A kinome siRNA screen identifies HGS as a potential target for liver cancers with oncogenic mutations in CTNNB1

Direct type I interferon signaling in hepatocytes controls malaria

Malaria is a devastating disease impacting over half of the world’s population. Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria undergo obligatory development and replication in hepatocytes before infecting red blood cells and initiating clinical disease. While type I interferons (IFNs) are known to facilitate innate immune control to Plasmodium in the liver, how they do so has remained unresolved, precluding the manipulation of such responses to combat malaria. Utilizing transcriptomics, infection studies, and a transgenic Plasmodium strain that exports and traffics Cre recombinase, we show that direct type I IFN signaling in Plasmodium-infected hepatocytes is necessary to control malaria. We also show that the majority of infected hepatocytes naturally eliminate Plasmodium infection, revealing the potential existence of anti-malarial cell-autonomous immune responses in such hepatocytes. These discoveries challenge the existing paradigms in Plasmodium immunobiology and are expected to inspire anti-malarial drugs and vaccine strategies.

Utilizing a transgenic Plasmodium strain expressing Cre recombinase that selectively ablates type I IFN receptor in only the infected hepatocytes, Marques-da-Silva et al. show that direct type I IFN signaling in the infected hepatocytes is both necessary and sufficient to control liver-stage malaria.

Hgs Deficiency Caused Restrictive Cardiomyopathy via Disrupting Proteostasis

The molecular mechanisms underlying restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) are not fully understood. Hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HGS) is a vital element of Endosomal sorting required for transport (ESCRT), which mediates protein sorting for degradation and is crucial for protein homeostasis (proteostasis) maintenance. However, the physiological function and underlying mechanisms of HGS in RCM are unexplored. We hypothesized that HGS may play vital roles in cardiac homeostasis. Cardiomyocyte-specific Hgs gene knockout mice were generated and developed a phenotype similar to human RCM. Proteomic analysis revealed that Hgs deficiency impaired lysosomal homeostasis in cardiomyocytes. Loss of Hgs disrupted cholesterol transport and lysosomal integrity, resulting in lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) with aberrant autophagosome accumulation and protein aggregation. Suppression of protein aggregation by doxycycline treatment attenuated cardiac fibrosis, and diastolic dysfunction in Hgs-knockout mice. These findings uncovered a novel physiological role of HGS in regulating cardiac lysosomal homeostasis and proteostasis, suggesting that the deficient HGS contributes to LSD-associated RCM-like cardiomyopathy.

Integrating the Epigenome and Transcriptome of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Identify Systematic Enhancer Aberrations and Establish an Aberrant Enhancer-Related Prognostic Signature

Recently, emerging evidence has indicated that aberrant enhancers, especially super-enhancers, play pivotal roles in the transcriptional reprogramming of multiple cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we performed integrative analyses of ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data to identify intergenic differentially expressed enhancers (DEEs) and genic differentially methylated enhancers (DMEs), along with their associated differentially expressed genes (DEE/DME-DEGs), both of which were also identified in independent cohorts and further confirmed by HiC data. Functional enrichment and prognostic model construction were conducted to explore the functions and clinical significance of the identified enhancer aberrations. We identified a total of 2,051 aberrant enhancer-associated DEGs (AE-DEGs), which were highly concurrent in multiple HCC datasets. The enrichment results indicated the significant overrepresentations of crucial biological processes and pathways implicated in cancer among these AE-DEGs. A six AE-DEG-based prognostic signature, whose ability to predict the overall survival of HCC was superior to that of both clinical phenotypes and previously published similar prognostic signatures, was established and validated in TCGA-LIHC and ICGC-LIRI cohorts, respectively. In summary, our integrative analysis depicted a landscape of aberrant enhancers and associated transcriptional dysregulation in HCC and established an aberrant enhancer-derived prognostic signature with excellent predictive accuracy, which might be beneficial for the future development of epigenetic therapy for HCC.

PKMYT1 Promotes Gastric Cancer Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis Resistance

Background

Abnormal expression of protein kinase membrane associated tyrosine/threonine 1 (PKMYT1) is closely associated with multiple types of cancers. In the present study, we examined the roles of PKMYT1 in gastric cancer (GC) progression.

Methods

We examined the expression status of PKMYT1 in GC tissues and cell lines. Meanwhile, short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to inhibit the endogenous expression of PKMYT1 in GC cells. Then we analyzed the effect of PKMYT1 on the malignant biological behavior of GC cells by in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Results

The findings showed high PKMYT1 expressions in GC tissues as well as a positive correlation between PKMYT1 expression and prognosis of patients with GC. Additional findings also revealed that PKMYT1 silencing significantly enhanced apoptosis and inhibited GC cell proliferation. In vivo, the silence of PKMYT1 inhibits tumor growth. Further analysis showed that the increase in PKMYT1 expressions led to malignant biological behavior through activation of the MAPK signaling pathway.

Conclusion

Our data suggested that PKMYT1 promotes cell proliferation and apoptosis resistance in GC cells by activating the MAPK signaling pathway, making it a potential therapeutic target for GC.

