Singe nucleotide polymorphisms in osteosarcoma: Pathogenic effect and prognostic significance

Causes of Childhood Cancer: A Review of the Recent Literature: Part I-Childhood Factors

PURPOSE

To review the childhood risk factors for pediatric cancer (diagnosis before age 20).

METHODS

We conducted literature searches using Ovid Medline and Scopus to find primary research studies, review articles, and meta-analyses published from 2014 to 3 March 2021.

RESULTS

Strong evidence indicates that an array of genetic and epigenetic phenomena, structural birth defects, and chromosomal anomalies are associated with an increased risk of various childhood cancers. Increased risk is also associated with prior cancer, likely due to previous treatment agents and therapeutic ionizing radiation. Convincing evidence supports associations between several pediatric cancers and ionizing radiation, immunosuppression, and carcinogenic virus infection both in healthy children and in association with immune suppression following organ transplantation. Breastfeeding and a childhood diet rich in fruits and vegetables appears to reduce the risk of pediatric leukemia but the evidence is less strong. Childhood vaccination against carcinogenic viruses is associated with a lower risk of several cancers; there is less strong evidence that other childhood vaccinations more broadly may also lower risk. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is associated with increased melanoma risk, although most melanomas following childhood UV exposure occur later, in adulthood. Evidence is weak or conflicting for the role of body mass index, other childhood infections, allergies, and certain treatments, including immunomodulator medications and human growth therapy.

Genetic variants associated with osteosarcoma risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of primary bone malignancy. Common genetic variants including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with osteosarcoma risk, however, the results of published studies are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to systematically review genetic association studies to identify SNPs associated with osteosarcoma risk and the effect of race on these associations. We searched the Medline, Embase, Scopus from inception to the end of 2019. Seventy-five articles were eligible for inclusion. These studies investigated the association of 190 SNPs across 79 genes with osteosarcoma, 18 SNPs were associated with the risk of osteosarcoma in the main analysis or in subgroup analysis. Subgroup analysis displayed conflicting effects between Asians and Caucasians. Our review comprehensively summarized the results of published studies investigating the association of genetic variants with osteosarcoma susceptibility, however, their potential value should be confirmed in larger cohorts in different ethnicities.

EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 have diagnostic and prognostic significance in osteosarcoma

BACKGROUND

Deregulation of lncRNAs has been observed in human osteosarcoma. This study explored the diagnostic and prognostic significance of EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 in osteosarcoma.

METHODS

Relative levels of EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 were detected in osteosarcoma tissue samples and cells. The ability to distinguish osteosarcoma from health was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve construction. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) and Cox proportional-hazards analyses were performed for prognosis factors. The bioinformatics approach was used to identify targeting miRNA for EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Whitney Mann U tests were conducted for validating the statistical significance. In cell culture experiments, the influence of EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 on proliferation, migration, and invasion of the osteosarcoma cell line was examined by CCK-8 and Transwell assays.

RESULTS

Levels of EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 were upregulated in osteosarcoma patients and cells compared with the healthy participants and normal cell lines. EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 have a potent ability to distinguish the patients with osteosarcoma from the health. EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 levels correlated with SSS stage. Patients with high levels of EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 had significantly shorter survival times. EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 were independent prognostic indexes for overall survival. miR-1306-5p was a common target for EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1. A propulsive impact on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 was observed, but can be rescued by miR-1306-5p.

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that upregulations of EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 expression were diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for human osteosarcoma. EPB41L4A-AS1 and UNC5B-AS1 contribute to the biological behavior of osteosarcoma via miR-1306-5p.

Apigenin Suppresses the Warburg Effect and Stem-like Properties in SOSP-9607 Cells by Inactivating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR Signaling Pathway

