RBX1 expression is an unfavorable prognostic factor in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

LncRNA DARS-AS1 in human cancers: A comprehensive review of its potency as a biomarker and therapeutic target

Long non-coding RNAs have emerged as important players in cancer biology. Increasing evidence has uncovered their potency in improving cancer management as they can be used as a credible prognostic and diagnostic biomarker. Recently, DARS-AS1 has gained significant attention for its involvement in facilitating tumor progression. So far, numerous research has been reported its upregulation in different malignancies of human body systems and revealed its association with cancer hallmarks as well as clinicopathological characteristics. Importantly, targeting DARS-AS1 holds promise in cancer therapy. In the current study, we provide an in-depth analysis of its expression status and explore the underlying mechanisms through which DARS-AS1 contributes to tumor initiation, growth, invasion, and metastasis. Additionally, we examine the correlation between DARS-AS1 expression and clinicopathological features of cancer patients, shedding light on its potential as a cancer biomarker. Furthermore, we discuss the therapeutic potential of targeting DARS-AS1 in cancer treatment, highlighting emerging strategies, such as RNA interference and small molecule inhibitors. Boosting the understanding of its functional role can open new avenues for precision medicine, thus resulting in better outcomes for cancer patients.

Comprehensive analysis of circulating cell-free RNAs in blood for diagnosing non-small cell lung cancer

Early screening and detection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is crucial due to the significantly low survival rate in advanced stages. Blood-based liquid biopsy is non-invasive test to assistant disease diagnosis, while cell-free RNA is one of the promising biomarkers in blood. However, the disease related signatures have not been explored completely for most cell-free RNA transcriptome sequencing (cfRNA-Seq) datasets. To address this gap, we developed a comprehensive cfRNA-Seq pipeline for data analysis and constructed a machine learning model to facilitate noninvasive early diagnosis of NSCLC. The results of our study have demonstrated the identification of differential mRNA, lncRNAs and miRNAs from cfRNA-Seq, which have exhibited significant association with development and progression of lung cancer. The classifier based on gene expression signatures achieved an impressive area under the curve (AUC) of up to 0.9, indicating high specificity and sensitivity in both cross-validation and independent test. Furthermore, the analysis of T cell and B cell immune repertoire extracted from cfRNA-Seq have provided insights into the immune status of cancer patients, while the microbiome analysis has revealed distinct bacterial and viral profiles between NSCLC and normal samples. In our future work, we aim to validate the existence of cancer associated T cell receptors (TCR)/B cell receptors (BCR) and microorganisms, and subsequently integrate all identified signatures into diagnostic model to improve the prediction accuracy. This study not only provided a comprehensive analysis pipeline for cfRNA-Seq dataset but also highlights the potential of cfRNAs as promising biomarkers and models for early NSCLC diagnosis, emphasizing their importance in clinical settings.

E3 ubiquitin ligase RBX1 drives the metastasis of triple negative breast cancer through a FBXO45-TWIST1-dependent degradation mechanism

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients are at high risk of recurrence and metastasis in the early stages, although receiving standard treatment. However, the underlying mechanism of TNBC remains unclear. Here, the critical effect of E3 ubiquitin ligase RBX1 in the metastasis of TNBC was reported for the first time. We discovered that RBX1 expression was evidently raised in the tissues of TNBC. Our clinical research displayed that high RBX1 expression was markedly related to poor distant invasion and survival. Functional analysis exhibited that RBX1 facilitated metastasis of TNBC cells through increasing EMT. Furthermore, we demonstrated that RBX1 knockdown increased the levels of the Twist family bHLH transcription factor 1 (TWIST1), is a significant regulator in the EMT process in some cancers. It can be observed an evident positive correlation between the TWIST1 and RBX1 levels, further confirming that EMT induced by RBX1 in TNBC cells is determined by TWIST1. Mechanistically, RBX1 modulates the expression of TWIST1 via modulating FBXO45, directly binding to FBXO45, and facilitating its degradation and ubiquitination. Briefly, our findings confirm that RBX1 is probably a new biomarker of TNBC carcinogenesis, thus suggesting that targeting the RBX1/FBXO45/TWIST1 axis may be an underlying strategy for TNBC treatment.

