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Wang Y, Ma Q, Li H, Huang W, You J, Liu D. UBE2D1 promotes glioblastoma proliferation by modulating p21 ubiquitination. Mol Carcinog 2024; 63:1967-1979. [PMID: 39016669 DOI: 10.1002/mc.23786] [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: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024]
Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) cells exhibit aberrant proliferative abilities and resistance to conventional therapies. However, the mechanisms underlying these malignant phenotypes are poorly understood. In this study, we identified ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2D1 (UBE2D1) as a crucial stimulator of GBM development. It is highly expressed in GBM and closely associated with poor prognosis in patients with GBM. UBE2D1 knockdown inhibits GBM cell growth and leads to G1 cell cycle arrest. Mechanistically, UBCH5A binds to p21 at the protein level and induces the ubiquitination and degradation of p21. This negative regulation is mediated by STUB1. Our findings are the first to identify UBE2D1 as a key driver of GBM growth and provide a potential target for improving prognosis and therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongfeng Wang
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Key Clinical Laboratory of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Qianquan Ma
- Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Haoyu Li
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Wei Huang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Research Center of Carcinogenesis and Targeted Therapy, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jia You
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Dian Liu
- Department of Lymphoma and Abdominal Radiotherapy, Hunan Cancer Hospital and the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
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2
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Mu X, Wei Y, Fan X, Zhang R, Xi W, Zheng G, Yang AG. Aberrant activation of a miR-101-UBE2D1 axis contributes to the advanced progression and chemotherapy sensitivity in human hepatocellular carcinoma. Cell Death Discov 2024; 10:422. [PMID: 39353886 PMCID: PMC11445525 DOI: 10.1038/s41420-024-02193-y] [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: 07/04/2024] [Revised: 09/19/2024] [Accepted: 09/23/2024] [Indexed: 10/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Chemotherapeutic drugs, such as cisplatin (cis-dichlorodiamineplatinum [II], cDDP) and 5-fluorouracil (5Fu), are widely used in transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), which is a standard therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Chemoresistance is a major cause of TACE treatment failure in HCC patients. Our previous studies have identified the expression levels of miR-101 responsive genes, such as EED, EZH2, STMN1 and JUNB, exhibit significant correlation with the occurrence and progression of HCC, while the role of miR-101 responsive gene signatures in the chemoresistance of HCC treatment remains unclear. In this study, we identified ubiquitin-coupled enzyme E2D1 (UBE2D1) as a crucial regulatory factor in the chemoresistance of HCC, which is a direct target of miR-101 and exhibits significant correlation with miR-101-responsive gene signatures. The bioinformatics analysis showed the expression of UBE2D1 was significantly increased in HCC tissues and was closely correlated with the poor prognosis. In addition, we analyzed the role of miR-101/UBE2D1 axis in regulating chemo-sensitive of HCC cells. Our results showed that miR-101 increases the DNA damage and apoptosis of HCC cells by inhibiting the expression of UBE2D1, which in turn increases the sensitivity of HCC cells to cDDP and 5Fu both in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, simultaneous assessment of miR-101 and UBE2D1 expression levels might provide an effective approach in preselecting HCC patients with survival benefit from TACE treatment. Moreover, further elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanisms of the miR-101/UBE2D1 axis could provide novel insight for targeted therapy of HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiuli Mu
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yuchen Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xin Fan
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Rui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wenjin Xi
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Guoxu Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
| | - An-Gang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
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3
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Taylor JD, Barrett N, Martinez Cuesta S, Cassidy K, Pachl F, Dodgson J, Patel R, Eriksson TM, Riley A, Burrell M, Bauer C, Rees DG, Cimbro R, Zhang AX, Minter RR, Hunt J, Legg S. Targeted protein degradation using chimeric human E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. Commun Biol 2024; 7:1179. [PMID: 39300128 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06803-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 08/29/2024] [Indexed: 09/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Proteins can be targeted for degradation by engineering biomolecules that direct them to the eukaryotic ubiquitination machinery. For instance, the fusion of an E3 ubiquitin ligase to a suitable target binding domain creates a 'biological Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera' (bioPROTAC). Here we employ an analogous approach where the target protein is recruited directly to a human E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme via an attached target binding domain. Through rational design and screening we develop E2 bioPROTACs that induce the degradation of the human intracellular proteins SHP2 and KRAS. Using global proteomics, we characterise the target-specific and wider effects of E2 vs. VHL-based fusions. Taking SHP2 as a model target, we also employ a route to bioPROTAC discovery based on protein display libraries, yielding a degrader with comparatively weak affinity capable of suppressing SHP2-mediated signalling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan D Taylor
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK.
| | - Nathalie Barrett
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Sergio Martinez Cuesta
- Data Sciences and Quantitative Biology, Discovery Sciences, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Katelyn Cassidy
- Protein Sciences, Discovery Sciences, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA
| | - Fiona Pachl
- Protein Sciences, Discovery Sciences, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA
| | - James Dodgson
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Radhika Patel
- Centre for Genomics Research, Dynamic Omics, Discovery Sciences, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Tuula M Eriksson
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Aidan Riley
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Matthew Burrell
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Christin Bauer
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - D Gareth Rees
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Raffaello Cimbro
- Centre for Genomics Research, Dynamic Omics, Discovery Sciences, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - Andrew X Zhang
- Protein Sciences, Discovery Sciences, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA
| | - Ralph R Minter
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
| | - James Hunt
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK.
