Overexpression of the zinc-α2-glycoprotein accelerates apoptosis and inhibits growth via the mTOR/PTEN signaling pathway in gastric carcinoma cells

Role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in gastric cancer metastasis: A comprehensive review

One of the greatest frequent types of malignancy is gastric cancer (GC). Metastasis, an essential feature of stomach cancer, results in a high rate of mortality and a poor prognosis. However, metastasis biological procedures are not well recognized. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have a role in numerous gene regulation pathways via epigenetic modification as well as transcriptional and post-transcriptional control. LncRNAs have a role in a variety of disorders, such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, and cancer. LncRNAs are substantially related to GC incidence, progression, metastasis and drug resistance. Several research released information on the molecular processes of lncRNAs in GC pathogenesis. By interacting with a gene's promoter or enhancer region to influence gene expression, lncRNAs can operate as an oncogene or a tumor suppressor. This review includes the lncRNAs associated with metastasis of GC, which may give insights into the processes as well as potential clues for GC predicting and tracking.

Zinc supplementation alleviates oxidative stress to inhibit chronic gastritis via the ROS/NF-κB pathway in a mouse model

Zinc (Zn) is an important trace element; it is involved in the regulation and maintenance of many physiological functions in organisms and has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Chronic gastritis is closely associated with damage to the gastric mucosa, which is detrimental to the health of humans and animals. There are few studies on the effects of zinc on, for example, gastric mucosal damage, oxidative stress, inflammation and cell death in mice. Therefore, we established in vivo and in vitro models of inflammatory injury and investigated the effects of zinc supplementation in C57BL/6 mice and Ges-1 cells and examined the expression of factors associated with oxidative stress, inflammation and cell death. In this study, the results of in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels increased after sodium salicylate exposure. Malondialdehyde levels increased, the activity of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase decreased, and the activity of glutathione decreased. The NF-κB signaling pathway was activated, the levels of proinflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) increased, and the expression of cell death-related factors (Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase3, Caspase7, Caspase9, RIP1, RIP3, and MLKL) increased. Zinc supplementation attenuated the level of oxidative stress and reduced the level of inflammation and cell death. Our study indicated that sodium salicylate induced the production of large amounts of reactive oxygen species and activated the NF-κB pathway, leading to inflammatory damage and cell death in the mouse stomach. Zinc supplementation modulated the ROS/NF-κB pathway, reduced the level of oxidative stress, and attenuated inflammation and cell death in the mouse stomach and Ges-1 cells.

AZGP1 deficiency promotes angiogenesis in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

Loss of AZGP1 expression is a biomarker associated with progression to castration resistance, development of metastasis, and poor disease-specific survival in prostate cancer. However, high expression of AZGP1 cells in prostate cancer has been reported to increase proliferation and invasion. The exact role of AZGP1 in prostate cancer progression remains elusive.

METHOD

AZGP1 knockout and overexpressing prostate cancer cells were generated using a lentiviral system. The effects of AZGP1 under- or over-expression in prostate cancer cells were evaluated by in vitro cell proliferation, migration, and invasion assays. Heterozygous AZGP1± mice were obtained from European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA), and prostate tissues from homozygous knockout male mice were collected at 2, 6 and 10 months for histological analysis. In vivo xenografts generated from AZGP1 under- or over-expressing prostate cancer cells were used to determine the role of AZGP1 in prostate cancer tumor growth, and subsequent proteomics analysis was conducted to elucidate the mechanisms of AZGP1 action in prostate cancer progression. AZGP1 expression and microvessel density were measured in human prostate cancer samples on a tissue microarray of 215 independent patient samples.

