Protective effect of c-Myc/Rab7a signal pathway in glioblastoma cells under hypoxia

Deciphering the role of transcription factors in glioblastoma cancer stem cells

Glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive and fatal brain malignancy, is largely driven by a subset of tumor cells known as cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs possess stem cell-like properties, including self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation, making them pivotal for tumor initiation, invasion, metastasis, and overall tumor progression. The regulation of CSCs is primarily controlled by transcription factors (TFs) which regulate the expressions of genes involved in maintaining stemness and directing differentiation. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of TFs in regulating CSCs in GBM. The discussion encompasses the definitions of CSCs and TFs, the significance of glioma stem cells (GSCs) in GBM, and how TFs regulate GSC self-renewal, proliferation, differentiation, and transformation. The potential for developing TF-targeted GSC therapies is also explored, along with future research directions. By understanding the regulation of GSCs by TFs, we may uncover novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies against this devastating disease of GBM.

RAB7 deficiency impairs pulmonary artery endothelial function and promotes pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating and progressive disease with limited treatment options. Endothelial dysfunction plays a central role in the development and progression of PAH, yet the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. The endosome-lysosome system is important to maintain cellular health, and the small GTPase RAB7 regulates many functions of this system. Here, we explored the role of RAB7 in endothelial cell (EC) function and lung vascular homeostasis. We found reduced expression of RAB7 in ECs from patients with PAH. Endothelial haploinsufficiency of RAB7 caused spontaneous pulmonary hypertension (PH) in mice. Silencing of RAB7 in ECs induced broad changes in gene expression revealed via RNA-Seq, and RAB7-silenced ECs showed impaired angiogenesis and expansion of a senescent cell fraction, combined with impaired endolysosomal trafficking and degradation, suggesting inhibition of autophagy at the predegradation level. Furthermore, mitochondrial membrane potential and oxidative phosphorylation were decreased, and glycolysis was enhanced. Treatment with the RAB7 activator ML-098 reduced established PH in rats with chronic hypoxia/SU5416. In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge the fundamental impairment of EC function by loss of RAB7, causing PH, and show RAB7 activation to be a potential therapeutic strategy in a preclinical model of PH.

Pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and autophagy cross-talk in glioblastoma opens up new avenues for glioblastoma treatment

Glioma is a common primary tumor of the central nervous system (CNS), with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) being the most malignant, aggressive, and drug resistant. Most drugs are designed to induce cancer cell death, either directly or indirectly, but malignant tumor cells can always evade death and continue to proliferate, resulting in a poor prognosis for patients. This reflects our limited understanding of the complex regulatory network that cancer cells utilize to avoid death. In addition to classical apoptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and autophagy are recognized as key cell death modalities that play significant roles in tumor progression. Various inducers or inhibitors have been discovered to target the related molecules in these pathways, and some of them have already been translated into clinical treatment. In this review, we summarized recent advances in the molecular mechanisms of inducing or inhibiting pyroptosis, ferroptosis, or autophagy in GBM, which are important for treatment or drug tolerance. We also discussed their links with apoptosis to better understand the mutual regulatory network among different cell death processes. Video Abstract.

Lipophagy-related gene RAB7A is involved in immune regulation and malignant progression in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

RAB7A (RAS-related in Brain 7A) is an important member of the RAS oncogene family. However, the correlation between RAB7A and the development and immune infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has rarely been studied. Here, we studied the role of RAB7A in HCC through bioinformatics analysis, real-world cohort validation, and in vitro experimental exploration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The RAB7A expression level was analyzed through TCGA, HPA and TISIDB databases. TIMER and TISCH were used to analyze the correlation between RAB7A and tumor immune microenvironment. The expression of RAB7A was detected through real-time PCR and western blotting. The cell proliferation was detected by EdU and CCK8. Wound-healing and transwell assays were used to test the invasion and migration ability. Cell cycle distribution and reactive oxygen species (ROS) content were analyzed by flow cytometry. Identification of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was performed by immunofluorescence double staining. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to evaluate the correlation between RAB7A and immune checkpoints.

RESULTS

RAB7A is upregulated in most of the tumor types, and the upregulation of RAB7A is associated with a poorer prognosis in many cancers. The results showed that RAB7A was significantly positively correlated with the infiltration of macrophages and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), but negatively correlated with M2-type macrophages in most tumors. The single-cell atlas also revealed the distribution and proportion of RAB7A in immune cells of HCC. The in vitro experiments suggested that RAB7A was increased in HCC tissue and cell lines. The knockdown of RAB7A inhibited the activation of the PIK3CA-AKT pathway and suppressed the expression of CDK4, CDK6 and CCNA2. Knockdown of RAB7A induced G0/G1 arrest and ROS accumulation in HCC. In addition, overexpression of RAB7A enhanced migration and invasion by inducing EMT. The real-world cohort showed that the expression level of RAB7A was positively correlated with the expression levels of TGFBR1 and PD-L1.

