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Piki E, Dini A, Raivola J, Salokas K, Zhang K, Varjosalo M, Pellinen T, Välimäki K, Veskimäe KT, Staff S, Hautaniemi S, Murumägi A, Ungureanu D. ROR1-STAT3 signaling contributes to ovarian cancer intra-tumor heterogeneity. Cell Death Discov 2023; 9:222. [PMID: 37400436 DOI: 10.1038/s41420-023-01527-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Wnt pathway dysregulation through genetic and non-genetic alterations occurs in multiple cancers, including ovarian cancer (OC). The aberrant expression of the non-canonical Wnt signaling receptor ROR1 is thought to contribute to OC progression and drug resistance. However, the key molecular events mediated by ROR1 that are involved in OC tumorigenesis are not fully understood. Here, we show that ROR1 expression is enhanced by neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and Wnt5a binding to ROR1 can induce oncogenic signaling via AKT/ERK/STAT3 activation in OC cells. Proteomics analysis of isogenic ROR1-knockdown OC cells identified STAT3 as a downstream effector of ROR1 signaling. Transcriptomics analysis of clinical samples (n = 125) revealed that ROR1 and STAT3 are expressed at higher levels in stromal cells than in epithelial cancer cells of OC tumors, and these findings were corroborated by multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) analysis of an independent OC cohort (n = 11). Our results show that ROR1 and its downstream STAT3 are co-expressed in epithelial as well as stromal cells of OC tumors, including cancer-associated fibroblasts or CAFs. Our data provides the framework to expand the clinical utility of ROR1 as a therapeutic target to overcome OC progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Piki
- Disease Networks Unit, Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, 90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Alice Dini
- Disease Networks Unit, Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, 90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Juuli Raivola
- Applied Tumor Genomics, Research Program Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kari Salokas
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kaiyang Zhang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Research Program Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markku Varjosalo
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Teijo Pellinen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, FIMM, Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Katja Välimäki
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, FIMM, Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kristina Tabor Veskimäe
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tampere University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33014, Tampere, Finland
| | - Synnöve Staff
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tampere University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33014, Tampere, Finland
| | - Sampsa Hautaniemi
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Research Program Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Astrid Murumägi
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, FIMM, Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Daniela Ungureanu
- Disease Networks Unit, Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, 90014, Oulu, Finland.
- Applied Tumor Genomics, Research Program Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
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2
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Standing D, Feess E, Kodiyalam S, Kuehn M, Hamel Z, Johnson J, Thomas SM, Anant S. The Role of STATs in Ovarian Cancer: Exploring Their Potential for Therapy. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15092485. [PMID: 37173951 PMCID: PMC10177275 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15092485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is a deadly gynecologic malignancy that presents many clinical challenges due to late-stage diagnoses and the development of acquired resistance to standard-of-care treatment protocols. There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that STATs may play a critical role in OvCa progression, resistance, and disease recurrence, and thus we sought to compile a comprehensive review to summarize the current state of knowledge on the topic. We have examined peer reviewed literature to delineate the role of STATs in both cancer cells and cells within the tumor microenvironment. In addition to summarizing the current knowledge of STAT biology in OvCa, we have also examined the capacity of small molecule inhibitor development to target specific STATs and progress toward clinical applications. From our research, the best studied and targeted factors are STAT3 and STAT5, which has resulted in the development of several inhibitors that are under current evaluation in clinical trials. There remain gaps in understanding the role of STAT1, STAT2, STAT4, and STAT6, due to limited reports in the current literature; as such, further studies to establish their implications in OvCa are necessitated. Moreover, due to the deficiency in our understanding of these STATs, selective inhibitors also remain elusive, and therefore present opportunities for discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Standing
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Emma Feess
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Satvik Kodiyalam
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Michael Kuehn
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Zachary Hamel
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Jaimie Johnson
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
| | - Sufi Mary Thomas
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA
| | - Shrikant Anant
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA
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3
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Raspaglio G, Buttarelli M, Cappoli N, Ciucci A, Fagotti A, Scambia G, Gallo D. Exploring the Control of PARP1 Levels in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15082361. [PMID: 37190289 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15082361] [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: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is a leading cause of mortality from gynecologic malignancies worldwide. Although a transformative improvement has been shown with the introduction of PARP (poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase) inhibitors, the emergence of resistance to these drugs represents a therapeutic challenge. Hence, expanding our understanding of mechanisms behind the control of PARP1 expression can provide strategic guidance for the translation of novel therapeutic strategies. The Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) family of proteins consists of transcription factors critically involved in the regulation of important cellular functions. Notably, we recently demonstrated that, in cervical cancer cells, STAT1 controls PARP1 levels through multiple mechanisms, possibly involving also STAT3. Here, we tested the hypothesis that a similar mechanism might be operative in HGSOC. To this end, the impact of STAT1/STAT3 modulation on PARP1 expression was assessed in established and primary HGSOC cells, and molecular biology studies proved that STAT1 might act at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels to modulate the PARP1 level. Notably, bioinformatics analysis of TCGA databases demonstrated that increased STAT1 mRNA expression levels are associated with a favorable prognosis and with response to chemotherapy in HGSOC patients. Our findings suggest an alternative strategy for targeting HGSOC cells based on their dependency on PARP1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppina Raspaglio
