The Role of Serine Peptidase Inhibitor Kazal Type 13 (SPINK13) as a Clinicopathological and Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Understanding the phenotypic and genetic background of the lactose content in Sarda dairy sheep

Lactose, the principal carbohydrate found in milk, plays an important role in the physiological processes of milk production because it is related to milk volume, and it is responsible for the osmotic equilibrium between blood and milk in the mammary gland. In this study, factors affecting lactose content (LC) in sheep milk are investigated. For this purpose, 2,358 test-day records were sampled from 509 ewes (3-7 records per animal). The LC and other main milk traits were analyzed using a mixed linear model that included days in milk (DIM) class, parity, lambing month, and type of lambing as fixed effects and animal, permanent environment, and flock test day as random effects. The pedigree-based approach was used to estimate the heritability and repeatability of LC. Moreover, the genomic background of LC was investigated through a GWAS. The LC was affected by all tested factors (i.e., DIM class, parity, lambing month, and type of lambing). Low heritability (0.10 ± 0.05) and moderate repeatability (0.42 ± 0.02) were estimated for LC. High negative genetic correlations were estimated between LC and NaCl (-0.99 ± 0.01) and between LC and somatic cell count (-0.94 ± 0.05). Only 2 markers passed the chromosome-wide Bonferroni threshold. Results of the present study, although obtained on a relatively small sample, suggest the possibility to include LC in the breeding programs, particularly because of its strong relationship with NaCl and somatic cell count.

Identification of IL20RB as a Novel Prognostic and Therapeutic Biomarker in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a type of life-threatening malignant tumor of the urinary system. IL20RB, interleukin 20 receptor subunit beta, is a cytokine receptor subunit coding gene and was initially found to play a vital role in human cancers, while its role in ccRCC still remains unclear.

Methods

In this work, we explored the prognostic value and therapeutic potential of IL20RB in ccRCC mainly by online tools. Firstly, we used UALCAN and GEPIA to explore the expression profile and prognostic value of IL20RB in various cancers; the expression profile in tumor cell lines was also analysed with CCLE and Expression Atlas. Then, we decided to focus on ccRCC for further analysis; we further demonstrated the significant correlation between expression and clinical features by GEPIA and UALCAN. In order to reveal the potential intrinsic mechanism responsible for the upregulation of IL20RB in ccRCC, we made genetic alternation analysis and methylation analysis. cBioPortal was used for genetic alternation analysis. UALCAN, MethSurv, and Xena were used for methylation analysis. To learn details of how IL20RB might function in ccRCC, we further conducted functional analysis and immune infiltration analysis. STRING and GSEA were used to do functional analysis. TIMER was used for immune infiltration analysis; KM plotter was used for survival analysis.

Results

Results show that IL20RB is upregulated in ccRCC, and low methylation may be responsible for its upregulation. Both high expression and low methylation of IL20RB predict worse survival, and both have a strong positive correlation with clinical characteristics. In addition, results indicate that there exists a crosstalk between IL20RB and neutrophils. Furthermore, the immune microenvironment could influence the prognosis predicting ability of IL20RB.

Conclusions

In conclusion, IL20RB plays an important role in ccRCC and is identified as a novel prognostic and potential therapeutic biomarker in ccRCC.

SPINKs in Tumors: Potential Therapeutic Targets

The serine protease inhibitor Kazal type (SPINK) family includes SPINK1-14 and is the largest branch in the serine protease inhibitor family. SPINKs play an important role in pancreatic physiology and disease, sperm maturation and capacitation, Nager syndrome, inflammation and the skin barrier. Evidence shows that the unregulated expression of SPINK1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 13 is closely related to human tumors. Different SPINKs exhibit various regulatory modes in different tumors and can be used as tumor prognostic markers. This article reviews the role of SPINK1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 13 in different human cancer processes and helps to identify new cancer treatment targets.

Signatures of malignant cells and novel therapeutic targets revealed by single-cell sequencing in lung adenocarcinoma

Background

Single‐cell transcriptomics has been used to investigate various tumors to elucidate the molecular distinction of all cell type compositions of a complex mix.

Aims

This study aimed to investigate malignant‐cell‐specific genes to explore diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers using single‐cell transcriptomic data of lung adenocarcinoma.

Materials & Methods

10X single‐cell RNA‐seq data of fourteen patients with lung adenocarcinoma were analyzed. Genes that expressed differentially and those with higher confidence to distinguish tumor cells from normal cells were picked out using the ROC curves. The LASSO regression method was used to select most markedly correlated genes to predict the malignancy of every single cell within a model. We also conducted further experiments to determine their roles in lung cancer in vitro.

Results

Twenty two thousand four hundred and ninety one tumor and 181 666 normal single cells were analyzed where 369 genes were found to be specifically expressed in single malignant cells. Seventy of them, encoding secreted or membrane‐bound proteins, showed involvement in cell‐to‐cell communications in tumor biology. KRT18 and the other six genes were identified as predictors to distinguish single malignant cells and were integrated to construct an accurate (96.1%) predicting model. Notably, IRX2, SPINK13, and CAPN8 outperformed the other four genes. Further experiments confirmed the upregulation of them in lung adenocarcinoma at both tissue and cell levels. Proliferative capacities of lung adenocarcinoma cells were attenuated by knocking‐down of either of them. However, targeting CAPN8, IRX2, or SPINK13 hardly exerted a cytotoxic effect on these cells.

Discussion

Apart from the current model, similar tools were still warranted using single‐cell RNA‐seq data of more types of tumors. The three genes identified as potential therapeutic targets in the present study still need to be validated in more in lung cancer.

Conclusion

Our model can aid the analyses of single‐cell sequencing data. CAPN8, IRX2, and SPINK13 may serve as novel targets of targeted and immune‐based therapies in lung adenocarcinoma.

Importins: Diverse roles in male fertility

Regulated nucleocytoplasmic transport is central to the changes in gene expression that underpin cellular development and homeostasis, including in the testis, and proteins in the importin family are the predominant facilitators of cargo transport through the nuclear envelope. Reports documenting cell-specific profiles of importin transcripts and proteins during spermatogenesis led us to hypothesize that importins facilitate developmental switches in the testis. More recently, importins have been shown to serve additional functions, both inside and outside the nucleus; these include acting as subcellular scaffolding, mediating cellular stress responses, and controlling transcription. This paper seeks to provide an overview and update on the functions of importin proteins, with a focus on testis development and spermatogenesis. We present an extended survey of importins by combining published single cell RNAseq data with immunohistochemistry on developing and adult mouse testes. This approach reinforces and broadens knowledge of importins in biological processes, including in spermatogenesis and during testis development, revealing additional avenues for impactful investigations.