Regulation of ITGA3 by the dual-stranded microRNA-199 family as a potential prognostic marker in bladder cancer

miR-182, miR-221 and miR-222 are potential urinary extracellular vesicle biomarkers for canine urothelial carcinoma

Current diagnostic methods for canine urothelial carcinoma (UC) are technically challenging or can lack specificity, hence there is a need for novel biomarkers of UC. To this end, we analysed the microRNA (miRNA) cargo of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from urine samples of dogs with UC to identify candidate miRNA biomarkers. Urine was fractionated using ultrafiltration combined with size-exclusion chromatography and small RNA sequencing analysis was performed on both the EV enriched and (EV free) protein fractions. A greater number of candidate miRNA biomarkers were detected in the EV fraction than the protein fraction, and further validation using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) was performed on the EV enriched fraction of a second cohort of dogs with UC which indicated that miR-182, miR-221 and miR-222 were significantly overrepresented in dogs with UC when compared with healthy dogs and dogs with urinary tract infections. Pathway analysis confirmed that these three miRNAs are involved in cancer. In addition, their potential downstream gene targets were predicted and PIK3R1, a well-known oncogene is likely to be a shared target between miRNA-182 and miRNA-221/222. In summary, this study highlights the potential of urinary EV-associated miRNAs as a source of biomarkers for the diagnosis of canine UC.

LncRNA BCYRN1 as a Potential Therapeutic Target and Diagnostic Marker in Serum Exosomes in Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is a common genitourinary malignancy that exhibits silent morbidity and high mortality rates because of a lack of diagnostic markers and limited effective treatments. Here, we evaluated the role of the lncRNA brain cytoplasmic RNA 1 (BCYRN1) in BC. We performed loss-of-function assays to examine the effects of BCYRN1 downregulation in T24 and BOY BC cells. We found that BCYRN1 downregulation significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, and three-dimensional spheroid formation ability and induced apoptosis in BC cells. Additionally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) using RNA sequences from tumor fractions showed that BCYRN1 downregulation decreased the expression of mRNAs associated with the cell cycle. These findings were supported by observations of G2/M arrest in flow cytometry assays. Finally, we examined the expression of serum exosomal BCYRN1 as a biomarker. Clinically, BCYRN1 expression in serum exosomes from patients with BC (n = 31) was significantly higher than that in healthy donors (n = 19; mean difference: 4.1-fold higher, p < 0.01). Moreover, in patients who had undergone complete resection of BC, serum exosomal BCYRN1 levels were significantly decreased (n = 8). Thus, serum exosomal BCYRN1 may be a promising diagnostic marker and therapeutic target in patients with BC.

Targeting Integrin α3 Blocks β1 Maturation, Triggers Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, and Sensitizes Glioblastoma Cells to TRAIL-Mediated Apoptosis

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a devastating brain cancer for which new effective therapies are urgently needed. GBM, after an initial response to current treatment regimens, develops therapeutic resistance, leading to rapid patient demise. Cancer cells exhibit an inherent elevation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress due to uncontrolled growth and an unfavorable microenvironment, including hypoxia and nutrient deprivation. Cancer cells utilize the unfolded protein response (UPR) to maintain ER homeostasis, and failure of this response promotes cell death. In this study, as integrins are upregulated in cancer, we have evaluated the therapeutic potential of individually targeting all αβ1 integrin subunits using RNA interference. We found that GBM cells are uniquely susceptible to silencing of integrin α3. Knockdown of α3-induced proapoptotic markers such as PARP cleavage and caspase 3 and 8 activation. Remarkably, we discovered a non-canonical function for α3 in mediating the maturation of integrin β1. In its absence, generation of full length β1 was reduced, immature β1 accumulated, and the cells underwent elevated ER stress with upregulation of death receptor 5 (DR5) expression. Targeting α3 sensitized TRAIL-resistant GBM cancer cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis and led to growth inhibition. Our findings offer key new insights into integrin α3's role in GBM survival via the regulation of ER homeostasis and its value as a therapeutic target.

Mistletoe Extracts from Different Host Trees Disparately Inhibit Bladder Cancer Cell Growth and Proliferation

Extracts of European mistletoe (Viscum album) are popular as a complementary treatment for patients with many different cancer types. However, whether these extracts actually block bladder cancer progression remains unknown. The influence of different mistletoe extracts on bladder cancer cell growth and proliferation was investigated by exposing RT112, UMUC3, and TCCSup cells to mistletoe from hawthorn (Crataegi), lime trees (Tiliae), willow trees (Salicis), or poplar trees (Populi). The tumor cell growth and proliferation, apoptosis induction, and cell cycle progression were then evaluated. Alterations in integrin α and β subtype expression as well as CD44 standard (CD44s) and CD44 variant (CD44v) expressions were evaluated. Cell cycle-regulating proteins (CDK1 and 2, Cyclin A and B) were also investigated. Blocking and knock-down studies served to correlate protein alterations with cell growth. All extracts significantly down-regulated the growth and proliferation of all bladder cancer cell lines, most strongly in RT112 and UMUC3 cells. Alterations in CD44 expression were not homogeneous but rather depended on the extract and the cell line. Integrin α3 was, likewise, differently modified. Integrin α5 was diminished in RT112 and UMUC3 cells (significantly) and TCCSup (trend) by Populi and Salicis. Populi and Salicis arrested UMUC3 in G0/G1 to a similar extent, whereas apoptosis was induced most efficiently by Salicis. Examination of cell cycle-regulating proteins revealed down-regulation of CDK1 and 2 and Cyclin A by Salicis but down-regulation of CDK2 and Cyclin A by Populi. Blocking and knock-down studies pointed to the influence of integrin α5, CD44, and the Cyclin-CDK axis in regulating bladder cancer growth. Mistletoe extracts do block bladder cancer growth in vitro, with the molecular action differing according to the cell line and the host tree of the mistletoe. Integrating mistletoe into a guideline-based treatment regimen might optimize bladder cancer therapy.

MicroRNA-199a-3p suppresses the invasion and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma through SCD1/PTEN/AKT signaling pathway

MicroRNAs (miRs) are 18-25 nucleotides non-coding RNAs, which contribute to tumorigenesis. Previous studies have demonstrated that miR-199a-3p is dysregulated in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but its role in NPC progression still largely unknown. The current study aimed to determine the potential role of miR-199a-3p in NPC progression and the underlying mechanisms. In this study, miR-199a-3p was found to be prominently down-regulated in NPC tissues and cells. The cellular assay showed that transfection of miR-199a-3p markedly repressed the migration, invasion and induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in both 5-8F and CNE-2 cell lines. By dual-luciferase reporter, western blotting and gas chromatography assays, we found that SCD1 is not only highly expressed in NPC tissues and negatively associated with the prognosis of NPC patients but also can be apparently downregulated by miR-199a-3p in NPC cells, suggesting that SCD1 is a direct target gene of miR-199a-3p. Moreover, inhibition of miR-199a-3p expression activated PI3K/Akt signaling and up-regulated the expression of MMP-2. With tumor xenograft models in nude mice, we also showed that miR-199a-3p repressed tumor growth in vivo. Our study demonstrated that miR-199a-3p inhibited migration and invasion of NPC cells through downregulating SCD1 expression, thus providing a potential target for the treatment of NPC.

hsa-miR-199b-3p suppresses osteosarcoma progression by targeting CCDC88A, inhibiting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway

