High-mobility group A2 overexpression is an unfavorable prognostic biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

HMGA2 promotes nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression and is associated with tumor resistance and poor prognosis

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), as one of the most prevalent malignancies in the head and neck region, still lacks a complete understanding of its pathogenesis. Presently, radiotherapy, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, and targeted therapy stand as the primary modalities for treating NPC. With advancements in medicine, the cure rates for nasopharyngeal carcinoma have been steadily increasing. Nevertheless, recurrence and metastasis persist as the primary reasons for treatment failure. Consequently, a profound exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying the occurrence and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, along with the exploration of corresponding therapeutic approaches, becomes particularly imperative in the quest for comprehensive solutions to combat this disease. High mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) is a pivotal protein capable of altering chromatin structure, regulating gene expression, and influencing transcriptional activity. In the realm of cancer research, HMGA2 exhibits widespread dysregulation, playing a crucial role in nearly all malignant tumors. It is implicated in various tumorigenic processes, including cell cycle regulation, cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, tumor invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. Additionally, HMGA2 serves as a molecular marker and an independent prognostic factor in certain malignancies. Recent studies have increasingly unveiled the critical role of HMGA2 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), particularly in promoting malignant progression, correlating with tumor resistance, and serving as an independent adverse prognostic factor. This review focuses on elucidating the oncogenic role of HMGA2 in NPC, suggesting its potential association with chemotherapy resistance in NPC, and proposing its candidacy as an independent factor in nasopharyngeal carcinoma prognosis assessment.

SNHG8 promotes cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells as an oncogene through miR-588/HMGA2 axis

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NC) poses a threat to the life of patients. Long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) is a novel kind of non-coding RNA, which plays a pivotal role through sponge microRNA (miRNA). Abnormal expression of small nucleolar RNA host gene 8 (SNHG8) is involved in various tumors; however, the role of SNHG8 in NC remains unknown. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting was employed to detect the expression levels of SNHG8, miR-588, and high mobility group A2 (HMGA2). Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were analyzed by CCK-8 and transwell assays. miR-588 binding sites in SNHG8 were predicted by LncBase analysis. Luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assay were used to confirm the interaction of SNHG8 and miR-588. SNHG8 was highly expressed in NC cells. The prognosis of the patients with NC in the high expression levels of SNHG8 was poorer than that in the low expression levels. The expression of SNHG8 was closely related to tumor size, TNM stage, and distal metastasis. Knockdown of SNHG8 inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of NC. SNHG8 targeted miR-588. Inhibition of miR-588 could partially reverse the knockdown of SNHG8 in NC cells, and miR-588 targeted HMGA2. In conclusion, SNHG8 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of NC cells through miR-588/HMGA2 in NC as an oncogene.

Elevated high mobility group A2 expression in liver cancer predicts poor patient survival

BACKGROUND

liver cancer is a malignant tumor with a high morbidity and mortality that endangers human health. High mobility group A2 (HMGA2) is a chromosome associated protein that participates in embryogenesis, tissue development, tumorigenesis and development.

OBJECTIVE

to explore the relationship between HMGA2 expression and the clinicopathological parameters and survival of liver cancer patients using The Cancer Genome Atlas Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) data.

METHODS

RNA-sequencing data and the corresponding clinical characteristics of the patients were downloaded from the Atlas database. The Chi-squared test was used to assess the relationship between HMGA2 expression and clinical variables. Cox regression analysis was used to compare survival rates between the high- and low-expressing groups; the p-values and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were compared using the log-rank test.

RESULTS

RNA-seq data from 373 cases of liver cancer cases were analyzed. HMGA2 was overexpressed in liver cancer and significantly associated with gender (p = 0.0357), T classification (p = 0.0063), clinical classification (p = 0.0026) and overall survival (p = 0.0386). According to the multivariate analysis, HMGA2 could independently predict overall survival in liver cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

HMGA2 independently predicts poor prognosis in liver cancer and serves as a molecular marker to determine disease prognosis.

