Retraction Notice to: miR-135a Inhibits the Invasion and Migration of Esophageal Cancer Stem Cells through the Hedgehog Signaling Pathway by Targeting Smo

mRNA m5C inhibits adipogenesis and promotes myogenesis by respectively facilitating YBX2 and SMO mRNA export in ALYREF-m5C manner

Although 5-methylcytosine (m5C) has been identified as a novel and abundant mRNA modification and associated with energy metabolism, its regulation function in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle is still limited. This study aimed at investigating the effect of mRNA m5C on adipogenesis and myogenesis using Jinhua pigs (J), Yorkshire pigs (Y) and their hybrids Yorkshire-Jinhua pigs (YJ). We found that Y grow faster than J and YJ, while fatness-related characteristics observed in Y were lower than those of J and YJ. Besides, total mRNA m5C levels and expression rates of NSUN2 were higher both in backfat layer (BL) and longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) of Y compared to J and YJ, suggesting that higher mRNA m5C levels positively correlate with lower fat and higher muscle mass. RNA bisulfite sequencing profiling of m5C revealed tissue-specific and dynamic features in pigs. Functionally, hyper-methylated m5C-containing genes were enriched in pathways linked to impaired adipogenesis and enhanced myogenesis. In in vitro, m5C inhibited lipid accumulation and promoted myogenic differentiation. Furthermore, YBX2 and SMO were identified as m5C targets. Mechanistically, YBX2 and SMO mRNAs with m5C modification were recognized and exported into the cytoplasm from the nucleus by ALYREF, thus leading to increased YBX2 and SMO protein expression and thereby inhibiting adipogenesis and promoting myogenesis, respectively. Our work uncovered the critical role of mRNA m5C in regulating adipogenesis and myogenesis via ALYREF-m5C-YBX2 and ALYREF-m5C-SMO manners, providing a potential therapeutic target in the prevention and treatment of obesity, skeletal muscle dysfunction and metabolic disorder diseases.

Establish immune-related gene prognostic index for esophageal cancer

Background: Esophageal cancer is a tumor type with high invasiveness and low prognosis. As immunotherapy has been shown to improve the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients, we were interested in the establishment of an immune-associated gene prognostic index to effectively predict the prognosis of patients. Methods: To establish the immune-related gene prognostic index of esophageal cancer (EC), we screened 363 upregulated and 83 downregulated immune-related genes that were differentially expressed in EC compared to normal tissues. By multivariate Cox regression and weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), we built a prognostic model based on eight immune-related genes (IRGs). We confirmed the prognostic model in both TCGA and GEO cohorts and found that the low-risk group had better overall survival than the high-risk group. Results: In this study, we identified 363 upregulated IRGs and 83 downregulated IRGs. Next, we found a prognostic model that was constructed with eight IRGs (OSM, CEACAM8, HSPA6, HSP90AB1, PCSK2, PLXNA1, TRIB2, and HMGB3) by multivariate Cox regression analysis and WGCNA. According to the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis results, the model we constructed can predict the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer. This result can be verified by the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Patients were divided into two groups with different outcomes. IRGPI-low patients had better overall survival than IRGPI-high patients.

Conclusion: Our findings indicated the potential value of the IRGPI risk model for predicting the prognosis of EC patients.