TRIB3 rs6037475 is a potential biomarker for predicting felodipine drug response in Chinese patients with hypertension

Pharmacogenetics of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) in cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have a high mortality rate, and despite the several available therapeutic targets, non-response to antihypertensives remains a common problem. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are important classes of drugs recommended as first-line therapy for several CVDs. However, response to ACEIs and ARBs varies among treated patients. Pharmacogenomics assesses how an individual's genetic characteristics affect their likely response to drug therapy. Currently, numerous studies suggest that genetic polymorphisms may contribute to variability in drug response. Moreover, further studies evaluating gene-gene interactions within signaling pathways in response to antihypertensives might help to unravel potential genetic predictors for antihypertensive response. This review summarizes the pharmacogenetic data for ACEIs and ARBs in patients with CVD, and discusses the potential pharmacogenetics of these classes of antihypertensives in clinical practice. However, replication studies in different populations are needed. In addition, studies that evaluate gene-gene interactions that share signaling pathways in the response to antihypertensive drugs might facilitate the discovery of genetic predictors for antihypertensive response.

The clinical impact of anti-hypertensive treatment drug-gene pairs in the asian population: a systematic review of publications in the past decade

Pharmacogenetics play an important role in determining the anti-hypertensive effects of blood pressure-lowering medications and have the potential to improve future patient care. Current literature on the topic, however, has a heavy focus on Caucasians and may not be generalisable to the Asian populations. Therefore, we have conducted this systematic review to summarise and evaluate the literature of the past decade. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials were searched for relevant studies from 1 January 2011 to 23 July 2021. The outcome of interest was the response to anti-hypertensive treatment in Asians according to each genetic polymorphism. A total of 26 studies with a total of 8837 patients were included in our review, covering five classes of anti-hypertensive agents-namely, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB), beta-blockers (BB), calcium channel blockers (CCB), and thiazide-like diuretics. Response to ACEI therapy was most susceptible to genotypic variations, while the efficacy of ARB and CCB were affected by pharmacogenetic differences to varying extent. For BB, only variations in the ADRB1 genotype significantly affects therapeutic response, while the therapeutic efficacy of thiazide-like diuretics was correlated with genotypic variations in the REN and ACE. This systematic review evaluated the impact of pharmacogenetic variations on the therapeutic efficacy of anti-hypertensive treatment in Asians and has described numerous drug-gene pairs that are potentially clinically important. Future prospective studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are needed to better elucidate the impact of these drug-gene pairs.

The functions and molecular mechanisms of Tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3) implicated in the pathophysiology of cancer

Currently, cancer ranks as the second leading cause of death worldwide, and at the same time, the burden of cancer continues to increase. The underlying molecular pathways involved in the initiation and development of cancer are the subject of considerable research worldwide. Further understanding of these pathways may lead to new cancer treatments. Growing data suggest that Tribble's homolog 3 (TRIB3) is essential in oncogenesis in many types of cancer. The mammalian tribbles family's proteins regulate various cellular and physiological functions, such as the cell cycle, stress response, signal transduction, propagation, development, differentiation, immunity, inflammatory processes, and metabolism. To exert their activities, Tribbles proteins must alter key signaling pathways, including the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathways. Recent evidence supports that TRIB3 dysregulation has been linked to various diseases, including tumor development and chemoresistance. It has been speculated that TRIB3 may either promote or inhibit the onset and development of cancer. However, it is still unclear how TRIB3 performs this dual function in cancer. In this review, we present and discuss the most recent data on the role of TRIB3 in cancer pathophysiology and chemoresistance. Furthermore, we describe in detail the molecular mechanism TRIB3 regulates in cancer.

TRIB3 promoter 33 bp VNTR is associated with the risk of cerebrovascular disease in type 2 diabetic patients

Previous studies have demonstrated that TRIB3 is closely related to insulin resistance, metabolic disorders and vascular diseases. Recently, it was reported that a 33 bp variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) located in the TRIB3 promoter could considerably alter its transcriptional activity. Nonetheless, whether the shift of TRIB3 transcriptional activity has the effect of inducing diabetic vascular complications is still unclear. Therefore, in our study, we aimed to explore the relationship between the TRIB3 33bp VNTR and diabetic vascular complications. The TRIB3 33bp VNTR polymorphisms were determined by PCR and Sanger sequencing, a total of 798 eligible Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) were included in our study and then evaluated with clinical data. After adjusting for age, gender, BMI, smoking history, drinking history and duration of diabetes, we found that the high number of 33 bp tandem repeats (repeats>8) was significantly associated with an increase in the risk of cerebrovascular diseases compared with the low number of 33 bp tandem repeats (repeats≤6) in patients with T2DM(OR 2.66, 95% CI 1.29–5.47, p = 0.008). The intermediate number of 33bp tandem repeats (6 < repeat≤8) was markedly associated with a decreased risk of diabetic retinopathy compared with the low number of tandem repeats (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46–0.91, p = 0.012). Adjusting for gender, age and BMI, there was a significant difference in DBP levels among patients with the number of different 33 bp tandem repeats (Low vs. Intermediate vs. High, 81.6 ± 12.8 vs. 79.8 ± 12.4 vs. 78.7 ± 12.6 mmHg; p = 0.045). Subgroup analysis found that TRIB3 VNTR was significantly correlated with the difference in systolic blood pressure (SBP) in T2DM patients taking ACEI/ARB drugs (Low vs. Intermediate vs. High, 146.27 ± 18.23 vs. 140.01 ± 19.91 vs. 140.77 ± 18.64 mmHg; p = 0.018). Our results indicated that TRIB3 promoter 33bp VNTR is related to vascular diseases in T2DM patients, and may serve as a new biomarker for individualized prevention and therapy of T2DM.

