Inhibition of ATG12-mediated autophagy by miR-214 enhances radiosensitivity in colorectal cancer. Oncogenesis. 2018;7:16. [PMID: 29459645 PMCID: PMC5833763 DOI: 10.1038/s41389-018-0028-8]

Role of Non-coding RNAs on the Radiotherapy Sensitivity and Resistance in Cancer Cells

Radiotherapy (RT) is an integral part of treatment management in cancer patients. However, one of the limitations of this treatment method is the resistance of cancer cells to radiotherapy. These restrictions necessitate the introduction of modalities for the radiosensitization of cancer cells. It has been shown that Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), along with modifiers, can act as radiosensitivity and radioresistant regulators in a variety of cancers by affecting double strand break (DSB), wnt signaling, glycolysis, irradiation induced apoptosis, ferroptosis and cell autophagy. This review will provide an overview of the latest research on the roles and regulatory mechanisms of ncRNA after RT in in vitro and preclinical researches.

Autophagy-related miRNAs, exosomal miRNAs, and circRNAs in tumor progression and drug-and radiation resistance in colorectal cancer

Targeted therapies are often more tolerable than traditional cytotoxic ones. Nurses play a critical role in providing patients and caregivers with information about the disease, available therapies, and the kind, severity, and identification of any potential adverse events. By doing this, it may be possible to ensure that any adverse effects are managed quickly, maximizing the therapeutic benefit. In colorectal cancer (CRC), autophagy-related activities are significantly influenced by miRNAs and exosomal miRNAs. CRC development and treatment resistance have been associated with the cellular process of autophagy. miRNAs, which are short non-coding RNA molecules, have the ability to control the expression of genes by binding to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of target mRNAs and either preventing or suppressing translation. It has been discovered that several miRNAs are significant regulators of CRC autophagy. By preventing autophagy, these miRNAs enhance the survival and growth of cancer cells. Exosomes are small membrane vesicles that are released by cells and include miRNAs among other bioactive compounds. Exosomes have the ability to modify recipient cells' biological processes by delivering their cargo, which includes miRNAs. It has been demonstrated that exosomal miRNAs control autophagy in CRC in both autocrine and paracrine ways. We will discuss the potential roles of miRNAs, exosomal miRNAs, and circRNAs in CRC autophagy processes and how nursing care can reduce unfavorable outcomes.

Molecular Mechanism of Radioresponsiveness in Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review

Background/Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most diagnosed cancer globally. Radiotherapy is a common treatment strategy for patients but factors such as gene expressions and molecular mechanism effects may affect tumor radioresponse. The aim of this review is to systematically identify genes suggested to have molecular mechanism effects on the radioresponsiveness of CRC patients. Methods: By following the PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive literature search was conducted on Pubmed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library. After exclusion and inclusion criteria sorting and critical appraisal for study quality, data were extracted from seven studies. A gene set analysis was conducted on reported genes. Results: From the seven studies, 56 genes were found to have an effect on CRC radioresponsiveness. Gene set analysis show that out of these 56 genes, 24 genes have roles in pathways which could affect cancer radioresponse. These are AKT1, APC, ATM, BRAF, CDKN2A, CTNNB1, EGFR, ERBB2, FLT3, KRAS, MET, mTOR, MYC, NFKB1, KRAS, PDGFRA, PIK3CA, PTEN, PTGS1, PTGS2, RAF1, RET, SMAD4 and TP53. The current project was conducted between the period May 2024 to August 2024. Conclusions: The current review systematically presented 56 genes which have been reported to be related to RT or CRT treatment effectiveness in rectal cancer patients. Gene set analysis shows that nearly half of the genes were involved in apoptosis, DNA damage response and repair, inflammation and cancer metabolism molecular pathways that could affect cancer radioresponse. The gene cohort identified in this study may be used as a foundation for future works focusing on the molecular mechanism of specific pathways contributing to the radioresponse of CRC.

Molecular functions of microRNAs in colorectal cancer: recent roles in proliferation, angiogenesis, apoptosis, and chemoresistance

MiRNAs (microRNAs) constitute a group of diminutive molecules of non-coding RNA intricately involved in regulating gene expression. This regulation is primarily accomplished through the binding of miRNAs to complementary sequences situated in the 3'-UTR of the messenger RNA (mRNA) target; as a result, they are degraded or repressed. The multifaceted biogenesis of miRNAs is characterized by a meticulously orchestrated sequence of events encompassing transcription, processing, transportation, and decay. Colorectal cancer stands as a pervasive and formidable ailment, afflicting millions across the globe. Colorectal cancer is not well diagnosed early, and metastasis rates are high, which results in low survival rates in advanced stages. The genesis and progression of colorectal cancer are subject to the influence of genetic and epigenetic factors, among which miRNAs play a pivotal role. When it comes to colorectal cancer, miRNAs have a dual character, depending on the genes they target, functioning as either tumor suppressors or oncogenes and the prevailing cellular milieu. Their impact extends to modulating critical facets of colorectal cancer pathogenesis, including proliferation, angiogenesis, apoptosis, chemoresistance, and radiotherapy response. The discernible potential of miRNAs which are used as biomarkers to diagnose colorectal cancer, prognosis, and treatment response has come to the forefront. Notably, miRNAs are easily found and detected readily in a variety of biological fluids, including saliva, blood, urine, and feces. This prominence is attributed to the inherent advantages of miRNAs over conventional biomarkers, including heightened stability, specificity, sensitivity, and accessibility. Various investigations have pinpointed miRNA signatures or panels capable of differentiating colorectal cancer patients from their healthy counterparts, predicting colorectal cancer stage and survival, and monitoring colorectal cancer recurrence and therapy response. Although there has been research on miRNAs in various diseases, there has been less research on miRNAs in cancer. Moreover, updated results of preclinical and clinical studies on miRNA biomarkers and drugs are required. Nevertheless, the integration of miRNAs as biomarkers for colorectal cancer is not devoid of challenges and limitations. These encompass the heterogeneity prevalent among colorectal cancer subtypes and stages, the variability in miRNA expression across different tissues and individuals, the absence of standardized methodologies for miRNA detection and quantification, and the imperative for validation through extensive clinical trials. Consequently, further research is imperative to conclusively establish the clinical utility and reliability of miRNAs as colorectal cancer biomarkers. MiR-21 demonstrates carcinogenic characteristics by targeting several tumor suppressor genes, which encourages cell division, invasion, and metastasis. On the other hand, by controlling the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, the tumor suppressor miRNA miR-34a prevents CRC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Furthermore, in colorectal cancer, the miR-200 family increases chemotherapy sensitivity while suppressing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). As an oncogene, the miR-17-92 cluster targets elements of the TGF-β signaling pathway to encourage the growth of CRC cells. Finally, miR-143/145, which is downregulated in CRC, influences apoptosis and the progression of the cell cycle. These miRNAs affect pathways like Wnt, TGF-β, PI3K-AKT, MAPK, and EMT, making them potential clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets. This review summarizes recent research related to miRNAs, their role in tumor progression and metastasis, and their potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer. In addition, we combined miRNAs' roles in tumorigenesis and development with the therapy of CRC patients, leading to novel perspectives on colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Endogenous retroviruses mediate transcriptional rewiring in response to oncogenic signaling in colorectal cancer

Cancer cells exhibit rewired transcriptional regulatory networks that promote tumor growth and survival. However, the mechanisms underlying the formation of these pathological networks remain poorly understood. Through a pan-cancer epigenomic analysis, we found that primate-specific endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are a rich source of enhancers displaying cancer-specific activity. In colorectal cancer and other epithelial tumors, oncogenic MAPK/AP1 signaling drives the activation of enhancers derived from the primate-specific ERV family LTR10. Functional studies in colorectal cancer cells revealed that LTR10 elements regulate tumor-specific expression of multiple genes associated with tumorigenesis, such as ATG12 and XRCC4. Within the human population, individual LTR10 elements exhibit germline and somatic structural variation resulting from a highly mutable internal tandem repeat region, which affects AP1 binding activity. Our findings reveal that ERV-derived enhancers contribute to transcriptional dysregulation in response to oncogenic signaling and shape the evolution of cancer-specific regulatory networks.

