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Li X, Yao Q, Liu C, Wang J, Zhang H, Li S, Cai P. Macrotrabecular-Massive Hepatocellular Carcinoma: What Should We Know? J Hepatocell Carcinoma 2022; 9:379-387. [PMID: 35547829 PMCID: PMC9084381 DOI: 10.2147/jhc.s364742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies globally. Recently, a newly identified histological subtype, designated as “macrotrabecular-massive hepatocellular carcinoma” (MTM-HCC), has been associated with an aggressive phenotype and has received extensive attention. MTM-HCC was a strong independent prognostic predictor of early and overall recurrence because it is closely related to tumor molecular subclass, gene mutation, carcinogenesis pathways, and immunohistochemical markers. In addition, preoperative imaging examination can potentially provide an essential clue for diagnosing MTM-HCC, intratumor necrosis or ischemia is an independent predictor for MTM-HCC on Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI or CT. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of MTM-HCC could prove beneficial for preventing early recurrence and could improve outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoming Li
- Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Military Medical University), Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First People’s Hospital of Zunyi, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People’s Republic of China
| | - Qiandong Yao
- Department of Radiology, Sichuan Science City Hospital, Mianyang, People’s Republic of China
| | - Chen Liu
- Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Military Medical University), Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jian Wang
- Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Military Medical University), Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Huarong Zhang
- Institute of Pathology and Southwest Cancer Center, Third Military Medical University (Army Military Medical University), Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shiguang Li
- Department of Radiology, The First People’s Hospital of Zunyi, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People’s Republic of China
- The Second People's Hospital of Guiyang (Jinyang Hospital), Guiyang, People's Republic of China
- Correspondence: Shiguang Li; Ping Cai, Email ;
| | - Ping Cai
- Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Military Medical University), Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
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Gunady EF, Ware KE, Hoskinson Plumlee S, Devos N, Corcoran D, Prinz J, Misetic H, Ciccarelli FD, Harrison TM, Thorne JL, Schopler R, Everitt JI, Eward WC, Somarelli JA. Exome sequencing of hepatocellular carcinoma in lemurs identifies potential cancer drivers: A pilot study. Evol Med Public Health 2022; 10:221-230. [PMID: 35557512 PMCID: PMC9086584 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoac016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 04/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background and objectives Hepatocellular carcinoma occurs frequently in prosimians, but the cause of these liver cancers in this group is unknown. Characterizing the genetic changes associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in prosimians may point to possible causes, treatments and methods of prevention, aiding conservation efforts that are particularly crucial to the survival of endangered lemurs. Although genomic studies of cancer in non-human primates have been hampered by a lack of tools, recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of using human exome capture reagents across primates. Methodology In this proof-of-principle study, we applied human exome capture reagents to tumor-normal pairs from five lemurs with hepatocellular carcinoma to characterize the mutational landscape of this disease in lemurs. Results Several genes implicated in human hepatocellular carcinoma, including ARID1A, TP53 and CTNNB1, were mutated in multiple lemurs, and analysis of cancer driver genes mutated in these samples identified enrichment of genes involved with TP53 degradation and regulation. In addition to these similarities with human hepatocellular carcinoma, we also noted unique features, including six genes that contain mutations in all five lemurs. Interestingly, these genes are infrequently mutated in human hepatocellular carcinoma, suggesting potential differences in the etiology and/or progression of this cancer in lemurs and humans. Conclusions and implications Collectively, this pilot study suggests that human exome capture reagents are a promising tool for genomic studies of cancer in lemurs and other non-human primates. Lay Summary Hepatocellular carcinoma occurs frequently in prosimians, but the cause of these liver cancers is unknown. In this proof-of-principle study, we applied human DNA sequencing tools to tumor-normal pairs from five lemurs with hepatocellular carcinoma and compared the lemur mutation profiles to those of human hepatocellular carcinomas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ella F Gunady
- Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Kathryn E Ware
- Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | | | - Nicolas Devos
- Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - David Corcoran
- Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Joseph Prinz
- Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Hrvoje Misetic
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK
- School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Francesca D Ciccarelli
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK
- School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Tara M Harrison
- Department of Clinical Sciences, North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Raleigh, NC, USA
- Exotic Species Cancer Research Alliance, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Jeffrey L Thorne
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
- Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | | | - Jeffrey I Everitt
- Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - William C Eward
- Department of Orthopaedics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Jason A Somarelli
- Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC 27710, USA
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Comprehensive Analysis of RAPGEF2 for Predicting Prognosis and Immunotherapy Response in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma. JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2022; 2022:6560154. [PMID: 35518785 PMCID: PMC9064514 DOI: 10.1155/2022/6560154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common tumor worldwide. Additionally, deletion of RAPGEF2 plays a critical role in CNV and related to tumor immune microenvironment, whereas the prognostic potential of RAPGEF2 in HCC patient needs to be explored. Methods We looked for prognostic potential genes in HCC using a variety of R programs. Then, using the LASSO Cox regression, we thoroughly evaluated and integrated the RAPGEF2-related genes from TCGA database. Meanwhile, utilizing TCGA and ICGA databases, the link between RAPGEF2 and immunotherapy response in HCC was studied. In vivo, the effect of RAPGEF2 on tumor development and the capacity of natural killer (NK) cells to recruit were confirmed. To ascertain the connection between RAPGEF2-related genes and the prognosis of HCC, a prognostic model was created and validated. Result We demonstrated RAPGEF2 has a differential expression, and patients with deletion of RAPGEF2 gene get shorter survival in HCC. Additionally, the tissues without RAPGEF2 have a weaker ability to recruit the NK cells and response to immunotherapy. After that, we scoured the database for eight RAPGEF2-related genes linked with a better prognosis in HCC patients. Additionally, silencing RAPGEF2 accelerated tumor development in the HCC mouse model and decreased CD56+ NK cell recruitment in HCC tissues. TCGA database was used to classify patients into low- and high-risk categories based on the expression of related genes. Patients in the low-risk group had a significantly greater overall survival than those in the high-risk group (P < 0.001). Meanwhile, the low-risk group demonstrated connections with the NK cell and immunotherapy response. Finally, the prognostic nomogram showed a high sensitivity and specificity for predicting the survival of HCC patients at 1, 2, and 3 years. Conclusion The prognostic model based on RAPGEF2 and RAPGEF2-related genes showed an excellent predictive performance in terms of prognosis and immunotherapy response in HCC, therefore establishing a unique prognostic model for clinical assessment of HCC patients.
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An J, Kim D, Oh B, Oh YJ, Song J, Park N, Kim HI, Kang HJ, Oh JH, Kim W, Lee E, Sung CO, Song GW, Kim DG, Yu E, Letouzé E, Zucman-Rossi J, Lee HC, Shim JH. Comprehensive characterization of viral integrations and genomic aberrations in HBV-infected intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas. Hepatology 2022; 75:997-1011. [PMID: 34478159 DOI: 10.1002/hep.32135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Revised: 08/08/2021] [Accepted: 08/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Despite the epidemiological association between intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) and HBV infection, little is known about the relevant oncogenic effects. We sought to identify the landscape and mechanism of HBV integration, along with the genomic architecture of HBV-infected iCCA (HBV-iCCA) tumors. APPROACH AND RESULTS We profiled a cohort of 108 HBV-iCCAs using whole-genome sequencing, deep sequencing, and RNA sequencing, together with preconstructed data sets of HBV-infected HCC (HBV-HCC; n = 167) and combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinoma (HBV-cHCC/CCA; n = 59), and conventional (n = 154) and fluke-related iCCAs (n = 16). Platforms based on primary iCCA cell lines to evaluate the functional effects of chimeric transcripts were also used. We found that HBV had inserted at multiple sites in the iCCA genomes in 45 (41.7%) of the tumors. Recurrent viral integration breakpoints were found at nine different sites. The most common insertional hotspot (7 tumors) was in the TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase) promoter, where insertions and mutations (11 tumors) were mutually exclusive, and were accompanied by promoter hyperactivity. Recurrent HBV integration events (5 tumors) were also detected in FAT2 (FAT atypical cadherin 2), and were associated with enrichment of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related genes. A distinctive intergenic insertion (chr9p21.3), between DMRTA1 (DMRT like family A1) and LINC01239 (long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1239), had oncogenic effects through activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/4EBP/S6K pathway. Regarding the mutational profiles of primary liver cancers, the overall landscape of HBV-iCCA was closer to that of nonviral conventional iCCA, than to HBV-HCC and HBV-cHCC/CCA. CONCLUSIONS Our findings provide insight into the behavior of iCCAs driven by various pathogenic mechanisms involving HBV integration events and associated genomic aberrations. This knowledge should be of use in managing HBV carriers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jihyun An
- Gastroenterology and HepatologyHanyang University College of MedicineGuri, GyeonggiRepublic of Korea
| | - Deokhoon Kim
- PathologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea.,Center for Cancer Genome DiscoveryAsan Institute for Life ScienceUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Bora Oh
- Asan Institute for Life ScienceAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Yoo-Jin Oh
- Asan Institute for Life ScienceAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Jihyun Song
- Asan Institute for Life ScienceAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Naomi Park
- Asan Institute for Life ScienceAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Ha Il Kim
- GastroenterologyKyung Hee University Hospital at GangdongSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Hyo Jeong Kang
- PathologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Ji-Hye Oh
- Center for Cancer Genome DiscoveryAsan Institute for Life ScienceUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea.,Asan Institute for Life ScienceAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Wonkyung Kim
- Center for Cancer Genome DiscoveryAsan Institute for Life ScienceUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea.,Asan Institute for Life ScienceAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Eunjung Lee
- Medical ScienceAsan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and TechnologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Chang Ohk Sung
- PathologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea.,Center for Cancer Genome DiscoveryAsan Institute for Life ScienceUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineAsan Medical CenterSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Gi-Won Song
- SurgeryAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea.,Asan Liver CenterAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Dae-Ghon Kim
- Gastroenterology and HepatologyChonbuk National University Medical SchoolJeonjuJeonbukRepublic of Korea
| | - Eunsil Yu
- PathologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea.,Asan Liver CenterAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Eric Letouzé
- Centre de Recherche des CordeliersSorbonne UniversitéINSERMUniversité de ParisParisFrance.,Functional Genomics of Solid Tumors Laboratory, Équipe Labellisée Ligue Nationale Contre le CancerLabex OncoImmunologyParisFrance
| | - Jessica Zucman-Rossi
- Centre de Recherche des CordeliersSorbonne UniversitéINSERMUniversité de ParisParisFrance.,Functional Genomics of Solid Tumors Laboratory, Équipe Labellisée Ligue Nationale Contre le CancerLabex OncoImmunologyParisFrance.,Hôpital Européen Georges PompidouParisFrance
| | - Han Chu Lee
- Asan Liver CenterAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea.,GastroenterologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Ju Hyun Shim
- Asan Liver CenterAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea.,GastroenterologyAsan Medical CenterUniversity of Ulsan College of MedicineSeoulRepublic of Korea
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Llovet JM, Pinyol R, Kelley RK, El-Khoueiry A, Reeves HL, Wang XW, Gores GJ, Villanueva A. Molecular pathogenesis and systemic therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma. NATURE CANCER 2022; 3:386-401. [PMID: 35484418 PMCID: PMC9060366 DOI: 10.1038/s43018-022-00357-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 140] [Impact Index Per Article: 70.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the most prevalent and deadliest cancers. The poor outcome associated with HCC is dramatically changing due to the advent of effective systemic therapies. Here we discuss the molecular pathogenesis of HCC, molecular classes and determinants of heterogeneity. In addition, effective single-agent and combination systemic therapies involving immunotherapies as standard of care are analyzed. Finally, we propose a flowchart of sequential therapies, explore mechanisms of resistance and address the need for predictive biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josep M Llovet
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Roser Pinyol
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Robin K Kelley
- Helen Diller Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Anthony El-Khoueiry
- Keck School of Medicine, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Helen L Reeves
- Newcastle University Translational and Clinical Research Institute and Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, Medical School, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
- Hepatopancreatobiliary Multidisciplinary Team, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Xin Wei Wang
- Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Liver Cancer Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Gregory J Gores
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Augusto Villanueva
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
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Proulx J, Ghaly M, Park IW, Borgmann K. HIV-1-Mediated Acceleration of Oncovirus-Related Non-AIDS-Defining Cancers. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10040768. [PMID: 35453518 PMCID: PMC9024568 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10040768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
With the advent of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), overall survival has been improved, and the incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining cancers has also been remarkably reduced. However, non-AIDS-defining cancers among human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-associated malignancies have increased significantly so that cancer is the leading cause of death in people living with HIV in certain highly developed countries, such as France. However, it is currently unknown how HIV-1 infection raises oncogenic virus-mediated cancer risks in the HIV-1 and oncogenic virus co-infected patients, and thus elucidation of the molecular mechanisms for how HIV-1 expedites the oncogenic viruses-triggered tumorigenesis in the co-infected hosts is imperative for developing therapeutics to cure or impede the carcinogenesis. Hence, this review is focused on HIV-1 and oncogenic virus co-infection-mediated molecular processes in the acceleration of non-AIDS-defining cancers.
