IGFBP-2 acts as a tumour suppressor and plays a role in determining chemosensitivity in bladder cancer cells

Integration of Gastric Cancer RNA-Seq Datasets Along With PPI Network Suggests That Nonhub Nodes Have the Potential to Become Biomarkers

BACKGROUND

The breakthrough discovery of novel biomarkers with prognostic and diagnostic value enables timely medical intervention for the survival of patients diagnosed with gastric cancer (GC). Typically, in studies focused on biomarker analysis, highly connected nodes (hubs) within the protein-protein interaction network (PPIN) are proposed as potential biomarkers. However, this study revealed an unexpected finding following the clustering of network nodes. Consequently, it is essential not to overlook weakly connected nodes (nonhubs) when determining suitable biomarkers from PPIN.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In this study, several potential biomarkers for GC were proposed based on the findings from RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) datasets, along with differential gene expression (DGE) analysis, PPINs, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Considering the overall survival (OS) analysis and the evaluation of expression levels alongside statistical parameters of the PPIN cluster nodes, it is plausible to suggest that THY1, CDH17, TGIF1, and AEBP1, categorized as nonhub nodes, along with ITGA5, COL1A1, FN1, and MMP2, identified as hub nodes, possess characteristics that render them applicable as biomarkers for the GC. Additionally, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein-2 (IGFBP2), classified as a nonhub node, demonstrates a significant negative correlation with both groups within the same cluster. This observation underscores the conflicting findings regarding IGFBP2 in various cancer studies and enhances the potential of this gene to serve as a biomarker.

CONCLUSION

The findings of the current study not only identified the hubs and nonhubs that may serve as potential biomarkers for GC but also revealed a PPIN cluster that includes both hubs and nonhubs in conjunction with IGFBP2, thereby enhancing the understanding of the complex behavior associated with IGFBP2.

Preoperative Plasma Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I and Its Binding Proteins-Based Risk Stratification of Patients Treated With Radical Nephroureterectomy for Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

INTRODUCTION

We evaluate the predictive and prognostic value of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1), IGF binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) and -3 (IGFBP-3) in patients treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).

METHODS

This is a retrospective analysis of a multi-institutional database comprising 753 patients who underwent RNU for UTUC and had a preoperative plasma available. Logistic and Cox regression analyses were performed. The discriminative ability and clinical utility of the models was calculated using the lasso regression test, area under receiver operating characteristics curves, C-index, and decision curve analysis (DCA).

RESULTS

Lower preoperative plasma levels of IGFBP-2 and -3 independently correlated with increased risks of lymph node metastasis, pT3/4 disease, nonorgan confined disease, and worse recurrence-free survival (RFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) (all P ≤ .004). The addition of both IGFBP-2 and -3 to a postoperative multivariable model, that included standard clinicopathologic characteristics, improved the model's concordance index by 10%, 9%, and 8% for RFS, CSS, and OS, respectively. On DCA, addition of both IGFBP-2 and -3 to base models improved their performance for RFS, CSS, and OS by a statistically and clinically significant margin. Plasma IGF-1 was not associated with any of outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

We confirmed that a lower plasma levels of IGFBP-2 and -3 both are independent and clinically significant predictors of adverse pathological features and survival outcomes in UTUC patients treated with RNU. These findings might help guide the clinical decision-making regarding perioperative systemic therapy and follow-up scheduling.

Evaluation of in vitro and in vivo anticancer activities of potassium koetjapate: a solubility improved formulation of koetjapic acid against human colon cancer

Background and purpose

The previous work on koetjapic acid (KA) isolated from Sandoricum koetjape showed its efficacy towards colorectal cancer however KA has poor water solubility which poses the biggest hindrance to its efficacy. In the present paper, an attempt was made to study the anti-colon cancer efficacy of KA's potassium salt i.e. potassium koetjapate (KKA) applying in vitro and in vivo methods.

Experimental approach

KKA was produced by a semi-synthetic method. A human apoptosis proteome profiler array was applied to determine the protein targets responsible for the stimulation of apoptosis. Three doses of KKA were studied in athymic nude mice models to examine the in vivo anti-tumorigenic ability of KKA.

Findings/Results

The results of this study demonstrated that KKA regulates the activities of various proteins. It downregulates the expression of several antiapoptotic proteins and negative regulators of apoptosis including HSP60, HSP90, Bcl-2, and IGF-1 in HCT 116 cells with consequent upregulation of TRAILR-1 and TRAILR-2, p27, CD40, caspase 3, and caspase 8 proteins. Additionally, KKA showed an in vitro antimetastatic effect against HCT 116 cells. These results are feasibly related to the down-regulation of Notch, Wnt, hypoxia, and MAPK/JNK and MAPK/ERK signalling pathways in HCT 116 cells besides the up-regulation of a transcription factor for cell cycle (pRb-E2F) pathways. In addition, KKA revealed potent inhibition of tumor growth.

