A novel four-gene of iron metabolism-related and methylated for prognosis prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma

The role of CXCL8 and CCNB1 in predicting hepatocellular carcinoma in the context of cirrhosis: implications for early detection and immune-based therapies

BACKGROUND

Cirrhosis is a serious condition characterized by the replacement of healthy liver tissue with scar tissue, which can progress to liver failure if left untreated. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a concerning complication of cirrhosis. It can be challenge to identify individuals with cirrhosis who are at high risk of developing HCC, particularly in the absence of known risk factors.

METHODS

In this study, statistical and bioinformatics methods were utilized to construct a protein-protein interaction network and identify disease-related hub genes. We analyzed two hub genes, CXCL8 and CCNB1, and developed a mathematical model to predict the likelihood of developing HCC in individuals with cirrhosis. We also investigated immune cell infiltration, functional analysis under ontology terms, pathway analysis, distinct clusters of cells, and protein-drug interactions.

RESULTS

The results indicated that CXCL8 and CCNB1 were associated with the development of cirrhosis-induced HCC. A prognostic model based on these two genes was able to predict the occurrence and survival time of HCC. In addition, the candidate drugs were also discovered based on our model.

CONCLUSION

The findings offer the potential for earlier detection of cirrhosis-induced HCC and provide a new instrument for clinical diagnosis, prognostication, and the development of immunological medications. This study also identified distinct clusters of cells in HCC patients using UMAP plot analysis and analyzed the expression of CXCL8 and CCNB1 within these cells, indicating potential therapeutic opportunities for targeted drug therapies to benefit HCC patients.

Synthesis, Structure, and Magnetic and Biological Properties of Copper(II) Complexes with 1,3,4-Thiadiazole Derivatives

New coordination compounds of copper(II) with 2,5-bis(ethylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole (L1) and 2,5-bis(pyridylmethylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole (L2) with compositions Cu(L1)2Br2, Cu(L1)(C2N3)2, Cu(L2)Cl2, and Cu(L2)Br2 were prepared. The complexes were identified and studied by CHN analysis, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, powder X-Ray diffraction (XRD), and static magnetic susceptibility. The crystal structures of Cu(II) complexes with L1 were determined. The structures of the coordination core of complexes Cu(L2)Cl2 and Cu(L2)Br2 were determined by Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. Magnetization measurements have revealed various magnetic states in the studied complexes, ranging from an almost ideal paramagnet in Cu(L1)2Br2 to alternating-exchange antiferromagnetic chains in Cu(L1)(C2N3)2, where double dicyanamide bridges provide an unusually strong exchange interaction (J1/kB ≈ -23.5 K; J2/kB ≈ -20.2 K) between Cu(II) ions. The cytotoxic activity of copper(II) complexes with L2 was estimated on the human cell lines of breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2).

Transcriptomic identification of genes expressed in invasive S. aureus diabetic foot ulcer infection

Introduction

Infection in diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) is one of the major complications associated with patients with diabetes. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common offending pathogen in patients with infected DFU. Previous studies have suggested the application of species-specific antibodies against S. aureus for diagnosis and monitoring treatment response. Early and accurate identification of the main pathogen is critical for management of DFU infection. Understanding the host immune response against species-specific infection may facilitate diagnosis and may suggest potential intervention options to promote healing infected DFUs. We sought to investigate evolving host transcriptome associated with surgical treatment of S. aureus- infected DFU.

Methods

This study compared the transcriptome profile of 21 patients with S. aureus- infected DFU who underwent initial foot salvage therapy with irrigation and debridement followed by intravenous antibiotic therapy. Blood samples were collected at the recruitment (0 weeks) and 8 weeks after therapy to isolate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). We analyzed the PBMC expression of transcriptomes at two different time points (0 versus 8 weeks). Subjects were further divided into two groups at 8 weeks: healed (n = 17, 80.95%) versus non-healed (n = 4, 19.05%) based on the wound healing status. DESeq2 differential gene analysis was performed.

Results and discussion

An increased expression of IGHG1, IGHG2, IGHG3, IGLV3-21, and IGLV6-57 was noted during active infection at 0 weeks compared with that at 8 weeks. Lysine- and arginine-rich histones (HIST1H2AJ, HIST1H2AL, HIST1H2BM, HIST1H3B, and HIST1H3G) were upregulated at the initial phase of active infection at 0 weeks. CD177 and RRM2 were also upregulated at the initial phase of active infection (0 weeks) compared with that at 8 weeks of follow-up. Genes of heat shock protein members (HSPA1A, HSPE1, and HSP90B1) were high in not healed patients compared with that in healed patients 8 weeks after therapy. The outcome of our study suggests that the identification of genes evolution based on a transcriptomic profiling could be a useful tool for diagnosing infection and assessing severity and host immune response to therapies.