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He Z, Peng C, Li T, Li J. Cell Differentiation Trajectory in Liver Cirrhosis Predicts Hepatocellular Carcinoma Prognosis and Reveals Potential Biomarkers for Progression of Liver Cirrhosis to Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Front Genet 2022; 13:858905. [PMID: 35360852 PMCID: PMC8960263 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.858905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Most hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients occur on a background of liver cirrhosis, the molecular mechanisms of liver cirrhosis and its progression to HCC remain to be fully elucidated. Single cell differentiation trajectory analysis has been used in cell classification and tumor molecular typing, which correlated with disease progression and patient prognosis. Here we use cell differentiation trajectory analysis to investigate the relevance of liver cirrhosis and HCC. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of liver cirrhosis and bulk RNA-seq and clinical data of HCC were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) for analysis. HCC samples were divided into three subtypes, based on differentiation-related genes (DRGs) of liver cirrhosis, each with a different expression profile and overall survival (OS). A two- DRGs (CD34 and RAMP3) based prognostic risk scoring (RS) signature was established which could differentiate OS between high-risk and low-risk groups. And expression levels of CD34 and RAMP3 were predominantly high in endothelial cells. By integrating the RS and clinicopathological features, a nomogram was constructed and can accurately predicted the 1-year, 3-years, and 5-years OS. In conclusion, cell differentiation trajectory of liver cirrhosis can predict the prognosis of HCC, and provides new perspectives on the mechanisms of progression of liver cirrhosis to HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaobin He
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Cheng Peng
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Tianen Li
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Jie Li
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Qianfoshan Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- *Correspondence: Jie Li,
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Huang X, Fan M, Huang W. Pleiotropic roles of FXR in liver and colorectal cancers. Mol Cell Endocrinol 2022; 543:111543. [PMID: 34995680 PMCID: PMC8818033 DOI: 10.1016/j.mce.2021.111543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2021] [Revised: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Nuclear receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is generally considered a cell protector of enterohepatic tissues and a suppressor of liver cancer and colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Loss or reduction of FXR expression occurs during carcinogenesis, and the FXR level is inversely associated with the aggressive behaviors of the malignancy. Global deletion of FXR and tissue-specific deletion of FXR display distinct effects on tumorigenesis. Epigenetic silencing and inflammatory context are two main contributors to impaired FXR expression and activity. FXR exerts its antitumorigenic function via the following mechanisms: 1) FXR regulates multiple metabolic processes, notably bile acid homeostasis; 2) FXR antagonizes hepatic and enteric inflammation; 3) FXR impedes aberrant activation of some cancer-related pathways; and 4) FXR downregulates a number of oncogenes while upregulating some tumor suppressor genes. Restoring FXR functions via its agonists provides a therapeutic approach for patients with liver cancer and CRC. However, an in-depth understanding of the species-specific pharmacological effects is a prerequisite for assessing the clinical safety and efficacy of FXR agonists in human cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiongfei Huang
- Department of Pathology and Institute of Oncology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350004, PR China; Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Gastrointestinal Cancer, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350108, PR China.
| | - Mingjie Fan
- Department of Diabetes Complications and Metabolism, Arthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA, 91010, USA
| | - Wendong Huang
- Department of Diabetes Complications and Metabolism, Arthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA, 91010, USA.
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Nie W, Lu Y, Pan C, Gao J, Luo M, Du J, Wang J, Luo P, Zhu H, Che J, He Q, Dong X. Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Quinazoline Derivatives with Covalent Reversible Warheads as Potential FGFR4 Inhibitors. Bioorg Chem 2022; 121:105673. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2022.105673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
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Abstract
Metabolic rewiring is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Altered de novo lipogenesis is one of the pivotal metabolic events deregulated in cancers. Sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1 (SREBP1) controls the transcription of major enzymes involved in de novo lipogenesis, including ACLY, ACACA, FASN, and SCD. Studies have shown the increased de novo lipogenesis in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples. Multiple mechanisms, such as activation of the AKT/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, lead to high SREBP1 induction and the coordinated enhanced expression of ACLY, ACACA, FASN, and SCD genes. Subsequent functional analyses have unraveled these enzymes' critical role(s) and the related de novo lipogenesis in hepatocarcinogenesis. Importantly, targeting these molecules might be a promising strategy for HCC treatment. This paper comprehensively summarizes de novo lipogenesis rewiring in HCC and how this pathway might be therapeutically targeted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Zhou
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China,Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Junyan Tao
- Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,Pittsburgh Liver Research Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | | | - Xin Chen
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, California
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Whole-genome sequencing reveals the evolutionary trajectory of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma early recurrence. Signal Transduct Target Ther 2022; 7:24. [PMID: 35078970 PMCID: PMC8789859 DOI: 10.1038/s41392-021-00838-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Revised: 08/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have poor long-term survival following curative resection because of the high rate of tumor early recurrence. Little is known about the trajectory of genomic evolution from primary to early-recurrent HCC. In this study, we performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on 40 pairs of primary and early-recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC tumors from patients who received curative resection, and from four patients whose primary and recurrent tumor were extensively sampled. We identified two recurrence patterns: de novo recurrence (18/40), which developed genetically independently of the primary tumor and carried different HCC drivers, and ancestral recurrence (22/40), which was clonally related to the primary tumor and progressed more rapidly than de novo recurrence. We found that the recurrence location was predictive of the recurrence pattern: distant recurrence tended to display the de novo pattern, whereas local recurrence tended to display the ancestral pattern. We then uncovered the evolutionary trajectories based on the subclonal architecture, driver-gene mutations, and mutational processes observed in the primary and recurrent tumors. Multi-region WGS demonstrated spatiotemporal heterogeneity and polyclonal, monophyletic dissemination in HCC ancestral recurrence. In addition, we identified recurrence-specific mutations and copy-number gains in BCL9, leading to WNT/β-catenin signaling activation and an immune-excluded tumor microenvironment, which suggests that BCL9 might serve as a new therapeutic target for recurrent HCC. Collectively, our results allow us to view with unprecedented clarity the genomic evolution during HBV-related HCC early recurrence, providing an important molecular foundation for enhanced understanding of HCC with implications for personalized therapy to improve patient survival.
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Hu X, Chen R, Wei Q, Xu X. The Landscape Of Alpha Fetoprotein In Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Where Are We? Int J Biol Sci 2022; 18:536-551. [PMID: 35002508 PMCID: PMC8741863 DOI: 10.7150/ijbs.64537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and has been acknowledged as a leading cause of death among cirrhosis patients. Difficulties in early diagnosis and heterogeneity are obstacles to effective treatment, especially for advanced HCC. Liver transplantation (LT) is considered the best therapy for HCC. Although many biomarkers are being proposed, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), which was identified over 60 years ago, remains the most utilized. Recently, much hope has been placed in the immunogenicity of AFP to develop novel therapies, such as AFP vaccines and AFP-specific adoptive T-cell transfer (ACT). This review summarizes the performance of AFP as a biomarker for HCC diagnosis and prognosis, as well as its correlation with molecular classes. In addition, the role of AFP in LT is also described. Finally, we highlight the mechanism and application prospects of two immune therapies (AFP vaccine and ACT) for HCC. In general, our review points out the prevalence of AFP in HCC, accompanied by some controversies and novel directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Hu
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Center for Integrated Oncology and Precision Medicine, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310006, China.,Zhejiang University Cancer Center, Hangzhou, 310058, China.,Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Ronggao Chen
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Qiang Wei
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Center for Integrated Oncology and Precision Medicine, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310006, China
| | - Xiao Xu
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Center for Integrated Oncology and Precision Medicine, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310006, China.,Zhejiang University Cancer Center, Hangzhou, 310058, China.,Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, China.,Institute of Organ Transplantation, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
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Ileal FXR-FGF15/19 signaling activation improves skeletal muscle loss in aged mice. Mech Ageing Dev 2022; 202:111630. [PMID: 35026209 DOI: 10.1016/j.mad.2022.111630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Revised: 01/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Sarcopenia is the age-related decrease in skeletal muscle mass, and current therapies for this disease are ineffective. We previously showed that ileal farnesoid X receptor (FXR)-fibroblast growth factor 15/19 (FGF15/19) signaling acts as a regulator of gut microbiota to mediate host skeletal muscle. However, the therapeutic potential of this pathway for sarcopenia is unknown. This study showed that ileal FXR-FGF15/19 signaling was downregulated in older men and aged male mice due to changes in the gut microbiota and microbial bile acid metabolism during aging. In addition, the intestine-specific FXR agonist fexaramine increased skeletal muscle mass and improve muscle performance in aged mice. Ileal FXR activation increased skeletal muscle protein synthesis in a FGF15/19-dependent way, indicating that ileal FXR-FGF15/19 signaling is a potential therapeutic target for sarcopenia.
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Desi N, Teh V, Tong QY, Lim CY, Tabatabaeian H, Chew XH, Sanchez-Mejias A, Chan JJ, Zhang B, Pitcheshwar P, Siew BE, Wang S, Lee KC, Chong CS, Cheong WK, Lieske B, Tan IJW, Tan KK, Tay Y. MiR-138 is a potent regulator of the heterogenous MYC transcript population in cancers. Oncogene 2022; 41:1178-1189. [PMID: 34937878 PMCID: PMC8856960 DOI: 10.1038/s41388-021-02084-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2021] [Revised: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
3'UTR shortening in cancer has been shown to activate oncogenes, partly through the loss of microRNA-mediated repression. This suggests that many reported microRNA-oncogene target interactions may not be present in cancer cells. One of the most well-studied oncogenes is the transcription factor MYC, which is overexpressed in more than half of all cancers. MYC overexpression is not always accompanied by underlying genetic aberrations. In this study, we demonstrate that the MYC 3'UTR is shortened in colorectal cancer (CRC). Using unbiased computational and experimental approaches, we identify and validate microRNAs that target the MYC coding region. In particular, we show that miR-138 inhibits MYC expression and suppresses tumor growth of CRC and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. Critically, the intravenous administration of miR-138 significantly impedes MYC-driven tumor growth in vivo. Taken together, our results highlight the previously uncharacterized shortening of the MYC 3'UTR in cancer, and identify miR-138 as a potent regulator of the heterogenous MYC transcript population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ng Desi
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore ,grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117597 Singapore
| | - Velda Teh
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Qing Yun Tong
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Chun You Lim
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Hossein Tabatabaeian
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Xiao Hong Chew
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Avencia Sanchez-Mejias
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore ,grid.5612.00000 0001 2172 2676Present Address: Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jia Jia Chan
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Bin Zhang
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Priyankaa Pitcheshwar
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599 Singapore
| | - Bei-En Siew
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Shi Wang
- grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Department of Pathology, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kuok-Chung Lee
- grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Division of Colorectal Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Choon-Seng Chong
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore ,grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Division of Colorectal Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Wai-Kit Cheong
- grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Division of Colorectal Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Bettina Lieske
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore ,grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Division of Colorectal Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ian Jse-Wei Tan
- grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Division of Colorectal Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ker-Kan Tan
- grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore ,grid.410759.e0000 0004 0451 6143Division of Colorectal Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yvonne Tay
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599, Singapore. .,Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117597, Singapore.
