T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase (TOPK): an emerging prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in osteosarcoma

The oncogenic kinase TOPK upregulates in psoriatic keratinocytes and contributes to psoriasis progression by regulating neutrophils infiltration

BACKGROUND

T-LAK cell-oriented protein kinase (TOPK) strongly promotes the malignant proliferation of cancer cells and is recognized as a promising biomarker of tumor progression. Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disease featured by excessive proliferation of keratinocytes. Although we have previously reported that topically inhibiting TOPK suppressed psoriatic manifestations in psoriasis-like model mice, the exact role of TOPK in psoriatic inflammation and the underlying mechanism remains elusive.

METHODS

GEO datasets were analyzed to investigate the association of TOPK with psoriasis. Skin immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed to clarify the major cells expressing TOPK. TOPK conditional knockout (cko) mice were used to investigate the role of TOPK-specific deletion in IMQ-induced psoriasis-like dermatitis in mice. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the alteration of psoriasis-related immune cells in the lesional skin. Next, the M5-induced psoriasis cell model was used to identify the potential mechanism by RNA-seq, RT-RCR, and western blotting. Finally, the neutrophil-neutralizing antibody was used to confirm the relationship between TOPK and neutrophils in psoriasis-like dermatitis in mice.

RESULTS

We found that TOPK levels were strongly associated with the progression of psoriasis. TOPK was predominantly increased in the epidermal keratinocytes of psoriatic lesions, and conditional knockout of TOPK in keratinocytes suppressed neutrophils infiltration and attenuated psoriatic inflammation. Neutrophils deletion by neutralizing antibody greatly diminished the suppressive effect of TOPK cko in psoriasis-like dermatitis in mice. In addition, topical application of TOPK inhibitor OTS514 effectively attenuated already-established psoriasis-like dermatitis in mice. Mechanismly, RNA-seq revealed that TOPK regulated the expression of some genes in the IL-17 signaling pathway, such as neutrophils chemokines CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL8. TOPK modulated the expression of neutrophils chemokines via activating transcription factors STAT3 and NF-κB p65 in keratinocytes, thereby promoting neutrophils infiltration and psoriasis progression.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified a crucial role of TOPK in psoriasis by regulating neutrophils infiltration, providing new insights into the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

The role of mitochondria-related lncRNAs in characterizing the immune landscape and supervising the prognosis of osteosarcoma

Mitochondrial damage is related to the functional properties of immune cells as well as to tumorigenesis and progression. Nevertheless, there is an absence concerning the systematic evaluation of mitochondria-associated lncRNAs (MALs) in the immune profile and tumor microenvironment of osteosarcoma patients. Based on transcriptomic and clinicopathological data from the TARGET database, MAL-related patterns were ascertained by consistent clustering, and gene set variation analysis of the different patterns was completed. Next, a MAL-derived scoring system was created using Cox and LASSO regression analyses and validated by Kaplan-Meier and ROC curves. The GSEA, ESTIMATE, and CIBERSORT algorithms were utilized to characterize the immune status and underlying biological functions in the different MAL score groups. MAL-derived risk scores were well stabilized and outperformed traditional clinicopathological features to reliably predict 5-year survival in osteosarcoma cohorts. Moreover, patients with increased MAL scores were observed to suffer from poorer prognosis, higher tumor purity, and an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Based on estimated half-maximal inhibitory concentrations, the low-MAL score group benefited more from gemcitabine and docetaxel, and less from thapsigargin and sunitinib compared to the high-MAL score group. Pan-cancer analysis demonstrated that six hub MALs were strongly correlated with clinical outcomes, immune subtypes, and tumor stemness indices in various common cancers. Finally, we verified the expression patterns of hub MALs in osteosarcoma with qRT-PCR. In summary, we identified the crosstalk between prognostic MALs and tumor-infiltrating immune cells in osteosarcoma, providing a potential strategy to ameliorate clinical stratification management.

Topical application of TOPK inhibitor OTS514 suppresses psoriatic progression by inducing keratinocytes cell cycle arrest and apoptosis