Prognostic Analysis and Biomarkers Identification of Immune Infiltration in Early and Late Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on TCGA Data

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cause of cancer death in the world. The aim of this study was to establish a new model to predict the prognosis of HCC.

Materials and Methods

The mRNA, miRNA and lncRNA expression profiles of early (stage I-II) and late (stage III-IV) stage HCC patients were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs), miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) and lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) were identified between early and late stage HCC. Key molecules associated with the prognosis, and important immune cell types in HCC were identified. The nomogram based on incorporating age, gender, stage, and all important factors was constructed to predict the survival of HCC.

Results

A total of 1516 DEmRNAs, 97 DEmiRNAs and 87 DElncRNAs were identified. A DElncRNA-DEmiRNA-DEmRNA regulatory network including 78 mRNAs, 50 miRNAs and 1 lncRNA was established. Among the regulatory network, 11 molecules were significantly correlated with the prognosis of HCC based on Lasso regression analysis. Then, Preadipocytes and 3 survival-associated DEmRNAs were identified as crucial biomarkers. Subsequently, a nomogram with a differentiation degree of 0.758, including 1 immune cell, 11 mRNAs and 3 miRNAs, was generated.

Conclusion

Our study constructed a model by incorporating clinical information, significant biomarkers and immune cells to predict the survival of HCC, which achieved a good performance.

Ferroptosis-related genes with post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms in hepatocellular carcinoma determined by bioinformatics and experimental validation

Background

Ferroptosis is a form of iron-dependent cell death with increased free iron and massive lipid peroxidation. The discovery of ferroptosis offers insights into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment. However, post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms of ferroptosis in HCC remain to be elucidated. The present study explored ferroptosis-related genes and their post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms in HCC.

Methods

A ferroptosis score was computed in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort via gene set variation analysis (GSVA), and ferroptosis-related genes were screened by differential expression and correlation analyses. CircRNA/miRNA-mediated ferroptosis-related genes were predicted, and associations of ferroptosis-related genes with m¹A/m⁵C/m⁶A regulators were analyzed. Immune cell infiltrations were inferred via CIBERSORT. NUDCD1 expression was examined in L-02, SMMC7721, and HepG2 cells via real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blots. After NUDCD1 was silenced, cell viability, glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1) expression, and oxidized glutathione/glutathione (GSSG/GSH) and glutathione (GSH) levels were detected in SMMC7721 and HepG2 cells.

Results

The ferroptosis score was linked to poor overall survival (OS) of HCC, which was independent of other clinicopathological parameters. Ten ferroptosis-related genes were determined, namely UGT1A6, ATP6V1C1, MAFG, NUDCD1, PPP1R1A, TSKU, CTSB, AIFM2, CTSA, and CTNND2, which were post-transcriptionally regulated by circRNA/miRNA and m¹A/m⁵C/m⁶A modifications in HCC. Most were significantly linked with most immune cell compositions within the immune microenvironment, and contributed to undesirable clinical outcomes. NUDCD1 was up-regulated in HCC cells, and its loss facilitated the ferroptosis of HCC cells.

Conclusions

Overall, our findings determined ferroptosis-related genes post-transcriptionally regulated by circRNA/miRNA and m¹A/m⁵C/m⁶A RNA modifications, and experiments demonstrated that loss of NUDCD1 may facilitate the ferroptosis of HCC cells, which provides novel insights into the regulatory mechanisms of ferroptosis in HCC.

Clinicopathological and prognostic value of lysyl oxidase expression in gastric cancer: a systematic review, meta-analysis and bioinformatic analysis

The association between the expression of Lysyl oxidase (LOX) and its clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in patients with gastric cancer (GC) is still disputed. We performed this meta-analysis and bioinformatics analysis to clarify the relationship between the expression and methylation level of LOX with its clinicopathological parameters and prognostic value. We applied odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval to study the associations between LOX expression and clinicopathological parameters and overall survival (OS) in GC patients. In addition, association analysis of promoter methylation levels and expression of LOX with its prognostic value was performed using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and four Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. The PRISMA 2020 checklist was used to guide the data extraction and analysis. This meta-analysis includes seven clinical studies with a total of 1435 GC patients. LOX expression was related to lymph node metastasis and tumor distant metastasis in GC patients, but not to gender, tumor differentiation, Lauren classification, or tumor depth of invasion. Patients with GC grouped in high-expression of LOX had a much worse OS than those in low-expression. In addition, TCGA and four GEO datasets with 1279 samples were included in the bioinformatics analysis. The bioinformatics analysis showed that patients with high LOX levels had poor OS; low levels of methylation at some cg sites in the LOX gene were strongly related to poor OS and PFS; and methylation levels of LOX are negatively correlated with advanced tumor stage. The conclusion from comprehensive DNA methylation and gene expression analysis supports LOX as a specific diagnostic and prognosis biomarker in GC. LOX expression was related to lymph node metastasis, tumor distant metastasis and poor prognosis in GC. Low methylation levels were related to advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis in GC. Integrative analysis supports LOX as a specific diagnostic and prognosis biomarker in GC.