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65
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Zhao W, Liu X. MiR-3682 promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via inactivating AMPK signaling by targeting ADRA1A. Ann Hepatol 2022; 27 Suppl 1:100570. [PMID: 34706275 DOI: 10.1016/j.aohep.2021.100570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES This study aimed to investigate miR-3682 as a biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS MiRNA and RNA profiles of 375 HCC tissues and 50 normal liver samples were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Multivariate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were applied to examine the prognostic value of factors. Target genes of miR-3682 were analyzed by TargetScan and dual-luciferase reporter assay. Online Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) to perform KEGG pathway enrichment. Cell counting kit-8, colony formation and migration and invasion assays were performed to analyze biological behaviors of HCC cells. RESULTS MiR-3682 was identified to be highly expressed in HCC tissues and cell lines. And miR-3682 was negatively and independently associated with the outcome of HCC patients. Inhibition of miR-3682 suppressed HCC cell viability and mobility. ADRA1A, predicted and confirmed as the novel target of miR-3682, was an independent and positive prognostic predictor for HCC. In addition, the knockdown of ADRA1A partially offset the inhibitory effect of miR-3682 inhibitor on the growth and mobility of HCC cells. DAVID enrichment and western blot of key signaling-related proteins analyses revealed that miR-3682 inactivated 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling by negatively regulating ADRA1A. Mechanically, it was partially through suppressing AMPK signaling via targeting ADRA1A that miR-3682 supported the HCC cell malignant phenotype. CONCLUSIONS This study implicates that miR-3682 plays an oncogenetic role in HCC and can be considered a novel therapeutic target and prognostic indicator of HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenyue Zhao
- Department of gastrology, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan 250031, China
| | - Xueping Liu
- Department of gastrology, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan 250031, China.
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66
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Aoki T, Nishida N, Kudo M. Current Perspectives on the Immunosuppressive Niche and Role of Fibrosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and the Development of Antitumor Immunity. J Histochem Cytochem 2022; 70:53-81. [PMID: 34751050 PMCID: PMC8721576 DOI: 10.1369/00221554211056853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have become the mainstay of treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, they are ineffective in some cases. Previous studies have reported that genetic alterations in oncogenic pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin are the important triggers in HCC for primary refractoriness. T-cell exhaustion has been reported in various tumors and is likely to play a prominent role in the emergence of HCC due to chronic inflammation and cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction. Immunosuppressive cells including regulatory T-cells and tumor-associated macrophages infiltrating the tumor are associated with hyperprogressive disease in the early stages of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. In addition, stellate cells and tumor-associated fibroblasts create an abundant desmoplastic environment by producing extracellular matrix. This strongly contributes to epithelial to mesenchymal transition via signaling activities including transforming growth factor beta, Wnt/β-catenin, and Hippo pathway. The abundant desmoplastic environment has been demonstrated in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma to suppress cytotoxic T-cell infiltration, PD-L1 expression, and neoantigen expression, resulting in a highly immunosuppressive niche. It is possible that a similar immunosuppressive environment is created in HCC with advanced fibrosis in the background liver. Although sufficient understanding is required for the establishment of immune therapies of HCC, further investigations are still required in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomoko Aoki
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, Osaka-Sayama, Japan
| | - Naoshi Nishida
- Naoshi Nishida, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Ohno-higashi, Osaka-Sayama 589-8511, Japan. E-mail:
| | - Masatoshi Kudo
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, Osaka-Sayama, Japan
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67
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Suresh A, Dhanasekaran R. Implications of genetic heterogeneity in hepatocellular cancer. Adv Cancer Res 2022; 156:103-135. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.acr.2022.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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68
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Stepanov YV, Golovynska I, Dziubenko NV, Kuznietsova HM, Petriv N, Skrypkina I, Golovynskyi S, Stepanova LI, Stohnii Y, Garmanchuk LV, Ostapchenko LI, Yevsa T, Qu J, Ohulchanskyy TY. NMDA receptor expression during cell transformation process at early stages of liver cancer in rodent models. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 2022; 322:G142-G153. [PMID: 34851733 DOI: 10.1152/ajpgi.00060.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer, which is not sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy and very often experiences postoperative relapse. In this regard, effective screening of liver cancer is considered as the most important and urgent task. The aim of our study was to determine whether N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) and, in particular, its subunits, can serve as biomarkers to distinguish the precancerous liver at early stages of liver fibrosis. We assessed the development of HCC after 10, 15, and 22 wk using a HCC rat model. The expression of NMDAR subunits was monitored at different stages of HCC by means of immunohistochemistry combined with epifluorescence microscopy imaging, Western blotting, and direct bisulfite sequencing. NMDAR subunits were not found in healthy liver tissues. In contrast, NMDAR subunits, in particular NR1 and NR2B, appeared at the stage of severe liver fibrosis (precancerous liver disease) in rats and were expressed during the development of HCC in rats and mice. Using the direct bisulfite sequencing, we detected that increased expression of NMDAR directly correlated with the demethylation of CpG islands in the promoter region of genes encoding receptor subunits. The obtained results confirmed that NMDAR subunits can serve as new biomarkers of precancerous liver disease, severe fibrosis, and its progression towards HCC.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We have shown NMDAR expression in cell transformation process at early stages of cancer, specifically HCC. The aim of our study was to define the disease stages from precancerous liver disease towards liver cancer progression when NMDAR subunits were expressed/detected. A fibrosis/HCC rat model, immunohistochemistry combined with epifluorescence microscopy imaging, Western blotting was used. The dynamics of appearance of NMDAR subunits, their expression and methylation status during the development of HCC were shown and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yurii V Stepanov
- Center for Biomedical Optics and Photonics, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
| | - Iuliia Golovynska
- Center for Biomedical Optics and Photonics, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
| | - Nataliia V Dziubenko
- Institute of Biology and Medicine, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Halyna M Kuznietsova
- Institute of Biology and Medicine, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Nataliia Petriv
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Inessa Skrypkina
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Sergii Golovynskyi
- Center for Biomedical Optics and Photonics, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
| | - Liudmyla I Stepanova
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Yevhenii Stohnii
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Liudmyla V Garmanchuk
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Liudmyla I Ostapchenko
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Tetyana Yevsa
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Junle Qu
- Center for Biomedical Optics and Photonics, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
| | - Tymish Y Ohulchanskyy
- Center for Biomedical Optics and Photonics, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
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Qiu Y, Yu J, Li Y, Yang F, Yu H, Xue M, Zhang F, Jiang X, Ji X, Bao Z. Depletion of gut microbiota induces skeletal muscle atrophy by FXR-FGF15/19 signalling. Ann Med 2021; 53:508-522. [PMID: 33783283 PMCID: PMC8018554 DOI: 10.1080/07853890.2021.1900593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Recent evidence indicates that host-gut microbiota crosstalk has nonnegligible effects on host skeletal muscle, yet gut microbiota-regulating mechanisms remain obscure.Methods: C57BL/6 mice were treated with a cocktail of antibiotics (Abx) to depress gut microbiota for 4 weeks. The profiles of gut microbiota and microbial bile acids were measured by 16S rRNA sequencing and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), respectively. We performed qPCR, western blot and ELISA assays in different tissue samples to evaluate FXR-FGF15/19 signaling.Results: Abx treatment induced skeletal muscle atrophy in mice. These effects were associated with microbial dysbiosis and aberrant bile acid (BA) metabolism in intestine. Ileal farnesoid X receptor (FXR)-fibroblast growth factor 15 (FGF15) signaling was inhibited in response to microbial BA disturbance. Mechanistically, circulating FGF15 was decreased, which downregulated skeletal muscle protein synthesis through the extracellular-signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway. Treating Abx mice with FGF19 (human FGF15 ortholog) partly reversed skeletal muscle loss.Conclusions: These findings indicate that the BA-FXR-FGF15/19 axis acts as a regulator of gut microbiota to mediate host skeletal muscle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yixuan Qiu
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jiaming Yu
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yi Li
- Department of Medical Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
- Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Fan Yang
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Huiyuan Yu
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mengjuan Xue
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Fan Zhang
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xin Jiang
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xueying Ji
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhijun Bao
- Department of Gerontology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Research Center on Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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Huang X, Huang K, Johnson T, Radovich M, Zhang J, Ma J, Wang Y. ParsVNN: parsimony visible neural networks for uncovering cancer-specific and drug-sensitive genes and pathways. NAR Genom Bioinform 2021; 3:lqab097. [PMID: 34729476 PMCID: PMC8557386 DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqab097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Revised: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Prediction of cancer-specific drug responses as well as identification of the corresponding drug-sensitive genes and pathways remains a major biological and clinical challenge. Deep learning models hold immense promise for better drug response predictions, but most of them cannot provide biological and clinical interpretability. Visible neural network (VNN) models have emerged to solve the problem by giving neurons biological meanings and directly casting biological networks into the models. However, the biological networks used in VNNs are often redundant and contain components that are irrelevant to the downstream predictions. Therefore, the VNNs using these redundant biological networks are overparameterized, which significantly limits VNNs' predictive and explanatory power. To overcome the problem, we treat the edges and nodes in biological networks used in VNNs as features and develop a sparse learning framework ParsVNN to learn parsimony VNNs with only edges and nodes that contribute the most to the prediction task. We applied ParsVNN to build cancer-specific VNN models to predict drug response for five different cancer types. We demonstrated that the parsimony VNNs built by ParsVNN are superior to other state-of-the-art methods in terms of prediction performance and identification of cancer driver genes. Furthermore, we found that the pathways selected by ParsVNN have great potential to predict clinical outcomes as well as recommend synergistic drug combinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqing Huang
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Kun Huang
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Travis Johnson
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Milan Radovich
- Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Jie Zhang
- Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Jianzhu Ma
- Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Peking University, China
| | - Yijie Wang
- Department of Computer Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47408, USA
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Dark and bright side of targeting fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 in the liver. J Hepatol 2021; 75:1440-1451. [PMID: 34364916 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.07.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor 4 (FGFR4) and its cognate ligand, FGF19, are implicated in a range of cellular processes, including differentiation, metabolism and proliferation. Indeed, their aberrant activation has been associated with the development of hepatic tumours. Despite great advances in early diagnosis and the development of new therapies, liver cancer is still associated with a high mortality rate, owing primarily to high molecular heterogeneity and unclear molecular targeting. The development of FGFR4 inhibitors is a promising tool in patients with concomitant supraphysiological levels of FGF19 and several clinical trials are testing these treatments for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Conversely, using FGF19 analogues to activate FGFR4-KLOTHO β represents a novel therapeutic strategy in patients presenting with cholestatic liver disorders and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which could potentially prevent the development of metabolic HCC. Herein, we provide an overview of the currently available therapeutic options for targeting FGFR4 in HCC and other liver diseases, highlighting the need to carefully stratify patients and personalise therapeutic strategies.