| | - Sandrine Legg
- Biologics Engineering, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK
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4
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Soni U, Singh A, Soni R, Samanta SK, Varadwaj PK, Misra K. Identification of candidate target genes of oral squamous cell carcinoma using high-throughput RNA-Seq data and in silico studies of their interaction with naturally occurring bioactive compounds. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2024; 42:8024-8044. [PMID: 37526306 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2242515] [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: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for more than 90% of all kinds of oral neoplasms that develop in the oral cavity. It is a type of malignancy that shows high morbidity and recurrence rate, but data on the disease's target genes and biomarkers is still insufficient. In this study, in silico studies have been performed to find out the novel target genes and their potential therapeutic inhibitors for the effective and efficient treatment of OSCC. The DESeq2 package of RStudio was used in the current investigation to screen and identify differentially expressed genes for OSCC. As a result of gene expression analysis, the top 10 novel genes were identified using the Cytohubba plugin of Cytoscape, and among them, the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (UBE2D1) was found to be upregulated and playing a significant role in the progression of human oral cancers. Following this, naturally occurring compounds were virtually evaluated and simulated against the discovered novel target as prospective drugs utilizing the Maestro, Schrodinger, and Gromacs software. In a simulated screening of naturally occurring potential inhibitors against the novel target UBE2D1, Epigallocatechin 3-gallate, Quercetin, Luteoline, Curcumin, and Baicalein were identified as potent inhibitors. Novel identified gene UBE2D1 has a significant role in the proliferation of human cancers through suppression of 'guardian of genome' p53 via ubiquitination dependent pathway. Therefore, the treatment of OSCC may benefit significantly from targeting this gene and its discovered naturally occurring inhibitors.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Unnati Soni
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Prayagraj, India
| | - Anirudh Singh
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Prayagraj, India
| | - Ramendra Soni
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Engineering, Jacob Institute of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, India
| | - Sintu Kumar Samanta
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Prayagraj, India
| | - Pritish Kumar Varadwaj
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Prayagraj, India
| | - Krishna Misra
- Department of Applied Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Prayagraj, India
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5
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Zhang M, Wei T, Guo D. The role of abnormal ubiquitination in hepatocellular carcinoma pathology. Cell Signal 2024; 114:110994. [PMID: 38036196 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2023.110994] [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: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Primary liver cancer is known for its high incidence and fatality rate. Over the years, therapeutic strategies for primary liver cancer have advanced significantly. Nonetheless, a substantial number of patients have not benefited from these methods, underscoring the pressing need for new and effective treatments for primary liver cancer. Ubiquitination is a critical post-translational modification that enables proteins to fulfill their normal biological functions and maintain their expression stability within cells. Importantly, increasing evidence suggests that the progression of liver cancer cells is often accompanied by disruptions in protein ubiquitination and deubiquitination processes. In this comprehensive review, we have compiled pertinent research about dysregulated ubiquitination in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to broaden our understanding in this field. We elucidate the connections between the ubiquitination proteasome system, deubiquitination, and HCC. Furthermore, we shed light on the role of ubiquitination in cells situated within the tumor microenvironment of HCC including its involvement in mediating the activation of oncogenic pathways, reprogramming metabolic processes, and perturbing normal cellular functions. In conclusion, targeting the dysregulation of ubiquitination in HCC holds promise as a prospective and complementary therapeutic approach to existing treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China; Henan Key Laboratory for Digestive Organ Transplantation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China
| | - Tingju Wei
- Department of Cardiac Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China
| | - Danfeng Guo
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China; Henan Key Laboratory for Digestive Organ Transplantation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
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6
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Jiang Y, Ni S, Xiao B, Jia L. Function, mechanism and drug discovery of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modification with multiomics profiling for cancer therapy. Acta Pharm Sin B 2023; 13:4341-4372. [PMID: 37969742 PMCID: PMC10638515 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2023.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Ubiquitin (Ub) and ubiquitin-like (Ubl) pathways are critical post-translational modifications that determine whether functional proteins are degraded or activated/inactivated. To date, >600 associated enzymes have been reported that comprise a hierarchical task network (e.g., E1-E2-E3 cascade enzymatic reaction and deubiquitination) to modulate substrates, including enormous oncoproteins and tumor-suppressive proteins. Several strategies, such as classical biochemical approaches, multiomics, and clinical sample analysis, were combined to elucidate the functional relations between these enzymes and tumors. In this regard, the fundamental advances and follow-on drug discoveries have been crucial in providing vital information concerning contemporary translational efforts to tailor individualized treatment by targeting Ub and Ubl pathways. Correspondingly, emphasizing the current progress of Ub-related pathways as therapeutic targets in cancer is deemed essential. In the present review, we summarize and discuss the functions, clinical significance, and regulatory mechanisms of Ub and Ubl pathways in tumorigenesis as well as the current progress of small-molecular drug discovery. In particular, multiomics analyses were integrated to delineate the complexity of Ub and Ubl modifications for cancer therapy. The present review will provide a focused and up-to-date overview for the researchers to pursue further studies regarding the Ub and Ubl pathways targeted anticancer strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Biying Xiao
- Cancer Institute, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Lijun Jia
- Cancer Institute, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
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7
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Guan XQ, Yuan XN, Feng KX, Shao YC, Liu Q, Yang ZL, Chen YY, Deng J, Hu MS, Li J, Tian YH, Chu MF, Zhang JW, Wei L. IGF2BP2-modified UBE2D1 interacts with Smad2/3 to promote the progression of breast cancer. Am J Cancer Res 2023; 13:2948-2968. [PMID: 37560007 PMCID: PMC10408479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested that ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2D1 (UBE2D1) is involved in tumor progression. In this study, we found that UBE2D1 expression was upregulated in breast cancer (BC) and was related to the prognosis of BC patients. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments, we demonstrated the aberrant expression of UBE2D1 promoted the proliferation and migration of BC cells, and the IGF2BP2-mediated N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification increased the stability of UBE2D1 mRNA. Mechanistically, UBE2D1 expression regulated the activity of TGF-β signaling through modulating the expression and the phosphorylation level of Smad2/3. Furthermore, UBE2D1 directly bound to Smad2/3 and affected the subsequent binding of Smad2 and Smad3, which is a necessary step for TGF-β signaling activation. Thus, our study reveals a pro-oncogenic role of UBE2D1 in the progression of BC and may provide novel strategies for BC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Qing Guan
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Xiao-Ning Yuan
