1
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Alves VC, Carro E, Figueiro-Silva J. Unveiling DNA methylation in Alzheimer's disease: a review of array-based human brain studies. Neural Regen Res 2024; 19:2365-2376. [PMID: 38526273 PMCID: PMC11090417 DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.393106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The intricacies of Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis are being increasingly illuminated by the exploration of epigenetic mechanisms, particularly DNA methylation. This review comprehensively surveys recent human-centered studies that investigate whole genome DNA methylation in Alzheimer's disease neuropathology. The examination of various brain regions reveals distinctive DNA methylation patterns that associate with the Braak stage and Alzheimer's disease progression. The entorhinal cortex emerges as a focal point due to its early histological alterations and subsequent impact on downstream regions like the hippocampus. Notably, ANK1 hypermethylation, a protein implicated in neurofibrillary tangle formation, was recurrently identified in the entorhinal cortex. Further, the middle temporal gyrus and prefrontal cortex were shown to exhibit significant hypermethylation of genes like HOXA3, RHBDF2, and MCF2L, potentially influencing neuroinflammatory processes. The complex role of BIN1 in late-onset Alzheimer's disease is underscored by its association with altered methylation patterns. Despite the disparities across studies, these findings highlight the intricate interplay between epigenetic modifications and Alzheimer's disease pathology. Future research efforts should address methodological variations, incorporate diverse cohorts, and consider environmental factors to unravel the nuanced epigenetic landscape underlying Alzheimer's disease progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Cunha Alves
- Neurodegenerative Diseases Group, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre Research Institute (imas12), Madrid, Spain
- Network Center for Biomedical Research, Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
- PhD Program in Neuroscience, Autonoma de Madrid University, Madrid, Spain
- Neurotraumatology and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Group, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre Research Institute (imas12), Madrid, Spain
| | - Eva Carro
- Network Center for Biomedical Research, Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
- Neurobiology of Alzheimer's Disease Unit, Functional Unit for Research Into Chronic Diseases, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Joana Figueiro-Silva
- Institute of Medical Genetics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Molecular Life Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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2
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Hjazi A, Jasim SA, Al-Dhalimy AMB, Bansal P, Kaur H, Qasim MT, Mohammed IH, Deorari M, Jawad MA, Zwamel AH. HOXA9 versus HOXB9; particular focus on their controversial role in tumor pathogenesis. J Appl Genet 2024; 65:473-492. [PMID: 38753266 DOI: 10.1007/s13353-024-00868-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 04/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 08/09/2024]
Abstract
The Homeobox (HOX) gene family is essential to regulating cellular processes because it maintains the exact coordination required for tissue homeostasis, cellular differentiation, and embryonic development. The most distinctive feature of this class of genes is the presence of the highly conserved DNA region known as the homeobox, which is essential for controlling their regulatory activities. Important players in the intricate process of genetic regulation are the HOX genes. Many diseases, especially in the area of cancer, are linked to their aberrant functioning. Due to their distinctive functions in biomedical research-particularly in the complex process of tumor advancement-HOXA9 and HOXB9 have drawn particular attention. HOXA9 and HOXB9 are more significant than what is usually connected with HOX genes since they have roles in the intricate field of cancer and beyond embryonic processes. The framework for a focused study of the different effects of HOXA9 and HOXB9 in the context of tumor biology is established in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed Hjazi
- Department of Medical Laboratory, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 11942, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
| | | | | | - Pooja Bansal
- Department of Biotechnology and Genetics, Jain (Deemed-to-Be) University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560069, India
- Department of Allied Healthcare and Sciences, Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 303012, India
| | - Harpreet Kaur
- School of Basic & Applied Sciences, Shobhit University, Gangoh, Uttar Pradesh, 247341, India
- Department of Health & Allied Sciences, Arka Jain University, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, 831001, India
| | - Maytham T Qasim
- College of Health and Medical Technology, Al-Ayen University, Thi-Qar, Nasiriyah, 64001, Iraq
| | - Israa Hussein Mohammed
- College of Nursing, National University of Science and Technology, Dhi Qar, Nasiriyah, Iraq
| | - Mahamedha Deorari
- Uttaranchal Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, India
| | - Mohammed Abed Jawad
- Department of Medical Laboratories Technology, Al-Nisour University College, Baghdad, Iraq
| | - Ahmed Hussein Zwamel
- Medical Laboratory Technique College, The Islamic University, Najaf, Iraq
- Medical Laboratory Technique College, The Islamic University of Al Diwaniyah, Al Diwaniyah, Iraq
- Medical Laboratory Technique College, The Islamic University of Babylon, Babylon, Iraq
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3
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Raynal F, Sengupta K, Plewczynski D, Aliaga B, Pancaldi V. Global chromatin reorganization and regulation of genes of specific evolutionary age in differentiation and cancer. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.10.30.564438. [PMID: 39149250 PMCID: PMC11326123 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.30.564438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
Oncogenesis is accompanied by chromatin organization alterations and reactivation of unicellular phenotypes at the metabolic and transcriptional level. The mechanisms connecting these two observations are unexplored, despite its relevance in cancer biology. Assigning evolutionary ages to genes in the context of 3D chromatin structure, we characterize the epigenomic landscape, expression regulation and spatial organization of genes according to their evolutionary ages. We describe topological changes across differentiation and find some of the patterns, involving Polycomb repression and RNA Pol II pausing, being reversed during oncogenesis. Going beyond the evidence of non-random organization of genes and chromatin features in the 3D epigenome, we suggest that these patterns lead to preferential interactions of old, intermediate and young genes, mediated by respectively RNA Polymerase II, Polycomb and the lamina. Our results are in line and expand recent findings implicating loss of Polycomb repression and activation of embryonal and early evolutionary programs in cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavien Raynal
- CRCT, Université de Toulouse, Inserm, CNRS, Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Kaustav Sengupta
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Genomics, Center of New Technologies (CeNT), University of Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
- Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Erasmus University Medical Center, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Dariusz Plewczynski
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Genomics, Center of New Technologies (CeNT), University of Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
- Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Benoît Aliaga
- CRCT, Université de Toulouse, Inserm, CNRS, Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Vera Pancaldi
- CRCT, Université de Toulouse, Inserm, CNRS, Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
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4
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Morton LM, Lee OW, Karyadi DM, Bogdanova TI, Stewart C, Hartley SW, Breeze CE, Schonfeld SJ, Cahoon EK, Drozdovitch V, Masiuk S, Chepurny M, Zurnadzhy LY, Dai J, Krznaric M, Yeager M, Hutchinson A, Hicks BD, Dagnall CL, Steinberg MK, Jones K, Jain K, Jordan B, Machiela MJ, Dawson ET, Vij V, Gastier-Foster JM, Bowen J, Mabuchi K, Hatch M, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Getz G, Tronko MD, Thomas GA, Chanock SJ. Genomic characterization of cervical lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid carcinoma following the Chornobyl accident. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5053. [PMID: 38871684 PMCID: PMC11176192 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49292-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Childhood radioactive iodine exposure from the Chornobyl accident increased papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) risk. While cervical lymph node metastases (cLNM) are well-recognized in pediatric PTC, the PTC metastatic process and potential radiation association are poorly understood. Here, we analyze cLNM occurrence among 428 PTC with genomic landscape analyses and known drivers (131I-exposed = 349, unexposed = 79; mean age = 27.9 years). We show that cLNM are more frequent in PTC with fusion (55%) versus mutation (30%) drivers, although the proportion varies by specific driver gene (RET-fusion = 71%, BRAF-mutation = 38%, RAS-mutation = 5%). cLNM frequency is not associated with other characteristics, including radiation dose. cLNM molecular profiling (N = 47) demonstrates 100% driver concordance with matched primary PTCs and highly concordant mutational spectra. Transcriptome analysis reveals 17 differentially expressed genes, particularly in the HOXC cluster and BRINP3; the strongest differentially expressed microRNA also is near HOXC10. Our findings underscore the critical role of driver alterations and provide promising candidates for elucidating the biological underpinnings of PTC cLNM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay M Morton
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Olivia W Lee
- Laboratory of Genetic Susceptibility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Danielle M Karyadi
- Laboratory of Genetic Susceptibility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Tetiana I Bogdanova
- Laboratory of Morphology of the Endocrine System, V.P. Komisarenko Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Chip Stewart
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Stephen W Hartley
- Laboratory of Genetic Susceptibility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Charles E Breeze
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Sara J Schonfeld
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Elizabeth K Cahoon
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Vladimir Drozdovitch
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Sergii Masiuk
- National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Mykola Chepurny
- National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Liudmyla Yu Zurnadzhy
- Laboratory of Morphology of the Endocrine System, V.P. Komisarenko Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Jieqiong Dai
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Marko Krznaric
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Meredith Yeager
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Amy Hutchinson
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Belynda D Hicks
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Casey L Dagnall
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mia K Steinberg
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Kristine Jones
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Komal Jain
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ben Jordan
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mitchell J Machiela
- Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Eric T Dawson
- Laboratory of Genetic Susceptibility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Nvidia Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, USA
| | - Vibha Vij
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Julie M Gastier-Foster
- Nationwide Children's Hospital, Biospecimen Core Resource, Columbus, OH, USA
- Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Jay Bowen
- Nationwide Children's Hospital, Biospecimen Core Resource, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Kiyohiko Mabuchi
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Maureen Hatch
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Amy Berrington de Gonzalez
- Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Gad Getz
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Cancer Research and Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Mykola D Tronko
- Department of Fundamental and Applied Problems of Endocrinology, V.P. Komisarenko Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Gerry A Thomas
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen J Chanock
- Laboratory of Genetic Susceptibility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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5
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Han J, Ji R, Zheng S, Xia X, Du W, He H, Han C, Zhao W, Li X, Wang Y, Zhang L. HOXB9 promotes osteosarcoma cell survival and malignancy under glucose starvation via upregulating SPP1 expression. Biochem Pharmacol 2024; 224:116208. [PMID: 38621423 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Homeobox B9 (HOXB9) has been shown to play a critical role in several tumors. However, the precise biological mechanisms and functions of HOXB9 in osteosarcoma remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that HOXB9 was increased upon glucose starvation. Elevated HOXB9 suppressed osteosarcoma cell death and supported cell growth and migration under glucose starvation. Further mechanistic studies demonstrated that HOXB9 directly bound to the promoter of secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1) and transcriptionally upregulated SPP1 expression which then led cell death decrease and cell growth increase under glucose deprivation environment. Clinically, HOXB9 was significantly upregulated in osteosarcoma compared with normal tissues and increase of HOXB9 expression was positively associated with the elevation of SPP1 in osteosarcoma. Overall, our study illustrates that HOXB9 contributes to malignancy in osteosarcoma and inhibits cell death through transcriptional upregulating SPP1 under glucose starvation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Han
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China; Dalian NO.3 People's Hospital, Department of Orthopedics, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China
| | - Renchen Ji
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China; College of Stomatology Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China
| | - Shuo Zheng
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China
| | - Xin Xia
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China
| | - Wenxiao Du
- School of Life Sciences, Yantai University, Yantai, Shandong, 264005, PR China
| | - Hongtao He
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China
| | - Chuanchun Han
- Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China
| | - Wenzhi Zhao
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China.
| | - Xiaojie Li
- College of Stomatology Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China.
| | - Yuan Wang
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China.
| | - Lu Zhang
- The Second Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, PR China.
