Ectopic expression of CC chemokine receptor 7 promotes prostate cancer cells metastasis via Notch1 signaling

The Role of the Dysregulated JNK Signaling Pathway in the Pathogenesis of Human Diseases and Its Potential Therapeutic Strategies: A Comprehensive Review

JNK is named after c-Jun N-terminal kinase, as it is responsible for phosphorylating c-Jun. As a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, JNK is also known as stress-activated kinase (SAPK) because it can be activated by extracellular stresses including growth factor, UV irradiation, and virus infection. Functionally, JNK regulates various cell behaviors such as cell differentiation, proliferation, survival, and metabolic reprogramming. Dysregulated JNK signaling contributes to several types of human diseases. Although the role of the JNK pathway in a single disease has been summarized in several previous publications, a comprehensive review of its role in multiple kinds of human diseases is missing. In this review, we begin by introducing the landmark discoveries, structures, tissue expression, and activation mechanisms of the JNK pathway. Next, we come to the focus of this work: a comprehensive summary of the role of the deregulated JNK pathway in multiple kinds of diseases. Beyond that, we also discuss the current strategies for targeting the JNK pathway for therapeutic intervention and summarize the application of JNK inhibitors as well as several challenges now faced. We expect that this review can provide a more comprehensive insight into the critical role of the JNK pathway in the pathogenesis of human diseases and hope that it also provides important clues for ameliorating disease conditions.

Role of chemokines in T-cell acute lymphoblastic Leukemia: From pathogenesis to therapeutic options

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a highly heterogeneous and aggressive subtype of hematologic malignancy, with limited therapeutic options due to the complexity of its pathogenesis. Although high-dose chemotherapy and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation have improved outcomes for T-ALL patients, there remains an urgent need for novel treatments in cases of refractory or relapsed disease. Recent research has demonstrated the potential of targeted therapies aimed at specific molecular pathways to improve patient outcomes. Chemokine-related signals, both upstream and downstream, modulate the composition of distinct tumor microenvironments, thereby regulating a multitude of intricate cellular processes such as proliferation, migration, invasion and homing. Furthermore, the progress in research has made significant contributions to precision medicine by targeting chemokine-related pathways. This review article summarizes the crucial roles of chemokines and their receptors in T-ALL pathogenesis. Moreover, it explores the advantages and disadvantages of current and potential therapeutic options that target chemokine axes, including small molecule antagonists, monoclonal antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor T-cells.

LncRNA BCAR4 promotes migration, invasion, and chemo-resistance by inhibiting miR-644a in breast cancer

BACKGROUND

Metastasis and drug resistance of breast cancer have become a barrier to treating patients successfully. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known as vital players in cancer development and progression.  METHODS: The RT-qPCR were used to detect the gene expression. Colony formation assay, would healing assay, and transwell assay were performed to investigate oncogenic functions of cells. CCK8 assay was used to detect the cell viability. Western blot was applied to detect the protein level. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to determine the relationship between molecules. Mouse orthotopic xenograft tumor models were established to evaluate the effects of BCAR4 on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo.  RESULTS: LncRNA BCAR4 was significantly increased in breast cancer patients' tissues and plasma and upregulated in breast cancer cell lines. BCAR4 upregulation was correlated with the TNM stages and decreased after surgical removal of breast tumors. Silencing of BCAR4 suppressed breast cancer cell colony formation, migration, invasion, and xenograft tumor growth and promoted chemo-sensitivity. Mechanistically, BCAR4 facilitates breast cancer migration and invasion via the miR-644a-CCR7 axis of the MAPK pathway. BCAR4 promotes ABCB1 expression indirectly by binding to and down-regulating miR-644a to induce chemo-resistance in breast cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide insights into the oncogenic role of BCAR4 and implicate BCAR4 as a potential diagnostic biomarker and a promising therapeutic agent to suppress metastasis and inhibit chemo-resistance of breast cancer.

lncRNA DARS-AS1 Promoted Osteosarcoma Progression through Regulating miR-532-3p/CCR7

Background

lncRNAs have been indicated to involve in cell invasion, proliferation, and metastasis. However, function of DARS-AS1 in osteosarcoma remains poorly explored.

Methods

DARS-AS1 and miR-532-3p level were measured using qRT-PCR. CCK-8 assay and cell invasion assay were done to study cell functions. Luciferase reporter assay was performed to study the mechanism about DARS-AS1 and miR-532-3p.