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Kai-Xiang Feng
- Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - You-Cheng Shao
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Qin Liu
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Ze-Lin Yang
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Yan-Yan Chen
- Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Jin Deng
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Mei-Shun Hu
- Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Jun Li
- Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Yi-Hao Tian
- Department of Human Anatomy, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Meng-Fei Chu
- Department of Human Anatomy, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Jing-Wei Zhang
- Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Lei Wei
- Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan UniversityWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
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8
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Sun C, Zhang K, Ni C, Wan J, Duan X, Lou X, Yao X, Li X, Wang M, Gu Z, Yang P, Li Z, Qin Z. Transgelin promotes lung cancer progression via activation of cancer-associated fibroblasts with enhanced IL-6 release. Oncogenesis 2023; 12:18. [PMID: 36990991 DOI: 10.1038/s41389-023-00463-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), the principal constituent of the heterogenous tumor microenvironment, have been shown to promote tumor progression; however, the underlying mechanism is still less clear. Here, we find that transgelin (TAGLN) protein levels increased in primary CAFs isolated from human lung cancer, compared with those in paired normal fibroblasts. Tumor microarrays (TMAs) revealed that increased stromal TAGLN levels correlates with more lymphatic metastasis of tumor cells. In a subcutaneous tumor transplantation model, overexpression of Tagln in fibroblasts also increased tumor cell spread in mice. Further experiments show that Tagln overexpression promoted fibroblast activation and mobility in vitro. And TAGLN facilitates p-p65 entry into the nucleus, thereby activating the NF-κB signaling pathway in fibroblasts. Activated fibroblasts promote lung cancer progression via enhancing the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially interleukine-6 (IL-6). Our study revealed that the high levels of stromal TAGLN is a predictive risk factor for patients with lung cancer. Targeting stromal TAGLN may present an alternative therapeutic strategy against lung cancer progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chanjun Sun
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Kaishang Zhang
- Thoracic Surgery Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Chen Ni
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Jiajia Wan
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Xixi Duan
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Xiaohan Lou
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Xiaohan Yao
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Xiangnan Li
- Thoracic Surgery Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Ming Wang
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Zhuoyu Gu
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China
| | - Pengyuan Yang
- Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity of CAS, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, China
| | - Zhenzhen Li
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China.
| | - Zhihai Qin
- Medical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China.
- Key Laboratory of Protein and Peptide Pharmaceuticals, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang Area, 100101, Beijing, China.
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9
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Lei X, Hu X, Lu Q, Fu W, Sun W, Ma Q, Huang D, Xu Q. Ubiquitin‑conjugating enzymes as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for digestive system cancers (Review). Oncol Rep 2023; 49:63. [PMID: 36799184 PMCID: PMC9944987 DOI: 10.3892/or.2023.8500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Digestive system cancers are the leading cause of cancer‑related death worldwide due to their high morbidity and mortality rates. The current treatment methods include surgical treatment, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endoscopic treatment, and the precisely targeted therapy of digestive system cancers requires to be further studied. The ubiquitin‑proteasome system is the main pathway for protein degradation in cells and the ubiquitin‑conjugating enzymes (E2s) have a decisive role in the specific selection of target proteins for degradation. The E2s have an important physiological role in digestive system cancers, which is related to the clinical tumor stage, differentiation degree and poor prognosis. Furthermore, they are involved in the physiological processes of digestive system tumor cell proliferation, migration, invasion, stemness, drug resistance and autophagy. In the present article, the progress and achievements of the E2s in gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, gallbladder cancer and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were reviewed, which may provide early screening indicators and reliable therapeutic targets for digestive system cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangxiang Lei
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences and Forensic Medicine, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310053, P.R. China
| | - Xiaoge Hu
- The Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, P.R. China
| | - Qiliang Lu
- Qingdao Medical College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266000, P.R. China
| | - Wen Fu
- Qingdao Medical College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266000, P.R. China
| | - Wen Sun
- Second Clinical Medical Institute, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310053, P.R. China
| | - Qiancheng Ma
- Institute of Bioengineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, P.R. China
| | - Dongsheng Huang
- The Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, P.R. China,Correspondence to: Dr Dongsheng Huang or Dr Qiuran Xu, The Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, 158 Shangtang Road, Gongshu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, P.R. China, E-mail:
| | - Qiuran Xu
- The Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, P.R. China,Correspondence to: Dr Dongsheng Huang or Dr Qiuran Xu, The Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, 158 Shangtang Road, Gongshu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, P.R. China, E-mail:
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The Prognostic Value of AT-Rich Interaction Domain (ARID) Family Members in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma. EVIDENCE-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE 2022; 2022:1150390. [PMID: 36034939 PMCID: PMC9410793 DOI: 10.1155/2022/1150390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Objective Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal malignancies with a poor prognosis. The AT-rich interaction domain (ARID) family plays an essential regulatory role in the pathogenesis and progression of cancers. This study aims to evaluate the prognostic value and clinical significance of human ARID family genes in HCC. Methods ONCOMINE and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases were employed to retrieve ARIDs expression profile and clinicopathological information of HCC. Kaplan–Meier plotter and MethSurv were applied to the survival analysis of patients with HCC. CBioPortal was used to analyze genetic mutations of ARIDs. Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and Metascape were used to perform hub gene identification and functional enrichment. Results Expression levels of 11 ARIDs were upregulated in HCC, and 2 ARIDs were downregulated. Also, 4 ARIDs and 5 ARIDs were correlated with pathologic stages and histologic grades, respectively. Furthermore, higher expression of ARID1A, ARID1B, ARID2, ARID3A, ARID3B, ARID5B, KDM5A, KDM5B, KDM5C, and JARID2 was remarkably correlated with worse overall survival of patients with HCC, and the high ARID3C/KDM5D expression was related to longer overall survival. Multivariate Cox analysis indicated that ARID3A, KDM5C, and KDM5D were independent risk factors for HCC prognosis. Moreover, ARIDs mutations and 127 CpGs methylation in all ARIDs were observed to be significantly associated with the prognosis of HCC patients. Besides, our data showed that ARIDs could regulate tumor-related pathways and distinct immune cells in the HCC microenvironment. Conclusions ARIDs present the potential prognostic value for HCC. Our findings suggest that ARID3A, KDM5C, and KDM5D may be the prognostic biomarkers for patients with HCC.
