Expression of miR-34a and miR-15b during the progression of cervical cancer in a murine model expressing the HPV16 E7 oncoprotein

Laurencia johnstonii extract reverses early lesions in the K14E7HPV16 murine cervical carcinogenesis model

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is a well-established risk factor to the development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), a condition that can progress to cervical cancer (CC) a major health problem worldwide. Recently, there has been growing interest in exploring alternative therapies utilizing natural products, among which is the algae species Laurencia johnstonii Setchell & Gardner, 1924 (L. johnstonii), proposed for the management of precancerous lesions. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of an organic extract from L. johnstonii (ELj) in early cervical lesions (CIN 1). These CIN 1 lesions were generated in a murine model expressing the HR-HPV16 E7 oncoprotein (K14E7HPV transgenic mice) with a single exogenous hormonal stimulus using 17β-estradiol. The histopathological studies, the determination of cell proliferation and of the apoptotic levels in cervical tissue, showed that, seven doses of ELj (30 mg/kg weight per day diluted in a DMSO-saline solution [1:7]) lead to recovery the architecture of cervical epithelium. Accordingly, in the transgenic mice it was observed a statistically significant decrease of the PCNA expression levels, a marker of cell proliferation, and a statistically significant increase in the apoptosis levels using Caspase 3 as a marker. In addition, we determined the expression levels of the tumor suppressor miR-218 and the oncomiRNA miR-21. Interestingly, our results may suggest that ELj treatment tended to restore the normal expression of both miRNAs as compared with controls being more evident in the non-transgenic induced mice. Differences of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant through the whole study. Based on these results, we propose that the use of ELj could be an alternative for the treatment of cervical early lesions.

N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine Reduces Cervical Carcinogenesis by Promoting Apoptosis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women, and is one of the most common malignant tumors of the reproductive system. However, more effective treatment for cervical cancer is needed. In this study, we aim to investigate whether N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) could inhibit the proliferation of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive cells, and reduce cervical carcinogenesis.

METHODS

The cervical cancer cell lines SiHa, HeLa, HPV-negative cell line C33A, and the immortalized human cervical keratinocyte cells S12 were used. The protein expression was determined using Western blot assay. mRNA expression was determined using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Cell proliferation was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was evaluated using Annexin V-FITC apoptosis kits. The numbers of colonies were measured using colony-forming assay. Xenograft tumor necrosis and HPV16 E7 expression were determined using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

Our results showed that NAC treatment at the concentration of 1.5 mM significantly promoted cell apoptosis and reduced cell growth by inhibiting HPV16 E7 expression. NAC inhibited HPV16-oncoprotein-induced hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α protein expression and Akt activation in vitro. Additionally, NAC suppressed tumor growth, as evidenced by the smaller tumor size in the xenograft mouse model and decreased HPV16 E7 expression in tumor tissues.

CONCLUSION

Our findings demonstrate that NAC exhibits the potential to promote HPV-positive cell apoptosis, and suppress the proliferation of HPV-positive cells by inhibiting cell inhibitor of apoptosis protein 2 and HIF-1α.

DAESTB: inferring associations of small molecule-miRNA via a scalable tree boosting model based on deep autoencoder

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are closely related to a variety of human diseases, not only regulating gene expression, but also having an important role in human life activities and being viable targets of small molecule drugs for disease treatment. Current computational techniques to predict the potential associations between small molecule and miRNA are not that accurate. Here, we proposed a new computational method based on a deep autoencoder and a scalable tree boosting model (DAESTB), to predict associations between small molecule and miRNA. First, we constructed a high-dimensional feature matrix by integrating small molecule-small molecule similarity, miRNA-miRNA similarity and known small molecule-miRNA associations. Second, we reduced feature dimensionality on the integrated matrix using a deep autoencoder to obtain the potential feature representation of each small molecule-miRNA pair. Finally, a scalable tree boosting model is used to predict small molecule and miRNA potential associations. The experiments on two datasets demonstrated the superiority of DAESTB over various state-of-the-art methods. DAESTB achieved the best AUC value. Furthermore, in three case studies, a large number of predicted associations by DAESTB are confirmed with the public accessed literature. We envision that DAESTB could serve as a useful biological model for predicting potential small molecule-miRNA associations.