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Zhao Y, Tao J, Chen Z, Li S, Liu Z, Lin L, Zhai L. Functional drug-target-disease network analysis of gene-phenotype connectivity for curcumin in hepatocellular carcinoma. PeerJ 2021; 9:e12339. [PMID: 34754622 PMCID: PMC8555505 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The anti-tumor properties of curcumin have been demonstrated for many types of cancer. However, a systematic functional and biological analysis of its target proteins has yet to be fully documented. The aim of this study was to explore the underlying mechanisms of curcumin and broaden the perspective of targeted therapies. Methods Direct protein targets (DPTs) of curcumin were searched in the DrugBank database. Using the STRING database, the interactions between curcumin and DPTs and indirect protein targets (IPTs) weres documented. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of curcumin-mediated proteins was visualized using Cytoscape. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was performed for all curcumin-mediated proteins. Furthermore, the cancer targets were searched in the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). The overlapping targets were studied using Kaplan-Meier analysis to evaluate cancer survival. Further genomic analysis of overlapping genes was conducted using the cBioPortal database. Lastly, MTT, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and western blot (WB) analysis were used to validate the predicted results on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Results A total of five DPTs and 199 IPTs were found. These protein targets were found in 121 molecular pathways analyzed via KEGG enrichment. Based on the anti-tumor properties of curcumin, two pathways were selected, including pathways in cancer (36 genes) and HCC (22 genes). Overlapping with 505 HCC-related gene sets identified in CTD, five genes (TP53, RB1, TGFB1, GSTP1, and GSTM1) were finally identified. High mRNA levels of TP53, RB1, and GSTM1 indicated a prolonged overall survival (OS) in HCC, whereas elevated mRNA levels of TGFB1 were correlated with poor prognosis. The viability of both HepG2 cells and Hep3B cells was significantly reduced by curcumin at concentrations of 20 or 30 μM after 48 or 72 h of culture. At a concentration of 20 μM curcumin cultured for 48 h, the expression of TGFB1 and GSTP1 in Hep3B cells was reduced significantly in qPCR analysis, and reduced TGFB1 protein expression was also found in Hep3B cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyuan Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
| | - Jiahao Tao
- Cancer Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
| | - Zhuangzhong Chen
- Cancer Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
| | - Suihui Li
- Cancer Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
| | - Zeyu Liu
- Cancer Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
| | - Lizhu Lin
- Cancer Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
| | - Linzhu Zhai
- Cancer Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
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Tariq F, Khan W, Ahmad W, Riaz SK, Khan M, Sherwani S, Haque S, Malik MFA, Iftikhar MJ, Khan S, Haq F. Effect of MHC Linked 7-Gene Signature on Delayed Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence. J Pers Med 2021; 11:jpm11111129. [PMID: 34834481 PMCID: PMC8625636 DOI: 10.3390/jpm11111129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Dysregulated immune response significantly affects hepatocellular carcinoma's (HCC) prognosis. Human Leukocyte Antigens are key in devising immune responses against HCC. Here, we investigated how HLAs modulate HCC development at the transcriptomic level. RNA-seq data of 576 patients from two independent cohorts was retrieved. The clinicopathological relevance of all HLA genes was investigated using Fisher-Exact, correlation, and Kaplan-Meier and cox regression survival tests. Clustering of ~800 immune-related genes against HLAs was completed using a ward-agglomerative method. Networks were generated using 40 HLA associated unique genes and hub genes were investigated. HLAs including HLA-DMA, HLA-DMB, HLA-DOA and HLA-DRB6 were associated with delayed recurrence in both discovery (204 HCC cases) and validation (372 HCC cases) cohorts. Clustering analyses revealed 40 genes associated with these four HLAs in both cohorts. A set of seven genes (NCF4, TYROBP, LCP2, ZAP70, PTPRC, FYN and WAS) was found co-expressed at gene-gene interaction level in both cohorts. Furthermore, survival analysis revealed seven HLA-linked genes as predictors of delayed recurrence. Multivariate analysis also predicted that mean expression of 7-gene is an independent predictor of delayed recurrence in both cohorts. We conclude that the expression of 7-gene signature may lead to improved patient prognosis. Further studies are required for consideration in clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fomaz Tariq
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; (F.T.); (W.K.); (W.A.); (S.K.R.); (M.F.A.M.)
| | - Walizeb Khan
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; (F.T.); (W.K.); (W.A.); (S.K.R.); (M.F.A.M.)
| | - Washaakh Ahmad
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; (F.T.); (W.K.); (W.A.); (S.K.R.); (M.F.A.M.)
| | - Syeda Kiran Riaz
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; (F.T.); (W.K.); (W.A.); (S.K.R.); (M.F.A.M.)
- Department of Molecular Biology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
- College of Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840-77845, USA
| | - Mahvish Khan
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Ha’il University, Ha’il 55211, Saudi Arabia; (M.K.); (S.S.)
| | - Subuhi Sherwani
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Ha’il University, Ha’il 55211, Saudi Arabia; (M.K.); (S.S.)
| | - Shafiul Haque
- Research and Scientific Studies Unit, College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia;
- Faculty of Medicine, Görükle Campus, Bursa Uludağ University, Bursa 16059, Turkey
| | - Muhammad Faraz Arshad Malik
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; (F.T.); (W.K.); (W.A.); (S.K.R.); (M.F.A.M.)
| | | | - Saif Khan
- Department of Basic Dental and Medical Sciences, College of Dentistry, Ha’il University, Ha’il 55211, Saudi Arabia
- Correspondence: (S.K.); (F.H.)
| | - Farhan Haq
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; (F.T.); (W.K.); (W.A.); (S.K.R.); (M.F.A.M.)
- Correspondence: (S.K.); (F.H.)
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74
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Sladky VC, Eichin F, Reiberger T, Villunger A. Polyploidy control in hepatic health and disease. J Hepatol 2021; 75:1177-1191. [PMID: 34228992 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.06.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
A balanced increase in DNA content (ploidy) is observed in some human cell types, including bone-resorbing osteoclasts, platelet-producing megakaryocytes, cardiomyocytes or hepatocytes. The impact of increased hepatocyte ploidy on normal physiology and diverse liver pathologies is still poorly understood. Recent findings suggest swift genetic adaptation to hepatotoxic stress and the protection from malignant transformation as beneficial effects. Herein, we discuss the molecular mechanisms regulating hepatocyte polyploidisation and its implication for different liver diseases and hepatocellular carcinoma. We report on centrosomes' role in limiting polyploidy by activating the p53 signalling network (via the PIDDosome multiprotein complex) and we discuss the role of this pathway in liver disease. Increased hepatocyte ploidy is a hallmark of hepatic inflammation and may play a protective role against liver cancer. Our evolving understanding of hepatocyte ploidy is discussed from the perspective of its potential clinical application for risk stratification, prognosis, and novel therapeutic strategies in liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina C Sladky
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Felix Eichin
- Institute for Developmental Immunology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Thomas Reiberger
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria; Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (LBI-RUD), 1090 Vienna, Austria; CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreas Villunger
- Institute for Developmental Immunology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases (LBI-RUD), 1090 Vienna, Austria; CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
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75
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Ter Steege EJ, Bakker ERM. The role of R-spondin proteins in cancer biology. Oncogene 2021; 40:6469-6478. [PMID: 34663878 PMCID: PMC8616751 DOI: 10.1038/s41388-021-02059-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
R-spondin (RSPO) proteins constitute a family of four secreted glycoproteins (RSPO1-4) that have appeared as multipotent signaling ligands. The best-known molecular function of RSPOs lie within their capacity to agonize the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. As RSPOs act upon cognate receptors LGR4/5/6 that are typically expressed by stem cells and progenitor cells, RSPO proteins importantly potentiate Wnt/β-catenin signaling especially within these proliferative stem cell compartments. Since multiple organs express LGR4/5/6 receptors and RSPO ligands within their stem cell niches, RSPOs can exert an influential role in stem cell regulation throughout the body. Inherently, over the last decade a multitude of reports implicated the deregulation of RSPOs in cancer development. First, RSPO2 and RSPO3 gene fusions with concomitant enhanced expression have been identified in colon cancer patients, and proposed as an alternative driver of Wnt/β-catenin hyperactivation that earmarks cancer in the colorectal tract. Moreover, the causal oncogenic capacity of RSPO3 overactivation has been demonstrated in the mouse intestine. As a paradigm organ in this field, most of current knowledge about RSPOs in cancer is derived from studies in the intestinal tract. However, RSPO gene fusions as well as enhanced RSPO expression have been reported in multiple additional cancer types, affecting different organs that involve divergent stem cell hierarchies. Importantly, the emerging oncogenic role of RSPO and its potential clinical utility as a therapeutic target have been recognized and investigated in preclinical and clinical settings. This review provides a survey of current knowledge on the role of RSPOs in cancer biology, addressing the different organs implicated, and of efforts made to explore intervention opportunities in cancer cases with RSPO overrepresentation, including the potential utilization of RSPO as novel therapeutic target itself.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eline J Ter Steege
- Department of Pathology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Elvira R M Bakker
- Department of Pathology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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76
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Zhai W, Lai H, Kaya NA, Chen J, Yang H, Lu B, Lim JQ, Ma S, Chew SC, Chua KP, Alvarez JJS, Chen PJ, Chang MM, Wu L, Goh BKP, Chung AYF, Chan CY, Cheow PC, Lee SY, Kam JH, Kow AWC, Ganpathi IS, Chanwat R, Thammasiri J, Yoong BK, Ong DBL, de Villa VH, Dela Cruz RD, Loh TJ, Wan WK, Zeng Z, Skanderup AJ, Pang YH, Madhavan K, Lim TKH, Bonney G, Leow WQ, Chew V, Dan YY, Tam WL, Toh HC, Foo RSY, Chow PKH. Dynamic phenotypic heterogeneity and the evolution of multiple RNA subtypes in hepatocellular carcinoma: the PLANET study. Natl Sci Rev 2021; 9:nwab192. [PMID: 35382356 PMCID: PMC8973408 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwab192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 09/25/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) is a key challenge in cancer treatment, but previous studies have focused mainly on the genomic alterations without exploring phenotypic (transcriptomic and immune) heterogeneity. Using one of the largest prospective surgical cohorts for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with multi-region sampling, we sequenced whole genomes and paired transcriptomes from 67 HCC patients (331 samples). We found that while genomic ITH was rather constant across stages, phenotypic ITH had a very different trajectory and quickly diversified in stage II patients. Most strikingly, 30% of patients were found to contain more than one transcriptomic subtype within a single tumor. Such phenotypic ITH was found to be much more informative in predicting patient survival than genomic ITH and explains the poor efficacy of single-target systemic therapies in HCC. Taken together, we not only revealed an unprecedentedly dynamic landscape of phenotypic heterogeneity in HCC, but also highlighted the importance of studying phenotypic evolution across cancer types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiwei Zhai
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Hannah Lai
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Neslihan Arife Kaya
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Jianbin Chen
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Hechuan Yang
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Bingxin Lu
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Jia Qi Lim
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Siming Ma
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Sin Chi Chew
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Khi Pin Chua
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | | | - Pauline Jieqi Chen
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Mei Mei Chang
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Lingyan Wu
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Brian K P Goh
- Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Alexander Yaw-Fui Chung
- Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Chung Yip Chan
- Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Peng Chung Cheow
- Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Ser Yee Lee
- Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Juinn Huar Kam
- Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Alfred Wei-Chieh Kow
- Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore
| | - Iyer Shridhar Ganpathi
- Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore
| | - Rawisak Chanwat
- Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, National Cancer Institute, Bangkok 10310, Thailand
| | - Jidapa Thammasiri
- Division of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Boon Koon Yoong
- Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 59100, Malaysia
| | - Diana Bee-Lan Ong
- Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 59100, Malaysia
| | - Vanessa H de Villa
- Department of Surgery and Center for Liver Disease Management and Transplantation, The Medical City, Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines
| | | | - Tracy Jiezhen Loh
- Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Wei Keat Wan
- Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Zeng Zeng
- Institute for Infocomm Research, ASTAR, Singapore 138632, Singapore
| | - Anders Jacobsen Skanderup
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Yin Huei Pang
- Department of Pathology, National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore
| | - Krishnakumar Madhavan
- Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore
| | - Tony Kiat-Hon Lim
- Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Glenn Bonney
- Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University Surgical Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore
| | - Wei Qiang Leow
- Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
| | - Valerie Chew
- Translational Immunology Institute (TII), SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, Singapore 168753, Singapore
| | - Yock Young Dan
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Medicine Cluster, National University Hospital, Singapore 119228, Singapore
| | - Wai Leong Tam
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Han Chong Toh
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Roger Sik-Yin Foo
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Pierce Kah-Hoe Chow
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138672, Singapore
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77
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Chen L, Zhou Q, Liu J, Zhang W. CTNNB1 Alternation Is a Potential Biomarker for Immunotherapy Prognosis in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Front Immunol 2021; 12:759565. [PMID: 34777372 PMCID: PMC8581472 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.759565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) marks the beginning of a new era of immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), however, not all patients respond successfully to this treatment. A major challenge for HCC immunotherapy is the development of ways to screen for those patients that would benefit from this type of treatment and determine the optimal treatment plan for individual patients. Therefore, it is important to find a biomarker which allows for the stratification of HCC patients, which distinguishes responders from non-responders, thereby further improving the clinical benefits for those undergoing immunotherapy. Methods We used univariate and multivariate Cox risk proportional regression models to evaluate the relationship between non-synonymous mutations with a mutation frequency greater than 10%. We made a prognosis of an immunotherapy HCC cohort using mutation and prognosis data. An additional three HCC queues from the cbioportal webtool were used for further verification. The CIBERSORT, IPS, quanTIseq, and MCPcounter algorithms were used to evaluate the immune cells. PCA and z-score algorithm were used to calculate immune-related signature with published gene sets. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to compare the differences in the pathway-based enrichment scores of candidate genes between mutant and wild types. Results Univariate and multivariate Cox results showed that only CTNNB1-Mutant(CTNNB1-MUT) was associated with progression-free survival (PFS) of HCC patients in the immunotherapy cohort. After excluding the potential bias introduced by other clinical features, it was found that CTNNB1-MUT served as an independent predictor of the prognosis of HCC patients after immunotherapy (P < 0.05; HR > 1). The results of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) analysis showed that patients with CTNNB1-MUT had significantly reduced activated immune cells [such as T cells, B cells, M1-type macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs)], significantly increased M2-type macrophages, a significantly decreased expression of immunostimulating molecules, low activity of the immune activation pathways (cytokine pathway, immune cell activation and recruitment) and highly active immune depletion pathways (fatty acid metabolism, cholesterol metabolism, and Wnt pathway). Conclusions In this study, we found CTNNB1-MUT to be a potential biomarker for HCC immunotherapy patients, because it identified those patients are less likely to benefit from ICIs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Chen