The present study investigated microRNA (miR)-199b-3p expression in osteosarcoma (OS) and aimed to identify its potential mechanism of action contributing to the development of this disease. Firstly, miR-199b-3p and coiled-coil domain containing 88A (CCDC88A) expression data were evaluated from Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis and Kaplan Meier plotter was used to assess the survival data. By analyzing the GSE65071 dataset from gene expression omnibus, it was found that miR-199b-3p was expressed at a low level. By using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis in OS cells and tissues, CCDC88A was found to be expressed at a high level. Moreover, TargetScan predicted CCDC88A to be a downstream target of miR-199b-3p. Luciferase reporter assays were used to verify this prediction. In vitro overexpression of miR-199b-3p decreased the invasive and proliferative activity of OS cells. Mechanistic studies indicated that decreased miR-199b-3p resulted in increased expression of CCDC88A. Concomitantly, it impeded the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition process. Overall, the results of the present study emphasized the pivotal role of the miR-199b-3p in the formation and progression of OS, suggesting that it could be used as a potential tumor biomarker.

miR-199-3p suppresses cellular migration and viability and promotes progesterone production in goose ovarian follicles before selection through regulating ITGB8 and other ECM-related genes

1. The extracellular matrix (ECM) constitutes the basal lamina and the area between follicular cells. Remodelling the ECM is believed to be a key event in follicular development, especially during selection, and plays an important role in cell migration, survival, and steroidogenesis. miR-199-3p is differentially expressed in the goose granulosa layer during follicular selection and is reported to play a primary role in inhibiting cell migration and invasion. Nevertheless, the effect of miR-199-3p on ovarian follicles and its role in follicular cellular migration is not understood.2. In this study, qRT-PCR assays revealed that miR-199-3p was differentially expressed in the granulosa layer from goose ovarian follicles before and after follicular selection. Additionally, miR-199-3p overexpression in cultured granulosa cells (GCs) from goose pre-hierarchical follicles significantly suppressed cell viability and migration. It elevated the concentration of progesterone and the expression of key progesterone production genes. Furthermore, miR-199-3p overexpression in the GCs of goose pre-hierarchical follicles inhibited the expression of ECM-related genes (ITGB8, MMP9 and MMP15) yet promoted the expression of another two ECM-related genes (COL4A1 and LAMA1). Finally, dual-fluorescence reporter experiments on 293T cells established the direct targeting of ECM gene ITGB8 by miR-199-3p.3. In conclusion, miR-199-3p may participate in granulosa cell migration, viability, and steroidogenesis in goose ovarian follicles before selection by modulating ITGB8 and other ECM-related genes.

Integrated bioinformatics analysis shows integrin alpha 3 is a prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer

Integrin subunit alpha 3 (ITGA3) expression correlates with the development and prognosis of human cancers. This study aimed to investigate the association of ITGA3 expression with pancreatic cancer (PCa) prognosis. The ITGA3 gene expression data were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) cohort and 14 Gene Expression Omnibus microarray datasets. The differences in ITGA3 expression levels between tumor and non-tumor tissues were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Cox regression analysis and meta-analysis were performed to detect the association of ITGA3 expression with PCa prognosis. ITGA3 expression was higher in tumors than in controls. Tumors with advanced grades (3/4) had higher ITGA3 levels compared with early-grade tumors (1/2). The meta-analysis of the TCGA PAAD cohort and seven microarray datasets (GSE28735, GSE62452, GSE79668, GSE71729, GSE57495, GSE78229, and GSE21501) showed that ITGA3 was a prognostic biomarker in PCa (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26-1.51, p < 0.00001). Five ITGA3-related genes, including ITGB1 (HR = 1.6), ITGB5 (HR = 1.6), ITGB6 (HR = 1.6), LAMA3 (HR = 2.1), and CD9 (HR = 2.3), correlated with PCa prognosis significantly (p < 0.05). Functional enrichment analysis showed that ITGA3 was related to "hsa04151: PI3K-Akt signaling pathway" and "hsa04510: Focal adhesion." We concluded that high ITGA3 expression was a potential prognostic biomarker in PCa.

Bladder cancer diagnosis with a four-miRNA panel in serum

Background: Bladder cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies. Due to the disadvantage of existing bladder cancer diagnostic tools, miRNAs hold promise as new diagnostic markers. Materials & methods: A total of 224 participants were involved in this three-cohort trial. A total of 15 candidate miRNAs were selected, and miRNAs with diagnostic ability were screened out with quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Diagnostic capability was ascertained by the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve. Bioinformatics analysis was constructed for target gene prediction and functional annotation. Results: Six candidate miRNAs showed significantly different expression between bladder cancer patients and normal controls, and the final diagnostic panel comprised miR-181b-5p, miR-183-5p, miR-199-5p and miR-221-3p. Conclusion: This four-miRNA panel could represent a stable biomarker for bladder cancer diagnosis.

Prognostic and clinicopathological value of miR-199b in cancers: a meta-analysis

Background: The prognostic value of miR-199b in cancers has not been fully clarified. Methods: All articles evaluating the prognostic value of miR-199b in tumors were included. The hazard ratio (HR), odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI were calculated to assess the relationship between miR-199b expression and survival outcomes and clinicopathological features. Results: The combined results indicated that high miR-199b expression predicted favorable overall survival (OS) compared with low miR-199b expression (HR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.44-0.87). In addition, high miR-199b expression had a significant correlation with the prevention of lymph node metastasis (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.25-0.59). Conclusion: MiR-199b can be used as an effective prognostic marker in cancers.

Chronic Pesticide Exposure in Farm Workers Is Associated with the Epigenetic Modulation of hsa-miR-199a-5p

The increasing use of pesticides in intensive agriculture has had a negative impact on human health. It was widely demonstrated how pesticides can induce different genetic and epigenetic alterations associated with the development of different diseases, including tumors and neurological disorders. Therefore, the identification of effective indicators for the prediction of harmful pesticide exposure is mandatory. In this context, the aim of the study was to evaluate the modification of hsa-miR-199a-5p expression levels in liquid biopsy samples obtained from healthy donors and farm workers with chronic exposure to pesticides. For this purpose, the high-sensitive droplet digital PCR assay (ddPCR) was used to detect variation in the expression levels of the selected microRNA (miRNA). The ddPCR analyses revealed a significant down-regulation of hsa-miR-199a-5p observed in individuals exposed to pesticides compared to control samples highlighting the good predictive value of this miRNA as demonstrated by statistical analyses. Overall, the obtained results encourage the analysis of miRNAs as predictive biomarkers of chronic pesticide exposure thus improving the current strategies for the monitoring of harmful pesticide exposure.

microRNA-99a-5p induces cellular senescence in gemcitabine-resistant bladder cancer by targeting SMARCD1

Patients with advanced bladder cancer are generally treated with a combination of chemotherapeutics, including gemcitabine, but the effect is limited due to acquisition of drug resistance. Thus, in this study, we investigated the mechanism of gemcitabine resistance. First, gemcitabine‐resistant cells were established and resistance confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Small RNA sequencing analyses were performed to search for miRNAs involved in gemcitabine resistance. miR‐99a‐5p, selected as a candidate miRNA, was downregulated compared to its parental cells. In gain‐of‐function studies, miR‐99a‐5p inhibited cell viabilities and restored sensitivity to gemcitabine. RNA sequencing analysis was performed to find the target gene of miR‐99a‐5p. SMARCD1 was selected as a candidate gene. Dual‐luciferase reporter assays showed that miR‐99a‐5p directly regulated SMARCD1. Loss‐of‐function studies conducted with si‐RNAs revealed suppression of cell functions and restoration of gemcitabine sensitivity. miR‐99a‐5p overexpression and SMARCD1 knockdown also suppressed gemcitabine‐resistant cells in vivo. Furthermore, β‐galactosidase staining showed that miR‐99a‐5p induction and SMARCD1 suppression contributed to cellular senescence. In summary, tumor‐suppressive miR‐99a‐5p induced cellular senescence in gemcitabine‐resistant bladder cancer cells by targeting SMARCD1.

