Differential regulated microRNA by wild type and mutant p53 in induced pluripotent stem cells

miR-460b-5p promotes proliferation and differentiation of chicken myoblasts and targets RBM19 gene

The meat production of broilers is crucial to economic benefits of broiler industries, while the slaughter performance of broilers is directly determined by skeletal muscle development. Hence, the broiler breeding for growth traits shows a great importance. As a kind of small noncoding RNA, microRNA (miRNA) can regulate the expression of multiple genes and perform a wide range of regulation in organisms. Currently, more and more studies have confirmed that miRNAs are closely associated with skeletal muscle development of chickens. Based on our previous miR-seq analysis (accession number: PRJNA668199), miR-460b-5p was screened as one of the key miRNAs probably involved in the growth regulation of chickens. However, the regulatory effect of miR-460b-5p on the development of chicken skeletal muscles is still unclear. Therefore, miR-460b-5p was further used for functional validation at the cellular level in this study. The expression pattern of miR-460b-5p was investigated in proliferation and differentiation stages of chicken primary myoblasts. It was showed that the expression level of miR-460b-5p gradually decreased from the proliferation stage (GM 50%) to the lowest at 24 h of differentiation. As differentiation proceeded, miR-460b-5p expression increased significantly, reaching the highest and stabilizing at 72 h and 96 h of differentiation. Through mRNA quantitative analysis of proliferation marker genes, CCK-8 and Edu assays, miR-460b-5p was found to significantly facilitate the transition of myoblasts from G1 to S phase and promote chicken myoblast proliferation. mRNA and protein quantitative analysis of differentiation marker genes, as well as the indirect immunofluorescence results of myotubes, revealed that miR-460b-5p significantly stimulated myotube development and promote chicken myoblast differentiation. In addition, the target relationship was validated for miR-460b-5p according to the dual-luciferase reporter assay and mRNA quantitative analysis, which indicates that miR-460b-5p was able to regulate RBM19 expression by specifically binding to the 3' UTR of RBM19. In summary, miR-460b-5p has positive regulatory effects on the proliferation and differentiation of chicken myoblasts, and RBM19 is a target gene of miR-460b-5p.

Mutant P53 in the formation and progression of the tumor microenvironment: Friend or foe

TP53 is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer. It encodes the tumor suppressor protein p53, which suppresses tumorigenesis by acting as a critical transcription factor that can induce the expression of many genes controlling a plethora of fundamental cellular processes, including cell cycle progression, survival, apoptosis, and DNA repair. Missense mutations are the most frequent type of mutations in the TP53 gene. While these can have variable effects, they typically impair p53 function in a dominant-negative manner, thereby altering intra-cellular signaling pathways and promoting cancer development. Additionally, it is becoming increasingly apparent that p53 mutations also have non-cell autonomous effects that influence the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME is a complex and heterogeneous milieu composed of both malignant and non-malignant cells, including cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), adipocytes, pericytes, different immune cell types, such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and T and B lymphocytes, as well as lymphatic and blood vessels and extracellular matrix (ECM). Recently, a large body of evidence has demonstrated that various types of p53 mutations directly affect TME. They fine-tune the inflammatory TME and cell fate reprogramming, which affect cancer progression. Notably, re-educating the p53 signaling pathway in the TME may be an effective therapeutic strategy in combating cancer. Therefore, it is timely to here review the recent advances in our understanding of how TP53 mutations impact the fate of cancer cells by reshaping the TME.

MALAT-1/p53/miR-155/miR-146a ceRNA circuit tuned by methoxylated quercitin glycoside alters immunogenic and oncogenic profiles of breast cancer

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive and hot BC subtypes. Our research group has recently shed the light on the utility of natural compounds as effective immunotherapeutic agents. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of a methoxylated quercetin glycoside (MQG) isolated from Cleome droserifolia in harnessing TNBC progression and tuning the tumor microenvironment and natural killer cells cytotoxicity. Results showed that MQG showed the highest potency (IC₅₀ = 12 µM) in repressing cellular proliferation, colony-forming ability, migration, and invasion capacities. Mechanistically, MQG was found to modulate a circuit of competing endogenous RNAs where it was found to reduce the oncogenic MALAT-1 lncRNA and induce TP53 and its downstream miRNAs; miR-155 and miR-146a. Accordingly, this leads to alteration in several downstream signaling pathways such as nitric oxide synthesizing machinery, natural killer cells' cytotoxicity through inducing the expression of its activating ligands such as MICA/B, ULBP2, CD155, and ICAM-1 and trimming of the immune-suppressive cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-10. In conclusion, this study shows that MQG act as a compelling anti-cancer agent repressing TNBC hallmarks, activating immune cell recognition, and alleviating the immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment experienced by TNBC patients.

