New biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of localized prostate cancer

Long non-coding RNA CASC7 is a promising serum biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

At present, a large number of studies have found that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can be used as biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression of lncRNA cancer susceptibility candidate 7 (CASC7) in HCC has rarely been studied. The purpose of this study was to explore the expression of CASC7 and its correlation with clinical features, and to further analyze its diagnostic value in HCC.

METHODS

Serum samples were collected from 80 patients with HCC, 80 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and 80 healthy people. The expression level of serum CASC7 was detected by droplet digital PCR. Appropriate parametric and nonparametric tests were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The results showed that the expression of CASC7 in serum of patients with HCC was significantly higher than that of patients with CHB (median: 8.8 versus 2.2 copies/µl, p < 0.001) and healthy controls (median: 8.8 versus 3.8 copies/µl, p < 0.001). High expression of serum CASC7 was significantly correlated with tumor number (p = 0.005), intrahepatic metastasis (IM) (p < 0.001), tumor size (p = 0.007) and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (p = 0.008). The area under the curve (AUC) of CASC7 to distinguish HCC patients from CHB patients and healthy controls was 0.808 (95% CI: 0.742-0.874) at the cut-off value of 7.24 copies/µl with 63.8% sensitivity and 95.2% specificity.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggested that CASC7 was significantly up-regulated in serum of patients with HCC and closely related to tumor number, IM, tumor size and TNM stage, which may serve as a promising diagnostic biomarker.

Development of a novel electrochemical biosensor based on plastic antibodies for detection of STEAP1 biomarker in cancer

STEAP1 is a cell surface protein of the STEAP family whose main function focuses on intercellular communication and cell growth. STEAP1 is considered a promising putative biomarker and a candidate target for prostate cancer treatment. For specific and selective detection of STEAP1, a molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) was developed on a screen-printed electrode (C-SPE) whose surface was modified with a nanocomposite based on carbon nanotubes decorated with dendritic platinum nanoparticles (CNTs- PAH /Pt). Then, the MIPs were produced on the modified C-SPE by electropolymerization of a mixture of STEAP1 and a monomer (pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid). Then, the protein was removed from the polymeric network by enzymatic treatment with trypsin, which created the specific template cavities for further STEAP1 detection. Electrochemical techniques such as EIS and CV were used to follow the chemical modification steps of C-SPE. The analytical performance of the biosensor was evaluated by SWV in PBS buffer and in lysates of neoplastic prostate cancer cells (LNCaP) extracts. The MIP material showing a linear range from 130 pg/ml to 13 µg/ml. Overall, the biosensor exhibits essential properties such as selectivity, sensitivity and reproducibility for its application in medical and clinical research diagnosis and/or prognosis of prostate cancer.

MiR-124-3p inhibits tumor progression in prostate cancer by targeting EZH2

Prostate cancer (PCa) is widespread cancer with significant morbidity and mortality rates. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as important post-transcriptional modulators in various malignancies. This study investigated the miR-124-3p effect on PCa cell proliferation, infiltration, and apoptosis. EZH2 and miR-124-3p expression levels were measured in PCa tissues. PCa cell lines DU145 and PC3 were transfected with miR-124-3p inhibitors or analogs. EZH2 and miR-124-3p linkage was validated by conducting the luciferase enzyme reporter test. The cell viability and apoptosis were assessed by flow cytometry and MTT test. Cell movement was noted during infiltration using transwell assays. EZH2, AKT, and mTOR contents were assessed using qRT-PCR and western blotting. In clinical PCa specimens, miR-124-3p and EZH2 contents were inversely correlated. Further research has demonstrated that EZH2 is the miR-124-3p direct target. Furthermore, miR-124-3p overexpression reduced EZH2 levels and lowered cell viability, infiltration, and promoted cell death, whereas miR-124-3p silencing had the opposite effect. Overexpression of miR-124-3p decreased the phosphorylation level of AKT and mTOR, whereas miR-124-3p downregulation produced the opposite result. Our findings depict that miR-124-3p prevents PCa proliferative and invasive processes while promoting apoptosis by targeting EZH2.

Gold Nanoparticles-MWCNT Based Aptasensor for Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed male malignancies and can be detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a biomarker. To detect PSA, several studies have proposed using antibodies, which are not economical and require a long reaction time. In this study, we propose to use self-assembled thiolated single-strand DNA on electrodes functionalized by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) modified with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to realize a low-cost label-free electrochemical biosensor. In this regard, the PSA aptamer was immobilized via electrostatic adsorption on the surface of a screen-printed MWCNT/AuNPs electrode. The immobilization process was enhanced due to the presence of Au nanoparticles on the surface of the electrode. Surface characterization of the electrode at different stages of modification was performed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and contact angle for surface tension properties. The results showed an increase in surface roughness due to the absorbance of the aptamer on the electrode surfaces. The developed sensor has an extended linear range of 1-100 ng/mL, and a very low limit of detection down to 1 pg/mL. In addition, the reaction has a binding time of only five minutes on the developed electrodes. Investigations of the biosensor selectivity against several substances revealed an efficient selectivity for PSA detection. With this approach, low-cost biosensors with high sensitivity can be realized which have a wide linearity range and a low limit of detection, which are necessary for the early detection of prostate cancer.

Volatilomics: An Emerging and Promising Avenue for the Detection of Potential Prostate Cancer Biomarkers

Simple Summary

The lack of highly specific and sensitive biomarkers for the early detection of prostate cancer (PCa) is a major barrier to its management. Volatilomics emerged as a non-invasive, simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-use approach for cancer screening, characterization of disease progression, and follow-up of the treatment’s success. We provide a brief overview of the potential of volatile organic metabolites (VOMs) for the establishment of PCa biomarkers from non-invasive matrices. Endogenous VOMs have been investigated as potential biomarkers since changes in these VOMs can be characteristic of specific disease processes. Recent studies have shown that the conjugation of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening with other methodologies, such as risk calculators, biomarkers, and imaging tests, can attenuate overdiagnosis and under-detection issues. This means that the combination of volatilomics with other methodologies could be extremely valuable for the differentiation of clinical phenotypes in a group of patients, providing more personalized treatments.

Abstract

Despite the spectacular advances in molecular medicine, including genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, lipidomics, and personalized medicine, supported by the discovery of the human genome, prostate cancer (PCa) remains the most frequent malignant tumor and a leading cause of oncological death in men. New methods for prognostic, diagnostic, and therapy evaluation are mainly based on the combination of imaging techniques with other methodologies, such as gene or protein profiling, aimed at improving PCa management and surveillance. However, the lack of highly specific and sensitive biomarkers for its early detection is a major hurdle to this goal. Apart from classical biomarkers, the study of endogenous volatile organic metabolites (VOMs) biosynthesized by different metabolic pathways and found in several biofluids is emerging as an innovative, efficient, accessible, and non-invasive approach to establish the volatilomic biosignature of PCa patients, unravelling potential biomarkers. This review provides a brief overview of the challenges of PCa screening methods and emergent biomarkers. We also focus on the potential of volatilomics for the establishment of PCa biomarkers from non-invasive matrices.