- Unità di Medicina Traslazionale per la Salute della Donna e del Bambino, Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
| | - Marianna Buttarelli
- Unità di Medicina Traslazionale per la Salute della Donna e del Bambino, Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
| | - Natalia Cappoli
- Unità di Medicina Traslazionale per la Salute della Donna e del Bambino, Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
| | - Alessandra Ciucci
- Unità di Medicina Traslazionale per la Salute della Donna e del Bambino, Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
| | - Anna Fagotti
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
| | - Giovanni Scambia
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
| | - Daniela Gallo
- Unità di Medicina Traslazionale per la Salute della Donna e del Bambino, Dipartimento Scienze della Salute della Donna, del Bambino e di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
- Dipartimento Universitario Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica-Sezione di Ginecologia ed Ostetricia-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
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Predicting Prognosis and Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer: Role of Immunohistochemistry Biomarkers. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24031973. [PMID: 36768291 PMCID: PMC9916805 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24031973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 12/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Ovarian cancer is a lethal reproductive tumour affecting women worldwide. The advancement in presentation and occurrence of chemoresistance are the key factors for poor survival among ovarian cancer women. Surgical debulking was the mainstay of systemic treatment for ovarian cancer, which was followed by a successful start to platinum-based chemotherapy. However, most women develop platinum resistance and relapse within six months of receiving first-line treatment. Thus, there is a great need to identify biomarkers to predict platinum resistance before enrolment into chemotherapy, which would facilitate individualized targeted therapy for these subgroups of patients to ensure better survival and an improved quality of life and overall outcome. Harnessing the immune response through immunotherapy approaches has changed the treatment way for patients with cancer. The immune outline has emerged as a beneficial tool for recognizing predictive and prognostic biomarkers clinically. Studying the tumour microenvironment (TME) of ovarian cancer tissue may provide awareness of actionable targets for enhancing chemotherapy outcomes and quality of life. This review analyses the relevance of immunohistochemistry biomarkers as prognostic biomarkers in predicting chemotherapy resistance and improving the quality of life in ovarian cancer.
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Liu D, Liu Y, Hu Y, Ming Y, Meng X, Tan H, Zheng L. MiR-134-5p/Stat3 Axis Modulates Proliferation and Migration of MSCs Co-Cultured with Glioma C6 Cells by Regulating Pvt1 Expression. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12101648. [PMID: 36295083 PMCID: PMC9604557 DOI: 10.3390/life12101648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 10/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are critical in regenerating tissues because they can differentiate into various tissue cells. MSCs interact closely with cells in the tissue microenvironment during the repair of damaged tissue. Although regarded as non-healing wounds, tumors can be treated by MSCs, which showed satisfactory treatment outcomes in previous reports. However, it is largely unknown whether the biological behaviors of MSCs would be affected by the tumor microenvironment. Exploring the truth of tumor microenvironmental cues driving MSCs tumor “wound” regeneration would provide a deeper understanding of the biological behavior of MSCs. Therefore, we mimicked the tumor microenvironment using co-cultured glioma C6 cells and rat MSCs, aiming to assess the proliferation and migration of MSCs and the associated effects of Stat3 in this process. The results showed that co-cultured MSCs significantly exhibited enhanced tumorigenic, migratory, and proliferative abilities. Both up-regulation of Stat3 and down-regulation of miR-134-5p were detected in co-cultured MSCs. Furthermore, miR-134-5p directly regulated Stat3 by binding to the sequence complementary to microRNA response elements in the 3′-UTR of its mRNA. Functional studies showed that both the migration and proliferation abilities of co-cultured MSCs were inhibited by miR-134-5p, whereas Stat3 gain-of-function treatment reversed these effects. In addition, Pvt1 was confirmed to be regulated by miR-134-5p through Stat3 and the suppression of Pvt1 reduced the migration and proliferation abilities of co-cultured MSCs. To sum up, these results demonstrate a suppressive role of miR-134-5p in tumor-environment-driven malignant transformation of rat MSCs through directly targeting Stat3, highlighting a crucial role of loss-of-function of miR-134-5p/Stat3 axis in the malignant transformation, providing a reference to the potential clinic use of MSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongrong Liu
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Department of Stomatology, The Second People’s Hospital of Yibin, Yibin 644000, China
| | - Yan Liu
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Department of Stomatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, China
| | - Yun Hu
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and Biomedical Sciences, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, Chongqing 401147, China
| | - Ye Ming
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and Biomedical Sciences, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, Chongqing 401147, China
| | - Xuehuan Meng
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and Biomedical Sciences, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, Chongqing 401147, China
| | - Hao Tan
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and Biomedical Sciences, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, Chongqing 401147, China
| | - Leilei Zheng
- The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and Biomedical Sciences, Chongqing 401147, China
- Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, Chongqing 401147, China
- Correspondence:
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