Adaptor SH3BGRL drives autophagy-mediated chemoresistance through promoting PIK3C3 translation and ATG12 stability in breast cancers

Tumor microenvironment responsive nano-herb and CRISPR delivery system for synergistic chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Chemoresistance remains a significant challenge for effective breast cancer treatment which leads to cancer recurrence. CRISPR-directed gene editing becomes a powerful tool to reduce chemoresistance by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment. Previous research has revealed that Chinese herbal extracts have significant potential to overcome tumor chemoresistance. However, the therapeutic efficacy is often limited due to their poor tumor targeting and in vivo durability. Here we have developed a tumor microenvironment responsive nanoplatform (H-MnO2(ISL + DOX)-PTPN2@HA, M(I + D)PH) for nano-herb and CRISPR codelivery to reduce chemoresistance. Synergistic tumor inhibitory effects were achieved by the treatment of isoliquiritigenin (ISL) with doxorubicin (DOX), which were enhanced by CRISPR-based gene editing to target protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) to initiate long-term immunotherapy. Efficient PTPN2 depletion was observed after treatment with M(I + D)PH nanoparticles, which resulted in the recruitment of intratumoral infiltrating lymphocytes and an increase of proinflammatory cytokines in the tumor tissue. Overall, our nanoparticle platform provides a diverse technique for accomplishing synergistic chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which offers an effective treatment alternative for malignant neoplasms.

Identification of Genes Hub Associated with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer and Cannabidiol Analogs Potential Inhibitory Agents: An In-silico Study

OBJECTIVE

Triple-negative breast cancer presents a significant challenge in oncology due to its complex treatment and aggressive nature. This subtype lacks common cancer cell receptors like estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 receptors. This study aimed to identify, through bioinformatic analysis, the key genes associated with triple-negative breast cancer. In addition, CBD analogs with potential inhibitory effects on these genes were evaluated through docking and molecular dynamics.

METHODS

Gene expression profiles from the GSE178748 dataset were analyzed, focusing on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines. Differentially expressed genes were determined through protein-protein interaction networks and subsequently validated. Additionally, the inhibitory effects of cannabidiol analogs on these hub genes were assessed using molecular docking and dynamics.

RESULTS

 Analysis of the hub highlighted RPL7A, NHP2L1, and PSMD11 as significant players in TNBC regulation. Ligand 44409296 showed the best affinity energy with RPL7A, while 166505341 exhibited the highest affinity with NHP2L1 and PSMD11, surpassing CBD. Analyses of RMSD, RMSF, SASA, and Gyration Radius indicated structural stability and interactions of the proteins with ligands over time. MMGBSA calculations showed favorable binding energies for the ligands with the target proteins.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this study identified key genes, namely RPL7A, NHP2L1, and PSMD11, associated with triple-negative breast cancer and demonstrated promising interactions with cannabidiol analogs, particularly 44409296 and 166505341. These findings suggest potential therapeutic targets and highlight the relevance of further clinical investigations. Additionally, the ligands exhibited favorable ADME properties and low toxicity, underscoring their potential in future drug development for TNBC treatment.

Molecular panorama of therapy resistance in prostate cancer: a pre-clinical and bioinformatics analysis for clinical translation

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a malignant disorder of prostate gland being asymptomatic in early stages and high metastatic potential in advanced stages. The chemotherapy and surgical resection have provided favourable prognosis of PCa patients, but advanced and aggressive forms of PCa including CRPC and AVPC lack response to therapy properly, and therefore, prognosis of patients is deteriorated. At the advanced stages, PCa cells do not respond to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in a satisfactory level, and therefore, therapy resistance is emerged. Molecular profile analysis of PCa cells reveals the apoptosis suppression, pro-survival autophagy induction, and EMT induction as factors in escalating malignant of cancer cells and development of therapy resistance. The dysregulation in molecular profile of PCa including upregulation of STAT3 and PI3K/Akt, downregulation of STAT3, and aberrant expression of non-coding RNAs are determining factor for response of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Because of prevalence of drug resistance in PCa, combination therapy including co-utilization of anti-cancer drugs and nanotherapeutic approaches has been suggested in PCa therapy. As a result of increase in DNA damage repair, PCa cells induce radioresistance and RelB overexpression prevents irradiation-mediated cell death. Similar to chemotherapy, nanomaterials are promising for promoting radiosensitivity through delivery of cargo, improving accumulation in PCa cells, and targeting survival-related pathways. In respect to emergence of immunotherapy as a new tool in PCa suppression, tumour cells are able to increase PD-L1 expression and inactivate NK cells in mediating immune evasion. The bioinformatics analysis for evaluation of drug resistance-related genes has been performed.