Centrosomal protein 290 is a novel prognostic indicator that modulates liver cancer cell ferroptosis via the Nrf2 pathway

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death. In spite of its significance in pathogenesis and disease progression, ferroptotic signal transduction in HBV-HCC has not been fully explained. Here, four HCC open-source datasets were downloaded from the GEO repository. Cox regression and LASSO models were established to prioritize novel prognostic candidate biomarkers, and the results were verified in vitro and in vivo. We identified 633 common DEGs in both of the bulk RNA-Seq expression profiles. Next, based upon the TCGA-LIHC cohort, a prognostic signature consisting of nine genes was extracted from 633 shared DEGs, and the specificity and sensitivity of the signature were evaluated in both training and validation datasets. This signature showed that the high-risk group had a worse prognosis than the low-risk group. CEP290 was discovered among the prognostic signature genes, and its expression notably correlated with survival, AFP level, TNM stage and vascular invasion. We confirmed expression of CEP290 in eight pairs of HCC tissues and diverse liver cancer cell lines. CEP290 knockdown reduced proliferation, migration and invasion in Hep3B liver cancer cells while Fe2+ and malondialdehyde levels were elevated. Mechanically, co-immunoprecipitation showed an interaction between CEP290 and Nrf2 proteins, and biological phenotypes of Hep3B cells under CEP290 interference were rescued by Nrf2 activator. Furthermore, CEP290 silencing considerably blocked protein expression of Nrf2 pathway members. Finally, suppression of CEP290 effectively inhibited tumor growth in vivo. The above results shed light on the important role of CEP290 in ferroptosis and present an important implication for HCC progression.

Association of genetic variants in autophagy-lysosome pathway genes with susceptibility and survival to prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have indicated the connections between autophagy-lysosome pathway genes dysfunction and prostate cancer, but few studies have investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in autophagy-lysosome pathway genes are implicated in prostate cancer risk and survival.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Logistic regression analysis and stepwise Cox regression analysis were conducted in 4,662 cases and 3,114 controls from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. The false positive rate probability (FPRP) method was applied to correct for multiple comparisons. Gene-based analysis was calculated by versatile gene-based association study approach.

RESULTS

We found that SLC11A1 rs7573065 significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.46, P = 7.02 × 10^-3, FPRP = 0.082]. Furthermore, rs7573065 was confirmed as the independent predicator of overall survival (OS) for prostate cancer patients [Hazard ratio (HR) = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.01-1.66, P = 0.041]. The significant association between SLC11A1 and prostate cancer risk was calculated by gene-based analysis (P = 0.030). We also observed that the mRNA of SLC11A1 in prostate tumor tissues was significantly over-expressed than that in normal tissues.

CONCLUSION

This study suggested that rs7573065 in SLC11A1 was associated with an increased risk and poor OS of prostate cancer. Our findings may provide evidence for genetic variants in autophagy-lysosome pathway as the risk and prognostic biomarkers for prostate cancer.

miRNA-877-5p inhibits malignant progression of prostate cancer by directly targeting SSFA2

In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-877-5p in the malignant phenotypes of prostate cancer (PCa) cells and its underlying mechanism. RT-qPCR analysis was performed to examine the expression of miR- 877-5p and sperm-specific antigen 2 (SSFA2) in PCa tissues and cells. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, 5- ethynyl-20-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay, flow cytometry, wound-healing assay, and Transwell invasion assay were performed to determine the functional roles of miR-877-5p in PCa cells. The association of miR-877-5p with SSFA2 was determined by luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assays. In this study, we found that the expression level of miR-877-5p was decreased in PCa tissues and cells. Functionally, overexpression of miR- 877-5p exerted tumor suppressor properties in PCa cells. Mechanistically, SSFA2 was identified as a target gene of miR-877-5p, while overexpression of SSFA2 could abrogate the anti-tumor effects of miR-877-5p in PCa cells. These findings demonstrated that miR-877-5p/SSFA2 axis functioned as a potential target for PCa treatment.

TRIM59: A potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in human tumors

TRIM59 is a protein that is highly expressed in a variety of tumors and promotes tumor development. However, the use of TRIM59 as tumor diagnosis and prognosis biomarker has not been fully explored. We collected datasets from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO) to investigate its potential as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis. A total of 46 studies, including 11,558 patients were included in this study. Here, we showed that TRIM59 was significantly upregulated in 15 type of human solid tumors in comparison to their adjacent tissues. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) results provided further evidence for the use of TRIM59 as a potential tumor diagnosis biomarker. Overall survival (OS) was compared between TRIM59 high expression and low expression groups. High expression of TRIM59 indicated a poor prognosis in multiple solid tumors. Taken together, these analyses showed that TRIM59 was upregulated in various types of tumors and had the potential to be used as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in human solid tumors.

Seminal exosomes - An important biological marker for various disorders and syndrome in human reproduction

BACKGROUND

Exosomes are nano-sized membrane vesicles, secreted by different types of cells into the body's biological fluids. They are found in abundance in semen as compared to other fluids. Exosomes contain a cargo of lipid molecules, proteins, phospholipids, cholesterol, mRNAs, and miRNAs. Each molecule of seminal exosomes (SE) has a potential role in male reproduction for childbirth. Many potential candidates are available within the seminal exosomes that can be used as diagnostic markers for various diseases or syndromes associated with male reproduction. Also these seminal exospmes play a major role in female reproductive tract for effective fertilization.

AIM

The aim of this review is to focus on the advancement of human seminal exosomal research and its various properties.

METHODS

We used many databases like Scopus, Google scholar, NCBI-NLM and other sources to filter the articles of interest published in exosomes. We used phrases like "Exosomes in human semen", "Composition of exosomes in human semen" and other relevant words to filter the best articles.

RESULTS

Seminal exosomes play a major role in sperm functions like cell-to-cell communication, motility of the sperm cells, maintaining survival capacity for the sperm in the female reproductive tract and spermatogenesis. Also, seminal exosomes are used as a carrier for many regulatory elements using small RNA molecules. miRNAs of the seminal exosomes can be used as a diagnostic marker for prostate cancer instead of prostate specific antigen (PSA). Epididymosomes can be used as a biomarker for reproductive diseases and male infertility.

CONCLUSION

Seminal exosomes could be used as biological markers for various reproductive disorders, male infertility diagnosis, and it can be used in anti-retroviral research for the identification of novel therapeutics for HIV-1 infection and transmission.

Leukocyte telomere length is associated with aggressive prostate cancer in localized African American prostate cancer patients

Telomeres play important roles in cancer initiation and progression. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has been associated with the risk and prognosis of several cancers, but its association with prostate cancer (PCa) prognosis in African Americans (AAs) has not been reported. In this study, we measured relative LTL from 317 AA PCa patients and assessed its associations with aggressive disease characteristics at diagnosis and biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy. LTL was shorter in patients with higher Gleason scores (GS) at diagnosis. Dichotomized into short and long LTL groups, patients with short LTL exhibited a 1.91-fold (95% confidence interval, CI, 1.14-3.20, P = 0.013) increased risk of being diagnosed with high-risk disease (GS =7 [4 + 3] and GS ≥8) than those with long LTL in multivariable logistic regression analysis. Moreover, shorter LTL was significantly associated with an increased risk of BCR (hazard ratio = 1.68, 95% CI, 1.18-11.44, P = 0.024) compared with longer LTL in localized patients receiving prostatectomy or radiotherapy in multivariable Cox analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed patients with short LTL had significantly shorter BCR-free survival time than patients with long LTL (Log rank P = 0.011). In conclusion, our results showed for the first time that LTL was shorter in PCa patients with higher GS and short LTL was associated with worse prognosis in AA PCa patients receiving prostatectomy or radiotherapy.