Epigenetic regulation of autophagy by non-coding RNAs and exosomal non-coding RNAs in colorectal cancer: A narrative review

One of the major diseases affecting people globally is colorectal cancer (CRC), which is primarily caused by a lack of effective medical treatment and a limited understanding of its underlying mechanisms. Cellular autophagy functions to break down and eliminate superfluous proteins and substances, thereby facilitating the continual replacement of cellular elements and generating vital energy for cell processes. Non-coding RNAs and exosomal ncRNAs have a crucial impact on regulating gene expression and essential cellular functions such as autophagy, metastasis, and treatment resistance. The latest research has indicated that specific ncRNAs and exosomal ncRNA to influence the process of autophagy in CRC cells, which could have significant consequences for the advancement and treatment of this disease. It has been determined that a variety of ncRNAs have a vital function in regulating the genes essential for the formation and maturation of autophagosomes. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that ncRNAs have a considerable influence on the signaling pathways associated with autophagy, such as those involving AMPK, AKT, and mTOR. Additionally, numerous ncRNAs have the potential to affect specific genes involved in autophagy. This study delves into the control mechanisms of ncRNAs and exosomal ncRNAs and examines how they simultaneously influence autophagy in CRC.

Beyond self‑eating: Emerging autophagy‑independent functions for the autophagy molecules in cancer (Review)

Autophagy is a conserved catabolic process that controls organelle quality, removes misfolded or abnormally aggregated proteins and is part of the defense mechanisms against intracellular pathogens. Autophagy contributes to the suppression of tumor initiation by promoting genome stability, cellular integrity, redox balance and proteostasis. On the other hand, once a tumor is established, autophagy can support cancer cell survival and promote epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition. A growing number of molecules involved in autophagy have been identified. In addition to their key canonical activity, several of these molecules, such as ATG5, ATG12 and Beclin‑1, also exert autophagy‑independent functions in a variety of biological processes. The present review aimed to summarize autophagy‑independent functions of molecules of the autophagy machinery and how the activity of these molecules can influence signaling pathways that are deregulated in cancer progression.

The multifaceted role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in colorectal cancer: metastasis, immune suppression, therapy resistance, and autophagy crosstalk

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer structures released by all cells and widely distributed in all biological fluids. EVs are implicated in diverse physiopathological processes by orchestrating cell-cell communication. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, with metastasis being the leading cause of mortality in CRC patients. EVs contribute significantly to the advancement and spread of CRC by transferring their cargo, which includes lipids, proteins, RNAs, and DNAs, to neighboring or distant cells. Besides, they can serve as non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for early detection of CRC or be harnessed as effective carriers for delivering therapeutic agents. Autophagy is an essential cellular process that serves to remove damaged proteins and organelles by lysosomal degradation to maintain cellular homeostasis. Autophagy and EV release are coordinately activated in tumor cells and share common factors and regulatory mechanisms. Although the significance of autophagy and EVs in cancer is well established, the exact mechanism of their interplay in tumor development is obscure. This review focuses on examining the specific functions of EVs in various aspects of CRC, including progression, metastasis, immune regulation, and therapy resistance. Further, we overview emerging discoveries relevant to autophagy and EVs crosstalk in CRC.

Exosomes in tumor-stroma crosstalk: Shaping the immune microenvironment in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multifaceted disease characterized by a complex interaction between tumor cells and the surrounding microenvironment. Within this intricate landscape, exosomes have emerged as pivotal players in the tumor-stroma crosstalk, influencing the immune microenvironment of CRC. These nano-sized vesicles, secreted by both tumoral and stromal cells, serve as molecular transporters, delivering a heterogeneous mix of biomolecules such as RNAs, proteins, and lipids. In the CRC context, exosomes exert dual roles: they promote tumor growth, metastasis, and immune escape by altering immune cell functions and activating oncogenic signaling pathways and offer potential as biomarkers for early CRC detection and treatment targets. This review delves into the multifunctional roles of exosomes in the CRC immune microenvironment, highlighting their potential implications for future therapeutic strategies and clinical outcomes.

Orchestrating Cellular Balance: ncRNAs and RNA Interactions at the Dominant of Autophagy Regulation in Cancer

Autophagy, a complex and highly regulated cellular process, is critical for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis by lysosomal degradation of cellular debris, intracellular pathogens, and dysfunctional organelles. It has become an interesting and attractive topic in cancer because of its dual role as a tumor suppressor and cell survival mechanism. As a highly conserved pathway, autophagy is strictly regulated by diverse non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), ranging from short and flexible miRNAs to lncRNAs and even circRNAs, which largely contribute to autophagy regulatory networks via complex RNA interactions. The potential roles of RNA interactions during autophagy, especially in cancer procession and further anticancer treatment, will aid our understanding of related RNAs in autophagy in tumorigenesis and cancer treatment. Herein, we mainly summarized autophagy-related mRNAs and ncRNAs, also providing RNA-RNA interactions and their potential roles in cancer prognosis, which may deepen our understanding of the relationships between various RNAs during autophagy and provide new insights into autophagy-related therapeutic strategies in personalized medicine.

EZH2 as a potential therapeutic target for gastrointestinal cancers

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers continue to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity globally. Understanding the molecular pathways associated with cancer progression and severity is essential for creating effective cancer treatments. In cancer research, there is a notable emphasis on Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a key player in gene expression influenced by its irregular expression and capacity to attach to promoters and alter methylation status. This review explores the impact of EZH2 signaling on various GI cancers, such as colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, hepatocellular, esophageal, and cholangiocarcinoma. The primary function of EZH2 signaling is to facilitate the accelerated progression of cancer cells. Additionally, EZH2 has the capacity to modulate the reaction of GI cancers to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Numerous pathways, including long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs, serve as upstream regulators of EZH2 in these types of cancer. EZH2's enzymatic activity enables it to attach to target gene promoters, resulting in methylation that modifies their expression. EZH2 could be considered as an independent prognostic factor, with increased expression correlating with a worse disease prognosis. Additionally, a range of gene therapies including small interfering RNA, and anti-tumor agents are being explored to target EZH2 for cancer treatment. This comprehensive review underscores the current insights into EZH2 signaling in gastrointestinal cancers and examines the prospect of therapies targeting EZH2 to enhance patient outcomes.

