PIK3CA expression in diffuse large B cell lymphoma tissue and the effect of its knockdown in vitro

Systems Drug Discovery for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Based on Pathogenic Molecular Mechanism via Big Data Mining and Deep Learning Method

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive heterogeneous disease. The most common subtypes of DLBCL include germinal center b-cell (GCB) type and activated b-cell (ABC) type. To learn more about the pathogenesis of two DLBCL subtypes (i.e., DLBCL ABC and DLBCL GCB), we firstly construct a candidate genome-wide genetic and epigenetic network (GWGEN) by big database mining. With the help of two DLBCL subtypes’ genome-wide microarray data, we identify their real GWGENs via system identification and model order selection approaches. Afterword, the core GWGENs of two DLBCL subtypes could be extracted from real GWGENs by principal network projection (PNP) method. By comparing core signaling pathways and investigating pathogenic mechanisms, we are able to identify pathogenic biomarkers as drug targets for DLBCL ABC and DLBCL GCD, respectively. Furthermore, we do drug discovery considering drug-target interaction ability, drug regulation ability, and drug toxicity. Among them, a deep neural network (DNN)-based drug-target interaction (DTI) model is trained in advance to predict potential drug candidates holding higher probability to interact with identified biomarkers. Consequently, two drug combinations are proposed to alleviate DLBCL ABC and DLBCL GCB, respectively.

Expression and Prognostic Value of PIK3CA, VEGF, IL-8, IL-10, and RIP2 in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

BACKGROUND

To explore clinical features and prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin (IL) 8, IL-10, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA), and receptor-interacting protein-2 (RIP2) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

METHODS

A total of 68 DLBCL patients admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Engineering University from January 2017 to June 2021 were included in this retrospective analysis. Serum VEGF was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, serum IL-8 and IL-10 were detected by chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay, and expression of PIK3CA and RIP2 in tumors was detected by immunohistochemistry. The correlation between clinical features of DLBCL and tumor-related index were analyzed. Cox regression was conducted to explore risk factors and hazard ratio.

RESULTS

The serum level or expressions of VEGF, IL-8, IL-10, and RIP2 were significantly elevated with the increase of Ann Arbor Stage, International Prognostic Index (IPI) scores, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scores, serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, and the number of extranodal sites (all P < 0.05). Beside, these serum indexes were significantly higher in patients with the presence of extranodal involvement and germinal center B-cell (GCB), but significantly lower in patients with the presence of bone marrow involvement (all P < 0.05). Cox regression analysis for overall survival revealed that high expression of VEGF, high level of serum IL-8, serum IL-10, and RIP2, Ann Arbor Stage (III-IV), number of extranodal sites (>1), serum LDH level (≥245 U/L), IPI scores (3-5), ECOG scores (≥2), and bone marrow involvement were independent risk factors for the prognosis of DLBCL patients (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The serum levels of VEGF, IL-8, and IL-10, as well as the expression of RIP2 and PIK3CA in tumor tissues, were highly correlated to clinical features of DLBCL, and high expression level of these indexes may have adverse effects for the prognosis of DLBCL patients.

KIF15 is involved in development and progression of Burkitt lymphoma

BACKGROUND

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a highly aggressive, fast-growing B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, manifested in several subtypes, including sporadic, endemic, and immunodeficiency-related forms, the mechanism of which is still not clear. Abundant evidence reported that KIF15 was involved in the progression of human cancer. The emphasis of this study is to explore the functions of KIF15 in the development of BL.

METHODS

Firstly, tumor and normal tissues were collected for detecting expression of KIF15 in BL. Lentivirus-mediated shRNA knockdown of KIF15 was used to construct BL cell model, which was verified by qRT-PCR and Western Blot. The cell proliferation was detected by CCK8 assay, cell apoptosis and cell cycle were measured through flow cytometry. Transwell assay was conducted to detect the migration.

RESULTS

We first found that KIF15 is highly expressed in BL. Knockdown of KIF15 can inhibit proliferation and migration, promote apoptosis and arrest the cell cycle. Moreover, KIF15 is involved in BL cell activity through regulating expression of apoptosis-related proteins (Caspase3, Caspase8, HTRA, IGFBP-6, p53, SMAC, sTNF-R1, TNF-β and Bcl-2) and downstream pathways, such as p-Akt, CCND1, CDK6 and PIK3CA.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings justify the search for small molecule inhibitors targeting KIF15 as a novel therapeutic strategy in BL.

The Spectrum, Tendency and Predictive Value of PIK3CA Mutation in Chinese Colorectal Cancer Patients

Background

PIK3CA is a high-frequency mutation gene in colorectal cancer, while its prognostic value remains unclear. This study evaluated the mutation tendency, spectrum, prognosis power and predictive power in cetuximab treatment of PIK3CA in Chinese CRC cohort.

Methods

The PIK3CA exon 9 and 20 status of 5763 CRC patients was detected with Sanger sequencing and a high-resolution melting test. Clinicopathological characteristics of 5733 patients were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method and nomogram were used to evaluate the overall survival curve and disease recurrence, respectively.

