Clinical implications of SPRR1A expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas: a prospective, observational study

SPRR1A is a key downstream effector of MiR-150 during both maladaptive cardiac remodeling in mice and human cardiac fibroblast activation

MicroRNA-150 (miR-150) is conserved between rodents and humans, is significantly downregulated during heart failure (HF), and correlates with patient outcomes. We previously reported that miR-150 is protective during myocardial infarction (MI) in part by decreasing cardiomyocyte (CM) apoptosis and that proapoptotic small proline-rich protein 1a (Sprr1a) is a direct CM target of miR-150. We also showed that Sprr1a knockdown in mice improves cardiac dysfunction and fibrosis post-MI and that Sprr1a is upregulated in pathological mouse cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) from ischemic myocardium. However, the direct functional relationship between miR-150 and SPRR1A during both post-MI remodeling in mice and human CF (HCF) activation was not established. Here, using a novel miR-150 knockout;Sprr1a-hypomorphic (Sprr1a^hypo/hypo) mouse model, we demonstrate that Sprr1a knockdown blunts adverse post-MI effects caused by miR-150 loss. Moreover, HCF studies reveal that SPRR1A is upregulated in hypoxia/reoxygenation-treated HCFs and is downregulated in HCFs exposed to the cardioprotective β-blocker carvedilol, which is inversely associated with miR-150 expression. Significantly, we show that the protective roles of miR-150 in HCFs are directly mediated by functional repression of profibrotic SPRR1A. These findings delineate a pivotal functional interaction between miR-150 and SPRR1A as a novel regulatory mechanism pertinent to CF activation and ischemic HF.

A Novel 2-Metagene Signature to Identify High-Risk HNSCC Patients amongst Those Who Are Clinically at Intermediate Risk and Are Treated with PORT

(1) Background: Patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who are biologically at high risk for the development of loco−regional recurrences after postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) but at intermediate risk according to clinical risk factors may benefit from additional concurrent chemotherapy. In this matched-pair study, we aimed to identify a corresponding predictive gene signature. (2) Methods: Gene expression analysis was performed on a multicenter retrospective cohort of 221 patients that were treated with postoperative radiochemotherapy (PORT-C) and 283 patients who were treated with PORT alone. Propensity score analysis was used to identify matched patient pairs from both cohorts. From differential gene expression analysis and Cox regression, a predictive gene signature was identified. (3) Results: 108 matched patient pairs were selected. We identified a 2-metagene signature that stratified patients into risk groups in both cohorts. The comparison of the high-risk patients between the two types of treatment showed higher loco−regional control (LRC) after treatment with PORT-C (p < 0.001), which was confirmed by a significant interaction term in Cox regression (p = 0.027), i.e., the 2-metagene signature was indicative for the type of treatment. (4) Conclusion: We have identified a novel gene signature that may be helpful to identify patients with high-risk HNSCC amongst those at intermediate clinical risk treated with PORT, who may benefit from additional concurrent chemotherapy.

Increased expression of SPRR1A is associated with a poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

OBJECTIVES

Small proline-rich protein 1A (SPRR1A) is recognized as a squamous differentiation marker but is also upregulated in some non-squamous cancers. However, its expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has not been investigated. This study elucidated the expression of SPRR1A in PDAC and its effect on the prognosis and malignant behavior of PDAC.

METHODS

We examined the SPRR1A expression by immunohistochemistry in 86 surgical PDAC cases and revealed the relationship between its expression and the prognosis of the PDAC patients. Furthermore, we overexpressed SPRR1A in pancreatic cancer cell lines (PK-1 and Panc-1) and assessed the phenotype and gene expression changes in vitro.

RESULTS

Among the 84 cases, excluding 2 with squamous differentiation, 31 (36.9%) had a high SPRR1A expression. The overall survival (median 22.1 months vs. 33.6 months, p = 0.0357) and recurrence-free survival (median 10.7 months vs. 15.5 months, p = 0.0298) were significantly lower in the high-SPRR1A-expression group than in the low-SPRR1A-expression group. A multivariate analysis indicated that a high SPRR1A expression (HR 1.706, 95% CI 1.018 to 2.862, p = 0.0427) and residual tumor status (HR 2.687, 95% CI 1.487 to 4.855, p = 0.00106) were independent prognostic factors. The analysis of TCGA transcriptome data demonstrated that the high-SPRR1A-expression group had a significantly worse prognosis than the low-SPRR1A-expression group, which supported our data. SPRR1A overexpression in PK-1 and Panc-1 did not result in remarkable changes to in vitro phenotypes, such as the cell proliferation, chemo-resistance, EMT, migration or global gene expression.

CONCLUSION

Increased expression of SPRR1A is associated with a poor prognosis in PDAC and may serve as a novel prognostic marker. However, our in vitro study suggests that the SPRR1A expression may be a consequence, not a cause, of the aggressive behavior of PDAC.

