Identity of MMP1 and its effects on tumor progression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Biotin-functionalized nanoparticles: an overview of recent trends in cancer detection

Electrochemical bio-sensing is a potent and efficient method for converting various biological recognition events into voltage, current, and impedance electrical signals. Biochemical sensors are now a common part of medical applications, such as detecting blood glucose levels, detecting food pathogens, and detecting specific cancers. As an exciting feature, bio-affinity couples, such as proteins with aptamers, ligands, paired nucleotides, and antibodies with antigens, are commonly used as bio-sensitive elements in electrochemical biosensors. Biotin-avidin interactions have been utilized for various purposes in recent years, such as targeting drugs, diagnosing clinically, labeling immunologically, biotechnology, biomedical engineering, and separating or purifying biomolecular compounds. The interaction between biotin and avidin is widely regarded as one of the most robust and reliable noncovalent interactions due to its high bi-affinity and ability to remain selective and accurate under various reaction conditions and bio-molecular attachments. More recently, there have been numerous attempts to develop electrochemical sensors to sense circulating cancer cells and the measurement of intracellular levels of protein thiols, formaldehyde, vitamin-targeted polymers, huwentoxin-I, anti-human antibodies, and a variety of tumor markers (including alpha-fetoprotein, epidermal growth factor receptor, prostate-specific Ag, carcinoembryonic Ag, cancer antigen 125, cancer antigen 15-3, etc.). Still, the non-specific binding of biotin to endogenous biotin-binding proteins present in biological samples can result in false-positive signals and hinder the accurate detection of cancer biomarkers. This review summarizes various categories of biotin-functional nanoparticles designed to detect such biomarkers and highlights some challenges in using them as diagnostic tools.

Drug resistance‑related gene targets and molecular mechanisms in the A2780/Taxol‑resistant epithelial ovarian cancer cell line

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a fatal gynecological malignant tumor with a low 5-year survival rate. The use of the first-line chemotherapeutic drug, paclitaxel, for the treatment of EOC is associated with resistance, often leading to treatment failure. The present study investigated the gene targets in an A2780 paclitaxel-resistant EOC cell line (A2780/Taxol), and the potential underlying mechanisms using transcriptome sequencing technology and bioinformatics analysis. The transcriptome of the A2780/Taxol cell line was sequenced, and 498 differentially expressed genes were obtained contained in the Gene Expression Omnibus dataset. Further bioinformatics analysis revealed that matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1), zyxin (ZYX) and Unc-5 netrin receptor C (UNC5C) may be gene targets related to paclitaxel resistance. Moreover, Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis indicated that a potential mechanism associated with paclitaxel resistance was related to cell migration. Furthermore, the expression levels of MMP1, ZYX and UNC5C were verified using western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry in vitro. The results revealed that the expression levels of MMP1 and ZYX were significantly increased in A2780/Taxol cells, while UNC5C expression was significantly decreased, which was consistent with the results of the transcriptome sequencing. The present study demonstrated that MMP1, ZYX and UNC5C may be the gene targets associated with paclitaxel resistance in EOC. These genes have potential to be used as molecular markers for EOC drug therapy, targeted elimination of drug resistance, and evaluation of treatment efficacy and patient prognosis.

Knockdown of LRP5 Promotes Proliferation and Invasion of Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma through Compensatory Activation of Akt Signaling

The role of LRP5, a critical receptor in the Wnt signaling pathway, remains unexplored in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC). This study investigates the impact of LRP5 knockdown on the biological behaviors of TSCC cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings indicate that LRP5 knockdown significantly enhances cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in CAL27 and SCC25 cell lines. RNA-seq analysis reveals compensatory activation of the Akt pathway, with 119 genes significantly upregulated post-LRP5 knockdown. Elevated MMP1 expression suggests its potential involvement in TSCC progression. Western blot analysis demonstrates increased Akt phosphorylation, upregulated proliferation-related PCNA, and downregulated apoptosis-related caspase-3 after LRP5 knockdown. Down-regulation of E-cadherin and β-Catenin, proteins associated with cell adhesion and invasion, further elucidates the molecular mechanism underlying increased cell migration and invasion. Our study concludes that compensatory Akt pathway activation is essential for the LRP5 knockdown-induced migration and proliferation of CAL27 and SCC25 cells. These results highlight LRP5 as a potential therapeutic target for TSCC. Simultaneous inhibition of Wnt and Akt signaling emerges as a promising approach for TSCC treatment.