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Qiaodan Zhou
- Department of Nephrology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Junjie Liu
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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78
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Cai X, Deng J, Zhou J, Cai H, Chen Z. Cyclin-dependent kinase 19 upregulation correlates with an unfavorable prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma. BMC Gastroenterol 2021; 21:377. [PMID: 34649520 PMCID: PMC8518165 DOI: 10.1186/s12876-021-01962-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Objectives Cyclin-dependent kinase 19 (CDK19) is a component of the mediator coactivator complex, which is required for transcriptional activation. In this study, we utilized public databases and wet-bench hepatic cell line experiments to elucidate the potential roles of CDK19 in hepatocellular cancer (HCC). Materials and methods We studied the relationships between CDK19 expression and several clinical features related to HCC via the Oncomine and UALCAN databases. The prognostic value of CDK19 was tested using the Kaplan–Meier Plotter database. We presented the mutations of CDK19 and addressed the relation of CDK19 expression with immune cell infiltration by means of the cBioPortal, Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) and Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER) databases. Hub genes were obtained and further analyzed using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database. To test the in silico findings, we knocked down CDK19 with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) technology in two hepatic cell lines and conducted several functional characterization experiments. Results Marked CDK19 upregulation was found in HCC tissues versus normal liver tissues, and CDK19 mRNA expression had high diagnostic value in HCC patients. Subgroup analysis showed that CDK19 overexpression was associated with sex, tumor stage and TP53 mutation status. The prognostic value of CDK19 upregulation for overall survival (OS) was significant in patients with stage 2–3, stage 3–4, and grade 2 disease. One percent of the patients had CDK19 mutations, but no relationship between CDK19 mutation and prognosis was observed. CDK19 was positively correlated with the abundances of CD4 + T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells. We identified 10 genes correlated with CDK19, 8 of which presented excellent prognostic value in HCC. These hub genes were directly involved in cell division and regulation of the G2/M cell cycle transition. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) and pathway predictions indicated that CDK19 is highly likely to be involved in several cellular functions, such as proliferation, migration, and invasion. These functions were strongly interfered from two independent hepatic cell lines after CDK19 knockdown. Conclusions CDK19 could be a prognostic marker in HCC, and its therapeutic potential in HCC needs further study. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-021-01962-8.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaopeng Cai
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Jingwen Deng
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Disease Proteomics of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China.,Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Jiaming Zhou
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Huiqiang Cai
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Aarhus, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 82, 8200, Aarhus N, Denmark.
| | - Zhi Chen
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
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79
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Molecular classification of hepatocellular carcinoma: prognostic importance and clinical applications. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2021; 148:15-29. [PMID: 34623518 DOI: 10.1007/s00432-021-03826-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal human malignancy with a very low overall and long-term survival rate. Poor prognostic outcomes are predominantly associated with HCC due to a huge landscape of heterogeneity found in the deadliest disease. However, molecular subtyping of HCC has significantly improved the knowledge of the underlying mechanisms that contribute towards the heterogeneity and progression of the disease. In this review, we have extensively summarized the current information available about molecular classification of HCC. This review can be of great significance for providing the insight information needed for development of novel, efficient and personalized therapeutic options for the treatment of HCC patients globally.
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80
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Exploring liver cancer biology through functional genetic screens. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021; 18:690-704. [PMID: 34163045 DOI: 10.1038/s41575-021-00465-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
As the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, liver cancer poses a major threat to human health. Although a growing number of therapies have been approved for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in the past few years, most of them only provide a limited survival benefit. Therefore, an urgent need exists to identify novel targetable vulnerabilities and powerful drug combinations for the treatment of liver cancer. The advent of functional genetic screening has contributed to the advancement of liver cancer biology, uncovering many novel genes involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression in a high-throughput manner. In addition, this unbiased screening platform also provides an efficient tool for the exploration of the mechanisms involved in therapy resistance as well as identifying potential targets for therapy. In this Review, we describe how functional screens can help to deepen our understanding of liver cancer and guide the development of new therapeutic strategies.
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81
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Kang HJ, Oh JH, Kim YW, Kim W, An J, Sung CO, Kim J, Shim JH, Hwang S, Yu E, Heaphy CM, Hong SM. Clinicopathological and molecular characterization of chromophobe hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver Int 2021; 41:2499-2510. [PMID: 34036718 DOI: 10.1111/liv.14975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Chromophobe hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a newly included subtype of HCC in the 5th edition of the WHO classification with distinctive histological features (chromophobic cytoplasm with anaplastic nuclei and pseudocyst formation) and is strongly associated with the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) phenotype. However, the clinicopathologic characterization and molecular features of chromophobe HCC are unknown. METHODS To comprehensively characterize chromophobe HCC, whole exome sequencing, copy number variation, and transcriptomic analyses were performed in 224 surgically resected HCC cases. Additionally, telomere-specific fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to assess ALT. These genomic profiles and ALT status were compared with clinicopathological features among subtypes of HCC, particularly chromophobe HCC and conventional HCC. RESULTS Chromophobe HCC was observed in 10.3% (23/224) cases and, compared to conventional HCC, was more frequent in females (P = .023). The overall and recurrence-free survival outcomes were similar between patients with chromophobe HCC and conventional HCC. However, chromophobe HCC displayed significantly more upregulated genes involving cell cycle progression and DNA repair. Additionally, ALT was significantly enriched in chromophobe HCC (87%; 20/23) compared to conventional HCC (2.2%, 4/178; P < .001). Somatic mutations in ALT-associated genes, including ATRX, SMARCAL1, FANCG, FANCM, SP100, TSPYL5, and RAD52 were more frequent in chromophobe HCC (30.4%, 7/23 cases) compared to conventional HCC (11.8%, 21/178 cases; P = .024). CONCLUSIONS Chromophobe HCC is a unique subtype of HCC with a prevalence of ~10%. Compared to conventional HCC, chromophobe HCC is associated with female predominance and ALT, although overall and recurrence-free outcomes are similar to conventional HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyo Jeong Kang
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ji-Hye Oh
- Department of Medical Science, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yeon Wook Kim
- Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Wonkyung Kim
- Department of Medical Science, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jihyun An
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hanyang University of Medicine, Guri, Republic of Korea
| | - Chang Ohk Sung
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jihun Kim
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ju Hyun Shim
- Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Department of Gastroenterology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Shin Hwang
- Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Eunsil Yu
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Christopher M Heaphy
- Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Seung-Mo Hong
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Pinyol R, Torrecilla S, Wang H, Montironi C, Piqué-Gili M, Torres-Martin M, Wei-Qiang L, Willoughby CE, Ramadori P, Andreu-Oller C, Taik P, Lee YA, Moeini A, Peix J, Faure-Dupuy S, Riedl T, Schuehle S, Oliveira CP, Alves VA, Boffetta P, Lachenmayer A, Roessler S, Minguez B, Schirmacher P, Dufour JF, Thung SN, Reeves HL, Carrilho FJ, Chang C, Uzilov AV, Heikenwalder M, Sanyal A, Friedman SL, Sia D, Llovet JM. Molecular characterisation of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. J Hepatol 2021; 75:865-878. [PMID: 33992698 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.04.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing globally, but its molecular features are not well defined. We aimed to identify unique molecular traits characterising NASH-HCC compared to other HCC aetiologies. METHODS We collected 80 NASH-HCC and 125 NASH samples from 5 institutions. Expression array (n = 53 NASH-HCC; n = 74 NASH) and whole exome sequencing (n = 52 NASH-HCC) data were compared to HCCs of other aetiologies (n = 184). Three NASH-HCC mouse models were analysed by RNA-seq/expression-array (n = 20). Activin A receptor type 2A (ACVR2A) was silenced in HCC cells and proliferation assessed by colorimetric and colony formation assays. RESULTS Mutational profiling of NASH-HCC tumours revealed TERT promoter (56%), CTNNB1 (28%), TP53 (18%) and ACVR2A (10%) as the most frequently mutated genes. ACVR2A mutation rates were higher in NASH-HCC than in other HCC aetiologies (10% vs. 3%, p <0.05). In vitro, ACVR2A silencing prompted a significant increase in cell proliferation in HCC cells. We identified a novel mutational signature (MutSig-NASH-HCC) significantly associated with NASH-HCC (16% vs. 2% in viral/alcohol-HCC, p = 0.03). Tumour mutational burden was higher in non-cirrhotic than in cirrhotic NASH-HCCs (1.45 vs. 0.94 mutations/megabase; p <0.0017). Compared to other aetiologies of HCC, NASH-HCCs were enriched in bile and fatty acid signalling, oxidative stress and inflammation, and presented a higher fraction of Wnt/TGF-β proliferation subclass tumours (42% vs. 26%, p = 0.01) and a lower prevalence of the CTNNB1 subclass. Compared to other aetiologies, NASH-HCC showed a significantly higher prevalence of an immunosuppressive cancer field. In 3 murine models of NASH-HCC, key features of human NASH-HCC were preserved. CONCLUSIONS NASH-HCCs display unique molecular features including higher rates of ACVR2A mutations and the presence of a newly identified mutational signature. LAY SUMMARY The prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is increasing globally, but its molecular traits are not well characterised. In this study, we uncovered higher rates of ACVR2A mutations (10%) - a potential tumour suppressor - and the presence of a novel mutational signature that characterises NASH-related HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roser Pinyol
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Sara Torrecilla
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | | | - Carla Montironi
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Marta Piqué-Gili
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Miguel Torres-Martin
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | - Leow Wei-Qiang
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA; Department of Anatomical Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Catherine E Willoughby
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Pierluigi Ramadori
- Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Carmen Andreu-Oller
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | | | - Youngmin A Lee
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA; Department of Surgical Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Agrin Moeini
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Judit Peix
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Suzanne Faure-Dupuy
- Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Tobias Riedl
- Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Svenja Schuehle
- Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Claudia P Oliveira
- Departments of Gastroenterology and Pathology, University of São Paulo - School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Venancio A Alves
- Departments of Gastroenterology and Pathology, University of São Paulo - School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Paolo Boffetta
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA; Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy
| | - Anja Lachenmayer
- Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, CH-3010, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Beatriz Minguez
- Liver Unit, Vall d´Hebron Hospital Universitari, Liver Diseases Research Group, Vall d´Hebron Institut of Research (VHIR), Vall d´Hebron Hospital Campus. CIBERehd, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | | | - Jean-François Dufour
- Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, CH-3010, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Swan N Thung
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | - Helen L Reeves
- Newcastle University Translational and Clinical Research Institute and Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, Medical School, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK; Hepatopancreatobiliary Multidisciplinary Team, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Flair J Carrilho
- Departments of Gastroenterology and Pathology, University of São Paulo - School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Charissa Chang
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | - Andrew V Uzilov
- Sema4, Stamford, Connecticut, USA; Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Icahn Institute for Data Science and Genomic Technology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | - Mathias Heikenwalder
- Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Arun Sanyal
- Divisions of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Scott L Friedman
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | - Daniela Sia
- Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
| | - Josep M Llovet
- Liver Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program (Divisions of Liver Diseases, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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83
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Qu H, Zhou M, Yan Z, Wang H, Rustgi VK, Zhang S, Gevaert O, Metaxas DN. Genetic mutation and biological pathway prediction based on whole slide images in breast carcinoma using deep learning. NPJ Precis Oncol 2021; 5:87. [PMID: 34556802 PMCID: PMC8460699 DOI: 10.1038/s41698-021-00225-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Breast carcinoma is the most common cancer among women worldwide that consists of a heterogeneous group of subtype diseases. The whole-slide images (WSIs) can capture the cell-level heterogeneity, and are routinely used for cancer diagnosis by pathologists. However, key driver genetic mutations related to targeted therapies are identified by genomic analysis like high-throughput molecular profiling. In this study, we develop a deep-learning model to predict the genetic mutations and biological pathway activities directly from WSIs. Our study offers unique insights into WSI visual interactions between mutation and its related pathway, enabling a head-to-head comparison to reinforce our major findings. Using the histopathology images from the Genomic Data Commons Database, our model can predict the point mutations of six important genes (AUC 0.68-0.85) and copy number alteration of another six genes (AUC 0.69-0.79). Additionally, the trained models can predict the activities of three out of ten canonical pathways (AUC 0.65-0.79). Next, we visualized the weight maps of tumor tiles in WSI to understand the decision-making process of deep-learning models via a self-attention mechanism. We further validated our models on liver and lung cancers that are related to metastatic breast cancer. Our results provide insights into the association between pathological image features, molecular outcomes, and targeted therapies for breast cancer patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Qu
- Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Mu Zhou
- Sensebrain Research, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | | | - He Wang
- School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Vinod K Rustgi
- Department of Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Shaoting Zhang
- SenseTime Research and Shanghai AI Laboratory, Shanghai, China.