Small Proline Rich Protein 1A promotes lung adenocarcinoma progression and indicates unfavorable clinical outcomes

Small Proline Rich Protein 1A (SPRR1A) plays a critical role in regulating squamous cell differentiation. It has been reported that SPRR1A overexpression was closely related to the progression of some tumors such as gastric cancer and colon cancer. However, the function of SPRR1A in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) has not been elucidated. Here we firstly examined the expression pattern of SPRR1A in LUAD tissues, which indicated that SPRR1A expression level was significantly elevated in LUAD tissues compared to normal lung tissues. High expression of SPRR1A was closely related to the larger tumor size. LUAD patients with higher SPRR1A expression had poorer overall survival and SPRR1A was identified as an independent unfavorable prognosis factor. In addition, the effects of SPRR1A on lung cancer cells were tested through cellular experiments and the result demonstrated that knockdown of SPRR1A can suppress proliferation and invasion capacities of tumor cells, while overexpressing SPRR1A exerted opposite effects. Finally, our findings were substantiated by the data obtained from in vivo xenografts using mice model. In conclusion, LUAD patients with higher SPRR1A expression were more predisposed to poorer clinical outcomes and unfavorable prognosis, indicating the potential role of SPRR1A as a novel clinical biomarker and therapeutic target.

Cardiomyocyte microRNA-150 confers cardiac protection and directly represses pro-apoptotic small proline-rich protein 1A

MicroRNA-150 (miR-150) is downregulated in patients with multiple cardiovascular diseases and in diverse mouse models of heart failure (HF). miR-150 is significantly associated with HF severity and outcome in humans. We previously reported that miR-150 is activated by β-blocker carvedilol (Carv) and plays a protective role in the heart using a systemic miR-150 KO mouse model. However, mechanisms that regulate cell-specific miR-150 expression and function in HF are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that potentially novel conditional cardiomyocyte–specific (CM-specific) miR-150 KO (miR-150 cKO) in mice worsens maladaptive cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). Genome-wide transcriptomic analysis in miR-150 cKO mouse hearts identifies small proline–rich protein 1a (Sprr1a) as a potentially novel target of miR-150. Our studies further reveal that Sprr1a expression is upregulated in CMs isolated from ischemic myocardium and subjected to simulated ischemia/reperfusion, while its expression is downregulated in hearts and CMs by Carv. We also show that left ventricular SPRR1A is upregulated in patients with HF and that Sprr1a knockdown in mice prevents maladaptive post-MI remodeling. Lastly, protective roles of CM miR-150 are, in part, attributed to the direct and functional repression of proapoptotic Sprr1a. Our findings suggest a crucial role for the miR-150/SPRR1A axis in regulating CM function post-MI.

Small Proline-Rich Protein 2B Facilitates Gastric Adenocarcinoma Proliferation via MDM2-p53/p21 Signaling Pathway

Background

The small proline-rich protein 2B (SPRR2B) was firstly reported as a member of the cross-linked envelope protein in keratinocytes. The effect of SPRR2B in gastric adenocarcinoma (GC) remains unclear. This study initially explored the clinical significance of SPRR2B in GC patients as well as its role in tumor progression.

Methods

Immunohistochemistry was performed to characterize the expression of SPRR2B in GC tissues and adjacent tissues. The relationship between SPRR2B expression and clinicopathological features of GC patients was analyzed by Chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analyses were utilized to identify the prognostic factors of GC. Overexpression and knockdown assays were conducted to investigate possible signaling pathways downstream of SPRR2B. Flow cytometry assays were performed to evaluate cell cycle and apoptosis. Xenograft experiments were performed to validate tumor-related role of SPRR2B in vivo.

Results

Both mRNA and protein levels of SPRR2B in cancerous tissue were significantly higher than those in non-cancerous tissues. Meanwhile, SPRR2B expression was significantly associated with tumor size and tumor stage. Survival analysis revealed SPRR2B as one of the independent prognosis factors for overall survival of GC patients. Cellular and xenografts data implicated that silencing SPRR2B blocked the cell cycle of GC cells perhaps through MDM2-p53/p21-CDK1 pathway, while overexpressing SPRR2B exhibited opposite effects.

Conclusion

Our data suggest that SPRR2B may serve as a novel prognostic marker in GC, which functions at least partially by MDM2-p53/p21-CDK1 signaling pathway.

High SPRR1A expression is associated with poor survival in patients with colon cancer

High expression of small proline-rich protein 1A (SPRR1A) has been shown to be associated with tumor prognosis; however, the association between SPRR1A expression and colon cancer prognosis remains unclear. The present study sought to evaluate the association between SPRR1A expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of colon cancer, and to examine its potential prognostic value. A total of 114 patients with colon cancer were included. SPRR1A expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining, and the association between SPRR1A expression and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. The prognostic value of SPRR1A was analyzed by Cox regression analysis, the Oncomine database and the R2 platform. SPRR1A expression was significantly increased in cancerous tissues compared with that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. SPPRR1A expression was significantly associated with lymph node invasion. High SPRR1A expression was significantly associated with worse overall and disease-free survival rate. Cox regression analysis revealed that T stage, pathological N stage and high SPRR1A expression remained independent predictors for overall survival rate. The Oncomine database analysis demonstrated that SPRR1A mRNA expression levels were significantly increased in colorectal cancer tissues compared with those in adjacent non-cancerous tissues, and high SPRR1A expression was associated with a significantly worse event- and relapse-free survival time in the R2 platform. The data indicate that SPRR1A may serve as a potential biomarker for the prognosis of colon cancer.