circAP1M2 activates ATG9A-associated autophagy by inhibiting miR-1249-3p to promote cisplatin resistance in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Cisplatin (CDDP) is the first-line chemotherapeutic agent for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Susceptibility to drug resistance during treatment is a significant challenge in enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of OSCC. Autophagy is an essential element to guarantee the cancer cells' survival under chemo-stress conditions. We established a cisplatin-resistant OSCC cell line (CAL27/CDDP) and showed that circAP1M2 is a remarkably upregulated circular RNA in OSCC. Knockdown of circAP1M2 contributes to reversing cisplatin chemoresistance in vivo, while enhanced autophagic activity in cisplatin-resistant OSCC cells contributes to chemoresistance. Mechanistically, we showed that circAP1M2 induces autophagy-associated cisplatin resistance via the miR-1249-3p-ATG9A axis in OSCC cells. This study provides insights into the specific influence of a newly identified circular RNA circAP1M2 in OSCC regarding drug abuse and the treatment of a broad range of cancers that can benefit from cisplatin.

Novel insights on perils and promises of miRNA in understanding colon cancer metastasis and progression

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third highest frequent malignancy and ultimate critical source of cancer-associated mortality around the world. Regardless of latest advances in molecular and surgical targeted medicines that have increased remedial effects in CRC patients, the 5-year mortality rate for CRC patients remains dismally low. Evidence suggests that microRNAs (miRNAs) execute an essential part in the development and spread of CRC. The miRNAs are a type of short non-coding RNA that exhibited to control the appearance of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. miRNA expression profiling is already being utilized in clinical practice as analytical and prognostic biomarkers to evaluate cancer patients' tumor genesis, advancement, and counteraction to drugs. By modulating their target genes, dysregulated miRNAs are linked to malignant characteristics (e.g., improved proliferative and invasive capabilities, cell cycle aberration, evasion of apoptosis, and promotion of angiogenesis). This review presents an updated summary of circulatory miRNAs, tumor-suppressive and oncogenic miRNAs, and the potential reasons for dysregulated miRNAs in CRC. Further we will explore the critical role of miRNAs in CRC drug resistance.

Rational targeting of autophagy in colorectal cancer therapy: From molecular interactions to pharmacological compounds

The abnormal progression of tumors has been a problem for treatment of cancer and therapeutic should be directed towards targeting main mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis in tumors. The genomic mutations can result in changes in biological mechanisms in human cancers. Colorectal cancer is one of the most malignant tumors of gastrointestinal tract and its treatment has been faced some difficulties due to development of resistance in tumor cells and also, their malignant behavior. Hence, new therapeutic modalities for colorectal cancer are being investigated. Autophagy is a "self-digestion" mechanism that is responsible for homeostasis preserving in cells and its aberrant activation/inhibition can lead to tumorigenesis. The current review focuses on the role of autophagy mechanism in colorectal cancer. Autophagy may be associated with increase/decrease in progression of colorectal cancer due to mutual function of this molecular mechanism. Pro-survival autophagy inhibits apoptosis to increase proliferation and survival rate of colorectal tumor cells and it is also involved in cancer metastasis maybe due to EMT induction. In contrast, pro-death autophagy decreases growth and invasion of colorectal tumor cells. The status of autophagy (upregulation and down-regulation) is a determining factor for therapy response in colorectal tumor cells. Therefore, targeting autophagy can increase sensitivity of colorectal tumor cells to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Interestingly, nanoparticles can be employed for targeting autophagy in cancer therapy and they can both induce/suppress autophagy in tumor cells. Furthermore, autophagy modulators can be embedded in nanostructures in improving tumor suppression and providing cancer immunotherapy.

Exosomes in metastasis of colorectal cancers: Friends or foes?

Colorectal cancer (CRC), the third most common type of cancer worldwide, threaten human health and quality of life. With multidisciplinary, including surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, patients with an early diagnosis of CRC can have a good prognosis. However, metastasis in CRC patients is the main risk factor causing cancer-related death. To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of CRC metastasis is the difficult and research focus on the investigation of the CRC mechanism. On the other hand, the tumor microenvironment (TME) has been confirmed as having an essential role in the tumorigenesis and metastasis of malignancies, including CRCs. Among the different factors in the TME, exosomes as extracellular vesicles, function as bridges in the communication between cancer cells and different components of the TME to promote the progression and metastasis of CRC. MicroRNAs packaged in exosomes can be derived from different sources and transported into the TME to perform oncogenic or tumor-suppressor roles accordingly. This article focuses on CRC exosomes and illustrates their role in regulating the metastasis of CRC, especially through the packaging of miRNAs, to evoke exosomes as novel biomarkers for their impact on the metastasis of CRC progression.

Non-coding RNAs in radiotherapy resistance: Roles and therapeutic implications in gastrointestinal cancer

Radiotherapy has become an indispensable and conventional means for patients with advanced solid tumors including gastrointestinal cancer. However, innate or acquired radiotherapy resistance remains a significant challenge and greatly limits the therapeutic effect, which results in cancer relapse and poor prognosis. Therefore, it is an urgent need to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for clarify the biological characteristics and mechanism of radiotherapy resistance. Recently, lots of studies have revealed that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are the potential indicators and regulators of radiotherapy resistance via the mediation of various targets/pathways in different cancers. These findings may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy to overcome radiotherapy resistance. In this review, we will shed light on the recent findings regarding the functions and regulatory mechanisms of ncRNAs following radiotherapy, and comprehensively discuss their potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in radiotherapy resistance of gastrointestinal cancer.

Autophagy: Dual roles and perspective for clinical treatment of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) raises concerns to people because of its high recurrence and metastasis rate, diagnosis challenges, and poor prognosis. Various studies have shown the association of altered autophagy with tumorigenesis, tumor-stroma interactions, and resistance to cancer therapy in CRC. Autophagy is a highly conserved cytosolic catabolic process in eukaryotes that plays distinct roles in CRC occurrence and progression. In early tumorigenesis, autophagy may inhibit tumor growth through diverse mechanisms, whereas it exhibits a tumor promoting function in CRC progression. This different functions of autophagy in CRC occurrence and progression make developing therapies targeting autophagy complicated. In this review, we discuss the classification and process of autophagy as well as its dual roles in CRC, functions in the tumor microenvironment, cross-talk with apoptosis, and potential usefulness as a CRC therapeutic target.

Current and potential roles of RNA modification-mediated autophagy dysregulation in cancer

Autophagy, a cellular lysosomal degradation and survival pathway, supports nutrient recycling and adaptation to metabolic stress and participates in various stages of tumor development, including tumorigenesis, metastasis, and malignant state maintenance. Among the various factors contributing to the dysregulation of autophagy in cancer, RNA modification can regulate autophagy by directly affecting the expression of core autophagy proteins. We propose that autophagy disorder mediated by RNA modification is an important mechanism for cancer development. Therefore, this review mainly discusses the role of RNA modification-mediated autophagy regulation in tumorigenesis. We summarize the molecular basis of autophagy and the core proteins and complexes at different stages of autophagy, especially those involved in cancer development. Moreover, we describe the crosstalk of RNA modification and autophagy and review the recent advances and potential role of the RNA modification/autophagy axis in the development of multiple cancers. Furthermore, the dual role of the RNA modification/autophagy axis in cancer drug resistance is discussed. A comprehensive understanding and extensive exploration of the molecular crosstalk of RNA modifications with autophagy will provide important insights into tumor pathophysiology and provide more options for cancer therapeutic strategies.

