Integrin αvβ6-TGFβ-SOX4 Pathway Drives Immune Evasion in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

circRNA hsa_circ_0005909 Predicts Poor Prognosis and Promotes the Growth, Metastasis, and Drug Resistance of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer via the miRNA-338-3p/SOX4 Pathway

Background

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are powerful factors in regulating various cancer behaviors. It has been manifested in previous researches that circular RNA hsa_circ_0005909 (circ_0005909) exhibits a regulatory function in osteosarcoma. However, there are no other studies on whether circ_0005909 displays potential functions on the progression of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods

RT-PCR was applied to examine the expression of circ_0005909 in NSCLC. To study the specific behaviors of NSCLC cells after circ_0005909 knockdown, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assays, colony formation assays, Transwell assays, and xenograft tumor model assays were conducted. Bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assays were employed to study the association among circ_0005909, miRNA-338-3p, and SOX4.

Results

In this research, our group firstly showed that circ_0005909 expressions were distinctly increased in NSCLC specimens and cell lines. Clinical studies revealed that high circ_0005909 expressions were associated with poor prognosis of NSCLC patients. Functionally, knockdown of circ_0005909 was observed to suppress the proliferation, metastasis, and drug resistance of NSCLC cells. In the terms of mechanism, circ_0005909 could act as a sponge of miRNA-338-3p, and miRNA-338-3p could target SOX4. In addition, miRNA-338-3p inhibitors reversed the suppressor ability of circ_0005909 silence on NSCLC behaviors.

Conclusions

circ_0005909 promoted the progression of NSCLC via the modulation of the miRNA-338-3p/SOX4 axis, which may be a therapeutic target for NSCLC.

TGFBR2 mutation predicts resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Background:

Resistance or even hyper-progression to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) manifesting as accelerated disease progression or death has impeded the clinical use of ICIs. The transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) receptor pathway has been identified in contributing to immune dysfunction, which might be associated with resistance to ICIs. We aimed to explore the role of TGFβ in the resistance to ICIs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in this study.

Methods:

Public cohorts with patients treated with ICIs or chemotherapy including POPLAR/OAK (n = 853), MSKCC (n = 1662) and Van Allen (n = 57) and TCGA (n = 3210) cohorts were obtained and analyzed.

Results:

The expression of immune-checkpoint related genes, including programmed death-ligand 1 (CD274), lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3), T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), programmed cell death ligand 1 (PDCD1), and programmed cell death 1 ligand 2 (PDCD1LG2) were significantly upregulated in transforming growth factor beta TGFβ receptor 2 (TGFβR2)-mutated patients than those with wild-type TGFBR2 (p < 0.05). In the POPLAR/OAK cohort, TGFBR2-mutated patients showed shorter progression-free survival (PFS) [ p = 0.004; hazard ratio (HR), 2.83; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.34–6.00] and overall survival (OS) ( p = 0.0006; HR, 3.46; 95% CI, 1.63–7.35) than those with wild-type TGFBR2 when treated with ICIs but not chemotherapy. In the merged MSKCC and Van Allen cohorts, a similar result was observed that the OS was inferior in patients with mutated TGFBR2 compared with those with wild-type TGFBR2 (p = 0.007; HR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.25–5.12). The association between TGBFR2 mutation and survival remained significant in multivariable cox regression in both POPLAR/OAK cohort (p = 0.02; HR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.17–5.45) and merged cohort (p = 0.008; HR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.29–5.35). We further evaluated the association between TGFBR2 mutations and OS in multiple types of tumors. The association between TGFBR2 mutations and OS remained significant in NSCLC (p = 0.02; HR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.16–5.26), but not in other type of tumors.