Overexpression of miR-3653 is Associated with HPV Infection and Serves as a Biomarker in Patients with Cervical Cancer

Background

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause of cervical cancer (CC) occurrence. This study aimed to explore whether abnormal microRNA (miR)-3653 is associated with HPV infection and to investigate the clinical value of miR-3653 in the diagnosis and prognosis of CC.

Methods

Tumor tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were collected from 136 patients with CC. Cervical tissues from 101 patients with uterine fibroids were collected as controls. The expression of miR-3653 was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. The ability of miR-3653 to discriminate between HPV positive (HPV+) and HPV negative (HPV-) CC patients, and to discriminate patients from controls was assessed by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Kaplan–Meier curves and Log rank tests were used to evaluate the relationship of miR-3653 with survival of CC patient. Whether miR-3653 could function as a prognostic indicator was evaluated by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses.

Results

miR-3653, highly expressed in CC tissues, was associated with HPV infection, tumor diameter, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and lymph node metastasis in CC patients. Additionally, miR-3653 was increased in HPV+ controls, CC patients and CC cells. Moreover, miR-3653 could screen HPV+ controls, screen HPV+ patients and screen CC patients. Furthermore, miR-3653 was associated with the survival of CC patients (log-rank P < 0.001) and could serve as an independent prognostic indicator for CC patients.

Conclusion

miR-3653, increased in CC, is related to HPV infection and may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for CC patients.

RNA-based gene targeting therapies for human papillomavirus driven cancers

While platinum-based chemotherapy, radiation therapy and or surgery are effective in reducing human papillomavirus (HPV) driven cancer tumours, they have some significant drawbacks, including low specificity for tumour, toxicity, and severe adverse effects. Though current therapies for HPV-driven cancers are effective, severe late toxicity associated with current treatments contributes to the deterioration of patient quality of life. This warrants the need for novel therapies for HPV derived cancers. In this short review, we examined RNA-based therapies targeting the major HPV oncogenes, including short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) as putative treatment modalities. We also explore other potential RNA-based targeting approaches such as microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and mRNA vaccines as future treatment modalities for HPV cancers. Some of these technologies have already been approved for clinical use for a range of other human diseases but not for HPV cancers. Here we explore the emerging evidence supporting the effectiveness of some of these gene-based therapies for HPV malignancies. In short, the evidence sheds promising light on the feasibility of translating these technologies into a clinically relevant treatment modality for HPV derived cancers and potentially other virally driven human cancers.

Epigenetic Dysregulations in Merkel Cell Polyomavirus-Driven Merkel Cell Carcinoma

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is a small DNA virus with oncogenic potential. MCPyV is the causative agent of Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC), a rare but aggressive tumor of the skin. The role of epigenetic mechanisms, such as histone posttranslational modifications (HPTMs), DNA methylation, and microRNA (miRNA) regulation on MCPyV-driven MCC has recently been highlighted. In this review, we aim to describe and discuss the latest insights into HPTMs, DNA methylation, and miRNA regulation, as well as their regulative factors in the context of MCPyV-driven MCC, to provide an overview of current findings on how MCPyV is involved in the dysregulation of these epigenetic processes. The current state of the art is also described as far as potentially using epigenetic dysregulations and related factors as diagnostic and prognostic tools is concerned, in addition to targets for MCPyV-driven MCC therapy. Growing evidence suggests that the dysregulation of HPTMs, DNA methylation, and miRNA pathways plays a role in MCPyV-driven MCC etiopathogenesis, which, therefore, may potentially be clinically significant for this deadly tumor. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms and related factors may improve diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy for MCPyV-driven MCC.