The dual role of autophagy in the regulation of cancer treatment

As a catabolic process, autophagy through lysosomes degrades defective and damaged cellular materials to support homeostasis in stressful conditions. Therefore, autophagy dysregulation is associated with the induction of several human pathologies, including cancer. Although the role of autophagy in cancer progression has been extensively studied, many issues need to be addressed. The available evidence suggest that autophagy shows both cytoprotective and cytotoxic mechanisms. This dual role of autophagy in cancer has supplied a renewed interest in the development of novel and effective cancer therapies. Considering this, a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of autophagy in cancer treatment is crucial. This article provides a summary of the recent advances regarding the dual and different mechanisms of autophagy-mediated therapeutic efficacy in cancer.

Euphorbia factor L2 suppresses the generation of liver metastatic ascites in breast cancer via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with breast cancer, in part due to the lack of effective treatments. Euphorbia factor L2 (EFL2) is a diterpenoid extracted from Euphorbia lathyris L. seeds, which has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to its anticancer effect. However, the role and molecular mechanism of EFL2 in breast cancer liver metastasis remain unclear. In the present study, a breast cancer liver metastasis model was constructed and the effect of EFL2 on ascites generation in mice was examined. H&E staining detected inflammatory cells and tumor cells in the liver, small intestine and tumor tissues. Western blotting and reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR were used to detect the protein and mRNA expression of NLR family pyrin domain containing‑3 (NLRP3) and related molecules in tumor tissues. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the levels of CD4 and CD8 T cells in tumor tissue and immunofluorescence was used to further detect the expression level of NLRP3. Finally, the aforementioned experiments were further verified by overexpressing NLPR3. It was found that EFL2 inhibited generation of ascites in the model in a dose‑dependent manner. Furthermore, EFL2 inhibited tumor cell metastasis and enhanced immune cell infiltration. Meanwhile, EFL2 dose‑dependently downregulated the mRNA and protein expression of NLRP3 and related molecules in the model, and overexpression of NLRP3 abolished these beneficial effects of EFL2. Taken together, the present experimental data suggested that EFL2 has a significant inhibitory effect on ascites of breast cancer liver metastasis in vivo, which may inhibit tumor cell metastasis by downregulating NLRP3 expression, providing an experimental basis for treating breast cancer metastasis.

Loss of the adaptor protein Sh3bgrl initiates ovarian fibrosis in zebrafish

Ovarian fibrosis is a reproduction obstacle leading to female infertility in vertebrates, but the cause underlying the cellular events is unclear. Here, we found that the small adaptor protein SH3-domain-binding glutamate-rich protein like (Sh3bgrl) plays an important role in female reproduction in zebrafish. Two sh3bgrl mutant alleles that result in sh3bgrl depletion contribute to female spawning inability. Comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that sh3bgrl knockout mechanistically causes the upregulation of genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) and fiber generation in the zebrafish ovary. Consequently, extra ECM or fibers accumulate and are deposited in the ovary, resulting in eventual spawning inability. Our findings thus provide insights into understanding the underlying mechanism of infertility by ovarian fibrosis and provide a novel and valuable model to study female reproduction abnormality.

[High expression of secretogranin II increases oxaliplatin resistance of colorectal cancer cells]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the expression of secretogranin II (SCG2) in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and its impact on oxaliplatin resistance of CRC cells.

