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Li X, Tang L, Chen Q, Cheng X, Liu Y, Wang C, Zhu C, Xu K, Gao F, Huang J, Wang R, Guan X. Inhibition of MYC suppresses programmed cell death ligand-1 expression and enhances immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer. Chin Med J (Engl) 2022; 135:2436-2445. [PMID: 36583862 PMCID: PMC9945371 DOI: 10.1097/cm9.0000000000002329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising strategy against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). One of the immunosuppressive pathways involves programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1), but many patients derived little benefit from PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint blockades treatment. Prior research has shown that MYC, a master transcription amplifier highly expressed in TNBC cells, can regulate the tumor immune microenvironment and constrain the efficacy of immunotherapy. This study aims to investigate the regulatory relationship between MYC and PD-L1, and whether a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor that inhibits MYC expression in combination with anti-PD-L1 antibodies can enhance the response to immunotherapy. METHODS Public databases and TNBC tissue microarrays were used to study the correlation between MYC and PD-L1. The expression of MYC and PD-L1 in TNBCs was examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. A patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) model was used to evaluate the influence of a CDK7 inhibitor THZ1 on PD-L1 expression. Cell proliferation and migration were detected by 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) cell proliferation and cell migration assays. Tumor xenograft models were established for in vivo verification. RESULTS A high MYC expression level was associated with a poor prognosis and could alter the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs). The positive correlation between MYC and PD-L1 was confirmed by immunostaining samples from 165 TNBC patients. Suppression of MYC in TNBC caused a reduction in the levels of both PD-L1 messenger RNA and protein. In addition, antitumor immune response was enhanced in the TNBC cancer xenograft mouse model with suppression of MYC by CDK7 inhibitor THZ1. CONCLUSIONS The combined therapy of CDK7 inhibitor THZ1 and anti-PD-L1 antibody appeared to have a synergistic effect, which might offer new insight for enhancing immunotherapy in TNBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xintong Li
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Lin Tang
- Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China
| | - Qin Chen
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Xumin Cheng
- Department of Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Yiqiu Liu
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Cenzhu Wang
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Chengjun Zhu
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Kun Xu
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Fangyan Gao
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Jinyi Huang
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Runtian Wang
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
| | - Xiaoxiang Guan
- Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
- Jiangsu Key Lab of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention and Treatment, Collaborative Innovation Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China
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In silico simulation of the effect of hypoxia on MCF-7 cell cycle kinetics under fractionated radiotherapy. J Biol Phys 2021; 47:301-321. [PMID: 34533654 DOI: 10.1007/s10867-021-09580-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The treatment outcome of a given fractionated radiotherapy scheme is affected by oxygen tension and cell cycle kinetics of the tumor population. Numerous experimental studies have supported the variability of radiosensitivity with cell cycle phase. Oxygen modulates the radiosensitivity through hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) stabilization and oxygen fixation hypothesis (OFH) mechanism. In this study, an existing mathematical model describing cell cycle kinetics was modified to include the oxygen-dependent G1/S transition rate and radiation inactivation rate. The radiation inactivation rate used was derived from the linear-quadratic (LQ) model with dependence on oxygen enhancement ratio (OER), while the oxygen-dependent correction for the G1/S phase transition was obtained from numerically solving the ODE system of cyclin D-HIF dynamics at different oxygen tensions. The corresponding cell cycle phase fractions of aerated MCF-7 tumor population, and the resulting growth curve obtained from numerically solving the developed mathematical model were found to be comparable to experimental data. Two breast radiotherapy fractionation schemes were investigated using the mathematical model. Results show that hypoxia causes the tumor to be more predominated by the tumor subpopulation in the G1 phase and decrease the fractional contribution of the more radioresistant tumor cells in the S phase. However, the advantage provided by hypoxia in terms of cell cycle phase distribution is largely offset by the radioresistance developed through OFH. The delayed proliferation caused by severe hypoxia slightly improves the radiotherapy efficacy compared to that with mild hypoxia for a high overall treatment duration as demonstrated in the 40-Gy fractionation scheme.
