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Liu W, Xie A, Tu C, Liu W. REX-1 Represses RASSF1a and Activates the MEK/ERK Pathway to Promote Tumorigenesis in Prostate Cancer. Mol Cancer Res 2021; 19:1666-1675. [PMID: 34183450 DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-20-0974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2020] [Revised: 03/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Epigenetics play an important role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer; it is urgent to investigate vital transcription factors in methylation regulation with the aim to develop novel treatment strategies targeting prostate cancer. As a member of the zinc finger protein family, REX-1 (reduced expression-1) is a transcription factor that has been reported to be closely linked to the development of several cancers. So far, the expression level and precise function of REX-1 in prostate cancer remain largely unknown. Here, we show that REX-1 was overexpressed in prostate cancer clinical tissues, and its expression level was closely correlated with patient prognosis. REX-1 affected prostate tumor growth in vivo by MEK/ERK phosphorylation. Mechanistic studies indicated that REX-1 recruited DNMT3b (DNA methyltransferase 3b), inhibited the transcription of RASSF1a (RAS association domain family 1a), and further modulated methylation of RASSF1a promoter. Intervention of the REX-1/DNMT3b/RASSF1a axis may shed light on the development of novel therapeutic approaches for prostate cancer treatment. IMPLICATIONS: REX1 overexpression recruits DNMT3b and downregulates RASSF1a by promoter methylation, suggesting that epigenetic intervention may contribute to prostate cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weijing Liu
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, Affiliated Hexian Memorial Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China
| | - An Xie
- Jiangxi Institute of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Chunhua Tu
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Weipeng Liu
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, China.
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Li J, Zhu Y. Recent Advances in Liver Cancer Stem Cells: Non-coding RNAs, Oncogenes and Oncoproteins. Front Cell Dev Biol 2020; 8:548335. [PMID: 33117795 PMCID: PMC7575754 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2020.548335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide, with high morbidity, relapse, metastasis and mortality rates. Although liver surgical resection, transplantation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and some molecular targeted therapeutics may prolong the survival of HCC patients to a certain degree, the curative effect is still poor, primarily because of tumor recurrence and the drug resistance of HCC cells. Liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs), also known as liver tumor-initiating cells, represent one small subset of cancer cells that are responsible for disease recurrence, drug resistance and death. Therefore, understanding the regulatory mechanism of LCSCs in HCC is of vital importance. Thus, new studies that present gene regulation strategies to control LCSC differentiation and replication are under development. In this review, we provide an update on the latest advances in experimental studies on non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), oncogenes and oncoproteins. All the articles addressed the crosstalk between different ncRNAs, oncogenes and oncoproteins, as well as their upstream and downstream products targeting LCSCs. In this review, we summarize three pathways, the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway, and interleukin 6/Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (IL6/JAK2/STAT3) signaling pathway, and their targeting gene, c-Myc. Furthermore, we conclude that octamer 4 (OCT4) and Nanog are two important functional genes that play a pivotal role in LCSC regulation and HCC prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Li
- Department of Radiotherapy Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Ying Zhu
- Department of Infectious Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.,Liver Disease Center of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, Institute of Integrative Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
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Luk ST, Ng KY, Zhou L, Tong M, Wong TL, Yu H, Lo CM, Man K, Guan XY, Lee TK, Ma S. Deficiency in Embryonic Stem Cell Marker Reduced Expression 1 Activates Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase 6-Dependent p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling to Drive Hepatocarcinogenesis. Hepatology 2020; 72:183-197. [PMID: 31680287 DOI: 10.1002/hep.31020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Embryonic stem-cell-related transcription factors are central to the establishment and maintenance of stemness and pluripotency, and their altered expression plays key roles in tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a malignancy with no effective treatment. Here, we report on the embryonic stem cell marker, reduced expression 1 (REX1; also known as zinc finger protein 42), to be selectively down-regulated in HCC tumors. APPROACH AND RESULTS Deficiency of REX1 in HCC was attributed to a combination of hypermethylation at its promoter as well as histone modification by methylation and acetylation. Clinically, hypermethylation of REX1 was closely associated with neoplastic transition and advanced tumor stage in humans. Functionally, silencing of REX1 potentiated the tumor-initiating and metastasis potential of HCC cell lines and xenografted tumors. Lentivirus-mediated Rex1 ablation in liver of male immunocompetent mice with HCC, induced by hydrodynamic tail vein injection of proto-oncogenes, enhanced HCC