DcR3 gene polymorphisms are associated with sporadic breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma in Northeast Chinese women

<p>Case–Control Study on <em>TNFRSF6B</em> Gene Polymorphism and Susceptibility to Gastric Cancer in a Chinese Han Population</p>

Purpose

To explore the relationship between rs2297440 and rs2297441 polymorphisms of TNFRSF6B gene and susceptibility to gastric cancer.

Methods

A hospital-based case-control study was conducted. A total of 577 gastric cancer cases and 678 normal controls were recruited. Their genotypes were determined using the SnapShot method.

Results

The smoking rate in the case group (34.49%) was higher than that in the control group (27.29%). For TNFRSF6B rs2297440, among people <62 years old, the risk of gastric cancer in TC people was 1.84 times that in TT people. Among the non-drinking people, the risk of gastric cancer in the CC type was 0.66 times that in the TT+TC type. Among the drinking population, the risk of gastric cancer in the TC type was 1.67 times that in the TT type, and the risk in the TC+CC type was 1.70 times that in the TT type. As for TNFRSF6B rs2297441, in males and non-drinkers, the risk of gastric cancer in the AG type was less than that in the GG type. No matter how old the patient is, the risk of gastric cancer in the AA type was less than that in the AG+GG type.

Conclusion

A correlation exists between smoking and gastric cancer. For TNFRSF6B rs2297440, the TC genotype may be a risk factor for gastric cancer in people <62 years old. In the non-drinking population, the homozygous mutant of CC may be a protective factor for gastric cancer. In the drinking population, TC type may be a risk factor, whereas the TC+CC type dominated by C may be a protective factor. For TNFRSF6B rs2297441, the AG genotype may be a risk factor for gastric cancer in males and non-drinkers. The AA homozygous mutant may be a protective factor for gastric cancer.

Subgrouping breast cancer patients based on immune evasion mechanisms unravels a high involvement of transforming growth factor-beta and decoy receptor 3

In the era of immunotherapy and personalized medicine, there is an urgent need for advancing the knowledge of immune evasion in different cancer types and identifying reliable biomarkers that guide both therapy selection and patient inclusion in clinical trials. Given the differential immune responses and evasion mechanisms in breast cancer, we expect to identify different breast cancer groups based on their expression of immune-related genes. For that, we used the sequential biclustering method on The Cancer Genome Atlas RNA-seq breast cancer data and identified 7 clusters. We found that 77.4% of the clustered tumor specimens evade through transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) immunosuppression, 57.7% through decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) counterattack, 48.0% through cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4), and 34.3% through programmed cell death-1 (PD-1). TGF-β and DcR3 are potential novel drug targets for breast cancer immunotherapy. Targeting TGF-β and DcR3 may provide a powerful approach for treating breast cancer because 57.7% of patients overexpressed these two molecules. Furthermore, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients clustered equally into two subgroups: one with impaired antigen presentation and another with high leukocyte recruitment but four different evasion mechanisms. Thus, different TNBC patients may be treated with different immunotherapy approaches. We identified biomarkers to cluster patients into subgroups based on immune evasion mechanisms and guide the choice of immunotherapy. These findings provide a better understanding of patients’ response to immunotherapies and shed light on the rational design of novel combination therapies.

DcR3 combined with hematological traits serves as a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of cancer metastasis

Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) is abnormally up-regulated in many cancer cells. It may help cancer cells to escape from immune surveillance and establish metastatic lesions. However, whether DcR3 can be used as a biomarker for the diagnosis of cancer metastasis is unclear. In this study, sera from healthy controls and patients with different cancers were collected, and tested for their DcR3 levels by ELISA. Significantly elevated DcR3 levels were observed in the sera of patients with gastric cancer (2.04 ± 1.01, P = 0.0061), lymphoma (1.62 ± 0.75, P = 0.041), and breast cancer (1.53 ± 0.51, P = 0.023). DcR3 was found to be a suitable biomarker for identifying gastric cancer patients. Importantly, DcR3 was positively associated with platelet distribution width (PDW) (P = 2.45 × 10⁻⁶, R = 0.63) in metastatic cancers but negatively associated with hemoglobin (HGB) (P = 0.002, R = −0.59) and hematocrit (HCT) (P = 0.001, R = −0.62) in non-metastatic cancers. Combined with PDW, HGB and HCT, serum DcR3 could be used to predict the occurrence of cancer metastasis. These findings indicate that DcR3 could be used as a biomarker for the diagnosis of gastric cancer, and for cancer metastasis in combination with hematological traits.

A functional polymorphism rs2257440 in the gene DcR3 regulates its expression via MTF-1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

PURPOSE

The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2257440 in exon 1 of the gene DcR3 is known to be significantly associated with susceptibility to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In the present study, bioinformatics analysis indicated that the SNP might influence the binding of a transcription factor, metal regulatory transcription factor 1 (MTF-1), to its target gene. We further investigated whether the polymorphism rs2257440 could regulate DcR3 expression as a functional SNP via MTF-1.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Luciferase reporter assay indicated that MTF-1 elevated the expression of luciferase in the presence of the T allele of rs2257440 while no change in the expression was associated with the C allele of the polymorphism. Chromatin immunoprecipitation further evaluated the binding between the locus harboring the T allele and MTF-1. In the case of the TC genotype, over-expression of MTF-1 elevated DcR3 expression, which in turn promoted the invasion capacity of KYSE450 cells. However, there was no significant change in the invasion capacity of EC109 cells, which had the CC genotype. In the cancer cells of the ESCC patients, the expression of DcR3 was higher in the case of the TC or TT genotypes in comparison to the gene expression associated with the CC genotype. Over-expression of MTF-1 also decreased apoptosis of EC109 and KYSE450 cells, but the decrement was more in KYSE450 cells than in EC109 cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Our finding indicates that rs2257440 is a functional SNP. The T allele of rs2257440 can increase DcR3 expression as it promotes binding of the gene with the specific transcription factor MTF-1. Therefore, the T allele of this polymorphism can decrease apoptosis and promote the invasion capacity of the cells in ESCC.