knockdown of DMNT expression led to the discovery that the expression of ACADS in the HCC cells was significantly increased. The TCGA database was then employed to identify tumor tissue samples which showed higher methylation levels at cg01535453, cg08618068, and cg10174836 (which are the target sites of the ACADS CpG islands) as compared with normal liver tissue samples. All these findings indicated that ACADS might be a novel methylation biomarker associated with HCC.

Five Hub Genes Can Be The Potential DNA Methylation Biomarkers For Cholangiocarcinoma Using Bioinformatics Analysis

Background

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a subtype of highly malignant hepatic tumor, which has low 5-year survival rate and poor clinical outcome. Only a few patients can be detected early and accepted with the surgery. Most of CCA patients are diagnosed in advanced stage, and the treatments are limited. As for the inoperable, advanced CCA patients, chemotherapy is the main treatment, due to lacking molecular targets, therapeutic effect is limited.

Materials and methods

To explore potential therapeutic targets for CCA, we analyzed three microarray datasets derived from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, we used GEO2R tools of NCBI to discover the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the CCA and normal liver tumor microarrays (TMA). Subsequently, we used the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID GO) to perform the Gene Ontology function (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Then, we carried out the Cytoscape software to search for the hub genes downregulated in CCA and identify the protein–protein interaction (PPI) of these genes. Besides, we used the GEPIA tool to evaluate the differential expressions of hub genes in CCA patients. Then, we also used MEXPRESS database to detect the promoter methylation levels of hub genes in CCA and normal tissue samples. In addition, we evaluated the expression of these genes in CCA lines and normal bile tract cells after 5-AZA (DNA methyltransferase inhibitor) treatment.

Results

A total of 115 downregulated DEGs were identified. Among them, 10 hub genes with a high degree of connectivity were picked out. Among these 10 hub genes, F2, AHSG, ALDH8A1, SERPIND1 and AGXT showed higher DNA methylation levels of promoter in CCA compared with normal liver tissues. Therefore, these 5 genes may be the potential DNA methylation biomarkers and therapeutic targets in CCA.

Combinatorial photochemotherapy on liver cancer stem cells with organoplatinum(ii) metallacage-based nanoparticles

Liver cancer is a kind of lethal and aggressive malignant neoplasm with a high rate of relapse and metastasis after therapy. An important cause for the relapse and metastasis is the existence of liver cancer stem cells (CSCs), which have high resistance to chemotherapy and high tumorigenic potential. Therefore, it is crucial to develop new methods to eradicate CSCs in tumors. Herein, we develop a photodynamic therapy (PDT) that features bimodal metallacage-loaded nanoparticles (MNPs) for integrated chemotherapy. This platform achieves chemo-photodynamic combinational therapy. Organoplatinum(ii) metallacage-loaded nanoparticles show excellent ability to kill liver CSCs, decreasing their mobility and sphenoid formation ability under near-infrared laser irradiation. Importantly, MNPs can successfully penetrate into 3D tumor spheroids, which display higher drug resistance compared to traditional 2D cultured cells. This destroys CSCs and prevents subsequent tumor formation in vivo. With the excellent combinational therapeutic results in hand, the working mechanisms of MNPs were then studied. MNPs under NIR light irradiation can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in damage of mitochondrial membrane and subsequent cell apoptosis with chemotherapeutic platinum. This study proves the great potential of MNPs for combinational cancer therapy, providing a new insight for the next generation of nanomedicines.

WTAP facilitates progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via m6A-HuR-dependent epigenetic silencing of ETS1

Background

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation, a well-known modification with new epigenetic functions, has been reported to participate in the tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), providing novel insights into the molecular pathogenesis of this disease. However, as the key component of m6A methylation, Wilms tumor 1-associated protein (WTAP) has not been well studied in HCC. Here we investigated the biological role and underlying mechanism of WTAP in liver cancer.