High mobility group A protein-2 as a tumor cancer diagnostic and prognostic marker: a systematic review and meta-analysis

High mobility group A protein-2 (HMGA2) is an architectural transcription factor that binds to the A/T-rich DNA minor groove and is responsible for regulating transcriptional activity of multiple genes indirectly through chromatin change and assembling enhanceosome. HMGA2 is overexpressed in multiple tumor types, suggesting its involvement in cancer initiation and progression, thus, making it an ideal candidate for cancer diagnostic and prognostic. We performed a systematic review to examine the role of HMGA2 as a universal tumor cancer diagnostic and prognostic marker. We used Reporting Recommendations for Tumor Marker Prognostic Studies to systematically search OvidMedline, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library for English language studies, published between 1995 and June 2019. Meta-analysis provided pooled risk estimates and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for an association between overall survival and recurrence of cancers for studies with available estimates. We identified 42 eligible studies with a total of 5123 tumor samples in 15 types of cancer. The pooled percentage of HMGA2 gene expression in tumor samples was 65.14%. Meta-analysis showed that cancer patients with HMGA2 positive have significantly reduced survival, compared to patients without HMGA2 gene [pooled-hazard ratio (HR) = 1.85, 95% CI 1.48-2.22]. There was a positive association between cancer patients with HMGA2 overexpression and cancer recurrence though this association did not reach significance (pooled-HR = 1.44, 95% CI 0.80-2.07). Overexpression of HMGA2 was found in 15 types of cancer. There was an association between HMGA2 overexpression with reduced survival of cancer patients. HMGA2 is thus considered a promising universal tumor marker for prognostics.

MicroRNAs: Biogenesis, Functions and Potential Biomarkers for Early Screening, Prognosis and Therapeutic Molecular Monitoring of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

According to reports published, the aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of 19–25 nucleotide-long small non-coding RNAs, is responsible for human cancers, including nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). The dysregulation of miRNAs that act either as a tumor suppressor or oncogene, leading to a wide range of NPC pathogenesis pathways, includes the proliferation, invasion, migration as well as the metastasis of NPC cells. This article reviews and highlights recent advances in the studies of miRNAs in NPC, with a specific demonstration of the functions of miRNA, especially circulating miRNAs, in the pathway of NPC pathogenesis. Additionally, the possible use of miRNAs as early screening and prognostic biomarkers and for therapeutic molecular monitoring has been extensively studied.

Oncogenic role of HMGA2 in fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma cells

Background

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common pediatric soft tissue sarcoma. There are two subtypes, fusion gene-positive RMS (FP-RMS) and fusion gene-negative RMS (FN-RMS), depending on the presence of a fusion gene, either PAX3-FOXO1 or PAX7-FOXO1. These fusion genes are thought to be oncogenic drivers of FP-RMS. By contrast, the underlying mechanism of FN-RMS has not been thoroughly investigated. It has recently been shown that HMGA2 is specifically positive in pathological tissue from FN-RMS, but the role of HMGA2 in FN-RMS remains to be clarified.

Methods

In this study, we used FN-RMS cell lines to investigate the function of HMGA2. Gene expression, cell growth, cell cycle, myogenic differentiation, tumor formation in vivo, and cell viability under drug treatment were assessed.

Results

We found that HMGA2 was highly expressed in FN-RMS cells compared with FP-RMS cells and that knockdown of HMGA2 in FN-RMS cells inhibited cell growth and induced G1 phase accumulation in the cell cycle and myogenic differentiation. Additionally, we showed using both gain-of-function and loss-of-function assays that HMGA2 was required for tumor formation in vivo. Consistent with these findings, the HMGA2 inhibitor netropsin inhibited the cell growth of FN-RMS.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that HMGA2 has important role in the oncogenicity of FP-RMS and may be a potential therapeutic target in patients with FN-RMS.

Prognostic value of high mobility group protein A2 (HMGA2) over-expression in cancer progression

The high mobility group A2 (HMGA2; also called HMGI-C) gene is an architectural transcription factor that belonging to the high mobility group AT-hook (HMGA) gene family. HMGA2 is aberrantly regulated in several human tumors. Over-expression of HMGA2 is correlated with a higher risk of metastasis and an unfavorable prognosis in patients with cancer. We performed a meta-analysis to determine the clinic-pathological and prognostic value of HMGA2 overexpression in different human tumors. A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, MEDLINE, Google Scholar and ISI Web of Science. Hazard ratios (HRs)/odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association between HMGA2 expression and overall survival (OS)/progression free survival (PFS)/disease free survival (DFS). A total of 5319 patients with 19 different types of cancer from 35 articles were evaluated. Pooled data analysis indicated that increased HMGA2 expression in cancer patients predicted a poor OS (HR = 1.70; 95% CI = 1.6-1.81; P < 0.001; fixed-effect model). In subgroup analyses, high HMGA2 expression was particularly associated with poor OS in individuals with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer (HR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.83-1.96; fixed-effect model) and HNSCC cancer (HR-1.78, 95%CI: 1.44-2.21; fixed-effect model). Over-expression of HMGA2 was associated with vascular invasion (OR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.05-0.49; P = 0.001) and lymphatic invasion (OR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.06-3.38; P = 0.032). Further studies should be conducted to validate the prognostic value of HMGA2 for patients with GI cancers.