Autophagy as a self-digestion signal in human cancers: Regulation by microRNAs in affecting carcinogenesis and therapy response

Autophagy is defined as a "self-digestion" signal, and it is a cell death mechanism its primary function is degrading toxic agents and aged organelles to ensure homeostasis in cells. The basic leve ls of autophagy are found in cells, and when its levels exceed to standard threshold, cell death induction is observed. Autophagy dysregulation in cancer has been well-documented, and regulation of this pathway by epigenetic factors, especially microRNAs (miRNAs), is interesting and noteworthy. miRNAs are considered short endogenous RNAs that do not encode functional proteins, and they are essential regulators of cell death pathways such as apoptosis, necroptosis, and autophagy. Accumulating data has revealed miRNA dysregulation (upregulation or downregulation) during tumor progression, and their therapeutic manipulation provides new insight into cancer therapy. miRNA/autophagy axis in human cancers has been investigated an exciting point is the dual function of both autophagy and miRNAs as oncogenic and onco-suppressor factors. The stimulation of pro-survival autophagy by miRNAs can increase the survival rate of tumor cells and mediates cancer metastasis via EMT inductionFurthermore, pro-death autophagy induction by miRNAs has a negative impact on the viability of tumor cells and decreases their survival rate. The miRNA/autophagy axis functions beyond regulating the growth and invasion of tumor cells, and they can also affect drug resistance and radio-resistance. These subjects are covered in the current review regarding the new updates provided by recent experiments.

MicroRNAs as Predictive Biomarkers in Patients with Colorectal Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy or Chemoradiotherapy: A Narrative Literature Review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies and is associated with high mortality rates worldwide. The underlying mechanism of tumorigenesis in CRC is complex, involving genetic, lifestyle-related, and environmental factors. Although radical resection with adjuvant FOLFOX (5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) chemotherapy and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy have remained mainstays of treatment for patients with stage III CRC and locally advanced rectal cancer, respectively, the oncological outcomes of these treatments are often unsatisfactory. To improve patients' chances of survival, researchers are actively searching for new biomarkers to facilitate the development of more effective treatment strategies for CRC and metastatic CRC (mCRC). MicroRNAs (miRs), small, single-stranded, noncoding RNAs, can post-transcriptionally regulate mRNA translation and trigger mRNA degradation. Recent studies have documented aberrant miR levels in patients with CRC or mCRC, and some miRs are reportedly associated with chemoresistance or radioresistance in CRC. Herein, we present a narrative review of the literature on the roles of oncogenic miRs (oncomiRs) and tumor suppressor miRs (anti-oncomiRs), some of which can be used to predict the responses of patients with CRC to chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Moreover, miRs may serve as potential therapeutic targets because their functions can be manipulated using synthetic antagonists and miR mimics.

Circular RNA circPOFUT1 enhances malignant phenotypes and autophagy-associated chemoresistance via sequestrating miR-488-3p to activate the PLAG1-ATG12 axis in gastric cancer

Circular RNAs are key regulators in regulating the progression and chemoresistance of gastric cancer (GC), suggesting circular RNAs as potential therapeutic targets for GC. The roles of a novel circular RNA circPOFUT1 in GC are unknown. Here, we found that circPOFUT1 was upregulated in GC tissues and cells, and increased circPOFUT1 expression indicated poor prognosis. Overexpression of circPOFUT1 enhanced cell proliferation, migration, invasion and autophagy-associated chemoresistance in GC, which were suppressed by miR-488-3p overexpression. CircPOFUT1 reduced miR-488-3p expression via sponging miR-488-3p in GC cells. PLAG1 interacted with ATG12 and promoted its expression. MiR-488-3p bound to PLAG1 and suppressed the expression of PLAG1 and ATG12 in GC cells. Overexpression of circPOFUT1 enhanced autophagy-associated chemoresistance of GC cells in vivo, but it was inhibited by overexpression of miR-488-3p. Collectively, circPOFUT1 directly sponged miR-488-3p to activate the expression of PLAG1 and ATG12, thus enhancing malignant phenotypes and autophagy-associated chemoresistance in GC. Our findings show the potential of circPOFUT1 as biomarkers and targeting circPOFUT1 as a therapeutic strategy for GC.

A New Potential Therapeutic Target for Cancer in Ubiquitin-Like Proteins-UBL3

Ubiquitin-like proteins (Ubls) are involved in a variety of biological processes through the modification of proteins. Dysregulation of Ubl modifications is associated with various diseases, especially cancer. Ubiquitin-like protein 3 (UBL3), a type of Ubl, was revealed to be a key factor in the process of small extracellular vesicle (sEV) protein sorting and major histocompatibility complex class II ubiquitination. A variety of sEV proteins that affects cancer properties has been found to interact with UBL3. An increasing number of studies has implied that UBL3 expression affects cancer cell growth and cancer prognosis. In this review, we provide an overview of the relationship between various Ubls and cancers. We mainly introduce UBL3 and its functions and summarize the current findings of UBL3 and examine its potential as a therapeutic target in cancers.

Mechanisms of radioresistance and the underlying signaling pathways in colorectal cancer cells

Radiotherapy is one of the most common modalities for the treatment of a wide range of tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC); however, radioresistance of cancer cells remains a major limitation for this treatment. Following radiotherapy, the activities of various cellular mechanisms and cell signaling pathways are altered, resulting in the development of radioresistance, which leads to therapeutic failure and poor prognosis in patients with cancer. Furthermore, even though several inhibitors have been developed to target tumor resistance, these molecules can induce side effects in nontumor cells due to low specificity and efficiency. However, the role of these mechanisms in CRC has not been extensively studied. This review discusses recent studies regarding the relationship between radioresistance and the alterations in a series of cellular mechanisms and cell signaling pathways that lead to therapeutic failure and tumor recurrence. Our review also presents recent advances in the in vitro/in vivo study models aimed at investigating the radioresistance mechanism in CRC. Furthermore, it provides a relevant biochemical basis in theory, which can be useful to improve radiotherapy sensitivity and prolong patient survival.

