LncRNA GATA6-AS inhibits cancer cell migration and invasion in gallbladder cancer by downregulating miR-421

Natural products and long noncoding RNA signatures in gallbladder cancer: a review focuses on pathogenesis, diagnosis, and drug resistance

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is an aggressive and lethal malignancy with a poor prognosis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and natural products have emerged as key orchestrators of cancer pathogenesis through widespread dysregulation across GBC transcriptomes. Functional studies have revealed that lncRNAs interact with oncoproteins and tumor suppressors to control proliferation, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, stemness, and drug resistance. Curcumin, baicalein, oleanolic acid, shikonin, oxymatrine, arctigenin, liensinine, fangchinoline, and dioscin are a few examples of natural compounds that have demonstrated promising anticancer activities against GBC through the regulation of important signaling pathways. The lncRNAs, i.e., SNHG6, Linc00261, GALM, OIP5-AS1, FOXD2-AS1, MINCR, DGCR5, MEG3, GATA6-AS, TUG1, and DILC, are key players in regulating the aforementioned processes. For example, the lncRNAs FOXD2-AS1, DILC, and HOTAIR activate oncogenes such as DNMT1, Wnt/β-catenin, BMI1, and c-Myc, whereas MEG3 and GATA6-AS suppress the tumor proteins NF-κB, EZH2, and miR-421. Clinically, specific lncRNAs can serve as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers based on overexpression correlating with advanced TNM stage, metastasis, chemoresistance, and poor survival. Therapeutically, targeting aberrant lncRNAs with siRNA or antisense oligos disrupts their oncogenic signaling and inhibits GBC progression. Overall, dysfunctional lncRNA regulatory circuits offer multiple avenues for precision medicine approaches to improve early GBC detection and overcome this deadly cancer. They have the potential to serve as novel biomarkers as they are detectable in bodily fluids and tissues. These findings enhance gallbladder treatments, mitigating resistance to chemo- and radiotherapy.

c-JUN-induced upregulation of LINC00174 contributes to colorectal cancer proliferation and invasion through accelerating USP21 expression

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common human malignancies due to its invasiveness and metastasis. Recent studies revealed the pivotal roles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tumorigenesis and progressions of various tumors. However, the biological roles and molecular mechanisms of long intergenic noncoding RNA 00174 (LINC00174) in human CRC remain unclear. Here, we report that LINC00174 expression was higher in human CRC tissues and cell lines than in adjacent normal tissues and a colon epithelial cell line (FHC). High expression of LINC00174 was positively correlated with poor overall and disease-free survival in patients with CRC. Loss- and gain-of-function of LINC00174 demonstrated its critical roles in promoting cell proliferation, apoptosis resistance, migration, and invasion of CRC cells in vitro. Moreover, overexpression of LINC00174 enhanced tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistic experiments revealed that LINC00174 could bind to microRNA (miR)-2467-3p and augment the expression and function of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 21 (USP21). Rescue assays found that miR-2467-3p inhibition can offset the actions of LINC00174 or USP21 knockdown in CRC cells. Additionally, transcriptional factor c-JUN transcriptionally activated LINC00174 expression and mediated LINC00174-induced malignant phenotypes of CRC cell lines. Totally, our findings shed light on a new therapeutic strategy in modulating LINC00174/miR-2467-3p, which may interfere with the expression of USP21, and revealed that LINC00174 could be a new therapeutic target or prognostic marker in CRC.

Targeting a novel circITCH/miR-421/BTG1 axis is effective to suppress the malignant phenotypes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells

Circular RNA-based competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks contribute to the initiation and development of various types of cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although a novel circular RNA itchy E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (circITCH) is identified as a tumor suppressor in HCC, its detailed molecular mechanisms have not been fully delineated. The present study was designed to resolve this issue, and we firstly verified that circITCH suppressed the malignant phenotypes in HCC cells by regulating a novel miR-421/B-cell translocation gene 1 (BTG1) axis. Specifically, through performing the Real-Time qPCR analysis, we noticed that circITCH expression in HCC tumor tissues or cell lines were significantly lower than that in adjacent normal tissues or normal hepatocytes, and the expression levels of circITCH were negatively correlated with tumor size and TNM stage in HCC patients. Next, our functional experiments confirmed that overexpression of circITCH induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and reduced cell viability and colony forming ability in Hep3B and Huh7 cells. Mechanically, bioinformatics analysis, RNA immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that circITCH served as RNA sponges for miR-421 to elevate BTG1 levels in HCC cells. The rescuing experiments verified that upregulation of miR-421 promoted cell viability and colony formation, and reduced apoptosis, which were abrogated by overexpression of circITCH or BTG1. In conclusion, this study identified a novel circITCH/miR-421/BTG1 axis that restrained the development of HCC, and our findings provided novel biomarkers for the treatment of this disease.

