Overexpression of N-terminal kinase like gene promotes tumorigenicity of hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating cell cycle progression and cell motility

CHD1L Regulates Cell Survival in Breast Cancer and Its Inhibition by OTI-611 Impedes the DNA Damage Response and Induces PARthanatos

The Chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 1-like (CHD1L) is a nucleosome remodeling enzyme, which plays a key role in chromatin relaxation during the DNA damage response. Genome editing has shown that deletion of CHD1L sensitizes cells to PARPi, but the effect of its pharmacological inhibition has not been defined. Triple-negative breast cancer SUM149PT, HCC1937, and MDA-MB-231 cells were used to assess the mechanism of action of the CHD1Li OTI-611. Cytotoxicity as a single agent or in combination with standard-of-care treatments was assessed in tumor organoids. Immunofluorescence was used to assess the translocation of PAR and AIF to the cytoplasm or the nucleus and to study markers of DNA damage or apoptosis. Trapping of PARP1/2 or CHD1L onto chromatin was also assessed by in situ subcellular fractionation and immunofluorescence and validated by Western blot. We show that the inhibition of CHD1L's ATPase activity by OTI-611 is cytotoxic to triple-negative breast cancer tumor organoids and synergizes with PARPi and chemotherapy independently of the BRCA mutation status. The inhibition of the remodeling function blocks the phosphorylation of H2AX, traps CHD1L on chromatin, and leaves PAR chains on PARP1/2 open for hydrolysis. PAR hydrolysis traps PARP1/2 at DNA damage sites and mediates PAR translocation to the cytoplasm, release of AIF from the mitochondria, and induction of PARthanatos. The targeted inhibition of CHD1L's oncogenic function by OTI-611 signifies an innovative therapeutic strategy for breast cancer and other cancers. This approach capitalizes on CHD1L-mediated DNA repair and cell survival vulnerabilities, thereby creating synergy with standard-of-care therapies.

Overexpression of SCYL1 Is Associated with Progression of Breast Cancer

SCYL1 is a pseudokinase and plays roles in cell division and gene transcription, nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling of tRNA, protein glycosylation, and Golgi morphology. However, the role of SCYL1 in human breast cancer progression remains largely unknown. In this study, we determined expression of SCYL1 in breast cancer by searching the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Tumor Immunoassay Resource (TIMER) databases. Meanwhile, we collected breast tumor tissue samples from 247 cases and detected expression of SCYL1 in the tumors using the tissue microarray assay (TMA). Association of SCYL1 with prognosis of breast cancer was determined based on the PrognoScan database. The results have shown that SCYL1 is overexpressed in breast cancer, and the expression of SCYL1 is associated with poor clinical outcomes of breast cancer patients. Furthermore, knockdown of SCYL1 by shRNAs significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells. Taken together, our data suggest that SCYL1 is a biomarker for poor prognosis of breast cancer, has a promoting role in breast cancer progression, and is a potential target for breast cancer therapy.

Diversity roles of CHD1L in normal cell function and tumorigenesis

Chromodomain helicase/ATPase DNA binding protein 1-like gene (CHD1L) is a multifunctional protein participated in diverse cellular processes, including chromosome remodeling, cell differentiation and development. CHD1L is a regulator of chromosomal integrity maintenance, DNA repair and transcriptional regulation through its bindings to DNA. By regulating kinds of complex networks, CHD1L has been identified as a potent anti-apoptotic and pro-proliferative factor. CHD1L is also an oncoprotein since its overexpression leads to dysregulation of related downstream targets in various cancers. The latest advances in the functional molecular basis of CHD1L in normal cells will be described in this review. As the same time, we will describe the current understanding of CHD1L in terms of structure, characteristics, function and the molecular mechanisms underlying CHD1L in tumorigenesis. We inference that the role of CHD1L which involve in multiple cellular processes and oncogenesis is well worth further studying in basic biology and clinical relevance.

