EFEMP2 upregulates PD-L1 expression via EGFR/ERK1/2/c-Jun signaling to promote the invasion of ovarian cancer cells

Identifying macrophage-associated subtypes in patients with serous ovarian cancer and exploring potential personalized therapeutic drugs using combined single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing omics

Purpose

We aimed to analyze the sensitivity of patients to chemotherapy drugs and actively explore potential new intervention targets, providing an essential reference for personalized treatment.

Methods

Candidate markers with significant differential expression in macrophages were identified by analyzing gene expression at the single-cell level. A weighted gene co-expression network (WGCN) was constructed on the GSE26712 dataset to explore the modules most relevant to macrophages. Differentially expressed genes for specific markers were identified. A multi-factor regulatory network was constructed based on single-cell dataset markers screening, differentially expressed genes, and genes commonly present in WGCNA modules. Different macrophage subtypes were identified using this network. Machine learning was used to filter and predict the markers' drug sensitivity, and the potential therapeutic compounds for specific markers were screened.

Results

We identified 14 and 17 of M1 and M2 macrophage candidate markers, respectively. In the multi-factor regulatory network of M1 macrophages, 6 out of 14 markers recognized 159 transcription factors (TFs) and 48 micro RNAs (miRNAs), whereas 13 of 17 markers recognized 191 TFs and 182 miRNAs in the multi-factor regulatory network of M2 macrophages. Filtering of the identified differentially expressed genes using random forests yielded 15 M1 and M2 macrophage-specific markers. Drug sensitivity prediction analysis and in vitro experiments revealed the close association of these markers with common chemotherapy drug sensitivity.

Conclusion

We identified specific M1 and M2 macrophage markers and found potential therapeutic compounds (dasatinib and afatinib) in these specific markers. These potential therapeutic compounds provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of serous ovarian cancer (OC) and inspire more effective treatment methods.

Roles of miRNAs in regulating ovarian cancer stemness

Ovarian cancer is one of the gynaecology malignancies with the highest mortality rate. Ovarian cancer stem cell (CSC) is a subpopulation of ovarian cancer cells with increased self-renewability, aggression, metastatic potentials, and resistance to conventional anti-cancer therapy. The emergence of ovarian CSC is a critical factor that promotes treatment resistance and frequent relapse among ovarian cancer patients, leading to poor clinical outcomes. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a short, non-protein-coding RNA that regulates ovarian CSC development. Although multiple original research articles have discussed the CSC-regulatory roles of different miRNAs in ovarian cancer, there is a deficiency of a review article that can summarize the findings from different research papers. To narrow the gap in the literature, this review aimed to provide an up-to-date summary of the CSC-regulatory roles of various miRNAs in modulating ovarian cancer cell stemness. This review will begin by giving an overview of ovarian CSC and the pathways responsible for driving its appearance. Next, the CSC-regulatory roles of miRNAs in controlling ovarian CSC development will be discussed. Overall, more than 60 miRNAs have been reported to play CSC-regulatory roles in the development and progression of ovarian cancer. By targeting various downstream targets, these miRNAs can control the signaling activities of PI3K/AKT, EGFR/ERK, WNT/ß-catenin, NF-kß, Notch, Hippo/YAP, EMT, and DNA repair pathways. Hence, these CSC-modulatory miRNAs have the potential to be used as prognostic biomarkers in predicting the clinical outcomes of ovarian cancer patients. Targeting CSC-promoting miRNAs or increasing the expressions of CSC-repressing miRNAs can help slow ovarian cancer progression. However, more in-depth functional and clinical trials must be carried out to evaluate the suitability, safety, sensitivity, and specificity of these CSC-regulating miRNAs as prognostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets.

