Elevated expression of NFE2L3 promotes the development of gastric cancer through epithelial-mesenchymal transformation

Hypomethylation-Mediated Upregulation of NFE2L3 Promotes Malignant Phenotypes of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Cells

This work aimed to study the effect of NFE2 like bZIP transcription factor 3 (NFE2L3) on clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) cells and whether NFE2L3 expression was mediated by DNA methylation. Twenty-one ccRCC patients were collected. The gene methylation and expression data of TCGA-KIRC were accessed from TCGA. Candidate methylation driver genes were identified by "MethylMix" package, and finally, NFE2L3 was selected as the target gene. The methylation of NFE2L3 was assayed by Ms PCR and QMSP. mRNA level of NFE2L3 was analyzed by qRT-PCR. Protein level of NFE2L3 was measured by Western blot. Demethylation was performed with methylation inhibitor 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-CdR). Proliferative, migratory, and invasive abilities of ccRCC cells were assayed via cell colony formation assay, scratch healing assay, and transwell assay, respectively. Analysis of TCGA database presented that DNA hypomethylation occurred in the NFE2L3 promoter region in ccRCC tissues. NFE2L3 was significantly upregulated in ccRCC tissues and cells. Its expression in cells treated with 5-Aza-CdR was proportional to the concentration of methylation inhibitor. In cell function experiments, overexpressing NFE2L3 or demethylation could stimulate proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of ccRCC and normal cells. 5-Aza-CdR treatment rescued repressive impact of knockdown NFE2L3 on malignant phenotypes of ccRCC and normal cells. DNA hypomethylation could induce high expression of NFE2L3 and facilitate malignant phenotypes of ccRCC cells. These results may generate insights into ccRCC therapy.

A potential therapeutic approach for gastric cancer: inhibition of LACTB transcript 1

BACKGROUND

This study sought to investigate the role of LACTB transcript 1 in regulating adaptive immune resistance and stemness in gastric cancer and its potential as a therapeutic target for precision medicine.

METHODS

Bioinformatics analysis and RT-qPCR were used to analyze the expression level of LACTB and its transcripts in gastric cancer cells. The effects of LACTB transcript 1 on adaptive immune resistance and stemness were evaluated using in vitro cell experiments and western blotting experiments.

RESULTS

Our study findings revealed that LACTB transcript 1 modulated adaptive immune resistance and inhibited the stemness of gastric cancer cells. Knocking down the expression level of LACTB transcript 1 activated autophagy and inhibited EMT. As expected, overexpression of LACTB transcript 1 yielded the opposite findings. The expression level of LACTB transcript 1 in the peripheral blood of gastric cancer patients was consistent with the bioinformatics analysis, suggesting its potential as a biomarker of gastric cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

LACTB transcript 1 is a promising therapeutic target for precision medicine in gastric cancer by modulating immune evasion mechanisms and stemness. These findings provide insights into leveraging long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy to enhance cancer therapy efficacy, particularly in the context of targeting tumor heterogeneity and stemness.

miRNA/epithelial-mesenchymal axis (EMT) axis as a key player in cancer progression and metastasis: A focus on gastric and bladder cancers

The metastasis a major hallmark of tumors that its significant is not only related to the basic research, but clinical investigations have revealed that majority of cancer deaths are due to the metastasis. The metastasis of tumor cells is significantly increased due to EMT mechanism and therefore, inhibition of EMT can reduce biological behaviors of tumor cells and improve the survival rate of patients. One of the gaps related to cancer metastasis is lack of specific focus on the EMT regulation in certain types of tumor cells. The gastric and bladder cancers are considered as two main reasons of death among patients in clinical level. Herein, the role of EMT in regulation of their progression is evaluated with a focus on the function of miRNAs. The inhibition/induction of EMT in these cancers and their ability in modulation of EMT-related factors including ZEB1/2 proteins, TGF-β, Snail and cadherin proteins are discussed. Moreover, lncRNAs and circRNAs in crosstalk of miRNA/EMT regulation in these tumors are discussed and final impact on cancer metastasis and response of tumor cells to the chemotherapy is evaluated. Moreover, the impact of miRNAs transferred by exosomes in regulation of EMT in these cancers are discussed.

Multi-Omics Analysis of Molecular Characteristics and Carcinogenic Effect of NFE2L3 in Pan-Cancer

NFE2L3, also known as NFE2L3, is a nuclear transcription factor associated with the pathogenesis and progression of human tumors. To systematically and comprehensively investigate the role of NFE2L3 in tumors, a pan-cancer analysis was performed using multi-omics data, including gene expression analysis, diagnostic and prognostic analysis, epigenetic methylation analysis, gene alteration analysis, immune feature analysis, functional enrichment analysis, and tumor cell functional status analysis. Furthermore, the molecular mechanism of NFE2L3 in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) was explored. The relationship between NFE2L3 expression and survival prognosis of patients with LIHC was analyzed and a nomogram prediction model was constructed. Our study showed that NFE2L3 expression was upregulated in most cancers, suggesting that NFE2L3 may play an important role in promoting cancer progression. NFE2L3 expression is closely related to DNA methylation, genetic alteration, immune signature, and tumor cell functional status in pan-cancers. Furthermore, NFE2L3 was demonstrated to be an independent risk factor for LIHC, and the nomogram model based on NFE2L3 expression had good prediction efficiency for the overall survival of patients with LIHC. In summary, our study indicated that NFE2L3 may be an important molecular biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of pan-cancer. NFE2L3 is expected to be a potential molecular target for the treatment of tumors.

Silencing of immunoglobulin superfamily containing leucine-rich repeat inhibits gastric cancer cell growth and metastasis by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition

This study aims to investigate the immunoglobulin superfamily containing leucine-rich repeat (ISLR) expression in gastric cancer (GC) and ISLR’s underlying mechanisms regulation of GC progression. Through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort datasets, we analyzed the ISLR expression in GC tumor tissues and normal tissues. ISLR expression in GC tissues and cells was determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion assays were performed in GC cells transfected with sh-ISLR, ISLR plasmids, or controls. TCGA results showed that ISLR expression was higher in GC tumor tissues compared to normal tissues, and its expression levels were related to lymph node metastasis, tumor size, and clinical stage. ISLR was highly expressed in tumor cells. ISLR knockdown suppressed cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion in HGC-27 cells, whereas ISLR overexpression led to opposite effects in AGS cells. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis showed that ISLR could activate the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) signaling pathway. Silencing of ISLR suppressed EMT in HGC-27 cells and overexpression of ISLR promoted EMT in AGS cells. ISLR was overexpressed in both GC cell lines and tumor tissues, and our study first showed that silencing of ISLR inhibited GC cell growth and metastasis by reversing EMT.