SOX4, an epithelial-mesenchymal transition inducer, transactivates ADAM28 gene expression and co-localizes with ADAM28 at the invasive front of human breast and lung carcinomas

Shake It Up Baby Now: The Changing Focus on TWIST1 and Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Cancer and Other Diseases

TWIST1 is a transcription factor that is necessary for healthy neural crest migration, mesoderm development, and gastrulation. It functions as a key regulator of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process by which cells lose their polarity and gain the ability to migrate. EMT is often reactivated in cancers, where it is strongly associated with tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Early work on TWIST1 in adult tissues focused on its transcriptional targets and how EMT gave rise to metastatic cells. In recent years, the roles of TWIST1 and other EMT factors in cancer have expanded greatly as our understanding of tumor progression has advanced. TWIST1 and related factors are frequently tied to cancer cell stemness and changes in therapeutic responses and thus are now being viewed as attractive therapeutic targets. In this review, we highlight non-metastatic roles for TWIST1 and related EMT factors in cancer and other disorders, discuss recent findings in the areas of therapeutic resistance and stemness in cancer, and comment on the potential to target EMT for therapy. Further research into EMT will inform novel treatment combinations and strategies for advanced cancers and other diseases.

Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition and its transcription factors

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition or EMT is an extremely dynamic process involved in conversion of epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells, stimulated by an ensemble of signaling pathways, leading to change in cellular morphology, suppression of epithelial characters and acquisition of properties such as enhanced cell motility and invasiveness, reduced cell death by apoptosis, resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs etc. Significantly, EMT has been found to play a crucial role during embryonic development, tissue fibrosis and would healing, as well as during cancer metastasis. Over the years, work from various laboratories have identified a rather large number of transcription factors (TFs) including the master regulators of EMT, with the ability to regulate the EMT process directly. In this review, we put together these EMT TFs and discussed their role in the process. We have also tried to focus on their mechanism of action, their interdependency, and the large regulatory network they form. Subsequently, it has become clear that the composition and structure of the transcriptional regulatory network behind EMT probably varies based upon various physiological and pathological contexts, or even in a cell/tissue type-dependent manner.

ADAM28 from both endothelium and gastric cancer cleaves von Willebrand Factor to eliminate von Willebrand Factor-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer cells

Disintegrin and metalloproteinase 28 (ADAM28) is a member of the disintegrin and metalloprotease domain (ADAM) family. It is associated with the growth and metastasis of various malignancies in vivo, but its role in gastric cancer remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ADAM28 derived from gastric cancer and endothelium on gastric cancer cells and its related mechanisms. In this study, Western blot analysis and q-PCR results showed that ADAM28 was up-regulated in gastric cancer cell lines. The TCGA database showed that patients with high ADAM28 expression had significantly shorter overall survival than those with low ADAM28 expression. By MTT analysis, wound healing assay, and flow cytometry, we found that overexpression/knockdown of ADAM28 expression in gastric cancer cells can regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration in vitro. In addition, overexpression/knockdown of ADAM28 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in the upper ventricle can regulate the apoptosis of lower ventricular gastric cancer cells in the co-culture system. Furthermore, ELISA demonstrated that knockdown of ADAM28 from endothelial cells increased the expression of von Willebrand Factor (vWF) in the supernatant. We found that ADAM28 both from gastric cancer cells and HUVECs eliminated vWF-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer cells by cleaving vWF, and the addition of the vWF knockdown plasmid eliminated the increase of integrin β3, p-TP53 and c-Casp3 caused by ADAM28 knockdown. In conclusion, ADAM28 from endothelium and gastric cancer may cleave vWF to eliminate vWF-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer cells and play an pro-metastasis effect.

ADAM28: Another ambivalent protease in cancer

Emergence of novel therapeutic options in a perspective of personalized therapy of cancer relies on the discovery of precise molecular mechanisms involved in the switch from a localized tumor to invasive metastasis spread. Pro-tumor functions have been mostly ascribed to proteolytic enzymes from the metalloproteinase family including A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinases (ADAMs). Particularly, when expressed by cancer cells, ADAM28 protease supports cancer cell proliferation, survival and migration as well as metastatic progression. In sharp contrast, ADAM28 derived from the tumor microenvironment has shown to exert strong protective effects against deleterious metastasis dissemination. Indeed, depletion of host-derived ADAM28 (ADAM28 KO mice) accelerates colonization lung tissues, increases tumor foci implantation, and impairs T cell immune response. In this review, we outline specific ADAM28 functions when specifically expressed by carcinoma cells or by tumor microenvironment. Finally, we discuss about future research strategies that could be pursued to highlight new functions of this protease in cancer.

Adamalysines as Biomarkers and a Potential Target of Therapy in Colorectal Cancer Patients: Preliminary Results

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Due to its still undetermined pathogenesis, we are searching for signaling pathways that are important in the development of colorectal cancer. In this article, we present results of study on the role of ADAM proteins in colorectal cancer. The study included 85 adult colorectal cancer patients (48 men, 37 women) and 25 patients in the control group (after diagnostic colonoscopy-without cancer). During hospitalization, a serum sample (3 cm³) was collected from the study and control group, anthropometric measurements were conducted and others clinical data were analyzed. In the serum ADAM10, 12, 17, and 28, protein concentrations were determined and, in the next step, examined the relationship between ADAMs concentrations and selected clinical parameters in both groups. The analysis showed that serum levels of ADAM10 and ADAM28 are significantly higher in patients with colorectal cancer and correlate with histopathological grading and with presence of distant metastases. Moreover, noticed the trend to correlate concentrations of adamalysines with higher BMI score. One of the functions of adamalysines is the activation of growth factors involved in cancer, including IGF and TNFα. The increased activity of adamalysines in patients may play a role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. Our study highlights the prevalence of metabolic disorders in the group of patients with diagnosed CRC, and this cancer seems to be a further complication of obesity.

Retracted Article: Long noncoding RNA ANRIL knockdown increases sensitivity of non-small cell lung cancer to cisplatin by regulating the miR-656-3p/SOX4 axis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are implicated in the development of chemoresistance in many cancers. However, the effect and mechanism of lncRNA antisense noncoding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) on cisplatin (CDDP) resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. The levels of ANRIL, microRNA (miR)-656-3p and sex-determining region Y-related high-mobility group box 4 (SOX4) in NSCLC tissues and cells were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction or western blotting. Cell viability, apoptosis, migration and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were assessed by using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT assay), flow cytometry, trans-well assays and western blotting, respectively. The xenograft model was established using CDDP-resistant NSCLC cells. The target association between miR-656-3p and ANRIL or SOX4 was validated by luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation. ANRIL expression was increased in CDDP-resistant NSCLC tissues and cells. Knockdown of ANRIL decreased cell viability, migration and EMT but induced apoptosis in CDDP-resistant NSCLC cells. Moreover, silencing of ANRIL reduced xenograft tumor growth in vivo. miR-656-3p was targeted by ANRIL and its exhaustion attenuated the suppressive role of ANRIL knockdown in CDDP resistance in NSCLC cells. SOX4 acted as a target of miR-656-3p and was positively regulated by ANRIL. Collectively, interference of ANRIL repressed CDDP resistance through promoting apoptosis and inhibiting cell viability, migration and EMT by up-regulating miR-656-3p and down-regulating SOX4, indicating a new target to improve the chemotherapeutic efficacy in NSCLC.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are implicated in the development of chemoresistance in many cancers.