RESULT

Neither the knockout nor overexpression of AZGP1 exhibited significant effects on prostate cancer cell proliferation, clonal growth, migration, or invasion in vitro. The prostates of AZGP1-/- mice initially appeared to have grossly normal morphology; however, we observed fibrosis in the periglandular stroma and higher blood vessel density in the mouse prostate by 6 months. In PC3 and DU145 mouse xenografts, over-expression of AZGP1 did not affect tumor growth. Instead, these tumors displayed decreased microvessel density compared to xenografts derived from PC3 and DU145 control cells, suggesting that AZGP1 functions to inhibit angiogenesis in prostate cancer. Proteomics profiling further indicated that, compared to control xenografts, AZGP1 overexpressing PC3 xenografts are enriched with angiogenesis pathway proteins, including YWHAZ, EPHA2, SERPINE1, and PDCD6, MMP9, GPX1, HSPB1, COL18A1, RNH1, and ANXA1. In vitro functional studies show that AZGP1 inhibits human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation, migration, tubular formation and branching. Additionally, tumor microarray analysis shows that AZGP1 expression is negatively correlated with blood vessel density in human prostate cancer tissues.

CONCLUSION

AZGP1 is a negative regulator of angiogenesis, such that loss of AZGP1 promotes angiogenesis in prostate cancer. AZGP1 likely exerts heterotypical effects on cells in the tumor microenvironment, such as stromal and endothelial cells. This study sheds light on the anti-angiogenic characteristics of AZGP1 in the prostate and provides a rationale to target AZGP1 to inhibit prostate cancer progression.

AZGP1 activation by lenvatinib suppresses intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma epithelial-mesenchymal transition through the TGF-β1/Smad3 pathway

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a primary liver malignancy and is characterized by highly aggressive and malignant biological behavior. Currently, effective treatment strategies are limited. The effect of lenvatinib on ICC is unknown. In this study, we found that AZGP1 was the key target of lenvatinib in ICC, and its low expression in ICC cancer tissues was associated with a poor prognosis in patients. Lenvatinib is a novel AZGP1 agonist candidate for ICC that inhibits ICC-EMT by regulating the TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling pathway in an AZGP1-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that lenvatinib could increase AZGP1 expression by increasing the acetylation level of H3K27Ac in the promoter region of the AZGP1 gene, thereby inhibiting EMT in ICC cells. In conclusion, lenvatinib activates AZGP1 by increasing the acetylation level of H3K27Ac on the AZGP1 promoter region and regulates the TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling pathway in an AZGP1-dependent manner to inhibit ICC-EMT. This study offers new insight into the mechanism of lenvatinib in the treatment of ICC and provides a theoretical basis for new treatment methods.

DIS3L2 knockdown impairs key oncogenic properties of colorectal cancer cells via the mTOR signaling pathway

DIS3L2 degrades different types of RNAs in an exosome-independent manner including mRNAs and several types of non-coding RNAs. DIS3L2-mediated degradation is preceded by the addition of nontemplated uridines at the 3'end of its targets by the terminal uridylyl transferases 4 and 7. Most of the literature that concerns DIS3L2 characterizes its involvement in several RNA degradation pathways, however, there is some evidence that its dysregulated activity may contribute to cancer development. In the present study, we characterize the role of DIS3L2 in human colorectal cancer (CRC). Using the public RNA datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we found higher DIS3L2 mRNA levels in CRC tissues versus normal colonic samples as well as worse prognosis in patients with high DIS3L2 expression. In addition, our RNA deep-sequencing data revealed that knockdown (KD) of DIS3L2 induces a strong transcriptomic disturbance in SW480 CRC cells. Moreover, gene ontology (GO) analysis of significant upregulated transcripts displays enrichment in mRNAs encoding proteins involved in cell cycle regulation and cancer-related pathways, which guided us to evaluate which specific hallmarks of cancer are differentially regulated by DIS3L2. To do so, we employed four CRC cell lines (HCT116, SW480, Caco-2 and HT-29) differing in their mutational background and oncogenicity. We demonstrate that depletion of DIS3L2 results in reduced cell viability of highly oncogenic SW480 and HCT116 CRC cells, but had little or no impact in the more differentiated Caco-2 and HT-29 cells. Remarkably, the mTOR signaling pathway, crucial for cell survival and growth, is downregulated after DIS3L2 KD, whereas AZGP1, an mTOR pathway inhibitor, is upregulated. Furthermore, our results indicate that depletion of DIS3L2 disturbs metastasis-associated properties, such as cell migration and invasion, only in highly oncogenic CRC cells. Our work reveals for the first time a role for DIS3L2 in sustaining CRC cell proliferation and provides evidence that this ribonuclease is required to support the viability and invasive behavior of dedifferentiated CRC cells.