Methods

We determined the expression of WTAP and its correlation with clinicopathological features using tissue microarrays and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. And we clarified the effects of WTAP on HCC cells using cell proliferation assay, colony formation, Edu assay and subcutaneous xenograft experiments. We then applied RNA sequencing combined with gene expression omnibus (GEO) data to screen candidate targets of WTAP. Finally, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of WTAP in HCC by m6A dot blot assay, methylated RNA immunoprecipitation (MeRIP) assay, dual luciferase reporter assay, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay and Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay.

Results

We demonstrated that WTAP was highly expressed in HCC which indicated the poor prognosis, and that WTAP expression served as an independent predictor of HCC survival. Functionally, WTAP promoted the proliferation capability and tumor growth of HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, ETS proto-oncogene 1 (ETS1) was identified as the downstream effector of WTAP. The m6A modification regulated by WTAP led to post-transcriptional suppression of ETS1, with the implication of Hu-Antigen R (HuR) as an RNA stabilizer. Then ETS1 was found to inhibit the progression of HCC and could rescue the phenotype induced by WTAP deficiency. Moreover, WTAP modulated the G2/M phase of HCC cells through a p21/p27-dependent pattern mediated by ETS1.

Conclusion

We have identified that WTAP is significantly up-regulated in HCC and promotes liver cancer development. WTAP-guided m6A modification contributes to the progression of HCC via the HuR-ETS1-p21/p27 axis. Our study is the first to report that WTAP-mediated m6A methylation has a crucial role in HCC oncogenesis, and highlights WTAP as a potential therapeutic target of HCC treatment.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12943-019-1053-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A primary splenic angiosarcoma hepatic metastasis after splenectomy and its genomic alteration profile

RATIONALE

Primary splenic angiosarcoma (PSA) is a rare mesenchymal malignancy of the splenic vascular origin often with a dismal prognosis. Genomic profile may provide evidence for the solution of therapy.

PATIENT CONCERNS

We reported a case of a 51-year-old woman with splenectomy 4 years ago and the postoperative histopathology diagnosis revealed "splenic hemangioma" with spontaneous rupture. Two years after the operation, the patient's rechecked abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed multiple hepatic occupations.

DIAGNOSES

Pathological test suggested PSA hepatic metastasis.

INTERVENTIONS

The patient was treated with trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and a pathological diagnosis of PSA was highly suspected in the hepatic biopsy. Four somatic alterations, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA), Fos proto-oncogene, AP-1 transcription factor subunit (FOS), MCL1 apoptosis regulator (MCL1), and phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 1 (PIK3R1) were detected in the tumor tissue using a Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The results prompted that the patient may get clinical benefit from using some agents for targeted therapy, Everolimus, Temsirolimus, or Copanlisib.

OUTCOMES

The patient refused targeted therapy. As a result, the patient passed away within 51 months after splenectomy.

LESSONS

PSA is an aggressive disease that often presented with a high propensity for metastasis and rupture hemorrhage. Some of these mutations were first discovered in PSA and these findings added new contents to the genomic mutation profile of PSA.

COL6A1 promotes metastasis and predicts poor prognosis in patients with pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers worldwide with a high mortality rate. Prognosis remains poor even in this era of advanced medicine mainly due to early metastasis and invasion. The present study aimed to explore and validate predictors of distant metastasis and prognosis in pancreatic cancer. In our preliminary experiment, we established a novel metastatic pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC-M8 from parent BxPC-3 cells. Via whole genome sequencing, RT-qPCR, western blotting, migration and invasion assays, we initially found that BxPC-M8 shared similar biological characteristics to BxPC-3, but only differed in enhanced metastatic and invasive capabilities with a significant increase in collagen type VI α1 chain (COL6A1) expression. Knockdown of COL6A1 via small interfering RNA led to a significant decrease in migration and invasion of BxPC-M8 cells, suggesting suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Furthermore, a significant increase in COL6A1 expression was observed in cancerous tissue compared with paracancerous tissue (40.7 vs 3.7, P=0.001). Additionally, its expression was observed to be significantly associated with distant metastasis and vascular invasion at the time of surgery. Multivariate analysis revealed that COL6A1 expression (hazard ratio 1.90, 95% confidence interval 1.04-3.47, P=0.037) is an independent predictor of overall survival (OS). The median OS observed for COL6A1⁺ and COL6A1⁻ patients was found to be 8±4 and 14±7 months (P=0.021), respectively. Of note, we identified that COL6A1 expression in tissue samples was associated with significantly reduced OS (P=0.001), demonstrating that COL6A1 may serve an important role in the metastatic process and could be considered as a predictor of poor outcomes in patients with pancreatic cancer. In addition, our findings suggest that COL6A1 could be an indicator of distant metastasis and a valid prognostic predictor in such patients; however, further investigation is required.

