Smoothened loss is a characteristic of neuroendocrine prostate cancer

Emerging proteins involved in castration‑resistant prostate cancer via the AR‑dependent and AR‑independent pathways (Review)

Despite achieving optimal initial responses to androgen deprivation therapy, most patients with prostate cancer eventually progress to a poor prognosis state known as castration‑resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Currently, there is a notable absence of reliable early warning biomarkers and effective treatment strategies for these patients. Although androgen receptor (AR)‑independent pathways have been discovered and acknowledged in recent years, the AR signaling pathway continues to play a pivotal role in the progression of CRPC. The present review focuses on newly identified proteins within human CRPC tissues. These proteins encompass both those involved in AR‑dependent and AR‑independent pathways. Specifically, the present review provides an in‑depth summary and analysis of the emerging proteins within AR bypass pathways. Furthermore, the significance of these proteins as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for treating CRPC is discussed. Therefore, the present review offers valuable theoretical insights and clinical perspectives to comprehensively enhance the understanding of CRPC.

Highly expressed FAM189B predicts poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant tumors with persistently high morbidity and mortality. However, the expression, prognostic and clinical significance of FAM189 family genes in HCC remain largely unknown. In this study, the expression levels of FAM189 family genes in HCC were analyzed through TCGA-LIHC and ICGC-LIRI-JP cohorts, and further validated in multiple independent GEO datasets. It was found that the expression of FAM189B was significantly upregulated in HCC tumor tissues, while the expression of FAM189A1 and FAM189A2 was not significantly changed between tumor and adjacent tissues. Further analysis revealed that upregulated copy number variation contributed to increased expression of FAM189B in HCC. Survival analysis showed that highly expressed FAM189B was significantly correlated with unfavorable prognosis, including overall survival, disease-specific survival, and progression-free interval. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that FAM189B was a potential novel prognosis factor for HCC patients. In addition, the association between FAM189B expression and clinical and molecular characteristics was analyzed. High expression of FAM189B was associated with high AFP level, high predicted risk metastasis signature, and TP53 mutation, while there was no significant association between FAM189B expression and cancer stage or tumor grade of HCC. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that highly expressed FAM189B was closely related with signal pathways and biological processes associated with cell proliferation and cell cycle in HCC. In conclusion, this study suggested that FAM189B was highly expressed in HCC and highly expressed FAM189B may serve as an effective prognostic indicator and a potential therapeutic target for HCC patients.

Serum levels of chromogranin are not predictive of poorly differentiated prostate cancer: Results from a multicenter radical prostatectomy cohort

BACKGROUND

Recently a possible link between elevated Chromogranin A (CgA) levels and poorly differentiated prostate cancer has been proposed. The aim of our study was to explore the association of CgA levels and the risk of poorly differentiated prostate cancer (PCa) in men undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From 2012 onwards, 335 consecutive men undergoing RRP for PCa at three centers in Italy were enrolled into a prospective database. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated before RRP. Blood samples were collected and tested for total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and chromogranin A (CgA). We evaluated the association between serum levels of CgA and upstaging and upgrading using logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

Median age and preoperative PSA levels were 65 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 60-69) and 7.2 ng/ml (IQR: 5.3-10.4), respectively. Median BMI was 26.1 kg/m² (IQR: 24-29) with 56 (16%) obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² ). Median CgA levels were 51 (39/71). Overall, 129/335 (38,5%) presented an upstaging, and 99/335 (30%) presented an upgrading. CgA was not a predictor of upstaging or upgrading on RP.

CONCLUSIONS

In our multicenter cohort of patients, CgA is not a predictor of poorly differentiated PCa on radical prostatectomy. According to our experience, CgA should not be considered a reliable marker to predict poorly differentiated or advanced prostate cancer.

Advances in neuroendocrine prostate cancer research: From model construction to molecular network analyses

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and has a high incidence and associated mortality worldwide. It is an androgen-driven disease in which tumor growth is triggered via ligand-mediated signaling through the androgen receptor (AR). Recent evidence suggests that the widespread use of effective AR pathway inhibitors may increase the occurrence of neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), an aggressive and treatment-resistant AR-negative variant; however, mechanisms controlling NEPC development remain to be elucidated. Various preclinical models have recently been developed to investigate the mechanisms driving the NEPC differentiation. In the present study, we summarized strategies for the development of NEPC models and proposed a novel method for model evaluation, which will help in the timely and accurate identification of NEPC by virtue of its ability to recapitulate the heterogeneity of prostate cancer. Moreover, we discuss the origin and the mechanism of NEPC. The understanding of the regulatory network mediating neuroendocrine differentiation presented in this review could provide valuable insights into the identification of novel drug targets for NEPC as well as into the causes of antiandrogenic drug resistance.