Biomarker discovery in progressive supranuclear palsy from human cerebrospinal fluid

BACKGROUND

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a neurodegenerative disorder often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's Disease (PD) due to shared symptoms. PSP is characterized by the accumulation of tau protein in specific brain regions, leading to loss of balance, gaze impairment, and dementia. Diagnosing PSP is challenging, and there is a significant demand for reliable biomarkers. Existing biomarkers, including tau protein and neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), show inconsistencies in distinguishing PSP from other neurodegenerative disorders. Therefore, the development of new biomarkers for PSP is imperative.

METHODS

We conducted an extensive proteome analysis of CSF samples from 40 PSP patients, 40 PD patients, and 40 healthy controls (HC) using tandem mass tag-based quantification. Mass spectrometry analysis of 120 CSF samples was performed across 13 batches of 11-plex TMT experiments, with data normalization to reduce batch effects. Pathway, interactome, cell-type-specific enrichment, and bootstrap receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed to identify key candidate biomarkers.

RESULTS

We identified a total of 3,653 unique proteins. Our analysis revealed 190, 152, and 247 differentially expressed proteins in comparisons of PSP vs. HC, PSP vs. PD, and PSP vs. both PD and HC, respectively. Gene set enrichment and interactome analysis of the differentially expressed proteins in PSP CSF showed their involvement in cell adhesion, cholesterol metabolism, and glycan biosynthesis. Cell-type enrichment analysis indicated a predominance of neuronally-derived proteins among the differentially expressed proteins. The potential biomarker classification performance demonstrated that ATP6AP2 (reduced in PSP) had the highest AUC (0.922), followed by NEFM, EFEMP2, LAMP2, CHST12, FAT2, B4GALT1, LCAT, CBLN3, FSTL5, ATP6AP1, and GGH.

CONCLUSION

Biomarker candidate proteins ATP6AP2, NEFM, and CHI3L1 were identified as key differentiators of PSP from the other groups. This study represents the first large-scale use of mass spectrometry-based proteome analysis to identify cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers specific to progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) that can differentiate it from Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthy controls. Our findings lay a crucial foundation for the development and validation of reliable biomarkers, which will enhance diagnostic accuracy and facilitate early detection of PSP.

PD-1/PD-L1 axis: implications in immune regulation, cancer progression, and translational applications

The PD-1/PD-L1 axis is a complex signaling pathway that has an important role in the immune system cells. Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) acts as an immune checkpoint on the T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, natural killer (NK), macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), monocytes, and myeloid cells. Its ligand, the programmed cell death 1 ligand (PD-L1), is expressed in the surface of the antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The binding of both promotes the downregulation of the T cell response to ensure the activation to prevent the onset of chronic immune inflammation. This axis in the tumor microenvironment (TME) performs a crucial role in the tumor progression and the escape of the tumor by neutralizing the immune system, the engagement of PD-L1 with PD-1 in the T cell causes dysfunctions, neutralization, and exhaustion, providing the tumor mass production. This review will provide a comprehensive overview of the functions of the PD-1/PD-L1 system in immune function, cancer, and the potential therapeutic implications of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway for cancer management.

PD-L1 induces autophagy and primary resistance to EGFR-TKIs in EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma via the MAPK signaling pathway

Resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) is a significant cause of treatment failure and cancer recurrence in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Approximately 30% of patients with EGFR-activating mutations exhibit primary resistance to EGFR-TKIs. However, the potential mechanisms of primary resistance to EGFR-TKIs remain poorly understood. Recent studies have shown that increased expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is associated with EGFR-TKIs resistance. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the mechanism of PD-L1 in primary resistance to EGFR-TKIs in EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells. We found that PD-L1 was associated with poor prognosis in patients with EGFR-mutant LUAD, while the combination of EGFR-TKIs with chemotherapy could improve its therapeutic efficacy. In vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that PD-L1 promoted the proliferation and autophagy and inhibited the apoptosis of LUAD cells. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that upregulation of PD-L1 was critical in inducing autophagy through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, which was beneficial for tumor progression and the development of gefitinib resistance. Furthermore, we found that gefitinib combined with pemetrexed could synergistically enhance antitumor efficacy in PD-L1-overexpression LUAD cells. Overall, our study demonstrated that PD-L1 contributed to primary resistance to EGFR-TKIs in EGFR-mutant LUAD cells, which may be mediated by inducing autophagy via the MAPK signaling pathway. These findings not only help improve the prognosis of patients with EGFR-mutant LUAD but also provide a reference for the research of other cancer types.