Conclusions:

We identified that TGFBR2 mutation predicted the resistance to ICIs in NSCLCs. The clinical delivery of ICIs should be cautious in those patients.

miRNA-34a-5p regulates progression of neuroblastoma via modulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by targeting SOX4

Neuroblastoma is an embryonal tumor of the autonomic nervous system with poor prognosis in children. In present study, we demonstrated the relationship of miRNA-34a-5p in the regulating of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by targeting SRY-related HMG-box (SOX4)Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression levels of miRNA-34a-5p and SoX4. Western blotting was performed to assess the protein expression levels of SoX4, Wnt, MMP9, Bax, and Bcl-2. The proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of neuroblastoma cells were determined using MTT, flow cytometry and Transwell assays.In this study, we sought to investigate the role of miRNA-34a-5p on neuroblastoma and the possible molecular mechanism. We had performed in-vitro and in-vivo experiments to evaluate the effects of miRNA-34a-5p on neuroblastoma cell proliferation and invasion by altering its expression level via cell transfection. On the basis of our study, miRNA-34a-5p showed decreased expression levels in neuroblastoma. Subsequently, we manipulated miRNA-34a-5p expression through cell transfection and observed abnormal expression of β-catenin as well as the downstream targets of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in neuroblastoma cells. With all these evidences, we determined that miRNA-34a-5p regulated Wnt/β-catenin pathway by targeting SOX4.In conclusion, our study demonstrates that miRNA-34a-5p can inhibit the over-activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway via targeting SOX4 and further regulate proliferation, invasion of neuroblastoma cells.

Extracellular Matrix: Emerging Roles and Potential Therapeutic Targets for Breast Cancer

Increasing evidence shows that the extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important regulator of breast cancer (BC). The ECM comprises of highly variable and dynamic components. Compared with normal breast tissue under homeostasis, the ECM undergoes many changes in composition and organization during BC progression. Induced ECM proteins, including fibrinogen, fibronectin, hyaluronic acid, and matricellular proteins, have been identified as important components of BC metastatic cells in recent years. These proteins play major roles in BC progression, invasion, and metastasis. Importantly, several specific ECM molecules, receptors, and remodeling enzymes are involved in promoting resistance to therapeutic intervention. Additional analysis of these ECM proteins and their downstream signaling pathways may reveal promising therapeutic targets against BC. These potential drug targets may be combined with new nanoparticle technologies. This review summarizes recent advances in functional nanoparticles that target the ECM to treat BC. Accurate nanomaterials may offer a new approach to BC treatment.

Prognostic and therapeutic implications of extracellular matrix associated gene signature in renal clear cell carcinoma

Complex interactions in tumor microenvironment between ECM (extra-cellular matrix) and cancer cell plays a central role in the generation of tumor supportive microenvironment. In this study, the expression of ECM-related genes was explored for prognostic and immunological implication in clear cell renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Out of 964 ECM genes, higher expression (z-score > 2) of 35 genes showed significant association with overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). On comparison to normal tissue, 12 genes (NUDT1, SIGLEC1, LRP1, LOXL2, SERPINE1, PLOD3, ZP3, RARRES2, TGM2, COL3A1, ANXA4, and POSTN) showed elevated expression in kidney tumor (n = 523) compared to normal (n = 100). Further, Cox proportional hazard model was utilized to develop 12 genes ECM signature that showed significant association with overall survival in TCGA dataset (HR = 2.45; 95% CI [1.78-3.38]; p < 0.01). This gene signature was further validated in 3 independent datasets from GEO database. Kaplan-Meier log-rank test significantly associated patients with elevated expression of this gene signature with a higher risk of mortality. Further, differential gene expression analysis using DESeq2 and principal component analysis (PCA) identified genes with the highest fold change forming distinct clusters between ECM-rich high-risk and ECM-poor low-risk patients. Geneset enrichment analysis (GSEA) identified significant perturbations in homeostatic kidney functions in the high-risk group. Further, higher infiltration of immunosuppressive T-reg and M2 macrophages was observed in high-risk group patients. The present study has identified a prognostic signature with associated tumor-promoting immune niche with clinical utility in ccRCC. Further exploration of ECM dynamics and validation of this gene signature can assist in design and application of novel therapeutic approaches.