Electrochemical Detection of Prostate Cancer Biomarker PCA3 Using Specific RNA-Based Aptamer Labelled with Ferrocene

This paper reports on a feasibility study of electrochemical in-vitro detection of prostate cancer biomarker PCA3 (prostate cancer antigen 3) in direct assay with specific RNA aptamer labelled with a redox group (ferrocene) and immobilized on a screen-printed gold electrode surface. The cyclic voltammograms and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods yield encouraging results on the detection of PCA3 in a range of concentrations from 1 μg/mL down to 0.1 ng/mL in buffer solutions. Both anodic and cathodic current values in cyclic voltammograms measurements and charge transfer resistance values in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiments correlate with the PCA3 concentration in the sample. Kinetics studies of the binding of the PCA3 to our aptamer demonstrated high specificity of the reaction with a characteristic affinity constant of approximately 4·10−10 molar. The results of this work provide a background for the future development of novel, highly sensitive and cost-effective diagnostic methodologies for prostate cancer detection.

Advances and Perspectives in Prostate Cancer Biomarker Discovery in the Last 5 Years through Tissue and Urine Metabolomics

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. For its screening, serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) test has been largely performed over the past decade, despite its lack of accuracy and inability to distinguish indolent from aggressive disease. Metabolomics has been widely applied in cancer biomarker discovery due to the well-known metabolic reprogramming characteristic of cancer cells. Most of the metabolomic studies have reported alterations in urine of PCa patients due its noninvasive collection, but the analysis of prostate tissue metabolome is an ideal approach to disclose specific modifications in PCa development. This review aims to summarize and discuss the most recent findings from tissue and urine metabolomic studies applied to PCa biomarker discovery. Eighteen metabolites were found consistently altered in PCa tissue among different studies, including alanine, arginine, uracil, glutamate, fumarate, and citrate. Urine metabolomic studies also showed consistency in the dysregulation of 15 metabolites and, interestingly, alterations in the levels of valine, taurine, leucine and citrate were found in common between urine and tissue studies. These findings unveil that the impact of PCa development in human metabolome may offer a promising strategy to find novel biomarkers for PCa diagnosis.

Novel Metabolic Signatures of Prostate Cancer Revealed by 1H-NMR Metabolomics of Urine

Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most common male cancers worldwide. Until now, there is no consensus about using urinary metabolomic profiling as novel biomarkers to identify PC. In this study, urine samples from 50 PC patients and 50 non-cancerous individuals (control group) were collected. Based on 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) analysis, 20 metabolites were identified. Subsequently, principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares-differential analysis (PLS-DA) and ortho-PLS-DA (OPLS-DA) were applied to find metabolites to distinguish PC from the control group. Furthermore, Wilcoxon test was used to find significant differences between the two groups in metabolite urine levels. Guanidinoacetate, phenylacetylglycine, and glycine were significantly increased in PC, while L-lactate and L-alanine were significantly decreased. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis revealed that the combination of guanidinoacetate, phenylacetylglycine, and glycine was able to accurately differentiate 77% of the PC patients with sensitivity = 80% and a specificity = 64%. In addition, those three metabolites showed significant differences in patients stratified for Gleason score 6 and Gleason score ≥7, indicating potential use to detect significant prostate cancer. Pathway enrichment analysis using the KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) and the SMPDB (The Small Molecule Pathway Database) revealed potential involvement of KEGG "Glycine, Serine, and Threonine metabolism" in PC. The present study highlights that guanidinoacetate, phenylacetylglycine, and glycine are potential candidate biomarkers of PC. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first study identifying guanidinoacetate, and phenylacetylglycine as potential novel biomarkers in PC.

Non-coding RNAs regulating androgen receptor signaling pathways in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies for men worldwide, and abnormal activation of the androgen receptor (AR) signaling plays an important role in the progression of PCa. However, in the androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), AR signaling inevitably recovered, as a result, exploring novel regulating mechanisms is of great importance. Recently, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, circular RNAs, could be involved in the progression of PCa, and participate in the regulatory network of AR signaling in a variety of ways. This will help to identify novel molecular mechanisms to promote the development of PCa and find new potential therapeutic targets. In this review, we provide a synopsis of the latest research relating to ncRNAs and associated AR signaling in PCa.

Ubiquitin-Like Modifier Activating Enzyme 1 as a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Indicator That Correlates With Ferroptosis and the Malignant Phenotypes of Liver Cancer Cells

PURPOSE

Ferroptosis is a type of cell death that is iron dependent, a characteristic that distinguishes it from necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy. However, the ferroptotic mechanisms for hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain incompletely described.

METHODS

Two hepatitis B virus-associated HCC public datasets, GSE22058 (n=192) and GSE54238 (n=23), were obtained from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Bioinformatics methods, including weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), Cox regression, and LASSO analysis, were used to identify signature markers for diagnosis and prognosis. CCK8, wound healing, Transwell migration/invasion, and ferroptosis assays were employed to explore the biological function of novel candidate markers weight gene coexpression network analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 926 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were common between the GSE22058 and GSE54238 datasets. Following WGCNA, 515 DEGs derived from the MEturquoise gene module were employed to establish diagnosis and prognosis models in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HCC RNA-Seq cohort (n=423). The score of the diagnostic model was strikingly upregulated in the TCGA HCC group (p<2.2e-16). The prognostic model exhibited high specificity and sensitivity in both training and validation (AUC=0.835 and 0.626, respectively), and the high-risk group showed dismal prognostic outcomes compared with the low-risk group (training: p=1.416e-10; validation: p=4.495e-02). Ubiquitin-like modifier activating enzyme 1 (UBA1) was identified among both diagnosis and prognosis signature genes, and its overexpression was associated with poor survival. We validated the expression level of UBA1 in eight pairs of HCC patient tissues and liver cancer cell lines. UBA1 silencing decreased proliferation, migration, and invasion in Huh7 cells while elevating the Fe2+ and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Additionally, these biological effects were recovered by oltipraz (an Nrf2 activator). Furthermore, blocking UBA1 strikingly repressed the protein expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1, and FTH1 in the Nrf2 signal transduction pathway.

CONCLUSION

Our findings demonstrated that UBA1 participates in the development of HCC by modulating Huh7 phenotypes and ferroptosis via the Nrf2 signal transduction pathway and might be a promising diagnostic and prognostic indicator for HCC.

Separation based characterization methods for the N-glycosylation analysis of prostate-specific antigen

Prostate cancer has the highest malignancy rate diagnosed in men worldwide. Albeit, the gold standard serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assays reduced the mortality rate of the disease, the number of false positive diagnoses steeply increased. Therefore, there is an urgent need for complementary biomarkers to enhance the specificity and selectivity of current diagnostic methods. Information about PSA glycosylation can help to fulfill this gap as alterations of its carbohydrate moieties due to cancerous transformation may represent additional markers to distinguish malignant from benign tumors. However, development of suitable methods and instrumentations to investigate the N-glycosylation profile of PSA represents a challenge. In this paper, we critically review the current bioanalytical trends and strategies in the field of PSA glycobiomarker research focusing on separation based characterization methods.