Deficient or R273H and R248W Mutations of p53 Promote Chemoresistance to 5-FU via TCF21/CD44 Axis-Mediated Enhanced Stemness in Colorectal Carcinoma

Background: p53 mutations are highly frequent in various human cancers and are reported to contribute to tumor malignance and chemoresistance. In this study, we explored the mechanism by which mutant p53 promotes carcinogenesis and chemoresistance and provided novel insights into cancer therapy.

Materials and methods: A total of 409 patients with colorectal carcinoma from TCGA database were subdivided into two groups according to the p53 status, namely, mutant p53 and wild-type p53, following with GSEA analysis. The differences of the clinicopathologic index were also analyzed. Two HCT116 cell lines containing hot spots at codons R273H and R248W of p53 were constructed based on HCT116 with knockout p53, respectively. Cell viability, mobility, clonogenesis, and stemness were detected by CCK8, transwell migration and invasion, colonogenic, and sphere formation assays. Resistance to 5-FU was examined by live-dead staining and flow cytometry. qPCR, Western blot, and luciferase reporter assay were performed to identify that deficient or mutant p53 promoted chemoresistance of the colorectal carcinoma cell line HCT116 through the TCF21/CD44 signaling pathway, with the following rescue assays by overexpression of TCF21 and knockdown of CD44.

Results: Patients with recurrence harbor a higher frequency of mutant p53 than those without recurrence (p < 0.05). The mutant p53 group developed a larger tumor than the wild-type one. GSEA analysis showed that oncogenic signatures were enriched in the mutant p53 group. Extracellular assays showed that cancer cells with deficient or mutant p53 (R273H and R248W, respectively) promoted colon cancer cell growth, migration, invasion, and stemness. The mutant cancer cells were also observed to be significantly resistant to 5-FU. Xenografts also confirmed that HCT116 cells harboring deficient or mutant p53 promoted cancer growth and 5-FU tolerance. Luciferase reporter assay showed that deficient or mutant p53 R237H and R248W endowed cancer cells with chemoresistance by activating CD44 via repressing the nuclear transcription factor TCF21 expression. Overexpression of TCF21 or knockdown of CD44 could rescue the sensitivity to 5-FU in deficient and mutant p53 HCT116 cell lines.

Conclusion: Our results, for the first time, reveal a novel deficient or mutant p53/TCF21/CD44 signaling pathway which promotes chemoresistance in colorectal carcinoma. The axis could be an effective therapeutic strategy against deficient- or mutant p53-driven chemoresistance.

Targeting mutant p53 for cancer therapy: direct and indirect strategies

TP53 is a critical tumor-suppressor gene that is mutated in more than half of all human cancers. Mutations in TP53 not only impair its antitumor activity, but also confer mutant p53 protein oncogenic properties. The p53-targeted therapy approach began with the identification of compounds capable of restoring/reactivating wild-type p53 functions or eliminating mutant p53. Treatments that directly target mutant p53 are extremely structure and drug-species-dependent. Due to the mutation of wild-type p53, multiple survival pathways that are normally maintained by wild-type p53 are disrupted, necessitating the activation of compensatory genes or pathways to promote cancer cell survival. Additionally, because the oncogenic functions of mutant p53 contribute to cancer proliferation and metastasis, targeting the signaling pathways altered by p53 mutation appears to be an attractive strategy. Synthetic lethality implies that while disruption of either gene alone is permissible among two genes with synthetic lethal interactions, complete disruption of both genes results in cell death. Thus, rather than directly targeting p53, exploiting mutant p53 synthetic lethal genes may provide additional therapeutic benefits. Additionally, research progress on the functions of noncoding RNAs has made it clear that disrupting noncoding RNA networks has a favorable antitumor effect, supporting the hypothesis that targeting noncoding RNAs may have potential synthetic lethal effects in cancers with p53 mutations. The purpose of this review is to discuss treatments for cancers with mutant p53 that focus on directly targeting mutant p53, restoring wild-type functions, and exploiting synthetic lethal interactions with mutant p53. Additionally, the possibility of noncoding RNAs acting as synthetic lethal targets for mutant p53 will be discussed.