Evaluation of ITGA3 as a Biomarker of Progression and Recurrence in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Objective

To investigate the expression of ITGA3 and its association with clinical outcomes in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Methods

The expression level, association with clinicopathologic characteristics, co-expressed genes, signaling pathways of ITGA3 in thyroid cancer were comprehensively analyzed using bioinformatics analysis through multiple public gene databases. PTC specimens and cell lines were used to verify the results of bioinformatics analysis.

Results

Data mining based on the Oncomine database revealed that ITGA3 expression in classical PTC and tall cell variant PTC was much higher than that in normal thyroid tissue except the follicular variant PTC. Analysis based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database showed that the expression of ITGA3 varies greatly in pathological stages, pathological types, tumor invasion stages, and lymph node metastasis stages of thyroid carcinoma. High expression level of ITGA3 was correlated with tumor regional invasion and lymph node metastasis. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression model showed that high expression of ITGA3 was a risk factor that associated with PTC recurrence and lymph node metastasis. Survival analysis showed that patients with high expression of ITGA3 in PTC had a poorer relapse-free survival (RFS) than patients with low expression of ITGA3 (P < 0.05). Immunohistochemistry experiments showed that the expression of ITGA3 in recurrent thyroid cancer tissues was stronger than that in no-recurrent thyroid cancer tissues (P < 0.05). Knockdown of ITGA3 by sh-RNA in PTC cell lines suppresses cell viability and invasive and migrating capacity.

Conclusion

ITGA3 is overexpressed in PTC, especially in those with higher tumor invasion grades and lymph node metastasis, and was associated with recurrence and poor RFS of PTC. High expression of ITGA3 may have the potential role of predicting PTC recurrence and lymph node metastasis.

Predictive and Prognostic Value of an MicroRNA Signature for Gastric Carcinoma Undergoing Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Gastric carcinoma (GC) is one of the most common cause of tumor-related death. Chemotherapy resistance usually occurs, leading to cancer relapse and poor survival of GC patients. To investigate the role of miRNAs in chemotherapy resistance for GC patients, we conducted an integrated analysis of miRNA expression and survival information using data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas project. Genome-wide screening of chemotherapy response-specific miRNAs was performed using Cox proportional hazards regression analyses for patients who received chemotherapy or those who had never received chemotherapy, respectively. A four-miRNA expression signature (involving two protective miRNAs, miR-200b and miR-103a, and two risk ones miR-199 and miR-152) was predicted as a specific indicator for GC chemoresistance (p = 0.00053; hazard ratio = 8.63), outperforming those clinicopathological factors. Functional experiments confirmed the roles of these signature miRNAs in regulation of chemotherapy response. Functional enrichment of these signature miRNAs and risk score revealed positive association with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and negative association with cell cycle checkpoint and DNA damage response. Furthermore, the immune infiltration-miRNA functional network analysis revealed transformation from activated effector cells to resting immunosuppressive cells are preferred in GCs with adverse chemotherapy response. In summary, our work identifies a four-miRNA expression signature as a promising chemoresistance biomarker in GC, which provides novel insights into developing new strategies to overcome GC chemoresistance.

MicroRNA-199b-3p suppresses malignant proliferation by targeting Phospholipase Cε and correlated with poor prognosis in prostate cancer

OBJECTIVES

MicroRNA-199b-3p (miR-199b-3p) plays a crucial role in the malignant development of various cancers, but little known in prostate cancer (PCa). The aim of our study was to demonstrate the function of miR-199b-3p in PCa.

METHODS

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect miR-199b-3p expression in PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissue samples. In addition, we examined the relationship between the poor prognosis in PCa and miR-199b-3p. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of Phospholipase Cε (PLCε). CCK8 and colony-forming assays were applied to detect the proliferation of PCa. EdU assay is used to detect PCa cells uptake of EdU. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to analyze the binding between miR-199b-3p and PLCε.

RESULTS

It has been shown that miR-199b-3p in PCa was significantly lower than that in benign prostatic hyperplasia and correlated with poor prognosis. Meanwhile, upregulation of miR-199b-3p can prominently inhibit the proliferation of PCa cells, while its down-regulation triggered opposite result. PLCε was identified as the downstream binding target gene and negatively associated with that of miR-199b-3p.

CONCLUSION

miR-199b-3p suppresses malignant proliferation by inhibiting PLCε in prostate cancer in vitro and vivo.

Molecular Mechanisms of Antiproliferative and Apoptosis Activity by 1,5-Bis(4-Hydroxy-3-Methoxyphenyl)1,4-Pentadiene-3-one (MS13) on Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Diarylpentanoid (DAP), an analog that was structurally modified from a naturally occurring curcumin, has shown to enhance anticancer efficacy compared to its parent compound in various cancers. This study aims to determine the cytotoxicity, antiproliferative, and apoptotic activity of diarylpentanoid MS13 on two subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells: squamous cell carcinoma (NCI-H520) and adenocarcinoma (NCI-H23). Gene expression analysis was performed using Nanostring PanCancer Pathways Panel to determine significant signaling pathways and targeted genes in these treated cells. Cytotoxicity screening revealed that MS13 exhibited greater inhibitory effect in NCI-H520 and NCI-H23 cells compared to curcumin. MS13 induced anti-proliferative activity in both cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Morphological analysis revealed that a significant number of MS13-treated cells exhibited apoptosis. A significant increase in caspase-3 activity and decrease in Bcl-2 protein concentration was noted in both MS13-treated cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. A total of 77 and 47 differential expressed genes (DEGs) were regulated in MS13 treated-NCI-H520 and NCI-H23 cells, respectively. Among the DEGs, 22 were mutually expressed in both NCI-H520 and NCI-H23 cells in response to MS13 treatment. The top DEGs modulated by MS13 in NCI-H520—DUSP4, CDKN1A, GADD45G, NGFR, and EPHA2—and NCI-H23 cells—HGF, MET, COL5A2, MCM7, and GNG4—were highly associated with PI3K, cell cycle-apoptosis, and MAPK signaling pathways. In conclusion, MS13 may induce antiproliferation and apoptosis activity in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of NSCLC cells by modulating DEGs associated with PI3K-AKT, cell cycle-apoptosis, and MAPK pathways. Therefore, our present findings could provide an insight into the anticancer activity of MS13 and merits further investigation as a potential anticancer agent for NSCLC cancer therapy.

hsa-miR-199b-3p Prevents the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Dysfunction of the Renal Tubule by Regulating E-cadherin through Targeting KDM6A in Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease. The association between epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and fibrosis is quite ascertained, but its link to eventual tubule dysfunction is missing. Here, we show that human microRNA- (hsa-miR-) 199b-3p protects renal tubules from diabetic-induced injury by repressing KDM6A, a histone lysine demethylase regulating E-cadherin expression. Lower E-cadherin expression is related to a higher level of KDM6A, while E-cadherin is promoted upon treatment with the KDM6A inhibitor GSK-J4 in both high glucose- (HG-) induced HK2 cells and the kidneys from streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced type 1 diabetic mice. However, overexpression or RNA silencing of E-cadherin fails to alter KDM6A expression. We also show that the upregulation of KDM6A is associated with the increased methylation level of the E-cadherin promoter. Then, the target prediction results and a dual-luciferase assay show that hsa-miR-199b-3p is a new miRNA that targets KDM6A. Overexpression of hsa-miR-199b-3p increases E-cadherin expression and prevents EMT through repressing KDM6A expression in HG-induced HK2 cells. In contrast, inhibitor-induced hsa-miR-199b-3p knockdown has opposite effects, as it decreases E-cadherin level and worsens EMT, accompanied by increased levels of KDM6A. Besides, Mir199b-knockout mice without mmu-miR-119b-3p expression exhibit more renal tubule dysfunction and more serious kidney tissue damage upon treatment with STZ. These results demonstrate that hsa-miR-199b-3p improves E-cadherin expression and prevents the progression of DN through targeting KDM6A. miR-199b-3p could be a future biomarker or target for the diagnosis or treatment of DN.

