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Ahmed NM, Eddama MMR, Beatson K, Gurung R, Patel J, Iskandar G, Abdel-Salam A, Al-Omar A, Cohen R, Abdel-Aziz T, Clapp L. Circulating large extracellular vesicles as diagnostic biomarkers of indeterminate thyroid nodules: multi-platform omics analysis. BJS Open 2024; 9:zrae139. [PMID: 39787026 PMCID: PMC11683363 DOI: 10.1093/bjsopen/zrae139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2024] [Revised: 10/02/2024] [Accepted: 10/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/12/2025] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND While most thyroid nodules are benign, 7-15% are malignant. Patients with indeterminate thyroid nodules (specifically Bethesda IV/Thy3f) often undergo diagnostic hemithyroidectomy to reach a diagnosis on final histology. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of circulating large extracellular vesicles as diagnostic biomarkers in patients presenting with Thy3f thyroid nodules. METHODS This was a two-gate diagnostic accuracy study; patients with Thy3f thyroid nodules were age, sex and body mass index matched to healthy individuals. Final histology confirmed benign and malignant diagnoses. Plasma large extracellular vesicle counts were quantified using flow cytometry. Large extracellular vesicle microRNA and protein profiles were identified using next generation sequencing and mass spectrometry, respectively. RESULTS A total of 42 patients with Thy3f nodules (22 with cancer, 20 with non-cancer diagnosis) and 16 healthy controls were included. Total large extracellular vesicle concentrations and the concentrations of extracellular vesicles expressing epithelial cell adhesion molecule and the cancer markers atypical chemokine receptor type 7, extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer and syndecan-4 were significantly higher in patients with Thy3f nodules (cancer and non-cancer) compared with healthy individuals. In patients with cancerous versus non-cancer Thy3f nodules, one microRNA was upregulated: mir-195-3p (P < 0.001). Five were downregulated: mir-3176 (P < 0.001), mir-205-5p (P < 0.001), novel-hsa-mir-208-3p (P < 0.001), mir-3529-3p (P = 0.01) and let-7i-3p (P = 0.02). Furthermore, three large extracellular vesicle proteins (kallikrein-related peptidase11 (KLK11) (P = 0.001), alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 2 (A1AG2) (P <0.001) and small integral membrane protein 1 (SMIM1) (P = 0.04)) were significantly upregulated, while 20 large extracellular vesicle proteins were significantly downregulated (most downregulated: chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 7 (CXCL7), tubulin beta chain 1 (TBB1), binding immunoglobulin protein (BIP) and actinin alpha 1 (ACTN1) (P < 0.001)) in cancerous compared with non-cancer Thy3f nodules. CONCLUSION Circulating large extracellular vesicle miRNA and protein profiles have a high diagnostic value to discriminate between benign and malignant nodules for patients with Thy3f cytology. Further validation for clinical performance will be needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nada M Ahmed
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University College London, London, UK
- Pathology Department, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
| | - Mohammad M R Eddama
- Department of Surgical Biotechnology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Kevin Beatson
- Department of Surgical Biotechnology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Rijan Gurung
- Department of Surgical Biotechnology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Jigisha Patel
- Department of Surgical Biotechnology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Georges Iskandar
- Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, University College London Hospitals, London, UK
| | - Alaa Abdel-Salam
- Endocrine Surgery Unit, University College London Hospitals, London, UK
| | - Abdullah Al-Omar
- Endocrine Surgery Unit, University College London Hospitals, London, UK
| | - Richard Cohen
- Department of Surgical Biotechnology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Tarek Abdel-Aziz
- Endocrine Surgery Unit, University College London Hospitals, London, UK
| | - Lucie Clapp
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University College London, London, UK
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Mimi MA, Hasan MM, Takanashi Y, Waliullah ASM, Mamun MA, Chi Z, Kahyo T, Aramaki S, Takatsuka D, Koizumi K, Setou M. UBL3 overexpression enhances EV-mediated Achilles protein secretion in conditioned media of MDA-MB-231 cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2024; 738:150559. [PMID: 39182355 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2024.150559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2024] [Revised: 08/02/2024] [Accepted: 08/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/27/2024]
Abstract
