The expressions of HMGA2 and Thy1 in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and their clinicopathological significances

Let-7 reduces the proliferation and migration of oral cancer cells via PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

The involvement of let-7 in the occurrence and progression of various cancers has been well-documented. However, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying its impact on oral cancer development remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the role of let-7 in oral cancer progression and investigate its underlying molecular mechanisms. The expression of let-7 and high mobility group A2 (HMGA2) mRNA was assessed using the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Western blot analysis was employed to detect the expression of key proteins in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway as well as HMGA2 protein levels. The targeting relationship between let-7 and HMGA2 was predicted through bioinformatics methods and confirmed via luciferase reporter gene assay. The effects of let-7 and HMGA2 on the functionality of oral cancer cells were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, colony formation assay, Transwell assay, wound healing assay, and Annexin V/PI apoptosis assay. Additionally, the impact of let-7 on the growth of oral cancer cells in vivo was investigated by inducing subcutaneous tumor formation in nude mice. Let-7 effectively suppresses the proliferation, migration, and invasion of oral cancer cells by inhibiting the activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. HMGA2, a downstream target gene of let-7, exhibits high expression in oral cancer. However, overexpression of HMGA2 diminishes the inhibitory effects induced by let-7 overexpression on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of oral cancer cells. The occurrence and progression of oral cancer cells are inhibited by Let-7 through the downregulation of HMGA2, potentially mediated by the inhibition of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway activation.

Clinical study of extrahepatic biliary adenoma

BACKGROUND

Biliary adenomas that occur in the extrahepatic biliary tree are rare. It is difficult to distinguish it from cholangiocarcinoma or cholangiolithiasis by various imaging examinations, and it is very easy to be misdiagnosed.

AIM

To evaluate the cumulative experiences including clinical characteristics and treatments of nine patients diagnosed with extrahepatic biliary adenoma admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from 2016 to 2022.

METHODS

A total of nine patients were included in our study. The laboratory examinations, disease diagnosis, therapy and pathological characteristics, and follow-up of every patient were evaluated.

RESULTS

Our cohort consisted of six females and three males with an average diagnosis age of 65.1 years (range 46-87). Six extrahepatic biliary adenomas were located in the common bile ducts and three in the hepatic duct. On initial presentation, all of the patients have symptom of biliary origin, including obstructive jaundice (4/9, 44.4%), abdominal pain (6/9, 66.7%), and fever (3/9, 33.3%). Preoperative imaging examination considered bile duct carcinoma in 6 cases and bile duct calculi in 3 cases. All the patients received surgical treatment and were confirmed by pathology as biliary adenoma. The symptoms improved significantly in all 9 patients after surgery. Seven of nine patients recovered well at follow-up without tumor recurrence. One patient died 2 mo after the surgery due to heart failure. One patient developed jaundice again 8 mo after surgery, underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and biliary stent placement.

CONCLUSION

Benign extrahepatic biliary tumors are rare and difficult to diagnosis preoperatively. Intraoperative choledochoscopy and timely biopsy may offer great advantages.

Clinical relevance of biomarkers in cholangiocarcinoma: critical revision and future directions

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant tumour arising from the biliary system. In Europe, this tumour frequently presents as a sporadic cancer in patients without defined risk factors and is usually diagnosed at advanced stages with a consequent poor prognosis. Therefore, the identification of biomarkers represents an utmost need for patients with CCA. Numerous studies proposed a wide spectrum of biomarkers at tissue and molecular levels. With the present paper, a multidisciplinary group of experts within the European Network for the Study of Cholangiocarcinoma discusses the clinical role of tissue biomarkers and provides a selection based on their current relevance and potential applications in the framework of CCA. Recent advances are proposed by dividing biomarkers based on their potential role in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy response. Limitations of current biomarkers are also identified, together with specific promising areas (ie, artificial intelligence, patient-derived organoids, targeted therapy) where research should be focused to develop future biomarkers.

Association between chronic periodontitis and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: combination of text mining and GEO dataset

BACKGROUND

Although chronic periodontitis has previously been reported to be linked with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the pathogenesis between the two is unclear. The purpose of this study is to analyze and screen the relevant and promising molecular markers between chronic periodontitis and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHODS

In this paper, we analyzed three AD expression datasets and extracted differentially expressed genes (DEGs), then intersected them with chronic periodontitis genes obtained from text mining, and finally obtained integrated DEGs. We followed that by enriching the matching the matching cell signal cascade through DAVID analysis. Moreover, the MCODE of Cytoscape software was employed to uncover the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and the matching hub gene. Finally, we verified our data using a different independent AD cohort.

RESULTS

The chronic periodontitis gene set acquired from text abstracting was intersected with the previously obtained three AD groups, and 12 common genes were obtained. Functional enrichment assessment uncovered 12 cross-genes, which were mainly linked to cell morphogenesis involved in neuron differentiation, leading edge membrane, and receptor ligand activity. After PPI network creation, the ten hub genes linked to AD were retrieved, consisting of SPP1, THY1, CD44, ITGB1, HSPB3, CREB1, SST, UCHL1, CCL5 and BMP7. Finally, the function terms in the new independent dataset were used to verify the previous dataset, and we found 22 GO terms and one pathway, "ECM-receptor interaction pathways", in the overlapping functional terms.

CONCLUSIONS

The establishment of the above-mentioned candidate key genes, as well as the enriched signaling cascades, provides promising molecular markers for chronic periodontitis-related AD, which may help the diagnosis and treatment of AD patients in the future.