MicroRNAs: Their Role in Metastasis, Angiogenesis, and the Potential for Biomarker Utility in Bladder Carcinomas

Angiogenesis is the process of generating new capillaries from pre-existing blood vessels with a vital role in tumor growth and metastasis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs that exert post-transcriptional control of protein regulation. They participate in the development and progression of several cancers including bladder cancer (BLCA). In cancer tissue, changes in microRNA expression exhibit tissue specificity with high levels of stability and detectability. miRNAs are less vulnerable to degradation, making them novel targets for therapeutic approaches. A suitable means of targeting aberrant activated signal transduction pathways in carcinogenesis of BLCA is possibly through altering the expression of key miRNAs that regulate them, exerting a strong effect on signal transduction. Precaution must be taken, as the complexity of miRNA regulation might result in targeting several downstream tumor suppressors or oncogenes, enhancing the effect further. Since exosomes contain both mRNA and miRNA, they could therefore possibly be more effective in targeting a recipient cell if they deliver a specific miRNA to modify the recipient cell protein production and gene expression. In this review, we discuss the molecules that have been shown to play a significant role in BLCA tumor development. We also discuss the roles of various miRNAs in BLCA angiogenesis and metastasis. Advances in the management of metastatic BLCA have been limited; miRNA mimics and molecules targeted at miRNAs (anti-miRs) as well as exosomes could serve as therapeutic modalities or as diagnostic biomarkers.

Downregulation of miR-199a-3p in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Its Relevant Molecular Mechanism via GEO, TCGA Database and In Silico Analyses

Existing reports have demonstrated that miR-199a-3p plays a role as a tumor suppressor in a variety of human cancers. This study aims to further validate the expression of miR-199a-3p in HCC and to explore its underlying mechanisms by using multiple data sets. Chip data or sequencing data and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were integrated to assess the expression of miR-199a-3p in HCC. The potential targets and transcription factor regulatory network of miR-199a-3p in HCC were determined and possible biological mechanism of miR-199a-3p was analyzed with bioinformatics methods. In the results, miR-199a-3p expression was significantly lower in HCC tissues compared to normal tissues according to chip data or sequencing data and qRT-PCR. Moreover, 455 targets of miR-199a-3p were confirmed, and these genes were involved in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, pathways in cancer, and focal adhesions. LAMA4 was considered a key target of miR-199a-3p. In CMTCN, 11 co-regulatory pairs, 3 TF-FFLs, and 2 composite-FFLs were constructed. In conclusion, miR-199a-3p was down regulated in HCC and LAMA4 may be a potential target of miR-199a-3p in HCC.

Regulators at Every Step-How microRNAs Drive Tumor Cell Invasiveness and Metastasis

Tumor cell invasiveness and metastasis are the main causes of mortality in cancer. Tumor progression is composed of many steps, including primary tumor growth, local invasion, intravasation, survival in the circulation, pre-metastatic niche formation, and metastasis. All these steps are strictly controlled by microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNA that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs can act as oncomiRs that promote tumor cell invasion and metastasis or as tumor suppressor miRNAs that inhibit tumor progression. These miRNAs regulate the actin cytoskeleton, the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) receptors including integrins and ECM-remodeling enzymes comprising matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and regulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), hence modulating cell migration and invasiveness. Moreover, miRNAs regulate angiogenesis, the formation of a pre-metastatic niche, and metastasis. Thus, miRNAs are biomarkers of metastases as well as promising targets of therapy. In this review, we comprehensively describe the role of various miRNAs in tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis.

Regulators at Every Step—How microRNAs Drive Tumor Cell Invasiveness and Metastasis

Tumor cell invasiveness and metastasis are the main causes of mortality in cancer. Tumor progression is composed of many steps, including primary tumor growth, local invasion, intravasation, survival in the circulation, pre-metastatic niche formation, and metastasis. All these steps are strictly controlled by microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNA that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs can act as oncomiRs that promote tumor cell invasion and metastasis or as tumor suppressor miRNAs that inhibit tumor progression. These miRNAs regulate the actin cytoskeleton, the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) receptors including integrins and ECM-remodeling enzymes comprising matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and regulate epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), hence modulating cell migration and invasiveness. Moreover, miRNAs regulate angiogenesis, the formation of a pre-metastatic niche, and metastasis. Thus, miRNAs are biomarkers of metastases as well as promising targets of therapy. In this review, we comprehensively describe the role of various miRNAs in tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis.

Expression and Prognostic Analyses of ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6 in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

BACKGROUND The landscape of head and neck cancers has changed with improvements in standard therapy; however, it is necessary to exploit advanced genomic approaches to identify novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC). ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6, members of the integrin family of proteins, play active roles in cytoskeletal organization and cell migration, proliferation, and survival. However, the expression patterns and prognostic values of ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma remain unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS Different expression patterns and prognostic values of ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6 were analyzed in patients with HNSC using various databases, including ONCOMINE, GEPIA, TIMER, HPA, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, GEO, and TCGA. RESULTS Expression levels of ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6 were substantially increased in patients with HNSC. Additionally, higher expression levels of ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6 were associated with worse overall survival in patients with HNSC, and higher levels of ITGA3 correlated with a worse relapse-free survival. CONCLUSIONS ITGA3, ITGA5, and ITGA6 are potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HNSC. In particular, IGTA5 might be used as a significant independent prognostic factor in this cancer.

MicroRNA-199b Deregulation Shows a Strong SET-Independent Prognostic Value in Early-Stage Colorectal Cancer

The endogenous PP2A inhibitor SET Nuclear Proto-Oncogene (SET) has been reported to play oncogenic roles and determines poor outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC). Our group previously showed that miR-199b is deregulated in metastatic CRC, and reduced the cell viability and enhanced the sensitivity of CRC cells to standard induction chemotherapy drugs, mainly through direct negative SET regulation. Clinically, miR-199b downregulation was identified as the molecular mechanism responsible for SET overexpression in around half of metastatic CRC patients. However, the potential clinical value of miR-199b in early-stage CRC remains totally unknown. Thus, here we explored the expression levels of this microRNA in a cohort of 171 early-stage CRC patients using real-time polymerase chain reactions. MiR-199b downregulation was found in 21.6% of cases (37 out of 171) and was significantly associated with those patients with a worse Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status (p = 0.045). Moreover, miR-199b downregulation predicted shorter overall (p < 0.001) and progression-free survival (p = 0.015). As expected, we next immunohistochemically analyzed SET, observing that it was significantly associated with miR-199b in our cohort. However, multivariate analyses showed that miR-199b was an independent biomarker of poor outcomes in early-stage CRC with a predictive value stronger than SET. In conclusion, our results highlight the potential clinical usefulness of miR-199b and suggest that it could represent a novel molecular target in this disease.