Discovery of a Therapeutic Agent for Glioblastoma Using a Systems Biology-Based Drug Repositioning Approach

Glioblastoma (GBM), a highly malignant tumour of the central nervous system, presents with a dire prognosis and low survival rates. The heterogeneous and recurrent nature of GBM renders current treatments relatively ineffective. In our study, we utilized an integrative systems biology approach to uncover the molecular mechanisms driving GBM progression and identify viable therapeutic drug targets for developing more effective GBM treatment strategies. Our integrative analysis revealed an elevated expression of CHST2 in GBM tumours, designating it as an unfavourable prognostic gene in GBM, as supported by data from two independent GBM cohorts. Further, we pinpointed WZ-4002 as a potential drug candidate to modulate CHST2 through computational drug repositioning. WZ-4002 directly targeted EGFR (ERBB1) and ERBB2, affecting their dimerization and influencing the activity of adjacent genes, including CHST2. We validated our findings by treating U-138 MG cells with WZ-4002, observing a decrease in CHST2 protein levels and a reduction in cell viability. In summary, our research suggests that the WZ-4002 drug candidate may effectively modulate CHST2 and adjacent genes, offering a promising avenue for developing efficient treatment strategies for GBM patients.

sPD-L1 and sPD-L2 in plasma of patients with lung cancer and their clinical significance

INTRODUCTION

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. We aim here to determine the soluble programmed death ligand-1 (sPD-L1) and soluble programmed death ligand-2 (sPD-L2) levels in the plasma of patients with lung cancer and evaluate the clinical significance.

METHODS

Plasma samples from 95 lung cancer patients and 55 healthy donors were collected, and the sPD-L1 and sPD-L2 levels were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The correlations of the plasma sPD-L1 and sPD-L2 levels with clinicopathological status and survival of the patients were analyzed.

RESULTS

The sPD-L1 and sPD-L2 levels in plasma of lung cancer patients were 713.8 (240.6-3815) pg/ mL and 3233(1122-13955) pg/ mL, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the health donors 618.6 (189.1-1149) pg/ mL and 2182 (1133-3471) pg/ mL, and the plasma levels of sPD-L1 are correlated with sPD-L2. ROC results showed that both sPD-L1 and sPD-L2 were potential biomarker for lung cancer, and with a higher accuracy level when combined with CEA. Patients with Higher plasma sPD-L1 level (>713.75 pg/ mL) are associated with poor overall survival in advanced lung cancer patients (197 days vs 643 days).

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of sPD-L1 and sPD-L2 could be used as adjunctive diagnostic, High level of plasma sPD-L1 rather than sPD-L2 is associated with poor prognosis in lung cancer patients.

YTHDF2-mediated circYAP1 drives immune escape and cancer progression through activating YAP1/TCF4-PD-L1 axis

Immune escape is identified as one of the reasons for the poor prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Circular RNAs are considered to promote tumor progression by mediating tumor immune escape. We discovered that higher expression of circYAP1 was associated with a worse prognosis of CRC patients. Functional experiments in vitro and in vivo showed that circYAP1 upregulation inhibited the cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells by upregulating programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1). Mechanistically, we found that circYAP1 directly binds to the YAP1 protein to prevent its phosphorylation, enhancing proportion of YAP1 protein in the nucleus, and that YAP1 interacts with TCF4 to target the PD-L1 promoter and initiate PD-L1 transcription in CRC cells. Taken together, circYAP1 promotes CRC immune escape and tumor progression by activating the YAP1/TCF4-PD-L1 axis and may provide a new strategy for combination immunotherapy of CRC patients.