| | - Olivier Gevaert
- Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR), Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Dimitris N Metaxas
- Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
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84
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Duan X, Cai Y, He T, Shi X, Zhao J, Zhang H, Shen Y, Zhang H, Zhang H, Duan W, Jiang B, Mao X. The effect of the TP53 and RB1 mutations on the survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with different racial backgrounds. J Gastrointest Oncol 2021; 12:1786-1796. [PMID: 34532128 DOI: 10.21037/jgo-21-312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Racial disparities in the survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exist. Gene mutations have a profound effect on carcinogenesis, are easily affected by environment and etiology factors, and may result in survival divergences among patients with different racial backgrounds. This report explores the effects of gene mutations on the survival of American Caucasians and Asian patients. Methods The sequencing and clinical data of 336 HCC patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The sequencing data was subject to gene mutation profiling, and an analysis of immune cell infiltration was conducted. A multivariate analysis was performed to assess the independent effects of gene mutations on patients' overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Results Asian HCC patients had a significantly higher level of TP53 mutation frequency than Caucasian HCC patients (Asian vs. Caucasian, 39% vs. 23%; P=0.003). The TP53 mutation was associated with shorter OS [hazard ratio (HR), 2.33; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.36-3.97; P=0.002] and DFS (HR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.38-3.51; P<0.001) in Caucasian HCC patients, but had no effect on Asian HCC patients' survival. Compared to Asian HCC patients, Caucasian HCC patients with the TP53 mutation had a decreased proportion of infiltrating M2 macrophages and activating natural killer (NK) cells, and an increased proportion of follicular helper T cells. The RB1 mutation was associated with shorter OS (HR, 3.37; 95% CI, 1.73-6.57; P<0.001) in Asian HCC patients, and shorter DFS (HR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.15-3.88; P=0.017) in Caucasian HCC patients. Asian HCC patients with the RB1 mutation had a decreased proportion of infiltrating CD8 T cells. Conclusions The effects of the TP53 and RB1 mutations on survival differ among Asian and Caucasian HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohui Duan
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Yi Cai
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | | | | | | | - Hui Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Yao Shen
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Hongjian Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Heng Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Wenbin Duan
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Bo Jiang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Xianhai Mao
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery/Research Laboratory of Hepatobiliary Tumor, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
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85
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Yim SY, Lee JS. An Overview of the Genomic Characterization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. J Hepatocell Carcinoma 2021; 8:1077-1088. [PMID: 34522690 PMCID: PMC8434863 DOI: 10.2147/jhc.s270533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Tumor classifications based on alterations in the genome, epigenome, or proteome have revealed distinct tumor subgroups that are associated with clinical outcomes. Several landmark studies have demonstrated that such classifications can significantly improve patient outcomes by enabling tailoring of therapy to specific alterations in cancer cells. Since cancer cells accumulate numerous alterations in many cancer-related genes, it is a daunting task to find and confirm important cancer-promoting alterations as therapeutic targets or biomarkers that can predict clinical outcomes such as survival and response to treatments. To aid further advances, we provide here an overview of the current understanding of molecular and genomic subtypes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). System-level integration of data from multiple studies and development of new technical platforms for analyzing patient samples hold great promise for the discovery of new targets for treatment and correlated biomarkers, leading to personalized medicine for treatment of HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sun Young Yim
- Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Ju-Seog Lee
- Department of Systems Biology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
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86
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Yang C, Guo Y, Qian R, Huang Y, Zhang L, Wang J, Huang X, Liu Z, Qin W, Wang C, Chen H, Ma X, Zhang D. Mapping the landscape of synthetic lethal interactions in liver cancer. Theranostics 2021; 11:9038-9053. [PMID: 34522226 PMCID: PMC8419043 DOI: 10.7150/thno.63416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Almost all the current therapies against liver cancer are based on the "one size fits all" principle and offer only limited survival benefit. Fortunately, synthetic lethality (SL) may provide an alternate route towards individualized therapy in liver cancer. The concept that simultaneous losses of two genes are lethal to a cell while a single loss is non-lethal can be utilized to selectively eliminate tumors with genetic aberrations. Methods: To infer liver cancer-specific SL interactions, we propose a computational pipeline termed SiLi (statistical inference-based synthetic lethality identification) that incorporates five inference procedures. Based on large-scale sequencing datasets, SiLi analysis was performed to identify SL interactions in liver cancer. Results: By SiLi analysis, a total of 272 SL pairs were discerned, which included 209 unique target candidates. Among these, polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) was considered to have considerable therapeutic potential. Further computational and experimental validation of the SL pair TP53-PLK1 demonstrated that inhibition of PLK1 could be a novel therapeutic strategy specifically targeting those patients with TP53-mutant liver tumors. Conclusions: In this study, we report a comprehensive analysis of synthetic lethal interactions of liver cancer. Our findings may open new possibilities for patient-tailored therapeutic interventions in liver cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Yang
- Department of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuchen Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Ruolan Qian
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yiwen Huang
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Linmeng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Jun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaowen Huang
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhicheng Liu
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Wenxin Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Cun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Huimin Chen
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xuhui Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Dayong Zhang
- Department of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, China
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Wang L, Guo W, Guan H, Yan N, Cai X, Zhu L. Local anesthetic bupivacaine inhibits proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells via suppressing PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 2021; 35:e22871. [PMID: 34338398 DOI: 10.1002/jbt.22871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Retrospective studies suggest that using local/regional anesthetic (LA/RA) is associated with better outcomes in primary HCC patients. In this study, we evaluated the effects of LA/RA bupivacaine in HCC cells and the underlying molecular mechanisms. The biological functions of bupivacaine in HCC cells were evaluated by transcriptome RNA sequencing, cell viability assay, bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, western blot, wound healing assay, transwell cell migration assay, tumor xenograft formation, and lung metastasis assay. Bupivacaine suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis of HepG2 and SNU-449 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Bupivacaine treatment also decreased colony formation, migration, and invasion of HepG2 and SNU-449 cells. In mouse models, bupivacaine repressed tumor xenograft growth and lung metastasis of HepG2 cells. Transcriptome sequencing of HepG2 cells suggested that PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling pathways were suppressed by bupivacaine treatment. In western blot analysis, bupivacaine reduced the expression of total and phosphorylated Akt, mTOR, and MAPK. Furthermore, reactivated PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling by EGF or NRG1 partially reversed the effects of bupivacaine on cell growth, colony formation, and invasion of HCC cells. Local anesthetic bupivacaine suppressed proliferation, migration and invasion, and induced apoptosis of HCC cells. Our results provided novel insights into the local anesthetic bupivacaine in the therapy of HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Wang
- Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Weijia Guo
- Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Hongman Guan
- Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Ni Yan
- Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Xiaolan Cai
- Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Lili Zhu
- Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
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Zhao XM, Li YB, Sun P, Pu YD, Shan MJ, Zhang YM. Bioinformatics analysis of key biomarkers for retinoblastoma. J Int Med Res 2021; 49:3000605211022210. [PMID: 34187205 PMCID: PMC8371285 DOI: 10.1177/03000605211022210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective To identify key genes involved in occurrence and development of retinoblastoma. Methods The microarray dataset, GSE5222, was downloaded from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma were identified and functional enrichment analysis performed. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed and analysed by STRING and Cytoscape. Results DEGs were mainly associated with activation of cysteine-type endopeptidase activity involved in apoptotic process and small molecule catabolic process. Seven genes (WAS, GNB3, PTGER1, TACR1, GPR143, NPFF and CDKN2A) were identified as HUB genes. Conclusion Our research provides more understanding of the mechanisms of the disease at a molecular level and may help in the identification of novel biomarkers for retinoblastoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin-Mei Zhao
- Ophthalmic Laboratory, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong, China
| | - Yuan-Bin Li
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong, China
| | - Peng Sun
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong, China
| | - Ya-di Pu
- Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Meng-Jie Shan
- Department of Plastic Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Yuan-Meng Zhang
- Department of Cardiology, The Third Medical Centre of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 69, Yongding Road, Hai Dian, Beijing, China
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Liang B, Zhou Y, Qian M, Xu M, Wang J, Zhang Y, Song X, Wang H, Lin S, Ren C, Monga SP, Wang B, Evert M, Chen Y, Chen X, Huang Z, Calvisi DF, Chen X. TBX3 functions as a tumor suppressor downstream of activated CTNNB1 mutants during hepatocarcinogenesis. J Hepatol 2021; 75:120-131. [PMID: 33577921 PMCID: PMC8217095 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.01.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS Gain of function (GOF) mutations in the CTNNB1 gene are one of the most frequent genetic events in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). T-box transcription factor 3 (TBX3) is a liver-specific target of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and thought to be an oncogene mediating activated β-catenin-driven HCC formation. METHODS We evaluated the expression pattern of TBX3 in human HCC specimens. Tbx3 was conditionally knocked out in murine HCC models by hydrodynamic tail vein injection of Cre together with c-Met and ΔN90-β-catenin (c-Met/β-catenin) in Tbx3flox/flox mice. TBX3 was overexpressed in human HCC cell lines to investigate the functions of TBX3 in vitro. RESULTS A bimodal expression pattern of TBX3 in human HCC samples was detected: high expression of TBX3 in GOF CTNNB1 HCC and downregulation of TBX3 in non-CTNNB1 mutant tumors. High expression of TBX3 was associated with increased differentiation and decreased expression signatures of tumor growth. Using Tbx3flox/flox mice, we found that ablation of Tbx3 significantly accelerates c-Met/β-catenin-driven HCC formation. Moreover, Tbx3(-) HCC demonstrated increased YAP/TAZ activity. The accelerated tumor growth induced by loss of TBX3 in c-Met/β-catenin mouse HCC was successfully prevented by overexpression of LATS2, which inhibited YAP/TAZ activity. In human HCC cell lines, overexpression of TBX3 inhibited HCC cell growth as well as YAP/TAZ activation. A negative correlation between TBX3 and YAP/TAZ target genes was observed in human HCC samples. Mechanistically, phospholipase D1 (PLD1), a known positive regulator of YAP/TAZ, was identified as a novel transcriptional target repressed by TBX3. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that TBX3 is induced by GOF CTNNB1 mutants and suppresses HCC growth by inactivating PLD1, thus leading to the inhibition of YAP/TAZ oncogenes. LAY SUMMARY TBX3 is a liver-specific target of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and thought to be an oncogene in promoting liver cancer development. Herein, we demonstrate that TBX3 is in fact a tumor suppressor gene that restricts liver tumor growth. Strategies which increase TBX3 expression and/or activities may be effective for HCC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Binyong Liang