METHODS

We performed immunohistochemistry to detect the expression level of SCG2 on a tissue microarray containing 96 CRC and 84 adjacent tissues and analyzed the association of SCG2 expression with the clinical features of the CRC patients. SCG2 expression was also measured in DLD1 cells treated with oxaliplatin using immunoblotting and RT-qPCR analyses. The effects of SCG2 expression on oxaliplatin sensitivity and cell viability were evaluated in a DLD1 cell model of SCG2 knockout established using CRISPR-cas9 technique, and the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins were detected using Western blotting and RT-qPCR. We further examined SCG2 expression levels in an oxaliplatin-resistant DLD1 cell line and its parental DLD1 cells.

RESULTS

SCG2 expression was significantly increased in CRC tissues as compared with the adjacent tissues (1.932±0.816 vs 1), and the tumor tissues in advanced stages showed higher SCG2 expression levels. In DLD1 cells, treatment with oxaliplatin significantly increased SCG2 expression, and SCG2 knockout obviously increased oxaliplatin sensitivity of the cells and enhanced the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins. Compared with the parental cells, oxaliplatin-resistant DLD1 cells showed a significant increase of SCG2 expression by 3.901±0.471 folds.

CONCLUSION

SCG2 may serve as a risk gene in CRC, and its high expression increases oxaliplatin resistance of CRC cells.

NR3C1/Glucocorticoid receptor activation promotes pancreatic β-cell autophagy overload in response to glucolipotoxicity

Diabetes is a complex and heterogeneous disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. Its core cause is progressively impaired insulin secretion by pancreatic β-cell failures, usually upon a background of preexisting insulin resistance. Recent studies demonstrate that macroautophagy/autophagy is essential to maintain architecture and function of β-cells, whereas excessive autophagy is also involved in β-cell dysfunction and death. It has been poorly understood whether autophagy plays a protective or harmful role in β-cells, while we report here that it is dependent on NR3C1/glucocorticoid receptor activation. We proved that deleterious hyperactive autophagy happened only upon NR3C1 activation in β-cells under glucolipotoxic conditions, which eventually promoted diabetes. The transcriptome and the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylome revealed that NR3C1-enhancement upregulated the RNA demethylase FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) protein in β-cells, which caused diminished m6A modifications on mRNAs of four core Atg (autophagy related) genes (Atg12, Atg5, Atg16l2, Atg9a) and, hence, hyperactive autophagy and defective insulin output; by contrast, FTO inhibition, achieved by the specific FTO inhibitor Dac51, prevented NR3C1-instigated excessive autophagy activation. Importantly, Dac51 effectively alleviated impaired insulin secretion and glucose intolerance in hyperglycemic β-cell specific NR3C1 overexpression mice. Our results determine that the NR3C1-FTO-m6A modifications-Atg genes axis acts as a key mediator of balanced autophagic flux in pancreatic β-cells, which offers a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of diabetes.Abbreviations: 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; AAV: adeno-associated virus; Ac: acetylation; Ad: adenovirus; AL: autolysosome; ATG: autophagy related; AUC: area under curve; Baf A1: bafilomycin A1; βNR3C1 mice: pancreatic β-cell-specific NR3C1 overexpression mice; cFBS: charcoal-stripped FBS; Ctrl: control; ER: endoplasmic reticulum; FTO: fat mass and obesity associated; GC: glucocorticoid; GRE: glucocorticoid response element; GSIS: glucose-stimulated insulin secretion assay; HFD: high-fat diet; HG: high glucose; HsND: non-diabetic human; HsT2D: type 2 diabetic human; i.p.: intraperitoneal injected; KSIS: potassium-stimulated insulin secretion assay; m6A: N6-methyladenosine; MeRIP-seq: methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing; NR3C1/GR: nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 1; NR3C1-Enhc.: NR3C1-enhancement; NC: negative control; Palm.: palmitate; RNA-seq: RNA sequencing; T2D: type 2 diabetes; TEM: transmission electron microscopy; UTR: untranslated region; WT: wild-type.