NEAT1 is a potential prognostic biomarker for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) has been found to be dysregulated and associated with clinical progression in various human cancers. The clinical and prognostic value of NEAT1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) was still controversial. The aim of our study was to provide more sufficient evidence that NEAT1 expression is correlated with overall survival in patients with NPC. NEAT1 expression was detected in NPC tissue samples, and the relationship between NEAT1 expression and clinical parameters, including prognosis, was analyzed. The meta-analysis was performed to further assess the prognostic significance of NEAT1 expression in patients with NPC. In our study, we found that the levels of NEAT1 expression were increased in NPC clinical tissue specimens, and associated with advanced M classification and clinical stages. Moreover, the Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that the levels of NEAT1 expression were negatively associated with the overall survival of patients with NPC. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses showed that NEAT1 high-expression was an independent unfavorable prognostic factor in patients with NPC. Finally, we conducted a meta-analysis including 297 patients with NPC from the three studies, and found the pooled HR (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 1.64 (95% CI: 0.68-3.93) for the random effects model and 2.04 (95% CI: 1.42-2.95) for the fixed effect model. In conclusion, NEAT1 is a potential prognostic biomarker for NPC, but more studies are needed to further verify the prognostic value of NEAT1 in patients with NPC.

Prognostic Value of HMGA2 in Human Cancers: A Meta-Analysis Based on Literatures and TCGA Datasets

Background: Emerging evidences have shown that the high-mobility group protein A2 (HMGA2) can aberrantly express in human cancers, and it could be an unfavorable prognostic factor in cancer patients. However, the prognostic value of HMGA2 was still unclear. Therefore, in this study, we explored the potential prognostic value of HMGA2 in human cancers by using meta-analysis based on published literatures and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets.

Methods: Through searching PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases, we were able to identify the studies evaluating the prognostic value of HMGA2 in cancers. Then, UALCAN and TCGA datasets were used to validate the results of our meta-analysis.

Results: In all, 15 types of cancers were included in this meta-analysis. Pooled results showed that high level of HMGA2 was significantly correlated with poor OS (HR = 1.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.68-2.11, P < 0.001) and poor DFS (HR = 2.49, 95% CI = 1.44-4.28, P = 0.001) in cancer patients. However, subgroup analyses revealed that the high expressed HMGA2 was associated with poor OS in head and neck cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer, but not esophageal cancer and ovarian cancer. Based on TCGA datasets, we analyzed 9944 patients with 33 types of cancers. Significant association between HMGA2 overexpression and poor OS was found in 14 types of cancers. Taken together, consistent results were observed in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma, head and neck cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Conclusion: Our meta-analysis showed the significance of HMGA2 and its prognostic value in various cancers. High level of HMGA2 could be associated with poor OS in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, head and neck cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, but not esophageal adenocarcinoma and ovarian carcinoma.

To Explore the Mechanism of the GRM4 Gene in Osteosarcoma by RNA Sequencing and Bioinformatics Approach

Background

Glutamate metabotropic receptor 4 (GRM4) has been correlated with the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma. The objective of this study was to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of GRM4 in osteosarcoma.

Material/Methods

The expression levels of GRM4 in four human osteosarcoma cell lines and hFOB1.19 cells were examined by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The U2OS cells of the highest GRM4 expression were transfected with lentivirus-mediated small interfering RNA (siRNA). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after GRM4 gene silencing were screened through RNA sequencing, and analyzed by bioinformatics. Additionally, the transcription factors (TFs) targeting GRM4 were predicted and the downstream protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the bioinformatics approach.

Results

A total of 51 significant DEGs were obtained, including 14 upregulated and 37 downregulated DEGs. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs indicated that four significant enrichment pathways were obtained. A total of six TFs that could be involved in the transcriptional regulation of GRM4 were detected. The results showed that 182 genes in the PPI network were significantly enriched in 14 pathways. The chemokines and chemokine receptors were found to be significantly enriched in three pathways.

Conclusions

The DEGs in the four significant enrichment pathways might participate in the development and progression of osteosarcoma through GRM4. The results revealed that EGR1 and CTCF are probably involved in the transcriptional regulation of GRM4, which participates in the progress of osteosarcoma by interacting with chemokines and their receptors.