Comprehensive Analysis of Aberrantly Expressed Competitive Endogenous RNA Network and Identification of Prognostic Biomarkers in Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma

Background

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) functions as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) and plays an important role in the biological processes underlying tumorigenesis. However, studies describing the function of lncRNA in pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PCPG) remain largely unknown. Our study aims to construct a regulatory ceRNA network and explore prognostic biomarkers for PCPG through a comprehensive analysis.

Methods

PCPG data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were utilized to obtain differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs), microRNAs (DEmiRNAs), and mRNAs (DEmRNAs). Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to detect prognostic biomarkers and Cytoscape was utilized to construct a regulatory network of ceRNA. Potential lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA axes were inferred by correlation analysis. GO and KEGG pathways were constructed using “clusterProfiler” and “DOSE” R-packages. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was performed to validate differential protein expression levels of genes in the axes. Finally, the GSE19422 dataset and Pan-Cancer data were applied to validate the expression pattern and survival status of mRNAs, respectively.

Results

A total of 334 DElncRNAs, 116 DEmiRNAs, and 3496 DEmRNAs were identified and mainly enriched in hormone secretion, metabolism signaling, metastatic and proliferative pathways. Among these differentially expressed genes, 16 mRNAs, six lncRNAs, and two miRNAs were associated with overall survival of patients with PCPG and sequentially enrolled in the ceRNA network. Two lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory axes were predicted: AP001486.2/hsa-miR-195-5p/RCAN3 and AP006333.2/hsa-miR-34a-5p/PTPRJ. The GSE19422 dataset and IHC analysis validated that mRNA and protein levels of RCAN3 and PTPRJ were upregulated in PCPG tissues compared with adjacent adrenal gland medulla tissues. Pan-Cancer data showed that the upregulated expression of RCAN3 and PTPRJ was associated with favorable overall survival and disease-free survival.

Conclusion

A regulatory lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA ceRNA network was successfully constructed and 24 prognostic biomarkers were identified for PCPG patients. These findings may contribute toward a better understanding of the biological mechanism of tumorigenesis and enable further evaluation of the prognosis of patients with PCPG.

Knockdown of ferritin heavy chain (FTH) inhibits the migration of prostate cancer through reducing S100A4, S100A2, and S100P expression

BACKGROUND

Ferritin plays a key role in the development of prostate cancer (PCa). Our earlier studies showed that the knockdown of ferritin heavy chain (FTH) suppressed the migration and invasion of the prostate cancer cell line (PC3). However, the mechanisms behind FTH in the cell migration regulation of PCa have not been thoroughly investigated.

METHODS

Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) proteomics was used to analyze the protein expression in PC3 cells with FTH knockdown by small interfering RNAs and negative control cells. We subsequently ranked the differentially expressed proteins according to the change in expression. We further performed Gene Ontology (GO) analysis for the changing-expression protein. Finally, Western blot analysis was performed to determine the expression of the target protein.

RESULTS

Compared with the negative group, 420 proteins were downregulated, including proteins S100A4, S100P, and S100A2, while the expression of 442 protein was elevated in FTH-silencing PC3 cells (P<0.05, fold change >1.2). The mass spectrometry results showing decreased expression of protein S100A4, S100P, and S100A2 in the cells were further validated by Western blot (P<0.05). Levels of protein S100A4, S100A2, and S100P were reduced in FTH-silencing PC3 cells (P<0.05, fold change >1.6).

CONCLUSIONS

The downregulation of FTH expression reduced the level of protein S100A4, S100A2, and S100P, which all play a key role in the migration and invasion of tumor cells. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that there are correlations between the expression of the S100A4, S100A2, and S100P genes with FTH. Based on this research, FTH may be a new biomarker for the diagnosis of PCa.

Mitochondrial DNA copy number in peripheral blood leukocytes is associated with biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer patients in African Americans

Mitochondria play multiple important cellular functions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether leukocyte mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) is associated with aggressive prostate cancer (PCa) in African American (AA) men. We measured the mtDNAcn in peripheral blood leukocytes from 317 localized AA PCa patients and evaluated its associations with aggressive disease features at diagnosis and biochemical recurrence (BCR) after treatments. There was no significant difference in mtDNAcn among the clinical features at diagnosis, including age, prostate-specific antigen level, Gleason score and clinical stage under analysis of variance test. However, mtDNAcn was significantly associated with BCR in multivariate Cox analysis. Dichotomized into low and high mtDNAcn groups by the median value of mtDNAcn, patients with low mtDNAcn exhibited a significantly lower risk of BCR (hazard ratio = 0.32, 95% confidence interval: 0.13-0.79) compared to those with high mtDNAcn. There was a significant dose-response in tertile and quartile analyses (P for trend = 0.012 and 0.002, respectively). In Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, patients with higher mtDNAcn exhibited significantly shorter BCR-free survival time than those with lower mtDNAcn in dichotomous, tertile and quartile analyses, with long-rank P values of 0.017, 0.024 and 0.019, respectively. Our results showed for the first time that high leukocyte mtDNAcn was associated with worse prognosis in AA PCa patients.

Electrochemical and optical detection and machine learning applied to images of genosensors for diagnosis of prostate cancer with the biomarker PCA3

The development of simple detection methods aimed at widespread screening and testing is crucial for many infections and diseases, including prostate cancer where early diagnosis increases the chances of cure considerably. In this paper, we report on genosensors with different detection principles for a prostate cancer specific DNA sequence (PCA3). The genosensors were made with carbon printed electrodes or quartz coated with layer-by-layer (LbL) films containing gold nanoparticles and chondroitin sulfate and a layer of a complementary DNA sequence (PCA3 probe). The highest sensitivity was reached with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with the detection limit of 83 pM in solutions of PCA3, while the limits of detection were 2000 pM and 900 pM for cyclic voltammetry and UV–vis spectroscopy, respectively. That detection could be performed with an optical method is encouraging, as one may envisage extending it to colorimetric tests. Since the morphology of sensing units is known to be affected in detection experiments, we applied machine learning algorithms to classify scanning electron microscopy images of the genosensors and managed to distinguish those exposed to PCA3-containing solutions from control measurements with an accuracy of 99.9%. The performance in distinguishing each individual PCA3 concentration in a multiclass task was lower, with an accuracy of 88.3%, which means that further developments in image analysis are required for this innovative approach.

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Low-cost biosensors fabricated with gold nanoparticles and chondroitin sulfate used for detecting PCA3 biomarker.

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PCA3 detection from machine learning with accuracy of 99.9%.

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The highest sensitivity was reached with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with the detection limit of 83 pM.

Active monitoring, radical prostatectomy and radical radiotherapy in PSA-detected clinically localised prostate cancer: the ProtecT three-arm RCT

BACKGROUND

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the UK. Prostate-specific antigen testing followed by biopsy leads to overdetection, overtreatment as well as undertreatment of the disease. Evidence of treatment effectiveness has lacked because of the paucity of randomised controlled trials comparing conventional treatments.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effectiveness of conventional treatments for localised prostate cancer (active monitoring, radical prostatectomy and radical radiotherapy) in men aged 50-69 years.