Assessment of cancer prevention effect of exercise

There are many documents about benefits of exercise on human health. However, evidences indicate to positive effect of exercise on disease prevention, understanding of many aspects of this mechanism need more investigations. Determination of critical genes which effect human health.GSE156249 including 12 gene expression profiles of healthy individual biopsy from vastus lateralis muscle before and after 12-week combined exercise training intervention were extracted from gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. The significant DEGs were included in interactome unit by Cytoscape software and STRING database. The network was analyzed to find the central nodes subnetwork clusters. The nodes of prominent cluster were assessed via gene ontology by using ClueGO. Number of 8 significant DEGs and 100 first neighbors analyzed via network analysis. The network includes 2 clusters and COL3A1, BGN, and LOX were determined as central DEGs. The critical DEGs were involved in cancer prevention process.

Significance of HMGA2 expression as independent poor prognostic marker in perihilar and distal cholangiocarcinoma resected with curative intent

BACKGROUND

Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma requires invasive surgery and is associated with poor prognosis; thus, a prognostic biomarker is highly needed. Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is sub-classified into two types based on their location, namely perihilar and distal. Perihilar cholangiocarcinoma requires lobectomy as curative surgical resection, whereas the distal requires pancreatoduodenectomy. HMGA2 overexpression is reported to correlate with progression, aggressiveness, dissemination and poor prognosis in several types of cancers. Although its association with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma has been reported, none of the previous studies assessed its significance in each subtype.

METHODS

We assessed the expression of HMGA2 protein in surgical specimens after curative intent surgery in 80 patients including 41 with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma and 39 with distal cholangiocarcinoma by immunohistochemistry. We then examined its association with clinicopathological findings and patient survival outcomes.

RESULTS

We found that HMGA2 was expressed in 51% (21 of 41) of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma and 41% (16 of 39) of distal cholangiocarcinoma samples. In perihilar cholangiocarcinoma, we found significant correlations between expression and vascular invasion and perineural invasion. In distal cholangiocarcinoma, we found that protein levels correlated with tumor grade. Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that HMGA2 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for patients with both subtypes of disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results revealed that HMGA2 expression as an independent prognostic marker for both perihilar and distal cholangiocarcinoma that were resected with curative intent.

Prognostic and Clinicopathological Significance of EphB3 and Dysadherin Expression in Extrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Aim

EphB3 and dysadherin are involved in tumorigenesis and progression of many neoplasms. However, the roles of EphB3 and dysadherin in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC) remain to be revealed. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression of EphB3 and dysadherin, and investigate their clinicopathological significance in ECC.

Methods

We examined EphB3 and dysadherin expression in 100 ECC, 30 peritumoral tissues, 10 adenoma and 15 normal biliary tract tissues using EnVision immunohistochemistry. The relationship between EphB3 or dysadherin expression and clinicopathological features was evaluated using the χ² test or Fisher’s exact test. The overall survival of ECC patients was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier univariate survival analysis and Log rank tests.

Results

We found that EphB3 expression was significantly down-regulated and dysadherin expression was significantly up-regulated in ECC tissues compared with normal tissues (P < 0.01). EphB3 expression was negatively correlated with dysadherin expression in ECC (P < 0.01). The positive rate of EphB3 expression and negative rate of dysadherin expression was significantly higher in patients with well-differentiated type, no lymph node metastasis, no surrounding tissues and organs invasion, early TNM stages (I + II) and radical resection (P < 0.01). The survival of ECC patients with positive EphB3 or negative dysadherin expression was significantly longer than patients with negative EphB3 or positive dysadherin expression (P < 0.01). Cox multivariate analysis demonstrated that negative EphB3 or positive dysadherin expression were independent poor prognostic factors in ECC patients. The ROC curves suggested that EphB3 and dysadherin combined diagnostic efficacy (AUC=0.688, 95%CI: 0.603-0.772) was significantly higher EphB3 diagnostic efficacy (AUC=0.654, 95%CI: 0.564-0.743) or dysadherin diagnostic efficacy (AUC=0.648, 95%CI: 0.558-0.737) alone.

Conclusion

EphB3 and dysadherin are involved in the carcinogenesis and progression of ECC, and ECC patients with negative EphB3 or positive dysadherin expression have a poor prognosis.

MiR-26b Suppresses the Development of Stanford Type A Aortic Dissection by Regulating HMGA2 and TGF-β/Smad3 Signaling Pathway

Purpose: Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD) is one of the most dangerous cardiovascular diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been considered as potential therapeutic targets for TAAD. In this present study, we aimed to investigate the functional role and regulatory mechanism of miR-26b in TAAD development.

Materials and Methods: MiR-26b mRNA expression was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and protein levels were measured by Western blot. Verifying the direct target of miR-26b was used by dual luciferase assay, RT-PCR, and Western blot. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and TUNEL staining assays were applied for detecting rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) viability and apoptosis, respectively.

Results: We found that miR-26b was under-expressed in TAAD patients and closely associated with the poor prognosis of TAAD patients. Re-expression of miR-26b facilitated while knockdown of miR-26b inhibited VSMC proliferation. However, miR-26b showed the opposite effect on cell apoptosis. More importantly, high-mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) was verified as the direct target of miR-26b. Furthermore, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)/Smad3 signaling pathway was involved in the development of TAAD modulated by miR-26b.

Conclusion: miR-26b impeded TAAD development by regulating HMGA2 and TGF-β/Smad3 signaling pathway, which provided a potential biomarker for TAAD treatment.