Cancer cells communicate within the tumor microenvironment (TME) through extracellular vesicles (EVs), which act as crucial messengers in intercellular communication, transporting biomolecules to facilitate cancer progression. Ubiquitin-like 3 (UBL3) facilitates protein sorting into small EVs as a post-translational modifier. However, the effect of UBL3 overexpression in EV-mediated protein secretion has not been investigated yet. This study aimed to investigate the effect of UBL3 overexpression in enhancing EV-mediated Achilles protein secretion in MDA-MB-231 (MM) cells by a dual-reporter system integrating Akaluc and Achilles tagged with Ubiquitin where self-cleaving P2A linker connects Akaluc and Achilles. MM cells stably expressing Ubiquitin-Akaluc-P2A-Achilles (Ubi-Aka/Achi) were generated. In our study, both the bioluminescence of Ubiquitin-Akaluc (Ubi-Aka) and the fluorescence of Achilles secretion were observed. The intensity of Ubi-Aka was thirty times lower, while the Achilles was four times lower than the intensity of corresponding cells. The ratio of Ubi-Aka and Achilles in conditioned media (CM) was 7.5. They were also detected within EVs using an EV uptake luciferase assay and fluorescence imaging. To investigate the effect of the UBL3 overexpression in CM, Ubi-Aka/Achi was transiently transfected into MM-UBL3-KO, MM, and MM-Flag-UBL3 cells. We found that the relative fluorescence expression of Achilles in CM of MM-UBL3-KO, MM, and MM-Flag-UBL3 cells was 30 %, 28 %, and 45 %, respectively. These findings demonstrated that UBL3 overexpression enhances EV-mediated Achilles protein secretion in CM of MM cells. Targeting UBL3 could lead to novel therapies for cancer metastasis by reducing the secretion of pro-metastatic proteins, thereby inhibiting disease progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mst Afsana Mimi
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Md Mahmudul Hasan
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Yusuke Takanashi
- First Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - A S M Waliullah
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan; Department of Pathology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, USA
| | - Md Al Mamun
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Zhang Chi
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Tomoaki Kahyo
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan; Quantum Imaging Laboratory, Division of Research and Development in Photonics Technology, Institute of Photonics Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Shuhei Aramaki
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan; Department of Radiation Oncology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan; Translational Biomedical Photonics, Institute of Photonics Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Daiki Takatsuka
- Department of Surgery 1, Division of Breast Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Kei Koizumi
- Department of Surgery 1, Division of Breast Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan
| | - Mitsutoshi Setou
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan; International Mass Imaging and Spatial Omics Center, Institute of Photonics Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan.
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Schiera G, Di Liegro CM, Schirò G, Sorbello G, Di Liegro I. Involvement of Astrocytes in the Formation, Maintenance, and Function of the Blood-Brain Barrier. Cells 2024; 13:150. [PMID: 38247841 PMCID: PMC10813980 DOI: 10.3390/cells13020150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a fundamental structure that protects the composition of the brain by determining which ions, metabolites, and nutrients are allowed to enter the brain from the blood or to leave it towards the circulation. The BBB is structurally composed of a layer of brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) bound to each other through tight junctions (TJs). However, its development as well as maintenance and properties are controlled by the other brain cells that contact the BCECs: pericytes, glial cells, and even neurons themselves. Astrocytes seem, in particular, to have a very important role in determining and controlling most properties of the BBB. Here, we will focus on these latter cells, since the comprehension of their roles in brain physiology has been continuously expanding, even including the ability to participate in neurotransmission and in complex functions such as learning and memory. Accordingly, pathological conditions that alter astrocytic functions can alter the BBB's integrity, thus compromising many brain activities. In this review, we will also refer to different kinds of in vitro BBB models used to study the BBB's properties, evidencing its modifications under pathological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriella Schiera
- Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (Dipartimento di Scienzee Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche) (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy; (G.S.); (C.M.D.L.)
| | - Carlo Maria Di Liegro
- Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (Dipartimento di Scienzee Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche) (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy; (G.S.); (C.M.D.L.)
| | - Giuseppe Schirò
- Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (G.S.); (G.S.)
- Neurology and Multiple Sclerosis Center, Unità Operativa Complessa (UOC), Foundation Institute “G. Giglio”, 90015 Cefalù, Italy
| | - Gabriele Sorbello
- Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (G.S.); (G.S.)
| | - Italia Di Liegro
- Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy; (G.S.); (G.S.)
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