Exploration and validation of downregulated microRNA-199a-3p, downstream messenger RNA targets and transcriptional regulation in osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary bone tumor with a high incidence and mortality in children and adolescents. Emerging evidence shows that microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in biological tumor mechanisms by targeting downstream messenger RNAs (mRNAs). This article aimed to investigate the potential regulatory targets of microRNA-199a-3p (miR-199a-3p) in OS and to contribute to the understanding of miR-199a-3p-related OS regulatory mechanisms. MicroRNA-related Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) chips, ArrayExpress chips and literature data were used to determine the expression of miR-199a-3p in OS and pooled to explore its potential clinical value. To investigate the target genes of miR-199a-3p further, we integrated the results from the following three-part gene study: Twelve online prediction tools were used to predict the target genes of miR-199a-3p; the GEO GSE89370 chip transfected with miRSelect pEP-miR-199a-3p was used to analyze the downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in OS cells; and highly expressed DEGs were derived from an in-house microarray generated from three pairs of clinical OS and normal tissue samples acquired through our department. Then, we analyzed the target genes using the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to further identify the primary target genes. In addition, we constructed transcription factor (TF)-miRNA-joint gene feed-forward regulatory loops (FFLs) with Circuits DB using miR-199a-3p as the core. A comprehensive meta-analysis of a hub of miR-199a-3p targeted genes was performed to integrate expression level, summary ROC (sROC) curves and survival analysis results from the GEO data for verification and exploration. Finally, the expression levels of the hub genes were verified in OS tissues and U2OS cells by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunocytochemistry (ICC). Data on miR-199a-3p expression were obtained from three data sets (GSE65071, GSE69524, and PMID 21666078), which showed low miR-199a-3p expression levels in OS tissues. The combined data indicated the same tendency, with the SMD of the random effect model, as shown in forest plots, being -2.8 (95% CI: -4.49, -1.11). In addition, we determined that miR-199a-3p may serve as a molecular marker useful for distinguishing OS tissues from normal tissues with high sensitivity and specificity, with the measured outcomes being 0.94 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.99) and 0.96 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.00), respectively. In addition, 391 genes were considered targets of miR-199a-3p in OS, and the enrichment analysis indicated that these targets were mainly enriched in proteoglycans in cancer and in spliceosomes. Four genes, CDKI, CCNB1, AURKA and NEK2, were regarded as hub targets based on the PPI data. Subsequently, TF-miRNA-joint genes FFLs were constructed in Circuits DB and included 17 TFs and 82 joint targets. These joint targets were mainly enriched in spliceosomes. UBE2D1 and RBM25 were regarded as hub joint targets based on the enrichment analysis. All selected target genes were further verified to ensure that they were upregulated in OS and to determine their prognostic significance. At the experimental verification level, the CDK1 protein was confirmed to be positively expressed in the cytoplasm of OS tissues and the U2OS cell line. Our study verified that miR-199a-3p was obviously downregulated in OS. CDK1, CCNB1, NEK2, AURKA, UBE2D1 and RBM25 were identified as potential target genes of miR-199a-3p in OS.

Overview of microRNA-199a Regulation in Cancer

microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous short, non-coding RNAs that regulate a multitude of genes at the post-transcriptional level. miR-199, which is a highly conserved miRNA family, consists of miR-199a and miR-199b. Researchers mainly focused on miR-199a over the past few years. Functional studies have demonstrated that mature miR-199a is a key player in the maintenance of normal homeostasis and in the regulation of disease pathogenesis. Here, we summarize the biological functions of miR-199a and review recent research on its roles in the physiological processes of cancer cells, such as proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, autophagy and glycometabolism.

Identification of gene co-expression modules and hub genes associated with lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid cancer

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most prevalent histological type among thyroid cancers, and some patients are at a high risk for recurrent disease or even death. Identification for the potential biomarkers of PTC may contribute to early discovery of recurrence and treatment. In The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, we obtained the information of RNA sequence data and clinical characteristics of PTC. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to construct gene co-expression networks and investigate the relationship between modules and clinical traits. Finally, we constructed 16 co-expression modules in 10,428 genes, and three key modules (darkturquoise, lightyellow, and red) associated with tumor N grade were identified. The results of functional annotation indicated that the darkturquoise module was primarily enriched in the regulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM), collagen metabolism, and cell adhesion, the lightyellow module was primarily enriched in the mitochondrial function regulation and energy synthesis, and the red module was primarily enriched in the process of cell junction, apoptosis, and inflammatory response, suggesting their significant role in the progression of PTC. In addition, the hub genes in the three modules were identified and screened for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Relapse-free survival analyses found that 11 genes (KCNQ3, MET, FN1, ITGA3, RUNX1, ITGA2, PERP, GCSH, FAAH, NGFRAP1, and HSPA5) may play a pivotal role in PTC relapse. In general, our research revealed the key co-expression modules and identified several prognostic biomarkers, which provides some new insights into the lymph node metastasis of PTC.

MicroRNA-124-3p suppresses cell migration and invasion by targeting ITGA3 signaling in bladder cancer

BACKGROUND

A growing body of studies have demonstrated the aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to human tumor metastasis. MicroRNA-124-3p (miR-124-3p), which is down-regulated in various cancers, has been found to be involved in several signaling pathways relevant to tumor cell migration and invasion. However, the roles of miR-124-3p in human bladder cancer remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the functional significance of miR-124-3p and to understand how it targets the integrin receptor, and thus affects the progression of human bladder cancer.

METHODS

Clinical specimens from 36 patients and three human bladder cancer cell lines were analyzed for miR-124-3p and integrin α3 (ITGA3) . To investigate the effects of miR-124-3p and ITGA3 on proliferation of bladder cancer cells, the MTT assay, colon-formation assay and flow cytometry were performed. In addition, wound healing assay and transwell assay were carried out to examine the migration and invasion of the bladder cancer cells transfected with miR-124-3p mimics or si-ITGA3. The luciferase reporter assay, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot were applied to validate the miR-124-3p directly binding with ITGA3. Finally, western blot was used to examine the expression level of the proteins involved in FAK/PI3K/AKT and FAK/Src signal pathway as well as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process.

RESULTS

The down-regulation of miR-124-3p and up-regulation of ITGA3 were observed in clinical specimens and bladder cancer cell lines. Overexpression of miR-124-3p or silencing ITGA3 inhibited tumor cell migration and invasion. Luciferase assay confirmed miR-124-3p directly targets ITGA3, and western blot suggested that miR-124-3p plays a crucial role in the EMT and metastasis of human bladder cancer through FAK/PI3K/AKT and FAK/Src signaling mechanism. Also, by targeting ITGA3, miR-124-3p can modulate the expression of N- and E-cadherin, and thus inhibit the EMT.

CONCLUSIONS

By targeting ITGA3 and downstream FAK/PI3K/AKT and FAK/Src signaling pathways, miR-124-3p suppresses cell migration and invasion in bladder cancer. Our study reasonably speculates that miR-124-3p can be potentially developed as a therapeutic target and prognostic biomarker for bladder cancer.

Up-regulated microRNA-199b-3p represses the apoptosis of cerebral microvascular endothelial cells in ischemic stroke through down-regulation of MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key mediators of posttranscriptional gene silencing in both pathogenic and pathological aspects of ischemic stroke biology. Therefore, the purpose of present study was to explore the effect of microRNA-199b-3p (miR-199b-3p) on the cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) in middle cerebral artery occlusion-reperfusion (MCAO-R) mice by regulating MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis. Mice were used to establish MCAO-R models and to measure the expression of miR-199b-3p and the MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis-related genes. CMECs were extracted from the MCAO-R mice. A series of mimic or inhibitor for miR-199b-3p, or U0126 (an inhibitor for the MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis) were introduced to treat these CMECs. The levels of miR-199b-3p and MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis-related genes in tissues and cells were detected. The effects miR-199b-3p on the process of CMECs, including cell viability, cell cycle and cell apoptosis were evaluated. miR-199b-3p expressed poorly in the brain tissues after MCAO-R, along with activated MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis and increased CMECs apoptosis. CMECs transfected with miR-199b-3p mimics and U0126 manifested with increased cell viability, more cells arrested at the S stage, and inhibited apoptosis of CMECs. In conclusion, these key results demonstrated up-regulated miR-199b-3p could protect mice against ischemic stroke by inhibiting the apoptosis of CMECs through blockade of MAPK/ERK/EGR1 axis.