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Department of Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Yi Zhou
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Manning Qian
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; College of Clinical Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Meng Xu
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jingxiao Wang
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Zhang
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
| | - Xinhua Song
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Haichuan Wang
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Liver Transplantation Division, Department of Liver Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Laboratory of Liver Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shumei Lin
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Chuanli Ren
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Medical College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Satdarshan P Monga
- Department of Pathology and Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Bruce Wang
- Department of Medicine and Liver Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Matthias Evert
- Institute of Pathology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Yifa Chen
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Department of Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Xiaoping Chen
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Department of Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Zhiyong Huang
- Hepatic Surgery Center, Department of Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
| | - Diego F Calvisi
- Institute of Pathology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Xin Chen
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and Liver Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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He Y, Shi M, Wu X, Ma J, Ng KTP, Xia Q, Zhu L, Fu PPC, Man K, Tsui SKW, Lin G. Mutational Signature Analysis Reveals Widespread Contribution of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid Exposure to Human Liver Cancer. Hepatology 2021; 74:264-280. [PMID: 33462832 DOI: 10.1002/hep.31723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Revised: 12/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Mutational signature analyses are an effective tool in identifying cancer etiology. Humans are frequently exposed to pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), the most common carcinogenic phytotoxins widely distributed in herbal remedies and foods. However, due to the lack of human epidemiological data, PAs are classified as group II hepatocarcinogens by the World Health Organization. This study identified a PA mutational signature as the biomarker to investigate the association of PA exposure with human liver cancer. APPROACH AND RESULTS Pyrrole-protein adducts (PPAs), the PA exposure biomarker, were measured and found in 32% of surgically resected specimens from 34 patients with liver cancer in Hong Kong. Next, we delineated the mode of mutagenic and tumorigenic actions of retrorsine, a representative PA, in mice and human hepatocytes (HepaRG). Retrorsine induced DNA adduction, DNA damage, and activation of tumorigenic hepatic progenitor cells, which initiated hepatocarcinogenesis. PA mutational signature, as the unique molecular fingerprint of PA-induced mutation, was derived from exome mutations in retrorsine-exposed mice and HepaRG cells. Notably, PA mutational signature was validated in genomes of patients with PPA-positive liver cancer but not patients with PPA-negative liver cancer, confirming the specificity of this biomarker in revealing PA-associated liver cancers. Furthermore, we examined the established PA mutational signature in 1,513 liver cancer genomes and found that PA-associated liver cancers were potentially prevalent in Asia (Mainland China [48%], Hong Kong [44%], Japan [22%], South Korea [6%], Southeast Asia [25%]) but minor in Western countries (North America [3%] and Europe [5%]). CONCLUSIONS This study provides a clinical indication of PA-associated liver cancer. We discovered an unexpectedly extensive implication of PA exposure in patients with liver cancer, laying the scientific basis for precautionary approaches and prevention of PA-associated human liver cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yisheng He
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Mai Shi
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Xu Wu
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Jiang Ma
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Kevin Tak-Pan Ng
- Department of Surgery, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Qingsu Xia
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR
| | - Lin Zhu
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Peter Pi-Cheng Fu
- National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR
| | - Kwan Man
- Department of Surgery, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Stephen Kwok-Wing Tsui
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ge Lin
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
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91
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Wang J, Liu W, Li JC, Li M, Li B, Zhu R. Hepcidin Downregulation Correlates With Disease Aggressiveness And Immune Infiltration in Liver Cancers. Front Oncol 2021; 11:714756. [PMID: 34277457 PMCID: PMC8278784 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.714756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Hepcidin is a polypeptide hormone mainly produced by hepatocytes to modulate systemic iron balance. A drastic downregulation of the hepcidin gene was found in liver cancers. However, there is a paucity of information about the clinical significance of hepcidin gene downregulation in liver cancers. Methods Hepcidin expression profiles were assessed using multiple public datasets via several bioinformatics platforms. Clinical and pathological information was utilized to stratify patients for comparison. Patient survival outcomes were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier plotter, a meta-analysis tool. Tumor immune infiltration was analyzed using the single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) approach on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. Hepcidin antagonist Fursultiamine was used to treat liver cancer HepG2 and Huh7 cells together with Sorafenib. Results Hepcidin gene was predominantly expressed in benign liver tissues but drastically decreased in liver cancer tissues. Hepcidin reduction in liver cancers correlated with risk factors like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and liver fibrosis, as well as cancer grade and tumor stage. Hepcidin downregulation was associated with a rapid cancer progression and worse disease-specific survival, especially in patients of the White race without alcohol consumption history. Hepcidin expression in liver cancer tissues positively correlated with the bone morphogenetic protein-6 (BPM6)/interleukin-6 (IL6) cytokines and cytotoxic immune infiltration. Blocking hepcidin action with its antagonist Fursultiamine moderately reduced Sorafenib-induced apoptotic cell death in HepG2 and Huh7 cells. Conclusion Hepcidin downregulation in liver cancers correlated with liver cancer risk factors, cancer aggressiveness, cytotoxic immune cell infiltration, and patient survival outcomes. BMP6/IL6 pathway insufficiency is a potential cause of hepcidin downregulation in liver cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinhu Wang
- Department of Surgical Oncology, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China.,Pediatric Oncology Program, Cancer Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wang Liu
- Department of Urology, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States
| | - Jean C Li
- Department of Urology, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States
| | - Mingyi Li
- Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, China
| | - Benyi Li
- Department of Urology, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States
| | - Runzhi Zhu
- Department of Surgical Oncology, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China.,Pediatric Oncology Program, Cancer Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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92
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Chen C, Lv Q, Li Y, Jin YH. The Anti-Tumor Effect and Underlying Apoptotic Mechanism of Ginsenoside Rk1 and Rg5 in Human Liver Cancer Cells. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26133926. [PMID: 34199025 PMCID: PMC8271777 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26133926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Ginsenoside Rk1 and Rg5 are minor ginseng saponins that have received more attention recently because of their high oral bioavailability. Each of them can effectively inhibit the survival and proliferation of human liver cancer cells, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that G-Rk1 and G-Rg5 yielded 142 potential targets, and shared 44 putative targets associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. Enrichment analysis of the overlapped genes showed that G-Rk1 and G-Rg5 may induce apoptosis of liver cancer cells through inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signal pathways. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was used to confirm the inhibition of cell viability with G-Rk1 or G-Rg5 in highly metastatic human cancer MHCC-97H cells. We evaluated the apoptosis of MHCC-97H cells by using flow cytometry and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining. The translocation of Bax/Bak led to the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and release of cytochrome c and Smac. A sequential activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 and the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were observed after that. The levels of anti-apoptotic proteins were decreased after treatment of G-Rk1 or G-Rg5 in MHCC-97H cells. Taken together, G-Rk1 and G-Rg5 promoted the endogenous apoptotic pathway in MHCC-97H cells by targeting and regulating some critical liver cancer related genes that are involved in the signal pathways associated with cell survival and proliferation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Yang Li
- Correspondence: (Y.L.); (Y.-H.J.)
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93
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Renne SL, Sarcognato S, Sacchi D, Guido M, Roncalli M, Terracciano L, Di Tommaso L. Hepatocellular carcinoma: a clinical and pathological overview. Pathologica 2021; 113:203-217. [PMID: 34294938 PMCID: PMC8299323 DOI: 10.32074/1591-951x-295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
HCC incidence rates have been rising in the past 3 decades and by 2025 > 1 million individuals will be affected annually. High-throughput sequencing technologies led to the identification of several molecular HCC subclasses that can be broadly grouped into 2 major subgroups, each characterized by specific morphological and phenotypical features. It is likely that this increasing knowledge and a more appropriate characterization of HCC at the pathological level will impact HCC patient management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salvatore Lorenzo Renne
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy.,IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Samantha Sarcognato
- Department of Pathology, Azienda ULSS2 Marca Trevigiana, Treviso, Italy.,Department of Medicine - DIMED, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Diana Sacchi
- Department of Pathology, Azienda ULSS2 Marca Trevigiana, Treviso, Italy
| | - Maria Guido
- Department of Pathology, Azienda ULSS2 Marca Trevigiana, Treviso, Italy.,Department of Medicine - DIMED, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Massimo Roncalli
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy.,IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Luigi Terracciano
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy.,IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Luca Di Tommaso
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy.,IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
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94
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The Role of Fibroblast Growth Factor 19 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY 2021; 191:1180-1192. [PMID: 34000282 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2021.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Liver resection or liver transplantation is the most effective therapy for HCC because drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with unresectable HCC have an unfavorable overall survival rate. Therefore, the development of biomarkers for early diagnosis and effective therapy strategies are still necessary to improve patient outcomes. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 19 was amplified in patients with HCC from various studies, including patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas. FGF19 plays a syngeneic function with other signaling pathways in primary liver cancer development, such as epidermal growth factor receptor, Wnt/β-catenin, the endoplasmic reticulum-related signaling pathway, STAT3/IL-6, RAS, and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase, among others. The current review presents a comprehensive description of the FGF19 signaling pathway involved in liver cancer development. The use of big data and bioinformatic analysis can provide useful clues for further studies of the FGF19 pathway in HCC, including its application as a biomarker, targeted therapy, and combination therapy strategies.
