LncCDCA3L inhibits cell proliferation via a novel RNA structure-based crosstalk with CDCA3 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Role of cell division cycle-associated proteins in regulating cell cycle and promoting tumor progression

The cell division cycle-associated protein (CDCA) family is important in regulating cell division. High CDCA expression is significantly linked to tumor development. This review summarizes clinical and basic studies on CDCAs conducted in recent decades. Furthermore, it systematically introduces the molecular expression and function, key mechanisms, cell cycle regulation, and roles of CDCAs in tumor development, cell proliferation, drug resistance, invasion, and metastasis. Additionally, it presents the latest research on tumor diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment targeting CDCAs. These findings are pivotal for further in-depth studies on the role of CDCAs in promoting tumor development and provide theoretical support for their application as new anti-tumor targets.

Prognostic value of cell division cycle-associated protein-3 in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

The study was aimed to explore cell division cycle-associated protein-3 (CDCA3) expression and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics, and identification of co-expressed genes of CDCA3 in prostate cancer (PCa).

METHODS

Data for CDCA3 mRNA expression in PCa were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Furtherly, CDCA3 protein expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in 80 cases, including 20 normal prostate samples and 60 PCa samples. Then we used "survival" package to obtain the differentially expressed CDCA3 mRNA associated with prognosis of PCa patients. "pROC" package was used to analyze receiver operating characteristic of CDCA3. We used chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Wilcoxon rank sum test to identify clinicopathological parameters that correlated with CDCA3 expression. In order to determine the effects of CDCA3 expression and clinicopathological parameters on survival, univariate cox regression analysis was performed. Finally, the co-expressed genes of CDCA3 in PCa were explored by search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes enrichment analysis and Spearman correlation analysis.

RESULTS

In this study, we found that CDCA3 expression was increased in PCa. PCa patients with higher CDCA3 expression had poor outcomes. In terms of receiver operating characteristic, CDCA3 had an area under the curve of 0.857. High CDCA3 expression was positively correlated with advanced T stage, N stage, Gleason score, and served as an independent predictor of progress free interval in PCa patients. Then 20 proteins closely related to CDCA3 were screened through STRING website. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway was mainly enriched in cell cycle, including 6 genes, BUB1, CCNA2, CDK1, CDC20, TTK, and CCNB2.

CONCLUSION

CDCA3 is significantly associated with the prognosis of PCa, which may be an indicator of the diagnosis and prognosis of PCa and a new therapeutic target.

Salvianolic acid B suppresses hepatic stellate cell activation and liver fibrosis by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway via miR-6499-3p/LncRNA-ROR

BACKGROUND

Long non-coding RNA (LncRNAs) have been reported to play an important role in liver fibrosis and are closely associated with hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation. We previously found that salvianolic acid B (Sal B) improves liver fibrosis by regulating the NF-κB signaling pathway. However, whether the LncRNA, regulator of reprogramming (LncRNA-ROR) plays a role in Sal B-mediated anti-fibrosis effects via the NF-κB signaling pathway remain unclear.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Sal B on HSC activation and liver fibrosis and investigate its mechanism from the perspective of LncRNA-ROR-mediated NF-κB signaling pathways.

METHODS

LX-2 and T6 cell lines were cultured. Animal models of liver fibrosis were established using CCl4 in male BALB/c mice. Primary HSCs were isolated from mice and cultured. Serum biochemical and liver histological analyses were performed to evaluate the effects of Sal B on liver fibrosis. The index of HSC activation and the expression of LncRNA-ROR, microRNAs (miRNAs), and inflammatory factors were determined by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) or immunofluorescence staining. Cell proliferation was measured by a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). NF-κB signaling-associated protein levels were assessed using western blotting or immunofluorescence staining. A luciferase reporter assay was used to detect transcription activity.

RESULTS

In this study, a lower level of LncRNA-ROR was found during Sal B attenuating HSC activation in HSCs. Mechanistically, Sal B impeded the NF-κB signaling pathway to inhibit HSC proliferation and activation by downregulating LncRNA-ROR. Additionally, Sal B upregulated miR-6499-3p to target LncRNA-ROR for degradation. Functionally, Sal B treatment ameliorated CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in mice by inhibiting HSC activation.

CONCLUSION

Sal B suppresses HSC activation and liver fibrosis via regulation of miR-6499-3p/LncRNA-ROR-mediated NF-κB signaling pathway. These results reveal a new molecular mechanism of Sal B on liver fibrosis from the insight of LncRNAs.

A Novel Ferroptosis-Related Signature for Prediction of Prognosis, Immune Profiles and Drug Sensitivity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant disease with an increasing incidence and a high mortality rate. Ferroptosis, a novel type of cell death, has been reported to be closely associated with the progression of HCC. The aim of our study was to construct a novel ferroptosis-related signature (nFRGs) for prediction of prognosis, immune features and drug sensitivity of HCC patients. Data were obtained from the TCGA, ICGC, GSE104580, CCLE and IMvigor210 datasets, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was used to construct nFRGs. In addition, the analyses involved in prognoses, molecular function, stemness indices, somatic mutation, responses to immunologic therapy, efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy and drug sensitivity were performed using diverse packages of R 4.1.3 between the low- and high-risk groups. The nFRGs included seven ferroptosis-related genes. Our results showed that nFRGs was an independent risk factor for prognoses of HCC patients, and HCC patients in the high-risk group presented with worse prognosis. Compared with the results of other studies, nFRGs was superior to other promising signatures in predicting prognoses of patients with HCC. In addition, most of the enriched pathways of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between these subgroups were related to immune features. The molecular functions, genetic mutation and mRNAsi were varied between the high- and low-risk groups. Moreover, we observed significant immunosuppression state in the high-risk group. Patients in the high-risk group might benefit from immunotherapy, whereas patients in the low-risk group may be susceptible to TACE therapy. Finally, five sensitive drugs and four sensitive drugs were screened for patients in the high- and low-risk groups, respectively. nFRGs may served as a novel biomarker of prognosis and aid in personalized therapeutic strategies for patients with HCC.

MiRNA-144-5p down-modulates CDCA3 to regulate proliferation and apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma cells

BACKGROUND

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) belongs to non-small cell lung cancer. In addition to surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy cause great side effects and low 5-year survival rates. MiRNAs are closely related to cancer development. This study aimed to analyze the molecular mechanism of miRNA-144-5p targeting CDCA3 to inhibit LUAD proliferation.

METHODS

MiRNA and mRNA data were downloaded from TCGA-LUAD dataset for differential expression analysis. TargetScan and miRTarBase databases were adopted to predict the target genes of miRNA, and the signaling pathways involved were analyzed by gene set enrichment analysis. The functions of LUAD cells were analyzed by CCK-8, colony formation assay, stem cell spheroidization assay, and flow cytometry. The expression levels of CDCA3, p53, and cell cycle-associated proteins were evaluated by Western blot.

RESULTS

The expression of miRNA-144-5p was significantly down-regulated in LUAD, but overexpression of it repressed proliferation and spheroidization, and promoted apoptosis of LUAD cells. By bioinformatics prediction and dual-luciferase reporter assay, miRNA-144-5p was validated to target CDCA3, thereby regulating proliferation of LUAD cells. Besides, the results of cell experiments showed that miRNA-144-5p targeting CDCA3 affected cell proliferation and apoptosis in LUAD by regulating cell cycles, and miRNA-144-5p/CDCA3 mediated the p53 signaling pathway to affect the growth of LUAD cells.

SIGNIFICANCE

Through the study of the pathogenesis of miRNA-144-5p regulating LUAD, we can better understand the molecular mechanism underlying LUAD development.