ITGA3 serves as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer

Background and objective: ITGA3 is a cell surface adhesion protein that interacts with extracellular matrix proteins which function in cancer metastasis. We examined the relationship of pancreatic ITGA3 expression with the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients with pancreatic cancer. Methods: Data mining was used to analyze pancreatic cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. A Chi squared test was used to evaluate correlations of ITGA3 expression with clinical and pathological parameters. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of ITGA3 expression. Survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to examine the prognostic value of ITGA3 expression. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to identify signaling pathways related to ITGA3 expression. Results: Pancreatic expression of ITGA3 was greater in patients with pancreatic cancer than those without cancer, and was also associated with histological type, histological grade, stage, T classification, vital status, and relapse. ROC analysis indicated that ITGA3 had significant diagnostic value, in that high expression correlated with poor overall survival and relapse-free survival, especially in patients with early-stage cancer. Cox analysis indicated that high ITGA3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for pancreatic cancer. GSEA analysis identified 9 signaling pathways that were enriched in the presence of high ITGA3 expression. Conclusion: Expression of ITGA3 can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in pancreatic cancer.

miR-30e-5p suppresses cell proliferation and migration in bladder cancer through regulating metadherin

Recent studies have suggested that miR-30e-5p is dysregulated in several human carcinomas; however, the mechanism of miR-30e-5p in bladder cancer (BCa) remains unknown. Here, we confirmed that the expression of miR-30e-5p was decreased in human BCa specimens and cell lines by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Upregulation of miR-30e-5p decreased the proliferation and migration in T24 and UM-UC-3 cells. Metadherin (MTDH) was a potential target for miR-30e-5p through bioinformatics analysis. Dual-luciferase assays were conducted to validate the interaction between miR-30e-5p and MTDH, which demonstrates that the relative luciferase activity was significantly downregulated after transfected miR-30e-5p mimic compared with control mimic in 293T cells. We also detected that whether silencing of MTDH by using small interfering(si)-MTDH matched effects caused by miR-30e-5p overexpression in BCa cells lines by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation, and transwell assay, and we found the effects of silencing of MTDH same as miR-30e-5p overexpression. Furthermore, we verified that the restoration of MTDH in miR-30e-5p-overexpressed BCa cells rescued the inhibitory effects of miR-30e-5p. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that miR-30e-5p may inhibit BCa cells growth and invasiveness by targeting MTDH and may be a promising therapeutic agent for treating clinical BCa patients.

MicroRNA-524-5p suppresses the progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma cells via targeting on FOXE1 and ITGA3 in cell autophagy and cycling pathways

MicroRNAs are beneficial for cancer therapy as they can simultaneously downregulate multiple targets involved in diverse biological pathways related to tumor development. In papillary thyroid cancer, many microRNAs were identified as differentially expressed factors in tumor tissues. In another way, recent studies revealed cell proliferation, cell cycling, apoptosis, and autophagy are critical pathways controlling papillary thyroid cancer development and progression. As miR‐524‐5p was approved as a cancer suppressor targeting multiple genes in several types of cancer cells, this study aims to characterize the role of miR‐524‐5p in the thyroid cancer cell. The expression of miR‐524‐5p was decreased in the papillary thyroid cancer tissues and cell lines, while forkhead box E1 (FOXE1) and ITGA3 were increased. In the clinical case, expression of miR‐524‐5p, FOXE1, and ITGA3 were significantly correlated with papillary thyroid cancer development and progression. FOXE1 and ITGA3 were approved as direct targets of miR‐524‐5p. miR‐524‐5p could inhibit papillary thyroid cancer cell viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis through targeting FOXE1 and ITGA3. Cell cycling and autophagy pathways were disturbed by downregulation of FOXE1 and ITGA3, respectively. Collectively, miR‐524‐5p targeting on FOXE1 and ITGA3 prevents thyroid cancer progression through different pathways including cell cycling and autophagy.

Identification of key candidate genes and pathways in oral squamous cell carcinoma by integrated Bioinformatics analysis

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common types of malignant head and neck tumor, which poses a serious threat to human health. In recent years, the incidence of OSCC has been increasing, while the prognosis has not significantly improved. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of OSCC may provide novel therapeutic strategies. In the present study, the gene expression profiles from 4 datasets, including 244 OSCC and 95 normal oral mucosa samples, were subjected to statistical and Bioinformatics analysis. A total of 34 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, among which 14 were upregulated and 20 were downregulated in OSCC compared with normal oral mucosa tissues. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis indicated that the DEGs were mainly involved in regulation of the immune response, cell adhesion and cell proliferative processes. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis revealed that the DEGs were mainly associated with the phosphoinositide-3 kinase Akt and Toll-like receptor signaling pathway. The key candidate DEGs were identified from the complex protein-protein interaction network, and secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1), integrin subunit α 3 and plasminogen activator, urokinase (PLAU) were confirmed to be significantly associated with the survival rate. Cell Counting Kit-8 and Transwell assays demonstrated that SPP1 and PLAU regulate cell proliferation, migration and invasion. The candidate genes/pathways identified in the present study may include promising diagnostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets for OSCC.

MicroRNA-93 promotes bladder cancer proliferation and invasion by targeting PEDF

OBJECTIVE

MicroRNA-93 (miR-93) is upregulated in the urine of patients with bladder cancer (BC). Here, we investigated the role of miR-93 in BC progression and explored the underlying mechanism.

METHODS

miR-93 expression in BC tissues and cells was detected by real time-polymerase chain reaction. The effects of miR-93 and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) on cell proliferation and invasion were assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and Transwell assays. The binding of miR-93 to the 3'-untranslated region of PEDF was identified by the luciferase reporter assay.

RESULTS

miR-93 expression was higher in BC tissues than in normal controls, and its expression was associated with tumor stage and node stage. Inhibition of miR-93 suppressed the proliferation and invasion of BC cells. PEDF was identified as a target of miR-93 and shown to mediate the effect of miR-93 on cell proliferation and invasion.

CONCLUSIONS

The present data suggested that miR-93 promoted BC cell proliferation and invasion by targeting PEDF, providing new biomarkers and targets for BC diagnosis and treatment.

The landscape of miRNA-related ceRNA networks for marking different renal cell carcinoma subtypes

We know that different types of cancers usually have different responses to the same treatment. Therefore, it is important to understand the similarities and differences across subtypes of cancers, so as to provide a basis for the individualized treatments. Until now, no comprehensive investigation on competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) has been reported for the three main subtypes of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), so the regulation characteristics of ceRNAs in three subtypes are not well revealed. This paper firstly describes a comparative analysis of ceRNA-ceRNA interaction networks for all the three subtypes of RCC based on differential microRNAs (miRNAs). We comprehensively summarized all miRNA and messenger RNAdata of RCC from 126 matched tumor-normal tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas, systematically analyzed a total of more than 80 000 ceRNA interactions and highlighted the common and specific properties among them, aiming to identify critical genes to classify them for providing supplementary help in the precise diagnosis of RCC. From three aspects, including common or specific ceRNAs, upregulated or downregulated and classifications across the three subtypes, we highlighted the common and specific properties for the three subtypes and also explored the classification of RCC by combining the specific ceRNAs with differential regulations. Moreover, for the most major subtype of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (KIRC), three critical genes were screened out from KIRC ceRNA network and further demonstrated to be the potential biomarkers of KIRC by performing biological experiments at the transcriptional level.