The Function of the Mutant p53-R175H in Cancer

Wild-type p53 is known as "the guardian of the genome" because of its function of inducing DNA repair, cell-cycle arrest, and apoptosis, preventing the accumulation of gene mutations. TP53 is highly mutated in cancer cells and most TP53 hotspot mutations are missense mutations. Mutant p53 proteins, encoded by these hotspot mutations, lose canonical wild-type p53 functions and gain functions that promote cancer development, including promoting cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, initiation, metabolic reprogramming, angiogenesis, and conferring drug resistance to cancer cells. Among these hotspot mutations, p53-R175H has the highest occurrence. Although losing the transactivating function of the wild-type p53 and prone to aggregation, p53-R175H gains oncogenic functions by interacting with many proteins. In this review, we summarize the gain of functions of p53-R175H in different cancer types, the interacting proteins of p53-R175H, and the downstream signaling pathways affected by p53-R175H to depict a comprehensive role of p53-R175H in cancer development. We also summarize treatments that target p53-R175H, including reactivating p53-R175H with small molecules that can bind to p53-R175H and alter it into a wild-type-like structure, promoting the degradation of p53-R175H by targeting heat-shock proteins that maintain the stability of p53-R175H, and developing immunotherapies that target the p53-R175H-HLA complex presented by tumor cells.

Tumor suppressor p53: Biology, signaling pathways, and therapeutic targeting

TP53 is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer with over 100,000 literature citations in PubMed. This is a heavily studied pathway in cancer biology and oncology with a history that dates back to 1979 when p53 was discovered. The p53 pathway is a complex cellular stress response network with multiple diverse inputs and downstream outputs relevant to its role as a tumor suppressor pathway. While inroads have been made in understanding the biology and signaling in the p53 pathway, the p53 family, transcriptional readouts, and effects of an array of mutants, the pathway remains challenging in the realm of clinical translation. While the role of mutant p53 as a prognostic factor is recognized, the therapeutic modulation of its wild-type or mutant activities remain a work-in-progress. This review covers current knowledge about the biology, signaling mechanisms in the p53 pathway and summarizes advances in therapeutic development.

Regulation of miR-186-YY1 axis by the p53 translational isoform ∆40p53: implications in cell proliferation

We have earlier shown that p53-FL and its translational isoform ∆40p53 are differentially regulated. In this study, we have investigated the cellular effect of ∆40p53 regulation on downstream gene expression, specifically miRNAs. Interestingly, ∆40p53 showed antagonistic regulation of miR-186-5p as compared to either p53 alone or a combination of both the isoforms. We have elucidated the miR-186-5p mediated effect of ∆40p53 in cell proliferation. Upon expression of ∆40p53, we observed a significant decrease in YY1 levels, an established target of miR-186-5p, which is involved in cell proliferation. Further assays with anti-miR-186 established the interdependence of ∆40p53- miR-186-5p-YY1- cell proliferation. The results unravel a new dimension toward the understanding of ∆40p53 functions, which seems to regulate cellular fate independent of p53FL.

Cancer Stemness: p53 at the Wheel

The tumor suppressor p53 maintains an equilibrium between self-renewal and differentiation to sustain a limited repertoire of stem cells for proper development and maintenance of tissue homeostasis. Inactivation of p53 disrupts this balance and promotes pluripotency and somatic cell reprogramming. A few reports in recent years have indicated that prevalent TP53 oncogenic gain-of-function (GOF) mutations further boosts the stemness properties of cancer cells. In this review, we discuss the role of wild type p53 in regulating pluripotency of normal stem cells and various mechanisms that control the balance between self-renewal and differentiation in embryonic and adult stem cells. We also highlight how inactivating and GOF mutations in p53 stimulate stemness in cancer cells. Further, we have explored the various mechanisms of mutant p53-driven cancer stemness, particularly emphasizing on the non-coding RNA mediated epigenetic regulation. We have also analyzed the association of cancer stemness with other crucial gain-of-function properties of mutant p53 such as epithelial to mesenchymal transition phenotypes and chemoresistance to understand how activation of one affects the other. Given the critical role of cancer stem-like cells in tumor maintenance, cancer progression, and therapy resistance of mutant p53 tumors, targeting them might improve therapeutic efficacy in human cancers with TP53 mutations.

Interplay between p53 and non-coding RNAs in the regulation of EMT in breast cancer

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a pivotal role in the differentiation of vertebrates and is critically important in tumorigenesis. Using this evolutionarily conserved mechanism, cancer cells become drug-resistant and acquire the ability to escape the cytotoxic effect of anti-cancer drugs. In addition, these cells gain invasive features and increased mobility thereby promoting metastases. In this respect, the process of EMT is critical for dissemination of solid tumors including breast cancer. It has been shown that miRNAs are instrumental for the regulation of EMT, where they play both positive and negative roles often as a part of a feed-back loop. Recent studies have highlighted a novel association of p53 and EMT where the mutation status of p53 is critically important for the outcome of this process. Interestingly, p53 has been shown to mediate its effects via the miRNA-dependent mechanism that targets master-regulators of EMT, such as Zeb1/2, Snail, Slug, and Twist1. This regulation often involves interactions of miRNAs with lncRNAs. In this review, we present a detailed overview of miRNA/lncRNA-dependent mechanisms that control interplay between p53 and master-regulators of EMT and their importance for breast cancer.