Insights into the radiotherapy-induced deferentially expressed RNAs in colorectal cancer management

Radiotherapy (RT) has been commonly applied to treat advanced local cancers. In radiation therapy, high doses of radiation are utilized to trigger cell death. Radiation often leads to DNA double-strand breakages (DSB), which causes the activation of downstream genes including those for non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) such as long non-coding and RNAsmicro RNAs. The consequence of RT significantly relies on the radiosensitivity of cancer cells, which is affected by multiple factors, including some proteins and cellular processes. Activation of these genes can cause cell cytotoxicity and indirectly damages the cells. Recent studies have shown that non-coding RNAs can play as radiosensitivity or radioinhibitory regulators in cancers by mechanisms such as cell cycle arrest or affecting the DNA damage repair systems. ncRNAs are also known to function as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes in colorectal cancer and therefore are considered potential diagnostic biomarkers in disease detection. For example, the investigations have shown that miR-29a and miR-224 can be informative biomarkers for early detection or screening of CRC via a noninvasive method such as liquid biopsy. Here, we discuss ncRNAs involved in the radioresistance and radiosensitivity of CRC and highlight their predictive clinical value in response to RT. Accordingly, this review represents a principal guide in the context of three major types of ncRNAs with potential roles in the pathway of radiosensitivity and radioresistance, including miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs which can be considered a precious archivement in organizing additional studies and broadening views in this area. Our findings can also assist radiotherapists in predicting CRC patients' response and, therefore, prognosis to radiation therapy, although, to achieve our goals in the clinic, we certainly need further studies.

Improving the prediction for the response to radiotherapy of clinical tumor samples by using combinatorial model of MicroRNA expression

Purpose: Radiation therapy (RT) is one of the main treatments for cancer. The response to radiotherapy varies widely between individuals and some patients have poor response to RT treatment due to tumor radioresistance. Stratifying patients according to molecular signatures of individual tumor characteristics can improve clinical treatment. In here, we aimed to use clinical and genomic databases to develop miRNA signatures that can predict response to radiotherapy in various cancer types. Methods: We analyzed the miRNAs profiles using tumor samples treated with RT across eight types of human cancers from TCGA database. These samples were divided into response group (S, n = 224) and progressive disease group (R, n = 134) based on RT response of tumors. To enhance the discrimination for S and R samples, the predictive models based on binary logistic regression were developed to identify the best combinations of multiple miRNAs. Results: The miRNAs differentially expressed between the groups S and R in each caner type were identified. Total 47 miRNAs were identified in eight cancer types (p values <0.05, t-test), including several miRNAs previously reported to be associated with radiotherapy sensitivity. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), stem cell, NF-κB signal, immune response, cell death, cell cycle, and DNA damage response and DNA damage repair processes were significantly enriched. The cancer-type-specific miRNA signatures were identified, which consist of 2-13 of miRNAs in each caner type. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses showed that the most of individual miRNAs were effective in distinguishing responsive and non-responsive patients (the area under the curve (AUC) ranging from 0.606 to 0.889). The patient stratification was further improved by applying the combinatorial model of miRNA expression (AUC ranging from 0.711 to 0.992). Also, five miRNAs that were significantly associated with overall survival were identified as prognostic miRNAs. Conclusion: These mRNA signatures could be used as potential biomarkers selecting patients who will benefit from radiotherapy. Our study identified a series of miRNA that were differentially expressed between RT good responders and poor responders, providing useful clues for further functional assays to demonstrate a possible regulatory role in radioresistance.

BTN3A1 promotes tumor progression and radiation resistance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by regulating ULK1-mediated autophagy

Radiotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); however, radioresistance is a clinical problem that must urgently be solved. Here, we found that butyrophilin subfamily 3 member A1 (BTN3A1) is upregulated in ESCC tumor tissues compared with nontumor tissues. We also evaluated BTN3A1 expression in patients with ESCC receiving adjuvant radiotherapy. The results demonstrated that BTN3A1 upregulation predicts a poor prognosis for ESCC patients. BTN3A1 overexpression promotes ESCC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, BTN3A1 knockdown sensitized ESCC cells to radiation. We further explored the mode of death involved in BTN3A1-mediated radioresistance. Previous studies have shown that apoptosis, autophagy, necrosis, pyroptosis and ferroptosis are important for the survival of ESCC cells. We performed an RT-PCR array and western blotting (WB) to identify the mode of death and revealed for the first time that BTN3A1 promotes cell radioresistance by activating autophagy. In addition, by performing immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses, we found that BTN3A1 regulated the expression of UNC-51-like autophagy activating kinase 1(ULK1) and promoted its phosphorylation to subsequently initiate autophagy. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and luciferase reporter assay results indicated that BTN3A1 is a novel direct target of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). HIF-1α, a transcription factor, promotes BTN3A1 transcription upon irradiation. Overall, the present study is the first to show that BTN3A1 plays a key role in radioresistance and that targeting BTN3A1 might be a promising strategy to improve radiotherapy efficacy in patients with ESCC.

Mechanisms of microRNA action in rectal cancer radiotherapy

ABSTRACT

Preoperative neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, combined with total mesorectal excision, has become the standard treatment for advanced localized rectal cancer (RC). However, the biological complexity and heterogeneity of tumors may contribute to cancer recurrence and metastasis in patients with radiotherapy-resistant RC. The identification of factors leading to radioresistance and markers of radiosensitivity is critical to identify responsive patients and improve radiotherapy outcomes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, endogenous, and noncoding RNAs that affect various cellular and molecular targets. miRNAs have been shown to play important roles in multiple biological processes associated with RC. In this review, we summarized the signaling pathways of miRNAs, including apoptosis, autophagy, the cell cycle, DNA damage repair, proliferation, and metastasis during radiotherapy in patients with RC. Also, we evaluated the potential role of miRNAs as radiotherapeutic biomarkers for RC.

The value of exosome-derived noncoding RNAs in colorectal cancer proliferation, metastasis, and clinical applications

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world today, and its incidence and mortality rates are increasing every year. The ease of proliferation and metastasis of CRC has long been an important reason for its high mortality rate. Exosomes serve as key mediators that mediate communication between tumor cells and various other cells. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been shown to play a key role in apoptosis, immunosuppression and proliferation metastasis in cancer. ncRNAs are loaded on exosomes and initiate the onset of metastasis by promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) at the primary site of the tumor. Meanwhile, exosome-derived ncRNAs construct a pre-metastatic niche (PMN) for CRC metastasis by forming an inflammatory microenvironment in distant organs, immunosuppression, and promoting angiogenesis and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Here, we summarize the specific mechanisms associated with exosome-derived ncRNAs promoting local invasion and metastasis in CRC. Finally, we focus on their value for clinical application in future CRC diagnosis and treatment.

Role of non-coding RNAs in radiosensitivity of colorectal cancer: A narrative review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a global public health concern because of its high prevalence and mortality. Although radiotherapy is a key method for treating CRC, radioresistance is an obstacle to radiotherapy use. The molecular mechanisms underlying the radioresistance of CRC remain unclear. Increasing evidence has revealed the multiple regulatory functions of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in numerous malignancies, including CRC. Several ncRNAs have been reported to be involved in the determination of radiosensitivity of CRC cells, and some have excellent potential to be prognostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets in CRC treatment. The present review discusses the biological functions and underlying mechanisms of ncRNAs (primarily lncRNA, miRNA, and circRNA) in the regulation of the radiosensitivity of CRC. We also evaluate studies that examined ncRNAs as biomarkers of response to radiation and as therapeutic targets for enhancing radiosensitivity.