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Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Related Four-Biomarker Risk Classifier for Survival Evaluation in Esophageal Cancer. JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2022; 2022:5860671. [PMID: 35342421 PMCID: PMC8956413 DOI: 10.1155/2022/5860671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Purpose Esophageal cancer (EC) is a lethal digestive tumor worldwide with a dismal clinical outcome. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress poses essential implications for a variety of tumor malignant behaviors. Here, we set up an ER stress-based risk classifier for assessing patient outcome and exploiting robust targets for medical decision-making of EC cases. Methods 340 EC cases with transcriptome and survival data from two independent public datasets (TCGA and GEO) were recruited for this project. Cox regression analyses were employed to create a risk classifier based on ER stress-related genes (ERGs) which were strongly linked to EC cases' outcomes. Then, we detected and confirmed the predictive ability of our proposed classifier via a host of statistical methods, including survival analysis and ROC method. In addition, immune-associated algorithm was implemented to analyze the immune activity of EC samples. Results Four EGRs (BCAP31, HSPD1, PDHA1, and UBE2D1) were selected to build an EGR-related classifier (ERC). This classifier could distinguish the patients into different risky subgroups. The remarkable differences in patient outcome between the two groups were observed, and similar results were also confirmed in GEO cohort. In terms of the immune analysis, the ERC could forecast the infiltration level of immunocytes, such as Tregs and NK cells. Conclusion We created a four-ERG risk classifier which displays the powerful capability of survival evaluation for EC cases.
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12
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Exploration of Alternative Splicing (AS) Events in MDV-Infected Chicken Spleens. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12121857. [PMID: 34946806 PMCID: PMC8701255 DOI: 10.3390/genes12121857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Marek’s disease (MD) was an immunosuppression disease induced by Marek’s disease virus (MDV). MD caused huge economic loss to the global poultry industry, but it also provided an ideal model for studying diseases induced by the oncogenic virus. Alternative splicing (AS) simultaneously produced different isoform transcripts, which are involved in various diseases and individual development. To investigate AS events in MD, RNA-Seq was performed in tumorous spleens (TS), spleens from the survivors (SS) without any lesion after MDV infection, and non-infected chicken spleens (NS). In this study, 32,703 and 25,217 AS events were identified in TS and SS groups with NS group as the control group, and 1198, 1204, and 348 differently expressed (DE) AS events (p-value < 0.05 and FDR < 0.05) were identified in TS vs. NS, TS vs. SS, SS vs. NS, respectively. Additionally, Function enrichment analysis showed that ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, p53 signaling pathway, and phosphatidylinositol signaling system were significantly enriched (p-value < 0.05). Small structural variations including SNP and indel were analyzed based on RNA-Seq data, and it showed that the TS group possessed more variants on the splice site region than those in SS and NS groups, which might cause more AS events in the TS group. Combined with previous circRNA data, we found that 287 genes could produce both circular and linear RNAs, which suggested these genes were more active in MD lymphoma transformation. This study has expanded the understanding of the MDV infection process and provided new insights for further analysis of resistance/susceptibility mechanisms.