DESIGN

A prospective, multicentre prostate-specific antigen testing programme followed by a randomised trial of treatment, with a comprehensive cohort follow-up.

SETTING

Prostate-specific antigen testing in primary care and treatment in nine urology departments in the UK.

PARTICIPANTS

Between 2001 and 2009, 228,966 men aged 50-69 years received an invitation to attend an appointment for information about the Prostate testing for cancer and Treatment (ProtecT) study and a prostate-specific antigen test; 82,429 men were tested, 2664 were diagnosed with localised prostate cancer, 1643 agreed to randomisation to active monitoring (n = 545), radical prostatectomy (n = 553) or radical radiotherapy (n = 545) and 997 chose a treatment.

INTERVENTIONS

The interventions were active monitoring, radical prostatectomy and radical radiotherapy.

TRIAL PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE

Definite or probable disease-specific mortality at the 10-year median follow-up in randomised participants.

SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Overall mortality, metastases, disease progression, treatment complications, resource utilisation and patient-reported outcomes.

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences between the groups for 17 prostate cancer-specific (p = 0.48) and 169 all-cause (p = 0.87) deaths. Eight men died of prostate cancer in the active monitoring group (1.5 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 0.7 to 3.0); five died of prostate cancer in the radical prostatectomy group (0.9 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 0.4 to 2.2 per 1000 person years) and four died of prostate cancer in the radical radiotherapy group (0.7 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 0.3 to 2.0 per 1000 person years). More men developed metastases in the active monitoring group than in the radical prostatectomy and radical radiotherapy groups: active monitoring, n = 33 (6.3 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 4.5 to 8.8); radical prostatectomy, n = 13 (2.4 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 4.2 per 1000 person years); and radical radiotherapy, n = 16 (3.0 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 1.9 to 4.9 per 1000 person-years; p = 0.004). There were higher rates of disease progression in the active monitoring group than in the radical prostatectomy and radical radiotherapy groups: active monitoring (n = 112; 22.9 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 19.0 to 27.5 per 1000 person years); radical prostatectomy (n = 46; 8.9 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 6.7 to 11.9 per 1000 person-years); and radical radiotherapy (n = 46; 9.0 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval 6.7 to 12.0 per 1000 person years; p < 0.001). Radical prostatectomy had the greatest impact on sexual function/urinary continence and remained worse than radical radiotherapy and active monitoring. Radical radiotherapy's impact on sexual function was greatest at 6 months, but recovered somewhat in the majority of participants. Sexual and urinary function gradually declined in the active monitoring group. Bowel function was worse with radical radiotherapy at 6 months, but it recovered with the exception of bloody stools. Urinary voiding and nocturia worsened in the radical radiotherapy group at 6 months but recovered. Condition-specific quality-of-life effects mirrored functional changes. No differences in anxiety/depression or generic or cancer-related quality of life were found. At the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence threshold of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year, the probabilities that each arm was the most cost-effective option were 58% (radical radiotherapy), 32% (active monitoring) and 10% (radical prostatectomy).

LIMITATIONS

A single prostate-specific antigen test and transrectal ultrasound biopsies were used. There were very few non-white men in the trial. The majority of men had low- and intermediate-risk disease. Longer follow-up is needed.

CONCLUSIONS

At a median follow-up point of 10 years, prostate cancer-specific mortality was low, irrespective of the assigned treatment. Radical prostatectomy and radical radiotherapy reduced disease progression and metastases, but with side effects. Further work is needed to follow up participants at a median of 15 years.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN20141297.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 37. See the National Institute for Health Research Journals Library website for further project information.

Apoptosis-Inducing Factor, Mitochondrion-Associated 3 (AIFM3) Protein Level in the Sera as a Prognostic Marker of Cholangiocarcinoma Patients

Prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) patients is absolutely poor. Since improvement of prognosis and/or response to treatment by personalized and precision treatments requires earlier and precise diagnostic markers, discovery of prognostic markers attracts more attention. Apoptosis-inducing factor, mitochondrion-associated 3 (AIFM3) is highly expressed in several cancers including CCA. The present study investigated whether the serum AIFM3 level can be used as a potential marker for CCA prognosis. For this purpose, we first determined secretory protein nature of AIFM3 using bioinformatic tools. The results show that although AIFM3 lacks signal peptide, it can be secreted into plasma/serum via an unconventional pathway. Then, the AIFM3 levels in the sera of 141 CCA patients and 70 healthy controls (HC) were measured using a semi-quantitative dot blot assay. The results show that the AIFM3 level in the sera of CCA group was significantly higher than that of HC. When correlation between serum AIFM3 levels and the clinicopathological parameters of CCA patients were examined, serum AIFM3 levels correlated significantly with lymph node metastasis, age, and the patients’ overall survival (OS). Higher AIFM3 levels were significantly associated with shorter OS, and only AIFM3 was an independent prognostic marker for CCA. In conclusion, AIFM3 can be used as a prognostic marker for CCA.

Long Noncoding RNAs Involved in the Endocrine Therapy Resistance of Breast Cancer

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are defined as RNAs longer than 200 nucleotides that do not encode proteins. Recent studies have demonstrated that numerous lncRNAs are expressed in humans and play key roles in the development of various types of cancers. Intriguingly, some lncRNAs have been demonstrated to be involved in endocrine therapy resistance for breast cancer through their own mechanisms, suggesting that lncRNAs could be promising new biomarkers and therapeutic targets of breast cancer. Here, we summarize the functions and mechanisms of lncRNAs related to the endocrine therapy resistance of breast cancer.

Interactions Between Tumor Biology and Targeted Nanoplatforms for Imaging Applications

Although considerable efforts have been conducted to diagnose, improve, and treat cancer in the past few decades, existing therapeutic options are insufficient, as mortality and morbidity rates remain high. Perhaps the best hope for substantial improvement lies in early detection. Recent advances in nanotechnology are expected to increase the current understanding of tumor biology, and will allow nanomaterials to be used for targeting and imaging both in vitro and in vivo experimental models. Owing to their intrinsic physicochemical characteristics, nanostructures (NSs) are valuable tools that have received much attention in nanoimaging. Consequently, rationally designed NSs have been successfully employed in cancer imaging for targeting cancer-specific or cancer-associated molecules and pathways. This review categorizes imaging and targeting approaches according to cancer type, and also highlights some new safe approaches involving membrane-coated nanoparticles, tumor cell-derived extracellular vesicles, circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNAs, and cancer stem cells in the hope of developing more precise targeting and multifunctional nanotechnology-based imaging probes in the future.

Telomere-based risk models for the early diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer

Background

The objective of this study was to explore telomere-associated variables (TAV) as complementary biomarkers in the early diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa), analyzing their application in risk models for significant PCa (Gleason score > 6).