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6
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Hill CM, Indeglia A, Picone F, Murphy ME, Cipriano C, Maki RG, Gardini A. NAB2-STAT6 drives an EGR1-dependent neuroendocrine program in Solitary Fibrous Tumors. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.15.589533. [PMID: 38659891 PMCID: PMC11042251 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.15.589533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
The pathogenesis of many rare tumor types is poorly understood, preventing the design of effective treatments. Solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs) are neoplasms of mesenchymal origin that affect 1/1,000,000 individuals every year and are clinically assimilated to soft tissue sarcomas. SFTs can arise throughout the body and are usually managed surgically. However, 30-40% of SFTs will relapse local-regionally or metastasize. There are no systemic therapies with durable activity for malignant SFTs to date. The molecular hallmark of SFTs is a gene fusion between the NAB2 and STAT6 loci on chromosome 12, resulting in a chimeric protein of poorly characterized function called NAB2-STAT6. We use primary samples and an inducible cell model to discover that NAB2-STAT6 operates as a transcriptional coactivator for a specific set of enhancers and promoters that are normally targeted by the EGR1 transcription factor. In physiological conditions, NAB2 is primarily localized to the cytoplasm and only a small nuclear fraction is available to operate as a co-activator of EGR1 targets. NAB2-STAT6 redirects NAB1, NAB2, and additional EGR1 to the nucleus and bolster the expression of neuronal EGR1 targets. The STAT6 moiety of the fusion protein is a major driver of its nuclear localization and further contributes to NAB2's co-activating abilities. In primary tumors, NAB2-STAT6 activates a neuroendocrine gene signature that sets it apart from most sarcomas. These discoveries provide new insight into the pathogenesis of SFTs and reveal new targets with therapeutic potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor M Hill
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, US
- Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Group, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S
| | - Alexandra Indeglia
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, US
- Graduate Group in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S
| | | | | | - Cara Cipriano
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S
| | - Robert G Maki
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S
- Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S
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7
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Kim HJ, Batara DC, Jeon YJ, Lee S, Beck S, Kim SH. The impact of MEIS1 TALE homeodomain transcription factor knockdown on glioma stem cell growth. Anim Cells Syst (Seoul) 2024; 28:93-109. [PMID: 38487309 PMCID: PMC10939110 DOI: 10.1080/19768354.2024.2327340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Myeloid ecotropic virus insertion site 1 (MEIS1) is a HOX co-factor necessary for organ development and normal hematopoiesis. Recently, MEIS1 has been linked to the development and progression of various cancers. However, its role in gliomagenesis particularly on glioma stem cells (GSCs) remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that MEIS1 is highly upregulated in GSCs compared to normal, and glioma cells and to its differentiated counterparts. Inhibition of MEIS1 expression by shRNA significantly reduced GSC growth in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. On the other hand, integrated transcriptomics analyses of glioma datasets revealed that MEIS1 expression is correlated to cell cycle-related genes. Clinical data analysis revealed that MEIS1 expression is elevated in high-grade gliomas, and patients with high MEIS1 levels have poorer overall survival outcomes. The findings suggest that MEIS1 is a prognostic biomarker for glioma patients and a possible target for developing novel therapeutic strategies against GBM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyun-Jin Kim
- Animal Molecular Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
| | - Don Carlo Batara
- Animal Molecular Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
| | - Young-Jun Jeon
- Department of Integrative Biotechnology, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
| | - Seongsoo Lee
- Gwangju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), Gwangju, Republic of Korea
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
| | - Samuel Beck
- Department of Dermatology, Center for Aging Research, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, USA
| | - Sung-Hak Kim
- Animal Molecular Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
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8
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Weng M, Lai Y, Ge X, Gu W, Zhang X, Li L, Sun M. HOXC6: A promising biomarker linked to an immunoevasive microenvironment in colorectal cancer based on TCGA analysis and cohort validation. Heliyon 2024; 10:e23500. [PMID: 38192826 PMCID: PMC10772581 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 10/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
HOXC6 plays an essential part of the carcinogenesis of solid tumors, but its functional relevance within the immune contexture in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is still uncertain. We intended to investigate the predictive value of HOXC6 expression for survival outcomes and its correlation with immune contexture in CRC patients by utilizing the Cancer Genome Atlas database (n = 619). Validation was performed in cohorts from Zhongshan Hospital (n = 200) and Shanghai Cancer Center (n = 300). Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was utilized to compare the levels of immunocytes infiltrating the tumor between the groups with high and low expression of HOXC6. Elevated levels of HOXC6 expression in CRC tissues were linked to malignant progression and poor prognosis. HOXC6 as a risk factor for survival of CRC patients was confirmed. Receiver operating characteristic analysis confirmed its diagnostic value, and a reliable prognostic nomogram was constructed. KEGG analysis and GSEA showed that HOXC6 participated in immune regulation, and its expression was tightly linked to the abundance of infiltrating immunocytes. HOXC6 was upregulated in patients diagnosed with CRC within the two cohorts, and high HOXC6 levels were correlated with a worse prognosis. The high-HOXC6 expression group showed increased infiltration of Treg cells, CD68+ macrophages, CD66b+ neutrophils, and CD8+ T-cells and elevated levels of PD-L1 and PD-1, but decreased levels of granzyme B and perforin. These findings suggest that HOXC6 abundance in patients with CRC determines a poor prognosis, promotes an immunoevasive environment, and directs CD8+ T-cell dysfunction. HOXC6 is expected to become a prospective biomarker for the outcome of CRC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meilin Weng
- Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Perioperative Stress and Protection, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Yuling Lai
- Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Perioperative Stress and Protection, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Xiaodong Ge
- Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Perioperative Stress and Protection, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Wenchao Gu
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Tsukuba, Faculty of medicine, Ibaraki, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Xixue Zhang
- Department of Anesthesiology, Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, No 221, West Yan'an Road, Shanghai 200040, China
| | - Lihong Li
- Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Minli Sun
- Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Perioperative Stress and Protection, Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
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9
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Nagel S, Haake J, Pommerenke C, Meyer C, MacLeod RAF. Establishment of the Myeloid TBX-Code Reveals Aberrant Expression of T-Box Gene TBX1 in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 25:32. [PMID: 38203204 PMCID: PMC10778679 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25010032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
T-box genes encode transcription factors, which control developmental processes and promote cancer if deregulated. Recently, we described the lymphoid TBX-code, which collates T-box gene activities in normal lymphopoiesis, enabling identification of members deregulated in lymphoid malignancies. Here, we have extended this analysis to cover myelopoiesis, compiling the myeloid TBX-code and, thus, highlighting which of these genes might be deregulated in myeloid tumor types. We analyzed public T-box gene expression datasets bioinformatically for normal and malignant cells. Candidate T-box-gene-expressing model cell lines were identified and examined by RQ-PCR, Western Blotting, genomic profiling, and siRNA-mediated knockdown combined with RNA-seq analysis and live-cell imaging. The established myeloid TBX-code comprised 10 T-box genes, including progenitor-cell-restricted TBX1. Accordingly, we detected aberrant expression of TBX1 in 10% of stem/progenitor-cell-derived chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. The classic CML cell line K-562 expressed TBX1 at high levels and served as a model to identify TBX1 activators, including transcription factor GATA1 and genomic amplification of the TBX1 locus at 22q11; inhibitors, including BCR::ABL1 fusion and downregulated GNAI2, as well as BMP, FGF2, and WNT signaling; and the target genes CDKN1A, MIR17HG, NAV1, and TMEM38A. The establishment of the myeloid TBX-code permitted identification of aberrant TBX1 expression in subsets of CML patients and cell lines. TBX1 forms an integral part of an oncogenic regulatory network impacting proliferation, survival, and differentiation. Thus, the data spotlight novel diagnostic markers and potential therapeutic targets for this malignancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Nagel
- Leibniz-Institute DSMZ, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
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10
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Wen X, Hou Y, Zhou L, Fang X. LINC00969 inhibits proliferation with metastasis of breast cancer by regulating phosphorylation of PI3K/AKT and ILP2 expression through HOXD8. PeerJ 2023; 11:e16679. [PMID: 38130932 PMCID: PMC10734406 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Breast cancer (BC) is a malignancy that is inadequately treated and poses a significant global health threat to females. The aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) acts as a complex with a precise regulatory role in BC progression. LINC00969 has been linked to pyroptotic cell death and resistance to gefitinib in lung cancer cells. However, the precise function and regulatory mechanisms of LINC00969 in BC remain largely unexplored. Methods Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of BC cells were evaluated using CCK-8 and Transwell assays. Western blotting was employed to analyze the protein expression levels of HOXD8, ILP2, PI3K, t-AKT, and p-AKT. Results LINC00969 was drastically reduced in BC tissues LINC00969 overexpression markedly suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasion, and blocked PI3K and p-AKT protein expression in MCF-7 cells. Activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway reversed the suppressive effect of LINC0096 overexpression on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of MCF-7 cells. Moreover, LINC00969 overexpression enhanced HOXD8 and blocked ILP2 protein expression in MCF-7 cells. In contrast, activating the PI3K/AKT pathway had no effect on HOXD8 and blocked ILP2 protein expression in MCF-7 cells overexpressing LINC00969. HOXD8 knockdown enhanced ILP2, PI3K, and p-AKT protein expression, and the proliferation, migration, and invasion of MCF-7 cells co-transfected with si-HOXD8 and ov-LINC00969. LINC00969 regulated HOXD8 via binding to miR-425-5p. Conclusion LINC00969 inhibits the proliferation and metastasis of BC cells by regulating PI3K/AKT phosphorylation through HOXD8/ILP2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyun Wen
- Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China
| | - Ya Hou
- The First School of Clinical Medicine,Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China
| | - Liang Zhou
- The First School of Clinical Medicine,Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China
| | - Xiansong Fang
- Blood transfusion department,The First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China
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11
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Agarwal S, Kar P, Boruah M, Saha S, Millo T, Kumar C, Vuthaluru S, Goswami R. Innate differences in the molecular signature of normal inferior & superior human parathyroid glands: potential implications for parathyroid adenoma. Mol Cell Biochem 2023; 478:2351-2359. [PMID: 36703095 DOI: 10.1007/s11010-023-04664-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Primary hyperparathyroidism is a common endocrine disorder. Interestingly, the majority (75%) of parathyroid tumors are localized to the inferior parathyroid glands. To date, the reason for this natural bias has not been investigated. We assessed the global gene expression profile of superior and inferior glands obtained from forensic autopsies. The genes with significant differential expression between superior and inferior parathyroids were further assessed by RT-PCR in 19 pairs. As an iterative approach, additional genes with an established role in parathyroid disorders, i.e., CASR, MAFB, PAX9, TBCE, TBX1, VDR, MEN1, CCND1, and CDC73 were also evaluated by RT-PCR in all 19 pairs of superior and inferior parathyroid glands. Seven homeobox genes, namely HOXA4, HOXA5, HOXBAS3, HOXB4, HOXB6, HOXB9, IRX1, and one encoding for ALDH1A2 showed a lower expression in the inferior parathyroid glands than in the superior. Conversely, SLC6A1 showed a higher expression in the inferior glands. Of the nine genes with significant differential mRNA expression among superior and inferior glands HOXB9, HOXB4 and IRX1 could be detected by western blotting/mass spectrometry. The study is the first to show the differential expression of nine genes HOXA4, HOXA5, HOXBAS3, HOXB4, HOXB6, HOXB9, IRX1, ALDH1A2, and SLC6A1 in inferior versus the superior parathyroid glands. This could have potential implications for the preferential localization of parathyroid tumors to the inferior parathyroid glands as observed in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shipra Agarwal
- Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Parmita Kar
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Monikongkona Boruah
- Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Soma Saha
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Tabin Millo
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Chitresh Kumar
- Department of Surgical Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Seenu Vuthaluru
- Department of Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Ravinder Goswami
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 110029, India.
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12
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González-Castrillón LM, Wurmser M, Öhlund D, Wilson SI. Dysregulation of core neurodevelopmental pathways-a common feature of cancers with perineural invasion. Front Genet 2023; 14:1181775. [PMID: 37719704 PMCID: PMC10501147 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1181775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: High nerve density in tumors and metastasis via nerves (perineural invasion-PNI) have been reported extensively in solid tumors throughout the body including pancreatic, head and neck, gastric, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers. Ablation of tumor nerves results in improved disease outcomes, suggesting that blocking nerve-tumor communication could be a novel treatment strategy. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this remain poorly understood. Thus, the aim here was to identify molecular pathways underlying nerve-tumor crosstalk and to determine common molecular features between PNI-associated cancers. Results: Analysis of head and neck (HNSCC), pancreatic, and gastric (STAD) cancer Gene Expression Omnibus datasets was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). This revealed extracellular matrix components as highly dysregulated. To enrich for pathways associated with PNI, genes previously correlated with PNI in STAD and in 2 HNSCC studies where tumor samples were segregated by PNI status were analyzed. Neurodevelopmental genes were found to be enriched with PNI. In datasets where tumor samples were not segregated by PNI, neurodevelopmental pathways accounted for 12%-16% of the DEGs. Further dysregulation of axon guidance genes was common to all cancers analyzed. By examining paralog genes, a clear pattern emerged where at least one family member from several axon guidance pathways was affected in all cancers examined. Overall 17 different axon guidance gene families were disrupted, including the ephrin-Eph, semaphorin-neuropilin/plexin, and slit-robo pathways. These findings were validated using The Cancer Genome Atlas and cross-referenced to other cancers with a high incidence of PNI including colon, cholangiocarcinoma, prostate, and breast cancers. Survival analysis revealed that the expression levels of neurodevelopmental gene families impacted disease survival. Conclusion: These data highlight the importance of the tumor as a source of signals for neural tropism and neural plasticity as a common feature of cancer. The analysis supports the hypothesis that dysregulation of neurodevelopmental programs is a common feature associated with PNI. Furthermore, the data suggested that different cancers may have evolved to employ alternative genetic strategies to disrupt the same pathways. Overall, these findings provide potential druggable targets for novel therapies of cancer management and provide multi-cancer molecular biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maud Wurmser
- Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Daniel Öhlund
- Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine, Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Sara Ivy Wilson
- Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
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13
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Malmhäll-Bah E, Andersson KM, Erlandsson MC, Silfverswärd ST, Pullerits R, Bokarewa MI. Metabolic signature and proteasome activity controls synovial migration of CDC42hiCD14 + cells in rheumatoid arthritis. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1187093. [PMID: 37662900 PMCID: PMC10469903 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1187093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective Activation of Rho-GTPases in macrophages causes inflammation and severe arthritis in mice. In this study, we explore if Rho-GTPases define the joint destination of pathogenic leukocytes, the mechanism by which they perpetuate rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and how JAK inhibition mitigates these effects. Methods CD14+ cells of 136 RA patients were characterized by RNA sequencing and cytokine measurement to identify biological processes and transcriptional regulators specific for CDC42 hiCD14+ cells, which were summarized in a metabolic signature (MetSig). The effect of hypoxia and IFN-γ signaling on the metabolic signature of CD14+ cells was assessed experimentally. To investigate its connection with joint inflammation, the signature was translated into the single-cell characteristics of CDC42 hi synovial tissue macrophages. The sensitivity of MetSig to the RA disease activity and the treatment effect were assessed experimentally and clinically. Results CDC42 hiCD14+ cells carried MetSig of genes functional in the oxidative phosphorylation and proteasome-dependent cell remodeling, which correlated with the cytokine-rich migratory phenotype and antigen-presenting capacity of these cells. Integration of CDC42 hiCD14+ and synovial macrophages marked with MetSig revealed the important role of the interferon-rich environment and immunoproteasome expression in the homeostasis of these pathogenic macrophages. The CDC42 hiCD14+ cells were targeted by JAK inhibitors and responded with the downregulation of immunoproteasome and MHC-II molecules, which disintegrated the immunological synapse, reduced cytokine production, and alleviated arthritis. Conclusion This study shows that the CDC42-related MetSig identifies the antigen-presenting CD14+ cells that migrate to joints to coordinate autoimmunity. The accumulation of CDC42 hiCD14+ cells discloses patients perceptive to the JAKi treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Malmhäll-Bah
- Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Karin M.E. Andersson
- Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Malin C. Erlandsson
- Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Rheumatology Clinic, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Sofia T. Silfverswärd
- Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Rille Pullerits
- Rheumatology Clinic, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Maria I. Bokarewa
- Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Rheumatology Clinic, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
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14
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Surendran H, Palaniyandi T, Natarajan S, Hari R, Viwanathan S, Baskar G, Abdul Wahab MR, Ravi M, Rajendran BK. Role of homeobox d10 gene targeted signaling pathways in cancers. Pathol Res Pract 2023; 248:154643. [PMID: 37406379 DOI: 10.1016/j.prp.2023.154643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023]
Abstract
Homeobox D10 (HOXD10) is a transcription factor from the homeobox gene family that controls cell differentiation and morphogenesis throughout development.Due to their functional interaction, changes in HOXD10 gene expression might induce tumors. This narrative review focuses on how and why the dysregulation in the signaling pathways linked with HOXD10 contributes to the metastatic development of cancer. Organ development and tissue homeostasis need highly conserved homeotic transcription factors from homeobox (HOX) genes. Their dysregulation disrupts regulatory molecule action, causing tumors. The HOXD10 gene is upregulated in breast, gastric, hepatocellular, colorectal, bladder, cholangiocellular carcinoma and prostate cancer. Tumor signaling pathways are affected by HOXD10 gene expression changes. This study examines HOXD10-associated signaling pathway dysregulation, which may alter metastatic cancer signaling. In addition, the theoretical foundations that alter HOXD10-mediated therapeutic resistance in malignancies has been presented. New cancer therapy methods will be simpler to develop with the newly discovered knowledge. This review showed that HOXD10 may be a tumor suppressor gene and a new cancer treatment target signaling pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hemapreethi Surendran
- Department of Biotechnology, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Chennai 600095 Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Thirunavukkarasu Palaniyandi
- Department of Biotechnology, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Chennai 600095 Tamil Nadu, India; Department of Anatomy, Biomedical Research Unit and Laboratory Animal Centre, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, SIMATS, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.