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Cai H, Chen H, Huang Q, Zhu JM, Ke ZB, Lin YZ, Zheng QS, Wei Y, Xu N, Xue XY. Ubiquitination-Related Molecular Subtypes and a Novel Prognostic Index for Bladder Cancer Patients. Pathol Oncol Res 2021; 27:1609941. [PMID: 34776794 PMCID: PMC8585742 DOI: 10.3389/pore.2021.1609941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Objective: To develop and validate ubiquitination-related molecular subtypes and a novel prognostic index using ubiquitination-related genes (URGs) for patients with bladder cancer (BCa). Materials and Methods: We downloaded the clinical data and transcriptome data of BCa from TCGA and GEO database. Consensus clustering analysis was conducted to identify ubiquitination-related molecular subtypes for BCa. Besides, we performed univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis to develop a novel prognostic URGs-related index for BCa. We conducted internal and external verification in TCGA cohort and GEO cohort, respectively. Furthermore, the associations of ubiquitination-related molecular subtypes and prognostic index with tumor immune environment were also investigated. Results: A total of four ubiquitination-related molecular subtypes of BCa were finally identified. These four molecular subtypes had significantly different clinical characteristics, prognosis, PD-L1 expression level and tumor microenvironment. Besides, we developed a novel prognostic index using six URGs (including HLA-A, TMEM129, UBE2D1, UBE2N, UBE2T and USP5). The difference in OS between high and low-risk group was statistically significant in training cohort, testing cohort, and validating cohort. The area under ROC curve (AUC) for OS prediction was 0.736, 0.723, and 0.683 in training cohort, testing cohort, and validating cohort, respectively. Multivariate survival analysis showed that this index was an independent predictor for OS. This prognostic index was especially suitable for subtype 1 and 3, older, male, high grade, AJCC stage III-IV, stage N0, stage T3-4 BCa patients. Conclusions: This study identified a total of four ubiquitination-related molecular subtypes with significantly different tumor microenvironment, prognosis, clinical characteristics and PD-L1 expression level. Besides, a novel ubiquitination-related prognostic index for BCa patients was developed and successfully verified, which performed well in predicting prognosis of BCa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hai Cai
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Hang Chen
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Qi Huang
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Jun-Ming Zhu
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Zhi-Bin Ke
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Yun-Zhi Lin
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Qing-Shui Zheng
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Yong Wei
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Ning Xu
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.,Fujian Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Cancer, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Xue-Yi Xue
- Department of Urology, Urology Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
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Xie H, He Y, Wu Y, Lu Q. Silencing of UBE2D1 inhibited cell migration in gastric cancer, decreasing ubiquitination of SMAD4. Infect Agent Cancer 2021; 16:63. [PMID: 34743754 PMCID: PMC8574036 DOI: 10.1186/s13027-021-00402-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Gastric cancer (GC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Because it is hard to diagnose at early stage, the overall 5 years survival rate is lower than 25%. High migration is the main hallmark of malignant cells at advanced stage of GC. Thus, it is urgent to find biomarkers for early diagnosis and more effective therapy of GC. Methods In this study, lentivirus-mediated silencing and overexpression lentiviruses targeting the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 D1 (UBE2D1), transwell, wound healing, and pulmonary metastasis mouse model were applied to analyze the function of UBE2D1 in vitro and in vivo. Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to elucidate the level of UBE2D1 in GC samples. Results Silencing of UBE2D1 inhibited cell migration and the levels of epithelial-mesenchymal transition makers (MMP2 and MMP9) in AGS and MKN45 cells. Silencing of UBE2D1 inhibited cell metastasis in mouse model. On the contrary, UBE2D1 overexpression increased cell migration and the levels of MMP2 and MMP9 in MGC-803 cells. Further, silencing of UBE2D1 decreased the ubiquitination level of mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4), and the increase of cell migration induced by UBE2D1 overexpression could be reversed by SMAD4. Conclusion Silencing of UBE2D1 inhibited cell migration through transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)/SMAD4 signaling pathway in GC. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13027-021-00402-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Honghu Xie
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Changzhou, 185 Juqian Street, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yu He
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Changzhou, 185 Juqian Street, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yugang Wu
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Changzhou, 185 Juqian Street, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China
| | - Qicheng Lu
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Changzhou, 185 Juqian Street, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China.
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15
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Li Y, Wang L, Xu X, Sun H, Wu L. LncRNA HLA Complex Group 11 Knockdown Alleviates Cisplatin Resistance in Gastric Cancer by Targeting the miR-144-3p/UBE2D1 Axis. Cancer Manag Res 2021; 13:7543-7557. [PMID: 34629901 PMCID: PMC8493275 DOI: 10.2147/cmar.s329846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Cisplatin (DDP) treatment is one of the most predominant chemotherapeutic strategies for patients with gastric cancer (GC). LncRNA noncoding RNA HLA complex group 11 (lncRNA HCG11) has been confirmed to promote GC progression. This study attempted to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of HCG11 in DDP resistance of GC. METHODS qRT-PCR was performed to evaluate the expression of HCG11, microRNA-144-3p (miR-144-3p), and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 D1 (UBE2D1) in GC. The correlation between HCG11 and clinicopathological features of GC patients was assessed. DDP-resistant GC cells and their parental cells were cultured in different concentrations of DDP. The role of HCG11 for the viability and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of DDP in DDP-resistant GC cells was determined by MTT assay. Then, the invasion of DDP-resistant GC cells was measured by transwell assay. Next, a dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm the interactions among HCG11, miR-144-3p, and UBE2D1 in GC. RESULTS The expression of HCG11 and UBE2D1 was elevated in tumor tissues of GC patients, but miR-144-3p was declined. HCG11 expression was elevated in DDP-resistant GC patients and is strongly correlated with DDP sensitivity and World Health Organization grade in GC patients. HCG11 knockdown reduced the viability, IC50 of DDP, and invasion of DDP-resistant GC cells. Additionally, HCG11 targeted miR-144-3p and miR-144-3p further targeted UBE2D1. Feedback experiments indicated that low expression of miR-144-3p or overexpression of UBE2D1 mitigated the inhibitory effect of HCG11 depletion on DDP resistance of GC cells. CONCLUSION HCG11 knockdown attenuated DDP resistance of GC cells through via miR-144-3p/UBE2D1 axis, affording a novel therapeutic strategy for GC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Li
- Department of Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, 150040, People’s Republic of China
| | - Liqin Wang
- Nursing Teaching and Research Department, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, 150040, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xiaoyi Xu
- Department of Medical Laboratory, First Clinical Medical College, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, 157011, People’s Republic of China
| | - Heng Sun
- Department of Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, 150040, People’s Republic of China
| | - Leilei Wu
- Pharmacy Laboratory, College of Pharmacy, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, 157011, People’s Republic of China
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16
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An optimized BRD4 inhibitor effectively eliminates NF-κB-driven triple-negative breast cancer cells. Bioorg Chem 2021; 114:105158. [PMID: 34378541 DOI: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2021.105158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2021] [Revised: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Acetylation of NF-κB's RelA subunit at lysine-310 (AcLys310) helps to maintain constitutive NF-κB activity in cancers such as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Bromodomain-containing factor BRD4 binds to acetylated RelA to promote the activity of NF-κB. Hence, interfering with the acetylated RelA-BRD4 interaction is a potential strategy for treating NF-κB-driven TNBC. Here, a new compound 13a was obtained by structural optimization and modification of our previously reported compound. In comparison with the well-known BRD4 inhibitor (+)-JQ1, 13a showed more potent anticancer activity in NF-κB-active MDA-MB-231 cells. Mechanistically, 13a antagonized the protein-protein interaction (PPI) between BRD4 and acetylated RelA, decreased levels of IL-6, IL-8, Snail, Vimentin, and ZEB1, induced cell senescence and DNA damage, and weakened the adhesion, metastasis, and invasion ability of TNBC cells. Our results provide insights into avenues for the further development of potent BRD4-acetylated RelA PPI inhibitors. Moreover, our findings highlight the effectiveness and feasibility of blocking the interaction between BRD4 and acetylated RelA against NF-κB-active cancers, and of screening antagonists of this PPI.