Comprehensive Landscape of RRM2 with Immune Infiltration in Pan-Cancer

Simple Summary

RRM2 is a crucial subunit of ribonucleotide reductase. In this article, we provided a comprehensive analysis of RRM2 with immune infiltration in pan-cancer. We focused on the hotspots of ferroptosis-related gene RRM2 and immunotherapy. Via bioinformatics analysis, multiple indicators suggested that RRM2 high expression may enhance immunotherapy sensitivity. For the first time, we systematically analyzed the role of RRM2 in pan-cancer. We provided the prospect of RRM2 and immunotherapy for pan-cancer. Additionally, we proved the expression pattern, clinical value, prognostic value and potential pathways of RRM2 with different platforms. In particular, we confirmed RRM2 expression and function in bladder cancer in our clinical samples and cell lines. Collectively, we found that RRM2 is a novel prognostic biomarker, and these findings may aid in an improved understanding of the role of RRM2 and its clinical application in human cancers.

Abstract

As a crucial subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, RRM2 plays a significant part in DNA synthesis. This study aimed to elucidate the comprehensive landscape of RRM2 in human cancers. With different bioinformatics platforms, we investigated the expression pattern, prognostic significance, mutational landscapes, gene interaction network, signaling pathways and immune infiltration of RRM2 in tumors. We found that RRM2 expression was predominantly up-expressed in tumor tissues in most tumors. Concurrently, RRM2 expression was significantly associated with worse prognosis and tumor stage across TCGA cancers. Moreover, RRM2 high levels were critically associated with the infiltration of natural killer T cells and immune scores. RRM2 was positively related to immune checkpoints, tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, neoantigen, and cytotoxic T lymphocyte in several cancers, predicting effective response to immunotherapy. Meanwhile, a strong co-expression of RRM2 with immune-related genes was observed. Additionally, multiple Cox regression analysis showed that RRM2 was an independent prognostic factor in bladder cancer (BLCA). Eventually, we verified that RRM2 was overexpressed in BLCA clinical samples and cell lines. Blocking RRM2 could suppress BLCA cells’ growth and proliferation while enhancing sensitivity to cisplatin. This study provided a new perspective for understanding RRM2 in cancers and new strategies for tumor immunotherapy.

A Gene Co-Expression Network-Based Drug Repositioning Approach Identifies Candidates for Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Simple Summary

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignancy of liver cancer. However, treatment of HCC is still severely limited due to limitation of drug therapy. We aimed to screen more possible target genes and candidate drugs for HCC, exploring the possibility of drug treatments from systems biological perspective. We identified ten candidate target genes, which are hub genes in HCC co-expression networks, which also possess significant prognostic value in two independent HCC cohorts. The rationality of these target genes was well demonstrated through variety analyses of patient expression profiles. We then screened candidate drugs for target genes and finally identified withaferin-a and mitoxantrone as the candidate drug for HCC treatment. The drug effectiveness was validated in in vitro model and computational analysis, providing more evidence for our drug repositioning method and results.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant liver cancer that continues to increase deaths worldwide owing to limited therapies and treatments. Computational drug repurposing is a promising strategy to discover potential indications of existing drugs. In this study, we present a systematic drug repositioning method based on comprehensive integration of molecular signatures in liver cancer tissue and cell lines. First, we identify robust prognostic genes and two gene co-expression modules enriched in unfavorable prognostic genes based on two independent HCC cohorts, which showed great consistency in functional and network topology. Then, we screen 10 genes as potential target genes for HCC on the bias of network topology analysis in these two modules. Further, we perform a drug repositioning method by integrating the shRNA and drug perturbation of liver cancer cell lines and identifying potential drugs for every target gene. Finally, we evaluate the effects of the candidate drugs through an in vitro model and observe that two identified drugs inhibited the protein levels of their corresponding target genes and cell migration, also showing great binding affinity in protein docking analysis. Our study demonstrates the usefulness and efficiency of network-based drug repositioning approach to discover potential drugs for cancer treatment and precision medicine approach.