Clinicopathological and prognostic role of ROC1 in neoplasms: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Regulator of cullins 1 (ROC1) is frequently overexpressed in multiple tumors, and many pieces of research demonstrate that ROC1 is associated with the prognosis and development of a diversity of neoplasms and it is able to serve as a promising prognostic biomarker. Here we performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic and clinicopathological significance of ROC1 in patients suffering from cancer.

METHODS

We searched Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and WanFang database. The role of ROC1 in cancers was evaluated by pooled hazard ratios (HRs), odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

In total, 9 studies including 1002 patients were enrolled in this analysis. The pooled results showed that patients with high expression of ROC1 had poor overall survival (OS) (HR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.48-2.60, P < 0.001) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (HR: 1.727, 95% CI: 0.965-2.488, P < 0.001). Additionally, elevated expression of ROC1 was significantly correlated with advanced clinical Tumor Node Metastasis stage (OR: 2.708, 95% CI: 1.856-3.951, P < 0.001), positive lymph node metastasis (OR: 1.968; 95% CI: 1.294-2.993, P = .002), large tumor size (OR: 1.522, 95% CI: 1.079-2.149, P = .017) and poor tumor differentiation (OR: 2.448, 95% CI: 1.793-3.344, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated ROC1 expression predicted worse prognosis and advanced pathological parameters in various cancers. ROC1 was a significant prognostic biomarker for poor survival in human cancers.

Prognostic value of ubiquitin E2 UBE2W and its correlation with tumor-infiltrating immune cells in breast cancer

Background

Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2W (UBE2W) is a protein-coding gene that has an important role in ubiquitination and may be vital in the repair of DNA damage. However, studies on the prognostic value of UBE2W and its correlation with tumor-infiltrating immune cells in multiple cancers have not been addressed.

Methods

We investigated UBE2W expression in the Oncomine database, the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), TNMplot database. Then, the clinical prognostic value of UBE2W was analyzed via online public databases. Meanwhile, we explored the correlation between UBE2W and DNA repair associate genes expression and DNA methyltransferase expression by TIMER and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA). By using the same method, the correlation between UBE2W and tumor-infiltrating immune cells was explored. Genomic Profiles of UBE2W in breast cancer (BRCA) were accessed in cBioPortal (v3.5.0). Functional proteins associated network was analyzed by STRING database (v11.0).

Results

UBE2W was abnormally expressed and significantly correlated with mismatch repair (MMR) gene mutation levels, DNA methyltransferase, and BRCA1/2 expression in breast cancer. High expression of UBE2W may promote the tumor immunosuppression and metastasis, induce endocrine therapy resistance and deteriorate outcomes of patients with breast cancer. These findings suggest that UBE2W could be a potential biomarker of prognosis and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Besides, RBX1 may be a new E3 that was regulated by UBE2W.

Conclusions

Ubiquitin E2 UBE2W is a potential prognostic biomarker and is correlated with immune infiltration in BRCA.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08234-4.

The functional analysis of Cullin 7 E3 ubiquitin ligases in cancer

Cullin (CUL) proteins have critical roles in development and cancer, however few studies on CUL7 have been reported due to its characteristic molecular structure. CUL7 forms a complex with the ROC1 ring finger protein, and only two F-box proteins Fbxw8 and Fbxw11 have been shown to bind to CUL7. Interestingly, CUL7 can interact with its substrates by forming a novel complex that is independent of these two F-box proteins. The biological implications of CUL-ring ligase 7 (CRL7) suggest that the CRL7 may not only perform a proteolytic function but may also play a non-proteolytic role. Among the existing studied CRL7-based E3 ligases, CUL7 exerts both tumor promotion and suppression in a context-dependent manner. Currently, the mechanism of CUL7 in cancer remains unclear, and no studies have addressed potential therapies targeting CUL7. Consistent with the roles of the various CRL7 adaptors exhibit, targeting CRL7 might be an effective strategy for cancer prevention and treatment. We systematically describe the recent major advances in understanding the role of the CUL7 E3 ligase in cancer and further summarize its potential use in clinical therapy.