Results

Fifty-eight types of mutations in 13.4% (771/5733) of the patients were detected. From 2014 to 2018, the mutation rate of PIK3CA increased from 11.0% to 13.5%. At stage IV, exon 20 mutated patients suffered shorter overall survival time than wild-type patients (multivariate COX regression analysis, HR = 2.72, 95% CIs = 1.47-5.09; p-value = 0.012). At stage III, PIK3CA mutated patients were more likely to relapse (multivariate Logistic regression analysis, exon 9: OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.34-4.73, p = 0.003; exon 20: OR = 3.89, 95% CI = 1.66-9.10, p = 0.002). The concordance index of the nomogram for predicting the recurrence risk of stage III patients was 0.685. After cetuximab treatment, the median PFS of PIK3CA exon 9 wild-type patients (n = 9) and mutant patients (n = 5) did not reach a significant difference (3.6 months vs. 2.3 months, Log-rank test, p-value = 0.513).

Conclusions

We found that PIK3CA mutation was an adverse predictive marker for the overall survival of stage IV patients and recurrence of stage III patients, respectively. Further more, we suggested that PIK3CA exon 9 mutations are not negative predictors of cetuximab treatment in KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF wild-type mCRC patients.

Expression of Foxp3 and interleukin-7 receptor and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

The most specific biomarker on the surface of regulatory T cells (Tregs) is the forkhead/wingeded-helix protein 3 (Foxp3). In contrast, the expression of interleukin-7 receptor (IL-7R) is low or negative in Tregs. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of Foxp3 and IL-7R in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and to analyse the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with DLBCL and their association with overall survival (OS). Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of Foxp3 and IL-7R on routinely processed formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimens. The χ² test was used to analyse the association between the expression of Foxp3 and IL-7R and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with DLBCL. Survival curves were used to investigate the effect of Foxp3 and IL-7R on patient prognosis. The results demonstrated that high Foxp3 expression in tissue was associated with non- germinal centre B-cell (GCB)-type disease (P=0.012), International Prognostic Index score >0 (P=0.012), stage 3 or 4 tumour (P=0.045) and disease progression and stabilization period (P=0.032). In addition, IL-7R expression was associated with non-GCB-type disease (P=0.001) and extranodal lymphoma (P=0.008). Furthermore, expression of Foxp3 and IL-7R was not associated with OS (P=0.447 and P=0.201, respectively). Foxp3 and IL-7R expression in non-GCB-type lymphoma was significantly higher compared with that in GCB lymphoma. The expression of Foxp3 and IL-7R may therefore help the development of individualized treatment, prognostic prediction and therapy stratification.

Silencing the PIK3CA Gene Enhances the Sensitivity of Childhood Leukemia Cells to Chemotherapy Drugs by Suppressing the Phosphorylation of Akt

PURPOSE

This study aimed to investigate the effects of PIK3CA on the sensitivity of acute B lymphocytic leukemia cells (Nalm-6 cells) to chemotherapy drugs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Children's normal B lymphocytes and Nalm-6 cells were cultured. Nalm-6 cells were transfected with PIK3CA siRNA (siPIK3CA group) or its negative control (PIK3CA-Control group). Normal Nalm-6 cells were named Mock group. Nalm-6 cells transfected by PIK3CA siRNA were treated with Akt inhibitor (siPIK3CA+Akti-1/2 group). mRNA and protein expression was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. Proliferation and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs was detected by MTT assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis was explored by low cytometry. Transwell assay was performed to test invasion.

RESULTS

PIK3CA mRNA (p=0.008) and protein (p=0.006) expression was higher in Nalm-6 cells than that in normal B lymphocytes. Compared with the Mock group and PIK3CA-Control group, Nalm-6 cells of the siPIK3CA group had lower OD495 values (all p<0.05) and invasion cell numbers (p=0.03 and p=0.025), as well as a higher proportion of G0/G1 phase cells (p=0.020 and p=0.022), percentage of apoptosis (p=0.016 and p=0.022), and inhibition rate (all p<0.05). pAkt expression in the siPIK3CA group (p=0.026 and p=0.031) and siPIK3CA+Akti-1/2 group (p=0.019 and p=0.023) was lower than that in the Mock group.

CONCLUSION

PIK3CA silencing inhibited Nalm-6 cell proliferation and invasion, and promoted their apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs, potentially through regulation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

The expression of CCL18 in diffuse large B cell lymphoma and its mechanism research

BACKGROUND

Molecular target therapy has become a hot spot in cancer treatment, finding effective targets for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an urgent problem.

OBJECTIVE

To detect the expression level of C-C motif chemokine ligand 18 (CCL18) in DLBCL and clarify its potential role in the progression of DLBCL.

METHODS

Gene expression datas of DLBCL were obtained from TCGA and GEO databases. The relationship between CCL18 and clinicopathologic information of DLBCL was assessed using meta-analysis method. Then we conducted bioinformatics analysis to uncover the biological function of CCL18 and its co-expression genes. Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect expression of CCL18 in DLBCL and reactive hyperplasia lymphoid tissues.

RESULTS

The expression of CCL18 in DLBCL was higher than negative control group. The levels of CCL18 were distinct in different molecular subtypes and ages, and patients with higher level of CCL18 had a shorter overall survival than those with lower level. CCL18 and its co-expression genes were enriched in biological function such as cell proliferation, migration, apoptotic, and correlated with NF-κB, pathway in cancer, PI3K-AKT pathway.

CONCLUSIONS

CCL18 was up-regulated in DLBCL and related to poor prognosis. CCL18 may act as a valuable target for diagnosis and treatment of DLBCL.