EGR1/2 Inhibits Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Cell Growth by Suppressing the Expression of PTEN and BAX

Semaphorin 4A Maintains Trophoblastic Function via Activating the STAT3 Pathway

The migration, proliferation, and apoptosis of trophoblastic cells play a crucial role in ensuring the effective preservation of pregnancy at the maternal-fetal interface. Any deviations in the structure and function of these cells might potentially result in the development of numerous pregnancy-related disorders, including missed abortion (MA). This study involved the examination of semaphorin 4A (SEMA4A) expression in missed abortion (n = 18) and normal early pregnancy (n = 18) villus. The findings of this study indicate a statistically significant decrease in the expression of SEMA4A in the villi of individuals diagnosed with missed abortion, as compared to the control group. The results of our vitro study showed that SEMA4A promoted the migration and proliferation of trophoblast cells and inhibited their apoptosis. Subsequent studies have shown that SEMA4A may be involved in regulating p-STAT3/STAT3, MMP9, bcl-2, and BAX levels. In summary, the findings of this study indicate a correlation between the decreased level of SEMA4A in chorionic villi and missed abortion. These results offer novel theoretical insights into the proper implantation and development of SEMA4A embryos at the maternal-fetal interface.

Stemness signature and targeted therapeutic drugs identification for Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer and carries the worst prognosis, characterized by the lack of progesterone, estrogen, and HER2 gene expression. This study aimed to analyze cancer stemness-related gene signature to determine patients' risk stratification and prognosis feature with TNBC. Here one-class logistic regression (OCLR) algorithm was applied to compute the stemness index of TNBC patients. Cox and LASSO regression analysis was performed on stemness-index related genes to establish 16 genes-based prognostic signature, and their predictive performance was verified in TCGA and METABERIC merged data cohort. We diagnosed the expression level of prognostic genes signature in the tumor immune microenvironment, analyzed the TNBC scRNA-seq GSE176078 dataset, and further validated the expression level of prognostic genes using the HPA database. Finally, the small molecular compounds targeted at the anti-tumor effect of predictive genes were screened by molecular docking; this novel stemness-based prognostic genes signature study could facilitate the prognosis of patients with TNBC and thus provide a feasible therapeutic target for TNBC.

Inflammatory cytokine-regulated LNCPTCTS suppresses thyroid cancer progression via enhancing Snail nuclear export

Lymph node metastases are commonly observed in diverse malignancies where they promote cancer progression and poor outcomes, although the molecular basis is incompletely understood. Thyroid cancer is the most prevalent endocrine neoplasm characterized by high frequency of lymph node metastases. Here, we uncover an inflammatory cytokines-controlled epigenetic program during thyroid cancer progression. LNCPTCTS acts as a novel tumor suppressive lncRNA with remarkably decreased expression in thyroid cancer specimens, especially in metastatic lymph nodes. Inflammatory cytokines TNFα or CXCL10, which are released from tumor microenvironment (TME), impair binding capabilities of the transcription factor (TF) EGR1 to the LNCPTCTS promoter and reduce the lncRNA expression in cells. Notably, LNCPTCTS binds to eEF1A2 protein and facilitates the interaction between eEF1A2 and Snail, which promotes Snail nucleus export via the RanGTP-Exp5-aa-tRNA-eEF1A2 complex. Loss of LNCPTCTS in tumors leads to accumulation of Snail in the nucleus, suppressed transcription of E-cadherin and PEBP1, reduced E-cadherin and PEBP1 protein levels, and activated epithelial-mesenchymal transition and MAPK signaling. Our results reveal what we believe to be a novel paradigm between TME and epigenetic reprogram in cancer cells which drives lymph node metastases, therefore illuminating the suitability of LNCPTCTS as a targetable vulnerability in thyroid cancer.

Identifying and analyzing the key genes shared by papillary thyroid carcinoma and Hashimoto's thyroiditis using bioinformatics methods

Background

Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is a chronic autoimmune disease that poses a risk factor for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The present study aimed to identify the key genes shared by HT and PTC for advancing the current understanding of their shared pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms.

Methods

HT- and PTC-related datasets (GSE138198 and GSE33630, respectively) were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Genes significantly related to the PTC phenotype were identified using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between PTC and healthy samples from GSE33630, and between HT and normal samples from GSE138198. Subsequently, functional enrichment analysis was performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Transcription factors and miRNAs regulating the common genes in PTC and HT were forecasted using the Harmonizome and miRWalk databases, respectively, and drugs targeting these genes were investigated using the Drug-Gene Interaction Database (DGIdb). The key genes in both GSE138198 and GSE33630 were further identified via Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. The expression of key genes was verified in external validation set and clinical samples using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC).

Results

In total, 690 and 1945 DEGs were associated with PTC and HT, respectively; of these, 56 were shared and exhibited excellent predictive accuracy in the GSE138198 and GSE33630 cohorts. Notably, four genes, Alcohol Dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B), Active BCR-related (ABR), alpha-1 antitrypsin (SERPINA1), and lysophosphatidic acid receptor 5 (LPAR5) were recognized as key genes shared by HT and PTC. Subsequently, EGR1 was identified as a common transcription factor regulating ABR, SERPINA1, and LPAR5 expression. These findings were confirmed using qRT-PCR and immunohistochemical analysis.