LncRNA LINC01094 Promotes Cells Proliferation and Metastasis through the PTEN/AKT Pathway by Targeting AZGP1 in Gastric Cancer

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) were recently reported to play an essential role in multiple cancer types. Herein, through next-generation sequencing, we screened metastasis-driving molecules by using tissues from early-stage gastric cancer (GC) patients with lymph node metastasis, and we identified a lncRNA LINC01094, which was associated with the metastasis of GC. According to the clinical data from the TCGA, GSE15459, and GSE62254 cohorts, the high expression of LINC01094 was associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Moreover, 106 clinical GC and paired normal samples were collected, and the qRT-PCR results showed that the high expression of LINC01094 was associated with high T and N stages and a poor prognosis. We found that LINC01094 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of GC in vitro and in vivo. AZGP1 was found as the protein-binding partner of LINC01094 by using RNA pulldown and RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. LINC01094 antagonizes the function of AZGP1, downregulates the expression of PTEN, and further upregulates the AKT pathway. Collectively, our results suggested that LINC01094 might predict the prognosis of GC patients and become the therapy target for GC.

Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Cells (BMSCs) on Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation and Metastasis by Regulating Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog 12

Among the newly diagnosed cancers in women, breast cancer metastasis is a key factor contributing to the poor prognosis. BMSCs are critical components for the malignant microenvironment. Studies have shown that the interaction between tumor cells and BMSCs support breast cancer progression. However, BMSCs’ effect on breast cancer cells is not yet clear. BMSCs and breast cancer cell MCF-7 were co-cultured to analyze tumor cell proliferation and apoptosis along with analysis of E-cadherin and Vimentin expression by real-time PCR, interleukin-6 and matrix protease-2 and PTEN12 expression. Co-culture of BMSCs promoted breast cancer cell proliferation, decreased apoptosis-related Caspase 3 activity and downregulated the expression of EMT related factors, upregulated IL-6 secretion and MMP-2, and downregulated PTEN12 expression (P < 0.05). In conclusion, BMSCs can promote breast cancer cell proliferation and survival and affect breast cancer transformation possibly through inhibiting the expression of PTEN12.

Baohuoside I via mTOR Apoptotic Signaling to Inhibit Glioma Cell Growth

Introduction

Baohuoside I, a novel oncotherapeutic agent, has been reported to have anti-cancer effects on a variety of cancers, but its role in glioma and its molecular mechanism are still unclear.

Methods

The proliferation of U251 cells was detected by real-time cellular analysis (RTCA), CCK-8, Ki67 immunofluorescence and colony formation assay. The effect of Baohuoside I on the invasion and migration of U251 cells was measured by transwell and scratch tests. The apoptosis of U251 cells was detected by flow cytometry. The expression level of related protein was detected by western blotting.

Results

Baohuoside I could inhibit the proliferation of human glioma cells and induce apoptosis. Further study showed that the migration and invasion ability of glioma was significantly decreased by Baohuoside I. Western blot revealed the expression of p-AMPKα1 protein was up-regulated, and the expression of p-mTOR and p-S6K was down-regulated after Baohuoside I treatment. Tumorigenesis in nude mice showed that Baohuoside I had an anti-glioma effect in vivo.

Conclusion

We propose a natural product, which can inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migration of glioma and may be a valuable anti-tumor candidate. The inhibitory effect of Baohuoside I on the glioma is achieved by inducing the apoptosis of the tumor cells, rather than autophagy. In addition, the pathway to induce cell apoptosis of Baohuoside I is to target the mTOR signal.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Can Maintaining Optimal Zinc Balance Enhance Host Resistance?

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now officially declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and most parts of the world are taking drastic measures to restrict human movements to contain the infection. Millions around the world are wondering, if there is anything that could be done, other than maintaining high personal hygiene, and be vigilant of the symptoms, to reduce the spread of the disease and chances of getting infected, or at least to lessen the burden of the disease, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The National and International health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the WHO have provided clear guidelines for both preventive and treatment suggestions. In this article, I will briefly discuss, why keeping adequate zinc balance might enhance the host response and be protective of viral infections.