Synthetic lethality: A promising therapeutic strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the main cause of liver cancer-related death, is one of the main cancers in terms of incidence and mortality. However, HCC is difficult to target and develops strong drug resistance. Therefore, a new treatment strategy is urgently needed. The clinical application of the concept of synthetic lethality in recent years provides a new therapeutic direction for the accurate treatment of HCC. Here, we introduce the concept of synthetic lethality, the screening used to study synthetic lethality, and the identified and potential genetic interactions that induce synthetic lethality in HCC. In addition, we propose opportunities and challenges for translating synthetic lethal interactions to the clinical treatment of HCC.

Use of HuH6 and other human-derived hepatoma lines for the detection of genotoxins: a new hope for laboratory animals?

Cell lines which are currently used in genotoxicity tests lack enzymes which activate/detoxify mutagens. Therefore, rodent-derived liver preparations are used which reflect their metabolism in humans only partly; as a consequence misleading results are often obtained. Previous findings suggest that certain liver cell lines express phase I/II enzymes and detect promutagens without activation; however, their use is hampered by different shortcomings. The aim of this study was the identification of a suitable cell line. The sensitivity of twelve hepatic cell lines was investigated in single cell gel electrophoresis assays. Furthermore, characteristics of these lines were studied which are relevant for their use in genotoxicity assays (mitotic activity, p53 status, chromosome number, and stability). Three lines (HuH6, HCC1.2, and HepG2) detected representatives of five classes of promutagens, namely, IQ and PhIP (HAAs), B(a)P (PAH), NDMA (nitrosamine), and AFB₁ (aflatoxin), and were sensitive towards reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, the commercially available line HepaRG, postulated to be a surrogate for hepatocytes and an ideal tool for mutagenicity tests, did not detect IQ and was relatively insensitive towards ROS. All other lines failed to detect two or more compounds. HCC1.2 cells have a high and unstable chromosome number and mutated p53, these features distract from its use in routine screening. HepG2 was frequently employed in earlier studies, but pronounced inter-laboratory variations were observed. HuH6 was never used in genotoxicity experiments and is highly promising, it has a stable karyotype and we demonstrated that the results of genotoxicity experiments are reproducible.

β-defensin 1 expression in HCV infected liver/liver cancer: an important role in protecting HCV progression and liver cancer development

β-defensin family plays a role in host defense against viral infection, however its role in HCV infection is still unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that β-defensin 1 was significantly reduced in HCV-infected liver specimens. Treatment with interferon and ribavirin upregulated β-defensin-1, but not other β-defensin tested, with the extent and duration of upregulation associated with treatment response. We investigated β-defensin family expression in liver cancer in publicly available datasets and found that among all the β-defensins tested, only β-defensin 1 was significantly downregulated, suggesting β-defensin 1 plays a crucial role in liver cancer development. Further analysis identified E-cadherin as the top positive correlated gene, while hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate as the top negative correlated gene. Expression of two proteoglycans were also positively correlated with that of β-defensin 1. We have also identified small molecules as potential therapeutic agents to reverse β-defensin 1-associated gene signature. Furthermore, the downregulation of β-defensin 1 and E-cadherin, and upregulation of hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate, were further confirmed in liver cancer and adjacent normal tissue collected from in-house Chinese liver cancer patients. Together, our results suggest β-defensin 1 plays an important role in protecting HCV progression and liver cancer development.

PKMYT1 promoted the growth and motility of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by activating beta-catenin/TCF signaling

Over-activation of beta-catenin/TCF signaling has been frequently observed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Better understanding the molecular mechanism for the aberrant activation of beta-catenin/TCF signaling would provide novel insights into the treatment of this malignancy. In this study, we have shown that the expression of PKMYT1 was up-regulated in HCC. PKMYT1 positively regulated the growth, migration, colony formation, metastasis and epithelia mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HCC cells. Mechanically, PKMTY1 activated the beta-catenin/TCF signaling by binding and inactivating GSK3beta. Taken together, our study demonstrated the oncogenic activity of PKMYT1 in the progression of HCC and suggested that PKMYT1 might be a therapeutic target.

Wnt Drug Discovery: Weaving Through the Screens, Patents and Clinical Trials

The Wnt signaling pathway is intricately involved in many aspects of development and is the root cause of an increasing number of diseases. For example, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death in the industrialized world and aberration of Wnt signaling within the colonic stem cell is the cause of more than 90% of these cancers. Despite our advances in successfully targeting other pathways, such as Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2), there are no clinically relevant therapies available for Wnt-related diseases. Here, we investigated where research activities are focused with respect to Wnt signaling modulators by searching the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) for patents and patent applications related to Wnt modulators and compared this to clinical trials focusing on Wnt modulation. We found that while the transition of intellectual property surrounding the Wnt ligand-receptor interface to clinical trials is robust, this is not true for specific inhibitors of β-catenin, which is constitutively active in many cancers. Considering the ubiquitous use of the synthetic T-cell Factor/Lymphoid Enhancer Factor (TCF/Lef) reporter system and its success in identifying novel modulators in vitro, we speculate that this model of drug discovery does not capture the complexity of in vivo Wnt signaling that may be required if we are to successfully target the Wnt pathway in the clinic. Notwithstanding, increasingly more complex models are being developed, which may not be high throughput, but more pragmatic in our pursuit to control Wnt signaling.