STAT4-mediated down-regulation of miR-3619-5p facilitates stomach adenocarcinoma by modulating TBC1D10B

TBC1D10B promotes tumor progression in colon cancer via PAK4‑mediated promotion of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

This study aimed to explore the expression, function, and mechanisms of TBC1D10B in colon cancer, as well as its potential applications in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.The expression levels of TBC1D10B in colon cancer were assessed by analyzing the TCGA and CCLE databases. Immunohistochemistry analysis was conducted using tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues from 68 colon cancer patients. Lentiviral infection techniques were employed to silence and overexpress TBC1D10B in colon cancer cells. The effects on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were evaluated using CCK-8, EDU, wound healing, and Transwell invasion assays. Additionally, GSEA enrichment analysis was used to explore the association of TBC1D10B with biological pathways related to colon cancer. TBC1D10B was significantly upregulated in colon cancer and closely associated with patient prognosis. Silencing of TBC1D10B notably inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer cells and promoted apoptosis. Conversely, overexpression of TBC1D10B enhanced these cellular functions. GSEA analysis revealed that TBC1D10B is enriched in the AKT/PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway and highly correlated with PAK4. The high expression of TBC1D10B in colon cancer is associated with poor prognosis. It influences cancer progression by regulating the proliferation, migration, and invasion capabilities of colon cancer cells, potentially acting through the AKT/PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway. These findings provide new targets and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of colon cancer.

SALL4 in gastrointestinal tract cancers: upstream and downstream regulatory mechanisms

Effective therapeutic targets and early diagnosis are major challenges in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) cancers. SALL4 is a well-known transcription factor that is involved in organogenesis during embryonic development. Previous studies have revealed that SALL4 regulates cell proliferation, survival, and migration and maintains stem cell function in mature cells. Additionally, SALL4 overexpression is associated with tumorigenesis. Despite its characterization as a biomarker in various cancers, the role of SALL4 in GIT cancers and the underlying mechanisms are unclear. We describe the functions of SALL4 in GIT cancers and discuss its upstream/downstream genes and pathways associated with each cancer. We also consider the possibility of targeting these genes or pathways as potential therapeutic options for GIT cancers.

Transcription factor E2F3 activates CDC25B to regulate DNA damage and promote mitoxantrone resistance in stomach adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

CDC25B, as a member of the cell cycle regulating protein family, is located in the cytoplasm and is involved in the transition of the cell cycle and mitosis. CDC25B is highly expressed in various tumors and is a newly discovered oncogene. This study aimed to investigate the impact of CDC25B on mitoxantrone resistance in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) and its possible mechanisms.

METHODS

This study analyzed the expression of CDC25B and its potential transcription factor E2F3 in STAD, as well as the IC50 values of tumor tissues by bioinformatics analysis. Expression levels of CDC25B and E2F3 in STAD cells were measured by qRT-PCR. MTT was utilized to evaluate cell viability and IC50 values of STAD cells, and comet assay was utilized to analyze the level of DNA damage in STAD cells. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of DNA damage-related proteins. The targeting relationship between E2F3 and CDC25B was validated by dual-luciferase and ChIP assays.

RESULTS

Bioinformatics analysis and molecular experiments showed that CDC25B and E2F3 were highly expressed in STAD, and CDC25B was enriched in the mismatch repair and nucleotide excision repair pathways. The IC50 values of tumor tissues with high expression of CDC25B were relatively high. Dual-luciferase and ChIP assays confirmed that CDC25B could be transcriptionally activated by E2F3. Cell experiments revealed that CDC25B promoted mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells by regulating DNA damage. Further research found that low expression of E2F3 inhibited mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells by DNA damage, but overexpression of CDC25B reversed the impact of E2F3 knockdown on mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells.

CONCLUSION

This study confirmed a novel mechanism by which E2F3/CDC25B mediated DNA damage to promote mitoxantrone resistance in STAD cells, providing a new therapeutic target for STAD treatment.

