Genetic variant in CASP3 affects promoter activity and risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Overview of Risk Factors for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in China

(1) Background: China has the highest esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) incidence areas in the world, with some areas of incidence over 100 per 100,000. Despite extensive public health efforts, its etiology is still poorly understood. This study aims to review and summarize past research into potential etiologic factors for ESCC in China. (2) Methods: Relevant observational and intervention studies were systematically extracted from four databases using key terms, reviewed using Rayyan software, and summarized into Excel tables. (3) Results: Among the 207 studies included in this review, 129 studies were focused on genetic etiologic factors, followed by 22 studies focused on dietary-related factors, 19 studies focused on HPV-related factors, and 37 studies focused on other factors. (4) Conclusions: ESCC in China involves a variety of factors including genetic variations, gene-environment interactions, dietary factors like alcohol, tobacco use, pickled vegetables, and salted meat, dietary behavior such as hot food/drink consumption, infections like HPV, poor oral health, gastric atrophy, and socioeconomic factors. Public health measures should prioritize genetic screening for relevant polymorphisms, conduct comprehensive investigations into environmental, dietary, and HPV influences, enhance oral health education, and consider socioeconomic factors overall as integral strategies to reduce ESCC in high-risk areas of China.

Network Pharmacology to Uncover the Molecular Mechanisms of Action of LeiGongTeng for the Treatment of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Background

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and neck cancer epidemic in southern China and southeast Asia. LeiGongTeng has been widely used for the treatment of cancers. The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmacological mechanism of action of LeiGongTeng in the treatment of NPC using a network pharmacological approach.

Material/Methods

The traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology (TCMSP) database was used to identify active ingredients and associated target proteins for LeiGongTeng. Cytoscape was utilized to create a drug-disease network and topology analysis was conducted to analyze the degree of each ingredient. The Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) online tool was applied for the construction and analysis of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, while Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment and Gene Ontology (GO) functional analyses were utilized to determine drug-disease common genes.

Results

22 active ingredients including kaempferol, nobiletin, and beta-sitosterol, and 30 drug-disease common genes including VEGFA, CASP3, ESR1, and RELA were identified. GO analysis indicated that 94 biological processes, including RNA polymerase II, apoptotic process, response to drug, cell adhesion, and response to hypoxia, were found to be associated with NPC. The KEGG enrichment analysis showed that 58 pathways, including the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, microRNAs in cancer, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway and pathways in cancer were found to be associated with NPC.

Conclusions

LeiGongTeng exerts its therapeutic effect through various biological processes and signaling pathways since it acts on several target genes. Systematic pharmacology can be used to predict the underlying function of LeiGongTeng and its mechanism of action in NPC.

The effect of CASP3 rs4647610 and rs4647602 polymorphisms on tumour size and cancer stage in papillary thyroid carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most frequent form of thyroid cancer whose incidence has increased in recent years. Dysregulated apoptosis is known in the pathogenesis of various cancers. Caspase-3 is an important apoptotic component and its abnormal function may play a key role in cancer pathogenesis. We tested the hypothesis of a link between CASP3 single nucleotide polymorphisms rs4647610 and rs4647602 on PTC and its clinical outcomes.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 134 PTC patients and 151 healthy controls were genotyped for CASP3 rs4647610 and rs4647602 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using PCR-RFLP method.

RESULTS

Allele and genotype frequencies of both SNPs were not different between cases and controls. The combined genotypes and haplotypes were not linked to PTC. However, the frequencies of CASP3 rs4647610 GA and AA genotypes were higher in PTC patients with larger tumour size (≥1 cm), and the rs4647610 SNP was associated with increased tumour size in the dominant model (OR 3.4 [95% CI, 1.1-11], P = 0.04). The CASP3 rs4647602CA and AA genotypes were higher in PTC patients with lower TNM stage (I-II) compared to higher stages (III-IV). No association was observed between CASP3 polymorphisms and other PTC outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Although CASP3 rs4647610 and rs4647602 SNPs are not associated with PTC, rs4647610 is linked to larger tumour size, and rs4647602 to lower stage of cancer.

Dibutyl phthalate-mediated oxidative stress induces splenic injury in mice and the attenuating effects of vitamin E and curcumin

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant that at certain levels can be harmful to human health. Although DBP has been widely linked to immunotoxicity, any association between DBP exposure and splenic injury remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether DBP exposure can induce splenic injury and the antagonistic effects of two antioxidants, vitamin E (VitE) and curcumin (Cur), on DBP-induced splenic injury. The levels of ROS, GSH, T-AOC, IL-1β, TNF-α, cytochrome C, caspase-8, caspase-9 and caspase-3 in the spleen homogenate of mice were measured. Any histopathological changes in the spleen were observed using H&E and toluidine blue staining. And the morphology of mitochondria was observed using Janus Green B staining. The results indicate that exposure to 50 mg/kg DBP could cause histopathological changes of the spleen and result in inflammation and apoptosis associated with oxidative stress, which may lead to splenic injury in mice. Moreover, both VitE and Cur could antagonize the oxidative stress induced by DBP to reduce splenic injury. These findings help to expand our understanding of DBP-mediated immunotoxicity, and to show that VitE and Cur can alleviate DBP-induced splenic injury and the possible DBP-associated decline in immune function.