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17
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Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes in Cancer. Cells 2021; 10:cells10061383. [PMID: 34199813 PMCID: PMC8227520 DOI: 10.3390/cells10061383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The ubiquitin-mediated degradation system is responsible for controlling various tumor-promoting processes, including DNA repair, cell cycle arrest, cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, migration and invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. The conjugation of ubiquitin to a target protein is mediated sequentially by the E1 (activating)‒E2 (conjugating)‒E3 (ligating) enzyme cascade. Thus, E2 enzymes act as the central players in the ubiquitination system, modulating various pathophysiological processes in the tumor microenvironment. In this review, we summarize the types and functions of E2s in various types of cancer and discuss the possibility of E2s as targets of anticancer therapeutic strategies.
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18
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Du X, Song H, Shen N, Hua R, Yang G. The Molecular Basis of Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes (E2s) as a Potential Target for Cancer Therapy. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22073440. [PMID: 33810518 PMCID: PMC8037234 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22073440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2s) are one of the three enzymes required by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway to connect activated ubiquitin to target proteins via ubiquitin ligases. E2s determine the connection type of the ubiquitin chains, and different types of ubiquitin chains regulate the stability and activity of substrate proteins. Thus, E2s participate in the regulation of a variety of biological processes. In recent years, the importance of E2s in human health and diseases has been particularly emphasized. Studies have shown that E2s are dysregulated in variety of cancers, thus it might be a potential therapeutic target. However, the molecular basis of E2s as a therapeutic target has not been described systematically. We reviewed this issue from the perspective of the special position and role of E2s in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, the structure of E2s and biological processes they are involved in. In addition, the inhibitors and microRNAs targeting E2s are also summarized. This article not only provides a direction for the development of effective drugs but also lays a foundation for further study on this enzyme in the future.
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19
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Du W, Chen W, Shu Z, Xiang D, Bi K, Lu Y, Zhang X, Li L, Diao H. Identification of prognostic biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma via long noncoding RNA expression and copy number alterations. Epigenomics 2020; 12:1303-1315. [PMID: 32772564 DOI: 10.2217/epi-2019-0385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to identify long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) with potential to be prognostic biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by analyzing copy number alterations (CNAs). Methods: RNA Sequencing data of 369 HCC patients was downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and analyzed with a series of systematic bioinformatics methods. Results: LncRNA-CNA association analysis revealed that many lncRNAs were located in sites frequently amplified or deleted. Three upregulated lncRNAs (LINC00689, SNHG20 and MAFG-AS1) with copy amplification and one downregulated lncRNA TMEM220-AS1 with copy deletion were associated with poor prognosis of HCC. Conclusion: This study reveals that differentially expressed lncRNAs correlate with CNAs in HCC. Moreover, the differentially expressed lncRNAs and their copy amplification/deletions could be promising prognostic biomarkers of HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weibo Du
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Wenbiao Chen
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Zheyue Shu
- Division of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310000, China.,Key Lab of Combined Multi-Organ Transplantation, Ministry of Public Health, Hangzhou, 310000, China
| | - Dairong Xiang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Kefan Bi
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Yingfeng Lu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Xujun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Lanjuan Li
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Hongyan Diao
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China
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20
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Yang H, Xuefeng Y, Jianhua X. Systematic review of the roles of interleukins in hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Chim Acta 2020; 506:33-43. [PMID: 32142718 DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2020.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary liver cancer with high morbidity and mortality that is often accompanied by immune system disorders and local lymphocyte infiltration. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, cancer cells, stromal cells, and the numerous cytokines they produce, such as chemokines, interferons, tumor necrosis factors, and interleukins, collectively constitute the tumor microenvironment. As a main type of immune effector, interleukin plays opposing roles in regulating tumor cell progression, adhesion, and migration according to its different subtypes. Many reports have concentrated on the roles that interleukins play in HCC, but understanding them systematically remains challenging. This study reviewed the current data to comprehensively summarize the relationships between HCC progression and human interleukin gene families.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hu Yang
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology, Hengyang Medical College, University of South China, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Special Pathogens Prevention and Control, Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, Hunan, China; Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421002, China
| | - Yang Xuefeng
- Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421002, China
| | - Xiao Jianhua
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology, Hengyang Medical College, University of South China, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Special Pathogens Prevention and Control, Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, Hunan, China.