| | - Sudhakar Natarajan
- Department of Virology and Biotechnology, ICMR - National institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chetpet, Chennai 600031 Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Rajeswary Hari
- Department of Biotechnology, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Chennai 600095 Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Sandhiya Viwanathan
- Department of Biotechnology, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Chennai 600095 Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Gomathy Baskar
- Department of Biotechnology, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Chennai 600095 Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Mugip Rahaman Abdul Wahab
- Department of Biotechnology, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Chennai 600095 Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Maddaly Ravi
- Department of Human Genetics, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai 600116 Tamil Nadu, India
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15
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Campbell K, Dullea A, Ramsoomair C, Schuppe K, Ghomeshi A, Khodamoradi K, Arora H, Jorgez C, Ramasamy R. Transcriptional Differences in Identical Twins With Different Reproductive Capacities: A Case Report. Cureus 2023; 15:e40847. [PMID: 37492809 PMCID: PMC10363651 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.40847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Disorders of sperm production can be classified quantitatively as oligospermia (low sperm count) or azoospermia (no sperm during ejaculation). Numerous genes have been implicated in spermatogenesis. We describe a case of two identical twins who presented with different reproductive capabilities. One brother was infertile due to azoospermia, and the other, although oligospermic, previously naturally fathered a child. They were found to have differential gene expression based on RNA sequencing analysis. In the man with azoospermia, we found elevated E2F1 and HOXB9 gene expressions when compared with his brother, suggesting that the increased RNA expression of these genes could influence sperm production.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alexandra Dullea
- Urology, University of Miami Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Miami, USA
| | | | - Kyle Schuppe
- Medicine, Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Spokane, USA
| | - Armin Ghomeshi
- Psychiatry, Florida International University, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Miami, USA
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16
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Rodney AR, Skidmore ZL, Grenier JK, Griffith OL, Miller AD, Chu S, Ahmed F, Bryan JN, Peralta S, Warren WC. Genomic landscape and gene expression profiles of feline oral squamous cell carcinoma. Front Vet Sci 2023; 10:1079019. [PMID: 37266381 PMCID: PMC10229771 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1079019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Feline oral squamous cell carcinoma (FOSCC) is a cancer of the squamous cell lining in the oral cavity and represents up to 80% of all oral cancers in cats, with a poor prognosis. We have used whole exome sequencing (WES) and RNA sequencing of the tumor to discover somatic mutations and gene expression changes that may be associated with FOSCC occurrence. FOSCC offers a potential comparative model to study human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) due to its similar spontaneous formation, and morphological and histological features. In this first study using WES to identify somatic mutations in feline cancer, we have identified tumor-associated gene mutations in six cats with FOSCC and found some overlap with identified recurrently mutated genes observed in HNSCC. Four samples each had mutations in TP53, a common mutation in all cancers, but each was unique. Mutations in other cellular growth control genes were also found such as KAT2B and ARID1A. Enrichment analysis of FOSCC gene expression profiles suggests a molecular similarity to human OSCC as well, including alterations in epithelial to mesenchymal transition and IL6/JAK/STAT pathways. In this preliminary study, we present exome and transcriptome results that further our understanding of FOSCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alana R. Rodney
- Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Zachary L. Skidmore
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, United States
| | - Jennifer K. Grenier
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Obi L. Griffith
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, United States
| | - Andrew D. Miller
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Shirley Chu
- Department of Oncology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Faraz Ahmed
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Jeffrey N. Bryan
- Department of Oncology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Santiago Peralta
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Wesley C. Warren
- Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
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17
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Sundqvist BZ, Kilpinen SK, Böhling TO, Koljonen VSK, Sihto HJ. Transcriptomic analyses reveal three distinct molecular subgroups of Merkel cell carcinoma with differing prognoses. Int J Cancer 2023; 152:2099-2108. [PMID: 36620996 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.34425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a cutaneous neuroendocrine malignancy with a poor prognosis and an unknown cell of origin. Proffered cells of origin include epithelial stem cells of the hair follicle or interfollicular epidermis, dermal stem cells and pro/pre- or pre-B cells. MCC has also been proposed to have more than one cell of origin and indeed to represent more than one type of carcinoma, currently grouped together due to phenotypic similarities. We explored the heterogeneous nature of MCC by studying the most variably expressed genes with the goal of identifying gene expression patterns that are either clinically relevant or have implications regarding the cell(s) of origin. We performed RNA sequencing on primary tumor samples from 102 patients and identified the top 200 most variably expressed genes. These genes and the tumor samples were hierarchically clustered based on their expression. The functions of three gene clusters exhibiting clearly divergent expression between samples were studied by cross-referencing the lists of genes with online databases. High expression of a gene cluster related to embryonic developmental processes and low expression of a gene cluster related to neuroendocrine processes distinguished Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV)-negative tumors from MCPyV-positive tumors. Furthermore, two prognostically relevant subgroups of MCPyV-positive MCC were identified based on dichotomic expression of genes related to epidermal structures and processes. We identified three distinct molecular subgroups of MCC with prognostic relevance. We propose that the dichotomic expression of epidermis-related genes might reflect both an epidermal and a nonepidermal origin for MCPyV-positive MCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Z Sundqvist
- Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sami K Kilpinen
- Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tom O Böhling
- Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Virve S K Koljonen
- Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Harri J Sihto
- Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
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18
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Juárez-Rendón KJ, Castro-García MA, Prada-Ortega DG, Rivera G, Ruíz-Godoy LM, Enríquez-Cárcamo VI, Reyes-Lopez MA. Variants Identified in the HOXC13 and HOXD13 Genes Suggest Association with Cervical Cancer in a Cohort of Mexican Women. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:genes14020358. [PMID: 36833285 PMCID: PMC9957514 DOI: 10.3390/genes14020358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
HOX genes have been associated with carcinogenesis. However, the molecular mechanism by which tumors are generated remains unclear. The HOXC13 and HOXD13 genes are of interest for their involvement in the development of genitourinary structures. The aim of this first study in the Mexican population was to search for and analyze variants in the coding region of the HOXC13 and HOXD13 genes in women with cervical cancer. Samples from Mexican women with cervical cancer and healthy women were sequenced (50/50). Allelic and genotypic frequencies were compared between groups. The functional impact of the proteins was determined with two bioinformatics servers (SIFT and PolyPhen-2), and the oncogenic potential of the identified nonsynonymous variants was determined using the CGI server. We identified five unreported gene variants: c.895C>A p.(Leu299Ile) and c.777C>T p.(Arg259Arg) in the HOXC13 gene and c.128T>A p.(Phe43Tyr), c.204G>A p.(Ala68Ala), and c.267G>A p.(Ser89Ser) in the HOXD13 gene. In this study, we suggest that the non-synonymous variants c.895C>A p.(Leu299Ile) and c.128T>A p.(Phe43Tyr) could represent a risk factor for the development of the disease, although additional studies in larger patient populations and in different ethnic groups are needed in order to support the results observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karina Janett Juárez-Rendón
- Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Blvd. del Maestro s/n. Esq. Elías Piña. Col. Narciso Mendoza, Reynosa 88710, Mexico
| | - Manuel Alejandro Castro-García
- Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Blvd. del Maestro s/n. Esq. Elías Piña. Col. Narciso Mendoza, Reynosa 88710, Mexico
| | - Diddier Giovanni Prada-Ortega
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Unit for Biomedical Research in Cancer, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, México City 14080, Mexico
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 04510, Mexico
| | - Gildardo Rivera
- Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Blvd. del Maestro s/n. Esq. Elías Piña. Col. Narciso Mendoza, Reynosa 88710, Mexico
| | | | | | - Miguel Angel Reyes-Lopez
- Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Blvd. del Maestro s/n. Esq. Elías Piña. Col. Narciso Mendoza, Reynosa 88710, Mexico
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +52-5557296000 (ext. 87751)
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19
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Mohibi S, Chen M, Chen X, Zhang J. Poly zinc finger protein ZFP14 suppresses lymphomagenesis and abnormal inflammatory response via the HOXA gene cluster. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis 2023; 1869:166587. [PMID: 36349645 PMCID: PMC10907336 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2022.166587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Poly zinc finger proteins (ZFP) that contain a KRAB (Krüppel-associated box) domain represent the largest class of transcription factors in higher organisms, but their roles in development and pathogenesis are largely undefined. ZFP14 (also known as ZNF531) contains thirteen zinc fingers and is highly conserved across species. Notably, we found that ZFP14 is frequently down-regulated in a multitude of human cancers, which correlates with poor prognosis of patients. Since ZFP14 has never been characterized, we generated a Zfp14-deficient mouse model to investigate the role of ZFP14 in development and pathogenesis. We showed that the mice deficient in Zfp14 had a short lifespan and were prone to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), hyperplasia in multiple organs, systemic chronic inflammation, liver steatosis, and pancreatitis. Additionally, several pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL18, and TNFα, were highly expressed in inflamed Zfp14-/- mice spleens, livers, kidneys and lungs. To determine the underlying mechanism, RNA-seq analysis was performed and showed that the loss of ZFP14 led to increased expression of inflammatory and tumor-promoting genes. Out of the various tumor-promoting genes upregulated by ZFP14 loss, the HOXA gene cluster, which is known to promote lymphomagenesis and conserved between mouse and human, is consistently induced by loss of ZFP14. Moreover, we showed that the HOXA gene expression was inversely correlated with that of ZFP14 in human cancer patients and higher HOXA1 expression was correlated with poor patient prognosis. Together, we postulate that ZFP14 suppresses lymphomagenesis and abnormal inflammatory response by maintaining proper expression of the HOXA gene cluster.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shakur Mohibi
- Comparative Oncology Laboratory, Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United States of America.
| | - Mingyi Chen
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States of America
| | - Xinbin Chen
- Comparative Oncology Laboratory, Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United States of America.
| | - Jin Zhang
- Comparative Oncology Laboratory, Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United States of America.
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20
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Steens J, Klein D. HOX genes in stem cells: Maintaining cellular identity and regulation of differentiation. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:1002909. [PMID: 36176275 PMCID: PMC9514042 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.1002909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Stem cells display a unique cell type within the body that has the capacity to self-renew and differentiate into specialized cell types. Compared to pluripotent stem cells, adult stem cells (ASC) such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) exhibit restricted differentiation capabilities that are limited to cell types typically found in the tissue of origin, which implicates that there must be a certain code or priming determined by the tissue of origin. HOX genes, a subset of homeobox genes encoding transcription factors that are generally repressed in undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells, emerged here as master regulators of cell identity and cell fate during embryogenesis, and in maintaining this positional identity throughout life as well as specifying various regional properties of respective tissues. Concurrently, intricate molecular circuits regulated by diverse stem cell-typical signaling pathways, balance stem cell maintenance, proliferation and differentiation. However, it still needs to be unraveled how stem cell-related signaling pathways establish and regulate ASC-specific HOX expression pattern with different temporal-spatial topography, known as the HOX code. This comprehensive review therefore summarizes the current knowledge of specific ASC-related HOX expression patterns and how these were integrated into stem cell-related signaling pathways. Understanding the mechanism of HOX gene regulation in stem cells may provide new ways to manipulate stem cell fate and function leading to improved and new approaches in the field of regenerative medicine.