Association between genetic risk of high SBP and hypertension control: the CoLaus|PsyColaus study

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether a genetic risk score (GRS) for high SBP is associated with poor control of hypertension.

METHODS

Data from the four waves of a population-based, prospective study conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland. Control of hypertension was defined based on SBP less than 140 mmHg and DBP less than 90 mmHg. A weighted GRS was computed from 362 SNPs.

RESULTS

Overall, 1097 (51% men, mean age 61 years), 1126 (53% men, age 65 years), 1020 (52% men, age 69 years) and 809 (50% men, age 71 years) participants treated for hypertension were selected from the baseline (2003-2006), first (2009-2012), second (2014-2017) and third (2018-2021) surveys. Hypertension control rates were 50, 58, 52 and 59% for the baseline, first, second and third surveys, respectively. No association was found between GRS and hypertension control: multivariate-adjusted mean ± standard error for controlled vs. uncontrolled participants: 9.30 ± 0.09 vs. 9.50 ± 0.09 ( P  = 0.12); 9.32 ± 0.08 vs. 9.53 ± 0.10 ( P  = 0.10); 9.17 ± 0.08 vs. 9.34 ± 0.11 ( P  = 0.22), and 9.18 ± 0.09 vs. 9.46 ± 0.11 ( P  = 0.07) for the baseline, first, second and third surveys, respectively. Power analysis showed that a minimum of 3410 people treated for hypertension would be necessary to detect an association between the GRS and hypertension control rates. Notably, positive associations between the GRS and SBP levels were found among participants not treated for hypertension, with Spearman correlations ranging between 0.05 and 0.09 (all P  < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Using a GRS associated with SBP levels is not predictive of hypertension control. The use of GRS for hypertension management is not warranted in clinical practice.

http://links.lww.com/HJH/C26.

Tribbles pseudokinase 3 (TRIB3) contributes to the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma by activating the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway

Background

Tribble pseudokinase 3 (TRIB3) plays a key role in regulating the malignancy of many tumors. This study examined its function in cancer cells and explored the potential mechanisms of action.

Methods

The expression of TRIB3 was examined in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. A TRIB3 lentivirus with a flag label was constructed and transfected into Huh7 and Hep3B human hepatoma cell lines to generate cells that stably overexpress TRIB3. A small interfering RNA (siRNA) was designed to knockdown TRIB3 mRNA in HepG2 and Huh7. Cell viability and cell colony formation assays were conducted. Flow cytometry was performed to assess the cell cycle in cells overexpressing TRIB3. Western blotting were performed to examine the expression of (Mitogen-activated protein kinase, MAPKK) (MEK), phosphorylated-MEK (p-MEK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and p-MEK in cells with TRIB3 knockdown. The correlation between TRIB3 and SMARCD3 was assessed using co-immunoprecipitation assays and immunofluorescence.

Results

TRIB3 was significantly overexpressed in advanced grade HCC tissues and was closely correlated with poor prognosis. TRIB3 overexpression promoted the cell growth and cell cycle but had little effect on migration capabilities in Huh7 and Hep3B cells. Conversely, knockdown of TRIB3 had slow down the cell growth in Huh7 and HepG2 cells detected by CCK8 and colony formation assay. The expression of MEK and ERK at both the protein and mRNA levels were downregulated when TRIB3 was knocked down. The protein expression of p-ERK and p-MEK were also downregulated upon TRIB3 silencing. SMARCD3 is a transcript factor that is belongs to the SWI/SNF complex and has been shown to regulate many genes. Indeed, co-immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that TRIB3 interacts with SMARCD3 in the nucleus, suggesting that it may regulate TRIB3 in HCCs.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that TRIB3 promotes the malignancy of HCC cells and its expression may be a potential diagnostic biomarker for HCC progression.