The role of KIF14 in patient-derived primary cultures of high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells

BUB1/KIF14 complex promotes anaplastic thyroid carcinoma progression by inducing chromosome instability

Chromosome instability (CIN) is a common contributor driving the formation and progression of anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), but its mechanism remains unclear. The BUB1 mitotic checkpoint serine/threonine kinase (BUB1) is responsible for the alignment of mitotic chromosomes, which has not been thoroughly studied in ATC. Our research demonstrated that BUB1 was remarkably upregulated and closely related to worse progression-free survival. Knockdown of BUB1 attenuated cell viability, invasion, migration and induced cell cycle arrests, whereas overexpression of BUB1 promoted the cell cycle progression of papillary thyroid cancer cells. BUB1 knockdown remarkably repressed tumour growth and tumour formation of nude mice with ATC xenografts and suppressed tumour metastasis in a zebrafish xenograft model. Inhibition of BUB1 by its inhibitor BAY-1816032 also exhibited considerable anti-tumour activity. Further studies showed that enforced expression of BUB1 evoked CIN in ATC cells. BUB1 induced CIN through phosphorylation of KIF14 at serine1292 (Ser1292 ). Overexpression of the KIF14ΔSer1292 mutant was unable to facilitate the aggressiveness of ATC cells when compared with that of the wild type. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the BUB1/KIF14 complex drives the aggressiveness of ATC by inducing CIN.

KIF14 affects cell cycle arrest and cell viability in cervical cancer by regulating the p27Kip1 pathway

Background

Cervical cancer is a kind of malignant gynecological tumor. The first choice for treating cervical cancer is still a combination of surgery and chemoradiotherapy, but the 5-year survival rate remains poor. Therefore, researchers are trying to find new ways to diagnose and treat cervical cancer early.

Methods

The expression level of KIF14 in cells and tissues was determined via qRT–PCR. The ability of the cells to proliferate, migrate, and invade was examined using CCK-8 assay kits, colony formation assays, and Transwell chambers. The expression levels of Cyclin D1, Cyclin B1, p21, and p27 were also detected using western blot assays.

Results

The results suggested that p27 is a key regulatory factor in the KIF14-mediated regulation of the cell cycle. In addition, KIF14 knockdown promotes malignancy in cervical cancer cells by inhibiting p27 degradation, resulting in cell cycle arrest.

Conclusions

KIF14 is an oncogene in cervical cancer, and knocking down KIF14 causes cell cycle arrest by inhibiting p27 degradation, thus affecting cell viability, proliferation, and migration. These results provide a potential therapeutic target for cervical cancer.

Role of kinesin family member 14 in disease monitoring and prognosis in patients with gastrointestinal cancer

Kinesin family member 14 (KIF14) is not only involved in numerous essential biological activities, such as cytokinesis and myelination, but also regulates several malignant behaviors and progression of cancer. However, its role in gastrointestinal cancer is rarely reported. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association of KIF14 expression with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) times in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. A total of 101 patients with gastrointestinal cancer (36 patients with gastric cancer and 65 patients with colorectal cancer) were retrospectively reviewed, and their cancer samples were collected to detect the protein and mRNA expression levels of KIF14 using immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, respectively. KIF14 protein expression was increased in cancer tissues compared with adjacent tissues (all P<0.001). The protein expression levels of KIF14 were positively associated with T stage (P<0.001), distant metastases (P=0.007) and TNM stage (P<0.001), while KIF14 mRNA expression was positively associated with T stage (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P=0.004), distant metastases (P=0.001) and TNM stage (P<0.001). High protein and mRNA expression levels of KIF14 were associated with worse DFS (P<0.001) and OS (P=0.016) times. In addition, high KIF14 protein expression independently predicted unfavorable DFS times (P=0.007). Subgroup analysis revealed that in patients with gastric cancer, KIF14 expression was associated with DFS and OS times, while in patients with colorectal cancer, KIF14 expression was only associated with DFS time, but not with OS time. In conclusion, KIF14 expression was not only associated with advanced pathological differentiation and TNM stage but was also associated with poor survival time in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. These results indicate the potential of KIF14 as a biomarker for gastrointestinal cancer prognosis.

