TIS21(/BTG2/PC3) inhibits interleukin-6 expression via downregulation of STAT3 pathway

Rebalancing liver-infiltrating CCR3+ and CD206+ monocytes improves diet-induced NAFLD

Melatonin has been reported to improve nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and exploring the underlying mechanisms will be beneficial for better treatment of NAFLD. Choline-deficient high-fat diet (CDHFD)- and methionine/choline-deficient diet (MCD)-fed mice with melatonin intervention exhibit significantly decreased liver steatosis, lobular inflammation, and focal liver necrosis. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that melatonin selectively inhibits pro-inflammatory CCR3⁺ monocyte-derived macrophages (MoMFs) and upregulates anti-inflammatory CD206⁺ MoMFs in NAFLD mice. Liver-infiltrating CCR3⁺CD14⁺ MoMFs are also significantly increased in patients with NAFLD. Mechanistically, melatonin receptor-independent BTG2-ATF4 signaling plays a role in the regulation of CCR3⁺ MoMF endoplasmic reticulum stress, survival, and inflammation. In contrast, melatonin upregulates CD206⁺ MoMF survival and polarization via MT1/2 receptors. Melatonin stimulation also regulates human CCR3⁺ MoMF and CD206⁺ MoMF survival and inflammation in vitro. Furthermore, CCR3 depletion antibody monotherapy inhibits liver inflammation and improves NAFLD in mice. Thus, therapies targeting CCR3⁺ MoMFs may have potential benefits in NAFLD treatment.

Urinary Exosomal miRNAs as biomarkers of bladder Cancer and experimental verification of mechanism of miR-93-5p in bladder Cancer

Background

Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common malignancies globally. Early diagnosis of it can significantly improve patients’ survival and quality of life. Urinary exosomes (UEs)-derived miRNAs might be a promising biomarker for BC detection.

Method

A total of 12 patients with BC and 4 non-cancerous participants (as healthy control) were recruited from a single center between March 2018 and December 2019 as the discovery set. Midstream urine samples from each participants were collected and high-throughput sequencing and differentially expression analysis were conducted. Combined with miRNA expression profile of BC tissue from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), miRNAs biomarkers for BC were determined. Candidate miRNAs as biomarkers were selected followed by verification with a quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assay in an independent validation cohort consisting of 53 BC patients and 51 healthy controls. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was established to evaluate the diagnostic performance of UE-derived miRNAs. The possible mechanism of miRNAs were revealed by bioinformatic analysis and explored in vitro experiments.

Results

We identified that miR-93-5p, miR-516a-5p were simultaneously significantly increased both in UEs from BC compared with healthy control and BC tissue compared with normal tissue, which were verified by RT-qPCR in the validation cohort. Subsequently, the performance to discover BC of the miR-93-5p, miR-516a-5p was further verified with an area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.838 and 0.790, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of urine cytology (AUC = 0.630). Moreover, miR-93-5p was significantly increased in muscle-invasive BC compared with non-muscle-invasive BC with an AUC of 0.769. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that B-cell translocation gene 2(BTG2) gene may be the hub target gene of miR-93-5p. In vitro experiments verified that miR-93-5p suppressed BTG2 expression and promoted BC cells proliferation, invasion and migration.

Conclusion

Urine derived exosomes have a distinct miRNA profile in BC patients, and urinary exosomal miRNAs could be used as a promising non-invasive tool to detect BC. In vitro experiments suggested that miR-93-5p overexpression may contribute to BC progression via suppressing BTG2 expression.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08926-x.

The Cellular and Biological Impact of Extracellular Vesicles in Pancreatic Cancer

Simple Summary

The increased incidence and global failure of ongoing therapies project pancreatic cancer as the second deadliest cancer worldwide. While our knowledge of pancreatic cancer cells’ abilities and specificities has drastically improved based on multi-scaled omics, one must consider that much more remains to be uncovered on the role and impact of stromal cells and the established network of communication with tumor cells. This review article discusses how tumor cells communicate with the various cells composing the stroma and its implication in tumor cells’ abilities, PDA (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma) carcinogenesis and therapeutic response. We will focus on extracellular vesicles-mediated crosstalk and how this multifaceted dialogue impacts both cellular compartments and its subsequent impact on PDA biology.

Abstract

Deciphering the interactions between tumor and stromal cells is a growing field of research to improve pancreatic cancer-associated therapies and patients’ care. Indeed, while accounting for 50 to 90% of the tumor mass, many pieces of evidence reported that beyond their structural role, the non-tumoral cells composing the intra-tumoral microenvironment influence tumor cells’ proliferation, metabolism, cell death and resistance to therapies, among others. Simultaneously, tumor cells can influence non-tumoral neighboring or distant cells in order to shape a tumor-supportive and immunosuppressive environment as well as influencing the formation of metastatic niches. Among intercellular modes of communication, extracellular vesicles can simultaneously transfer the largest variety of signals and were recently reported as key effectors of cell–cell communication in pancreatic cancer, from its development to its evolution as well as its ability to resist available treatments. This review focuses on extracellular vesicles-mediated communication between different cellular components of pancreatic tumors, from the modulation of cellular activities and abilities to their biological and physiological relevance. Taking into consideration the intra-tumoral microenvironment and its extracellular-mediated crosstalk as main drivers of pancreatic cancer development should open up new therapeutic windows.