Conclusion and implications

In sum, the findings indicate that KKA can be a promising candidate as a chemotherapeutic agent against colorectal cancer.

Secreted PGK1 and IGFBP2 contribute to the bystander effect of miR-10b gene editing in glioma

MicroRNA-10b (miR-10b) is an essential glioma driver and one of the top candidates for targeted therapies for glioblastoma and other cancers. This unique miRNA controls glioma cell cycle and viability via an array of established conventional and unconventional mechanisms. Previously reported CRISPR-Cas9-mediated miR-10b gene editing of glioma cells in vitro and established orthotopic glioblastoma in mouse models demonstrated the efficacy of this approach and its promise for therapy development. However, therapeutic gene editing in patients' brain tumors may be hampered, among other factors, by the imperfect delivery and distribution of targeting vectors. Here, we demonstrate that miR-10b gene editing in glioma cells triggers a potent bystander effect that leads to the selective cell death of the unedited glioma cells without affecting the normal neuroglial cells. The effect is mediated by the secreted miR-10b targets phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) that block cell-cycle progression and induce glioma cell death. These findings further support the feasibility of therapeutic miR-10b editing without the need to target every cell of the tumor.

Metastatic colorectal carcinoma-associated fibroblasts have immunosuppressive properties related to increased IGFBP2 expression

Fibroblasts are the most abundant stromal constituents of the tumour microenvironment in primary as well as metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). Their supportive effect on tumour cells is well established. There is growing evidence that stromal fibroblasts also modulate the immune microenvironment in tumours. Here, we demonstrate a difference in fibroblast-mediated immune modulation between primary CRC and peritoneal metastasis. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) were isolated from primary cancer and from peritoneal metastases (MAFs) from a total of 17 patients. The ectoenzyme CD38 was consistently expressed on the surface of all MAFs, while it was absent from CAFs. Furthermore, MAFs secreted higher levels of IGFBP2, CXCL2, CXCL6, CXCL12, PDGF-AA, FGFb, and IL-6. This was associated with a decreased activation of macrophages and a suppression of CD25 expression and proliferation of co-cultivated T-cells. Downregulation of IGFBP2 abolished these immunosuppressive effects of MAFs. Taken together, these results show that MAFs contribute to an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment in CRC metastases by modulating the phenotype of immune cells through an IGFBP2-dependent mechanism.

mRNA-miRNA bipartite networks reconstruction in different tissues of bladder cancer based on gene co-expression network analysis

Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most important cancers worldwide, and if it is diagnosed early, its progression in humans can be prevented and long-term survival will be achieved accordingly. This study aimed to identify novel micro-RNA (miRNA) and gene-based biomarkers for diagnosing BC. The microarray dataset of BC tissues (GSE13507) listed in the GEO database was analyzed for this purpose. The gene expression data from three BC tissues including 165 primary bladder cancer (PBC), 58 normal looking-bladder mucosae surrounding cancer (NBMSC), and 23 recurrent non-muscle invasive tumor tissues (RNIT) were used to reconstruct gene co-expression networks. After preprocessing and normalization, deferentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained and used to construct the weighted gene co-expression network (WGCNA). Gene co-expression modules and low-preserved modules were extracted among BC tissues using network clustering. Next, the experimentally validated mRNA-miRNA interaction information were used to reconstruct three mRNA-miRNA bipartite networks. Reactome pathway database and Gene ontology (GO) was subsequently performed for the extracted genes of three bipartite networks and miRNAs, respectively. To further analyze the data, ten hub miRNAs (miRNAs with the highest degree) were selected in each bipartite network to reconstruct three bipartite subnetworks. Finally, the obtained biomarkers were comprehensively investigated and discussed in authentic studies. The obtained results from our study indicated a group of genes including PPARD, CST4, CSNK1E, PTPN14, ETV6, and ADRM1 as well as novel miRNAs (e.g., miR-16-5p, miR-335-5p, miR-124-3p, and let-7b-5p) which might be potentially associated with BC and could be a potential biomarker. Afterward, three drug-gene interaction networks were reconstructed to explore candidate drugs for the treatment of BC. The hub miRNAs in the mRNA-miRNA bipartite network played a fundamental role in BC progression; however, these findings need further investigation.

Prognostic impact of insulin‐like growth factor‐I and its binding proteins, insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 and ‐3, on adverse histopathological features and survival outcomes after radical cystectomy

Objectives

Insulin‐like growth factor‐I and its binding proteins are involved in cancer development, progression, and metastasis. In urothelial carcinoma, the impact of this pathway is still poorly investigated. The present large cohort study aimed to evaluate the association of preoperative circulating levels of insulin‐like growth factor‐I, insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 and ‐3 on outcomes after radical cystectomy.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study of the plasma specimens from 1036 consecutive urothelial carcinoma patients who were treated with radical cystectomy. The primary and secondary outcomes were adverse histopathological features and survival outcomes. Binominal logistic regression and multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to assess the association of plasma levels of insulin‐like growth factor‐I, insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 and ‐3 with outcomes.