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Sabit H, Tombuloglu H, Cevik E, Abdel-Ghany S, El-Zawahri E, El-Sawy A, Isik S, Al-Suhaimi E. Knockdown of c-MYC Controls the Proliferation of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells in vitro via Dynamic Regulation of Key Apoptotic Marker Genes. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR MEDICINE 2021; 10:45-55. [PMID: 34268253 PMCID: PMC8256829 DOI: 10.22088/ijmcm.bums.10.1.45] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 05/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant epithelial cancer occurring in the oral cavity, where it accounts for nearly 90% of all oral cavity neoplasms. The c-MYC transcription factor plays an important role in the control of programmed cell death, normal-to-malignant cellular transformation, and progression of the cell cycle. However, the role of c-MYC in controlling the proliferation of OSCC cells is not well known. In this study, c-MYC gene was silenced in OSCC cells (ORL-136T), and molecular and cellular responses were screened. To identify the pathway through which cell death occurred, cytotoxicity, colony formation, western blotting, caspase-3, and RT-qPCR analyzes were performed. Results indicated that knockdown of c-MYC has resulted in a significant decrease in the cell viability and c-MYC protein synthesis. Furthermore, caspase-3 was shown to be upregulated leading to apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway. In response to c-MYC knockdown, eight cell proliferation-associated genes showed variable expression profiles: c-MYC (-21.2), p21 (-2.5), CCNA1(1.8), BCL2 (-1.4), p53(-3.7), BAX(1.1), and CYCS (19.3). p27 expression was dramatically decreased in c-MYC-silenced cells in comparison with control, and this might indicate that the relative absence of c-MYC triggered intrinsic apoptosis in OSCC cells via p27 and CYCS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hussein Sabit
- Department of Genetics, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
| | - Huseyin Tombuloglu
- Department of Genetics, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
| | - Emre Cevik
- Department of Genetics, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
| | - Shaimaa Abdel-Ghany
- College of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt
| | - Engy El-Zawahri
- College of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt
| | - Amr El-Sawy
- College of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt
| | - Sevim Isik
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey.,SANKARA Brain & Biotechnology Research Center, Istanbul Biotechnology Inc, Technocity, Avcilar, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ebtesam Al-Suhaimi
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
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Yang X, Amgad M, Cooper LAD, Du Y, Fu H, Ivanov AA. High expression of MKK3 is associated with worse clinical outcomes in African American breast cancer patients. J Transl Med 2020; 18:334. [PMID: 32873298 PMCID: PMC7465409 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-020-02502-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND African American women experience a twofold higher incidence of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than women of other ethnicities. However, the molecular bases for the survival disparity in breast cancer remain unclear, and no race-specific therapeutic targets have been proposed. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a systematic analysis of the relationship between gene mRNA expression and clinical outcomes determined for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) breast cancer patient cohort. METHODS The systematic differential analysis of mRNA expression integrated with the analysis of clinical outcomes was performed for 1055 samples from the breast invasive carcinoma TCGA PanCancer cohorts. A deep learning fully-convolutional model was used to determine the association between gene expression and tumor features based on breast cancer patient histopathological images. RESULTS We found that more than 30% of all protein-coding genes are differentially expressed in White and African American breast cancer patients. We have determined a set of 32 genes whose overexpression in African American patients strongly correlates with decreased survival of African American but not White breast cancer patients. Among those genes, the overexpression of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 3 (MKK3) has one of the most dramatic and race-specific negative impacts on the survival of African American patients, specifically with triple-negative breast cancer. We found that MKK3 can promote the TNBC tumorigenesis in African American patients in part by activating of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition induced by master regulator MYC. CONCLUSIONS The poor clinical outcomes in African American women with breast cancer can be associated with the abnormal elevation of individual gene expression. Such genes, including those identified and prioritized in this study, could represent new targets for therapeutic intervention. A strong correlation between MKK3 overexpression, activation of its binding partner and major oncogene MYC, and worsened clinical outcomes suggests the MKK3-MYC protein-protein interaction as a new promising target to reduce racial disparity in breast cancer survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuan Yang
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.,Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Mohamed Amgad
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Lee A D Cooper
- Department of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Yuhong Du
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.,Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.,Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Haian Fu
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA. .,Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. .,Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. .,Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Andrey A Ivanov
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA. .,Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. .,Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Protocol for DNA Microarrays on Glass Slides. Methods Mol Biol 2020; 1986:17-33. [PMID: 31115883 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9442-7_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The DNA microarray is a powerful, flexible, nonbiased discovery technology. Microarrays can be used to assess processes from gene expression to long noncoding RNAs to specific pathologies, as well as many others. This chapter describes the protocol for DNA microarray analysis of differential gene expression using DNA sequences spotted on microscope slides.
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