CHD1L promotes cell cycle progression and cell motility by up-regulating MDM2 in breast cancer

Chromodomain helicase/ATPase DNA-binding protein 1-like (CHD1L) gene is a novel oncogene amplified in many solid tumors. We investigated its role in breast cancer. CHD1L was over-expressed in 49.1% (57/116) breast cancer patients. Overexpression of CHD1L was significantly associated with younger age at diagnosis (P = 0.016), lymph node involvement (P = 0.040), higher tumor grade (P = 0.027), higher proliferation rate (P = 0.007) and shorter disease-free survival rate (77.2% vs. 91.5%, P = 0.037). A cDNA microarray analysis identified MDM2 as an important downstream target of CHD1L. And MDM2/p53 signaling pathway was showed to be significantly modulated by CHD1L. Further in vitro study showed that overexpression of CHD1L can promote tumorigenesis, metastasis, invasion and cell cycle progress. In vivo study confirmed the tumorigenesis ability of CHD1L. shRNA-mediated CHD1L silencing could abolishes the tumor-promotion effect of CHD1L in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, CHD1L may promote the progress of breast cancer cells via the MDM2/p53 signaling pathway. This study identified CHD1L as a prognostic factor for breast cancer and MDM2 might be used as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in CHD1L overexpression breast cancer.

Prognostic role of chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 1-like protein in human solid cancers: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 1-like (CHD1L) played vital roles in tumorigenesis and development. Its aberrant expression was reported to be related to progression and prognosis in various tumors. However, no consensus on the prognostic value of CHD1L protein has been made. This meta-analysis was aimed to assess the clinical significance of CHD1L protein in human solid tumors.

METHODS

Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases were extensively searched to retrieve publications that reported the association between CHD1L expression and cancer prognosis. Hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were applied to assess the strength of the associations through Stata statistical software version 12.0 or Revman software 5.3, respectively.

RESULT

A total of 14 studies were screened according to the inclusion criteria. The pooled results revealed patients with higher CHD1L expression manifested with decreased overall survival (OS) (HR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.29-1.89, P < .001) and poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (HR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.17-2.15, P < .001). The prognostic value of CHD1L protein for OS was further confirmed by performing subgroup meta-analysis. Furthermore, the pooled results revealed a positive correlation of CHD1L protein expression with tumor depth (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.48-2.37), lymph node metastasis (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.01-2.11), and distant metastasis (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.45-2.38).

CONCLUSION

CHD1L overexpression was associated with poor prognosis and advanced clinicopathological features, CHD1L may be a valuable biomarker for prognostication of cancer patients.

KCTD12 promotes tumorigenesis by facilitating CDC25B/CDK1/Aurora A-dependent G2/M transition

Cell cycle dysregulation leads to uncontrolled cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cell cycle progression can provide clues leading to the identification of key proteins involved in cancer development. In this study, we performed proteomics analysis to identify novel regulators of the cell cycle. We found that potassium channel tetramerization domain containing 12 (KCTD12) was significantly upregulated in M phase compared with S phase. We also found that KCTD12 overexpression not only facilitated the G2/M transition and induced cancer cell proliferation, but also promoted the growth of subcutaneous tumors and Ki-67 proliferation index in mice. Regarding the mechanism underlying these phenomena, cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) was identified as an interacting partner of KCTD12 by immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analysis, which showed that KCTD12 activated CDK1 and Aurora kinase A (Aurora A) and that the effects of KCTD12 on CDK1 phosphorylation and cell proliferation were abrogated by cell division cycle 25B (CDC25B) silencing. In addition, Aurora A phosphorylated KCTD12 at serine 243, thereby initiating a positive feedback loop necessary for KCTD12 to exert its cancer-promoting effects. Furthermore, we analyzed the expression levels of various genes and the correlations between the expression of these genes and survival using tumor tissue microarray and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets. The data showed that KCTD12 expression was significantly upregulated in cervical and lung cancers. More importantly, high KCTD12 expression was associated with larger tumor sizes, higher pathological stages and poor patient survival. Collectively, our study demonstrate that KCTD12 binds to CDC25B and activates CDK1 and Aurora A to facilitate the G2/M transition and promote tumorigenesis and that Aurora A phosphorylates KCTD12 at serine 243 to trigger a positive feedback loop, thereby potentiating the effects of KCTD12. Thus, the KCTD12-CDC25B-CDK1-Aurora A axis has important implications for cancer diagnoses and prognoses.