Results

We firstly showed that DARS-AS1 expression is upregulated in 73.5% (25/34) of cases with osteosarcoma. Moreover, DARS-AS1 expression is overexpressed in osteosarcoma specimens than in nontumor samples. The DARS-AS1 is overexpressed in the osteosarcoma cell lines (Saos-2, SOSP-9607, U2OS, and MG-63) compared to hFOB. Overexpression of DARS-AS1 promotes cell growth and invasion in MG-63 osteosarcoma cell. DARS-AS1 plays as one sponge for miR-532-3p in osteosarcoma cell, and miR-532-3p overexpression inhibits luciferase activity of DARS-AS1-WT, not DARS-AS1-MUT in MG-63 cell. Ectopic expression of DARS-AS1 inhibits miR-532-3p expression in MG-63 cell. Furthermore, miR-532-3p expression is downregulated in osteosarcoma specimens compared to in paired nontumor samples. MiR-532-3p expression is downregulated in osteosarcoma cell lines compared to hFOB. MiR-532-3p expression is negatively associated with DARS-AS1 expression in osteosarcoma specimens. miR-532-3p directly regulates CCR7 expression in osteosarcoma cell. Elevated DARS-AS1 expression enhances cell growth and invasion via regulating CCR7.

Conclusions

These data firstly suggested that DARS-AS1 exerted as one oncogene in osteosarcoma partly via regulating miR-532-3p/CCR7.

Metastasis and MAPK Pathways

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. In many cases, the treatment of the disease is limited due to the metastasis of cells to distant locations of the body through the blood and lymphatic drainage. Most of the anticancer therapeutic options focus mainly on the inhibition of tumor cell growth or the induction of cell death, and do not consider the molecular basis of metastasis. The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive review focusing on cancer metastasis and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway (ERK/JNK/P38 signaling) as a crucial modulator of this process.

C-C Chemokine Receptor 7 in Cancer

C-C chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) was one of the first two chemokine receptors that were found to be upregulated in breast cancers. Chemokine receptors promote chemotaxis of cells and tissue organization. Since under homeostatic conditions, CCR7 promotes migration of immune cells to lymph nodes, questions immediately arose regarding the ability of CCR7 to direct migration of cancer cells to lymph nodes. The literature since 2000 was examined to determine to what extent the expression of CCR7 in malignant tumors promoted migration to the lymph nodes. The data indicated that in different cancers, CCR7 plays distinct roles in directing cells to lymph nodes, the skin or to the central nervous system. In certain tumors, it may even serve a protective role. Future studies should focus on defining mechanisms that differentially regulate the unfavorable or beneficial role that CCR7 plays in cancer pathophysiology, to be able to improve outcomes in patients who harbor CCR7-positive cancers.

Clinical and prognostic significance of CC chemokine receptor type 8 protein expression in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

BACKGROUND

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. Surgical resection and tyrosine kinase inhibitors are defined as the main treatments but cannot cure patients with advanced GIST, which eventually develops into recurrence and acquired drug resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to identify prognostic biomarkers and new therapeutic targets for GISTs. CC chemokine receptor type 8 (CCR8) protein participates in regulation of immune responses. Recent studies on CCR8 in non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer showed that it was highly expressed in tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells and correlated with a poor prognosis.

AIM

To detect CCR8 expression in GIST tissues and analyze its relationships with clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with GISTs.

METHODS

Tissue samples were used for the tissue microarrays construction. The microarrays were then subjected to immunohistochemical analyses to detect CCR8 expression. Next, Kaplan–Meier analysis was utilized to calculate the survival rate of patients with complete follow-up data, and the potential prognostic value of CCR8 was evaluated by Cox regression analysis. Finally, a Gene Ontology/Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes single-gene enrichment chart of CCR8 was constructed using the STRING database.

RESULTS

CCR8-positive signals were detected as brown or brown-yellow particles by immunohistochemistry located in the cytoplasm. Among 125 tissue samples, 74 had CCR8 high expression and 51 had low or negative expression. Statistical analyses suggested CCR8 was significantly correlated with tumor size, mitotic index, AFIP-Miettinen risk classification and tumor location. Kaplan–Meier and multivariate analyses showed that patients with low or negative CCR8 expression, mitotic index < 5/high-power fields (HPF) and tumor diameter < 5 cm had a better prognosis. Based on the STRING database, CCR8 was significantly enriched in biological processes such as tumor immunity, T lymphocyte chemotaxis, migration and pathways like the nuclear factor-κB and tumor necrosis factor pathways as well as intestinal immune regulation networks.

CONCLUSION

CCR8 is a prognostic biomarker for malignant potential of GISTs, with high expression correlated with malignancy and poor prognosis.