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21
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Verma A, Arya R, Brahmachari V. Identification of a polycomb responsive region in human HoxA cluster and its long-range interaction with polycomb enriched genomic regions. Gene 2022; 845:146832. [PMID: 36007803 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Polycomb and Trithorax group proteins (PcG, TrxG) epigenetically regulate developmental genes. These proteins bind with specific DNA elements, the Polycomb Response Element (PRE). Apart from mutations in polycomb/ trithorax proteins, altered cis-elements like PRE underlie the modified function and thus disease etiology. PREs are well studied in Drosophila, while only a few human PREs have been reported. We have identified a polycomb responsive DNA element, hPRE-HoxA3, in the intron of the HoxA3 gene. The hPRE-HoxA3 represses luciferase reporter activity in a PcG-dependent manner. The endogenous hPRE-HoxA3 element recruits PcG proteins and is enriched with repressive H3K27me3 marks, demonstrating that hPRE-HoxA3 is a part of the PcG-dependent gene regulatory network. Furthermore, it interacts with D11-12, the well-known PRE in the human Hox cluster. hPRE-Hox3 is a part of the 3-dimensional chromosomal domain organization as it is involved in the long-range interaction with other PcG enriched regions of Hox A, B, C, and D clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akanksha Verma
- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, India.
| | - Richa Arya
- Current address- Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India.
| | - Vani Brahmachari
- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, India
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22
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Setti Boubaker N, Gurtner A, Trabelsi N, Manni I, Blel A, Saadi A, Chakroun M, Naimi Z, Zaghbib S, Ksontini M, Meddeb K, Rammeh S, Ayed H, Chebil M, Piaggio G, Ouerhani S. An insight into the diagnostic and prognostic value of
HOX A13
’s expression in non‐muscle invasive bladder cancer. J Clin Lab Anal 2022; 36:e24606. [PMID: 35853090 PMCID: PMC9459288 DOI: 10.1002/jcla.24606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Several studies have interrogated the molecular pathways and their interacting genes underlying bladder cancer (BCa) tumorigenesis, yet, the role of homeobox genes is still poorly understood. Specifically, HOXA13, which plays an important role as a major actor in the urogenital tract's development. Methods Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed to inspect the differential expression of HOXA13 protein in non‐muscle‐invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and non‐tumoral tissues. A semiquantitative scoring system was adopted to evaluate the IHC labeling. Correlation to clinical parameters was performed by descriptive statistics. Overall survival was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression model. The functional HOX A13 protein association networks (PPI) were obtained using String 11.0 database. Results HOX A13 exhibited cytoplasmic and nuclear staining. Its expression levels were lower in high‐grade NMIBC (HG NMIBC) compared to low‐grade ones (LG NMIBC). The expression of HOX A13 was correlated to tumor grade (LG/HG) (p = 0.036) and stage (TA/T1) (p = 0.036). Nevertheless, its expression was not correlated to clinical parameters and was not able to predict the overall survival of patients with HG NMIBC. Finally, PPI analysis revealed that HOX A13 seems to be a part of a molecular network holding mainly PBX1, MEIS, ALDH1A2, HOX A10, and HOX A11. Conclusion The deregulation of HOX A13 is not associated with the prognosis of BCa. It seems to be rather implicated in the early initiation of urothelial tumorigenesis and thus may serve as a diagnostic marker in patients with NMIBC. Further experimentations on larger validation sets are mandatory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nouha Setti Boubaker
- Laboratory of Proteins Engineering and Bioactive Molecules (LIP‐MB) INSAT University of Tunis Carthage Tunis Tunisia
- UOSD SAFU Department of Research, Diagnosis and Innovative Technologies IRCCS‐Regina Elena National Cancer Institute Rome Italy
- Urology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Aymone Gurtner
- UOSD SAFU Department of Research, Diagnosis and Innovative Technologies IRCCS‐Regina Elena National Cancer Institute Rome Italy
- Institute of Translational Pharmacology (IFT) National Research Council (CNR) Rome Italy
| | - Nesrine Trabelsi
- Laboratory of Proteins Engineering and Bioactive Molecules (LIP‐MB) INSAT University of Tunis Carthage Tunis Tunisia
| | - Isabella Manni
- UOSD SAFU Department of Research, Diagnosis and Innovative Technologies IRCCS‐Regina Elena National Cancer Institute Rome Italy
| | - Ahlem Blel
- Pathology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Ahmed Saadi
- Urology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Marouene Chakroun
- Urology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Zeineb Naimi
- Medical Oncology Department Faculty of Medicine Salah Azaiez Institute University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Selim Zaghbib
- Urology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Meriam Ksontini
- Pathology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Khedija Meddeb
- Medical Oncology Department Faculty of Medicine Salah Azaiez Institute University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Soumaya Rammeh
- Pathology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Haroun Ayed
- Urology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Mohamed Chebil
- Urology Department Faculty of Medicine Charles Nicolle Hospital University of Tunis‐El Manar Tunis Tunisia
| | - Giulia Piaggio
- UOSD SAFU Department of Research, Diagnosis and Innovative Technologies IRCCS‐Regina Elena National Cancer Institute Rome Italy
| | - Slah Ouerhani
- Laboratory of Proteins Engineering and Bioactive Molecules (LIP‐MB) INSAT University of Tunis Carthage Tunis Tunisia
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23
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Helenius M, Vaitkeviciene G, Abrahamsson J, Jonsson ÓG, Lund B, Harila-Saari A, Vettenranta K, Mikkel S, Stanulla M, Lopez-Lopez E, Waanders E, Madsen HO, Marquart HV, Modvig S, Gupta R, Schmiegelow K, Nielsen RL. Characteristics of white blood cell count in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A COST LEGEND phenotype-genotype study. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2022; 69:e29582. [PMID: 35316565 DOI: 10.1002/pbc.29582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND White blood cell count (WBC) as a measure of extramedullary leukemic cell survival is a well-known prognostic factor in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but its biology, including impact of host genome variants, is poorly understood. METHODS We included patients treated with the Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (NOPHO) ALL-2008 protocol (N = 2347, 72% were genotyped by Illumina Omni2.5exome-8-Bead chip) aged 1-45 years, diagnosed with B-cell precursor (BCP-) or T-cell ALL (T-ALL) to investigate the variation in WBC. Spline functions of WBC were fitted correcting for association with age across ALL subgroups of immunophenotypes and karyotypes. The residuals between spline WBC and actual WBC were used to identify WBC-associated germline genetic variants in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) while adjusting for age and ALL subtype associations. RESULTS We observed an overall inverse correlation between age and WBC, which was stronger for the selected patient subgroups of immunophenotype and karyotypes (ρBCP-ALL = -.17, ρT-ALL = -.19; p < 3 × 10-4 ). Spline functions fitted to age, immunophenotype, and karyotype explained WBC variation better than age alone (ρ = .43, p << 2 × 10-6 ). However, when the spline-adjusted WBC residuals were used as phenotype, no GWAS significant associations were found. Based on available annotation, the top 50 genetic variants suggested effects on signal transduction, translation initiation, cell development, and proliferation. CONCLUSION These results indicate that host genome variants do not strongly influence WBC across ALL subsets, and future studies of why some patients are more prone to hyperleukocytosis should be performed within specific ALL subsets that apply more complex analyses to capture potential germline variant interactions and impact on WBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Helenius
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Goda Vaitkeviciene
- Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos Center for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology and Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Jonas Abrahamsson
- Department of Paediatrics, Institution for Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | | | - Bendik Lund
- Department of Pediatrics, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Arja Harila-Saari
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Kim Vettenranta
- University of Helsinki and Children´s Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sirje Mikkel
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Martin Stanulla
- Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Elixabet Lopez-Lopez
- Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.,Pediatric Oncology Group, BioCruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Spain
| | - Esmé Waanders
- Department of Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Hans O Madsen
- Department of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hanne Vibeke Marquart
- Department of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Signe Modvig
- Department of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ramneek Gupta
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Kjeld Schmiegelow
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rikke Linnemann Nielsen
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford, Oxford, UK
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24
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Nicu AT, Medar C, Chifiriuc MC, Gradisteanu Pircalabioru G, Burlibasa L. Epigenetics and Testicular Cancer: Bridging the Gap Between Fundamental Biology and Patient Care. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:861995. [PMID: 35465311 PMCID: PMC9023878 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.861995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Testicular cancer is the most common solid tumor affecting young males. Most testicular cancers are testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), which are divided into seminomas (SGCTs) and non-seminomatous testicular germ cell tumors (NSGCTs). During their development, primordial germ cells (PGCs) undergo epigenetic modifications and any disturbances in their pattern might lead to cancer development. The present study provides a comprehensive review of the epigenetic mechanisms–DNA methylation, histone post-translational modifications, bivalent marks, non-coding RNA–associated with TGCT susceptibility, initiation, progression and response to chemotherapy. Another important purpose of this review is to highlight the recent investigations regarding the identification and development of epigenetic biomarkers as powerful tools for the diagnostic, prognostic and especially for epigenetic-based therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina-Teodora Nicu
- Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
- Department of Genetics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
| | - Cosmin Medar
- University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Clinical Hospital “Prof. dr Theodor Burghele”, Bucharest, Romania
| | - Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc
- Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
- Research Institute of University of Bucharest (ICUB), Bucharest, Romania
