Polymorphisms of EpCAM gene and prognosis for non-small-cell lung cancer in Han Chinese

Efficacy of Bispecific Antibody Targeting EpCAM and CD3 for Immunotherapy in Ovarian Cancer Ascites: An Experimental Study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the value of M701, targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and CD3, in the immunotherapy of ovarian cancer ascites by the in vitro assay.

METHODS

The expression of EpCAM in ovarian cancer tissues was analyzed by databases. The EpCAM expression and immune cell infiltration in different foci of ovarian cancer were detected by 8-channel flow cytometry. The toxic effect of M701 on OVCAR3 was tested using the in vitro cytotoxicity assay. The 3D cell culture and drug intervention experiments were performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of M701 in ovarian cancer specimens. Flow cytometry was used to examine the effect of M701 on the binding of immune cells to tumor cells and the activation capacity of T cells.

RESULTS

The results of the bioinformatic analysis showed that the expression of EpCAM in ovarian cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in normal ovarian tissue. The 8-channel flow cytometry of clinical samples showed that the EpCAM expression and lymphocyte infiltration were significantly heterogeneous among ovarian cancer patients and lesions at different sites. The in vitro experiment results showed that M701 had a significant killing effect on OVCAR3 cells. M701 also obviously killed primary tumor cells derived from some patients with ovarian cancer ascites. M701 could mediate the binding of CD3⁺ T cells to EpCAM⁺ tumor cells and induce T cell activation in a dose-dependent manner.

CONCLUSION

M701 showed significant inhibitory activity on tumor cells derived from ovarian cancer ascites, which had a promising application in immunotherapy for patients with ovarian cancer ascites.

Plasma Extracellular Vesicle Long RNA in Diagnosis and Prediction in Small Cell Lung Cancer

(1) Introduction: The aim of this study was to identify the plasma extracellular vesicle (EV)-specific transcriptional profile in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and to explore the application value of plasma EV long RNA (exLR) in SCLC treatment prediction and diagnosis. (2) Methods: Plasma samples were collected from 57 SCLC treatment-naive patients, 104 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and 59 healthy participants. The SCLC patients were divided into chemo-sensitive and chemo-refractory groups based on the therapeutic effects. The exLR profiles of the plasma samples were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. Bioinformatics approaches were used to investigate the differentially expressed exLRs and their biofunctions. Finally, a t-signature was constructed using logistic regression for SCLC treatment prediction and diagnosis. (3) Results: We obtained 220 plasma exLRs profiles in all the participants. Totals of 5787 and 1207 differentially expressed exLRs were identified between SCLC/healthy controls, between the chemo-sensitive/chemo-refractory groups, respectively. Furthermore, we constructed a t-signature that comprised ten exLRs, including EPCAM, CCNE2, CDC6, KRT8, LAMB1, CALB2, STMN1, UCHL1, HOXB7 and CDCA7, for SCLC treatment prediction and diagnosis. The exLR t-score effectively distinguished the chemo-sensitive from the chemo-refractory group (p = 9.268 × 10^-9) with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.9091 (95% CI: 0.837 to 0.9811) and distinguished SCLC from healthy controls (AUC: 0.9643; 95% CI: 0.9256-1) and NSCLC (AUC: 0.721; 95% CI: 0.6384-0.8036). (4) Conclusions: This study firstly characterized the plasma exLR profiles of SCLC patients and verified the feasibility and value of identifying biomarkers based on exLR profiles in SCLC diagnosis and treatment prediction.

rs62139665 Polymorphism in the Promoter Region of EpCAM Is Associated With Hepatitis C Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk in Egyptians

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a universal health problem that is particularly alarming in Egypt. The major risk factor for HCC is hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection which is a main burden in Egypt. The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a stem cell marker involved in the tumorigenesis and progression of many malignancies, including HCC. We investigated the association of -935 C/G single nucleotide polymorphism in EpCAM promoter region (rs62139665) with HCC risk, EpCAM expression and overall survival in Egyptians. A total of 266 patients (128 HCV and 138 HCC cases) and 117 age- and sex-matched controls participated in this study. Genotyping, performed using allelic discrimination and confirmed by sequencing, revealed a significant association between EpCAM rs62139665 and HCC susceptibility, with higher GG genotype and G allele distribution in HCC patients than in non-HCC subjects. Such association was not detected in HCV patients compared to controls. EpCAM gene expression levels, determined in blood by RT-qPCR, and its serum protein expression levels, determined by ELISA, were significantly higher in GG relative to GC+CC genotype carriers in HCV and HCC patients in a recessive model. ROC analysis of EpCAM protein levels revealed significant discriminatory power between HCC patients and non-HCC subjects, with improved diagnostic accuracy when combining α-fetoprotein and EpCAM compared to that of α-fetoprotein alone. Altogether, EpCAM rs62139665 polymorphism is significantly associated with HCC and with EpCAM gene and protein expression levels in the Egyptian population. Moreover, serum EpCAM levels may hold promise for HCC diagnosis and for improving the diagnostic accuracy of α-fetoprotein.

Associations Between CAMKK1 Polymorphism rs7214723 and the Prognosis of Patients With Lung Cancer

Background

The 5-year survival rate of patients with lung cancer in China is less than 20% and predicting their prognosis is challenging. We investigated the association between a common non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs7214723, in the Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 1 (CAMKK1) gene and the prognosis of patients with lung cancer.