Identification of Potential Key Genes and Pathways in Enzalutamide-Resistant Prostate Cancer Cell Lines: A Bioinformatics Analysis with Data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) Database

Enzalutamide (ENZ) has been approved for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer (PCa), but some patients develop ENZ resistance initially or after long-term administration. Although a few key genes have been discovered by previous efforts, the complete mechanisms of ENZ resistance remain unsolved. To further identify more potential key genes and pathways in the development of ENZ resistance, we employed the GSE104935 dataset, including 5 ENZ-resistant (ENZ-R) and 5 ENZ-sensitive (ENZ-S) PCa cell lines, from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Integrated bioinformatics analyses were conducted, such as analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), and survival analysis. From these, we identified 201 DEGs (93 upregulated and 108 downregulated) and 12 hub genes (AR, ACKR3, GPER1, CCR7, NMU, NDRG1, FKBP5, NKX3-1, GAL, LPAR3, F2RL1, and PTGFR) that are potentially associated with ENZ resistance. One upregulated pathway (hedgehog pathway) and seven downregulated pathways (pathways related to androgen response, p53, estrogen response, TNF-α, TGF-β, complement, and pancreas β cells) were identified as potential key pathways involved in the occurrence of ENZ resistance. Our findings may contribute to further understanding the molecular mechanisms of ENZ resistance and provide some clues for the prevention and treatment of ENZ resistance.

MCM3AP-AS1 KD Inhibits Proliferation, Invasion, and Migration of PCa Cells via DNMT1/DNMT3 (A/B) Methylation-Mediated Upregulation of NPY1R

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a heterogeneous tumor that commonly occurs among males worldwide. This study explored the potential role that long non-coding RNA MCM3AP antisense RNA 1 (MCM3AP-AS1) plays in PCa progression, and investigated its mechanism. MCM3AP-AS1 and neuropeptide Y receptor Y1 (NPY1R) expression was determined in PCa cells. The regulatory role of MCM3AP-AS1 in PCa cells was defined using scratch test, Transwell assay, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay, and flow cytometry. Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) was used to test the methylation level of NPY1R. Subsequently, the interaction among MCM3AP-AS1, DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)1/DNMT3 (A/B), and NPY1R was investigated using RNA immunoprecipitation, RNA pull-down, and chromatin immunoprecipitation. Finally, we observed xenograft tumor in nude mice. MCM3AP-AS1 was highly, whereas NPY1R was poorly, expressed in PCa. Lentivirus-mediated overexpression of MCM3AP-AS1 promoted proliferation, invasion, and migration while suppressing apoptosis of PCa cells, whereas opposite trends were detected after inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. MCM3AP-AS1 promoted methylation of NPY1R promoter via recruitment of DNMT1/DNMT3 (A/B), thereby downregulating NPY1R expression to activate the MAPK pathway. Furthermore, overexpressed MCM3AP-AS1 was observed to facilitate PCa development in vivo, which could be reversed by overexpressed NPY1R. Altogether, MCM3AP-AS1 silencing inhibits PCa progression by disrupting methylation of the NPY1R promoter to inactivate the MAPK pathway.

Triptonide effectively suppresses gastric tumor growth and metastasis through inhibition of the oncogenic Notch1 and NF-κB signaling pathways

Gastric cancer ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The uncontrolled tumor growth and robust metastasis are key factors to cause the cancer patient death. Mechanistically, aberrant activation of Notch and NF-κB signaling pathways plays pivotal roles in the initiation and metastasis of gastric cancer. Despite great efforts have been made in recent decades, the effective drug against the advanced and metastatic gastric cancer is still lacking in the clinical setting. In this study, we found that triptonide, a small molecule (MW358) purified from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, effectively suppressed tumor growth and metastasis in xenograft mice without obvious toxicity at the doses we tested, resulting in potent anti-gastric cancer effect with low toxicity. Triptonide markedly inhibited human metastatic gastric cancer cell migration, invasion, proliferation, and tumorigenicity. Molecular mechanistic studies revealed that triptonide significantly reduced Notch1 protein levels in metastatic gastric cancer cells through degrading the oncogenic protein Notch1 via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Consequently, the levels of Notch1 downstream proteins RBPJ, IKKα, IKKβ were significantly diminished, and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) phosphorylation was significantly reduced. Together, triptonide effectively suppresses gastric cancer growth and metastasis via inhibition of the oncogenic Notch1 and NF-κB signaling pathways. Our findings provide a new strategy and drug candidate for treatment of the advanced and metastatic gastric cancer.