p16Ink4a suppression of lung adenocarcinoma by Bmi-1 in the presence of p38 activation

Gene methylation as a powerful biomarker for detection and screening of non-small cell lung cancer in blood

DNA methylation has been reported to become a potential powerful tool for cancer detection and diagnosis. However, the possibilities for the application of blood-based gene methylation as a biomarker for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) detection and screening remain unclear. Hence, we performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the value of gene methylation detected in blood samples as a noninvasive biomarker in NSCLC. A total of 28 genes were analyzed from 37 case-control studies. In the genes with more than three studies, we found that the methylation of P16, RASSF1A, APC, RARβ, DAPK, CDH13, and MGMT was significantly associated with risks of NSCLC. The methylation statuses of P16, RASSF1A, APC, RARβ, DAPK, CDH13, and MGMT were not linked to age, gender, smoking behavior, and tumor stage and histology in NSCLC. Therefore, the use of the methylation status of P16, RASSF1A, APC, RARβ, DAPK, CDH13, and MGMT could become a promising and powerful biomarker for the detection and screening of NSCLC in blood in clinical settings. Further large-scale studies with large sample sizes are necessary to confirm our findings in the future.

Expression and survival significance of B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in non-small-cell lung cancer

One of the main challenges in lung cancer research is identifying patients at high risk of progression and metastasis following surgical resection. In the present study, the prognostic significance of B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (BMI1) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was evaluated. BMI1 and MMP9 expression in tumors from 132 surgical NSCLC patients [squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), n=79; and adenocarcinoma (AD), n=53] was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The clinical significance was determined using multivariate Cox regression analysis, Kaplan-Meier curves and the log-rank test. High BMI1 expression was more frequent in SCC compared with that in AD (P=0.015). Comparisons between the expression of BMI1 and that of other known biological markers revealed that the expression of BMI1 was correlated with that of MMP9 (χ²=4.241, P=0.039) in SCC. Although an association was not identified between high BMI1 expression and overall survival (OS) in NSCLC or AD, high BMI1 expression was an unfavorable predictor of survival in SCC according to the survival curves (P=0.038). In addition, combined high BMI1 and MMP9 expression levels were significantly correlated with SCC nodal/distant metastasis (χ²=6.392, P=0.014). Multivariate Cox proportional model analysis demonstrated that this combined marker was an independent prognostic indicator of OS in SCC (P=0.025; hazard ratio = 12.963; 95% confidence interval: 1.142–7.637). Therefore, this study demonstrated that combined BMI1 and MMP9 expression may be used as a marker for the progression and metastasis of SCC. These results may aid in the elucidation of the potential mechanism underlying the involvement of BMI1 and MMP9 in tissue-specific SCC progression.

Control of stress signaling in stem cells: crossroads of stem cells and cancer

Tumorigenesis is a relatively rare event in the human body considering the enormous number of cells composing our body and the frequent occurrence of genetic mutations in each cell. Nevertheless, the cells that happen to meet the minimum requirements can be transformed when stressed by a variety of oncogenic stimulations, then progress to form tumors. The vigorous competition between oncogenic signaling and tumor-suppressor defense is a critical determinant of cellular fate, which can be either tumorigenic transformation or cellular senescence/apoptosis depending on "who wins the battle." Recently, a number of cancers have been reported to originate from stem cells, whose self-renewing properties are normally reduced by innate tumor suppressors. Therefore, exploring the innate mechanism by which stem cells modulate tumor suppressors to maintain their "stemness" may provide valuable clues to characterize the distinctive oncogenic susceptibility of stem cells. This review is focused on the recent advances in the field of tumorigenesis of stem cells and on the associated molecular mechanisms.

Gene-set Analysis with CGI Information for Differential DNA Methylation Profiling

DNA methylation is a well-established epigenetic biomarker for many diseases. Studying the relationships among a group of genes and their methylations may help to unravel the etiology of diseases. Since CpG-islands (CGIs) play a crucial role in the regulation of transcription during methylation, including them in the analysis may provide further information in understanding the pathogenesis of cancers. Such CGI information, however, has usually been overlooked in existing gene-set analyses. Here we aimed to include both pathway information and CGI status to rank competing gene-sets and identify among them the genes most likely contributing to DNA methylation changes. To accomplish this, we devised a Bayesian model for matched case-control studies with parameters for CGI status and pathway associations, while incorporating intra-gene-set information. Three cancer studies with candidate pathways were analyzed to illustrate this approach. The strength of association for each candidate pathway and the influence of each gene were evaluated. Results show that, based on probabilities, the importance of pathways and genes can be determined. The findings confirm that some of these genes are cancer-related and may hold the potential to be targeted in drug development.

Polycomb (PcG) proteins, BMI1 and SUZ12, regulate arsenic-induced cell transformation

Inorganic arsenic is a well-documented human carcinogen associated with cancers of the skin, lung, liver, and bladder. However, the underlying mechanisms explaining the tumorigenic role of arsenic are not well understood. The present study explored a potential mechanism of cell transformation induced by arsenic exposure. Exposure to a low dose (0.5 μm) of arsenic trioxide (As(2)O(3)) caused transformation of BALB/c 3T3 cells. In addition, in a xenograft mouse model, tumor growth of the arsenic-induced transformed cells was dramatically increased. In arsenic-induced transformed cells, polycomb group (PcG) proteins, including BMI1 and SUZ12, were activated resulting in enhanced histone H3K27 tri-methylation levels. On the other hand, tumor suppressor p16(INK4a) and p19(ARF) mRNA and protein expression were dramatically suppressed. Introduction of small hairpin (sh) RNA-BMI1 or -SUZ12 into BALB/c 3T3 cells resulted in suppression of arsenic-induced transformation. Histone H3K27 tri-methylation returned to normal in BMI1- or SUZ12-knockdown BALB/c 3T3 cells compared with BMI1- or SUZ12-wildtype cells after arsenic exposure. As a consequence, the expression of p16(INK4a) and p19(ARF) was recovered in arsenic-treated BMI1- or SUZ12-knockdown cells. Thus, arsenic-induced cell transformation was blocked by inhibition of PcG function. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that the polycomb proteins, BMI1 and SUZ12 are required for cell transformation induced by organic arsenic exposure.