"Two hits - one stone"; increased efficacy of cisplatin-based therapies by targeting PCNA's role in both DNA repair and cellular signaling

Low response rate and rapid development of resistance against commonly used chemotherapeutic regimes demand new multi-targeting anti-cancer strategies. In this study, we target the stress-related roles of the scaffold protein PCNA with a cell-penetrating peptide containing the PCNA-interacting motif APIM. The APIM-peptide increased the efficacy of cisplatin-based therapies in a muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) solid tumor model in rat and in bladder cancer (BC) cell lines. By combining multiple omics-levels, from gene expression to proteome/kinome and metabolome, we revealed a unique downregulation of the EGFR/ERBB2 and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathways in the APIM-peptide-cisplatin combination treated cells. Additionally, the combination treatment reduced the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins and proteins involved in development of resistance to cisplatin. Concurrently, we observed increased levels of DNA breaks in combination treated cells, suggesting that the APIM-peptide impaired PCNA - DNA repair protein interactions and reduced the efficacy of repair. This was also seen in cisplatin-resistant cells, which notably was re-sensitized to cisplatin by the APIM-peptide. Our data indicate that the increased efficacy of cisplatin treatment is mediated both via downregulation of known oncogenic signaling pathways and inhibition of DNA repair/translesion synthesis (TLS), thus the APIM-peptide hits both nuclear and cytosolic functions of PCNA. The novel multi-targeting strategy of the APIM-peptide could potentially improve the efficacy of chemotherapeutic regiments for treatment of MIBC, and likely other solid tumors.

Identification of ITGA3 as an Oncogene in Human Tongue Cancer via Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Human tongue cancer (TC) is an aggressive malignancy with a very poor prognosis. There is an urgent need to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in TC progression. mRNA expression profiles play a vital role in the exploration of cancer-related genes. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to identify the progression associated candidate genes of TC by bioinformatics analysis. Five microarray datasets of TC samples were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and the data of 133 TC patients were screened from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) database. The integrated analysis of five microarray datasets and the RNA sequencing data of TC samples in TCGA-HNSC was performed to obtain 1023 overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in TC and adjacent normal tissue (ANT) samples. Next, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis was conducted to enrich the significant pathways of the 1023 DEGs and PI3KAkt signaling pathway (P=0.011) was selected to be the candidate pathway. A total of 23 DEGs with |log2 fold change (FC)| ≥1.0 in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-serine/threonine kinase (PI3K-Akt) signaling pathway were subjected to survival analysis of 125 eligible TC samples in TCGA database, indicating increased integrin-α3 gene (ITGA3) expression was significantly associated with poorer prognosis. Taken together, our study suggested ITGA3 may facilitate the development of TC via activating PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.

NT21MP negatively regulates paclitaxel-resistant cells by targeting miR‑155‑3p and miR‑155-5p via the CXCR4 pathway in breast cancer

Evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are vital in cell growth, migration, and invasion by inhibiting their target genes. A previous study demonstrated that miRNA (miR)-155-3p and miR-155-5p exerted opposite effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion in breast cancer cell lines. An miRNA microarray was used to show that miR-155-3p was downregulated whereas miR-155-5p was upregulated in paclitaxel-resistant (PR) cells compared with parental breast cancer cells. However, the role of miR-155 in breast cancer cell invasion and metastasis remains to be elucidated. A 21-residue peptide derived from the viral macrophage inflammatory protein II (NT21MP), competes with the ligand of CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and its ligand stromal cell-derived factor-1α, inducing cell apoptosis in breast cancer. The present study aimed to identify the underlying mechanism of action of miR-155-3p/5p and NT21MP in PR breast cancer cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, wound-healing, cell cycle and apoptosis assays, and Cell Counting kit-8 assay were used to achieve this goal. The combined overexpression of miR-155-3p with NT21MP decreased the migration and invasion ability and increased the number of apoptotic and arrested cells in the G0/G1 phase transition in vitro. The knockdown of miR-155-5p combined with NT21MP had a similar effect on PR breast cancer cells. Furthermore, the ectopic expression of their target gene myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MYD88) or tumor protein 53-induced nuclear protein 1 (TP53INP1) combined with NT21MP enhanced the sensitivity of the breast cancer cells to paclitaxel. Taken together, these findings suggested that miR-155-3p/5p and their target genes MYD88 and TP53INP1 may serve as novel biomarkers for NT21MP therapy through the CXCR4 pathway for improving sensitivity to paclitaxel in breast cancer.

MicroRNA‑199b promotes cell proliferation and invasion in Wilms' tumour by directly targeting Runt‑related transcription factor 3

Emerging evidence has demonstrated that the deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to Wilms' tumour (WT) malignant progression. Therefore, identifying the essential miRNAs for WT onset and progression may be a promising therapeutic method for patients with this disease. Dysregulation of miRNA‑199b (miR‑199b) serves significant roles in various types of human cancer. However, its expression patterns, possible functions and associated mechanisms in WT are largely unknown. In the present study, the expression of miR‑199b in WT tissues was detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‑qPCR) analysis. The biological functions of miR‑199b overexpression in WT cells were determined using Cell counting kit‑8 and Transwell invasion assays. The mechanisms underlying the action of miR‑199b in WT cells were also investigated using bioinformatics analysis, a luciferase reporter assay, RT‑qPCR and western blot analysis. It was revealed that miR‑199b expression was upregulated in WT tissues. In addition, the downregulation of miR‑199b attenuated the proliferation and invasion of WT cells. Runt‑related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) was mechanistically predicted as a potential target of miR‑199b. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that RUNX3 was a direct target gene of miR‑199b in WT. In addition, the downregulation of RUNX3 in the WT tissues was inversely correlated with the miR‑199b expression level. The recovered RUNX3 expression counteracted the oncogenic roles of miR‑199b in WT cells. Therefore miR‑199b may serve as an oncogene in WT progression by directly targeting RUNX3, thereby suggesting that the miR‑199b/RUNX3 axis may be a promising therapeutic target for patients with WT.

Integrative analysis of gene expression profiles reveals specific signaling pathways associated with pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma

Background

Pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a major health problem because conventional cancer treatments are relatively ineffective against it. Microarray studies have linked many genes to pancreatic cancer, but the available data have not been extensively mined for potential insights into PDAC. This study attempted to identify PDAC-associated genes and signaling pathways based on six microarray-based profiles of gene expression in pancreatic cancer deposited in the gene expression omnibus database.

Methods

Pathway network methods were used to analyze core pathways in six publicly available pancreatic cancer gene (GSE71989, GSE15471, GSE16515, GSE32676, GSE41368 and GSE28735) expression profiles. Genes potentially linked to PDAC were assessed for potential impact on survival time based on data in The Cancer Genome Atlas and International Cancer Genome Consortium databases, and the expression of one candidate gene (CKS2) and its association with survival was examined in 102 patients with PDAC from our hospital. Effects of CKS2 knockdown were explored in the PDAC cell lines BxPC-3 and CFPAC-1.

Results

The KEGG signaling pathway called “pathway in cancer” may play an important role in pancreatic cancer development and progression. Five genes (BIRC5, CKS2, ITGA3, ITGA6 and RALA) in this pathway were significantly associated with survival time in patients with PDAC. CKS2 was overexpressed in PDAC samples from our hospital, and higher CKS2 expression in these patients was associated with shorter survival time. CKS2 knockdown substantially inhibited PDAC cell proliferation in vitro.