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a prevalent primary malignant bone tumor that commonly occurs in children and adolescents. Apigenin (4′,5,7-trihydroxyflavone) is one of the most researched phenolic compounds that exhibits antitumor effects in several cancers. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect and underlying mechanisms of apigenin on OS. To address this, OS cells (SOSP-9607) were treated with different concentrations of apigenin. The proliferation, migration, invasion, stem-like properties, and Warburg effect of apigenin-treated OS cells were evaluated. Apigenin was found to suppress the proliferation of SOSP-9607 cells and inhibit epithelial-mesenchymal transition, as indicated by decreased number of migrated and invaded cells, decreased protein expression of vimentin, and increased protein expression of E-cadherin. Additionally, apigenin suppressed tumorsphere formation and reduced the proportion of SOSP-9607 cells with positive expression of the stem cell-related markers Nanog and OCT-4. Apigenin inhibited the Warburg effect in SOSP-9607 cells, as demonstrated by decreased glucose and lactic acid levels, increased citrate and ATP levels, and downregulation of GLUT1, HK1, and LDHA, which are metabolism-related enzymes related to the Warburg effect. Moreover, apigenin inhibited the phosphorylation of PI3K, Akt, and mTOR in SOSP-9607 cells. Collectively, these results indicate that apigenin suppresses the Warburg effect and stem-like properties in SOSP-9607 cells, which may be mediated by PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling, thus, providing a novel strategy for OS treatment.

The role of dietary polyphenols in osteosarcoma: A possible clue about the molecular mechanisms involved in a process that is just in its infancy

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary malignant bone tumor mainly affecting children, teenagers and young adults, being associated with early metastasis and poor prognosis. The beneficial effects of polyphenols have been investigated in different areas, including their potential to fight OS. Polyphenols are believed to reduce morbidity and/or slow down the development of cancer. This review aimed to assess the effect of polyphenols in OS and investigate their molecular mechanisms. It was observed that the broad spectrum of health-promoting properties of plant polyphenols in OS occurs mainly due to modulation of reactive oxygen species, anti-inflammatory activity, anti-angiogenesis, apoptosis inducer, inhibition of invasion and metastasis. However, it is worth mentioning that although the promising effects of polyphenols in the fight against OS, most of the studies have been performed using in vitro and in vivo animal models. Therefore, studies in humans are needed to validate the effectiveness of polyphenols in OS treatment. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Polyphenols are widely used for various diseases, however, until now, their real role in the treatment of osteosarcoma remains unknown. This review provides a broad spectrum of research conducted with polyphenols and their potential as adjuvant therapy in the treatment of osteosarcoma. However, prior to their clinical application for osteosarcoma treatment, there is a need to isolate and identify specific polyphenolic compounds with high antitumor activity, increase their oral bioavailability, and to investigate their interactions with chemotherapeutic drugs being used in clinical practice.

Effects of Lifestyle and Environmental Factors on the Risk of Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Result of a Hospital-based Case-Control Study

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a common malignancy in adults. A vast variety of environmental and lifestyle factors play a role in AML incidence. This study aimed to assess the factors related to AML.

Study design: A case-control study.

Methods: This case-control study was performed on 137 AML cases during 2018-2021 at Beheshti Hospital in Hamadan, Iran, and 137 gender/age-matched controls. A questionnaire including 12 items was used to obtain information about lifestyle and environmental factors. A univariate and multiple variate logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (OR), and a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to investigate the relationship between the studied variables and the incidence of AML.

Results: Based on findings, 62 (45.3%) out of the 137 leukemic cases were male and 75 (4.7%) were females. A statistically significant increased risk for AML was found with regard to prior usage of cytotoxic agents (OR: 8.00, 95% CI: 1.01, 63.9, P=0.050), family history of malignancies (OR: 3.62, 95% CI: 1.65, 7.92, P=0.001), exposure to electrical power (OR: 3.22, 95% CI: 1.52, 6.81, P=0.002), and history of mental diseases (OR: 8.50, 95% CI: 3.64, 19.80, P=0.001). It was found that the AML incidence had no association with age, gender, radiation therapy, cigarette smoking, prior chemotherapy, congenital disorders, exposure to chemical agents, history of infectious mononucleosis, exercise, and blood transfusion (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The current results suggested that cytotoxic agents, family history of malignancy, mental disorders, and exposure to electrical power could play a role in AML incidence.