- Academy of Romanian Scientists, Bucharest, Romania
- Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
| | | | - Liliana Burlibasa
- Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
- Department of Genetics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
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25
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Ardalan Khales S, Abbaszadegan MR, Hosseini SE, Forghanifard MM. Contribution of TWIST1-EVX1 Axis in Invasiveness of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; a Functional Study. IRANIAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY 2022; 20:e2733. [PMID: 36337061 PMCID: PMC9583822 DOI: 10.30498/ijb.2022.224786.2733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a biological process in embryonic development and cancer progression, and different gene families, such as HOX genes, are closely related to this process. OBJECTIVES Our aim in this study was to investigate the correlation between TWIST1 and EVX1 mRNA expression in ESCC patients and also examine the probable regulatory function of TWIST1 on EVX1 expression in human ESCC cell line. MATERIALS AND METHODS TWIST1 and EVX1 gene expression patterns were assessed in ESCC patients by relative comparative Real-time PCR then correlated with their clinical characteristics. In silico analysis of the EVX1 gene was conducted. KYSE-30 cells were transduced by a retroviral system to ectopically express TWIST1, followed by qRT-PCR to reveal the correlation between TWIST1 and EVX1 gene expression. RESULTS The expression of TWIST1 and EVX1 was correlated to each other significantly (p=0.005) in ESCC. Of 28 patients with under/normal expression of TWIST1, 22 samples (78.57%) had over/normal expression of EVX1. TWIST1 overexpression was correlated with advanced stages of the tumor (III, IV) (P = 0.019) and lymph node metastasis. However, EVX1 under expression was associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.027) and invasiveness of the disease (P = 0.037) in ESCC. Furthermore, retroviral transduction enforced significant overexpression of TWIST1 in GFP-hTWIST-1 approximately 9-fold compared to GFP control cells, causing a - 8.83- fold reduction in EVX1 mRNA expression significantly. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicated the repressive role of TWIST1 on EVX1 gene expression in ESCC. Therefore, our findings can help dissect the molecular mechanism of ESCC tumorigenesis and discover novel therapeutic targets for ESCC invasion and metastasis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Seyed Ebrahim Hosseini
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Zand Institute of Higher Education, Shiraz, Iran
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26
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HOXB9 Overexpression Promotes Colorectal Cancer Progression and Is Associated with Worse Survival in Liver Resection Patients for Colorectal Liver Metastases. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23042281. [PMID: 35216396 PMCID: PMC8879839 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23042281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 02/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
As is known, HOXB9 is an important factor affecting disease progression and overall survival (OS) in cancer. However, its role in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. We aimed to explore the role of HOXB9 in CRC progression and its association with OS in colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). We analysed differential HOXB9 expression in CRC using the Tissue Cancer Genome Atlas database (TCGA). We modulated HOXB9 expression in vitro to assess its impact on cell proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Lastly, we explored the association of HOXB9 protein expression with OS, using an institutional patient cohort (n = 110) who underwent liver resection for CRLM. Furthermore, HOXB9 was upregulated in TCGA-CRC (n = 644) vs. normal tissue (n = 51) and its expression levels were elevated in KRAS mutations (p < 0.0001). In vitro, HOXB9 overexpression increased cell proliferation (p < 0.001) and upregulated the mRNA expression of EMT markers (VIM, CDH2, ZEB1, ZEB2, SNAI1 and SNAI2) while downregulated CDH1, (p < 0.05 for all comparisons). Conversely, HOXB9 silencing disrupted cell growth (p < 0.0001). High HOXB9 expression (HR = 3.82, 95% CI: 1.59-9.2, p = 0.003) was independently associated with worse OS in CRLM-HOXB9-expressing patients after liver resection. In conclusion, HOXB9 may be associated with worse OS in CRLM and may promote CRC progression, whereas HOXB9 silencing may inhibit CRC growth.
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27
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A Systematic Review on HOX Genes as Potential Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer: An Emerging Role of HOXB9. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms222413429. [PMID: 34948228 PMCID: PMC8707253 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222413429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Revised: 12/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/11/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Emerging evidence shows that Homeobox (HOX) genes are important in carcinogenesis, and their dysregulation has been linked with metastatic potential and poor prognosis. This review (PROSPERO-CRD42020190953) aims to systematically investigate the role of HOX genes as biomarkers in CRC and the impact of their modulation on tumour growth and progression. The MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane databases were searched for eligible studies exploring two research questions: (a) the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HOX dysregulation in patients with CRC and (b) the functional role of HOX genes in CRC progression. Twenty-five studies enrolling 3003 CRC patients, showed that aberrant expression of HOX proteins was significantly related to tumour depth, nodal invasion, distant metastases, advanced stage and poor prognosis. A post-hoc meta-analysis on HOXB9 showed that its overexpression was significantly associated with the presence of distant metastases (pooled OR 4.14, 95% CI 1.64–10.43, I2 = 0%, p = 0.003). Twenty-two preclinical studies showed that HOX proteins are crucially related to tumour growth and metastatic potential by affecting cell proliferation and altering the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition modulators. In conclusion, HOX proteins may play vital roles in CRC progression and are associated with overall survival. HOXB9 may be a critical transcription factor in CRC.
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28
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Nagel S, Meyer C. Establishment of the TBX-code reveals aberrantly activated T-box gene TBX3 in Hodgkin lymphoma. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0259674. [PMID: 34807923 PMCID: PMC8608327 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
T-box genes encode transcription factors which control basic processes in development of several tissues including cell differentiation in the hematopoietic system. Here, we analyzed the physiological activities of all 17 human T-box genes in early hematopoiesis and in lymphopoiesis including developing and mature B-cells, T-cells, natural killer (NK)-cells and innate lymphoid cells. The resultant expression pattern comprised six genes, namely EOMES, MGA, TBX1, TBX10, TBX19 and TBX21. We termed this gene signature TBX-code which enables discrimination of normal and aberrant activities of T-box genes in lymphoid malignancies. Accordingly, expression analysis of T-box genes in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients using a public profiling dataset revealed overexpression of EOMES, TBX1, TBX2, TBX3, TBX10, TBX19, TBX21 and TBXT while MGA showed aberrant downregulation. Analysis of T-cell acute lymphoid leukemia patients indicated aberrant overexpression of six T-box genes while no deregulated T-box genes were detected in anaplastic large cell lymphoma patients. As a paradigm we focused on TBX3 which was ectopically activated in about 6% of HL patients analyzed. Normally, TBX3 is expressed in tissues like lung, adrenal gland and retina but not in hematopoiesis. HL cell line KM-H2 expressed enhanced TBX3 levels and was used as an in vitro model to identify upstream regulators and downstream targets in this malignancy. Genomic studies of this cell line showed focal amplification of the TBX3 locus at 12q24 which may underlie its aberrant expression. In addition, promoter analysis and comparative expression profiling of HL cell lines followed by knockdown experiments revealed overexpressed transcription factors E2F4 and FOXC1 and chromatin modulator KDM2B as functional activators. Furthermore, we identified repressed target genes of TBX3 in HL including CDKN2A, NFKBIB and CD19, indicating its respective oncogenic function in proliferation, NFkB-signaling and B-cell differentiation. Taken together, we have revealed a lymphoid TBX-code and used it to identify an aberrant network around deregulated T-box gene TBX3 in HL which promotes hallmark aberrations of this disease. These findings provide a framework for future studies to evaluate deregulated T-box genes in lymphoid malignancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Nagel
- Department of Human and Animal Cell Lines, Leibniz-Institute DSMZ–German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Corinna Meyer
- Department of Human and Animal Cell Lines, Leibniz-Institute DSMZ–German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
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29
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Paço A, Leitão-Castro J, Freitas R. Epigenetic Regulation of CDH1 Is Altered after HOXB7-Silencing in MDA-MB-468 Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:1575. [PMID: 34680970 PMCID: PMC8535730 DOI: 10.3390/genes12101575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Revised: 09/25/2021] [Accepted: 10/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
HOXB7 is often overexpressed in breast cancer cells and found to relate to poor prognosis. The search for the HOXB7 targets, as a transcription factor, has led to molecules involved in regulating cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and processes such as angiogenesis and therapy resistance. However, the specific targets affected by the deregulation of HOXB7 in breast cancer remain largely unknown in most molecular sub-types, such as triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC). To unveil the molecular basis behind these aggressive and often untreatable cancers, here we explored the contribution of HOXB7 deregulation for their aggressiveness. To this end, HOXB7 was silenced in TNBC Basal A cells MDA-MB-468, and the phenotype, gene/protein expression, and methylation profile of putative targets were analyzed. Lower migration and invasion rates were detected in HOXB7-silenced cells in comparison with the controls. In addition, these cells expressed more CDH1 and less DNMT3B, and the promoter methylation status of CDH1 diminished. Our data suggest that the HOXB7 transcription factor may act on TNBC Basal A cells by controlling CDH1 epigenetic regulation. This may occur indirectly through the up-regulation of DNMT3B, which then controls DNA methylation of the CDH1 promoter. Thus, future approaches interfering with HOXB7 regulation may be promising therapeutic strategies in TNBC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Paço
- I3S—Institute for Innovation & Health Research, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.P.); (J.L.-C.)
| | - Joana Leitão-Castro
- I3S—Institute for Innovation & Health Research, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.P.); (J.L.-C.)
| | - Renata Freitas
- I3S—Institute for Innovation & Health Research, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.P.); (J.L.-C.)