Serum Caspase-3 Levels and Early Mortality of Patients with Malignant Middle Cerebral Artery Infarction

PURPOSE

Circulating caspase-3 levels at 24 h of ischemic stroke were found to be associated with poorer functional neurological outcome in a previous study. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an association between serum caspase-3 levels and early mortality in patients with malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (MMCAI).

METHODS

We included patients with MMCAI defined as computer tomography showing ischemic changes in more than 50% of the middle cerebral artery territory and Glasgow Coma Scale ≤ 8. Serum caspase-3 levels at days 1, 4, and 8 of MMCAI were determined.

RESULTS

Non-surviving MMCAI (n = 34) showed higher serum caspase-3 levels at days 1 (p < 0.001), 4 (p = 0.001), and 8 (p = 0.01) than surviving patients (n = 34). We found that the area under the curve of serum caspase-3 levels for prediction of mortality at 30 days was 88% (95% CI = 78-95%; p < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression showed that serum caspase-3 levels were associated with 30-day mortality (OR = 51.25; 95% CI = 8.30-316.31; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The novel and more important findings of our study were that high serum caspase-3 levels were associated with mortality in MMCAI patients.

Association between CASP3 polymorphisms and overall cancer risk: A meta-analysis of case-control studies

Several studies inspected the relationship between caspase-3 (CASP3) polymorphisms and the risk of several human cancers, but the findings remain controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis aiming to inspect the association between CASP3 rs1049216 T>C, rs12108497 C>T, rs4647603 G>A, rs4647602 C>A, rs6948 T>G, rs2705897 A>C, and rs113420705 G>A polymorphisms and cancer risk. Eligible studies were recognized by searching the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated to quantitatively evaluate the association between each polymorphism of CASP3 and cancer risk. The rs4647603 variant significantly increased the risk of cancer in an overdominant (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.03-2.01; P = 0.03; AG vs AA+GG) inheritance model. Regarding the rs4647602 variant, the findings revealed that this variant was associated with protection against cancer in homozygous codominant (OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.56-0.80; P < 0.00001; AA vs CC), dominant (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.73-0.96; P = 0.009; AC+AA vs CC), recessive (OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.61-0.79; P < 0.00001; AA vs AC+CC), and allele (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.75-0.88; P = 0.00001; A vs C) models. The findings suggested that the rs2705897 variant significantly decreased the risk of cancer in heterozygous codominant (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67-0.94; P = 0.009; AC vs AA), dominant (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.69-0.95; P = 0.009; AC+CC vs AA), overdominant (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.68-0.95; P = 0.01; AC vs CC+AA), and allele (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74-0.97; P = 0.02; C vs A) models. The results did not support an association between CASP3 rs1049216 and rs6948 polymorphisms and cancer risk. In summary, the findings of this meta-analysis support an association between CASP3 polymorphisms and cancer risk. Larger and well-designed studies are desired to evaluate these associations in detail.

Association of Casp3 microRNA Target Site (1049216) SNP With the Risk and Progress of Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of caspase-3 rs1049216 (C > T), a miRNA target site, and the risk and progression of cervical cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, we evaluated the genotype and distribution of caspase-3 rs1049216 in 515 patients with cervical squamous cell cancer and 415 controls. In additional experiments, we transfected luciferase reporter plasmids carrying T or C allele and/or miRNA mimics into the human cervical cell lines (HeLa and C-33A) to analyze its roles in the regulation of caspase-3 expression. By immunohistochemistry, the protein level of caspase-3 expression was examined in tumor tissues from 515 patients with cervical squamous cell cancer.

RESULTS

We found that the TT genotype of caspase-3 rs1049216 conferred a significantly decreased risk of cervical cancer (adjusted odds ratio, 0.35; 95% confidence interval, 0.154-0.581) and may be associated with the progression of this cancer. Although the expression of caspase-3 in the TT genotype was higher than that in CC/CT genotype in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and tumor tissues. Additional luciferase analysis showed that the rs1049216 variant T allele was associated with significantly higher luciferase activity, compared with the C allele in the transfected cells, and when cotransfected with miRNAs, miRNA-181a could downregulate the luciferase activity in the cells that transfected the construct containing C allele, compared with T allele, which had not happened in the presence of other miRNAs selected.

CONCLUSIONS

These data indicate that through upregulating the expression of caspase-3, the TT genotype of caspase-3 rs1049216 can be associated with not only the risk of cervical cancer but also the progression of this cancer.