Integrated bioinformatics analysis of SEMA3C in tongue squamous cell carcinoma using machine-learning strategies

Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is an aggressive oral cancer with a high incidence of metastasis and poor prognosis. We aim to identify and verify potential biomarkers for TSCC using bioinformatics analysis. To begin with, we examined clinical and RNA expression information of individuals with TSCC from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differential expression analysis and functional analysis were conducted. Multiple machine-learning strategies were next employed to screen and determine the hub gene, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess diagnostic value. Semaphorin3C (SEMA3C) was identified as a critical biomarker, presenting high diagnostic accuracy for TSCC. In the validation cohorts, SEMA3C exhibited high expression levels in TSCC. The high expression of SEMA3C was a poor prognostic factor in TSCC by the Kaplan-Meier curve. Based on the Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, SEMA3C was mapped in terms related to cell adhesion, positive regulation of JAK-STAT, positive regulation of stem cell maintenance, and positive regulation of NF-κB activity. Single-cell RNA sequencing (ScRNA-seq) analysis showed cells expressing SEMA3C were predominantly tumor cells. Then, we further verified that SEMA3C had high expression in TSCC clinical samples. In addition, the knockdown of SEMA3C suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of TSCC cells in vitro. This study is the first to report the involvement of SEMA3C in TSCC, suggesting that upregulated SEMA3C could be a novel and critical potential biomarker for future predictive diagnostics, prevention, prognostic assessment, and personalized medical services in TSCC.

Transcriptomic analysis of Porphyromonas gingivalis-infected head and neck cancer cells: Identification of PLAU as a candidate prognostic biomarker

Periodontal disease is a risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and Porphyromonas gingivalis, a major periodontal pathogen, has been identified as a specific and potentially independent microbial factor that increases the risk of cancer mortality. Gene expression in HNSCC due to P. gingivalis infection and how changes in gene expression affect the prognosis of HNSCC patients are not clarified. When P. gingivalis was cultured with HNSCC cells, it efficiently adhered to these cells and enhanced their invasive ability. A transcriptome analysis of P. gingivalis -infected HNSCC cells showed that genes related to migration, including CCL20, CITED2, CTGF, C8orf44-SGK3, DUSP10, EGR3, FUZ, HBEGF, IL1B, IL24, JUN, PLAU, PTGS2, P2RY1, SEMA7A, SGK1 and SIX2, were highly up- or down-regulated. The expression of up-regulated genes was examined using the expression data of HNSCC patients obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and the expression of 5 genes, including PLAU, was found to be higher in cancer tissue than in solid normal tissue. An analysis of protein-protein interactions revealed that these 5 genes formed a dense network. A Cox regression analysis showed that high PLAU expression levels were associated with a poor prognosis in patients with TCGA-HNSCC. Furthermore, the prognostic impact correlated with tumour size and the presence or absence of lymph node metastasis. Collectively, these results suggest the potential of PLAU as a molecular prognostic marker in HNSCC patients. Further in vivo and in vitro studies are needed to verify the findings of this study.

LncRNA NR120519 Blocks KRT17 to Promote Cell Proliferation and Migration in Hypopharyngeal Squamous Carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Hypopharyngeal carcinoma is the worst type of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. It is necessary to identify the key molecular targets related to the carcinogenesis and development of hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

METHODS

Differentially expressed lncRNAs in hypopharyngeal carcinoma were selected by microarray, and lncRNA-associated proteins were found by RIP assay. Colony formation, CCK-8, wound healing and Transwell assays were performed to detect the effects of lncRNA and its associated protein on cell proliferation and migration in vitro. Downstream pathways of lncRNA and its associated protein were detected by WB. Through a subcutaneous tumor model, the effects of lncRNA and its associated protein on cell proliferation were detected. The expressions of lncRNA and its associated protein in hypopharyngeal cancer tissues were detected by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry assays, respectively, and survival analyses were performed by Kaplan-Meier curve.

RESULTS

A total of 542 and 265 lncRNAs were upregulated and downregulated in microarrays, respectively. LncRNA NR120519 was upregulated and promoted cell proliferation and migration of hypopharyngeal carcinoma in vitro and cell proliferation in vivo. RIP and WB assays showed that KRT17 was associated with and blocked by NR120519.The silencing of KRT17 promoted cell proliferation and the migration of hypopharyngeal carcinoma in vitro and cell proliferation in vivo by activating the AKT/mTOR pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT). Finally, the NR120519 high expression and KRT17 low expression groups showed shorter overall survival.

CONCLUSION

NR120519 activated the AKT/mTOR pathway and EMT by blocking KRT17 to promote cell proliferation and the migration of hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

Identifying the Therapeutic and Prognostic Role of the CD8+ T Cell-Related Gene ALDH2 in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) is a widely known malignancy which is usually diagnosed late and has a poor prognosis. This study focuses on finding a new gene linked with CD8+ T cell infiltration as a prognostic marker for patients with HNSC. Differential analysis of transcriptomic data was performed between HNSC and control tissues from TCGA and GEO database. The CD8+ T cell infiltration score was quantified using single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) algorithms were used to identify key modules associated with CD8+ T cell infiltration. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival analysis was used to compare overall survival (OS) between the 2 groups. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were used to assess independent prognostic markers. The results showed CD8+ T cell infiltration score was an independent favorable prognostic marker in HNSC. Differential analysis and WGCNA identified 93 differential gene related to high CD8+ T infiltration. Amog the 93 genes, ALDH2 was an independent favorable prognostic marker in HNSC. ALDH2 expression was found to be much lower in HNSC, and patients with low ALDH2 expression had higher T stage and N stage. The correlation analysis showed that ALDH2 was linked with immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment of HNSC. Patients having increased expression of ALDH2 tend to be sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In addition, we showed the relationship between ALDH2 expression and chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity. In conclusion, this study identified ALDH2 as a prognostic marker, associated with CD8+ T cell infiltration in HNSC.