- ICBAS—Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
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30
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Oliveira de Biagi CA, Nociti RP, Brotto DB, Funicheli BO, Cássia Ruy PD, Bianchi Ximenez JP, Alves Figueiredo DL, Araújo Silva W. CeTF: an R/Bioconductor package for transcription factor co-expression networks using regulatory impact factors (RIF) and partial correlation and information (PCIT) analysis. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:624. [PMID: 34416858 PMCID: PMC8379792 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07918-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Finding meaningful gene-gene interaction and the main Transcription Factors (TFs) in co-expression networks is one of the most important challenges in gene expression data mining. RESULTS Here, we developed the R package "CeTF" that integrates the Partial Correlation with Information Theory (PCIT) and Regulatory Impact Factors (RIF) algorithms applied to gene expression data from microarray, RNA-seq, or single-cell RNA-seq platforms. This approach allows identifying the transcription factors most likely to regulate a given network in different biological systems - for example, regulation of gene pathways in tumor stromal cells and tumor cells of the same tumor. This pipeline can be easily integrated into the high-throughput analysis. To demonstrate the CeTF package application, we analyzed gastric cancer RNA-seq data obtained from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and found the HOXB3 gene as the second most relevant TFs with a high regulatory impact (TFs-HRi) regulating gene pathways in the cell cycle. CONCLUSION This preliminary finding shows the potential of CeTF to list master regulators of gene networks. CeTF was designed as a user-friendly tool that provides many highly automated functions without requiring the user to perform many complicated processes. It is available on Bioconductor ( http://bioconductor.org/packages/CeTF ) and GitHub ( http://github.com/cbiagii/CeTF ).
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Alberto Oliveira de Biagi
- Department of Genetics at Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Institute for Cancer Research, IPEC, Guarapuava, Brazil
| | - Ricardo Perecin Nociti
- Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Laboratory of Molecular Morphophysiology and Development, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, University of São Paulo, Pirassununga, Brazil
| | - Danielle Barbosa Brotto
- Department of Genetics at Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Breno Osvaldo Funicheli
- Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Patrícia de Cássia Ruy
- Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Center for Medical Genomics, HCFMRP/USP, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - João Paulo Bianchi Ximenez
- Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - David Livingstone Alves Figueiredo
- Institute for Cancer Research, IPEC, Guarapuava, Brazil.,Department of Medicine, Midwest State University of Paraná-UNICENTRO, Guarapuava, Brazil
| | - Wilson Araújo Silva
- Department of Genetics at Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. .,Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CEPID/FAPESP), National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cell and Cell Therapy (INCTC/CNPq), Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. .,Institute for Cancer Research, IPEC, Guarapuava, Brazil. .,Center for Integrative Systems Biology (CISBi) - NAP/USP, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
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31
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HOXB5 Overexpression Is Associated with Neuroendocrine Differentiation and Poor Prognosis in Prostate Cancer. Biomedicines 2021; 9:biomedicines9080893. [PMID: 34440097 PMCID: PMC8389587 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9080893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Homeobox genes function as master regulatory transcription factors during embryogenesis. HOXB5 is known to play an important role in several cancers. However, the biological role of HOXB5 in prostate cancer (PCa) is not fully elucidated. This study aimed to analyze the expression and function of HOXB5 and involvement of HOXB5 in neuroendocrine differentiation in PCa. Immunohistochemistry showed that 56 (43.8%) of 128 cases of localized PCa were positive for HOXB5. HOXB5-positive cases were associated with poor prostate-specific antigen recurrence-free survival after prostatectomy. Among 74 cases of metastatic PCa, 43 (58.1%) were positive for HOXB5. HOXB5 expression was higher in metastatic PCa than that in localized PCa. HOXB5 knockdown suppressed cell growth and invasion, but HOXB5 overexpression increased cell growth and invasion in PCa cell lines. Furthermore, HOXB5 regulated RET expression. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that Nelson androgen response gene set was enriched in low HOXB5 expression group. RB1 knockout increased HOXB5 expression. Of note, additional p53 knockdown further increased HOXB5 expression in RB1 knockout cells. In silico analysis showed that HOXB5 expression was increased in neuroendocrine PCa (NEPC). These results suggest that HOXB5 may be a promising prognostic marker after prostatectomy and is involved in progression to NEPC.
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32
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El-Huneidi W, Eladl MA, Muhammad JS. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in microRNA binding sites on the HOX genes regulate carcinogenesis: An in-silico approach. Biochem Biophys Rep 2021; 27:101083. [PMID: 34368470 PMCID: PMC8326182 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2021.101083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Homeobox proteins, encoded by HOX genes, are transcriptional factors playing a crucial role in the master regulatory pathway in the cells. Any mutations in HOX genes will affect the expression of its allied proteins. Such mutations were correlated to the development of different cancer types. In this study, we found 15 HOX genes with a potential target to miRNA, which regulates the translation of the protein by binding to its mRNA through the 3′UTR region. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this binding region could drastically affect the protein expression by affecting the number and the stability of miRNA-mRNA complexes. We found 77 miRNAs in 15 genes which were found to have altered binding efficiency because of 26 SNPs. After which, we tried to evaluate the impact of each of these SNPs on related HOX genes. Some SNPs such as SNP 15689 on the HOXB7 gene will decrease gene expression by creating or enhancing new binding sites for miRNA to mRNA, while other SNPs such as SNP 872760 on the HOXB5 gene will overexpress the gene by breaking or decreasing existing binding sites from miRNA to mRNA. Then we conducted an expression analysis to compare the mRNA expression profiles in normal and cancer tissue. Subsequently, we did an enrichment analysis followed by a network analysis to shed light on the metabolic function of the gene that could be affected by mutation and whether these mutations may affect other genes. For the first time, this study delivers information on the possible epigenetic regulation of HOX genes via the 77 miRNAs that have predicted target binding sites on HOX mRNAs, and SNPs may regulate those. Furthermore, we show that the HOX gene misregulation may influence other HOX and non-HOX genes, based on network analysis. Genes affected by SNPs in miRNA lead to deregulation of HOX genes that will cause cancer. HOX genes have role in posttranscriptional nucleic acid and protein binding. The mutational effect of any HOX gene affects other members of HOX genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Waseem El-Huneidi
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 27272, United Arab Emirates
| | - Mohamed Ahmed Eladl
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 27272, United Arab Emirates
| | - Jibran Sualeh Muhammad
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 27272, United Arab Emirates
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33
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Wen X, Chen Y, Fang X. Overexpression of HOXD8 inhibits the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells by downregulating ILP2 expression. Exp Ther Med 2021; 22:1006. [PMID: 34345288 PMCID: PMC8311240 DOI: 10.3892/etm.2021.10439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women. Although a number of homeobox (HOX) genes are known to serve an important role in breast cancer, the role of HOXD8 in breast cancer remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of HOXD8 in the physiological behaviors of breast cancer cells. The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis database was used to analyze the expression of HOXD8 in patients with breast cancer and in healthy subjects. Western blotting was performed to determine the expression levels of HOXD8 in several breast cancer cell lines; subsequently, HOXD8 expression was knocked down and overexpressed in MCF-7 cells. Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, wound healing and Transwell assays were used to evaluate the effects of HOXD8 on breast cancer cell viability, proliferation, migration and invasion, respectively. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter assays were conducted to identify the binding sites between HOXD8 and inhibitor of apoptosis-like protein-2 (ILP2). In addition, ILP2 expression levels were knocked down in MCF-7 cells. The results demonstrated that the expression levels of HOXD8 were significantly downregulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines, and that the overexpression of HOXD8 inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of cancer cells. HOXD8 was shown to bind to the ILP2 promoter to regulate the expression of ILP2. Furthermore, ILP2 knockdown reversed the effects of HOXD8 knockdown on breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggested that HOXD8 may inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells by downregulating ILP2 expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyun Wen
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi 341000, P.R. China
| | - Yu Chen
- Department of Blood Transfusion, The First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi 341000, P.R. China
| | - Xiansong Fang
- Department of Blood Transfusion, The First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi 341000, P.R. China
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34
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Kim CY, Kim YC, Oh JH, Kim MH. HOXA5 confers tamoxifen resistance via the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in ER-positive breast cancer. J Cancer 2021; 12:4626-4637. [PMID: 34149926 PMCID: PMC8210559 DOI: 10.7150/jca.59740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Tamoxifen is a commonly used drug to treat estrogen receptor-positive patients with breast cancer. Despite the outstanding efficacy of tamoxifen, approximately one-third of patients develop resistance toward it, thereby presenting a therapeutic challenge. HOX genes may be involved in the acquisition of tamoxifen resistance. In this study, we identified HOXA5, a member of the HOX gene family, as a marker of tamoxifen resistance. Using ChIP assay, we found that HOXA5 expression was significantly overexpressed in tamoxifen-resistant MCF7 (TAMR) breast cancer cells because of reduced H3K27me3 binding. HOXA5 upregulation resulted in activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling cascade, which in turn, led to p53 and p21 reduction, ultimately making the TAMR cells less apoptotic. Furthermore, elevated HOXA5 expression resulted in breast cancer cells acquiring more mesenchymal-like and stem cell traits associated with aggressive breast cancer phenotypes. In conclusion, our results delineate a mechanism by which HOXA5 promotes tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Yuri Kim
- Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Yu Cheon Kim
- Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
- Department of Anatomy, Graduate School of Medical Science, Bain Korea 21 Project, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Ji Hoon Oh
- Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Myoung Hee Kim
- Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
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35
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Estrogen suppresses HOXB2 expression via ERα in breast cancer cells. Gene 2021; 794:145746. [PMID: 34062258 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2021.145746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The expression of HOXB2, a homeobox transcription factor, is altered in a variety of solid tumors. Using an in vivo screen to identify regulators of breast tumor growth in murine mammary fat pads, Boimel and co-workers recently identified HOXB2 as a tumor suppressor. However, the mechanistic underpinnings of its role in breast cancer is not understood. Given the emerging interaction of estrogen-regulated gene expression and altered HOX gene expression network in the pathophysiology of breast cancer, this study addressed the relationship between estrogen signaling and HOXB2 expression. Using a mouse model and human breast cancer cell lines, we show that estrogen suppresses HOXB2 expression. Suppression of HOXB2 by PPT, a known ERα agonist, in MCF-7 and T47D cells indicated the involvement of ERα, which was confirmed by siRNA-mediated ERα knockdown experiments. In-silico analysis of the upstream promoter region revealed the presence of three putative EREs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed that upon estrogen binding, ERα engaged with EREs in the 5' upstream region of HOXB2 in MCF-7 and T47D cells. Future investigations should address the implications of estrogen-mediated suppression on the proposed tumor suppressor function of HOXB2.