High mobility group protein A2 overexpression indicates poor prognosis for cancer patients: a meta-analysis

Overexpression of the high mobility group protein A2 (HMGA2), an architectural transcription factor, has been linked to poor prognosis in many malignancies, although this remains controversial. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate whether HMGA2 has prognostic value, and evaluated the association between HMGA2 and clinicopathologic factors in malignancies. A total of 29 studies involving 4114 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated that elevated HMGA2 predicted a poor overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.62-2.05; P < 0.001) and disease-free survival/progression-free survival/recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.94; 95% CI = 1.27-2.98; P = 0.002). Subgroup analysis conducted by study region, sample size, detection method, and analysis method indicated that HMGA2 overexpression correlated with poor OS. Furthermore, HMGA2 overexpression was found to be linked to poor OS in various cancers except ovarian cancer (pooled HR = 1.14; 95% CI = 0.62-2.09; P = 0.673). High HMGA2 expression level also correlated with advanced TNM stage (OR = 2.44; 95% CI =1.87-3.2; P < 0.001), lymphovascular invasion (OR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.67-3.64; P < 0.001), distant metastasis (OR = 2.66; 95% CI =1.51-4.69; P < 0.001), and lymph node metastasis (OR = 1.83; 95% CI =1.27-2.64; P = 0.001). In conclusion, HMGA2 overexpression indicates a worse prognosis and may serve as a prognostic predictor in cancer patients.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HMGA2 overexpression in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis

Background

High mobility group protein A2 (HMGA2) overexpression has been reported to be closely related to tumor progression [1-4] and indicate significantly worse overall survival in gastric cancer [5-8]. However, a final consensus regarding this issue has not yet been reached. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between HMGA2 expression and prognosis of gastric cancer patients.

Methods

The Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science and China Biology Medicine databases were searched to identify eligible literature published prior to September 2016. In the included studies, the level of HMGA2 amplification was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. We performed a meta-analysis, and pooled relative risk (RRs), hazard ratio (HRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were analyzed using Review Manager 5.3.

Results

Six studies [5-7, 9-11] involving 712 gastric cancer patients were included and stratified by HMGA2 amplification magnitude. The results of the analysis indicated that higher HMGA2 levels were associated with several clinicopathological parameters and predicted poor prognosis in terms of overall survival (OS).

Conclusions

The results of the present study indicate that higher HMGA2 levels were significantly associated with TNM stage, lymph node status, vascular invasion, and poor OS in patients with gastric cancer. In conclusion, HMGA2 may serve as a promising prognostic biomarker in gastric cancer.

The transcriptional modulator HMGA2 promotes stemness and tumorigenicity in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) contains a population of stem-like cells that promote tumor invasion and resistance to therapy. Identifying and targeting stem cell factors in GBM may lead to the development of more effective therapies. High Mobility Group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) is a transcriptional modulator that mediates motility and self-renewal in normal and cancer stem cells. We identified increased expression of HMGA2 in the majority of primary human GBM tumors and cell lines compared to normal brain. Additionally, HMGA2 expression was increased in CD133+ GBM neurosphere cells compared to CD133- cells. Targeting HMGA2 with lentiviral short hairpin RNA (shRNA) led to decreased GBM stemness, invasion, and tumorigenicity. Ectopic expression of HMGA2 in GBM cell lines promoted stemness, invasion, and tumorigenicity. Our data suggests that targeting HMGA2 in GBM may be therapeutically beneficial.

Prognostic significance of Traf2- and Nck- interacting kinase (TNIK) in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND

The potential of expression profiling using microarray analysis as a tool to predict the prognosis for different types of cancer has been realized. This study aimed to identify a novel biomarker for colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS

The expression profiles of cancer cells in 152 patients with stage I-III CRC were examined using microarray analysis. High expression in CRC cells, especially in patients with distant recurrences, was a prerequisite to select candidate genes. Thus, we identified seventeen candidate genes, and selected Traf2- and Nck-interacting kinase (TNIK), which was known to be associated with progression in CRC through Wnt signaling pathways. We analyzed the protein expression of TNIK using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and investigated the relationship between protein expression and patient characteristics in 220 stage I-III CRC patients.

RESULTS

Relapse-free survival was significantly worse in the TNIK high expression group than in the TNIK low expression group in stage II (p = 0.028) and stage III (p = 0.006) patients. In multivariate analysis, high TNIK expression was identified as a significant independent risk factor of distant recurrence in stage III patients.

CONCLUSION

This study is the first to demonstrate the prognostic significance of intratumoral TNIK protein expression in clinical tissue samples of CRC, in that high expression of TNIK protein in primary tumors was associated with distant recurrence in stage II and III CRC patients. This TNIK IHC study might contribute to practical decision-making in the treatment of these patients.