Methods

As part of a larger prospective longitudinal study of patients with suspicion of PCa undergoing prostate biopsy according to clinical practice, a subgroup of patients (n = 401) with PSA 3–10 ng/ml and no prior biopsies was used to evaluate the contribution of TAV to discern non-significant PCa from significant PCa. The cohort was randomly split for training (2/3) and validation (1/3) of the models. High-throughput quantitative fluorescence in-situ hybridization was used to evaluate TAV in peripheral blood mononucleated cells. Models were generated following principal component analysis and random forest and their utility as risk predictors was evaluated by analyzing their predictive capacity and accuracy, summarized by ROC curves, and their clinical benefit with decision curves analysis.

Results

The median age of the patients was 63 years, with a median PSA of 5 ng/ml and a percentage of PCa diagnosis of 40.6% and significant PCa of 19.2%. Two TAV-based risk models were selected (TAV models 1 and 2) with an AUC ≥ 0.83 in the full study cohort, and AUC > 0.76 in the internal validation cohort. Both models showed an improvement in decision capacity when compared to the application of the PCPT-RC in the low-risk probabilities range. In the validation cohort, with TAV models 1 and 2, 33% /48% of biopsies would have been avoided losing 0/10.3% of significant PCa, respectively. The models were also tested and validated on an independent, retrospective, non contemporary cohort.

Conclusions

Telomere analysis through TAV should be considered as a new risk-score biomarker with potential to increase the prediction capacity of significant PCa in patients with PSA between 3–10 ng/ml.

Downregulated circular RNA itchy E3 ubiquitin protein ligase correlates with advanced pathologic T stage, high lymph node metastasis risk and poor survivals in prostate cancer patients

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the correlation of circular RNA itchy E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (circ-ITCH) with pathological features as well as its predictive value on prognosis in prostate cancer patients.

METHODS

Three hundred and twenty-four patients with prostate cancer underwent radical prostatectomy were consecutively included in this retrospective study, and patients' specimens of tumor as well as paired adjacent tissues were collected for detection of circ-ITCH expression. Patients' baseline characteristics and survival data were obtained from follow-up records, and correlation of circ-ITCH with patients' pathological features and survival was determined.

RESULTS

Circ-ITCH expression was decreased in tumor tissue compared with paired adjacent tissues (P< 0.001), and it presented with good value in distinguishing tumor tissues from paired adjacent tissues with area under curve (AUC) of 0.812 (95%CI: 0.780-0.845). Circ-ITCH low expression was associated with advanced pathologic T stage (P= 0.002) and high risk of lymph node metastasis (P= 0.047) in prostate cancer patients. As for prognosis, patients with circ-ITCH high expression had longer disease-free survival (DFS) (P< 0.001) and overall survival (OS) (P< 0.001). Additionally, circ-ITCH (high vs. low) independently predicted better survival, while Gleason score (> 7 vs. ⩽ 7) and surgical margin status (positive vs. negative) independently predicted worse survival in prostate patients underwent radical prostatectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

Circ-ITCH is downregulated in prostate cancer tissues, and its low expression correlates with advanced pathologic T stage, high lymph mode metastasis risk and poor survival in prostate cancer patients underwent radical prostatectomy.

The long noncoding RNA LINC00341 suppresses colorectal carcinoma by preventing cell migration and apoptosis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are ubiquitous transcripts that play key roles in regulating gene expression at the levels of transcription, RNA processing, and translation. Aberrant expression and mutations of lncRNAs represent a driving force behind oncogenesis and development of tumours. However, most of the lncRNAs are still being undiscovered, and conclusive experimental evidence for their functional relevance continues to be lacking for most malignancies. We have found that lncRNA long intergenic non–protein‐coding RNA 341 (LINC00341) is aberrantly downregulated by microarray‐based screenings on nonmetastatic and metastatic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) specimens; LINC00341 is a novel long intergenic non–protein‐coding RNA with unknown functions. LINC00341 overexpression restricts tumour growth and promotes its apoptosis. Instead, LINC00341 silencing accelerates CRC cell proliferation and migration. RNA‐pulldown assay identifies LINC00341 physically binds to HMGB2 and stabilizes the localization of HMGB2 in the cytoplasm. Notably, LINC00341 knockdown leads to the shift of HMGB2 into nuclear, in which it triggers epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) programming. Moreover, LINC00341 can also promote apoptosis.

Significance of the study

LncRNAs are ubiquitous transcripts that play key roles in regulating gene expression at the levels of transcription, RNA processing, and translation. Aberrant expression and mutations of lncRNAs represent a driving force behind oncogenesis and development of tumours. However, the function of lncRNA still needs further exploration. Our study has revealed a new noncoding RNA‐mediated regulatory network that highly likely protects colorectal carcinoma by preventing migration and apoptosis. The results will help further explore the molecular details about the progression of colorectal carcinoma and stimulate efforts to develop effective therapies.

The ternary complex factor protein ELK1 is an independent prognosticator of disease recurrence in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

Both hormone-sensitive and castration- and enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancers (PCa) depend on the ternary complex factor (TCF) protein ELK1 to serve as a tethering protein for the androgen receptor (AR) to activate a critical set of growth genes. The two sites in ELK1 required for AR binding are conserved in other members of the TCF subfamily, ELK3 and ELK4. Here we examine the potential utility of the three proteins as prognosticators of disease recurrence in PCa.

METHODS

Transcriptional activity assays; Retrospective analysis of PCa recurrence using data on 501 patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database; Unpaired Wilcoxon rank-sum test and multiple comparison correction using the Holm's method; Spearman's correlations; Kaplan-Meier methods; Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses; LASSO-based penalized Cox regression models; Time-dependent area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

RESULTS

ELK4 but not ELK3 was coactivated by AR similar to ELK1. Tumor expression of neither ELK3 nor ELK4 was associated with disease-free survival (DFS). ELK1 was associated with higher clinical T-stage, pathology T-stage, Gleason score, prognostic grade, and positive lymph node status. ELK1 was a negative prognosticator of DFS, independent of ELK3, ELK4, clinical T-stage, pathology T-stage, prognostic grade, lymph node status, age, and race. Inclusion of ELK1 increased the abilities of the Oncotype DX and Prolaris gene panels to predict disease recurrence, correctly predicting disease recurrence in a unique subset of patients.

CONCLUSIONS

ELK1 is a strong, independent prognosticator of disease recurrence in PCa, underscoring its unique role in PCa growth. Inclusion of ELK1 may enhance the utility of currently used prognosticators for clinical decision making in prostate cancer.

Leukocyte telomere length is associated with aggressive prostate cancer in localized prostate cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Telomeres play important roles in cancer initiation and progression. The aim of this study is to investigate whether leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with aggressive prostate cancer (PCa).

METHODS

We measured relative LTL in a cohort of 1,889 white PCa patients who were treated and followed up at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and assessed its associations with aggressive disease characteristics at diagnosis and biochemical recurrence (BCR) after active treatments (radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy). We further used a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to compute a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) predictive of LTL using 10 established LTL-associated genetic variants and determined whether this GRS is associated with aggressive PCa.

FINDINGS

LTL was significantly shorter in patients with higher Gleason scores at diagnosis. Dichotomized at the median value of LTL, patients with short LTL exhibited a 2.74-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.79-4.18, P = 3.11 × 10^-6) increased risk of presenting with GS≥8 disease than those with long LTL in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Moreover, shorter LTL was significantly associated with an increased risk of BCR (hazard ratio = 1.53, 95% confidence interval, 1.01-2.34) compared to longer LTL in localized patients receiving prostatectomy or radiotherapy with a significant dose-response association (P for trend = 0.017) in multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. In MR analysis, genetically predicted short LTL was also associated with an increased risk of BCR (HR=1.73, 95% CI, 1.08-2.78).