Conclusion

Four (ADH1B, ABR, SERPINA1, and LPAR5) out of 56 common genes exhibited diagnostic potential in HT and PTC. Notably, this study, for the first time, defined the close relationship between ABR and HT/PTC progression. Overall, this study provides a basis for understanding the shared pathogenesis and underlying molecular mechanisms of HT and PTC, which might help improve patient diagnosis and prognosis.

Potential Anti-Tumor Activity of Nardoguaianone L Isolated from Nardostachys jatamansi DC. in SW1990 Cells

Natural products (NPs) were a rich source of diverse bioactive molecules. Most anti-tumor agents were built on natural scaffolds. Nardostachys jatamansi DC. was an important plant used to process the traditional Chinese herbal medicines “gansong”. Pancreatic cancer was the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. Hence, there was an urgent need to develop novel agents for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. In this paper, nardoguaianone L (G-6) is isolated from N. jatamansi, which inhibited SW1990 cells colony formation and cell migration, and induced cell apoptosis. Furthermore, we analyzed the differential expression proteins after treatment with G-6 in SW1990 cells by using iTRAQ/TMT-based quantitative proteomics technology, and the results showed that G-6 regulated 143 proteins’ differential expression by GO annotation, including biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. Meanwhile, KEGG enrichment found that with Human T-cell leukemia virus, one infection was the most highly enhanced pathway. Furthermore, the MET/PTEN/TGF-β pathway was identified as a significant pathway that had important biological functions, including cell migration and motility by PPI network analysis in SW1990 cells. Taken together, our study found that G-6 is a potential anti-pancreatic cancer agent with regulation of MET/PTEN/TGF-β pathway.

The Landscape of Early Growth Response Family Members 1-4 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Their Biological Roles and Diagnostic Utility

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is one of the most frequent types of cancer seen all over the world, is steadily growing from year to year. EGR genes are members of the early growth response (EGR) gene family. It has been shown that EGR genes play an increasingly essential role in the development of tumors and the progression of numerous malignancies. However, the possible diagnostic and prognostic roles of EGR genes in HCC have only been examined in a limited number of studies. Expression and methylation data on EGR family members were obtained from TCGA datasets. The prognostic values of EGR members were studied. Additionally, the correlations of EGR members with immune cells were assessed through the single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). In this study, we found that the expression of EGR1, EGR2, EGR3, and EGR4 was distinctly decreased in HCC specimens compared with nontumor specimens. ROC assays confirmed that they have a strong ability in screening HCC specimens from nontumor specimens. According to the findings of Pearson's correlation, EGR1, EGR2, EGR3, and EGR4 were found to have a negative association with the methylation level. Survival study revealed that EGR1, EGR2, and EGR3 were associated with the clinical outcome of HCC patients. Immune cell enrichment analysis demonstrated that the expressions of all EGR members were positively related to the levels of most types of immune cells, such as macrophages, NK cells, B cells, T cells, eosinophils, and CD8 T cells. Overall, the current work demonstrated the expression mode and prognostic value of EGR members in HCC in a comprehensive manner, offering insights for further research of the EGR family as possible clinical biomarkers in HCC.

Computational Recognition of a Regulatory T-cell-specific Signature With Potential Implications in Prognosis, Immunotherapy, and Therapeutic Resistance of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer, recognized as a "cold" tumor, has an immunosuppressive microenvironment in which regulatory T cells (Tregs) usually play a major role. Therefore, identifying a prognostic signature of Tregs has promising benefits of improving survival of prostate cancer patients. However, the traditional methods of Treg quantification usually suffer from bias and variability. Transcriptional characteristics have recently been found to have a predictive power for the infiltration of Tregs. Thus, a novel machine learning-based computational framework has been presented using Tregs and 19 other immune cell types using 42 purified immune cell datasets from GEO to identify Treg-specific mRNAs, and a prognostic signature of Tregs (named "TILTregSig") consisting of five mRNAs (SOCS2, EGR1, RRM2, TPP1, and C11orf54) was developed and validated to monitor the prognosis of prostate cancer using the TCGA and ICGC datasets. The TILTregSig showed a stronger predictive power for tumor immunity compared with tumor mutation burden and glycolytic activity, which have been reported as immune predictors. Further analyses indicate that the TILTregSig might influence tumor immunity mainly by mediating tumor-infiltrating Tregs and could be a powerful predictor for Tregs in prostate cancer. Moreover, the TILTregSig showed a promising potential for predicting cancer immunotherapy (CIT) response in five CIT response datasets and therapeutic resistance in the GSCALite dataset in multiple cancers. Our TILTregSig derived from PBMCs makes it possible to achieve a straightforward, noninvasive, and inexpensive detection assay for prostate cancer compared with the current histopathological examination that requires invasive tissue puncture, which lays the foundation for the future development of a panel of different molecules in peripheral blood comprising a biomarker of prostate cancer.