KIF14 promotes cell proliferation via activation of Akt and is directly targeted by miR-200c in colorectal cancer

As a mitotic kinesin, kinesin family member 14 (KIF14) has been reported to serve oncogenic roles in a variety of malignancies; however, its functional role and regulatory mechanisms in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. In the present study, KIF14 was observed to be markedly overexpressed in CRC, and this upregulation was associated with tumor size and marker of proliferation Ki-67 immunostaining scores. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments were applied to identify the function of KIF14 in CRC progression. In vitro and in vivo assays revealed that KIF14 promoted CRC cell proliferation and accelerated the cell cycle via activation of protein kinase B. In addition, the present study investigated the potential mechanisms underlying KIF14 overexpression in CRC. Bioinformatics analyses and validation experiments, including reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and a Dual-Luciferase reporter assay, demonstrated that, in addition to genomic amplification and transcriptional activation, KIF14 was regulated by microRNA (miR)-200c at the post-transcriptional level. Rescue experiments further demonstrated that decreased miR-200c expression could facilitate KIF14 to exert its pro-proliferative role. The expression of miR-200c was negatively correlated with KIF14 in CRC specimens. Collectively, the findings of the present study demonstrated the oncogenic role of KIF14 in colorectal tumorigenesis, and also revealed a complexity of regulatory mechanisms mediating KIF14 overexpression, which may provide insight for developing novel treatments for patients with CRC.

Downregulation of miR-137 and miR-6500-3p promotes cell proliferation in pediatric high-grade gliomas

Pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGGs) are aggressive brain tumors affecting children, and outcomes have remained dismal, even with access to new multimodal therapies. In this study, we compared the miRNomes and transcriptomes of pediatric low- (pLGGs) and high-grade gliomas (pHGGs) using small RNA sequencing (smRNA-Seq) and gene expression microarray, respectively. Through integrated bioinformatics analyses and experimental validation, we identified miR-137 and miR-6500-3p as significantly downregulated in pHGGs. miR-137 or miR-6500-3p overexpression reduced cell proliferation in two pHGG cell lines, SF188 and UW479. CENPE, KIF14 and NCAPG levels were significantly higher in pHGGs than pLGGs, and were direct targets of miR-137 or miR-6500-3p. Furthermore, knockdown of CENPE, KIF14 or NCAPG combined with temozolomide treatment resulted in a combined suppressive effect on pHGG cell proliferation. In summary, our results identify novel mRNA/miRNA interactions that contribute to pediatric glioma malignancy and represent potential targets for the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Regulatory network involving miRNAs and genes in serous ovarian carcinoma

Serous ovarian carcinoma (SOC) is one of the most life-threatening types of gynecological malignancy, but the pathogenesis of SOC remains unknown. Previous studies have indicated that differentially expressed genes and microRNAs (miRNAs) serve important functions in SOC. However, genes and miRNAs are identified in a disperse form, and limited information is known about the regulatory association between miRNAs and genes in SOC. In the present study, three regulatory networks were hierarchically constructed, including a differentially-expressed network, a related network and a global network to reveal associations between each factor. In each network, there were three types of factors, which were genes, miRNAs and transcription factors that interact with each other. Focus was placed on the differentially-expressed network, in which all genes and miRNAs were differentially expressed and therefore may have affected the development of SOC. Following the comparison and analysis between the three networks, a number of signaling pathways which demonstrated differentially expressed elements were highlighted. Subsequently, the upstream and downstream elements of differentially expressed miRNAs and genes were listed, and a number of key elements (differentially expressed miRNAs, genes and TFs predicted using the P-match method) were analyzed. The differentially expressed network partially illuminated the pathogenesis of SOC. It was hypothesized that if there was no differential expression of miRNAs and genes, SOC may be prevented and treatment may be identified. The present study provided a theoretical foundation for gene therapy for SOC.