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21
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Chen W, Tang D, Ou M, Dai Y. Mining Prognostic Biomarkers of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on Immune-Associated Genes. DNA Cell Biol 2020; 39:499-512. [PMID: 32069130 DOI: 10.1089/dna.2019.5099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
This research aims to investigate the immune-associated gene signature from databases to improve the prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by multidimensional methods using various bioinformatic methods. Fifty-one immune-associated genes were mined out, which were associated with clinical characters through univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, and 51 immune-associated genes could be well-divided HCC samples into high-risk and low-risk clusters. Next, we performed least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression method to reveal 18 immune-associated genes' signature and calculate risk score of each gene for receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Comparing with low-risk cluster, high-risk cluster had higher risk score with unfavorable prognosis. Then, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that risk score of 18 immune-associated genes' signature was associated with tumor invasion and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. ROC analysis indicated combined TNM stage, and risk score performed more sensitive and specific than single TNM stage or risk score in survival prediction. Furthermore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis found that the pathways enriched in tumorigenesis were related to risk score, and those pathways could separate HCC samples into high and low clusters. In addition, the survival prediction of 18 immune-associated genes' signature was well validated in independent test data set, external data set, and Real-time Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) experiment. The 18 immune-associated genes' signature was constructed, which could be used in effective prediction of HCC prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenbiao Chen
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Donge Tang
- Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Minglin Ou
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, China
| | - Yong Dai
- Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
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22
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Architecture of The Human Ape1 Interactome Defines Novel Cancers Signatures. Sci Rep 2020; 10:28. [PMID: 31913336 PMCID: PMC6949240 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56981-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
APE1 is essential in cancer cells due to its central role in the Base Excision Repair pathway of DNA lesions and in the transcriptional regulation of genes involved in tumor progression/chemoresistance. Indeed, APE1 overexpression correlates with chemoresistance in more aggressive cancers, and APE1 protein-protein interactions (PPIs) specifically modulate different protein functions in cancer cells. Although important, a detailed investigation on the nature and function of protein interactors regulating APE1 role in tumor progression and chemoresistance is still lacking. The present work was aimed at analyzing the APE1-PPI network with the goal of defining bad prognosis signatures through systematic bioinformatics analysis. By using a well-characterized HeLa cell model stably expressing a flagged APE1 form, which was subjected to extensive proteomics analyses for immunocaptured complexes from different subcellular compartments, we here demonstrate that APE1 is a central hub connecting different subnetworks largely composed of proteins belonging to cancer-associated communities and/or involved in RNA- and DNA-metabolism. When we performed survival analysis in real cancer datasets, we observed that more than 80% of these APE1-PPI network elements is associated with bad prognosis. Our findings, which are hypothesis generating, strongly support the possibility to infer APE1-interactomic signatures associated with bad prognosis of different cancers; they will be of general interest for the future definition of novel predictive disease biomarkers. Future studies will be needed to assess the function of APE1 in the protein complexes we discovered. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD013368.
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Gâtel P, Piechaczyk M, Bossis G. Ubiquitin, SUMO, and Nedd8 as Therapeutic Targets in Cancer. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2020; 1233:29-54. [PMID: 32274752 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-38266-7_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Ubiquitin defines a family of approximately 20 peptidic posttranslational modifiers collectively called the Ubiquitin-like (UbLs). They are conjugated to thousands of proteins, modifying their function and fate in many ways. Dysregulation of these modifications has been implicated in a variety of pathologies, in particular cancer. Ubiquitin, SUMO (-1 to -3), and Nedd8 are the best-characterized UbLs. They have been involved in the regulation of the activity and/or the stability of diverse components of various oncogenic or tumor suppressor pathways. Moreover, the dysregulation of enzymes responsible for their conjugation/deconjugation has also been associated with tumorigenesis and cancer resistance to therapies. The UbL system therefore constitutes an attractive target for developing novel anticancer therapeutic strategies. Here, we review the roles and dysregulations of Ubiquitin, SUMO, and Nedd8 pathways in tumorigenesis, as well as recent advances in the identification of small molecules targeting their conjugating machineries for potential application in the fight against cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Gâtel
- Equipe Labellisée Ligue Contre le Cancer, IGMM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France
| | - Marc Piechaczyk
- Equipe Labellisée Ligue Contre le Cancer, IGMM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France
| | - Guillaume Bossis
- Equipe Labellisée Ligue Contre le Cancer, IGMM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France.