Autophagy inhibitors for cancer therapy: Small molecules and nanomedicines

Autophagy is a conserved process in which the cytosolic materials are degraded and eventually recycled for cellular metabolism to maintain homeostasis. The dichotomous role of autophagy in pathogenesis is complicated. Accumulating reports have suggested that cytoprotective autophagy is responsible for tumor growth and progression. Autophagy inhibitors, such as chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), are promising for treating malignancies or overcoming drug resistance in chemotherapy. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials also show autophagy-inhibitory effects or are reported as the carriers delivering autophagy inhibitors. In this review, we summarize the small-molecule compounds and nanomaterials inhibiting autophagic flux as well as the mechanisms involved. The nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems for autophagy inhibitors and their distinct advantages are also described. The progress of autophagy inhibitors for clinical applications is finally introduced, and their future perspectives are discussed.

Autophagy and cancer drug resistance in dialogue: Pre-clinical and clinical evidence

The emergence of drug resistance is a major challenge for oncologists. Resistance can be categorized as acquired or intrinsic; the alteration of several biological mechanisms contributes to both intrinsic and acquired resistance. Macroautophagy/autophagy is the primary process in eukaryotes for the degradation of macromolecules and organelles. This process is critical in maintaining cellular homeostasis. Given its function as either a pro-survival or a pro-death phenomenon, autophagy has a complex physio-pathological role. In some circumstances, autophagy can confer chemoresistance and promote cell survival, whereas in others it can promote chemosensitivity and contribute to cell death. The role of autophagy in the modulation of cancer drug resistance reflects its impact on apoptosis and metastasis. The regulation of autophagy in cancer is mediated by various factors including AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), MAPK, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT, BECN1 and ATG proteins. Non-coding RNAs are among the main regulators of autophagy, e.g., via the modulation of chemoresistance pathways. Due to the significant contribution of autophagy in cancer drug resistance, small molecule modulators and natural compounds targeting autophagy have been introduced to alter the response of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Furthermore, nanotherapeutic approaches based on autophagy regulation have been introduced in pre-clinical cancer therapy. In this review we consider the potential for using autophagy regulators for the clinical treatment of malignancies.

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.

FGF19 promotes cell autophagy and cisplatin chemoresistance by activating MAPK signaling in ovarian cancer

Background

Chemotherapy is one of the primary treatments for ovarian cancer patients. Autophagy has been linked to chemotherapy resistance in tumor cells. Recent studies have suggested that fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) may be involved in the onset and progression of malignancies. However, the relationship between FGF19 and autophagy in ovarian cancer is still unknown.

Methods

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was conducted to analyze gene mutation profiles of 62 cases of high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to validate the amplification of FGF19 in HGSOC tissues. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to analyze the difference of FGF19 in mRNA and protein expression. Meanwhile, bioinformatics techniques were used to analyze the expression profiles of FGF19 and the correlation with prognosis. Besides, immunofluorescence, transmission electron microscopy and Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK-8) were used to investigate the potential mechanisms.

Results

In this study, we found that FGF19 promotes cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer cells by inducing autophagy. NGS analysis of 62 HGSOC cases identified a significantly amplified gene, FGF19. In addition, the expression level of FGF19 in ovarian cancer samples was higher than that in normal samples. FISH results showed a positive correlation between amplification and expression of FGF19. Knockdown of FGF19 inhibited the cell autophagy through decrease in the expression of LC3 and Beclin 1, and increase in the expression of SQSTM1/p62. Furthermore, we observed that p38 MAPK phosphorylation was down-regulated after FGF19 knockdown. IFN-γ, a potential p38 MAPK activator, counteracted the inhibition of cell autophagy and the anti-proliferation effect of cisplatin induced by FGF19 knockdown in ovarian cancer cells.

Conclusion

FGF19 increases autophagy and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer by activating the p38 MAPK pathway. These results could point to FGF19 being a potential therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.