Fibroblast growth factor 2 is of prognostic value for patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Circulating microRNAs as molecular biomarkers for lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: The potential of microRNAs (miRNAs) as molecular tumor biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis in lung cancer is still unclear. OBJECTIVE: To analyze expression of miRNAs in A549 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells and in primary, non-malignant bronchial epithelial (BE) cells from healthy donors. To analyze the most prominently deregulated miRNAs in plasma samples of LUAD patients and healthy donors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of 752 miRNAs in LUAD and BE cells was assessed by RT-qPCR with mean-centering restricted normalization. The relative plasma levels of 18 miRNAs in LUAD patients and healthy donors were analyzed using RT-qPCR and normalized to miR-191-5p and miR-16-3p. Putative interactions between miRNAs and their target genes were investigated in silico. RESULTS: Out of 752 miRNAs, 37 miRNAs were significantly deregulated in A549 cells compared to BE cells. MiR-15b-3p, miR-148a-3p, miR-193b-3p, and miR-195-5p were significantly deregulated in plasma samples of LUAD patients compared to donors. The target genes of those four miRNAs are involved in essential mechanisms in cancer development and progression. CONCLUSIONS: There are substantial differences between cancer and control miRNA expression in vitro and in plasma samples of LUAD patients compared to healthy donors. Four deregulated miRNAs are promising as a diagnostic biomarker for adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Germline Variants in Angiogenesis-Related Genes Contribute to Clinical Outcome in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Simple Summary

A high risk of relapse and treatment resistance are among the major challenges in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Data show that common germline alterations in genes regulating angiogenesis may modulate treatment sensitivity, cancer progression, and prognosis, but relatively little is known about their role in HNSCC. Thus, our goal was to examine the effect of variation in these genes on survival outcomes in HNSCC patients receiving radiotherapy and cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy. We identified genetic variants significantly affecting therapy results, constituting independent prognostic factors in these patients. Our results suggest that some polymorphisms in angiogenesis genes may be determinants of treatment efficacy and tumor aggressiveness in HNSCC, which may be of importance in standard therapy. These findings emphasize the potential value of the host genetic profile related to angiogenesis in assessing the risk of treatment failure.

Abstract

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)/FGF receptor (FGFR), and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)/PDGF receptor (PDGFR) systems, as well as some matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs), are involved in various steps of angiogenesis. Data indicate that common germline variations in angiogenesis-regulating genes may modulate therapy results and cancer progression. However, whether these variants affect clinical outcome in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is unclear. Hence, we assessed the relationship between FGF/FGFR, PDGF/PDGFR, MMP, and TIMP genetic variants and treatment outcomes in HNSCC patients receiving radiotherapy (RT) alone or combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. In multivariate analysis, FGF2 rs1048201 CC homozygotes showed a higher risk of death (p = 0.039), while PDGFRA rs2228230 T was strongly associated with an increased risk of locoregional relapse (HR 2.49, p = 0.001) in the combination treatment subgroup. In the RT alone subset, MMP2 rs243865 TT carriers had a higher risk of locoregional recurrence (HR 2.92, p = 0.019), whereas PDGFRB rs246395 CC homozygotes were at increased risk of metastasis (HR 3.06, p = 0.041). The MMP2 rs7201 C and TIMP2 rs7501477 T were associated with a risk of locoregional failure in the entire cohort (p = 0.032 and 0.045, respectively). Furthermore, rs1048201, rs2228230, rs246395, rs243865, rs7201, and rs7201/rs7501477 were independent indicators of an unfavorable outcome. This study demonstrates that the FGF2, PDGFRA, PDGFRB, MMP2, and TIMP2 variants may contribute to treatment failure and poor prognosis in HNSCC.

FGF2 as a potential prognostic biomarker for proneural glioma patients

BACKGROUND

The survival of high-grade glioma patients is poor and the treatment of these patients can cause severe side effects. This fosters the necessity to identify prognostic biomarkers, in order to optimize treatment and diminish unnecessary suffering of patients. The aim of this study was to identify prognostic biomarkers for high-grade glioma patients.

METHODS

Eleven proteins were selected for analysis due to their suggested importance for survival of patients with other types of cancers and due to a high variation in protein levels between glioma patients (according to the Human Protein Atlas, www.proteinatlas.org). Protein expression patterns of these 11 proteins were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in tumor samples from 97 high-grade glioma patients. The prognostic values of the proteins were analyzed with univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses for the high-grade glioma patients, including subgroup analyses of histological subtypes and immunohistochemically defined molecular subtypes.

RESULTS

The proteins with the most significant (univariate and multivariate p<0.05) correlations were analyzed further with cross-validated Kaplan-Meier analyses for the possibility of predicting survival based on the protein expression pattern of the corresponding candidate. Random Forest classification with variable subset selection was used to analyze if a protein signature consisting of any combination of the 11 proteins could predict survival for the high-grade glioma patients and the subgroup with glioblastoma patients. The proteins which correlated most significantly (univariate and multivariate p<0.05) to survival in the Cox regression analyses were Myc for all high-grade gliomas and FGF2, CA9 and CD44 for the subgroup of proneural gliomas, with FGF2 having a strong negative predictive value for survival. No prognostic signature of the proteins could be found.

CONCLUSION

FGF2 is a potential prognostic biomarker for proneural glioma patients, and warrants further investigation.

Multiple roles of extracellular fibroblast growth factors in lung cancer cells

Cancer cells are surrounded by the extracellular fluid, matrix, and stroma cells. Little is known about how extracellular components such as growth factor ligands affect the biology of lung cancer cells. The objective of this study was to determine whether extracellular fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) can affect the biology of lung cancer cells and to understand how extracellular FGFs affect the biology of lung cancer cells, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells. Out of the 23 reported FGFs, we focused on FGF2, FGF9 and FGF10. We examined the effect of FGFs on proliferation, treatment sensitivity, and apoptosis of NSCLC (PC9) and SCLC (H69, H82 and H146) cells in vitro. To determine which FGF was the most clinically relevant, we also examined FGF2 and FGF9 concentrations in the serum of patients with lung cancer. We found that extracellular FGFs can affect proliferation, treatment sensitivity, and apoptosis of lung cancer cells in a cell-specific manner. Our results indicate that extracellular FGFs affect the biology of lung cancer cells through multiple functions.

MiR-152 suppresses the proliferation and invasion of NSCLC cells by inhibiting FGF2

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells. Here, we showed that miR-152 was downregulated in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-152 suppressed cell proliferation and colony formation and also limited migration and invasion. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) was confirmed as a direct target of miR-152. FGF2 knockdown suppressed cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, whereas FGF2 overexpression partially reversed the suppressive effect of miR-152. Furthermore, the presence of miR-152 was inversely correlated with FGF2 in NSCLC tissues. Overall, this study demonstrated that miR-152 suppressed the proliferation and invasion of NSCLC cells by downregulating FGF2. These findings provide novel insights with potential therapeutic applications for the treatment of NSCLC.