BRCA1-associated protein induced proliferation and migration of gastric cancer cells through MAPK pathway

Predictive model using four ferroptosis-related genes accurately predicts gastric cancer prognosis

BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer (GC) is a common malignancy of the digestive system. According to global 2018 cancer data, GC has the fifth-highest incidence and the third-highest fatality rate among malignant tumors. More than 60% of GC are linked to infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a gram-negative, active, microaerophilic, and helical bacterium. This parasite induces GC by producing toxic factors, such as cytotoxin-related gene A, vacuolar cytotoxin A, and outer membrane proteins. Ferroptosis, or iron-dependent programmed cell death, has been linked to GC, although there has been little research on the link between H. pylori infection-related GC and ferroptosis.

AIM

To identify coregulated differentially expressed genes among ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in GC patients and develop a ferroptosis-related prognostic model with discrimination ability.

METHODS

Gene expression profiles of GC patients and those with H. pylori-associated GC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. The FRGs were acquired from the FerrDb database. A ferroptosis-related gene prognostic index (FRGPI) was created using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator-Cox regression. The predictive ability of the FRGPI was validated in the GEO cohort. Finally, we verified the expression of the hub genes and the activity of the ferroptosis inducer FIN56 in GC cell lines and tissues.

RESULTS

Four hub genes were identified (NOX4, MTCH1, GABARAPL2, and SLC2A3) and shown to accurately predict GC and H. pylori-associated GC. The FRGPI based on the hub genes could independently predict GC patient survival; GC patients in the high-risk group had considerably worse overall survival than did those in the low-risk group. The FRGPI was a significant predictor of GC prognosis and was strongly correlated with disease progression. Moreover, the gene expression levels of common immune checkpoint proteins dramatically increased in the high-risk subgroup of the FRGPI cohort. The hub genes were also confirmed to be highly overexpressed in GC cell lines and tissues and were found to be primarily localized at the cell membrane. The ferroptosis inducer FIN56 inhibited GC cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner.

CONCLUSION

In this study, we developed a predictive model based on four FRGs that can accurately predict the prognosis of GC patients and the efficacy of immunotherapy in this population.

Killer cell lectin-like receptor G2 facilitates aggressive phenotypes of gastric cancer cells via dual activation of the ERK1/2 and JAK/STAT pathways

BACKGROUND

Advanced gastric cancer (GC) has a poor prognosis. This study aimed to identify novel GC-related genes as potential therapeutic targets.

METHODS

Killer cell lectin-like receptor G2 (KLRG2) was identified as a candidate gene by transcriptome analysis of metastatic GC tissues. Small interfering RNA-mediated KLRG2 knockdown in human GC cell lines was used to investigate KLRG2 involvement in signaling pathways and functional behaviors in vitro and in vivo. Clinicopathological data were analyzed in patients stratified according to tumor KLRG2 mRNA expression.

RESULTS

KLRG2 knockdown in GC cells decreased cell proliferation, migration, and invasion; caused cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase; induced apoptosis via caspase activation; suppressed JAK/STAT and MAPK-ERK1/2 pathway activities; and upregulated p53 and p38 MAPK activities. In mouse xenograft models of peritoneal metastasis, the number and weight of disseminated GC nodules were decreased by KLRG2 knockdown. High tumor levels of KLRG2 mRNA were significantly associated with lower 5-year overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) rates in patients with Stage I-III GC (5-year OS rate: 64.4% vs. 80.0%, P = 0.009; 5-year RFS rate: 62.8% vs. 78.1%, P = 0.030).

CONCLUSIONS

KLRG2 knockdown attenuated the malignant phenotypes of GC cells via downregulation of JAK/STAT and MAPK-ERK1/2 pathway activity and upregulation of p38 MAPK and p53. Targeted suppression of KLRG2 may serve as a new treatment approach for GC.

Analysis of a novel immune checkpoint, Siglec-15, in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Siglec‐15, a novel immune checkpoint, is an emerging target for next‐generation cancer immunotherapy. However, the role of Siglec‐15 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains poorly understood. We investigated the expression of Siglec‐15 and its association with clinicopathological characteristics, programmed cell death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1), immune cells, and DNA damage repair (DDR) molecules in a cohort of 291 patients with PDAC. Positive tumour cell expression of Siglec‐15 and PD‐L1 was observed in 18.6 and 30.3% of the samples, respectively. We also detected Siglec‐15 positivity in macrophages in 3.4% of patients. Co‐expression of Siglec‐15 with PD‐L1 was observed in 6.1% of the patients. A total of 33 PD‐L1‐negative samples (18.0%) were Siglec‐15‐positive. Siglec‐15 was observed more frequently in moderate‐to‐well‐differentiated tumours. Siglec‐15 was associated with a low density of Tregs and CD45RO T cells, high BRCA1 expression, and improved survival. Both Siglec‐15 and PD‐L1 are independent factors of patient outcomes. The prognostic significance of Siglec‐15 for survival was more discriminative in lymph node‐negative, high BRCA1 expression, or low BRCA2 expression tumours than in lymph node‐positive, low BRCA1 expression, or high BRCA2 expression tumours. In conclusion, we identified Siglec‐15 as a promising predictor for prognosis combined with different DDR molecular statuses and complex tumour‐infiltrating cells in PDAC. Targeting Siglec‐15 may be a novel therapeutic option for patients who are unresponsive to anti‐PD‐1 therapy. Future studies are needed to validate the prognostic significance of Siglec‐15 and to investigate its regulatory mechanisms in this disease.