T-LAK cell-oriented protein kinase (TOPK) potently promotes malignant proliferation of tumour cells and is considered as a maker of tumour progression. Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disease characterized by abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes. However, the role of TOPK in psoriasis has not been well elucidated. This study aims to investigate the expression and role of TOPK in psoriasis, and the role of TOPK inhibitor in psoriasis attenuation. Gene Expression Omnibus datasets derived from psoriasis patients and psoriatic model mice were screened for analysis. Skin specimens from psoriasis patients were collected for TOPK immunohistochemical staining to investigate the expression and localization of TOPK. Next, psoriatic mice model was established to further confirm TOPK expression pattern. Then, TOPK inhibitor was applied to investigate the role of TOPK in psoriasis progression. Finally, cell proliferation assay, apoptosis assay and cell cycle analysis were performed to investigate the potential mechanism involved. Our study showed that TOPK was upregulated in the lesions of both psoriasis patients and psoriatic model mice, and TOPK levels were positively associated with psoriasis progression. TOPK was upregulated in psoriatic lesions and expressed predominantly by epidermal keratinocytes. In addition, TOPK levels in epidermal keratinocytes were positively correlated with epidermal hyperplasia. Furthermore, topical application of TOPK inhibitor OTS514 obviously alleviated disease severity and epidermal hyperplasia. Mechanismly, inhibiting TOPK induces G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis of keratinocytes, thereby attenuating epidermal hyperplasia and disease progression. Collectively, this study identifies that upregulation of TOPK in keratinocytes promotes psoriatic progression, and inhibiting TOPK attenuates epidermal hyperplasia and psoriatic progression.

TOPK promotes the growth of esophageal cancer in vitro and in vivo by enhancing YB1/eEF1A1 signal pathway

T-LAK-originated protein kinase (TOPK), a dual specificity serine/threonine kinase, is up-regulated and related to poor prognosis in many types of cancers. Y-box binding protein 1 (YB1) is a DNA/RNA binding protein and serves important roles in multiple cellular processes. Here, we reported that TOPK and YB1 were both highly expressed in esophageal cancer (EC) and correlated with poor prognosis. TOPK knockout effectively suppressed EC cell proliferation and these effects were reversible by rescuing YB1 expression. Notably, TOPK phosphorylated YB1 at Thr 89 (T89) and Ser 209 (S209) amino acid residues, then the phosphorylated YB1 bound with the promoter of the eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha 1 (eEF1A1) to activate its transcription. Consequently, the AKT/mTOR signal pathway was activated by up-regulated eEF1A1 protein. Importantly, TOPK inhibitor HI-TOPK-032 suppressed the EC cell proliferation and tumor growth by TOPK/YB1/eEF1A1 signal pathway in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our study reveals that TOPK and YB1 are essential for the growth of EC, and TOPK inhibitors may be applied to retard cell proliferation in EC. This study highlights the promising therapeutic potential of TOPK as a target for treatment of EC.

Comprehensive multi-omics analysis reveals m7G-related signature for evaluating prognosis and immunotherapy efficacy in osteosarcoma

Background

Osteosarcoma is one of the most prevalent bone malignancies with a poor prognosis. The N7-methylguanosine (m7G) modification facilitates the modification of RNA structure and function tightly associated with cancer. Nonetheless, there is a lack of joint exploration of the relationship between m7G methylation and immune status in osteosarcoma.

Methods

With the support of TARGET and GEO databases, we performed consensus clustering to characterize molecular subtypes based on m7G regulators in all osteosarcoma patients. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method, Cox regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed to construct and validate m7G-related prognostic features and derived risk scores. In addition, GSVA, ssGSEA, CIBERSORT, ESTIMATE, and gene set enrichment analysis were conducted to characterize biological pathways and immune landscapes. We explored the relationship between risk scores and drug sensitivity, immune checkpoints, and human leukocyte antigens by correlation analysis. Finally, the roles of EIF4E3 in cell function were verified through external experiments.

Results

Two molecular isoforms based on regulator genes were identified, which presented significant discrepancies in terms of survival and activated pathways. Moreover, the six m7G regulators most associated with prognosis in osteosarcoma patients were identified as independent predictors for the construction of prognostic signature. The model was well stabilized and outperformed traditional clinicopathological features to reliably predict 3-year (AUC = 0.787) and 5-year (AUC = 0.790) survival in osteosarcoma cohorts. Patients with increased risk scores had a poorer prognosis, higher tumor purity, lower checkpoint gene expression, and were in an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Furthermore, enhanced expression of EIF4E3 indicated a favorable prognosis and affected the biological behavior of osteosarcoma cells.

Conclusions

We identified six prognostic relevant m7G modulators that may provide valuable indicators for the estimation of overall survival and the corresponding immune landscape in patients with osteosarcoma.

The role of T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase in targeted cancer therapy

Targeted therapy has gradually become the first-line clinical tumor therapy due to its high specificity and low rate of side effects. TOPK (T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase), a MAP kinase, is highly expressed in various tumor tissues, while it is rarely expressed in normal tissues, with the exceptions of testicular germ cells and some fetal tissues. It can promote cancer cell proliferation and migration and is also related to drug resistance. Therefore, TOPK is considered a good therapeutic target. Moreover, a number of studies have shown that targeting TOPK can inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells and promote their apoptosis. Here, we discussed the biological functions of TOPK in cancer and summarized its tumor-related signaling network and known TOPK inhibitors. Finally, the role of TOPK in targeted cancer therapy was concluded, and future research directions for TOPK were assessed.