Identification of ACSF gene family as therapeutic targets and immune-associated biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma

Targeting metabolic reprogramming in hepatocellular carcinoma to overcome therapeutic resistance: A comprehensive review

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) poses a heavy burden on human health with high morbidity and mortality rates. Systematic therapy is crucial for advanced and mid-term HCC, but faces a significant challenge from therapeutic resistance, weakening drug effectiveness. Metabolic reprogramming has gained attention as a key contributor to therapeutic resistance. Cells change their metabolism to meet energy demands, adapt to growth needs, or resist environmental pressures. Understanding key enzyme expression patterns and metabolic pathway interactions is vital to comprehend HCC occurrence, development, and treatment resistance. Exploring metabolic enzyme reprogramming and pathways is essential to identify breakthrough points for HCC treatment. Targeting metabolic enzymes with inhibitors is key to addressing these points. Inhibitors, combined with systemic therapeutic drugs, can alleviate resistance, prolong overall survival for advanced HCC, and offer mid-term HCC patients a chance for radical resection. Advances in metabolic research methods, from genomics to metabolomics and cells to organoids, help build the HCC metabolic reprogramming network. Recent progress in biomaterials and nanotechnology impacts drug targeting and effectiveness, providing new solutions for systemic therapeutic drug resistance. This review focuses on metabolic enzyme changes, pathway interactions, enzyme inhibitors, research methods, and drug delivery targeting metabolic reprogramming, offering valuable references for metabolic approaches to HCC treatment.

Integrative bioinformatics analysis of ACS enzymes as candidate prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers in colon adenocarcinoma

Background and purpose

Acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) enzymes play an important role in the activation of fatty acids. While many studies have found correlations between the expression levels of ACS enzymes with the progression, growth, and survival of cancer cells, their role and expression patterns in colon adenocarcinoma are still greatly unknown and demand further investigation.

Experimental approach

The expression data of colon adenocarcinoma samples were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Normalization and differential expression analysis were performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Gene set enrichment analysis was applied to identify top enriched genes from ACS enzymes in cancer samples. Gene ontology and protein-protein interaction analyses were performed for the prediction of molecular functions and interactions. Survival analysis and receiver operating characteristic test (ROC) were performed to find potential prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers.

Findings/Results

ACSL6 and ACSM5 genes demonstrated more significant differential expression and LogFC value compared to other ACS enzymes and also achieved the highest enrichment scores. Gene ontology analysis predicted the involvement of top DEGs in fatty acids metabolism, while protein-protein interaction network analysis presented strong interactions between ACSLs, ACSSs, ACSMs, and ACSBG enzymes with each other. Survival analysis suggested ACSM3 and ACSM5 as potential prognostic biomarkers, while the ROC test predicted stronger diagnostic potential for ACSM5, ACSS2, and ACSF2 genes.

Conclusion and implications

Our findings revealed the expression patterns, prognostic, and diagnostic biomarker potential of ACS enzymes in colon adenocarcinoma. ACSM3, ACSM5, ACSS2, and ACSF2 genes are suggested as possible prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers.

RPS24 Is Associated with a Poor Prognosis and Immune Infiltration in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver malignancy, with increased mortality and morbidity. Accumulating evidence suggested that 40S ribosomal protein S24 (RPS24) is related to malignant outcomes and progression. However, the role of RPS24 remains unclear in HCC. The mRNA and protein expression pattern of RPS24 in HCC was explored and confirmed based on the bioinformatics analysis and histological examination. The correlation between RPS24 expression and clinicopathological features, diagnostic value, prognosis, methylation status, and survival were evaluated. Then, we divided the HCC cohort into two groups based on the expression of RPS24, and performed the functional enrichment and immune cells infiltration analysis of RPS24. Furthermore, in vivo and in vitro experiments were performed to investigate the effect of RPS24 on HCC cells. RPS24 was observed to be elevated in HCC samples. RPS24 overexpression or RPS24 promoter methylation contributed to an unfavorable prognosis for HCC patients. The genes in the high RPS24 expression group were mainly enriched in DNA replication, cell cycle E2F targets, and the G2M checkpoint pathway. Moreover, the expression level of RPS24 was significantly related to immune infiltration and immunotherapy response. Our experiments also demonstrated that RPS24 knockdown suppressed the growth of HCC cells and tumor proliferation of the xenograft model. Therefore, RPS24 can be a potential adverse biomarker of HCC prognosis acting through facilitating cell proliferation and the formation of an immunosuppressive microenvironment in HCC. Targeting RPS24 may offer a promising therapeutic option for HCC management.

Exosomes as Novel Delivery Systems for Application in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Exosomes, as gifts of nature derived from various cell types with a size range from ~40 to 160 nm in diameter, have gained attention recently. They are composed of a lipid membrane bilayer structure containing different constituents, such as surface ligands and receptors, from the parental cells. Originating from a variety of sources, exosomes have the ability to participate in a diverse range of biological processes, including the regulation of cellular communication. On account of their ideal native structure and characteristics, exosomes are taken into account as drug delivery systems (DDSs). They can provide profound effects on conveying therapeutic agents with great advantages, including specific targeting, high biocompatibility, and non-toxicity. Further, they can also be considered to ameliorate natural compounds, the main constituents of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which are usually ignored due to the complexity of their structures, poor stability, and unclear mechanisms of action. This review summarizes the classification of exosomes as well as the research progress on exosome-based DDSs for the treatment of different diseases in TCM. Furthermore, this review discusses the advantages and challenges faced by exosomes to contribute to their further investigation and application.