FUT2 inhibits the EMT and metastasis of colorectal cancer by increasing LRP1 fucosylation

Transcriptional immune suppression and up-regulation of double-stranded DNA damage and repair repertoires in ecDNA-containing tumors

Extrachromosomal DNA is a common cause of oncogene amplification in cancer. The non-chromosomal inheritance of ecDNA enables tumors to rapidly evolve, contributing to treatment resistance and poor outcome for patients. The transcriptional context in which ecDNAs arise and progress, including chromosomally-driven transcription, is incompletely understood. We examined gene expression patterns of 870 tumors of varied histological types, to identify transcriptional correlates of ecDNA. Here, we show that ecDNA-containing tumors impact four major biological processes. Specifically, ecDNA-containing tumors up-regulate DNA damage and repair, cell cycle control, and mitotic processes, but down-regulate global immune regulation pathways. Taken together, these results suggest profound alterations in gene regulation in ecDNA-containing tumors, shedding light on molecular processes that give rise to their development and progression.

Comprehensive pan-cancer analysis reveals the versatile role of GALNT7 in epigenetic alterations and immune modulation in cancer

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality globally, characterized by intricate molecular alterations, including epigenetic changes such as glycosylation. This study presents a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of Polypeptide N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 7 (GALNT7), an enzyme involved in mucin-type O-linked protein glycosylation. GALNT7 has previously been linked to various cancers, but a unified analysis across cancer types is lacking. Leveraging data from TCGA, GTEx, and other sources, we scrutinized GALNT7's expression, prognostic relevance, links to immune-related genes, immune cell infiltration, and its involvement in tumor genetic heterogeneity across 33 cancer types. GALNT7 exhibited diverse expression patterns across cancer types, showcasing its potential as an oncogenic factor, with its expression levels linked to both positive and negative prognoses, highlighting the context-specific nature of its role in cancer progression. We delved into the intricate interplay between GALNT7 and immune genes, unveiling positive and negative correlations, underscoring complex interactions in the tumor microenvironment. GALNT7 was found to impact immune cell infiltration, which could have implications for treatment strategies. Additionally, GALNT7 displayed associations with genetic tumor aspects, encompassing genomic instability, DNA repair issues, and genetic mutations, hinting at its pivotal role in shaping the genetic landscape of diverse cancers. Enrichment analysis uncovered potential functions of GALNT7 beyond glycosylation, such as its participation in signaling pathways and its association with various diseases, notably cancer. This comprehensive analysis elucidates the multifaceted role of GALNT7 in cancer biology, underlining its potential as a therapeutic target and biomarker across various cancer types. These findings provide valuable insights for future research and the development of personalized cancer treatment strategies.

Hydroxygenkwanin suppresses peritoneal metastasis in colorectal cancer by modulating tumor-associated macrophages polarization

Peritoneal metastasis is an important cause of high mortality and poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Therefore, the development of compounds with unique anti-CRC Peritoneal metastasis activities is urgently needed to improve the survival of CRC patients. Hydroxygenkwanin (HGK),a natural flavonoid compound, have been shown to display anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, and immunoregulatory effects. Here, we employed CRC peritoneal metastasis mouse model with MC38 cells to examine the antitumor activity of HGK. The result showed that HGK not only inhibited peritoneal metastasis, but also significantly increased the proportion of M1-like macrophages while decreasing the proportion of M2-like macrophages within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the inhibitory effect of HGK on peritoneal metastasis of CRC depended on macrophages in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we revealed that HGK promoted the polarization of TAMs into M1-like macrophages and inhibited their polarization into M2-like macrophages in a LPS- or IL-4-induced bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) model and co-culture system. Finally, we also investigated the regulatory mechanism of HGK on TAMs polarization that HGK may active p-STAT5, p-NF-κB signaling in M1-like macrophages and inhibit p-STAT6, JMJD3, PPARγ expression in M2-like macrophages. Taken together, our findings suggest that HGK is a natural candidate for effective prevention of peritoneal metastasis in colorectal cancer, which provides a potential strategy for clinical treatment of colorectal cancer.

