VAT-1 is a novel pathogenic factor of progressive benign prostatic hyperplasia

Identification of a Proteomic Signature of Senescence in Primary Human Mammary Epithelial Cells

Senescence is a permanent cell cycle arrest that occurs in response to cellular stress and promotes age-related disease. Because senescence differs greatly depending on cell type and senescence inducer, continued progress in the characterization of senescent cells is needed. Here, we analyzed primary human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs), a model system for aging and cancer, using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. By integrating data from replicative senescence, immortalization by telomerase reactivation, and quiescence, we identified a robust proteomic signature of HMEC senescence consisting of 34 upregulated and 10 downregulated proteins. This approach identified known senescence biomarkers including β-galactosidase (GLB1) as well as novel senescence biomarkers including catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT), synaptic vesicle membrane protein VAT-1 homolog (VAT1), and plastin-1/3 (PLS1/PLS3). Gene ontology enrichment analysis demonstrated that senescent HMECs upregulated lysosomal proteins and downregulated RNA metabolic processes. In addition, a classification model based on our proteomic signature successfully discriminated proliferating and senescent HMECs at the transcriptional level. Finally, we found that the HMEC senescence signature was positively and negatively correlated with proteomic alterations in HMEC aging and breast cancer, respectively. Taken together, our results demonstrate the power of proteomics to identify cell type-specific signatures of senescence and advance the understanding of senescence in HMECs.

Novel roles of VAT1 expression in the immunosuppressive action of diffuse gliomas

Standard treatment regimen of gliomas has almost reached a bottleneck in terms of survival benefit. Immunotherapy has been explored and applied in glioma treatment. Immunosuppression, as a hallmark of glioma, could be alleviated by inhibiting certain abnormally expressed biomarkers. Here, transcriptome data of 325 whole grade gliomas were collected from the CGGA database. The TCGA RNA sequencing database was used for validation. Western blot was used to verify the expression level of VAT1 on cellular level. The results showed that the expression of VAT1 was positively correlated with the grades of glioma as classified by WHO. A higher expression level of VAT1 was observed in the mesenchymal subtype of gliomas. The area under the curve suggested that the expression level of VAT1 might be a potential prognostic marker of mesenchymal subtype. In survival analysis, we found that patients with high VAT1 expression level tended to have shorter overall survival, which indicated the prognostic value of VAT1 expression. The results of gene ontology analysis showed that most biological processes of VAT1-related genes were involved in immune and inflammatory responses. The results of GSEA analysis showed a negative correlation between VAT1 expression and immune cells. We also identified that the expression of immune checkpoints increased with VAT1 expression. Therefore, the high expression level of VAT1 in patients with glioma was a potential indicator of a lower survival rate for patients with gliomas. Remarkably, VAT1 contributed to glioma-induced immunosuppression and might be a novel target in glioma immunotherapy.

Neocarzilin A Is a Potent Inhibitor of Cancer Cell Motility Targeting VAT-1 Controlled Pathways

The natural product neocarzilin A (NCA) was discovered decades ago, and despite its potent cytotoxic effects no mode of action studies have been performed up to date. Synthesis of neocarzilins A, B, and C and a stereoisomer of NCA provided insights into structural preferences as well as access to probes for functional studies. NCA turned out to be the most active member and was not only effective against cell proliferation but also migration, a novel and so far overlooked activity. To decipher the molecular mode of action, we applied chemical proteomics for target discovery and revealed that NCA targets cancer cell migration via irreversible binding to the largely uncharacterized synaptic vesicle membrane protein VAT-1. A corresponding knockout of the protein confirmed the phenotype, and pull-down studies showed the interaction with an intricate network of key migration mediators such as Talin-1. Overall, we introduce VAT-1 as a promising novel target for the development of selective migration inhibitors with the perspective to limit toxicity in the absence of antiproliferative effects.

Whole Exome Sequencing Identifies Putative Predictors of Recurrent Prostate Cancer with High Accuracy

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a highly common cancer among men but lacks robust diagnostics that can predict disease recurrence after initial treatment, for example, with radical prostatectomy. Recent advances in genomics and next-generation sequencing heralded the discovery of biomarkers such as the androgen receptor gene (AR) splice events, the TMPRSS2:EGR gene fusion, long noncoding RNA MALAT-1 and SCHLAP1 for PCa prognosis. Still, the question of why some patients experience recurrence, whereas others do not introduce marked uncertainty for both patients and physicians. We report here the whole exome sequencing of 30 recurrent and 44 nonrecurrent PCa patients. We identified 72 and 34 specific somatic single nucleotide variations in the recurrent and the nonrecurrent group, respectively, and developed a classification model to forecast PCa recurrence using a random forest model. The model displayed a sensitivity and specificity of 87.8% and 94.4%, respectively, for identifying the patients with recurrent PCa. These observations warrant further research in independent and larger clinical samples so as to inform future diagnostics innovation for PCa prognosis and recurrence.

Effect of Motherwort total alkaloids on the prostate hyperplasia mice model of pathological changes of related tissue morphology induced by the fetal urogenital sinus implants

Aim

The research was to study the effect of Motherwort total alkaloids on the prostate hyperplasia mice model of pathological changes of related tissue morphology.

Results

Compared with the model group(MG), Motherwort total alkaloid high, medium dose group(HD, MD) could significantly reduced the pathological changes of the prostate (P < 0.01); Finasteride(FG) and Motherwort total alkaloid low dose group(LD) could significantly reduce the pathological changes of the prostate (P < 0.05); Longbishu capsules(LG), Finasteride, Motherwort total alkaloid medium dose group could significantly reduce the pathological changes of the kidney (P < 0.01); Motherwort total alkaloid low dose group could significantly reduce the pathological changes of the kidney (P < 0.05); Motherwort total alkaloids could improve the pathological changes of the thymus and spleen.

Conclusion

Motherwort total alkaloid can improve the pathological changes of prostatic hyperplasia in mice.