Methods

Genomic DNA was extracted from the blood samples of 839 patients with lung cancer, recruited from Changhai Hospital (n = 536) and Taizhou Institute of Health Sciences (n = 352), and genotyped using the SNPscan technique. The association between patient prognosis and the genotypic data for CAMKK1 was analyzed using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for multiple potential confounders. The CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system was used to introduce point mutations in the CAMKK1 rs7214723 of A549 and NCI-H358 cells. Subsequently, Cell proliferation and migration ability were assessed with the Cell Counting Kit-8 and scratch assay. The Annexin V-FITC apoptosis detection kit was used to detect cell apoptosis.

Results

The CAMKK1 rs7214723 recessive CC genotype conferred significantly better overall survival (CC vs. TT + TC: adjusted hazard ratio = 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61-1.00, P = 0.049) than the TT + TC genotypes. Stratified analysis showed that the CAMKK1 rs7214723 CC genotype and recessive CC genotype conferred a significantly decreased risk of death in patients who were male, had a smoking history, or had stage III + IV cancer, compared with the TT and TT + TC genotypes. Relative to the TT + TC genotypes, the rs7214723 recessive CC genotype was also associated with a decreased risk of death in patients aged < 60 years (CC vs. TT + TC: adjusted hazard ratio = 0.59, 95% CI, 0.37-0.93, P = 0.024) and patients with squamous cell carcinoma (CC vs. TT + TC: adjusted hazard ratio = 0.65, 95% CI, 0.44-0.98, P = 0.038). Remarkably, CRISPR/Cas9-guided single nucleotide editing demonstrated that CAMKK1 rs7214723 T > C mutation significantly inhibits cell proliferation and migration and promotes cell apoptosis.

Conclusions

CAMKK1 SNP rs7214723 may be a significant prognostic factor for the risk of death among patients with lung cancer.

Immune-related gene polymorphisms in pulmonary diseases

Between the DNA sequences of two randomly-selected human genomes, which consist of over 3 billion base pairs and twenty five thousand genes, there exists only 0.1% variation and 99.9% sequence identity. During the last couple of decades, extensive genome-wide studies have investigated the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the most common DNA variations, and susceptibility to various diseases. Because the immune system's primary function is to defend against myriad infectious agents and diseases, the large number of people who escape serious infectious diseases underscores the tremendous success of this system at this task. In fact, out of the third of the global human population infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis during their lifetime, only a few people develop active disease, and a heavy chain smoker may inexplicably escape all symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and other smoke-associated lung diseases. This may be attributable to the genetic makeup of the individual(s), including their SNPs, which provide some resistance to the disease. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), transcription factors, cytokines and chemokines all play critical roles in orchestrating immune responses and their expression/activation is directly linked to human disease tolerance. Moreover, genetic variations present in the immune-response genes of various ethnicities may explain the huge differences in individual outcomes to various diseases and following exposure to infectious agents. The current review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of pulmonary diseases and the relationship of genetic variations in immune response genes to these conditions.

Association of cancer stem cell markers genetic variants with gallbladder cancer susceptibility, prognosis, and survival

Genes important to stem cell progression have been involved in the genetics and clinical outcome of cancers. We investigated germ line variants in cancer stem cell (CSC) genes to predict susceptibility and efficacy of chemoradiotherapy treatment in gallbladder cancer (GBC) patients. In this study, we assessed the effect of SNPs in CSC genes (surface markers CD44, ALCAM, EpCAM, CD133) and (molecular markers NANOG, SOX-2, LIN-28A, ALDH1A1, OCT-4) with GBC susceptibility and prognosis. Total 610 GBC patients and 250 controls were genotyped by using PCR-RFLP, ARMS-PCR, and TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. Chemotoxicity graded 2-4 in 200 patients and tumor response was recorded in 140 patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). Differences in genotype and haplotype frequency distributions were calculated by binary logistic regression. Gene-gene interaction model was analyzed by generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR). Overall survival was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival curve and multivariate Cox-proportional methods. ALCAM Ars1157Crs10511244 (P = 0.0035) haplotype was significantly associated with GBC susceptibility. In GMDR analysis, ALCAM rs1157G>A, EpCAM rs1126497T>C emerged as best significant interaction model with GBC susceptibility and ALDH1A1 rs13959T>G with increased risk of grade 3-4 hematological toxicity. SOX-2 rs11915160A>C, OCT-4 rs3130932T>G, and NANOG rs11055786T>C were found best gene-gene interaction model for predicting response to NACT. In both Cox-proportional and recursive partitioning ALCAM rs1157GA+AA genotype showed higher mortality and hazard ratio. ALCAM gene polymorphisms associated with GBC susceptibility and survival while OCT-4, SOX-2, and NANOG variants showed an interactive role with treatment response.

Genetic variants in the EPCAM gene is associated with the prognosis of transarterial chemoembolization treated hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein tumor thrombus

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM) is involved in the tumorigenesis and progression of many malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of EPCAM have been reported to be with the risk and prognosis of several malignancies. However, the association of SNPs in EPCAM gene with the prognosis of HCC patients has never been investigated. In this study, two functional SNPs (rs1126497 and rs1421) in the EPCAM gene were selected and genotyped in a cohort of 448 unresectable Chinese HCC patients treated by TACE. The association of the two SNPs with the overall survival (OS) of patients was assessed by univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model and Kaplan-Meier curve. Our data showed that there was no significant association between either SNP and OS of patients. However, in the stratified analysis, the variant-containing genotypes (WV+VV) of SNP rs1126497 exhibited a significant association with poorer OS in HCC patients who had portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) in multivariate analysis of Cox proportional hazard model (hazard ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.16–2.53, P = 0.007), and in Kaplan-Meier curve analysis (P = 0.023), comparing to those carrying wild-type genotype. Our results suggest that SNP rs1126497 in the EPCAM gene may serve as an independent prognosis biomarker for unresectable HCC patient with PVTT, which warranted further validating investigation.