miRNAs as cornerstones in colorectal cancer pathogenesis and resistance to therapy: A spotlight on signaling pathways interplay - A review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the world's third most prevalent cancer and the main cause of cancer-related mortality. A lot of work has been put into improving CRC patients' clinical care, including the development of more effective methods and wide biomarkers variety for prognostic, and diagnostic purposes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate a variety of cellular processes and play a significant role in the CRC progression and spread via controlling their target gene expression by translation inhibition or mRNA degradation. Consequently, dysregulation and disruption in their function, miRNAs are linked to CRC malignant pathogenesis by controlling several cellular processes involved in the CRC. These cellular processes include increased proliferative and invasive capacity, cell cycle aberration, evasion of apoptosis, enhanced EMT, promotion of angiogenesis and metastasis, and decreased sensitivity to major treatments. The miRNAs control cellular processes in CRC via regulation of pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin signaling, PTEN/AKT/mTOR axis, KRAS, TGFb signaling, VEGFR, EGFR, and P53. Hence, the goal of this review was to review miRNA biogenesis and present an updated summary of oncogenic and tumor suppressor (TS) miRNAs and their potential implication in CRC pathogenesis and responses to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We also summarise the biological importance and clinical applications of miRNAs in the CRC.

miR-214 Modulates the Growth and Migration of Oral Cancer before and after Chemotherapy through Mediating ULK1

The role of miRNAs as crucial components in carcinogenesis has been well documented. However, whether and how miR-214 influences oral cancer cells' drug resistance remains to be elucidated, and its downstream targets are still under investigation. Hence, this research is aimed at determining miR-214 and ULK1 expression in oral cancer before and after chemotherapy and their correlations with cancer cell growth. Human oral normal epithelial cells and human tongue squamous cell carcinoma CAL-27 cells were cultured to detect miR-214 and ULK1 levels. It was found that before chemotherapy, miR-214 was higher, while ULK1 was underexpressed in CAL-27 cells, versus normal epithelial cells. After chemotherapy, miR-214 decreased obviously in CAL-27 cells, while ULK1 level increased significantly. In addition, autophagy-related genes (Beclin 1, mTOR, and P53) in CAL-27 cells were found to be significantly inhibited before chemotherapy and were obviously increased after chemotherapy. Moreover, to further determine the impacts of miR-214 and ULK1 on oral cancer cell growth after chemotherapy, the two were overexpressed or silenced in CAL-27 cells after transfection. We found that ULK1 could effectively decrease the activity and invasion of CAL-27 cells and increase their apoptosis level, while miR-214 could antagonize its antitumor effect. Therefore, miR-214 can be used as an early prognostic biomarker for oral cancer, and ULK1 is a new candidate therapeutic target.

Therapeutic Effect and Mechanism of Cinnamyl Alcohol on Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Objective

To investigate the effect of CA on autophagy and its molecular mechanism after myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MI/RI).

Methods

The MI/RI model was established by the ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery with ischemia and reperfusion. In vitro cell models were established using hypoxia/reoxygenation. Western blot was used to determine the expression levels of beclin-1, P62, and LC3 II. The expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, and apoptosis-related genes Bax, Cyt-c, and Bcl-2 were detected by qRT-PCR. Cell activity was detected by CCK-8. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL staining.

Results

Beclin-1, P62, and LC3 II protein expression and LC3 II/LC3 I level were significantly increased after myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Compared with model group, CA downregulated beclin-1, P62, and LC3 II protein expression and LC3 II/LC3 I level in the myocardium. The results of cell-level experiments showed that CA inhibited the autophagy response of the cardiomyocytes induced by hypoxia-reperfusion injury. Mechanism studies showed that CA targeted the inhibition of ATG12. Knocking down ATG12 reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines induced by H/R. The knockdown of ATG12 also reduced apoptosis and injury of the myocardial cells.

Conclusion

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion can enhance autophagy response and promote apoptosis. CA plays a protective role in myocardium by targeting ATG12, thereby inhibiting autophagy and improving myocardial cell apoptosis.

Small Extracellular Vesicles: Key Forces Mediating the Development and Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide, and its incidence and mortality rates have been increasing annually in recent years. A variety of different small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are important mediators of intercellular communication and have an important role in tumor metastasis and progression. The development and metastasis of CRC are closely linked to tumor-cell-derived sEVs, non-tumor-cell-derived sEVs, and intestinal-microbiota-derived sEVs. Numerous studies have shown that the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a key component in the regulation of CRC proliferation, development, and metastasis. These sEVs can create a TME conducive to CRC growth and metastasis by forming an immunosuppressive microenvironment, remodeling the extracellular matrix, and promoting tumor cell metabolism. Therefore, in this paper, we review the role of different types of sEVs in colorectal cancer development and metastasis. Furthermore, based on the properties of sEVs, we further discuss the use of sEVs as early biomarkers for colorectal cancer diagnosis and the potential for their use in the treatment of CRC.

The Roles of Non-Coding RNAs in Radiotherapy of Gastrointestinal Carcinoma

Radiotherapy (RT), or radiation therapy, has been widely used in clinical practice for the treatment of local advanced gastrointestinal carcinoma. RT causes DNA double-strand breaks leading to cell cytotoxicity and indirectly damages tumor cells by activating downstream genes. Non-coding RNA (including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), and circular RNAs) is a type of RNA that does not encode a protein. As the field of ncRNAs increasingly expands, new complex roles have gradually emerged for ncRNAs in RT. It has been shown that ncRNAs can act as radiosensitivity regulators in gastrointestinal carcinoma by affecting DNA damage repair, cell cycle arrest, irradiation-induced apoptosis, cell autophagy, stemness, EMT, and cell pyroptosis. Here, we review the complex roles of ncRNAs in RT and gastrointestinal carcinoma. We also discuss the potential clinical significance and predictive value of ncRNAs in response to RT for guiding the individualized treatment of patients. This review can serve as a guide for the application of ncRNAs as radiosensitivity enhancers, radioresistance inducers, and predictors of response in RT of gastrointestinal carcinoma.

The Role of Non-Coding RNAs in Autophagy During Carcinogenesis

Macroautophagy (autophagy herein) is a cellular stress response and a survival pathway involved in self-renewal and quality control processes to maintain cellular homeostasis. The alteration of autophagy has been implicated in numerous diseases such as cancer where it plays a dual role. Autophagy serves as a tumor suppressor in the early phases of cancer formation with the restoration of homeostasis and eliminating cellular altered constituents, yet in later phases, autophagy may support and/or facilitate tumor growth, metastasis and may contribute to treatment resistance. Key components of autophagy interact with either pro- and anti-apoptotic factors regulating the proximity of tumor cells to apoptotic cliff promoting cell survival. Autophagy is regulated by key cell signaling pathways such as Akt (protein kinase B, PKB), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) involved in cell survival and metabolism. The expression of critical members of upstream cell signaling, as well as those directly involved in the autophagic and apoptotic machineries are regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Consequently, non-coding RNAs play a relevant role in carcinogenesis and treatment response in cancer. The review is an update of the current knowledge in the regulation by miRNA and lncRNA of the autophagic components and their functional impact to provide an integrated and comprehensive regulatory network of autophagy in cancer.