INTERPRETATION

Our results showed for the first time that LTL was shorter in PCa patients with high Gleason scores and that short LTL and genetically predicted short LTL are associated with worse prognosis in PCa patients receiving prostatectomy or radiotherapy.

FUNDING

Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) grant (RP140556), National Cancer Institute Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant (CA140388), and MD Anderson Cancer Center start-up fund.

LINC00908 negatively regulates microRNA-483-5p to increase TSPYL5 expression and inhibit the development of prostate cancer

Background

Accumulating evidence has associated aberrant long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with various human cancers. This study aimed to explore the role of LINC00908 in prostate cancer (PCa) and its possible underlying mechanisms.

Methods

Microarray data associated with PCa were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to screen the differentially expressed genes or lncRNAs. Then, the expression of LINC00908 in PCa tissues and cell lines was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The localization of LINC00908 in PCa cells was examined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The relationship among LINC00908, microRNA (miR)-483-5p, and TSPYL5 was detected by bioinformatics analysis, dual-luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull-down, RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP), and FISH assays. Cell biological behaviors were assessed after the expression of LINC00908, miR-483-5p, and TSPYL5 was altered in PCa cells. Lastly, tumor growth in nude mice was evaluated.

Results

Poorly expressed LINC00908 was witnessed in PCa tissues and cells. LINC00908 competitively bound to miR-483-5p to up-regulate the TSPYL5 expression. Overexpression of LINC00908 resulted in reduced PCa cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and promoted apoptosis. Additionally, the suppression on PCa cell proliferation, migration and invasion was induced by up-regulation of TSPYL5 or inhibition of miR-483-5p. In addition, in vivo experiments showed that overexpression of LINC00908 inhibited tumor growth of PCa.

Conclusion

Overall, LINC00908 could competitively bind to miR-483-5p to increase the expression of TSPYL5, thereby inhibiting the progression of PCa. Therefore, LINC00908 may serve as a novel target for the treatment of PCa.

Detection of the Prostate Cancer Biomarker PCA3 with Electrochemical and Impedance-Based Biosensors

Diagnosis of prostate cancer via PCA3 biomarker detection is promising to be much more efficient than with the prostatic specific antigens currently used. In this study, we present the first electrochemical and impedance-based biosensors that are capable of detecting PCA3 down to 0.128 nmol/L. The biosensors were made with a layer of PCA3-complementary single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) probe, immobilized on a layer-by-layer (LbL) film of chitosan (CHT) and carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). They are highly selective to PCA3, which was confirmed in impedance measurements and with polarization-modulated infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS). Using information visualization methods, we could also distinguish between cell lines expressing the endogenous PCA3 long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) from cells that did not contain detectable levels of this biomarker. Since the methods involved in fabrication the biosensors are potentially low cost, one may hope to deploy PCA3 tests in any laboratory of clinical analyses and even for point-of-care diagnostics.

Cytogenetics and Cytogenomics Evaluation in Cancer

The availability of cytogenetics and cytogenomics technologies improved the detection and identification of tumor molecular signatures as well as the understanding of cancer initiation and progression. The use of large-scale and high-throughput cytogenomics technologies has led to a fast identification of several cancer candidate biomarkers associated with diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutics. The advent of array comparative genomic hybridization and next-generation sequencing technologies has significantly improved the knowledge about cancer biology, underlining driver genes to guide targeted therapy development, drug-resistance prediction, and pharmacogenetics. However, few of these candidate biomarkers have made the transition to the clinic with a clear benefit for the patients. Technological progress helped to demonstrate that cellular heterogeneity plays a significant role in tumor progression and resistance/sensitivity to cancer therapies, representing the major challenge of precision cancer therapy. A paradigm shift has been introduced in cancer genomics with the recent advent of single-cell sequencing, since it presents a lot of applications with a clear benefit to oncological patients, namely, detection of intra-tumoral heterogeneity, mapping clonal evolution, monitoring the development of therapy resistance, and detection of rare tumor cell populations. It seems now evident that no single biomarker could provide the whole information necessary to early detect and predict the behavior and prognosis of tumors. The promise of precision medicine is based on the molecular profiling of tumors being vital the continuous progress of high-throughput technologies and the multidisciplinary efforts to catalogue chromosomal rearrangements and genomic alterations of human cancers and to do a good interpretation of the relation genotype-phenotype.

Clinical significance and oncogene function of long noncoding RNA HAGLROS overexpression in ovarian cancer

PURPOSE

To explore the clinical significance and mechanism of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) HAGLROS in ovarian cancer.

METHODS

The expression of HAGLROS in ovarian cancer was verified by online databases and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters was analysed. Pearson correlation analysis was used to study the correlation between HAGLROS and miR-100 in ovarian cancer. Meta-analysis was used to explore the expression of miR-100 in ovarian cancer. In addition, we used bioinformatics to explore the target genes of miR-100 and perform functional analysis.

RESULTS

HAGLROS was significantly upregulated in ovarian cancer (P < 0.001) and was closely related to disease stage (P = 0.033), tumour size (P = 0.032) and poor prognosis (P = 0.019). HAGLROS had a certain diagnostic value in ovarian cancer (area under the curve = 0.751). MiR-100 was negatively correlated with HAGLROS (r = 0.167, P = 0.001) and significantly downregulated in ovarian cancer. Bioinformatics analysis predicted a total of 31 potential target genes that interact with miR-100. These target genes were mainly involved in the regulation of cellular catabolic process, proteoglycan biosynthetic process and positive regulation of proteasomal ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process. Among them, mTOR and ZNRF2 are hub genes.

CONCLUSION

HAGLROS is a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of ovarian cancer. It can be used as a molecular sponge of miR-100 to regulate the expression of mTOR and ZNRF2 and affect the signal transduction of the mTOR pathway. HAGLROS is expected to be a new target for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Application of Urinary Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) for the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND

Prostate cancer (PCa) screening using serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has caused unnecessary biopsies and overdiagnosis owing to its low accuracy and reliability. Therefore, there is an increased interest in identifying better PCa biomarkers. Studies showed that trained dogs can discriminate patients with PCa from unaffected men by sniffing urine. We hypothesized that urinary volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be the source of that odor and could be used to develop urinary VOC PCa diagnosis models.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Urine samples from 55 and 53 biopsy proven PCa-positive and -negative patients respectively were initially obtained for diagnostic model development. Urinary metabolites were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A PCa diagnosis model was developed and validated using innovative statistical machine-learning techniques. A second set of samples (53 PCa-positive and 22 PCa-negative patients) were used to evaluate the previously developed PCa diagnosis model.

RESULTS

The analysis resulted in 254 and 282 VOCs for their significant association (P < .05) with either PCa-positive or -negative samples respectively. Regularized logistic regression analysis and the Firth method were then applied to predict PCa prevalence, resulting in a final model that contains 11 VOCs. Under cross-validation, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the final model was 0.92 (sensitivity, 0.96; specificity, 0.80). Further evaluation of the developed model using a testing cohort yielded an AUC of 0.86. As a comparison, the PSA-based diagnosis model only rendered an AUC of 0.54.

