Upregulated OCT3 has the potential to improve the survival of colorectal cancer patients treated with (m)FOLFOX6 adjuvant chemotherapy

Loss of ZNF215 imprinting is associated with poor five-year survival in patients with cytogenetically abnormal-acute myeloid leukemia

Genomic imprinting is a form of epigenetic regulation and imprinted genes are silenced in a parental-specific manner. Imprinting is associated with various human diseases and cancers, but its roles in leukemogenesis remains elusive. In this study, the expression of a panel of 16 human imprinted genes was investigated using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and 8 of them were further validated in 114 patients newly diagnosed with cytogenetically abnormal-acute myeloid leukemia (CA-AML) and 85 healthy subjects. Our results demonstrated upregulated expression of 8 imprinted genes (C15orf2, COPG2, H19, IGF2, PEG3-AS1, PRIM2, SLC22A3 and ZNF215) was observed in patients with CA-AML (p < 0.001). Patients' survival days were negatively correlated with the expression levels of H19 (p = 0.024), PGE3-AS1 (p = 0.038), and ZNF215 (p = 0.012). Multivariate logistic regression analysis further revealed the expression level ZNF215 can be used as a predictor for five-year survival for patients with CA-AML (p = 0.009) with a hazard ratio of 0.870 (95.0% confident interval: 0.784-0.965). Our results demonstrated that loss of imprinting of imprinted genes is critical for the leukemogenesis of AML under CA condition, and loss of ZNF215 imprinting is associated with poor five-year survival of patients with CA-AML.

How Dysregulated Ion Channels and Transporters Take a Hand in Esophageal, Liver, and Colorectal Cancer

Over the last two decades, the understanding of how dysregulated ion channels and transporters are involved in carcinogenesis and tumor growth and progression, including invasiveness and metastasis, has been increasing exponentially. The present review specifies virtually all ion channels and transporters whose faulty expression or regulation contributes to esophageal, hepatocellular, and colorectal cancer. The variety reaches from Ca²⁺, K⁺, Na⁺, and Cl^- channels over divalent metal transporters, Na⁺ or Cl^- coupled Ca²⁺, HCO₃^- and H⁺ exchangers to monocarboxylate carriers and organic anion and cation transporters. In several cases, the underlying mechanisms by which these ion channels/transporters are interwoven with malignancies have been fully or at least partially unveiled. Ca²⁺, Akt/NF-κB, and Ca²⁺- or pH-dependent Wnt/β-catenin signaling emerge as cross points through which ion channels/transporters interfere with gene expression, modulate cell proliferation, trigger epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and promote cell motility and metastasis. Also miRs, lncRNAs, and DNA methylation represent potential links between the misexpression of genes encoding for ion channels/transporters, their malfunctioning, and cancer. The knowledge of all these molecular interactions has provided the basis for therapeutic strategies and approaches, some of which will be broached in this review.

Identification of Prognostic Organic Cation and Anion Transporters in Different Cancer Entities by In Silico Analysis

The information derived from next generation sequencing technology allows the identification of deregulated genes, gene mutations, epigenetic modifications, and other genomic events that are associated with a given tumor entity. Its combination with clinical data allows the prediction of patients’ survival with a specific gene expression pattern. Organic anion transporters and organic cation transporters are important proteins that transport a variety of substances across membranes. They are also able to transport drugs that are used for the treatment of cancer and could be used to improve treatment. In this study, we have made use of publicly available data to analyze if the expression of organic anion transporters or organic cation transporters have a prognostic value for a given tumor entity. The expression of most organic cation transporters is prognostic favorable. Within the organic anion transporters, the ratio between favorable and unfavorable organic anion transporters is nearly equal for most tumor entities and only in liver cancer is the number of unfavorable genes two times higher compared to favorable genes. Within the favorable genes, UNC13B, and SFXN2 cover nine cancer types and in the same way, SLC2A1, PLS3, SLC16A1, and SLC16A3 within the unfavorable set of genes and could serve as novel target structures.