Conclusions

Analysis integrating existing microarray datasets allowed identification of the “pathway in cancer” as an important signaling pathway in PDAC. This integrative approach may be powerful for identifying genes and pathways involved in cancer.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s40880-018-0289-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

MicroRNA-199 suppresses cell proliferation, migration and invasion by downregulating RGS17 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common primary tumor of the liver, has a poor prognosis and shows rapid progression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) are critical for defining G-protein-dependent signal fidelity. RGS17 plays an important role in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Here, we showed that miR-199 was downregulated in a hepatocarcinoma cell line. Overexpression of miR-199 significantly suppressed HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. RGS17 overexpression promoted HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and reversed the miR-199 mediated inhibition of proliferation, migration, and invasion. Dual-fluorescence reporter experiments confirmed that miR-199 downregulated RGS17 by direct interaction with the 3'-UTR of RGS17 mRNA. In vivo studies showed that miR-199 overexpression significantly inhibited the growth of tumors. Taken together, the results suggested that miR-199 inhibited tumor growth and metastasis by targeting RGS17.

miR-199a-5p inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in hemangioma cells through targeting HIF1A

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) exhibit a crucial role in the regulation of angiogenesis and tumor progression, of which miR-199a-5p (miR-199a) has been reported to function as a tumor suppressor in multiple malignancies. However, the precise mechanisms underlying miR-199a in hemangiomas (HAs) remain elusive. In this study, we found that miR-199a had low expression level, while proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) had high expression level in proliferating-phase HAs compared with the involuting-phase HAs and normal tissues. Spearman correlation analysis revealed the negative correlation of miR-199a with PCNA expression in proliferating-phase HAs. In vitro experiments showed that restoration of miR-199a suppressed cell proliferation capability and induced cell apoptosis in HA-derived endothelial cells (HDEC) and CRL-2586 EOMA cells, followed with decreased PCNA expression and increased cleaved caspase-3 expression, but miR-199a inhibitor reversed these effects. Furthermore, HIF1A was identified as a target of miR-199a and had negative correlation with miR-199a expression in proliferating-phase HAs. Overexpression of HIF1A attenuated the anti-proliferation effect of miR-199a mimic in HAs cells. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that miR-199a may inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in HAs cells via targeting HIF1A and provide a potential therapeutic target for HAs.

mRNA, microRNA and lncRNA as novel bladder tumor markers

Early detection of bladder cancer (BC) is essential for improvement of the patient's prognosis and general survival rates. Current diagnostic methods are still limited, so new specific and cost-effective biomarkers are emerging as the noninvasive tools in treatment decisions in recurrent BC. Gene expression and epigenetic profile can be analysed using quantitative real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) method in urine, blood and tissue. This review provides an update of recent findings on BC molecular profile as novel markers in diagnosis and prognosis of bladder tumors. We describe mRNA-, microRNA- and lncRNA-based biomarkers involved in the BC detection, diagnosis, prediction of recurrence and monitoring after treatment.

miR-199a-3p and miR-214-3p improve the overall survival prediction of muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients after radical cystectomy

To improve the clinical decision‐making regarding further treatment management and follow‐up scheduling for patients with muscle‐invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) after radical cystectomy (RC), a better prediction accuracy of prognosis for these patients is urgently needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) based on a previous study as prognostic markers for overall survival (OS) after RC in models combined with clinicopathological data. The expression of six miRNAs (miR‐100‐5p, miR‐130b‐3p, miR‐141‐3p, miR‐199a‐3p, miR‐205‐5p, and miR‐214‐3p) was measured by RT‐qPCR in formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded tissue samples from 156 MIBC patients who received RC in three urological centers. Samples from 2000 to 2013 were used according to their tissue availability, with follow‐up until June 2016. The patient cohort was randomly divided into a training (n = 100) and test set (n = 56). Seventy‐three samples from adjacent normal tissue were used as controls. Kaplan–Meier, univariate and multivariate Cox regression, and decision curve analyses were carried out to assess the association of clinicopathological variables and miRNAs to OS. Both increased (miR‐130b‐3p and miR‐141‐3p) and reduced (miR‐100‐5p, miR‐199a‐3p, and miR‐214‐3p) miRNA expressions were found in MIBC samples in comparison to nonmalignant tissue samples (P < 0.0001). miR‐199a‐3p and miR‐214‐3p were independent markers of OS in Cox regression models with the significant clinicopathological variables age, tumor status, and lymph node status. The prediction model with the clinicopathological variables was improved by these two miRNAs in both sets. The predictive benefit was confirmed by decision curve analysis. In conclusion, the inclusion of both miRNAs into models based on clinical data for the outcome prediction of MIBC patients after RC could be a valuable approach to improve prognostic accuracy.

Understanding the Role of Non-Coding RNAs in Bladder Cancer: From Dark Matter to Valuable Therapeutic Targets

The mortality and morbidity that characterize bladder cancer compel this malignancy into the category of hot topics in terms of biomolecular research. Therefore, a better knowledge of the specific molecular mechanisms that underlie the development and progression of bladder cancer is demanded. Tumor heterogeneity among patients with similar diagnosis, as well as intratumor heterogeneity, generates difficulties in terms of targeted therapy. Furthermore, late diagnosis represents an ongoing issue, significantly reducing the response to therapy and, inevitably, the overall survival. The role of non-coding RNAs in bladder cancer emerged in the last decade, revealing that microRNAs (miRNAs) may act as tumor suppressor genes, respectively oncogenes, but also as biomarkers for early diagnosis. Regarding other types of non-coding RNAs, especially long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) which are extensively reviewed in this article, their exact roles in tumorigenesis are—for the time being—not as evident as in the case of miRNAs, but, still, clearly suggested. Therefore, this review covers the non-coding RNA expression profile of bladder cancer patients and their validated target genes in bladder cancer cell lines, with repercussions on processes such as proliferation, invasiveness, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and other molecular pathways which are specific for the malignant transformation of cells.

Regulation of ITGA3 by the anti-tumor miR-199 family inhibits cancer cell migration and invasion in head and neck cancer

For patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), survival rates have not improved due to local recurrence and distant metastasis. Current targeted molecular therapies do not substantially benefit HNSCC patients. Therefore, it is necessary to use advanced genomic approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the aggressiveness of HNSCC cells. Analysis of our microRNA (miRNA) expression signature by RNA sequencing showed that the miR‐199 family (miR‐199a‐5p, miR‐199a‐3p, miR‐199b‐5p and miR‐199b‐3p) was significantly reduced in cancer tissues. Ectopic expression of mature miRNA demonstrated that all members of the miR‐199 family inhibited cancer cell migration and invasion by HNSCC cell lines (SAS and HSC3). These findings suggested that both passenger strands and guide strands of miRNA are involved in cancer pathogenesis. In silico database and genome‐wide gene expression analyses revealed that the gene coding for integrin α3 (ITGA3) was regulated by all members of the miR‐199 family in HNSCC cells. Knockdown of ITGA3 significantly inhibited cancer cell migration and invasion by HNSCC cells. Moreover, overexpression of ITGA3 was confirmed in HNSCC specimens, and high expression of ITGA3 predicted poorer survival of the patients (P = 0.0048). Our data revealed that both strands of pre‐miR‐199a (miR‐199a‐5p and miR‐199a‐3p) and pre‐miR‐199b (miR‐199b‐5p and miR‐199b‐3p) acted as anti‐tumor miRNA in HNSCC cells. Importantly, the involvement of passenger strand miRNA in the regulation of cellular processes is a novel concept in RNA research. Novel miRNA‐based approaches for HNSCC can be used to identify potential targets for the development of new therapeutic strategies.