Chloroprocaine antagonizes progression of breast cancer by regulating LINC00494/miR-3619-5p/MED19 axis

Breast cancer, as the most prevalent female malignancy, leads the cancer-related death in women worldwide. Local anesthetic chloroprocaine exhibits antitumor potential, but its specific functions and underlying molecular mechanisms in breast cancer remain unclear. Here, we demonstrated chloroprocaine significantly inhibited proliferation, invasion and induced apoptosis of breast cancer cells in vitro. Tumor growth and pulmonary metastasis were also suppressed in BABL/c nude mice model with chloroprocaine treatment. LINC00494 was identified as one of the most downregulated long noncoding RNAs in chloroprocaine-treated breast cancer cells by high-throughput sequencing. Futhermore, high level of LINC00494 was positively associated with poor outcome of breast cancer patients. LINC00494 acted as a "miRNAs sponge" to compete with MED19 for the biding of miR-3619-5p, led to the upregulation of MED19. LINC00494/miR-3619-5p/MED19 axis participated in chloroprocaine-mediated inhibition of proliferation, invasion and promotion of apoptosis of breast cancer cells. Consequently, our finding suggested local anesthetic chloroprocaine attenuated breast cancer aggressiveness through LINC00494-mediated signaling pathway, which detailly revealed the clinical value of chloroprocaine during breast cancer treatment.

Identification of memory B-cell-associated miRNA signature to establish a prognostic model in gastric adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Memory B cells and microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the progression of gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC), also known as stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD). However, few studies have investigated the use of memory B-cell-associated miRNAs in predicting the prognosis of STAD.

METHODS

We identified the marker genes of memory B cells by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and identified the miRNAs associated with memory B cells by constructing an mRNA‒miRNA coexpression network. Then, univariate Cox, random survival forest (RSF), and stepwise multiple Cox regression (StepCox) algorithms were used to identify memory B-cell-associated miRNAs that were significantly related to overall survival (OS). A prognostic risk model was constructed and validated using these miRNAs, and patients were divided into a low-risk group and a high-risk group. In addition, the differences in clinicopathological features, tumour microenvironment, immune blocking therapy, and sensitivity to anticancer drugs in the two groups were analysed.

RESULTS

Four memory B-cell-associated miRNAs (hsa-mir-145, hsa-mir-125b-2, hsa-mir-100, hsa-mir-221) with significant correlations to OS were identified and used to construct a prognostic model. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis confirmed the feasibility of the model. Kaplan‒Meier (K‒M) survival curve analysis showed that the prognosis was poor in the high-risk group. Comprehensive analysis showed that patients in the high-risk group had higher immune scores, matrix scores, and immune cell infiltration and a poor immune response. In terms of drug screening, we predicted eight drugs with higher sensitivity in the high-risk group, of which CGP-60474 was associated with the greatest sensitivity.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, we identified memory B-cell-associated miRNA prognostic features and constructed a novel risk model for STAD based on scRNA-seq data and bulk RNA-seq data. Among patients in the high-risk group, STAD showed the highest sensitivity to CGP-60474. This study provides prognostic insights into individualized and precise treatment for STAD patients.

Increased expression of TBC1D10B as a potential prognostic and immunotherapy relevant biomarker in liver hepatocellular carcinoma