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36
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Christakoudi S, Evangelou E, Riboli E, Tsilidis KK. GWAS of allometric body-shape indices in UK Biobank identifies loci suggesting associations with morphogenesis, organogenesis, adrenal cell renewal and cancer. Sci Rep 2021; 11:10688. [PMID: 34021172 PMCID: PMC8139988 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89176-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Genetic studies have examined body-shape measures adjusted for body mass index (BMI), while allometric indices are additionally adjusted for height. We performed the first genome-wide association study of A Body Shape Index (ABSI), Hip Index (HI) and the new Waist-to-Hip Index and compared these with traditional indices, using data from the UK Biobank Resource for 219,872 women and 186,825 men with white British ancestry and Bayesian linear mixed-models (BOLT-LMM). One to two thirds of the loci identified for allometric body-shape indices were novel. Most prominent was rs72959041 variant in RSPO3 gene, expressed in visceral adipose tissue and regulating adrenal cell renewal. Highly ranked were genes related to morphogenesis and organogenesis, previously additionally linked to cancer development and progression. Genetic associations were fewer in men compared to women. Prominent region-specific associations showed variants in loci VEGFA and HMGA1 for ABSI and KLF14 for HI in women, and C5orf67 and HOXC4/5 for ABSI and RSPO3, VEGFA and SLC30A10 for HI in men. Although more variants were associated with waist and hip circumference adjusted for BMI compared to ABSI and HI, associations with height had previously been reported for many of the additional variants, illustrating the importance of adjusting correctly for height.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Christakoudi
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK. .,MRC Centre for Transplantation, King's College London, Great Maze Pond, London, SE1 9RT, UK.
| | - Evangelos Evangelou
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK.,Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece
| | - Elio Riboli
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK
| | - Konstantinos K Tsilidis
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK.,Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece
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37
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Liu T, Ji C, Sun Y, Bai W. HOXA9 Expression is Associated with Advanced Tumour Stage and Prognosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. Cancer Manag Res 2021; 13:4147-4154. [PMID: 34045901 PMCID: PMC8149281 DOI: 10.2147/cmar.s305814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Homeobox A9 (HOXA9), a member of the HOX protein family, plays diverse biological roles in embryonic development and carcinogenesis. The prognostic value of HOXA9 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not well-defined. The present study aimed to analyse NPC tissue HOXA9 expression and determine prognostic significance by investigating the relationship between HOXA9 expression and clinicopathologic features. Methods Between January 2010 and December 2014, 252 NPC patients and 30 chronic nasopharyngitis patients (control group) were recruited to participate in the present study. Correlations between HOXA9 expression level and clinicopathologic features (including survival) were analysed. Results High HOXA9 expression was significantly associated with clinical stage (p < 0.01) and higher T stage (p < 0.01). In univariate analysis, high HOXA9 expression predicted overall survival (OS) (p = 0.011). In multivariate analysis, HOXA9 over-expression independently and significantly predicted poorer PFS (p < 0.01, hazard ratio (HR) = 2.387, 95% CI [0.876, 6.545]) and OS (p < 0.01, HR = 2.486, 95% CI [1.041, 8.926]). Conclusion High HOXA9 expression is an independent prognostic factor associated with advanced tumour stage and poorer survival in NPC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiancong Liu
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
| | - Chao Ji
- Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
| | - Yang Sun
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
| | - Weiliang Bai
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
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38
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Gao B, Baudis M. Signatures of Discriminative Copy Number Aberrations in 31 Cancer Subtypes. Front Genet 2021; 12:654887. [PMID: 34054918 PMCID: PMC8155688 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.654887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Copy number aberrations (CNA) are one of the most important classes of genomic mutations related to oncogenetic effects. In the past three decades, a vast amount of CNA data has been generated by molecular-cytogenetic and genome sequencing based methods. While this data has been instrumental in the identification of cancer-related genes and promoted research into the relation between CNA and histo-pathologically defined cancer types, the heterogeneity of source data and derived CNV profiles pose great challenges for data integration and comparative analysis. Furthermore, a majority of existing studies have been focused on the association of CNA to pre-selected "driver" genes with limited application to rare drivers and other genomic elements. In this study, we developed a bioinformatics pipeline to integrate a collection of 44,988 high-quality CNA profiles of high diversity. Using a hybrid model of neural networks and attention algorithm, we generated the CNA signatures of 31 cancer subtypes, depicting the uniqueness of their respective CNA landscapes. Finally, we constructed a multi-label classifier to identify the cancer type and the organ of origin from copy number profiling data. The investigation of the signatures suggested common patterns, not only of physiologically related cancer types but also of clinico-pathologically distant cancer types such as different cancers originating from the neural crest. Further experiments of classification models confirmed the effectiveness of the signatures in distinguishing different cancer types and demonstrated their potential in tumor classification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Gao
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Michael Baudis
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Zurich, Switzerland
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39
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de Bessa Garcia SA, Araújo M, Pereira T, Freitas R. HOXB7 Overexpression Leads Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells to a Less Aggressive Phenotype. Biomedicines 2021; 9:515. [PMID: 34063128 PMCID: PMC8148148 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9050515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Revised: 04/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
HOX genes appear to play a role in breast cancer progression in a molecular subtype-dependent way. The altered expression of HOXB7, for example, was reported to promote breast cancer progression in specific subtypes. Here we induced HOXB7 overexpression in MDA-MB-231 cells, a cellular model of the Triple-Negative breast cancer molecular subtype, and evaluated the phenotypic changes in cell viability, morphogenesis, migration, invasion, and colony formation. During the phenotypic characterization of the HOXB7-overexpressing cells, we consistently found less aggressive behavior represented by lower cell viability, inhibition of cell migration, invasion, and attachment-independent colony formation capacities added to the more compact and organized spheroid growth in 3D cultures. We then evaluated the expression of putative downstream targets and their direct binding to HOXB7 comparing ChIP-qPCR data generated from HOXB7-overexpressing cells and controls. In the manipulated cells, we found enriched biding of HOXB7 to CTNNB1, EGFR, FGF2, CDH1, DNMT3B, TGFB2, and COMMD7. Taken together, these results highlight the plasticity of the HOXB7 function in breast cancer, according to the cellular genetic background and expression levels, and provide evidence that in Triple-Negative breast cancer cells, HOXB7 overexpression has the potential to promote less aggressive phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mafalda Araújo
- I3S—Institute for Innovation & Health Research, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (S.A.d.B.G.); (M.A.); (T.P.)
| | - Tiago Pereira
- I3S—Institute for Innovation & Health Research, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (S.A.d.B.G.); (M.A.); (T.P.)
| | - Renata Freitas
- I3S—Institute for Innovation & Health Research, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (S.A.d.B.G.); (M.A.); (T.P.)
- ICBAS—Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
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40
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Bacolla A, Sengupta S, Ye Z, Yang C, Mitra J, De-Paula RB, Hegde ML, Ahmed Z, Mort M, Cooper DN, Mitra S, Tainer JA. Heritable pattern of oxidized DNA base repair coincides with pre-targeting of repair complexes to open chromatin. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:221-243. [PMID: 33300026 PMCID: PMC7797072 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Human genome stability requires efficient repair of oxidized bases, which is initiated via damage recognition and excision by NEIL1 and other base excision repair (BER) pathway DNA glycosylases (DGs). However, the biological mechanisms underlying detection of damaged bases among the million-fold excess of undamaged bases remain enigmatic. Indeed, mutation rates vary greatly within individual genomes, and lesion recognition by purified DGs in the chromatin context is inefficient. Employing super-resolution microscopy and co-immunoprecipitation assays, we find that acetylated NEIL1 (AcNEIL1), but not its non-acetylated form, is predominantly localized in the nucleus in association with epigenetic marks of uncondensed chromatin. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) revealed non-random AcNEIL1 binding near transcription start sites of weakly transcribed genes and along highly transcribed chromatin domains. Bioinformatic analyses revealed a striking correspondence between AcNEIL1 occupancy along the genome and mutation rates, with AcNEIL1-occupied sites exhibiting fewer mutations compared to AcNEIL1-free domains, both in cancer genomes and in population variation. Intriguingly, from the evolutionarily conserved unstructured domain that targets NEIL1 to open chromatin, its damage surveillance of highly oxidation-susceptible sites to preserve essential gene function and to limit instability and cancer likely originated ∼500 million years ago during the buildup of free atmospheric oxygen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albino Bacolla
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Shiladitya Sengupta
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA.,Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Zu Ye
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Chunying Yang
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Joy Mitra
- Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Neuroregeneration, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Ruth B De-Paula
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Muralidhar L Hegde
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA.,Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Neuroregeneration, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Zamal Ahmed
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Matthew Mort
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK
| | - David N Cooper
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK
| | - Sankar Mitra
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA.,Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA.,Houston Methodist Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - John A Tainer
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
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Cai W, Zhou W, Han Z, Lei J, Zhuang J, Zhu P, Wu X, Yuan W. Master regulator genes and their impact on major diseases. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9952. [PMID: 33083114 PMCID: PMC7546222 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Master regulator genes (MRGs) have become a hot topic in recent decades. They not only affect the development of tissue and organ systems but also play a role in other signal pathways by regulating additional MRGs. Because a MRG can regulate the concurrent expression of several genes, its mutation often leads to major diseases. Moreover, the occurrence of many tumors and cardiovascular and nervous system diseases are closely related to MRG changes. With the development in omics technology, an increasing amount of investigations will be directed toward MRGs because their regulation involves all aspects of an organism’s development. This review focuses on the definition and classification of MRGs as well as their influence on disease regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanwan Cai
- The Center for Heart Development, State Key Laboratory of Development Biology of Freshwater Fish, Key Laboratory of MOE for Development Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Wanbang Zhou
- College of Physical Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Zhe Han
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Center for Precision Disease Modeling, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Junrong Lei
- College of Physical Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Jian Zhuang
- Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Ping Zhu
- Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Xiushan Wu
- The Center for Heart Development, State Key Laboratory of Development Biology of Freshwater Fish, Key Laboratory of MOE for Development Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Wuzhou Yuan
- The Center for Heart Development, State Key Laboratory of Development Biology of Freshwater Fish, Key Laboratory of MOE for Development Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China
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