Matrix metalloproteinase gene mutations and bioinformatics of telocytes in hepatocellular carcinoma

Toward understanding the role of the interstitial tissue architects: Possible functions of telocytes in the male gonad

Telocytes represent a relatively recently discovered population of interstitial cells with a unique morphological structure that distinguishes them from other neighboring cells. Through their long protrusions extending from the cell body, telocytes create microenvironments via tissue compartmentalization and create homo- and hetero-cellular junctions. These establish a three-dimensional network enabling the maintenance of interstitial compartment homeostasis through regulation of extracellular matrix organization and activity, structural support, paracrine and juxtracrine communication, immunomodulation, immune surveillance, cell survival, and apoptosis. The presence of telocytes has also been confirmed in testicular interstitial tissue of many species of animals. The objective of this review is to summarize recent findings on telocytes in the male gonad, on which conclusions have been deduced that indicate the involvement of telocytes in maintaining the cytoarchitecture of the testicular interstitial tissue, in the processes of spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis, and photoperiod-mediated changes in the testes in seasonally reproductive animals.

Banxia-Shengjiang drug pair inhibits gastric cancer development and progression by improving body immunity

To investigate the mechanism of action of Banxia-Shengjiang drug pair on the inhibition of gastric cancer (GC) using network pharmacology and bioinformatics techniques. The action targets of the Banxia (Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Makino) -Shengjiang (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) drug pair obtained from the TCMSP database were intersected with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and GC-related genes, and the intersected genes were analyzed for pathway enrichment to identify the signaling pathways and core target genes. Subsequently, the core target genes were analyzed for clinical relevance gene mutation analysis, methylation analysis, immune infiltration analysis and immune cell analysis. Finally, by constructing the PPI network of hub genes and corresponding active ingredients, the key active ingredients of the Banxia-Shengjiang drug pair were screened for molecular docking with the hub genes. In this study, a total of 557 target genes of Banxia-Shengjiang pairs, 7754 GC-related genes and 1799 DEGs in GC were screened. Five hub genes were screened, which were PTGS2, MMP9, PPARG, MMP2, and CXCR4. The pathway enrichment analyses showed that the intersecting genes were associated with RAS/MAPK signaling pathway. In addition, the clinical correlation analysis showed that hub genes were differentially expressed in GC and was closely associated with immune infiltration and immunotherapy. The results of single nucleotide variation (SNV) and copy number variation (CNV) indicated that mutations in the hub genes were associated with the survival of gastric cancer patients. Finally, the PPI network and molecular docking results showed that PTGS2 and MMP9 were potentially important targets for the inhibition of GC by Banxia-Shengjiang drug pair, while cavidine was an important active ingredient for the inhibition of GC by Banxia-Shengjiang drug pair. Banxia-Shengjiang drug pair may regulate the immune function and inhibit GC by modulating the expression of core target genes such as RAS/MAPK signaling pathway, PTGS2 and MMP9.

A pan-cancer analysis of the prognostic and immunological roles of matrix metalloprotease-1 (MMP1) in human tumors

Objective

Cancer remains the leading killer of human health worldwide. It has been shown that matrix metalloproteinase-1(MMP1) is related to poor prognosis in cancers such as BRCA, CESC and COAD. However, systematic pan-cancer analysis about the prognostic and immunological roles of MMP1 has not been explored. Here, the purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic and immunological roles of MMP1 in pan-cancer and confirm cancer-promoting effect in pancreatic cancer.

Methods

In our study, bioinformatics were first used to analyze data from multiple databases. Then, several bioinformatics tools were utilized to investigate the role of MMP1 in 33 tumor types. Finally, molecular biology experiments were carried out to prove the cancer-promoting effect of MMP1 in pancreatic cancer.

Results

MMP1 expression was higher in tumor tissues than in control tissues in most tumor types. High expression of MMP1 was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in some tumor types. Further analysis of MMP1 gene mutation data showed that MMP1 mutations significantly influenced the prognosis of STAD. In addition, MMP1 expression was closely related to cancer-associated fibroblast (CAFs) infiltration in a variety of cancers and played an important role on immune infiltration score, tumor mutational burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI). Gene Ontology enrichment analysis indicated that these 20 genes were mainly related to extracellular structure organization/extracellular matrix organization/extracellular matrix disassembly/collagen metabolic process in the enriched biological processes. Finally, molecular biology experiments confirmed the cancer-promoting effect of MMP1 in pancreatic cancer.

Conclusions

Our pan-cancer analysis comprehensively proved that MMP1 expression is related with clinical prognosis and tumor immune infiltration, and MMP1 can become a prognostic and immunological biomarker.