Radiotherapy as a tool to elicit clinically actionable signalling pathways in cancer

A variety of targeted anticancer agents have been successfully introduced into clinical practice, largely reflecting their ability to inhibit specific molecular alterations that are required for disease progression. However, not all malignant cells rely on such alterations to survive, proliferate, disseminate and/or evade anticancer immunity, implying that many tumours are intrinsically resistant to targeted therapies. Radiotherapy is well known for its ability to activate cytotoxic signalling pathways that ultimately promote the death of cancer cells, as well as numerous cytoprotective mechanisms that are elicited by cellular damage. Importantly, many cytoprotective mechanisms elicited by radiotherapy can be abrogated by targeted anticancer agents, suggesting that radiotherapy could be harnessed to enhance the clinical efficacy of these drugs. In this Review, we discuss preclinical and clinical data that introduce radiotherapy as a tool to elicit or amplify clinically actionable signalling pathways in patients with cancer.

Computational and Bioinformatics Methods for MicroRNA Gene Prediction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 20-24-nucleotide-long noncoding RNAs that bind to the untranslated region (3' UTR) of their target mRNAs. The importance of miRNAs in medicine has grown rapidly in the 20 years since the discovery of them. As the regulatory function of miRNAs on biological processes was discovered, they were advocated to play a role in the underlying mechanisms of human pathogenesis. Functional studies have confirmed that miRNAs are promising in preclinical development through deregulation of genes targeted by miRNAs in many cancer cases. In this chapter, we summarize the miRNAs identified for some specific types of cancer and their functions. Besides, miRNAs function as cancer biomarker and their benefits to diagnosis and treatment of cancer are also discussed.

Fasudil prevents neomycin-induced hair cell damage by inhibiting autophagy through the miR-489/NDP52 signaling pathway in HEI-OC1 cells

Hearing loss is a common sensory disorder that is mainly caused by the loss of hair cells (HCs). Drug-induced deafness, for which there is currently no effective treatment, is mainly caused by the inappropriate use of aminoglycoside antibiotics. Fasudil (Fas), a novel isoquinoline sulfonamide derivative, has exhibited antioxidant abilities in a number of previous studies. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential effects of Fas against neomycin (Neo)-induced hair cell damage and elucidate the underlying mechanism. Flow cytometry and western blot analysis were used to detect the effects of Fas on cell apoptosis and to determine the expression levels of autophagy-related proteins, LC3B and Beclin 1, induced by Neo. Mitochondrial membrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were detected using fluorescent probes. The effect of Fas on Neo-induced hair cell injury marker, GFP-LC3B, was also examined using the immunofluorescence technique. Fas was found to inhibit Neo-induced mitochondrial autophagy and mitochondrial membrane potential decline, in addition to reducing ROS levels and cell apoptosis caused by Neo treatment. However, Fas failed to inhibit the Neo-induced these above changes in cells with NDP52 overexpression. The putative binding sites of microRNA (miR)-489 on the 3'-untranslated region of nuclear dot protein 52 (NDP52) were predicted using the TargetScan 7.0 online tool, and this association was further verified using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, the expression of miR-489 negatively regulated the expression of NDP52. Fas and miR-489 mimic inhibited the Neo-induced mitochondrial autophagy and mitochondrial membrane potential decline, in addition to reducing ROS levels and cell apoptosis. Knockdown of miR-489 expression using a miR-489 inhibitor blocked the inhibitory effects of Fas on the mitochondrial membrane potential, cell apoptosis and ROS production. Therefore, Fas may upregulate the expression of miR-489 to negatively regulate the expression of NDP52 at the post-transcriptional level, which in turn inhibits the activation of mitophagy and cell injury induced by Neo. Thus, Fas may act as a novel therapeutic option in the clinical treatment of hearing loss in the future.

Autophagy Modulation by Viral Infections Influences Tumor Development

Autophagy is a self-degradative process important for balancing cellular homeostasis at critical times in development and/or in response to nutrient stress. This is particularly relevant in tumor model in which autophagy has been demonstrated to have an important impact on tumor behavior. In one hand, autophagy limits tumor transformation of precancerous cells in early stage, and in the other hand, it favors the survival, proliferation, metastasis, and resistance to antitumor therapies in more advanced tumors. This catabolic machinery can be induced by an important variety of extra- and intracellular stimuli. For instance, viral infection has often been associated to autophagic modulation, and the role of autophagy in virus replication differs according to the virus studied. In the context of tumor development, virus-modulated autophagy can have an important impact on tumor cells' fate. Extensive analyses have shed light on the molecular and/or functional complex mechanisms by which virus-modulated autophagy influences precancerous or tumor cell development. This review includes an overview of discoveries describing the repercussions of an autophagy perturbation during viral infections on tumor behavior.

Cross-link between ferroptosis and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: New approach to radiotherapy sensitization

Ferroptosis is a recently discovered special type of regulated cell death that is strongly associated with both homeostasis maintenance and cancer development. Previous studies have indicated that a number of small-molecular agents inducing ferroptosis have great potential in the treatment of different types of cancer, including breast, pancreatic, prostate and head and neck cancer. However, the role of ferroptosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has remained to be fully determined. To the best of our knowledge, no review of the currently available studies on this subject has been published to date. The metabolism and expression of specific genes that regulate ferroptosis may represent a promising radiosensitization target in cancer treatment. The aim of the present review was to describe the cross-link between ferroptosis and NPC and to discuss the potential value of regulators and the possible mechanism underlying the role of ferroptosis in the radiosensitization of NPC, in the hope that linking the mechanism of ferroptosis with the development of NPC will accelerate the development of novel ferroptosis-based targets and radiotherapy strategies in NPC.

Expression of Four Autophagy-Related Genes Accurately Predicts the Prognosis of Gastrointestinal Cancer in Asian Patients

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are among the most fatal diseases in the world. Numerous studies have demonstrated the relationship between autophagy and development of gastrointestinal cancers. However, whether autophagy-related genes can predict prognosis of GI cancers in individuals of Asian ancestry has not been defined. This study, evaluated the prognostic value of autophagy-related genes in gastrointestinal cancer. Expression profile of autophagy-related genes for 296 gastrointestinal cancer patients of Asian ancestry was downloaded from the TCGA database (TCGA-LIHC, TCGA-STAD, TCGA-ESCA, TCGA-PAAD, TCGA-COAD, TCGA-CHOL, and TCGA-READ). The prognostic value of the autophagy-related genes was evaluated using univariate Cox, LASSO, and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The risk score of the autophagy-related gene signature was calculated to assess its predictive prognostic value for GI cancers. Forty-seven differentially expressed autophagy-related genes, in Asian patients with gastrointestinal cancers, were identified. Of the 47 genes, 4 were associated with prognosis of GI cancer (SQSTM1, BIRC5, NRG3, and CXCR4). A prognostic model for GI cancer, based on the expression of the above 4 genes in the training set, showed that cancer patients were stratified into high-risk and low-risk groups (P < 0.05). The utility of the model for overall survival (OS) of GI cancer patients was consistent across the entire set, training set, and test set (entire set: P = 4.568 × 10⁻⁴; train set: P = 5.718 × 10⁻³; test set: P = 3.516 × 10⁻²). The sensitivity and specificity of the ROC curve of the above prognostic model in predicting the 5-year prognosis of GI cancer was satisfactory (entire set: 0.728; train set: 0.727; test set: 0.733). Analysis of clinical samples validated the overexpression of the 4 genes (SQSTM1, BIRC5, NRG3, and CXCR4) in tumor tissues relative to paired normal tissues, consistent with bioinformatic findings. Expression of the 4 autophagy-related genes (SQSTM1, BIRC5, NRG3, and CXCR4) can accurately predict the prognosis of gastrointestinal tumors in Asian patients.

