The role of CEMIP in tumors: An update based on cellular and molecular insights

Single-cell and bulk RNA-seq unveils the immune infiltration landscape associated with cuproptosis in cerebral cavernous malformations

BACKGROUND

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are vascular abnormalities associated with deregulated angiogenesis. Their pathogenesis and optimal treatment remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the molecular signatures of cuproptosis, a newly identified type of cell death, associated with CCMs development.

METHODS

Bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) from 15 CCM and 6 control samples were performed with consensus clustering and clustered to two subtypes based on expression levels of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs). Differentially expressed genes and immune infiltration between subtypes were then identified. Machine learning algorithms including the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and random forest were employed to screen for hub genes for CCMs associated with cuproptosis. Furthermore, Pathway enrichment and correlation analysis were used to explore the functions of hub genes and their association with immune phenotypes in CCMs. An external dataset was then employed for validation. Finally, employing the Cellchat algorithm on a single-cell RNA-seq dataset, we explored potential mechanisms underlying the participation of these hub genes in cell-cell communication in CCMs.

RESULTS

Our study revealed two distinct CCM subtypes with differential pattern of CRG expression and immune infiltration. Three hub genes (BTBD10, PFDN4, and CEMIP) were identified and validated, which may significantly associate with CCM pathogenesis. These genes were found to be significantly upregulated in CCM endothelial cells (ECs) and were validated through immunofluorescence and western blot analysis. Single-cell RNA-seq analysis revealed the cellular co-expression patterns of these hub genes, particularly highlighting the high expression of BTBD10 and PFDN4 in ECs. Additionally, a significant co-localization was also observed between BTBD10 and the pivotal cuproptosis gene FDX1 in Mki67+ tip cells, indicating the crucial role of cuproptosis for angiogenesis in CCMs. The study also explored the cell-cell communication between subcluster of ECs expressing these hub genes and immune cells, particularly M2 macrophages, suggesting a role for these interactions in CCM pathogenesis.

CONCLUSION

This study identifies molecular signatures linking cuproptosis to CCMs pathogenesis. Three hub genes-PFDN4, CEMIP, and BTBD10-may influence disease progression by modulating immunity. Further research is needed to understand their precise disease mechanisms and evaluate their potential as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for CCMs.

Elucidating immunological characteristics of the adenoma-carcinoma sequence in colorectal cancer patients in South Korea using a bioinformatics approach

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the top five most common and life-threatening malignancies worldwide. Most CRC develops from advanced colorectal adenoma (ACA), a precancerous stage, through the adenoma-carcinoma sequence. However, its underlying mechanisms, including how the tumor microenvironment changes, remain elusive. Therefore, we conducted an integrative analysis comparing RNA-seq data collected from 40 ACA patients who visited Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital with normal adjacent colons and tumor samples from 18 CRC patients collected from a public database. Differential expression analysis identified 21 and 79 sequentially up- or down-regulated genes across the continuum, respectively. The functional centrality of the continuum genes was assessed through network analysis, identifying 11 up- and 13 down-regulated hub-genes. Subsequently, we validated the prognostic effects of hub-genes using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. To estimate the immunological transition of the adenoma-carcinoma sequence, single-cell deconvolution and immune repertoire analyses were conducted. Significant composition changes for innate immunity cells and decreased plasma B-cells with immunoglobulin diversity were observed, along with distinctive immunoglobulin recombination patterns. Taken together, we believe our findings suggest underlying transcriptional and immunological changes during the adenoma-carcinoma sequence, contributing to the further development of pre-diagnostic markers for CRC.

Chitosan oligosaccharide suppresses osteosarcoma malignancy by inhibiting CEMIP via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

Osteosarcoma is a malignant bone tumor that is prone to metastasize early and primarily affects children and adolescents. Cell migration-inducing protein (CEMIP) plays a crucial role in the progression and malignancy of various tumor diseases, including osteosarcoma. Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), an oligomer isolated from chitin, has been found to have significant anti-tumor activity in various cancers. This study investigates the effects of COS on CEMIP expression in osteosarcoma and explores the underlying mechanism. In present study, in vitro experiments were conducted to confirm the inhibitory activity of COS on human osteosarcoma cells. Our results demonstrate that COS possesses inhibitory effects against human osteosarcoma cells and significantly suppresses CEMIP expression in vitro. Next, we studied the inhibition of the expression of CEMIP by COS and then performed bioinformatics analysis to explore the potential inhibitory mechanism of COS against signaling pathways involved in regulating CEMIP expression. Bioinformatics analysis predicted a close association between the PI3K signaling pathway and CEMIP expression and that the inhibitory effect of COS on CEMIP expression may be related to PI3K signaling pathway regulation. The results of this study show that COS treatment significantly inhibits CEMIP expression and the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, as observed both in vitro and in vivo. This study demonstrates that COS could inhibit the expression of CEMIP, which is closely related to osteosarcoma malignancy. This inhibitory effect may be attributed to the inhibition of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in vitro and in vivo.