Genetic Polymorphisms in the Apoptosis-Associated Gene CASP3 and the Risk of Lung Cancer in Chinese Population

Caspase-3 (CASP3) plays a central role in executing cell apoptosis and thus in carcinogenesis. We previously investigated the relationship between functional polymorphisms in CAPS3 829 A>C and 20541 C>T and risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However little is known about the role of CASP3 variants in susceptibility to lung cancer. To figure out the contribution of CASP3 polymorphisms to lung cancer risk, genotypes of 1000 lung cancer patients and 1000 controls were conducted by RFLP-PCR (restriction fragment length polymorphism PCR). The transcriptional activity of CASP3 829 A>C was examined by dual luciferase reporter assay. Logistic regression was applied to calculate Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Compared with CASP3 829 AA genotype, AC and CC genotype had significantly increased risk of lung cancer with OR (95% CI) of 1.33 (1.09–1.63) and 1.55 (1.19–2.01), respectively. To further explore the possible impact of 829 A>C SNP on CASP3 transcriptional activity, we detected the dual luciferase activity of PGL3-promoter vectors containing 829A or 829C alleles in lung cancer cell lines and found that report gene expressions driven by 829A containing CASP3 promoter were 1.64-fold, 1.94-fold greater than those driven by CASP3 829C containing counterparts in A549 and NCI-H1975 cells (P<0.001). When stratified by sex, the significantly increased risk associated with CASP3 829 AC or CC genotype was obviousl in males with OR (95% CI) of 1.42 (1.11–1.81) and 1.51 (1.11–2.05), but not in females. When stratified by age, we found that CASP3 829 AC or CC genotype contributed to the risk of lung cancer in youngers with OR (95% CI) of 2.73 (1.71–4.34) and 4.02 (2.20–7.32), but not in elder group. We also found that 829AC or 829CC genotype increased adenocarcinoma risk compared with the AA genotype with OR (95%CI) of 1.33 (1.04–1.70) and 1.51(1.09–2.07). CASP3 polymorphism and smoking interaction was demonstrated related with higher risk of lung cancer. We achieved that the CASP3 829AC or 829CC genotypes was associated with increased risk of lung cancer in both non-smoker and smoker group, with OR (95%CI) of 1.48 (1.08–2.02) and OR (95%CI) of 1.64 (1.09–2.48) among non-smokers and OR (95%CI) of 2.68 (1.89–3.81) and OR (95%CI) of 3.23 (2.21–4.92) among smokers, respectively. Among carriers with 20541CT genotype, the ORs (95%CI) of risk with lung cancer for smoking <16, 16–28, or > 28 pack-years were 1.16(0.65–2.07), 1.66(0.98–2.82) and 5.01(3.31–7.58) compared with the 20541CC carriers. And among carriers with 20541CT genotype, the ORs (95%CI) were 0.86(0.33–2.20), 2.12(0.83–5.41) and 5.71(2.68–12.16). These results highlight apoptosis-related CASP3 as an important gene in human carcinogenesis and further support the CASP3 polymorphisms confer to the lung cancer susceptibility.

An integrative framework to identify cell death-related microRNAs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Cell death is a critical biological process involved in many important functions, and defects in this system are usually linked with numerous human diseases including cancers. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most chemo- and biological therapy resistant cancers. Based on knowledge repository and four miRNAs profiling data, we proposed a general framework to hunt for cell death miRNAs in a context dependent manner. We predicted 12 candidate miRNAs from hundreds of others. Follow-up experimental verification of 7 miRNAs indicated at least 3 miRNAs (MIR20b, MIR498 and MIR196) were involved in both apoptosis and autophagy processes. These results indicated miRNAs intimately connected the two cell death modules in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. This integrative framework can also be easily extended to identify miRNAs in other key cellular signaling pathways or may find conditional specific miRNAs in other cancer types.

CASP3 genetic variants and susceptibility to atrial fibrillation in Chinese Han population

BACKGROUND

Caspase-3 plays an important role in the initiation and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF), but little is known about the role of CASP3 variants in the susceptibility to atrial fibrillation (AF). The purpose of this study was to comprehensively investigate the association between common genetic variants of CASP3 gene and AF in Chinese Han population.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We investigated the association of five variants in CASP3 and the risk of AF in 889 AF patients and 1015 controls. The genotype distribution of the rs4647602 was significantly different between patients with AF and controls (p<0.001), and the A allele frequency was significantly higher in AF patients than in controls (61.0% vs 53.2%; p<0.001). Compared with CC genotype carriers, subjects with AA genotype had significantly increased susceptibility to AF (OR=1.84, p<0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the rs4647602 polymorphism was significantly associated with risk of AF under dominant, recessive and additive genetic model (OR, 1.44-1.64; all p<0.001). There was no association between the other four SNPs (rs6948, rs2696056, rs4647602 and rs4647610) and risk of AF.

CONCLUSION

The rs4647602 polymorphism is independently associated with the risk of AF in Chinese Han population.