Results

On multivariable analysis adjusting for the effects of preoperative variables, lower insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 levels were associated with an increased risk of lymph node metastasis and (any non‐organ confined disease) any non‐organ confined disease. Insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐3 levels were also inversely independently associated with lymph node metastasis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the addition of insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding proteins biomarkers to a reference model significantly improved the discriminating ability for the prediction of lymph node metastasis (+10.0%, P < 0.001). On multivariable Cox regression models, lower levels of both insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 and ‐3 plasma levels were associated with recurrence‐free survival, cancer‐specific survival, and overall survival. insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 and ‐3 levels and improved the discrimination of a standard reference model for the prediction of recurrence‐free survival, cancer‐specific survival, and overall survival (+4.9%, 4.9%, 2.3%, respectively).

Conclusions

Preoperative insulin‐like growth factor‐I binding protein‐2 and ‐3 are significantly associated with features of biologically and clinically aggressive urothelial carcinoma. These biomarkers improved prognostic urothelial carcinoma models.

The Sirenic Links between Diabetes, Obesity, and Bladder Cancer

There is considerable evidence of a positive association between the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity with bladder cancer (BCa), with the link between T2DM and obesity having already been established. There also appear to be potential associations between Pleckstrin homology domain containing S1 (PLEKHS1) and the Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) axis. Seven literature searches were carried out to investigate the backgrounds of these potential links. PLEKHS1 is a candidate biomarker in BCa, with mutations that are easily detectable in urine and increased expression seemingly associated with worse disease states. PLEKHS1 has also been implicated as a potential mediator for the onset of T2DM in people with obesity. The substantial evidence of the involvement of IGF in BCa, the role of the IGF axis in obesity and T2DM, and the global prevalence of T2DM and obesity suggest there is scope for investigating the links between these components. Preliminary findings on the relationship between PLEKHS1 and the IGF axis signal possible associations with BCa progression. This indicates that PLEKHS1 plays a role in the pathogenesis of BCa that may be mediated by members of the IGF axis. Further detailed research is needed to establish the relationship between PLEKHS1 and the IGF axis in BCa and determine how these phenomena overlap with T2DM and obesity.

Phosphorylation of pericyte FAK-Y861 affects tumour cell apoptosis and tumour blood vessel regression

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that is overexpressed in many cancer types and in vivo studies have shown that vascular endothelial cell FAK expression and FAK-phosphorylation at tyrosine (Y) 397, and subsequently FAK-Y861, are important in tumour angiogenesis. Pericytes also play a vital role in regulating tumour blood vessel stabilisation, but the specific involvement of pericyte FAK-Y397 and FAK-Y861 phosphorylation in tumour blood vessels is unknown. Using PdgfrβCre + ;FAKWT/WT, PdgfrβCre + ;FAKY397F/Y397F and PdgfrβCre + ;FAKY861F/Y861F mice, our data demonstrate that Lewis lung carcinoma tumour growth, tumour blood vessel density, blood vessel perfusion and pericyte coverage were affected only in late stage tumours in PdgfrβCre + ;FAKY861F/Y861F but not PdgfrβCre + ;FAKY397F/Y397F mice. Further examination indicates a dual role for pericyte FAK-Y861 phosphorylation in the regulation of tumour vessel regression and also in the control of pericyte derived signals that influence apoptosis in cancer cells. Overall this study identifies the role of pericyte FAK-Y861 in the regulation of tumour vessel regression and tumour growth control and that non-phosphorylatable FAK-Y861F in pericytes reduces tumour growth and blood vessel density.

Potential Role of Insulin Growth-Factor-Binding Protein 2 as Therapeutic Target for Obesity-Related Insulin Resistance

Evidence from observational and in vitro studies suggests that insulin growth-factor-binding protein type 2 (IGFBP2) is a promising protein in non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, or type 2 diabetes. Accordingly, great efforts have been carried out to explore the role of IGFBP2 in obesity state and insulin-related diseases, which it is typically found decreased. However, the physiological pathways have not been explored yet, and the relevance of IGFBP2 as an important pathway integrator of metabolic disorders is still unknown. Here, we review and discuss the molecular structure of IGFBP2 as the first element of regulating the expression of IGFBP2. We highlight an update of the association between low serum IGFBP2 and an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and low insulin sensitivity. We hypothesize mechanisms of IGFBP2 on the development of obesity and insulin resistance in an insulin-independent manner, which meant that could be evaluated as a therapeutic target. Finally, we cover the most interesting lifestyle modifications that regulate IGFBP2, since lifestyle factors (diet and/or physical activity) are associated with important variations in serum IGFBP2.