CEMIP-mediated hyaluronan metabolism facilitates SCLC metastasis by activating TLR2/c-Src/ERK1/2 axis

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly metastatic and recalcitrant malignancy. Metastasis is the major cause of death in patients with SCLC but its mechanism remains poorly understood. An imbalance of hyaluronan catabolism in the extracellular matrix accelerates malignant progression in solid cancers due to the accumulation of low-molecular-weight HA. We previously found that CEMIP, a novel hyaluronidase, may act as a metastatic trigger in SCLC. In the present study, we found that both CEMIP and HA levels were higher in SCLC tissues than in paracancerous tissues from patient specimens and in vivo orthotopic models. Additionally, high expression of CEMIP was associated with lymphatic metastasis in patients with SCLC, and in vitro results showed that CEMIP expression was elevated in SCLC cells relative to human bronchial epithelial cells. Mechanistically, CEMIP facilitates the breakdown of HA and accumulation of LMW-HA. LMW-HA activates its receptor TLR2, and subsequently recruits c-Src to activate ERK1/2 signalling, thereby promoting F-actin rearrangement as well as migration and invasion of SCLC cells. In addition, the in vivo results verified that depletion of CEMIP attenuated HA levels and the expressions of TLR2, c-Src, and phosphorylation of ERK1/2, as well as liver and brain metastasis in SCLC xenografts. Furthermore, the application of the actin filament inhibitor latrunculin A significantly inhibited the liver and brain metastasis of SCLC in vivo. Collectively, our findings reveal the critical role of CEMIP-mediated HA degradation in SCLC metastasis and suggest its translational potential as an attractive target and a novel strategy for SCLC therapy.

Epigenome-wide DNA methylation in leukocytes and toenail metals: The normative aging study

BACKGROUND

Environmental metal exposures have been associated with multiple deleterious health endpoints. DNA methylation (DNAm) may provide insight into the mechanisms underlying these relationships. Toenail metals are non-invasive biomarkers, reflecting a medium-term time exposure window.

OBJECTIVES

This study examined variation in leukocyte DNAm and toenail arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and mercury (Hg) among elderly men in the Normative Aging Study, a longitudinal cohort.

METHODS

We repeatedly collected samples of blood and toenail clippings. We measured DNAm in leukocytes with the Illumina HumanMethylation450 K BeadChip. We first performed median regression to evaluate the effects of each individual toenail metal on DNAm at three levels: individual cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites, regions, and pathways. Then, we applied a Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to assess the joint and individual effects of metal mixtures on DNAm. Significant CpGs were identified using a multiple testing correction based on the independent degrees of freedom approach for correlated outcomes. The approach considers the effective degrees of freedom in the DNAm data using the principal components that explain >95% variation of the data.

RESULTS

We included 564 subjects (754 visits) between 1999 and 2013. The numbers of significantly differentially methylated CpG sites, regions, and pathways varied by metals. For example, we found six significant pathways for As, three for Cd, and one for Mn. The As-associated pathways were associated with cancer (e.g., skin cancer) and cardiovascular disease, whereas the Cd-associated pathways were related to lung cancer. Metal mixtures were also associated with 47 significant CpG sites, as well as pathways, mainly related to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides an approach to understanding the potential epigenetic mechanisms underlying observed relations between toenail metals and adverse health endpoints.

Downregulation of CEMIP enhances radiosensitivity by promoting DNA damage and apoptosis in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading malignancy worldwide in both new cases and deaths. Neoadjuvant radiotherapy is the standard preoperative regimens for locally advanced patients. However, approximately 50% of patients develop recurrence and metastasis after radiotherapy, which is largely due to the radiation resistance properties of the tumor, and the internal mechanism has not been elucidated. Here we found that CEMIP expression is up-regulated in a variety of tumor types, particularly in CRC. Public databases and clinical samples revealed that CEMIP expression is significantly higher in tumor tissues than in adjacent normal tissues in patients with locally advanced CRC who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, and it is closely related to the poor prognosis. Functional characterization uncovered that downregulation of CEMIP expression can enhance the radiosensitivity of CRC cells, which is confirmed to be achieved by promoting DNA damage and apoptosis. In vivo studies further verified that CEMIP knockdown can significantly improve the radiosensitivity of subcutaneously implanted colorectal tumors in mice, suggesting that CEMIP may be a radiation-resistant gene in CRC. Mechanistically, EGFR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is hypothesized to play a key role in CEMIP mediating radiation resistance. These results provide a potential new strategy targeting CEMIP gene for the comprehensive treatment of locally advanced CRC patients.