Effect of TIMP2/TIMP3 genes on the risk of osteosarcoma in Zhejiang population

Osteosarcoma is a malignant tumor that develops from a mesenchymal cell line and is caused by gene-environment interactions. This study aimed to explore whether TIMP2/TIMP3 polymorphisms influenced the osteosarcoma risk.The expression of the TIMP2 and TIMP3 genes in osteosarcoma histiocytes was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. In this case-control study, which includes samples from 499 patients and 500 healthy controls, 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TIMP2 and TIMP3 were selected. Furthermore, we used the Agena MassARRAY platform for genotyping. The statistical analysis was performed using χ2 test/Fisher exact test, and logistic regression analysis.The immunohistochemistry results showed that the expression of TIMP2 is obvious higher in osteosarcoma histiocytes than in the normal histiocytes. The association study indicated that the allele of rs2277698 and rs4789936 were protective SNPs reducing the risk of osteosarcoma (odds ratios  > 1, P < .05) by the χ2 test. In the genetic model, logistic regression analyses revealed that the rs2277698 and rs4789936 were associated with decreasing the risk of osteosarcoma under the codominant model, dominant model, and log-additive model. Stratification analysis revealed that 2 SNPs (rs2277698 and rs4789936) were significantly associated with a reduced risk of osteosarcoma in allele and genetic model after stratification by gender or age (P < .05). In addition, the haplotype "Trs2277698Crs2009169Crs7342880" of TIMP2 was associated with decreasing the osteosarcoma risk. The "Ars9609634Trs11547635" of TIMP3 was associated with reducing the osteosarcoma risk.This finding shed new light on the high expression of TIMP2 polymorphisms may contribute to decreasing the osteosarcoma risk in Zhejiang populations.

NF1 and PTEN gene polymorphisms and the susceptibility to soft tissue sarcomas in a Chinese population: A case-control study

The aim of this study was to assess the association between NF1 and PTEN gene polymorphisms and the risk of soft tissue sarcomas (STSs). This case-control study collected peripheral blood from 136 patients with STSs and 124 healthy controls. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the NF1 gene and five SNPs of the PTEN gene were investigated and genotyped using the SNaPshot assay. The association between the polymorphisms and the risk of STSs was estimated using unconditional logistic regression analysis. The results showed that individuals with the TC/CC genotype for NF1 rs2905789 displayed a significantly increased risk of STSs compared with individuals with wild-type TT (OR = 1.702, 95% CI = 1.002-2.890, P = 0.049). There were no significant differences in the distribution of the genotype or the allele frequencies of the polymorphisms of the NF1 and PTEN genes between the STSs patients and the controls in a Chinese population. Therefore, this study's results suggest that individuals carrying the TC/CC genotype for NF1 rs2905789 may be susceptible to STSs.

Chemo/radiotherapy-Induced Bone Marrow Niche Alterations

Bone marrow (BM) niche is a specific microenvironment for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) as well as non-hematopoietic cells. Evidence shows that chemo/radiotherapy can lead to the disruption of different properties of HSCs such as proliferation, differentiation, localization, self-renewa, and steady-state of cell populations. Investigations have shown that the deregulation of balance within the marrow cavity due to chemo/radiotherapy could lead to bone loss, abnormal hematopoiesis, and enhanced differentiation potential of mesenchymal stem cells towards the adipogenic lineage. Therefore, understanding the underlying mechanisms of chemo/radiotherapy induced BM niche changes may lead to the application of appropriate therapeutic agents to prevent BM niche defects. Highlights Chemo/radiotherapy disrupts the steady-state of bone marrow niche cells and result in deregulation of normal balance of stromal cell populations. Chemo/radiotherapy agents play a significant role in reducing of bone formation as well as fat accumulation in the bone marrow niche. Targeting molecular pathways may lead to recovery of bone marrow niches after chemo/radiotherapy.

Hint1 Overexpression Inhibits the Cell Cycle and Induces Cell Apoptosis in Human Osteosarcoma Cells

Background

New evidence suggests that histidine triad nucleotide-binding protein 1 (Hint1) exerts a tumor suppressor effect in various human tumors, such as colorectal cancer and gastric cancer. However, it has not been reported whether Hint1 is involved in the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma (OS).

Materials and Methods

The present study investigated the role of Hint1 in human OS cells by using cell lines, including 143B, U2OS, KHOS-240S, Saos-2 and MG-63. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry.

Results

The present result revealed that Hint1 is downregulated in these cell lines. The overexpression of Hint1 by adenovirus transfection in 143B and MG63 cell lines suppressed the proliferation and cell cycle, and increased the cell apoptosis. Mechanically, it was found that Hint1 downregulated the cyclin D1 expression via FOXO1 inhibition. Furthermore, FOXO1 overexpression in the 143B and MG63 cell lines significantly blurred the effects of Hint1 on cellular proliferation and apoptosis.