miR-424-5p represses the metastasis and invasion of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma by targeting ARK5

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been validated to play prominent roles in the occurrence and development of many kinds of malignant cancer. MiR-424-5p has been reported to participate in various tumors proliferation and metastasis as a suppressor. On the contrary, miR-424-5p would promote cell proliferation in some tumors. However, the expression of miR-424-5p in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is rarely reported and its mechanism remains unclear. Here, we discover that miR-424-5p is frequently downregulated in ICC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues and in ICC cells. Over-expression of miR-424-5p significantly inhibits the invasion and migration of ICC cells in vitro. Importantly, miR-424-5p is found to be a suppressor of ARK5, by binding to 3'-UTR of ARK5 mRNA and then inhibiting mTOR phosphorylated, thus deregulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of ICC. Furthermore, ARK5 is found to play a role in ICC metastasis and regulating EMT. Knockdown of ARK5 inhibits invasion and migration of ICC, while the over-expression gives an opposite effect. Besides, high-expression of ARK5 is also associated with poor prognosis. In conclusion, our study reveals that miR-424-5p is critical to the invasion, migration and EMT progression in ICC cells. Targeting the pathway described here may be a novel approach to inhibit metastasis of ICC and the restoration of miR-424-5p expression may be a promising strategy for ICC therapy.

Targeting Mybbp1a suppresses HCC progression via inhibiting IGF1/AKT pathway by CpG islands hypo-methylation dependent promotion of IGFBP5

BACKGROUND

Myb-binding protein 1A (Mybbp1a) is a nucleolar protein that can regulate rRNA metabolism, the stress response and carcinogenesis. However, the function of Mybbp1a in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. We aimed to determine the role of Mybbp1a in HCC and the underlying mechanism.

METHODS

We investigated the function of Mybbp1a in HCC cell models and the xenograft mouse model. The relationship between Mybbp1a and IGFBP5 was found through expression profile chip. The molecular mechanism of Mybbp1a regulating IGFBP5 was proved through CO-IP, CHIP, Bisulfite Sequencing and Pyrosequencing.

FINDINGS

In this study, we observed that Mybbp1a was overexpressed in HCC tissues and associated with the poor prognosis of HCC patients. Suppression of Mybbp1a led to a reduction in the proliferation and migration ability of HCC cells through inhibiting the IGF1/AKT signaling pathway. Further study found that Mybbp1a could form a complex with DNMT1 and induce aberrant hyper-methylation of CpG islands of IGFBP5, which inhibits secretion of IGFBP5 and then activates IGF1/AKT signaling pathway.

INTERPRETATION

These findings extend our understanding of the function of Mybbp1a in the progression of HCC. The newly identified Mybbp1a may provide a novel biomarker for developing potential therapeutic targets of HCC. FUND: Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (No. 2015C03034), National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (No. 2016138643), Innovative Research Groups of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81721091), Major program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91542205).

A risk assessment model of acute liver allograft rejection by genetic polymorphism of CD276

Background

Liver transplantation is an effective therapy for end‐stage liver diseases and acute liver failure. After the operation, however, recipients may suffer grafts loss induced by alloimmune reaction, which is termed as acute allograft rejection. The interaction between costimulatory molecules, CD276, and its ligand, TREML2, promotes T cell‐mediated immune response, as well as acute or chronic allograft rejection. Our research aimed at correlating genetic polymorphisms of CD276/TREML2 with acute rejection, and evaluating its prognostic value of acute rejection after liver transplantation.