ELF1-mediated LUCAT1 promotes choroidal melanoma by modulating RBX1 expression

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential regulators of gene expression and biological behaviors. However, the contribution of lncRNA LUCAT1 to choroidal melanoma (CM) remains unexplored. Here, we examined the expression of LUCAT1 in CM cells by qRT‐PCR and investigated its biological effects by cell counting kit‐8, EdU, TUNEL, transwell assays, and Western blot. Bioinformatics tools were applied to find RNA candidates for further study. Moreover, mechanistic experiments including RNA immunoprecipitation assay, pull‐down assay, and luciferase reporter assay confirmed the relation or interaction among the indicated molecules. Here, we reported ELF1 as the transcription activator of LUCAT1. Functionally, elevated expression of LUCAT1 positively regulated CM cell proliferation, metastasis, and epithelial‐mesenchymal transition process. In addition, we verified the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis of LUCAT1 and confirmed LUCAT1 modulates CM progression by modulating miR‐514a/b‐3p/RBX1 axis. Meanwhile, miR‐514a/b‐3p was suggested to repress CM progression, whereas RBX1 was unmasked to aggravate CM development. Of note, RBX1 overexpression rescued the inhibitory effect of LUCAT1 silence on the biological processes of CM cells. Altogether, this study unveiled the modulation axis ELF1/LUCAT1/miR‐514a/b‐3p/RBX1 and evidenced LUCAT1 as a promoter in CM for the first time, providing a novel insight into future treatment of CM.

Cullin 4-DCAF Proteins in Tumorigenesis

Cullin-RING ligase 4 (CRL4), a member of the cullin-RING ligase family, orchestrates a variety of critical cellular processes and pathophysiological events. Recent results from mouse genetics, clinical analyses, and biochemical studies have revealed the impact of CRL4 in development and cancer etiology and elucidated its in-depth mechanism on catalysis of ubiquitination as a ubiquitin E3 ligase. Here, we summarize the versatile roles of the CRL4 E3 ligase complexes in tumorigenesis dependent on the evidence obtained from knockout and transgenic mouse models as well as biochemical and pathological studies.

Proteomics identifies neddylation as a potential therapy target in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors

Patients with small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (SI-NETs) frequently develop spread disease; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms of disease progression are not known and effective preventive treatment strategies are lacking. Here, protein expression profiling was performed by HiRIEF-LC-MS in 14 primary SI-NETs from patients with and without liver metastases detected at the time of surgery and initial treatment. Among differentially expressed proteins, overexpression of the ubiquitin-like protein NEDD8 was identified in samples from patients with liver metastasis. Further, NEDD8 correlation analysis indicated co-expression with RBX1, a key component in cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs). In vitro inhibition of neddylation with the therapeutic agent pevonedistat (MLN4924) resulted in a dramatic decrease of proliferation in SI-NET cell lines. Subsequent mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis of pevonedistat effects and effects of the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib revealed stabilization of multiple targets of CRLs including p27, an established tumor suppressor in SI-NET. Silencing of NEDD8 and RBX1 using siRNA resulted in a stabilization of p27, suggesting that the cellular levels of NEDD8 and RBX1 affect CRL activity. Inhibition of CRL activity, by either NEDD8/RBX1 silencing or pevonedistat treatment of cells resulted in induction of apoptosis that could be partially rescued by siRNA-based silencing of p27. Differential expression of both p27 and NEDD8 was confirmed in a second cohort of SI-NET using immunohistochemistry. Collectively, these findings suggest a role for CRLs and the ubiquitin proteasome system in suppression of p27 in SI-NET, and inhibition of neddylation as a putative therapeutic strategy in SI-NET.