Conclusion

The present study indicates that Hint1 inhibits the development of OS by regulating FoxO1-cyclin D1, suggesting that Hint1 may be a new method for the treatment of OS.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation for cancer pain in children with osteosarcoma: A protocol of systematic review

BACKGROUND

This systematic review will assess the effectiveness and safety neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for cancer pain (CP) in children with osteosarcoma.

METHODS

This systematic review protocol will retrieve the following electronic databases from inception to June 1 in Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, and VIP database. Manual head-searching of reference lists and conference proceedings will be performed to further examine the articles of interest. No restrictions will be applied to language and publication status. We will utilize a 3-stage approach to scan titles, abstracts, and full-text studies against all eligibility criteria, and collect data from included trials. Study quality will be evaluated by the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. If possible, we will narratively summarize study results and carry out meta-analysis.

RESULTS

This study will recapitulate the present high quality trials to appraise the effectiveness and safety of NMES for CP in children with osteosarcoma.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study will present evidence to determine whether NMES is effective and safe for CP in children with osteosarcoma.

Apoptosis and genes involved in oral cancer - a comprehensive review

Oral cancers needs relentless research due to high mortality and morbidity associated with it. Despite of the comparable ease in accessibility to these sites, more than 2/3^rd cases are diagnosed in advanced stages. Molecular/genetic studies augment clinical assessment, classification and prediction of malignant potential of oral lesions, thereby reducing its incidence and increasing the scope for early diagnosis and treatment of oral cancers. Herein we aim to review the role of apoptosis and genes associated with it in oral cancer development in order to aid in early diagnosis, prediction of malignant potential and evaluation of possible treatment targets in oral cancer. An internet-based search was done with key words apoptosis, genes, mutations, targets and analysis to extract 72 articles after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. The knowledge of genetics and genomics of oral cancer is of utmost need in order to stop the rising prevalence of oral cancer. Translational approach and interventions at the early stage of oral cancer, targeted destruction of cancerous cells by silencing or promoting involved genes should be the ideal intervention.

CD markers polymorphisms as prognostic biomarkers in hematological malignancies

The clusters of differentiation (CD) are surface molecules used for immunophenotyping of cells. The expression of CD markers is widely used to classify hematological malignancies, including leukemia and lymphoma. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are crucial genetic changes that can be associated with abnormal expression and function of CD markers. In this paper, we assess the prognostic effect of CD markers’ SNPs in hematological malignancies. Materials and methods and relevant literature was identified by a PubMed search (2001-2019) of English language papers using the following terms: ‘polymorphism’, ‘CD marker’, ‘leukemia’, ‘lymphoma’, ‘prognosis’, ‘CD marker’, and ‘polymorphism’. Many studies have demonstrated the effects of CD markers’ polymorphisms on risk of hematological malignancies. Also, SNPs of CD markers can be related with clinicopathological features, invasiveness, and response to therapy of these disorders. Considering the importance of SNPs in the expressions of CD markers, these genetic changes could be used as potential prognostic biomarkers in hematological malignancies. It is hoped that the evaluation of SNPs in CD markers will enable early diagnosis, prognosis, and detection of response to treatment. However, better understanding of SNPs in CD markers that are involved in hematological malignancies requires further studies on different populations of the worldwide.

A comprehensive evaluation of single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with osteosarcoma risk: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been inconsistently associated with osteosarcoma (OS) risk. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize relevant data on SNPs associated with OS.

METHODS

Databases were searched to identify association studies of SNPs and OS published through January 2020 from the databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, and Wan fang databases. Network meta-analysis and Thakkinstian algorithm were used to select the most appropriate genetic model, along with false positive report probability for noteworthy associations. The methodological quality of data was assessed based on the STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association Studies statement Stata 14.0 will be used for systematic review and meta-analysis.

RESULTS

This study will provide a high-quality evidence to find the SNP most associated with OS susceptibility and the best genetic model.

CONCLUSIONS

This study will explore which SNP is most associated with OS susceptibility.

REGISTRATION

INPLASY202040023.