Neuropeptide Y expression in primary cutaneous melanoma

Neuropeptide Y and its receptors in prostate cancer: associations with cancer invasiveness and perineural spread

PURPOSE

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a pleiotropic peptide, which is involved in many biological mechanisms important in regulation of cell growth and survival. The aim of this study was a comprehensive analysis of the NPY system in prostate pathology.

METHODS

The study was based on immunohistochemical analysis of NPY and its receptors, Y1R, Y2R and Y5R, in tissue samples from benign prostate (BP), primary prostate cancer (PCa) and PCa bone metastases. Tissue microarray (TMA) technique was employed, with analysis of multiple cores from each specimen. Intensity of the immunoreactivity and expression index (EI), as well as distribution of the immunostaining in neoplastic cells and stromal elements were evaluated. Perineural invasion (PNI) and extraprostatic extension (EPE) were areas of special interests. Moreover, a transwell migration assay on the LNCaP PCa cell line was used to assess the chemotactic properties of NPY.

RESULTS

Morphological analysis revealed homogeneous membrane and cytoplasmic pattern of NPY staining in cancer cells and its membrane localization with apical accentuation in BP glands. All elements of the NPY system were upregulated in pre-invasive prostate intraepithelial neoplasia, PCa and metastases. EI and staining intensity of NPY receptors were significantly higher in PCa then in BP with correlation between Y2R and Y5R. The strength of expression of the NPY system was further increased in the PNI and EPE areas. In bone metastases, Y1R and Y5R presented high expression scores.

CONCLUSION

The results of our study suggest that the NPY system is involved in PCa, starting from early stages of its development to disseminated states of the disease, and participates in the invasion of PCa into the auto and paracrine matter.

Neuropeptide Y Peptide Family and Cancer: Antitumor Therapeutic Strategies

Currently available data on the involvement of neuropeptide Y (NPY), peptide YY (PYY), and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) and their receptors (YRs) in cancer are updated. The structure and dynamics of YRs and their intracellular signaling pathways are also studied. The roles played by these peptides in 22 different cancer types are reviewed (e.g., breast cancer, colorectal cancer, Ewing sarcoma, liver cancer, melanoma, neuroblastoma, pancreatic cancer, pheochromocytoma, and prostate cancer). YRs could be used as cancer diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. A high Y1R expression has been correlated with lymph node metastasis, advanced stages, and perineural invasion; an increased Y5R expression with survival and tumor growth; and a high serum NPY level with relapse, metastasis, and poor survival. YRs mediate tumor cell proliferation, migration, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis; YR antagonists block the previous actions and promote the death of cancer cells. NPY favors tumor cell growth, migration, and metastasis and promotes angiogenesis in some tumors (e.g., breast cancer, colorectal cancer, neuroblastoma, pancreatic cancer), whereas in others it exerts an antitumor effect (e.g., cholangiocarcinoma, Ewing sarcoma, liver cancer). PYY or its fragments block tumor cell growth, migration, and invasion in breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. Current data show the peptidergic system's high potential for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and support using Y2R/Y5R antagonists and NPY or PYY agonists as promising antitumor therapeutic strategies. Some important research lines to be developed in the future will also be suggested.

Current Insights Into the Role of Neuropeptide Y in Skin Physiology and Pathology

Neuropeptide Y is widely distributed within the body and has long been implicated as a contributor to skin disease based on the correlative clinical data. However, until recently, there have been few empirical investigations to determine whether NPY has a pathophysiological role in the skin. Due to appearance-altering phenotypes of atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and vitiligo, those suffering from these diseases often face multiple forms of negative social attention. This often results in psychological stress, which has been shown to exacerbate inflammatory skin diseases - creating a vicious cycle that perpetuates disease. This has been shown to drive severe depression, which has resulted in suicidal ideation being a comorbidity of these diseases. Herein, we review what is currently known about the associations of NPY with skin diseases and stress. We also review and provide educated guessing what the effects NPY can have in the skin. Inflammatory skin diseases can affect physical appearance to have significant, negative impacts on quality of life. No cure exists for these conditions, highlighting the need for identification of novel proteins/neuropetides, like NPY, that can be targeted therapeutically. This review sets the stage for future investigations into the role of NPY in skin biology and pathology to stimulate research on therapeutic targeting NPY signaling in order to combat inflammatory skin diseases.

scConnect: a method for exploratory analysis of cell-cell communication based on single cell RNA sequencing data

Motivation

Cell to cell communication is critical for all multicellular organisms, and single-cell sequencing facilitates the construction of full connectivity graphs between cell types in tissues. Such complex data structures demand novel analysis methods and tools for exploratory analysis.