The Impact of Mutant p53 in the Non-Coding RNA World

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), micro RNAs (miRNAs), and extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) are new groups of RNAs with regulation activities that have low or no protein-coding ability. Emerging evidence suggests that deregulated expression of these non-coding RNAs is associated with the induction and progression of diverse tumors throughout epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional modifications. A consistent number of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has been shown to be regulated by p53, the most important tumor suppressor of the cells frequently mutated in human cancer. It has been shown that some mutant p53 proteins are associated with the loss of tumor suppressor activity and the acquisition of new oncogenic functions named gain-of-function activities. In this review, we highlight recent lines of evidence suggesting that mutant p53 is involved in the expression of specific ncRNAs to gain oncogenic functions through the creation of a complex network of pathways that influence each other.

Interferon-stimulated gene 15 enters posttranslational modifications of p53

The tumor suppressor protein p53 is a central governor of various cellular signals. It is well accepted that ubiquitination as well as ubiquitin-like (UBL) modifications of p53 protein is critical in the control of its activity. Interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) is a well-known UBL protein with pleiotropic functions, serving both as a free intracellular molecule and as a modifier by conjugating to target proteins. Initially, attentions have historically focused on the antiviral effects of ISG15 pathway. Remarkably, a significant role in the processes of autophagy, DNA repair, and protein translation provided considerable insight into the new functions of ISG15 pathway. Despite the deterministic revelation of the relation between ISG15 and p53, the functional consequence of p53 ISGylation appears somewhat confused. More important, more recent studies have hinted p53 ubiquitination or other UBL modifications that might interconnect with its ISGylation. Here, we aim to summarize the current knowledge of p53 ISGylation and the differences in other significant modifications, which would be beneficial for the development of p53-based cancer therapy.

Ca2+ -depended signaling pathways regulate self-renewal and pluripotency of stem cells

Ca²⁺ -mediated signaling is widely spread in nature and plays critical role in the individual development of various organisms ranging from microorganisms to mammals. In vertebrates, Ca²⁺ is involved in important developmental events: fertilization, body plan establishment, and organogenesis. The two later events are defined by embryonic stem cells (ESCs). ESCs are capable of self-renewal and are pluripotent by nature, that is, can give rise to all types of cells that make up the body. Given the paramount importance of Ca²⁺ signalization in the development, it is therefore not surprising this process also plays role in the biology of stem cells. In this review, we scrutinize the published experimental data on the role of Ca²⁺ ions in embryonic stem cells self-renewal and pluripotency. In line with this, we also discuss possible mechanisms of p53 inhibition as a major hindrance to self-renewal of ESCs. Finally, we argue about the role of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest family of heteromeric transmembrane receptors, and GPCR-mediated signalization in stem cells, and propose the role for the GPCR-G-protein-PLC-Ca²⁺ -downstream signaling pathway in the regulation of pluripotency of both mouse and human ESCs.

p73 Regulates Primary Cortical Neuron Metabolism: a Global Metabolic Profile

The transcription factor p73 has been demonstrated to play a significant role in survival and differentiation of neuronal stem cells. In this report, by employing comprehensive metabolic profile and mitochondrial bioenergetics analysis, we have explored the metabolic alterations in cortical neurons isolated from p73 N-terminal isoform specific knockout animals. We found that loss of the TAp73 or ΔNp73 triggers selective biochemical changes. In particular, p73 isoforms regulate sphingolipid and phospholipid biochemical pathway signaling. Indeed, sphinganine and sphingosine levels were reduced in p73-depleted cortical neurons, and decreased levels of several membrane phospholipids were also observed. Moreover, in line with the complexity associated with p73 functions, loss of the TAp73 seems to increase glycolysis, whereas on the contrary, loss of ΔNp73 isoform reduces glucose metabolism, indicating an isoform-specific differential effect on glycolysis. These changes in glycolytic flux were not reflected by parallel alterations of mitochondrial respiration, as only a slight increase of mitochondrial maximal respiration was observed in p73-depleted cortical neurons. Overall, our findings reinforce the key role of p73 in regulating cellular metabolism and point out that p73 exerts its functions in neuronal biology at least partially through the regulation of metabolic pathways.