CONCLUSION

The study describes the development of a urinary VOC-based model for PCa detection.

Comparison of prostate-specific membrane antigen ligands in clinical translation research for diagnosis of prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), overexpressed on prostate cancer (PCa), is a well-characterized cell surface protein to selectively diagnose PCa. PSMA's unique characteristics and its 1000-fold higher expression in PCa compared with other tissues renders it as a suitable biomarker for detection of PCa in its early stage. In this report, we critically analyze and recommend the requirements needed for the development of variety of PSMA-targeted molecular imaging agents based on antibodies, small molecule ligands, peptides, and aptamers. The targeting moieties are either conjugated to radionuclear isotopes or near-infrared agents for efficient diagnosis of PCa.

RECENT FINDINGS

From the analysis, it was found that several small molecule-derived PCa imaging agents are approved for clinical trials in Europe and the United States, and few are already in the clinical use for diagnosis of PCa. Even though ¹¹¹In-labeled capromab pendetide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other engineered antibodies are available for detection of PCa, but high production cost, low shelf life (less than 1 month at 4°C), possibility of human immuno reactions, and low blood clearance rate necessitated a need for developing new imaging agents, which are serum stable, cost-effective, and possesses longer shelf life (6 months), have fast clearance rate from nontargeted tissues during the diagnosis process. It is found that small molecule ligand-derived imaging agents possesses most of the desired properties expected for an ideal diagnostic agent when compared with other targeting moieties.

CONCLUSION

This report discusses in detail the homing moieties used in the development of targeted diagnostic tools for detection of PCa. The merits and demerits of monoclonal antibodies, small molecule ligands, peptides, and aptamers for imaging of PCa and intraoperative guided surgery are extensively analyzed. Among all, urea-based ligands were found to be most successful in preclinical and clinical trials and show a major promise for future commercialization.

Metabolomics Contributions to the Discovery of Prostate Cancer Biomarkers

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers and a leading cause of death among men worldwide. Despite extensive efforts in biomarker discovery during the last years, currently used clinical biomarkers are still lacking enough specificity and sensitivity for PCa early detection, patient prognosis, and monitoring. Therefore, more precise biomarkers are required to improve the clinical management of PCa patients. In this context, metabolomics has shown to be a promising and powerful tool to identify novel PCa biomarkers in biofluids. Thus, changes in polyamines, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, amino acids, and fatty acids metabolism have been reported in different studies analyzing PCa patients' biofluids. The review provides an up-to-date summary of the main metabolic alterations that have been described in biofluid-based studies of PCa patients, as well as a discussion regarding their potential to improve clinical PCa diagnosis and prognosis. Furthermore, a summary of the most significant findings reported in these studies and the connections and interactions between the different metabolic changes described has also been included, aiming to better describe the specific metabolic signature associated to PCa.

Systematic Differences Between Total and Free Prostate-Specific Antigen Immunoassays: Comparison Using Passing and Bablok Regression

Recent studies have shown that there are systematic differences among total and free prostate-specificantigen (PSA) immunoassays. In this study we analyzedintermethod differences in total PSA (tPSA) and free PSA(fPSA) measurement using ARCHITECT i2000SR (Abbott Diagnostics) and COBAS E601 (Roche Diagnostics). A number of 160 blood samples were tested for tPSA and 50 samples for fPSA (selecting only sampleswith tPSA: 4.1-10.0 μg/L). Passing-Bablok regression analysis was used to compare the two analytical methods fortPSA, fPSA and percentage of fPSA (%fPSA). A strong correlation was noticed between ARCHITECT i2000SR and COBAS E601 for tPSA, fPSA and %fPSA (r between 0.94 and 0.99). Concentrations of tPSA and fPSA measured by COBAS E601 were higher thanthose measured by ARCHITECT i2000SR with a bias of 0.8 μg/L for tPSA and 0.14 μg/L for fPSA. Analyzing therelative difference between methods for fPSA and %fPSA, COBAS E601 exceed a 10% relative difference limit. Our study confirms that there are differences in measured concentrations of tPSA and fPSA byvarious commercial methods. Because clinical judgment on subsequent diagnostic procedures, such as prostatebiopsy, is based on tPSA and fPSA results, tests harmonization should be a priority.

Retracted Article: Long noncoding RNA PCA3 regulates glycolysis, viability and apoptosis by mediating the miR-1/CDK4 axis in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the common tumor malignancies in men worldwide. Although long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to play essential roles in the progression of prostate cancer, the roles and potential mechanism of lncRNA prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) remain poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the role of PCA3 in aerobic glycolysis, viability and apoptosis in prostate cancer cells and probed the interaction between PCA3 and microRNA-1 (miR-1)/cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4). Here we found that PCA3 and CDK4 were up-regulated while miR-1 was down-regulated in prostate cancer tissues and cells. Moreover, knockdown of PCA3 inhibited aerobic glycolysis and viability and induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells. Intriguingly, PCA3 was bound to miR-1 and inhibition of miR-1 reversed the regulatory effect of PCA3 knockdown on aerobic glycolysis, viability and apoptosis in prostate cancer cells. Besides, CDK4 was indicated as a target of miR-1 and it was regulated by PCA3 through functioning as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) of miR-1 in prostate cancer cells. The results indicated that PCA3 might drive aerobic glycolysis, viability and apoptosis by regulating the miR-1/CDK4 axis in prostate cancer cells, providing a promising avenue for treatment of prostate cancer.

Synthesis of new thiazolo-pyrrolidine-(spirooxindole) tethered to 3-acylindole as anticancer agents

Anticancer therapeutics with profiles of high potency, low toxicity, and low resistance is of considerable interest. A new series of functionalized spirooxindole linked with 3-acylindole scaffold is reported, starting from chalcones derived from 3-acetyl indole with isatin, and l-4-thiazolidinecarboxylic acid. The reactions proceeded regioselectivity, stereoselectivity, without side products in high yield (71-89%). The new spirooxindole hybrids have been evaluated in vitro for their antiproliferative effects against colon cancer (HCT-116), hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and prostate cancer (PC-3). The selectivity of their activity was evaluated. Some of the synthesized compounds showed considerable anticancer activities. Compound 4k proved to retain a high cytotoxic activity and selectivity against colon cancer cells HCT-116 (IC₅₀ = 7 ± 0.27 µM, SI: 3.7), and HepG2 (IC₅₀ = 5.5 ± 0.2 µM, SI: 4.7) in comparison to (IC₅₀ = 12.6 ± 0.5, SI: 0.4 and 5.5 ± 0.3 µM, SI: 0.9, respectively). Compound 4k was less active (IC₅₀ = 6 ± 0.3 µM, SI: 4.3) than cisplatin (IC₅₀ = 5 ± 0.56 µM, SI: 1.0) but showed greater selectivity towards prostate cancer cells PC-3 in comparison to cisplatin. The details of the binding mode of the active compounds were clarified by molecular docking. Ligand Efficiency (LE) and Ligand Lipophilic Efficiency (LLE) were evaluated and revealed that compound 4k had acceptable value.