Methods

The study enrolled a total of 388 recipients. Among them, acute allograft rejection was observed in 54 cases. We performed single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping of CD276, including rs11072431, rs11574495, rs12593558, rs12594627, rs2127015, rs3816661 and rs7176654, and TREML2, including rs4714431, rs6915083, rs7754593, and rs9394767 from preoperative peripheral blood genome DNA.

Results

We found rs2127015 of CD276, rs6915083 and rs7754593 of TREML2, and HBV infection as well were associated with acute rejection. And, rs2127015 influences CD276 expression. Moreover, we established a risk assessment model, composited by statistically proved risk factors.

Conclusion

By integrating both clinical and genetic variables, liver transplant recipients can be categorized into different risk groups, and might benefit from individualized therapies.

Clinical significance of high expression of stanniocalcin-2 in hepatocellular carcinoma

To investigate the significance of stanniocalcin-2 (STC2) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and adjacent tissues. Levels of STC2 in HCC tissue were detected in 200 HCC patients tissues and adjacent tissues as controls by immunohistochemistry technique (IHC) and reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR). Single factor analysis was used to study the relationship between expression of STC2 mRNA and protein and clinicopathological features of HCC. Multifactor Cox survival analysis was used to relationship between the expression of STC2 and overall survival of postoperative patients with HCC. IHC staining showed that the expression of STC2 protein rate was 81.00% (163/200). And the positive rate of adjacent tissues was 29.00% (58/200). Western blot showed that the expression of STC2 protein in HCC was significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues (P<0.05). RT-PCR showed that the positive rates of STC2 mRNA expression in HCC were 75.50% (151/200), which was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues 14.50% (29/200) (P<0.05). Both STC2 mRNA and protein expression are related to tumor diameter, stage, tumor metastasis, carcinoma emboli in the portal vein and the degree of tumor differentiation in HCC. The HCC patients with higher expression of STC2 had shorter median survival time. STC2 expression, tumor diameter, carcinoma emboli in the portal vein, tumor differentiation degree, and tumor stage were independent factors affecting the overall survival of postoperative patients. The high expression of STC2 mRNA and protein expression in HCC may be associated with the occurrence, development, and prognosis of HCC. STC2 may also be possible to help developing new therapeutic strategies for HCC.

Upregulated expression of HOXB7 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is associated with tumor cell metastasis and poor prognosis

Homeobox B7 (HOXB7) protein is reported to be aberrantly expressed in a variety of cancers and to play an important role in multiple cellular processes. However, the specific mechanism by which HOXB7 promotes the malignant progression of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) remains unclear. Therefore, we used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the expression level of HOXB7 in 38 paired ICC tissue samples. Additionally, to assess correlation between HOXB7 and ICC prognosis, we performed immunohistochemistry (IHC) using 122 ICC tissues to detect HOXB7 expression. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays were employed to assess ICC cell proliferation, and Transwell assays were performed to estimate the invasion and migration abilities of ICC cells. The capillary tube formation assay was applied to explore the angiogenic effects of HOXB7. A xenograft tumor model was established in nude mice to assess the role of HOXB7 in tumor growth and lung metastasis. The results showed higher expression of HOXB7 in ICC tissues than in noncancerous tissues, and this increased expression was significantly associated with a poor prognosis. In addition, HOXB7 overexpression enhanced capillary tube formation, invasion and migration of ICC cells in vitro, whereas HOXB7 knockdown produced the opposite results in vitro. Moreover, the role of HOXB7 in promoting tumor growth and metastasis was verified in vivo. Further investigation revealed that the expression levels of MMP2, MMP9, VEGFa, and IL8 were elevated by HOXB7 and that the ERK pathway was activated. Our results demonstrate the prognostic value of HOXB7 and its role in metastasis and angiogenesis in ICC. HOXB7 upregulated MMP2, MMP9, VEGFa, and IL8 expression via the ERK pathway to accelerate the malignant progression of ICC.