The TBC1 domain family member 10B (EPI64B/TBC1D10B), a member of the RabGAP EPI64 subfamily, contains a TBC domain that confers GTPase-activating protein activity. Even though overexpression of TBC1D10B has been reported to promote tumor invasion and metastasis in gastric adenocarcinoma, the prognostic value of TBC1D10B and its correlation with DNA methylation and immune infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma are still not known. Transcriptional expression profiles of TBC1D10B between hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and normal tissues were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus. The Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium and the Human Protein Atlas were used to assess the TBC1D10B protein expression. The biological functions of TBC1D10B were evaluated by the Metascape database and by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to distinguish hepatocellular carcinoma from adjacent normal tissues. The effect of TBC1D10B on survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. DNA methylation in the TBC1D10B gene was assessed using the online MEXPRESS and MethSurv tools. The association between TBC1D10B mRNA expression and immune cell infiltration was investigated by the TIMER2 web server, tumor immune estimation resource and single-sample GSEA. This study found that TBC1D10B is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and that increased TBC1D10B mRNA expression is associated with female sex, lower Body Mass Index, high level of alpha fetal protein, and worse clinical stages. The mRNA and protein levels of TBC1D10B were verified in cells. Functional annotation indicated enrichment with negative regulation of the cell cycle, extracellular matrix, and corresponding pathways in the high-TBC1D10B phenotype. The ROC curve analysis showed that, with a cutoff level of 2.912, the accuracy, sensitive, and specificity in differentiate TBC1D10B hepatocellular carcinoma from adjacent controls were 0.931, 0.920, and 0.802, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that hepatocellular carcinoma patients with high TBC1D10B had a worse prognosis than those with low TBC1D10B, especially in patients with a weight below 70 kg, height above 170 cm, and histological G2 and G3. We also found that the methylation of TBC1D10B was associated with the prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that TBC1D10B mRNA expression was positively correlated with infiltration levels of most immune cells, but negatively correlated with Th17 and cytotoxic cells infiltration. Our study indicates that increased TBC1D10B expression in hepatocellular carcinoma may play a role in tumorigenesis by regulating the cell cycle and extracellular matrix. TBC1D10B may be a novel prognostic and predictive marker and immune therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

M2 macrophage facilitated angiogenesis in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma via circ_TNFRSF21/miR-3619-5p/ROCK axis

In recent years, the role of circular RNA in cancer cells has been studied broadly; however, the functional significance of circular RNA in the regulation of the tumor microenvironment (TME) is not fully understood. In this study, we aimed to reveal the role of circ_TNFRSF21 in M2 macrophage-induced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) angiogenesis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were performed to determine the levels of the indicated genes. Direct binding between circ_TNFRSF21 and miR-3619-5p, miR-3619-5p, and ROCK2 was verified by dual-luciferase activity. The migration and invasion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells were evaluated by wound healing and transwell assays. Tube formation was performed to detect in vitro angiogenesis. Circ_TNFRSF21 and ROCK2 were upregulated in cSCC tissue, while miR-3619-5p was downregulated. Circ_TNFRSF21 negatively regulated the expression of miR-3619-5p, while miR-3619-5p negatively regulated the expression of ROCK2. miR-3619-5p suppressed tube formation by inhibiting ROCK signaling. M2 macrophages facilitated tube formation via the circ_TNFRSF21/miR-3619-5p/ROCK2 axis. Our present study revealed that circ_TNFRSF21 was elevated in M2 macrophages and mediated M2 macrophage-induced tube formation in vitro.

NORAD-sponged miR-378c alleviates malignant behaviors of stomach adenocarcinoma via targeting NRP1

Background

Stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) is the most common type of gastric cancer (GC), with a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis, but the potential indicators for STAD are insufficient.

Methods

Herein, we found that MicroRNA-378c (miR-378c) was lowly expressed in STAD, and the low expression of miR-378c was highly correlated with poor overall survival (OS), T stage, Reflux history, DSS events and PFI events of STAD patients.

Results

In addition, univariate analysis displayed that miR-378c was significantly associated with OS (Hazard ratio 0.735; 95% CI, 0.542–0.995; P = 0.046). Furthermore, it was validated that miR-378c inhibition accelerated STAD cell proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), while they were suppressed by miR-378c overexpression. Mechanistically, Neuropilin 1 (NRP1) was confirmed as the target of miR-378c, and Lnc-NORAD was identified as its sponger. More importantly, NORAD-mediated miR-378c inhibited malignant behaviors of STAD both in vitro and in vivo.

Conclusions

Collectively, these results suggest miR-378c as a promising indicator for the treatment of STAD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-022-02474-5.