An ion-channel-gene-based prediction model for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Prognostic assessment and treatment guidance

PURPOSE

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a very diverse malignancy with a poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to develop a new signature based on 12 ion channel genes to predict the outcome and immune status of HNSCC patients.

METHODS

Clinicopathological information and gene sequencing data of HNSCC patients were generated from the Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. A set of 323 ion channel genes was obtained from the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee database and literature review. Using univariate Cox regression analysis, the ion channel genes related to HNSCC prognosis were identified. A prognostic signature and nomogram were then created using machine learning methods. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to explore the relevance of the risk scores and overall survival (OS). We also investigated the association between risk scores, tumor immune infiltration, and gene mutational status. Finally, we detected the expression levels of the signature genes by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

We separated the patients into high- and low-risk groups according to the risk scores computed based on these 12 ion channel genes, and the OS of the low-risk group was significantly longer (p<0.001). The area under the curve for predicting 3-year survival was 0.729. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the 12-ion-channel-gene risk model was an independent prognostic factor. We also developed a nomogram model based on risk scores and clinicopathological variables to forecast outcomes. Furthermore, immune cell infiltration, gene mutation status, immunotherapy response, and chemotherapeutic treatment sensitivity were all linked to risk scores. Moreover, high expression levels of ANO1, AQP9, and BEST2 were detected in HNSCC tissues, whereas AQP5, SCNN1G, and SCN4A expression was low in HNSCC tissues, as determined by experiments.

CONCLUSION

The 12-ion-channel-gene prognostic signatures have been demonstrated to be highly efficient in predicting the prognosis, immune microenvironment, gene mutation status, immunotherapy response, and chemotherapeutic sensitivity of HNSCC patients.

Identification of a novel ceRNA network related to prognosis and immunity in HNSCC based on integrated bioinformatic investigation

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is characterized by an immunosuppression environment and necessitates the development of new immunotherapy response predictors. The study aimed to build a prognosis-related competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network based on immune-related genes (IRGs) and analyze its immunological signatures. Differentially expressed IRGs were identified by bioinformatics analysis with Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and ImmPort databases. Finally, via upstream prognosis-related microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) prediction and co-expression analysis, we built an immune-related ceRNA network (LINC00052/hsa-miR-148a-3p/PLAU) related to HNSCC patient prognosis. CIBERSORT analysis demonstrated that there were substantial differences in 11 infiltrating immune cells in HNSCC, and PLAU was closely correlated with 10 type cells, including T cells CD8+ (R =  - 0.329), T cells follicular helper (R = - 0.342) and macrophage M0 (R = 0.278). Methylation and Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) analyses revealed that PLAU upregulation was most likely caused by hypomethylation and that high PLAU expression may be associated with tumor immune evasion in HNSCC, respectively.

MMP1 Overexpression Promotes Cancer Progression and Associates with Poor Outcome in Head and Neck Carcinoma

Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1) has been reported to play key roles in a variety of cancers by degrading the extracellular matrix. However, its carcinogenic roles have not been shown yet in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). This study aimed to elucidate its expression pattern and functional roles as well as clinical significance in HNSCC. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were utilized to determine the MMP1 expression pattern and the associations between its expression and patients' outcome in HNSCC. Mice tongue squamous cell carcinoma model induced by 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO) and siRNA-mediated cellular assay in vitro were utilized to evaluate the oncogenic role of MMP1. The biological functions and cancer-related pathways involved in MMP1-related genes were found through bioinformatics analysis. Both mRNA and protein abundance of MMP1 were highly increased in HNSCC as compared to its non-tumor counterparts. MMP1 overexpression positively correlated with advanced tumor size, cervical node metastasis, and advanced pathological grade and lower patients' survival. In the 4NQO-induced animal model, MMP1 expression increased along with the progression of the disease. In HNSCC cells, siRNA-mediated knockdown of MMP1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and activated apoptosis and epithelia-mesenchymal transition (EMT). GSEA, GO, and KEGG analyses showed that MMP1 expression was significantly related to cancer-related pathways and cancer-related functions. Together, our results demonstrated MMP1 serves as a novel prognostic biomarker and putative oncogene in HNSCC.