development. Transcriptome profiling studies revealed REX1 deficiency in HCC cells to be enriched with genes implicated in focal adhesion and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. From this lead, we subsequently found REX1 to bind to the promoter region of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 6 (MKK6), thereby obstructing its transcription, resulting in altered p38 MAPK signaling. CONCLUSIONS Our work describes a critical repressive function of REX1 in maintenance of HCC cells by regulating MKK6 binding and p38 MAPK signaling. REX1 deficiency induced enhancement of p38 MAPK signaling, leading to F-actin reorganization and activation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2-mediated oxidative stress response, which collectively contributed to enhanced stemness and metastatic capabilities of HCC cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steve T Luk
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Kai-Yu Ng
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Lei Zhou
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Man Tong
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.,State Key Laboratory of Liver Research, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Tin-Lok Wong
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Huajian Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Hong Kong
| | - Chung-Mau Lo
- Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
| | - Kwan Man
- Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
| | - Xin-Yuan Guan
- State Key Laboratory of Liver Research, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.,Department of Clinical Oncology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
| | - Terence K Lee
- Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.,State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Stephanie Ma
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.,State Key Laboratory of Liver Research, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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Zeng YT, Liu XF, Yang WT, Zheng PS. REX1 promotes EMT-induced cell metastasis by activating the JAK2/STAT3-signaling pathway by targeting SOCS1 in cervical cancer. Oncogene 2019; 38:6940-6957. [PMID: 31409905 DOI: 10.1038/s41388-019-0906-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Revised: 07/03/2019] [Accepted: 07/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
ZFP42 zinc finger protein (REX1), a pluripotency marker in mouse pluripotent stem cells, has been identified as a tumor suppressor in several human cancers. However, the function of REX1 in cervical cancer remains unknown. Both IHC and western blot assays demonstrated that the expression of REX1 protein in cervical cancer tissue was much higher than that in normal cervical tissue. A xenograft assay showed that REX1 overexpression in SiHa and HeLa cells facilitated distant metastasis but did not significantly affect tumor formation in vivo. In addition, in vitro cell migration and invasion capabilities were also promoted by REX1. Mechanistically, REX1 overexpression induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by upregulating VIMENTIN and downregulating E-CADHERIN. Furthermore, the JAK2/STAT3-signaling pathway was activated in REX1-overexpressing cells, which also exhibited increased levels of p-STAT3 and p-JAK2, as well as downregulated expression of SOCS1, which is an inhibitor of the JAK2/STAT3-signaling pathway, at both the transcriptional and translational levels. A dual-luciferase reporter assay and qChIP assays confirmed that REX1 trans-suppressed the expression of SOCS1 by binding to two specific regions of the SOCS1 promoter. Therefore, all our data suggest that REX1 overexpression could play a crucial role in the metastasis and invasion of cervical cancer by upregulating the activity of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway by trans-suppressing SOCS1 expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Ting Zeng
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, PR China
| | - Xiao-Fang Liu
- Section of Cancer Stem Cell Research, Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, PR China
| | - Wen-Ting Yang
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, PR China.
| | - Peng-Sheng Zheng
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, PR China. .,Section of Cancer Stem Cell Research, Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi, PR China.
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Endosomal escape kinetics of mesoporous silica-based system for efficient siRNA delivery. Int J Pharm 2013; 448:51-7. [PMID: 23524121 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2013.03.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2012] [Revised: 02/06/2013] [Accepted: 03/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The strategy of encapsulating small interference RNA (siRNA) into the mesopores enables mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) to be an attractive material for siRNA delivery. Nevertheless, the gene silencing efficiency mediated by this sort of vehicles has not been systematically investigated yet. In this work, through quantifying gene silencing efficiency by flow cytometry (FCM) and performing intracellular tracking by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we found that the RNA interference (RNAi) efficiency mediated by MSNs-based delivery vehicles was strongly dependent on their endosomal escape capability. Thereafter, we investigated the correlation between the gene knockdown efficiency and the endosomal escape kinetics of such carriers. The results indicated that highly efficient MSNs-based siRNA delivery vectors must possess the capability of initiating effectively endosomal escape before the degradation of their packaged siRNA in endolysosomes.
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