The emerging role for Cullin 4 family of E3 ligases in tumorigenesis

As a member of the Cullin-RING ligase family, Cullin-RING ligase 4 (CRL4) has drawn much attention due to its broad regulatory roles under physiological and pathological conditions, especially in neoplastic events. Based on evidence from knockout and transgenic mouse models, human clinical data, and biochemical interactions, we summarize the distinct roles of the CRL4 E3 ligase complexes in tumorigenesis, which appears to be tissue- and context-dependent. Notably, targeting CRL4 has recently emerged as a noval anti-cancer strategy, including thalidomide and its derivatives that bind to the substrate recognition receptor cereblon (CRBN), and anticancer sulfonamides that target DCAF15 to suppress the neoplastic proliferation of multiple myeloma and colorectal cancers, respectively. To this end, PROTACs have been developed as a group of engineered bi-functional chemical glues that induce the ubiquitination-mediated degradation of substrates via recruiting E3 ligases, such as CRL4 (CRBN) and CRL2 (pVHL). We summarize the recent major advances in the CRL4 research field towards understanding its involvement in tumorigenesis and further discuss its clinical implications. The anti-tumor effects using the PROTAC approach to target the degradation of undruggable targets are also highlighted.

Identify Cross Talk Between Circadian Rhythm and Coronary Heart Disease by Multiple Correlation Analysis

Disorder in circadian rhythm has been revealed as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Several studies in molecular biology established a gene interaction network using coronary heart susceptibility genes and the circadian rhythm pathway. However, cross talk between genes was mostly discovered in single gene pairs. There might be combination sets of genes intergraded as a unit to regulate the network. To resolve multiple variables in coronary heart susceptibility genes controlling circadian rhythm pathways, a multiple correlation analysis was applied to the transcriptome. Nine genes, including CUGBP, Elav-like family member (CELF); sodium leak channel, nonselective (NALCN); protein phosphatase 2 regulatory subunit B gamma (PPP2R2C); tubulin alpha 1c (TUBA1C); microtubule-associated protein 4 (MAP4); cofilin 1 (CFL1); myosin heavy chain 7 (MYH7); QKI, KH domain containing RNA binding (QKI); and maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK), from coronary heart susceptibility were identified to predict the outcome of a linear combination of circadian rhythm pathway genes with R factor more than 0.7. G protein subunit alpha o1 (GNAO1), protein kinase C gamma (PRKCG), RBX, and G protein subunit beta 1 (GNB1) in the circadian rhythm pathway are characterized as combination variables to coexpress with coronary heart susceptibility genes.

Novel biologic factors correlated to visceral pleural invasion in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer less than 3 cm

Background

Visceral pleural invasion (VPI) in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is traditionally believed as the result of too much close distance between cancerous lesion and the visceral pleura, but whether there are any other biologic factors correlated to VPI beyond our instinctive thoughts remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted this study to investigate potential factors correlated to VPI comprehensively.

Methods

Both clinical and pathological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for NSCLC with a size of ≤3 cm were retrospectively analysed.

Results

A total of 403 patients were included for analysis. Patients with VPI had older age than those without (61.1 vs. 56.1 years; P<0.001). The mean size of NSCLCs with VPI was larger than those without (2.1 vs. 1.6 cm; P<0.001). Moreover, NSCLCs with VPI were located closer to visceral pleura (0.8 vs. 1.3 cm; P<0.001) and showed larger rates of pleural indentation (86.8% vs. 45.6%; P<0.001) and spiculation (59.7% vs. 34.7%; P<0.001) than those without. Pathologically, NSCLCs with VPI tended more likely to be adenocarcinomas (96.9% vs. 92.7%; P=0.097), and was more likely to be poorly differentiated (38.0% vs. 15.3%; P<0.001), to have cancer embolus (6.2% vs. 0.7%; P=0.001) and lymph node metastasis (29.5% vs. 10.2%; P<0.001) than those without. Besides shorter distance to visceral pleura [odds ratio (OR)=2.169, 95% CI: 1.221-3.855; P=0.008], older age [OR =2.119, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.255-3.503; P=0.005], pleural indentation (OR =3.679, 95% CI: 1.888-7.169; P<0.001), adenocarcinoma (OR =4.741, 95% CI: 1.383-16.255; P=0.013), and poor tumor differentiation (OR =11.816, 95% CI: 4.470-31.234; P<0.001) were also found to be closely correlated to VPI in early-stage NSCLC.

Conclusions

Besides shorter distance to visceral pleura and pleural indentation, elderly, adenocarcinoma, and poor tumor differentiation were novel biologic factors correlated to VPI in early-stage NSCLC, which may explain why VPI was an unfavorable prognostic factor for early-stage NSCLC.