CONCLUSIONS

RAB7A may serve as a potential tumor prognostic and immune infiltration-related biomarker, predicting immunotherapy efficacy in certain cancer types, especially in HCC. Besides, RAB7A was a multi-pathway target involved in the malignant progression of HCC.

Engineered exosomes targeting MYC reverse the proneural-mesenchymal transition and extend survival of glioblastoma

Dysregulated Myc signaling is a key oncogenic pathway in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Yet, effective therapeutic targeting of Myc continues to be challenging. Here, we demonstrate that exosomes generated from human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) engineered to encapsulate siRNAs targeting Myc (iExo-Myc) localize to orthotopic GBM tumors in mice. Treatment of late stage GBM tumors with iExo-Myc inhibits proliferation and angiogenesis, suppresses tumor growth, and extends survival. Transcriptional profiling of tumors reveals that the mesenchymal transition and estrogen receptor signaling pathways are impacted by Myc inhibition. Single nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) shows that iExo-Myc treatment induces transcriptional repression of multiple growth factor and interleukin signaling pathways, triggering a mesenchymal to proneural transition and shifting the cellular landscape of the tumor. These data confirm that Myc is an effective anti-glioma target and that iExo-Myc offers a feasible, readily translational strategy to inhibit challenging oncogene targets for the treatment of brain tumors.

The Effects of Autophagy-Related Genes and lncRNAs in Therapy and Prognosis of Colorectal Cancer

Cellular autophagy plays an important role in the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer (CRC). Whether autophagy-related genes and lncRNAs can be used as ideal markers in CRC is still controversial. The purpose of this study is to identify novel treatment and prognosis markers of CRC. We downloaded transcription and clinical data of CRC from the GEO (GSE40967, GSE12954, GSE17536) and TCGA database, screened for differentially autophagy-related genes (DEAGs) and lncRNAs, constructed prognostic model, and analyzed its relationship with immune infiltration. TCGA and GEO datasets (GSE12954 and GSE17536) were used to validate the effect of the model. Oncomine database and Human Protein Atlas verified the expression of DEAGs. We obtained a total of 151 DEAGs in three verification sets collaboratively. Then we constructed a risk prognostic model through Lasso regression to obtain 15 prognostic DEAGs from the training set and verified the risk prognostic model in three verification sets. The low-risk group survived longer than the high-risk group. Age, gender, pathological stage, and TNM stage were related to the prognostic risk of CRC. On the other hand, BRAF status, RFS event, and tumor location are considered as most significant risk factors of CRC in the training set. Furthermore, we found that the immune score of the low-risk group was higher. The content of CD8 + T cells, active NK cells, macrophages M0, macrophages M1, and active dendritic cells was noted more in the high-risk group. The content of plasma cells, resting memory CD4 + T cells, resting NK cells, resting mast cells, and neutrophil cells was higher in the low-risk group. After all, the Oncomine database and immunohistochemistry verified that the expression level of most key autophagy-related genes was consistent with the results that we found. In addition, we obtained six lncRNAs co-expressed with DEAGs from the training set and found that the survival time was longer in the low-risk group. This finding was verified in the verification set and showed same trend to the results mentioned above. In the final analysis, these results indicate that autophagy-related genes and lncRNAs can be used as prognostic and therapeutic markers for CRC.

The NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibition with MLN4924 sensitizes human cancer cells of different origins to apoptosis and necroptosis

OBJECTIVES

MLN4924 is an inhibitor of NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE) that interferes with the cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase complexes formation and the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation. Here, we investigated the cytotoxic effect of MLN4924 and its ability to sensitize a broad range of cancer cells of different origins to tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF)-induced cell death alongside unravelling its mechanism of action.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cell viability and caspases processing were determined after MLN4924 treatment either alone or with zVAD-fmk (pan caspase inhibitor), necrostatin-1 (nec-1, RIPK1 inhibitor) and necrosulfonamide (NSA, MLKL inhibitor). Moreover, MLN4924 ability to potentiate TNF-induced cell death was evaluated in 24 cell lines of different cancer origins. The impact of NAE inhibition with MLN4924 on TNF-induced apoptosis and necroptosis was evaluated using zVAD-fmk and nec-1, respectively.

RESULTS

MLN4924 alone was able to induce cell death in different cell lines that was attributed to apoptosis induction. Also, MLN4924 sensitized different cancer cell lines to TNF-induced cell death. MLN4924/TNF-induced cell death was apoptosis and necroptosis dependent that may be attributed to MLN4924 inhibition of NF-κB pathway activation.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeting NAE and NF-κB pathway with MLN4924 represents a substantial approach to enhance the sensitivity of diverse types of cancer cells. Moreover, the broad in vitro screening of MLN4924 anticancer activity provides a valuable guidance for elucidating the susceptible cancer types for the prospective clinical application of MLN4924.