A "One-Step" Strategy for the Global Characterization of Core-Fucosylated Glycoproteome

Core fucosylation, a special type of N-linked glycosylation, is important in tumor proliferation, invasion, metastatic potential, and therapy resistance. However, the core-fucosylated glycoproteome has not been extensively profiled due to the low abundance and poor ionization efficiency of glycosylated peptides. Here, a "one-step" strategy has been described for protein core-fucosylation characterization in biological samples. Core-fucosylated peptides can be selectively labeled with a glycosylated probe, which is linked with a temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) polymer, by mutant endoglycosidase (EndoF3-D165A). The labeled probe can be further removed by wild-type endoglycosidase (EndoF3) in a traceless manner for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. The feasibility and effectiveness of the "one-step" strategy are evaluated in bovine serum albumin (BSA) spiked with standard core-fucosylated peptides, H1299, and Jurkat cell lines. The "one-step" strategy is then employed to characterize core-fucosylated sites in human lung adenocarcinoma, resulting in the identification of 2494 core-fucosylated sites distributed on 1176 glycoproteins. Further data analysis reveals that 196 core-fucosylated sites are significantly upregulated in tumors, which may serve as potential drug development targets or diagnostic biomarkers. Together, this "one-step" strategy has great potential for use in global and in-depth analysis of the core-fucosylated glycoproteome to promote its mechanism research.

Identification of biomarker candidates for exfoliative glaucoma from autoimmunity profiling

BACKGROUND

Exfoliative glaucoma (XFG) is a subtype of open-angle glaucoma characterized by distinctive extracellular fibrils and a yet unknown pathogenesis potentially involving immune-related factors. The aim of this exploratory study was to identify biomarkers for XFG using data from autoimmunity profiling performed on blood samples from a Scandinavian cohort of patients.

METHODS

Autoantibody screening was analyzed against 258 different protein fragments in blood samples taken from 30 patients diagnosed with XFG and 30 healthy donors. The 258 protein fragments were selected based on a preliminary study performed on 3072 randomly selected antigens and antigens associated with the eye. The "limma" package was used to perform moderated t-tests on the proteomic data to identify differentially expressed reactivity between the groups.

RESULTS

Multiple associated genes were highlighted as possible biomarker candidates including FUT2, CDH5, and the LOX family genes. Using seven variables, our binary logistic regression model was able to classify the cases from the controls with an AUC of 0.85, and our reduced model using only one variable corresponding to the FUT2 gene provided an AUC of 0.75, based on LOOCV. Furthermore, over-representation gene analysis was performed to identify pathways that were associated with antigens differentially bound to self-antibodies. This highlighted the enrichment of pathways related to collagen fibril formation and the regulatory molecules mir-3176 and mir-876-5p.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests several potential biomarkers that may be useful in developing further models of the pathology of XFG. In particular, CDH5, FUT2, and the LOX family seem to have a relationship which merits additional exploration.

Transcriptional immune suppression and upregulation of double stranded DNA damage and repair repertoires in ecDNA-containing tumors

Extrachromosomal DNA is a common cause of oncogene amplification in cancer. The non-chromosomal inheritance of ecDNA enables tumors to rapidly evolve, contributing to treatment resistance and poor outcome for patients. The transcriptional context in which ecDNAs arise and progress, including chromosomally-driven transcription, is incompletely understood. We examined gene expression patterns of 870 tumors of varied histological types, to identify transcriptional correlates of ecDNA. Here we show that ecDNA containing tumors impact four major biological processes. Specifically, ecDNA containing tumors upregulate DNA damage and repair, cell cycle control, and mitotic processes, but downregulate global immune regulation pathways. Taken together, these results suggest profound alterations in gene regulation in ecDNA containing tumors, shedding light on molecular processes that give rise to their development and progression.