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Huang WT, Liu AG, Cai KT, He RQ, Li Z, Wei QJ, Chen MY, Huang JY, Yan WY, Zhou H, Chen G, Ma J. Exploration and validation of downregulated microRNA-199a-3p, downstream messenger RNA targets and transcriptional regulation in osteosarcoma. Am J Transl Res 2019; 11:7538-7554. [PMID: 31934299 PMCID: PMC6943471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2019] [Accepted: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary bone tumor with a high incidence and mortality in children and adolescents. Emerging evidence shows that microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in biological tumor mechanisms by targeting downstream messenger RNAs (mRNAs). This article aimed to investigate the potential regulatory targets of microRNA-199a-3p (miR-199a-3p) in OS and to contribute to the understanding of miR-199a-3p-related OS regulatory mechanisms. MicroRNA-related Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) chips, ArrayExpress chips and literature data were used to determine the expression of miR-199a-3p in OS and pooled to explore its potential clinical value. To investigate the target genes of miR-199a-3p further, we integrated the results from the following three-part gene study: Twelve online prediction tools were used to predict the target genes of miR-199a-3p; the GEO GSE89370 chip transfected with miRSelect pEP-miR-199a-3p was used to analyze the downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in OS cells; and highly expressed DEGs were derived from an in-house microarray generated from three pairs of clinical OS and normal tissue samples acquired through our department. Then, we analyzed the target genes using the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to further identify the primary target genes. In addition, we constructed transcription factor (TF)-miRNA-joint gene feed-forward regulatory loops (FFLs) with Circuits DB using miR-199a-3p as the core. A comprehensive meta-analysis of a hub of miR-199a-3p targeted genes was performed to integrate expression level, summary ROC (sROC) curves and survival analysis results from the GEO data for verification and exploration. Finally, the expression levels of the hub genes were verified in OS tissues and U2OS cells by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunocytochemistry (ICC). Data on miR-199a-3p expression were obtained from three data sets (GSE65071, GSE69524, and PMID 21666078), which showed low miR-199a-3p expression levels in OS tissues. The combined data indicated the same tendency, with the SMD of the random effect model, as shown in forest plots, being -2.8 (95% CI: -4.49, -1.11). In addition, we determined that miR-199a-3p may serve as a molecular marker useful for distinguishing OS tissues from normal tissues with high sensitivity and specificity, with the measured outcomes being 0.94 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.99) and 0.96 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.00), respectively. In addition, 391 genes were considered targets of miR-199a-3p in OS, and the enrichment analysis indicated that these targets were mainly enriched in proteoglycans in cancer and in spliceosomes. Four genes, CDKI, CCNB1, AURKA and NEK2, were regarded as hub targets based on the PPI data. Subsequently, TF-miRNA-joint genes FFLs were constructed in Circuits DB and included 17 TFs and 82 joint targets. These joint targets were mainly enriched in spliceosomes. UBE2D1 and RBM25 were regarded as hub joint targets based on the enrichment analysis. All selected target genes were further verified to ensure that they were upregulated in OS and to determine their prognostic significance. At the experimental verification level, the CDK1 protein was confirmed to be positively expressed in the cytoplasm of OS tissues and the U2OS cell line. Our study verified that miR-199a-3p was obviously downregulated in OS. CDK1, CCNB1, NEK2, AURKA, UBE2D1 and RBM25 were identified as potential target genes of miR-199a-3p in OS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Ting Huang
- Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - An-Gui Liu
- Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Kai-Teng Cai
- Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Rong-Quan He
- Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Zhen Li
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Qing-Jun Wei
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Ming-Yue Chen
- Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Jing-Yuan Huang
- Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Wan-Yun Yan
- Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Hong Zhou
- Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Gang Chen
- Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
| | - Jie Ma
- Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P. R. China
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Liu Y, Zhao R, Chi S, Zhang W, Xiao C, Zhou X, Zhao Y, Wang H. UBE2C Is Upregulated by Estrogen and Promotes Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition via p53 in Endometrial Cancer. Mol Cancer Res 2019; 18:204-215. [PMID: 31662448 DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-19-0561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2019] [Revised: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 10/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2C (UBE2C) plays important roles in tumor progression; nevertheless, its function in endometrial cancer remains unclear. This study elucidated the impact of UBE2C on endometrial cancer and its underlying mechanism. Human endometrial cancer and normal endometrial tissues were acquired from patients at Wuhan Union Hospital and UBE2C expression was detected by Western blotting and qRT-PCR. Endometrial cancer cells were transfected with a UBE2C overexpression plasmid or UBE2C-specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to up- or downregulate UBE2C expression, respectively. CCK8 and transwell assays were applied to assess the effects of UBE2C on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. We found a significant elevation of UBE2C expression in patients with endometrial cancer, and that UBE2C upregulation was associated with advanced histologic grade, FIGO stage, recurrence, and shorter overall survival. UBE2C knockdown inhibited endometrial cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), whereas UBE2C overexpression exerted the opposite effects. UBE2C downregulation increased p53 and its downstream p21 expression, with p53 overexpression reversing the EMT-promoting effects of UBE2C. UBE2C enhanced p53 ubiquitination to facilitate its degradation in endometrial cancer cells. Estradiol (E2) induced UBE2C expression via estrogen receptor α, which binds directly to the UBE2C promoter element. Silencing of UBE2C inhibited E2-promoted migration, invasion, and EMT in vitro and in vivo. IMPLICATIONS: UBE2C-mediated tumor EMT promotion by estrogen is a novel mechanism for the progression of estrogen-induced endometrial cancer, which could offer new biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy of endometrial cancer in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Liu
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
| | - Rong Zhao
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
| | - Shuqi Chi
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
| | - Chengyu Xiao
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
| | - Xing Zhou
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
| | - Yingchao Zhao
- Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
| | - Hongbo Wang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
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E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes in cancer: Implications for immunotherapeutic interventions. Clin Chim Acta 2019; 498:126-134. [PMID: 31445029 DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2019.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Revised: 08/18/2019] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Despite the medical advances of the 21st century, the incidence of cancer continues to increase and the search for a universal cure remains a major health challenge. Our lack of understanding the complex pathophysiology of the tumor microenvironment has hindered the development and efficiency of anti-cancer therapeutic strategies. The tumor microenvironment, composed of multiple cellular and non-cellular components, enables tumor-promoting processes such as proliferation, angiogenesis, migration and invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. The ubiquitin-mediated degradation system is involved in several physiologic processes including cell cycling, signal transduction, receptor downregulation, endocytosis and transcriptional regulation. Ubiquitination includes attachment of ubiquitin to target proteins via E1 (activating), E2 (conjugating) and E3 (ligating) enzymes. Several studies have shown that E2 enzymes are dysregulated in variety of cancers. Multiple investigations have demonstrated the involvement of E2s in various tumor-promoting processes including DNA repair, cell cycle progression, apoptosis and oncogenic signaling. E2 enzymes consist of 40 members that facilitate ubiquitin-substrate conjugation thereby modulating the stability and interaction of various proteins. As such, E2s are potential biomarkers as diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools. In this review, we discuss the role of E2s in modulating various types of cancer.
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