MYB proto-oncogene like 2 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma growth and glycolysis via binding to the Optic atrophy 3 promoter and activating its expression

Optic atrophy 3 (OPA3) is an integral protein of the mitochondrial outer membrane. The current study explored the expression of OPA3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), its association with the prognosis and its involvement in HCC cell proliferation and aerobic glycolysis. In addition, the transcription factors that activate its expression were screened and validated. Gene expression data in normal liver and liver cancer were acquired from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC). Chromatin immunoprecipitation-seq data (GSM1010876) in Cistrome Data Browser was used for searching transcriptional factors binding to the OPA3 promoter. HCC cell lines HLF and JHH2 were used for in-vitro and in-vivo studies. Results showed that OPA3 is significantly upregulated in HCC and associated with unfavorable prognosis. OPA3 knockdown impaired HCC cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Besides, it decreased glucose uptake, lactate production, intracellular ATP levels, and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) of HLF and JHH2 cells. MYB Proto-Oncogene Like 2 (MYBL2) can bind to the promoter of OPA3 and enhance its transcription. MYBL2 knockdown decreased aerobic glycolysis in HCC cells. OPA3 overexpression reversed these alterations. In conclusion, this study revealed a novel MYBL2-OPA3 axis that enhances HCC cell proliferation and aerobic glycolysis.

Integrated Analysis of DNA methylation and transcriptome profile to identify key features of age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common vision-threatening disease. The current study sought to integrate DNA methylation with transcriptome profile to explore key features in AMD. Gene expression data were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, accession ID: GSE135092) and DNA methylation data were obtained from the ArrayExpress repository (E-MTAB-7183). A total of 456 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 4827 intragenic differentially methylated CpGs (DMCs) were identified between AMD and controls. DEGs and DMCs were intersected and 19 epigenetically induced (EI) genes and 15 epigenetically suppressed (ES) genes were identified. Immune cell infiltration analysis was performed to estimate the abundance of different types of immune cell in each sample. Enrichment scores of inflammatory response and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) signaling via nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κb) were positively correlated with abundance of activated memory CD4 T cells and M1 macrophages. Subsequently, two significant random forest classifiers were constructed based on DNA methylation and transcriptome data. SMAD2 and NGFR were selected as key genes through functional epigenetic modules (FEM) analysis. Expression level of SMAD2, NGFR and their integrating proteins was validated in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and TNFα co-treated retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in vitro. The findings of the current study showed that local inflammation and systemic inflammatory host response play key roles in pathogenesis of AMD. SMAD2 and NGFR provide new insight in understanding the molecular mechanism and are potential therapeutic targets for development of AMD therapy.

MicroRNA miR-495 regulates the development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by targeting C1q/tumor necrosis factor-related protein-3 (CTRP3)

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a type of lethal cancer in the world and its treatment options produce limited and unsatisfactory effectiveness. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) that play critical roles in tumorigenesis have shown promising clinical therapeutic potential. Here, we reported that miRNA-495 (miR-495) plays important roles in inhibiting HCC cell growth via its regulation of cell-cycle progression as well as senescence. MiR-495 showed low levels in human HCC tissues and cells. Overexpressing miR-495 in HCC cells caused strong cell growth inhibition, which results from cell-cycle arrest and senescence. CTRP3 functioned as a possible target of miR-495 in HCC cells by bioinformatics prediction and biological assay. By inhibiting the expression of CTRP3 with siRNA, HCC cells also showed similar growth inhibition as miR-495 overexpression. The re-expression of CTRP3 in HCC cells with high-level miR-495 abolished miR-495 and caused cell growth inhibition. These results strongly suggested that CTRP3 was the functional target that weakened the effects of miR-495 in HCC cells. The in vivo experiment demonstrated miR-495 overexpression had great therapeutic effects on HCC in xenograft. Above all, this research revealed that miR-495 is essential in suppressing HCC growth, and its application serves as a promising strategy for HCC treatment.

Comprehensive analysis on the expression profile and prognostic values of Synaptotagmins (SYTs) family members and their methylation levels in gastric cancer

Synaptotagmins (SYTs), constitute a family of 17 membrane-trafficking protein, palying crucial roles in the development and progression of human cancers. However, only very few studies have investigated the expression profile and prognostic values of SYTs family members in gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, we comprehensively evaluated the expression, methylation, prognosis and immune significance of SYTs family members through bioinformatics analysis from the online databases in GC. The expressions of SYT4, SYT9, and SYT14 were up-regulated, and negatively associated with their methylation levels in GC. Both the over-expression of SYT4, SYT9 and SYT14 and their hypomethylation levels contributed to an unsatisfactory overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in GC. Moreover, the low expressions of several methylation cg sites (cg02795029, cg07581146, cg15149095, cg19922137, cg25371503, cg26158959, cg02269161, cg03226737, cg08185661, cg16437728, cg22723056 and cg24678137) were significantly correlated with an unfavorable OS and PFS in GC. Furthermore, the expression of SYT4, SYT9 and SYT14 played a pivotal role in immune cells infiltration in GC. Collectively, our current finding suggested that SYT4, SYT9 and SYT14 might be potent prognostic indictors and promising immunotherapeutic targets for GC patients.