Insight into the Web of Stress Responses Triggered at Gene Expression Level by Porphyrin-PDT in HT29 Human Colon Carcinoma Cells

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), a highly targeted therapy with acceptable side effects, has emerged as a promising therapeutic option in oncologic pathology. One of the issues that needs to be addressed is related to the complex network of cellular responses developed by tumor cells in response to PDT. In this context, this study aims to characterize in vitro the stressors and the corresponding cellular responses triggered by PDT in the human colon carcinoma HT29 cell line, using a new asymmetric porphyrin derivative (P2.2) as a photosensitizer. Besides investigating the ability of P2.2-PDT to reduce the number of viable tumor cells at various P2.2 concentrations and fluences of the activating light, we assessed, using qRT-PCR, the expression levels of 84 genes critically involved in the stress response of PDT-treated cells. Results showed a fluence-dependent decrease of viable tumor cells at 24 h post-PDT, with few cells that seem to escape from PDT. We highlighted following P2.2-PDT the concomitant activation of particular cellular responses to oxidative stress, hypoxia, DNA damage and unfolded protein responses and inflammation. A web of inter-connected stressors was induced by P2.2-PDT, which underlies cell death but also elicits protective mechanisms that may delay tumor cell death or even defend these cells against the deleterious effects of PDT.

Roles of exosomes in diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that mediate intercellular communication. They contain different molecules, such as DNA, RNA, lipid, and protein, playing essential roles in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Exosomes derived from CRC are implicated in tumorigenesis, chemotherapy resistance, and metastasis. Besides, they can enhance CRC progression by increasing tumor cell proliferation, reducing apoptosis mechanistically through altering particular essential regulatory genes, or controlling several signaling pathways. Therefore, exosomes derived from CRC are essential biomarkers and can be used in the diagnosis. Indeed, it is crucial to understand the role of exosomes in CRC, which is necessary to develop diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for early detection and treatment. In the present review, we discuss the roles of exosomes in the diagnosis and treatment of CRC.

High Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of miRNAs Compared with the Carcinoembryonic Antigen as a Traditional Tumor Marker

A significant challenge in cancer detection and treatment is early diagnosis and accurate prognosis of the disease that enables effective therapies and interventions to improve the patient's condition. Up to now, many parts of research have tended to focus on the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) to detect cancers and estimate the survival rates of patients with multiple cancer types, including colorectal, breast, non-small cell lung, and pancreas cancer. Limited sensitivity and specificity of this traditional tumor marker make it an inappropriate biomarker to diagnose cancer, especially in the early stages, while several lines of research have introduced miRNAs as reliable indicators of tumor initiation, development, and therapy response. Indeed, miRNAs have unique properties that provide considerable benefits, such as discriminating benign diseases from malignancies, prediction of cancer possibility and progress, checking sensitivity to treatment, and initial detection of tumors. This review summarizes the relationships between miRNAs and CEA, the diagnostic significance of CEA in combination with miRNAs, and the distinct advantages of miRNAs over CEA as tumor biomarkers. Advancement in our current understanding of miRNAs is essential to discover new and effective biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic goals of cancer patients.

SIRT1: Mechanism and Protective Effect in Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is referred to as the microvascular complication of the kidneys induced by insufficient production of insulin or an ineffective cellular response to insulin, and is the main cause of end-stage renal disease. Currently, available therapies provide only symptomatic relief and fail to improve the outcome of diabetic nephropathy. Studies on diabetic animals had shown overexpression of SIRT1 in both podocytes and renal tubular cells attenuated proteinuria and kidney injury in the animal model of DN. Sirt1 exerts renoprotective effects in DKD in part through the deacetylation of transcription factors involved in the disease pathogenesis, such as NF-кB, Smad3, FOXO and p53. The purpose of this review is to highlight the protective mechanism of SIRT1 involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy.

The Role of microRNAs in Development of Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most deadly cancer worldwide, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the critical factors in CRC carcinogenesis. IBD is responsible for an unphysiological and sustained chronic inflammation environment favoring the transformation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to a class of highly conserved short single-stranded segments (18-25 nucleotides) non-coding RNA and have been extensively discussed in both CRC and IBD. However, the role of miRNAs in the development of colitis-associated CRC (CAC) is less clear. The aim of this review is to summarize the major upregulated (miR-18a, miR-19a, miR-21, miR-31, miR-155 and miR-214) and downregulated (miR-124, miR-193a-3p and miR-139-5p) miRNAs in CAC, and their roles in genes' expression modulation in chronic colonic-inflammation-induced carcinogenesis, including programmed cell-death pathways. These miRNAs dysregulation could be applied for early CAC diagnosis, to predict therapy efficacy and for precision treatment.

Screening and identification of autophagy-related biomarkers for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) via integrated bioinformatics analysis

Increasing evidences have showed that autophagy played a significant role in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Purpose of our study was to explore the prognostic value of autophagy-related genes (ATGs) and screen autophagy-related biomarkers for OSCC. RNA-seq and clinical data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database following extracting ATG expression profiles. Then, differentially expressed analysis was performed in R software and a risk score model according to ATGs was established. Moreover, comprehensive bioinformatics analyses were used to screen autophagy-related biomarkers which were later verified in OSCC tissues and cell lines. A total of 232 ATGs were extracted, and 37 genes were differentially expressed in OSCC. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis demonstrated that these genes were mainly located in autophagosome membrane and associated with autophagy. Furthermore, the risk score on basis of ATGs was identified as potential independent prognostic biomarker. Moreover, ATG12 and BID were identified as potential autophagy-related biomarkers of OSCC. This study successfully constructed a risk model, and the risk score could predict the prognosis of OSCC patients accurately. Moreover, ATG12 and BID were identified as two potential independent prognostic autophagy-related biomarkers and might provide new OSCC therapeutic targets.

The Emerging Roles of Autophagy-Related MicroRNAs in Cancer

Autophagy is a conserved catabolic process involving the degradation and recycling of damaged biomacromolecules or organelles through lysosomal-dependent pathways and plays a crucial role in maintaining cell homeostasis. Consequently, abnormal autophagy is associated with multiple diseases, such as infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Currently, autophagy is considered to be a dual regulator in cancer, functioning as a suppressor in the early stage while supporting the growth and metastasis of cancer cells in the later stage and may also produce therapeutic resistance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by silencing targeted mRNA. MiRNAs have great regulatory potential for several fundamental biological processes, including autophagy. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have linked miRNA dysfunction to the growth, metabolism, migration, metastasis, and responses of cancer cells to therapy. Therefore, the study of autophagy-related miRNAs in cancer will provide insights into cancer biology and lead to the development of novel anti-cancer strategies. In the present review, we summarise the current knowledge of miRNA dysregulation during autophagy in cancer, focusing on the relationship between autophagy and miRNAs, and discuss their involvement in cancer biology and cancer treatment.