Nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 maintained by Hotair suppression of miR-568 upregulates S100 calcium binding protein A4 to promote breast cancer metastasis

KDM1 class flavin-dependent protein lysine demethylases

Flavin-dependent, lysine-specific protein demethylases (KDM1s) are a subfamily of amine oxidases that catalyze the selective posttranslational oxidative demethylation of methyllysine side chains within protein and peptide substrates. KDM1s participate in the widespread epigenetic regulation of both normal and disease state transcriptional programs. Their activities are central to various cellular functions, such as hematopoietic and neuronal differentiation, cancer proliferation and metastasis, and viral lytic replication and establishment of latency. Interestingly, KDM1s function as catalytic subunits within complexes with coregulatory molecules that modulate enzymatic activity of the demethylases and coordinate their access to specific substrates at distinct sites within the cell and chromatin. Although several classes of KDM1-selective small molecule inhibitors have been recently developed, these pan-active site inhibition strategies lack the ability to selectively discriminate between KDM1 activity in specific, and occasionally opposing, functional contexts within these complexes. Here we review the discovery of this class of demethylases, their structures, chemical mechanisms, and specificity. Additionally, we review inhibition of this class of enzymes as well as emerging interactions with coregulatory molecules that regulate demethylase activity in highly specific functional contexts of biological and potential therapeutic importance.

Prognostic role of HOTAIR in four estrogen-dependent malignant tumors: a meta-analysis

Background

HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR), a long non-coding RNA transcribed from the antisense strand of the HOXC gene locus, has been shown to be overexpressed in various carcinomas and is thought to be an indicator of poor prognosis. Recently, HOTAIR was found to be an estrogen-responsive gene. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis to systematically summarize and clarify the association between HOTAIR expression and prognosis in the four main estrogen-dependent tumors.

Methods

A systematic search of studies that examined the association and prognostic impact of HOTAIR in four of the main estrogen-dependent tumors was conducted in PubMed and Embase. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to pool the effect size.

Results

A total of 1,200 patients from eight eligible studies were included. The current study found an association between HOTAIR expression and overall survival (OS) in four estrogen-dependent tumor types (HR, 1.99; 95% CI: 1.02–3.90; P_{Heterogeneity}=0.001). Subgroup analyses indicated that high HOTAIR expression appeared to be a potential prognostic biomarker in non-breast cancer patients (HR, 2.72; 95% CI: 1.65–4.48). There was also an increased risk in Asian populations (HR, 2.55; 95% CI: 1.62–4.00) compared with Caucasian populations (HR, 1.19; 95% CI: 0.16–8.83) and in patients without preoperative treatment (HR, 2.55; 95% CI: 1.62–4.00) compared with patients with preoperative treatment (HR, 1.19; 95% CI: 0.16–8.83). In addition, the HRs of patients with high HOTAIR expression for metastasis-free survival (MFS), relapse-free survival (RFS), and disease-free survival (DFS) were 2.30 (P=0.120), 1.39 (P=0.000), and 2.53 (P=0.714), respectively, but there were insufficient data to fully confirm these associations.

Conclusion

HOTAIR may be a predictor of poor prognosis in four of the main estrogen-dependent tumors, especially in cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancer patients without preoperative treatment in Asian populations. It is important to note that the prognostic value of HOTAIR in MFS, RFS, and DFS should be interpreted with caution due to the limited sample size and sample heterogeneity. Well-designed and larger-scale studies are needed to validate our findings.

Aberrant expression of UCA1 in gastric cancer and its clinical significance

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to regulate tumor biology and might be used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and potential therapeutic targets. Although up-regulation of lncRNA UCA1 (urothelial carcinoma-associated 1) in several cancers has been found, its role in gastric cancer remains elusive. The aim of this study was to detect the expression of lncRNA UCA1 in gastric cancer and its clinical association. The expression of UCA1 was detected in 112 pairs of tumorous and adjacent normal tissues from patients with gastric cancer, as well as in four gastric cancer cell lines and a human normal gastric epithelium cell line using RT-qPCR. Results showed that UCA1 expression was remarkably increased in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines compared with that in the normal control. Clinicopathologic analysis revealed that high UCA1 expression correlated with worse differentiation, tumor size, invasion depth and TNM stage in gastric cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that increased UCA1 expression contributed to poor overall survival (p = 0.017) and disease-free survival (p = 0.024) of patients. A multivariate survival analysis also indicated that UCA1 could be an independent prognostic marker. The levels of UCA1 in gastric juice from gastric patients were significantly higher than those from normal subjects (p = 0.016). Moreover, validation analysis showed that UCA1 levels were robust in differentiating gastric cancer patients from control subjects [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.721; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.655-0.788, p < 0.01]. These results suggested that UCA1 might serve as a promising biomarker for early detection and prognosis prediction of gastric cancer.

Expression pattern of key microRNAs in patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase

INTRODUCTION

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is caused by reciprocal translocation in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This translocation forms the BCR-ABL1 oncogene, which alters several signaling pathways that control malignancy. CML has three phases: chronic, accelerated, and blast crisis. The microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are noncoding RNAs that downregulate their target gene by targeting 3' UTR of mRNA or through translational inhibition. It has been shown that miRNAs regulate many biological processes, and dysregulation of these regulatory RNAs is involved in disease development, particularly in cancer. The important role of miRNAs as therapeutic agents and biomarkers has been demonstrated in CML patients at different phases of the disease.

METHODS

Stem-loop reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to characterize differentially expressed miRNAs of leukocytes in the peripheral blood of 50 newly diagnosed CML patients in chronic phase.

RESULTS

Some onco-miRNAs were found to be downregulated (miR-155 and miR-106), and some tumor suppressor miRs (miR-16-1, miR-15a, miR-101, miR-568) were upregulated.

CONCLUSION

These results show that very few miRNAs alone would be good candidates for CML diagnosis independently of conflicting results, but together could be an additional tool for CML diagnosis. Moreover, miRNAs might be good candidates for prognosis prediction and CML therapy.