IL-17 and IL-22 elicited by a DNA vaccine encoding ROP13 associated with protection against Toxoplasma gondii in BALB/c mice

Toxoplasma gondii, an intracellular parasitic protozoan, is capable of infecting man and all warm-blooded animals. Cell-mediated immunity is vital in mounting protective responses against T. gondii infection. Recent studies have shown that T-helper (Th) 17 responses may play a key role in parasite control. In this current study, we constructed a DNA vaccine encoding T. gondii ROP13 in a pcDNA vector. Groups of BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly with pcROP13 or controls and challenged with the RH strain of T. gondii. The results showed that immunization with pcROP13 could elicit an antibody response against T. gondii. The expression of the canonical Th17 cytokines, interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-22, were significantly increased after immunization with pcROP13 compared with control groups ( p < 0.05). Furthermore, vaccination resulted in a significant decrease in parasite load ( p < 0.05). The induction of Th17 related cytokines, using a ROP13 DNA vaccine, against T. gondii should be considered as a potential vaccine approach for the control of toxoplasmosis.

Translational downregulation of Twist1 expression by antiproliferative gene, B-cell translocation gene 2, in the triple negative breast cancer cells

Twist1, a key transcription factor regulating epithelial–mesenchymal transition and cancer metastasis, is highly expressed in invasive cancers in contrast to the loss of BTG2^/TIS21 expression. Based on our observation that forced expression of BTG2^/TIS21 downregulated Twist1 protein expression without altering mRNA level, we investigated molecular mechanisms of the BTG2^/TIS21-inhibited Twist1 translation in the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and in vivo BTG2^/TIS21-knockout (KO) mice and human breast cancer tissues. (1) C-terminal domain of Twist1 and Box B of BTG2^/TIS21 interacted with each other, which abrogated Twist1 activity. (2) BTG2^/TIS21 inhibited translational initiation by depleting eIF4E availability via inhibiting 4EBP1 phosphorylation. (3) Expression of BTG2^/TIS21 maintained p-eIF2α that downregulates initiation of protein translation, confirmed by eIF2α-AA mutant expression and BTG2^/TIS21 knockdown in MEF cells. (4) cDNA microarray analysis revealed significantly higher expression of initiation factors-eIF2A, eIF3A, and eIF4G2-in the BTG2^/TIS21-KO mouse than that in the wild type. (5) BTG2^/TIS21-inhibited translation initiation lead to the collapse of polysome formation and the huge peak of 80s monomer in the BTG2^/TIS21 expresser, but not in the control. (6) mRNAs and protein expressions of elongation factors were also downregulated by BTG2^/TIS21 expression in TNBC cells, but much higher in both TIS21-KO mice and lymph node-positive human breast cancers. (7) BTG2^/TIS21-mediated Twist1 loss was not due to the protein degradation by ubiquitination and autophagy activation. (8) Twist1 protein level was significantly higher in various organs of TIS21-KO mice compared with that in the control, indicating the in vivo role of BTG2^/TIS21 gene in the regulation of Twist1 protein level. Altogether, the present study support our hypothesis that BTG2^/TIS21 is a promising target to combat with metastatic cancers with high level of Twist1 without BTG2^/TIS21 expression.

Estradiol Prevents High Glucose-Induced β-cell Apoptosis by Decreased BTG2 Expression

Hyperglycemia stimulates several pathways to induce pancreatic β-cell apoptosis. In our previous study by mRNA analysis, we demonstrated that B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG₂) expression was up-regulated in INS-1 cells cultured under high glucose conditions, but this effect was reversed by estrogen. In the present study, we demonstrated that BTG₂ mRNA and protein expressions in both INS-1 cells and mouse pancreatic islets increased under high glucose conditions compared to those cultured under basal glucose conditions, while in the presence of estrogen, the BTG₂ mRNA and protein expressions decreased. SiRNA-BTG₂ significantly reduced cell apoptosis, cleaved-caspase 3, and Bax, compared to the siRNA-control in INS-1 cultured under high glucose conditions. We further demonstrated that BTG₂ promoter activity was activated under high glucose conditions whereas estrogen significantly reduced it. The effects of estrogen on BTG₂ expression were inhibited by estrogen receptor inhibitors. Also, under high glucose conditions, p53 and Bax mRNA and protein expressions increased, but they decreased in the presence of estrogen. Again, the effect of estrogen on p53 and Bax expression was inhibited by estrogen receptor inhibitors. Taken together, this study demonstrates that estrogen reduces pancreatic β-cell apoptosis under high glucose conditions via suppression of BTG2, p53, and Bax expressions.

A multi-omic study reveals BTG2 as a reliable prognostic marker for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) is a tumour suppressor protein known to be downregulated in several types of cancer. In this study, we investigated a potential role for BTG2 in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survival. We analysed BTG2 methylation data from 1230 early-stage NSCLC patients from five international cohorts, as well as gene expression data from 3038 lung cancer cases from multiple cohorts. Three CpG probes (cg01798157, cg06373167, cg23371584) that detected BTG2 hypermethylation in tumour tissues were associated with lower overall survival. The prognostic model based on methylation could distinguish patient survival in the four cohorts [hazard ratio (HR) range, 1.51-2.21] and the independent validation set (HR = 1.85). In the expression analysis, BTG2 expression was positively correlated with survival in each cohort (HR range, 0.28-0.68), which we confirmed with meta-analysis (HR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.54-0.68). The three CpG probes were all negatively correlated with BTG2 expression. Importantly, an integrative model of BTG2 methylation, expression and clinical information showed better predictive ability in the training set and validation set. In conclusion, the methylation and integrated prognostic signatures based on BTG2 are stable and reliable biomarkers for early-stage NSCLC. They may have new applications for appropriate clinical adjuvant trials and personalized treatments in the future.