The kinesin KIF14 is overexpressed in medulloblastoma and downregulation of KIF14 suppressed tumor proliferation and induced apoptosis

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. At present, there is no well-established targeted drug for majority of patients. The kinesin family member 14 (KIF14) is a novel oncogene located on chromosome 1q and is dysregulated in multiple cancers. The objectives of this study were to evaluate KIF14 expression and chromosome 1q copy number in MB, and to delineate its biological functions in MB pathogenesis. By quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, we found KIF14 was overexpressed in MB. Increased KIF14 expression at protein level was strongly associated with shorter progression-free survival (P=0.0063) and overall survival (P=0.0083). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis confirmed genomic gain of chromosome 1q in 17/93 (18.3%) of MB. Combined genetic and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that 76.5% of MB with 1q gain showed consistent overexpression of KIF14, and a tight link between chromosome 1q gain and KIF14 overexpression (P=0.03). Transient, siRNAs-mediated downregulation of KIF14 suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in two MB cell lines. Stably KIF14 knockdown by shRNAs inhibited cell viability, colony formation, migration and invasion, and tumor sphere formation in MB cells. We conclude that KIF14 is dysregulated in MB and is an adverse prognostic factor for survival. Furthermore, KIF14 is part of MB biology and is a potential therapeutic target for MB.

Neuroblastoma cells depend on HDAC11 for mitotic cell cycle progression and survival

The number of long-term survivors of high-risk neuroblastoma remains discouraging, with 10-year survival as low as 20%, despite decades of considerable international efforts to improve outcome. Major obstacles remain and include managing resistance to induction therapy, which causes tumor progression and early death in high-risk patients, and managing chemotherapy-resistant relapses, which can occur years after the initial diagnosis. Identifying and validating novel therapeutic targets is essential to improve treatment. Delineating and deciphering specific functions of single histone deacetylases in neuroblastoma may support development of targeted acetylome-modifying therapeutics for patients with molecularly defined high-risk neuroblastoma profiles. We show here that HDAC11 depletion in MYCN-driven neuroblastoma cell lines strongly induces cell death, mostly mediated by apoptotic programs. Genes necessary for mitotic cell cycle progression and cell division were most prominently enriched in at least two of three time points in whole-genome expression data combined from two cell systems, and all nine genes in these functional categories were strongly repressed, including CENPA, KIF14, KIF23 and RACGAP1. Enforced expression of one selected candidate, RACGAP1, partially rescued the induction of apoptosis caused by HDAC11 depletion. High-level expression of all nine genes in primary neuroblastomas significantly correlated with unfavorable overall and event-free survival in patients, suggesting a role in mediating the more aggressive biological and clinical phenotype of these tumors. Our study identified a group of cell cycle-promoting genes regulated by HDAC11, being both predictors of unfavorable patient outcome and essential for tumor cell viability. The data indicate a significant role of HDAC11 for mitotic cell cycle progression and survival of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells, and suggests that HDAC11 could be a valuable drug target.

Downregulation of SASH1 correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis in ovarian carcinoma

SAM- and SH3-domain containing 1 (SASH1) is a recently identified tumor suppressor gene that is required in the tumorigenesis of breast and other solid carcinomas. The SASH1 protein contains SH3 and SAM domains, indicating that it may serve an important role in intracellular signal transduction. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the expression of SASH1 in ovarian carcinoma and the correlation between its expression with clinical pathological features and clinical significance, and the effect of SASH1 on cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration of ovarian SKOV3 cells. The human ovarian carcinoma tissues and adjacent normal tissues were collected following surgery. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were used to detect the expression levels of SASH1 mRNA and protein, respectively. The expression levels of SASH1 mRNA and protein in ovarian carcinoma tissues were significantly lower than that observed in adjacent normal tissues (P<0.05). The expression levels of SASH1 in samples from patients without lymph nodes metastasis and patients with early FIGO stage was lower than those with lymph nodes metastasis and patients with advanced FIGO stage (P<0.05). Flow cytometry analysis and Transwell invasion chamber experiments were used to investigate the effect of SASH1 on the cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration of SKOV3 cells. The recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1-SASH1 was constructed and transfected into SKOV3 cells. In addition, the SKOV3 cells in the pcDNA3.1-SASH1 group exhibited significantly reduced cell growth, proliferation, and migration ability compared to the empty vector group and normal group (P<0.01). There were a greater number of apoptotic cells in the pcDNA3.1-SASH1 group compared to the empty vector group and normal group (P<0.01). Taken together, these results indicated that SASH1 may be a tumor suppressor gene in ovarian carcinoma, and SASH1 expression inhibited growth, proliferation and migration, and enhanced apoptosis of SKOV3 cells.