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95
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Xu Z, Meng SH, Bai JG, Sun C, Zhao LL, Tang RF, Yin ZL, Ji JW, Yang W, Ma GJ. C/EBPα Regulates FOXC1 to Modulate Tumor Growth by Interacting with PPARγ in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 2021; 20:59-66. [PMID: 31512996 DOI: 10.2174/1568009619666190912161003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2019] [Revised: 05/28/2019] [Accepted: 07/01/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Forkhead box C1 (FOXC1) is an important cancer-associated gene in tumor. PPAR-γ and C/EBPα are both transcriptional regulators involved in tumor development. OBJECTIVE We aimed to clarify the function of PPAR-γ, C/EBPα in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the relationship of PPAR-γ, C/EBPα and FOXC1 in HCC. METHODS Western blotting, immunofluorescent staining, and immunohistochemistry were used to evaluate protein expression. qRT-PCR was used to assess mRNA expression. Co-IP was performed to detect the protein interaction. And ChIP and fluorescent reporter detection were used to determine the binding between protein and FOXC1 promoter. RESULTS C/EBPα could bind to FOXC1 promoter and PPAR-γ could strengthen C/EBPα's function. Expressions of C/EBPα and PPAR-γ were both negatively related to FOXC1 in human HCC tissue. Confocal displayed that C/EBPα was co-located with FOXC1 in HepG2 cells. C/EBPα could bind to FOXC1 promoter by ChIP. Luciferase activity detection exhibited that C/EBPα could inhibit FOXC1 promoter activity, especially FOXC1 promoter from -600 to -300 was the critical binding site. Only PPAR-γ could not influence luciferase activity but strengthen inhibited effect of C/EBPα. Further, the Co-IP displayed that PPAR-γ could bind to C/EBPα. When C/EBPα and PPAR-γ were both high expressed, cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and colony information were inhibited enormously. C/EBPα plasmid combined with or without PPAR-γ agonist MDG548 treatment exhibited a strong tumor inhibition and FOXC1 suppression in mice. CONCLUSION Our data establish C/EBPα targeting FOXC1 as a potential determinant in the HCC, which supplies a new pathway to treat HCC. However, PPAR-γ has no effect on FOXC1 expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuo Xu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
| | - Shao-Hua Meng
- Second Department of Abdominal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xingtai Medical College, China
| | - Jian-Guo Bai
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
| | - Chao Sun
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
| | - Li-Li Zhao
- National Engineering Laboratory of High Level Expression in Mammalian Cells, Lunan Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Linyi 276000, China
| | - Rui-Feng Tang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
| | - Zhao-Lin Yin
- Department of Ultrasound, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
| | - Jun-Wei Ji
- Department of Emergency, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Hebei, China
| | - Wei Yang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
| | - Guang-Jun Ma
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China
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96
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The role of farnesoid X receptor in metabolic diseases, and gastrointestinal and liver cancer. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021; 18:335-347. [PMID: 33568795 DOI: 10.1038/s41575-020-00404-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 162] [Impact Index Per Article: 54.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor involved in the control of bile acid (BA) synthesis and enterohepatic circulation. FXR can influence glucose and lipid homeostasis. Hepatic FXR activation by obeticholic acid is currently used to treat primary biliary cholangitis. Late-stage clinical trials investigating the use of obeticholic acid in the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis are underway. Mouse models of metabolic disease have demonstrated that inhibition of intestinal FXR signalling reduces obesity, insulin resistance and fatty liver disease by modulation of hepatic and gut bacteria-mediated BA metabolism, and intestinal ceramide synthesis. FXR also has a role in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal and liver cancers. Studies using tissue-specific and global Fxr-null mice have revealed that FXR acts as a suppressor of hepatocellular carcinoma, mainly through regulating BA homeostasis. Loss of whole-body FXR potentiates progression of spontaneous colorectal cancer, and obesity-induced BA imbalance promotes intestinal stem cell proliferation by suppressing intestinal FXR in Apcmin/+ mice. Owing to altered gut microbiota and FXR signalling, changes in overall BA levels and specific BA metabolites probably contribute to enterohepatic tumorigenesis. Modulating intestinal FXR signalling and altering BA metabolites are potential strategies for gastrointestinal and liver cancer prevention and treatment. In this Review, studies on the role of FXR in metabolic diseases and gastrointestinal and liver cancer are discussed, and the potential for development of targeted drugs are summarized.
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97
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Shin JY, Ahn SM. Src is essential for the endosomal delivery of the FGFR4 signaling complex in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Transl Med 2021; 19:138. [PMID: 33794926 PMCID: PMC8017611 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-021-02807-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Hepatocytes usually express fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4), but not its ligand, fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19). A subtype of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) expresses FGF19, which activates the FGFR4 signaling pathway that induces cell proliferation. FGFR4 inhibitors that target this mechanism are under clinical development for the treatment of HCCs with FGF19 amplification or FGFR4 overexpression. Src plays an essential role in the FGFR1 and FGFR2 signaling pathways. However, it is yet to be understood whether Src has any role in the FGF19-FGFR4 pathway in HCCs. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the role of Src in the FGF19-FGFR4 axis in HCC. Methods 3 HCC cell lines expressing both FGF19 and FGFR4 were selected. The expression of each protein was suppressed by siRNA treatment, and the activity-regulating relationship between FGFR4 and Src was investigated by westernblot. Co-immunoprecipitation was performed using the FGFR4 antibody to identify the endosomal complex formation and receptor endocytosis. The intracellular migration pathways of the endosomal complex were observed by immuno-fluorescence and nuclear co-immunoprecipitation. Dasatinib and BLU9931 were used for cytotoxicity comparison. Results FGFR4 modulates the activity of Src and Src modulates the expression of FGFR4, showing a mutual regulatory relationship. FGFR4 activated by FGF19 formed an endosomal complex with Src and STAT3 and moved to the nucleus. However, when Src was suppressed, the formation of the endosomal complex was not observed. FGFR4 was released from the complex transferred into the nucleus and the binding of Src and STAT3 was maintained. Dasatinib showed cytotoxic results comparable to BLU9931. The results of our study demonstrated that Src is essential for the nuclear transport of STAT3, as it induces the endosomal delivery of FGFR4 in FGF19-expressing HCC cell lines. Conclusions We found that Src is essential for the endosomal delivery of the FGFR4 signaling complex in HCC. Our findings provide a scientific rationale for repurposing Src inhibitors for the treatment of HCCs in which the FGFR4 pathway is activated. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-021-02807-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Yon Shin
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, GAIHST, Gachon University, Incheon, 21999, Republic of Korea
| | - Sung-Min Ahn
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, GAIHST, Gachon University, Incheon, 21999, Republic of Korea. .,Department of Genome Medicine and Science, College of Medicine, Gachon University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
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98
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Wang S, Shi H, Liu T, Li M, Zhou S, Qiu X, Wang Z, Hu W, Guo W, Chen X, Guo H, Shi X, Shi J, Zang Y, Cao J, Wu L. Mutation profile and its correlation with clinicopathology in Chinese hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Hepatobiliary Surg Nutr 2021; 10:172-179. [PMID: 33898558 DOI: 10.21037/hbsn.2019.09.17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer worldwide. Although many studies have focused on oncogene characteristics, the genomic landscape of Chinese HCC patients has not been fully clarified. Methods A total of 165 HCC patients, including 146 males and 19 females, were enrolled. The median age was 55 years (range, 27-78 years). Corresponding clinical and pathological information was collected for further analysis. A total of 168 tumor tissues from these patients were selected for next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based 450 panel gene sequencing. Genomic alterations including single nucleotide variations (SNV), short and long insertions and deletions (InDels), copy number variations, and gene rearrangements were analyzed. Tumor mutational burden (TMB) was measured by an algorithm developed in-house. The top quartile of HCC was classified as TMB high. Results A total of 1,004 genomic alterations were detected from 258 genes in 168 HCC tissues. TMB values were identified in 160 HCC specimens, with a median TMB of 5.4 Muts/Mb (range, 0-28.4 Muts/Mb) and a 75% TMB of 7.7 Muts/Mb. The most commonly mutated genes were TP53, TERT, CTNNB1, AXIN1, RB1, TSC2, CCND1, ARID1A, and FGF19. SNV was the most common mutation type and C:G>T:A and guanine transformation were the most common SNVs. Compared to wild-type patients, the proportion of Edmondson grade III-IV and microvascular invasion was significantly higher in TP53 mutated patients (P<0.05). The proportion of tumors invading the hepatic capsule was significantly higher in TERT mutated patients (P<0.05). The proportion of Edmondson grade I-II, alpha fetoprotein (AFP) <25 µmg/L, and those without a history of hepatitis B was significantly higher in CTNNB1 mutated patients (P<0.05). CTNNB1 mutations were associated with TMB high in HCC patients (P<0.05). Based on correlation analysis, the mutation of TP53 was independently correlated with microvascular invasion (P=0.002, OR =3.096) and Edmondson grade III-IV (P=0.008, OR =2.613). The mutation of TERT was independently correlated with tumor invasion of the liver capsule (P=0.001, OR =3.030), and the mutation of CTNNB1 was independently correlated with AFP (<25 µmg/L) (P=0.009, OR =3.414). Conclusions The most frequently mutated genes of HCC patients in China were TP53, TERT, and CTNNB1, which mainly lead to the occurrence and development of HCC by regulating the P53 pathway, Wnt pathway, and telomere repair pathway. There were more patients with microvascular invasion and Edmondson III-IV grade in TP53 mutated patients and more patients with hepatic capsule invasion in TERT mutated patients, while in CTNNB1 mutated patients, there were more patients with Edmondson I-II grade, AFP <25 µmg/L, and a non-hepatitis B background. Also, the TMB values were significantly higher in CTNNB1 mutated patients than in wild type patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuo Wang
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Huasheng Shi
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Tao Liu
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.,Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining, China
| | - Manjiang Li
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Sanshun Zhou
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Xuan Qiu
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Zusen Wang
- Department of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Weiyu Hu
- Department of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Weidong Guo
- Department of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | | | | | | | | | - Yunjin Zang
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Jingyu Cao
- Department of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
| | - Liqun Wu
- Liver Disease Center, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
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99
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Hwang HS, An J, Kang HJ, Oh B, Oh YJ, Oh JH, Kim W, Sung CO, Shim JH, Yu E. Prognostic Molecular Indices of Resectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Implications of S100P for Early Recurrence. Ann Surg Oncol 2021; 28:6466-6478. [PMID: 33786678 DOI: 10.1245/s10434-021-09825-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2020] [Accepted: 02/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) often recur in patients undergoing hepatectomy, there are no reliable biomarkers of this undesirable event. Recent RNA-based efforts have developed valuable genetic indices prognostic of cancer outcomes. We aimed to identify molecular predictors of early recurrence after resection of HCC, and reveal the genomolecular structure of the resected tumors. METHOD Based on the transcriptomic and genomic datasets of 206 HCC samples surgically resected in the Asan Medical Center (AMC), we performed a differential gene expression analysis to identify quantitative markers associated with early recurrence and used the unsupervised clustering method to classify genomolecular subtypes. RESULTS Differential gene expression profiling revealed that S100P was the highest-ranked overexpressed gene in HCCs that recurred within 2 years of surgery. This trend was reproduced in immunohistochemical studies of the original cohort and an independent AMC cohort. S100P expression also independently predicted HCC-specific mortality post-resection (adjusted hazard ratio 1.09, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.19; p = 0.042). Validation in a Chinese cohort and in in vitro experiments confirmed the prognostic value of S100P in HCC. We further identified five discrete molecular subtypes of HCC; a subtype with stem cell features ('AMC-C4') was associated with the worst prognosis, both in our series and another two Asian datasets, and S100P was most strongly upregulated in that subtype. CONCLUSION We identified a promising prognostic biomolecule, S100P, associated with early recurrence after HCC resection, and established the genomolecular architecture of tumors affecting clinical outcomes, particularly in Asian patients. These new insights into molecular mediators should contribute to effective care for affected patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hee Sang Hwang
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jihyun An
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Guri, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyo Jeong Kang
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Bora Oh
- Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yoo Jin Oh
- Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ji-Hye Oh
- Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Wonkyung Kim
- Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chang Ohk Sung
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. .,Center for Cancer Genome Discovery, Asan Institute for Life Science, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Ju Hyun Shim
- Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. .,Department of Gastroenterology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Eunsil Yu
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. .,Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
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100
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Liu J, Liu Z, Li W, Zhang S. SOCS2 is a potential prognostic marker that suppresses the viability of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Oncol Lett 2021; 21:399. [PMID: 33777222 PMCID: PMC7988697 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2021.12660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide. Thus, there is an urgent requirement to identify novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for this disease. The present study aimed to identify the hub genes associated with the progression and prognosis of patients with HCC. A total of three expression profiles of HCC tissues were extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, followed by the identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using the GEO2R method. The identified DEGs were assessed for survival significance using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Among the 15 identified DEGs in HCC tissues [cytochrome P450 family 39 subfamily A member 1, cysteine rich angiogenic inducer 61, Fos proto-oncogene, forkhead transcription factor 1 (FOXO1), growth arrest and DNA damage inducible β, Inhibitor of DNA binding 1, interleukin-1 receptor accessory protein, metallothionein-1M, pleckstrin homology-like domain family A member 1, Rho family GTPase 3, serine dehydratase, suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2), tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT), S100 calcium-binding protein P and serine protease inhibitor Kazal-type 1 (SPINK1)]. Low expression levels of FOXO1, SOCS2 and TAT and high SPINK1 expression indicated poor survival outcomes for patients with HCC. In addition, SOCS2 was associated with distinct stages of HCC progression in patients and presented optimal diagnostic value. In vitro functional experiments indicated that overexpression of SOCS2 inhibited HCC cell proliferation and migration. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that SOCS2 may act as a valuable prognostic marker that is closely associated with HCC progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiankun Liu
- Department of Gastroenterology, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, P.R. China
| | - Zhiyong Liu
- Department of Gastroenterology, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, P.R. China.,Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China
| | - Wei Li
- Department of General Surgery, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200003, P.R. China
| | - Shurong Zhang
- Department of Gastroenterology, 920th Hospital of The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, P.R. China
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