Results

We propose a method to predict the putative ligand–receptor interactions between cell types from single-cell RNA-sequencing data. This is achieved by inferring and incorporating interactions in a multi-directional graph, thereby enabling contextual exploratory analysis. We demonstrate that our approach can detect common and specific interactions between cell types in mouse brain and human tumors, and that these interactions fit with expected outcomes. These interactions also include predictions made with molecular ligands integrating information from several types of genes necessary for ligand production and transport. Our implementation is general and can be appended to any transcriptome analysis pipeline to provide unbiased hypothesis generation regarding ligand to receptor interactions between cell populations or for network analysis in silico.

Availability and implementation

scConnect is open source and available as a Python package at https://github.com/JonETJakobsson/scConnect. scConnect is directly compatible with Scanpy scRNA-sequencing pipelines.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Neuroendocrine Factors in Melanoma Pathogenesis

Simple Summary

Melanoma is a very aggressive and fatal malignant tumor. While curable if diagnosed in its early stages, advanced melanoma, despite the complex therapeutic approaches, is associated with one of the highest mortality rates. Hence, more and more studies have focused on mechanisms that may contribute to melanoma development and progression. Various studies suggest a role played by neuroendocrine factors which can act directly on tumor cells, modulating their proliferation and metastasis capability, or indirectly through immune or inflammatory processes that impact disease progression. However, there are still multiple areas to explore and numerous unknown features to uncover. A detailed exploration of the mechanisms by which neuroendocrine factors can influence the clinical course of the disease could open up new areas of biomedical research and may lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches in melanoma.

Abstract

Melanoma is one of the most aggressive skin cancers with a sharp rise in incidence in the last decades, especially in young people. Recognized as a significant public health issue, melanoma is studied with increasing interest as new discoveries in molecular signaling and receptor modulation unlock innovative treatment options. Stress exposure is recognized as an important component in the immune-inflammatory interplay that can alter the progression of melanoma by regulating the release of neuroendocrine factors. Various neurotransmitters, such as catecholamines, glutamate, serotonin, or cannabinoids have also been assessed in experimental studies for their involvement in the biology of melanoma. Alpha-MSH and other neurohormones, as well as neuropeptides including substance P, CGRP, enkephalin, beta-endorphin, and even cellular and molecular agents (mast cells and nitric oxide, respectively), have all been implicated as potential factors in the development, growth, invasion, and dissemination of melanoma in a variety of in vitro and in vivo studies. In this review, we provide an overview of current evidence regarding the intricate effects of neuroendocrine factors in melanoma, including data reported in recent clinical trials, exploring the mechanisms involved, signaling pathways, and the recorded range of effects.

Identification of an extracellular vesicle-related gene signature in the prediction of pancreatic cancer clinical prognosis

Although extracellular vesicles (EVs) in body fluid have been considered to be ideal biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, it is still difficult to distinguish EVs derived from tumor tissue and normal tissue. Therefore, the prognostic value of tumor-specific EVs was evaluated through related molecules in pancreatic tumor tissue. NA sequencing data of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC). EV-related genes in pancreatic cancer were obtained from exoRBase. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was used to identify modules related to clinical stage. CIBERSORT was used to assess the abundance of immune and non-immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. A total of 12 PPI modules were identified, and the 3-PPI-MOD was identified based on the randomForest package. The genes of this model are involved in DNA damage and repair and cell membrane-related pathways. The independent external verification cohorts showed that the 3-PPI-MOD can significantly classify patient prognosis. Moreover, compared with the model constructed by pure gene expression, the 3-PPI-MOD showed better prognostic value. The expression of genes in the 3-PPI-MOD had a significant positive correlation with immune cells. Genes related to the hypoxia pathway were significantly enriched in the high-risk tumors predicted by the 3-PPI-MOD. External databases were used to verify the gene expression in the 3-PPI-MOD. The 3-PPI-MOD had satisfactory predictive performance and could be used as a prognostic predictive biomarker for pancreatic cancer.