CUDR promotes liver cancer stem cell growth through upregulating TERT and C-Myc

Cancer up-regulated drug resistant (CUDR) is a novel non-coding RNA gene. Herein, we demonstrate excessive CUDR cooperates with excessive CyclinD1 or PTEN depletion to accelerate liver cancer stem cells growth and liver stem cell malignant transformation in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we reveal the decrease of PTEN in cells may lead to increase binding capacity of CUDR to CyclinD1. Therefore, CUDR-CyclinD1 complex loads onto the long noncoding RNA H19 promoter region that may lead to reduce the DNA methylation on H19 promoter region and then to enhance the H19 expression. Strikingly, the overexpression of H19 increases the binding of TERT to TERC and reduces the interplay between TERT with TERRA, thus enhancing the cell telomerase activity and extending the telomere length. On the other hand, insulator CTCF recruits the CUDR-CyclinD1 complx to form the composite CUDR-CyclinD1-insulator CTCF complex which occupancied on the C-myc gene promoter region, increasing the outcome of oncogene C-myc. Ultimately, excessive TERT and C-myc lead to liver cancer stem cell and hepatocyte-like stem cell malignant proliferation. To understand the novel functions of long noncoding RNA CUDR will help in the development of new liver cancer therapeutic and diagnostic approaches.

In vitro three dimensional culture of hepatocellular carcinoma to measure prognosis and responsiveness to chemotherapeutic agents

BACKGROUND

Understanding the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) informs plans for care. Tumor morphology and molecular markers have been correlated with outcomes. Three-dimensional tissue culture (3DTC) allows for direct in vitro measurement of a tumor's ability to grow and metastasize. The impact of chemotherapeutic agents, alone or in combinations, may also be measured.

METHODS

All patients with a presumed diagnosis of HCC were eligible for this study including those undergoing resection, chemoembolization and transplantation. Concomitant diseases and outcomes were recorded. One mm(3) HCC specimens were grown in multiwell plates containing gel media, without and with chemotherapeutic agents.

RESULTS

Tumors were sampled from 17 patients. Only 13 had HCC, all of whom had liver transplantation. Of the confirmed HCC patients, 6 (46%) are alive and disease free 82 months following transplantation, 1 (7%) is alive with recurrence of disease and 6 (46%) died, with a mean survival of 12 months post liver transplant. Ten of thirteen 3DTC samples grew, having an average migration distance of 108.3µm in the first 24 hours. Two of three patients who had prior chemoembolization had successful 3DTC. Migration distances (µm) were 188.8±104.3, 104.5±111.7 and 39.6±32.4 for tumors categorized as high, intermediate and low grade, respectively. Tumor migration was inhibited by irinotecan, paclitaxel and docetaxel (-68%±7%, -61%±19% and -60%±21%, respectively) whereas the effect was variable with 5 fluorouracil (5FU) and doxorubicin (-12%±51% and 9%±76%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

It is feasible to grow tissue from HCC in 3DTC to study the tumor's capacity to grow and migrate and its responsiveness to commonly used chemotherapeutic protocols.

Chromodomain Helicase/ATPase DNA-Binding Protein 1-Like Gene (CHD1L) Expression and Implications for Invasion and Metastasis of Breast Cancer

Background

Chromodomain helicase/ATPase DNA-binding protein 1-like gene (CHD1L), also known as ALC1 (amplified in liver cancer 1 gene), is a new oncogene amplified in many solid tumors. Whether this gene plays a role in invasion and metastasis of breast cancer is unknown.

Methods

Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of CHD1L in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma and normal mammary glands. Chemotaxis, wound healing, and Transwell invasion assays were also performed to examine cell migration and invasion. Western blot analysis was conducted to detect the expression of CHD1L, MMP-2, MMP-9, pAkt/Akt, pARK5/ARK5, and pmTOR/mTOR. Moreover, ELISA was carried out to detect the expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Nude mice xenograft model was used to detect the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cell lines.

Results

CHD1L overexpression was observed in 112 of 268 patients (41.8%). This overexpression was associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.008), tumor differentiation (P = 0.020), distant metastasis (P = 0.026), MMP-2 (P = 0.035), and MMP-9 expression (P = 0.022). In the cell experiment, reduction of CHD1L inhibited the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells by mediating MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression. CHD1L knockdown via siRNA suppressed EGF-induced pAkt, pARK5, and pmTOR. This knockdown inhibited the metastasis of breast cancer cells into the lungs of SCID mice.

Conclusions

CHD1L promoted the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells via the PI3K/Akt/ARK5/mTOR/MMP signaling pathway. This study identified CHD1L as a potential anti-metastasis target for therapeutic intervention in breast cancer.