A New Risk Score Based on Eight Hepatocellular Carcinoma- Immune Gene Expression Can Predict the Prognosis of the Patients

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the malignant tumors with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Immunotherapy has emerged as an increasingly important cancer treatment modality. However, the potential relationship between immune genes and HCC still needs to be explored. The purpose of this study is to construct a new prognostic risk signature to predict the prognosis of HCC patients based on the expression of immune-related genes (IRGs) and explore its potential mechanism.

Methods

We analyzed the gene expression data of 332 HCC patient samples and 46 adjacent normal tissues samples (Solid Tissue Normal including cirrhotic tissue) in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and clinical characteristics. We analyzed the gene expression data, identified differentially expressed IRGs in HCC tissues, filtered IRGs with prognostic value to construct an IRG signature, and classified patients into high and low gene expression groups based on the expression of IRGs in their tumor tissues. We also investigated the potential molecular mechanisms of IRGs through a bioinformatics approach using Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database analysis and Gene Ontology (GO) database analysis. Differentially expressed IRGs associated with significant clinical outcomes (SIRGs) were identified by univariate Cox regression analysis. An immune-related risk score model (IRRSM) was established based on Lasso Cox regression analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Based on the IRRSM, the immune score of the patients was calculated, and the patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk patients according to the median score, and the differences in survival between the two groups were compared. Then, the correlation analysis between the IRRSM and clinical characteristics was performed, and the IRRSM was validated using the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database.

Results

The IRRSM was eventually constructed and confirmed to be an independent prognostic model for HCC patients. The IRRSM was shown to be positively correlated with the infiltration of four types of immune cells.

Conclusion

Our results showed that some SIRGs have potential value for predicting the prognosis and clinical outcomes of HCC patients. IRGs affect the prognosis of HCC patients by regulating the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). This study provides a new insight for immune research and treatment strategies in HCC patients.

Smoothened loss is a characteristic of neuroendocrine prostate cancer

PURPOSE

Hedgehog (Hh) signaling promotes castration-resistant prostate cancer by supporting androgen-independent prostate cancer cell development and growth; however, its role in neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) has not yet been explored. In this study, we assessed the expression of key genes involved in Hh signaling in prostate cancer and investigated the potential role of smoothened (SMO) in the pathogenesis of NEPC.

METHODS

Six public datasets, each containing cases of prostate adenocarcinoma (AdPC) and NEPC, were analyzed to compare the differential messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of six classic Hh signaling genes. The SMO, synaptophysin, chromogranin A (CHGA) and androgen receptor (AR) proteins were evaluated in human tissues from 5 cases of NEPC, 2 cases of AdPC mixed with NEPC, 2 cases of AdPC with neuroendocrine differentiation and 22 cases of high-grade AdPC as determined by an immunohistochemistry assay. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to identify relevant genetic signatures associated with SMO expression based on the public datasets. Stable SMO-knockdown LNCaP and C4-2B cells were established with a lentiviral system, and the expression of SMO, Gli1, AR, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and REST was assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Secreted PSA in the conditioned medium was assessed by ELISA. Gli1 was ectopically expressed performed by the transfection of Gli1 complementary DNA into SMO-knockdown LNCaP cells, and western blot was used to assess of AR and PSA expression.

RESULTS

The mRNA level of SMO was dramatically downregulated in NEPC samples compared with AdPC samples in all 6 public datasets. SMO protein loss was observed in 100% of NEPC samples but in only 9% (2 of 22) of high-grade AdPC samples. GSEA results showed that SMO loss was closely correlated with AR signaling activity. Stable SMO knockdown significantly attenuated AR signaling activity and suppressed AR expression, while Gli1 overexpression partially reversed the inhibitory effects of SMO knockdown on AR signaling activity and AR expression in LNCaP and C4-2B cells.

CONCLUSION

These results demonstrate that SMO loss is a characteristic of NEPC and that detecting SMO by IHC could aid pathologists in NEPC diagnosis. SMO loss may promote NEPC pathogenesis by modulating AR signaling.