A Bioinformatic Approach for the Identification of Molecular Determinants of Resistance/Sensitivity to Cancer Thermotherapy

Evaluation of the Heat Shock Protein 90 Inhibitor Ganetespib as a Sensitizer to Hyperthermia-Based Cancer Treatments

Simple Summary

Hyperthermia boosts the effects of radio- and chemotherapy regimens, but its clinical potential is hindered by the ability of (cancer) cells to activate a protective mechanism known as the heat stress response. Strategies that inhibit its activation or functions have the potential, therefore, to improve the overall efficacy of hyperthermia-based treatments. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the HSP90 inhibitor ganetespib in promoting the effects of radiotherapy or cisplatin combined with hyperthermia in vitro and in a cervix cancer mouse model.

Abstract

Hyperthermia is being used as a radio- and chemotherapy sensitizer for a growing range of tumor subtypes in the clinic. Its potential is limited, however, by the ability of cancer cells to activate a protective mechanism known as the heat stress response (HSR). The HSR is marked by the rapid overexpression of molecular chaperones, and recent advances in drug development make their inhibition an attractive option to improve the efficacy of hyperthermia-based therapies. Our previous in vitro work showed that a single, short co-treatment with a HSR (HSP90) inhibitor ganetespib prolongs and potentiates the effects of hyperthermia on DNA repair, enhances hyperthermic sensitization to radio- and chemotherapeutic agents, and reduces thermotolerance. In the current study, we first validated these results using an extended panel of cell lines and more robust methodology. Next, we examined the effects of hyperthermia and ganetespib on global proteome changes. Finally, we evaluated the potential of ganetespib to boost the efficacy of thermo-chemotherapy and thermo-radiotherapy in a xenograft murine model of cervix cancer. Our results revealed new insights into the effects of HSR inhibition on cellular responses to heat and show that ganetespib could be employed to increase the efficacy of hyperthermia when combined with radiation.

An immunogenic cell death-related regulators classification patterns and immune microenvironment infiltration characterization in intracranial aneurysm based on machine learning

Background

Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD) is a novel way to regulate cell death and can sufficiently activate adaptive immune responses. Its role in immunity is still emerging. However, the involvement of ICD in Intracranial Aneurysms (IA) remains unclear. This study aimed to identify biomarkers associated with ICDs and determine the relationship between them and the immune microenvironment during the onset and progression of IA

Methods

The IA gene expression profiles were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in IA were identified and the effects of the ICD on immune microenvironment signatures were studied. Techniques like Lasso, Bayes, DT, FDA, GBM, NNET, RG, SVM, LR, and multivariate analysis were used to identify the ICD gene signatures in IA. A consensus clustering algorithm was used for conducting the unsupervised cluster analysis of the ICD patterns in IA. Furthermore, enrichment analysis was carried out for investigating the various immune responses and other functional pathways. Along with functional annotation, the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and module construction, identification of the hub gene, and co-expression analysis were also carried out.

Results

The above techniques were used for establishing the ICD gene signatures of HMGB1, HMGN1, IL33, BCL2, HSPA4, PANX1, TLR9, CLEC7A, and NLRP3 that could easily distinguish IA from normal samples. The unsupervised cluster analysis helped in identifying three ICD gene patterns in different datasets. Gene enrichment analysis revealed that the IA samples showed many differences in pathways such as the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, chemokine signaling pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, viral protein interaction with the cytokines and cytokine receptors, and a few other signaling pathways compared to normal samples. In addition, the three ICD modification modes showed obvious differences in their immune microenvironment and the biological function pathways. Eight ICD-regulators were identified and showed meaningful associations with IA, suggesting they could severe as potential prognostic biomarkers.

Conclusions

A new gene signature for IA based on ICD features was created. This signature shows that the ICD pattern and the immune microenvironment are closely related to IA and provide a basis for optimizing risk monitoring, clinical decision-making, and developing novel treatment strategies for patients with IA.

Prognostic Biomarker ZNF311 and Its Correlation With Tumor Progression and Immune Infiltrates in Glioma

BACKGROUND

Gliomas, particularly high-grade gliomas, are the most common primary brain tumors. From the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) database, the relationships between the altered molecular pathways and gliomas could be easily observed. A close connection in the occurrence of the pathogenesis exists between the microenvironment, the glioma, and the associated genes.

METHODS

Validation of the role of ZNF311 oncogene was confirmed by data from the CGGA dataset on glioblastoma and low-grade glioma. Furthermore, we used CIBERSORT to analyze the correlation between ZNF311 and cancer immune infiltrates.

RESULTS

According to our analysis, ZNF311 was expressed higher in patients with grade-depended glioma with poor prognosis. In addition, we obtained valuable prognostic results between isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) and ZNF311 through the analysis of integrated correlations. Similarly, we simultaneously revealed the prognostic results between 1p/19q and ZNF311. In addition, we found that ZNF311 is correlated with a large number of tumor-infiltrating immune cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the study findings, we conclude that ZNF311 is potentially a novel biomarker for assessing prognosis and immune infiltration in glioblastoma and diffuse glioma cases.

Identification of a five-immune gene model as an independent prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. We aimed to identify a new prognostic model of HCC based on differentially expressed (DE) immune genes.

Methods

The DE immune genes were identified based on an analysis of 374 cases of HCC and 50 adjacent non-tumor specimens from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Univariate Cox analysis, Lasso regression, and multivariate Cox analysis were used to construct the model based on the training group. Survival analysis and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate model performance. The testing group and the entire group were subsequently used for validation of the model.

Results

A five-immune gene model consisted of HSPA4, ISG20L2, NDRG1, EGF, and IL17D was identified. Based on the model, the overall survival was significantly different between the high-risk and low-risk groups (P = 7.953e-06). The AUCs for the model at 1- and 3-year were 0.849 and 0.74, respectively. The reliability of the model was confirmed using the validation groups. The risk score was identified as an independent prognostic parameter and closely related to the content of immune cells from human HCC specimens.

Conclusion

We identified a five-immune gene model that can be used as an independent prognostic marker for HCC.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08012-2.

Hyperthermia Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment Facilitates Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have ushered in a new era of cancer therapy; however, ICIs are only effective in selective patients. The efficacy of ICIs is closely related to the tumor microenvironment. Fever for a long time was thought to directly regulate the immune response, and artificial “fever” from hyperthermia modulates the tumor immune microenvironment by providing danger signals with heat shock proteins (HSPs) as well as subsequent activation of immune systems. Encouraging results have been achieved in preclinical studies focused on potential synergetic effects by combining hyperthermia with ICIs. In this review, we summarized a cluster of immune-related factors that not only make hyperthermia a treatment capable of defending against cancer but also make hyperthermia a reliable treatment that creates a type I-like tumor microenvironment (overexpression of PD-L1 and enrichment of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes) in complementary for the enhancement of the ICIs. Then we reviewed recent preclinical data of the combination regimens involving hyperthermia and ICIs that demonstrated the combined efficacy and illustrated possible approaches to further boost the effectiveness of this combination.