A comprehensive review of the progress of cell migration inducing hyaluronidase 1

The gene cell migration inducing hyaluronidase 1 (CEMIP) is on chromosome 15q25 and codes for a 150-kDa protein with an N-terminal secretion signal, a G8 domain, 2 GG domains, and several repeats. It was first described as a specific protein in the inner ear relating to nonsyndromic hearing loss. Recently, increasing research detected its association in various cancers, determining the progression, metastasis, and prognosis by influencing the proliferation and invasion of the cells. This relation is accomplished through various interacting pathways, such as the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and the epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathway. Thus, CEMIP could be a novel and potential focus for tumor diagnosis and treatment, but further studies on the regulatory role of CEMIP in vivo and in vitro are still needed. Herein, we summarize the process in recent studies of CEMIP, especially in cancer research.

KIAA1199 Correlates With Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Infiltration in Lung Adenocarcinoma as a Potential Prognostic Biomarker

Background: KIAA1199 has been considered a key regulator of carcinogenesis. However, the relationship between KIAA1199 and immune infiltrates, as well as its prognostic value in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains unclear. Methods: The expression of KIAA1199 and its influence on tumor prognosis were analyzed using a series of databases, comprising TIMER, GEPIA, UALCAN, LCE, Prognoscan and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. Further, immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot (WB) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to verify our findings. The cBioPortal was used to investigate the genomic alterations of KIAA1199. Prediction of candidate microRNA (miRNAs) and transcription factor (TF) targeting KIAA1199, as well as GO and KEGG analyses, were performed based on LinkedOmics. TIMER and TISIDB databases were used to explore the relationship between KIAA1199 and tumor immune infiltration. Results: High expression of KIAA1199 was identified in LUAD and Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) patients. High expression of KIAA1199 indicated a worse prognosis in LUAD patients. The results of IHC and WB analyses showed that the expression level of KIAA1199 in tumor tissues was higher than that in adjacent tissues. GO and KEGG analyses indicated KIAA1199 was mainly involved in extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction and extracellular matrix structure constituent. KIAA1199 was positively correlated with infiltrating levels of CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophil cells, dendritic cells, and showed positive relationship with immune marker subsets expression of a variety of immunosuppressive cells. Conclusion: High expression of KIAA1199 predicts a poor prognosis of LUAD patients. KIAA1199 might exert its carcinogenic role in the tumor microenvironment via participating in the extracellular matrix formation and regulating the infiltration of immune cells in LUAD. The results indicate that KIAA1199 might be a novel biomarker for evaluating prognosis and immune cell infiltration in LUAD.

Identification of a Novel Tumor Microenvironment Prognostic Signature for Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma

Background

The tumor microenvironment (TME) regulates the proliferation and metastasis of solid tumors and the effectiveness of immunotherapy against them. We investigated the prognostic role of TME-related genes based on transcriptomic data of bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) and formulated a prediction model of TME-related signatures.

Methods

Molecular subtypes were identified using the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) algorithm based on TME-related genes from the TCGA database. TME-related genes with prognostic significance were screened with univariate Cox regression analysis and lasso regression. Nomogram was developed based on risk genes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used for inner and outer validation of the model. Risk scores (RS) of patients were calculated and divided into high-risk group (HRG) and low-risk group (LRG) to compare the differences in clinical characteristics and PD-L1 treatment responsiveness between HRG and LRG.

Results

We identified two molecular subtypes (C1 and C2) according to the NMF algorithm. There were significant differences in overall survival (OS) (p<0.05), progression-free survival (PFS) (p<0.05), and immune cell infiltration between the two subtypes. A total of eight TME-associated genes (CABP4, ZNF432, BLOC1S3, CXCL11, ANO9, OAS1, FBN2, CEMIP) with independent prognostic significance were screened to build prognostic risk models. Age (p<0.001), grade (p<0.001), and RS (p<0.001) were independent predictors of survival in BLCA patients. The developed RS nomogram was able to predict the prognosis of BLCA patients at 1, 3, and 5 years more potentially than the models of other investigators according to ROC and DCA. RS showed significantly higher values (p = 0.047) in patients with stable disease (SD)/progressive disease (PD) compared to patients with complete response (CR)/partial response (PR).

Conclusions

We successfully clustered and constructed predictive models for TME-associated genes and helped guide immunotherapy strategies.