Identification of Candidate Genes Involved in Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) is a main risk factor for the occurrence of delayed graft function or primary graft nonfunction of kidney transplantation. However, it lacks ideal molecular markers for indicating IRI in kidney transplantation. The present study is to explore novel candidate genes involved in renal IRI. Experimental renal IRI mouse models were constructed, and the differentially expressed genes were screened using a microarray assay. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis were performed. The expression of genes was detected using real-time qPCR assay. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry staining assays were performed for protein determination. We identified that renal IRI induced the upregulation of SPRR2F, SPRR1A, MMP-10, and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) Malat1 in kidney tissues for 479.3-, 4.98-, 238.1-, and 3.79-fold, respectively. The expression of miR-139-5p in kidney tissues of IRI-treated mice was decreased to 40.4% compared with the sham-operated mice. These genes are associated with keratinocyte differentiation, regeneration and repair of kidney tissues, extracellular matrix degradation and remodeling, inflammation, and cell proliferation in renal IRI. Identification of novel biomarkers involved in renal IRI may provide evidences for the diagnosis and treatment of renal IRI.

Clinical significance of GRHL3 expression in diffuse large B cell lymphoma

In the present study, we assessed the GRHL3 expression in 967 patients with diffuse large B cell lymphomas to identify the potential prognostic value and the development of specific therapeutic strategies. All patients enrolled were from a previous study by Hao Zhang et al. (BMC Cancer 14:333, 2014). GRHL3 expression status was evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis. Survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate analysis were conducted to adjust the effect of GRHL3 expression as a potential independent prognostic factor. In the enrolled 967 patients, GRHL3 expression was detected in 398 (41.16 %) patients under immunohistochemical analysis. The 5-year survival rate in patients with GRHL3 expression was significantly lower than that in those without GRHL3 expression (37.8 vs 52.8 %, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis identified GRHL3 expression as an independent predictor of poor survival. The sensitivity and specificity of GRHL3 for the diagnosis of germinal center B cell (GCB)/non-GCB was 89.2 % (182/204) and 82.1 % (174/212), respectively. GRHL3 expression may be useful as a prognostic factor and for the diagnosis GCB/non-GCB of diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Transforming growth factor β type II receptor as a marker in diffuse large B cell lymphoma

The objective of this study was to investigate the expression and significance of the transforming growth factor β type II receptor (TGFβRII) in diffuse large B cell lymphoma. All patients were enrolled at the First Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical University between 2001 and 2007. The median follow-up period was 53.3 months. Of the 338 patients studied, 131 (38.76 %) had TGFβRII positive expression on immunohistochemistry. The 5 year survival rate was significantly higher in patients with TGFβRII expression than in those without TGFβRII expression (40.3 vs. 31.6 %, P = 0.041). Multivariate analysis identified TGFβRII expression as an independent predictive parameter for survival, in addition to lactate dehydrogenase, clinical stage, and histologic subtype. TGFβRII expression may be considered a new prognostic factor of diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Clinical significance of SPRR1A expression in progesterone receptor-positive breast cancer

Small proline-rich repeat protein 1A (SPRR1A) is a marker for terminal squamous cell differentiation. Previous studies showed that SPRR1A expression increases in squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, but decreases in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. This study focuses on the expression of SPRR1A protein in breast cancers (BCs) in China. A total of 111 patients with histologically confirmed BC, who underwent radical surgery between January 2006 and September 2007 in China Medical University, were enrolled. The relationship between SPRR1A expression and clinicopathological factors as well as BC prognoses was also determined. Overall, SPRR1A expression was detected in more than half of the BC specimens by immunohistochemistry (56/111, 53.8%), but there was no significant difference between age groups (≥50 vs. <50 years) in terms of SPRR1A expression (P = 0.915), as well as no differences between SPRR1A expression and the clinical stage (0-I vs. II-III) or nodal status (P = 0.234 and 0.632, respectively). Moreover, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 overexpression was not correlated with SPRR1A expression, whereas Ki67 was associated with SPRR1A expression (P = 0.155 and 0.028, respectively). Interestingly, SPRR1A expression was significantly associated with progesterone receptor-positive (P = 0.010) rather than estrogen receptor-positive (0.778) BCs. The 5-year survival rate in patients did not differ with the presence or absence of SPRR1A expression (P = 0.753), whereas the combination of SPRR1A expression, progesterone receptor status, and menopausal status allowed identification of a subgroup of BC patients with a good long-term prognosis. Thus, the SPRR1A status might play an important role in the prognosis of postmenopausal breast carcinoma patients, especially that of progesterone receptor-positive subgroups.