Non-coding RNAs as potential biomarkers of gallbladder cancer

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) performs strongly invasive and poor prognosis, and adenocarcinoma is the most common histological type in it. Statistically, the 5-year survival rate of patients with advanced GBC is less than 5%. Such dismal outcome might be caused by chemotherapy resistance and native biology of tumor cells, regardless of emerging therapeutic strategies. Early diagnosis, depending on biomarkers, receptors and secretive proteins, is more important than clinical therapy, guiding the pathologic stage of cancer and the choice of medication. Therefore, it is in urgent need to understand the specific pathogenesis of GBC and strive to find promising novel biomarkers for early screening in GBC. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), especially microRNAs (miRNAs, miRs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs), are confirmed to participate in and regulate the occurrence and development of GBC. Exceptionally, lncRNAs and circRNAs could act as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) containing binding sites for miRNAs and crosstalk with miRNAs to target regulatory downstream protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs), thus affecting the expression levels of specific proteins to participate in and regulate the development and progression of GBC. It follows that ncRNAs may become promising biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for GBC. In this review, we mainly summarize the recent research progress of miRNAs and lncRNAs in regulating the development and progression of GBC, chemoresistance, and predicting the prognosis of patients, and highlight the potential applications of the lncRNA/circRNA-miRNA-mRNA cross-regulatory networks in early diagnosis, chemoresistance, and prognostic evaluation, aiming to better understand the pathogenesis of GBC and develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Lidocaine Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development by Modulating circ_ITCH/miR-421/CPEB3 Axis

BACKGROUND

Lidocaine plays an anticancer role in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nevertheless, the mechanism of lidocaine in hepatocellular carcinoma remains largely unclear.

AIMS

This study aims to assess the function of lidocaine and explore the potential regulatory mechanism.

METHODS

Hepatocellular carcinoma cells were challenged via lidocaine. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were detected via colony formation, 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide, flow cytometry, Western blot, and transwell analyses. Circular RNA itchy E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (circ_ITCH), microRNA-421 (miR-421), and cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein 3 (CPEB3) abundances were detected via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or Western blot. The relationship between miR-421 and circ_ITCH or CPEB3 was tested via dual-luciferase reporter analysis. The role of circ_ITCH in lidocaine-challenged cell growth in vivo was assessed via xenograft model.

RESULTS

Lidocaine inhibited hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation by decreasing colony formation and cell viability. Lidocaine suppressed hepatocellular carcinoma cell migration and invasion and promoted apoptosis. circ_ITCH and CPEB3 levels were decreased in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and cells, and were restored in cells via lidocaine treatment. circ_ITCH knockdown weakened the suppressive effect of lidocaine on hepatocellular carcinoma development, which was abolished via CPEB3 overexpression. circ_ITCH could modulate CPEB3 by competitively binding with miR-421. miR-421 knockdown mitigated the effect of circ_ITCH silence in lidocaine-challenged cells. circ_ITCH knockdown increased xenograft tumor growth.

CONCLUSIONS

Lidocaine represses hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and promotes apoptosis via regulating circ_ITCH/miR-421/CPEB3 axis, indicating a new insight into the mechanism of lidocaine in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Role of lncRNAs in the Development of an Aggressive Phenotype in Gallbladder Cancer

Long non-coding RNAs are sequences longer than 200 nucleotides that are involved in different normal and abnormal biological processes exerting their effect on proliferation and differentiation, among other cell features. Functionally, lncRNAs can regulate gene expression within the cells by acting at transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, or post-translational levels. However, in pathological conditions such as cancer, the expression of these molecules is deregulated, becoming elements that can help in the acquisition of tumoral characteristics in the cells that trigger carcinogenesis and cancer progression. Specifically, in gallbladder cancer (GBC), recent publications have shown that lncRNAs participate in the acquisition of an aggressive phenotype in cancer cells, allowing them to acquire increased malignant capacities such as chemotherapy resistance or metastasis, inducing a worse survival in these patients. Furthermore, lncRNAs are useful as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers since they have been shown to be differentially expressed in tumor tissues and serum of individuals with GBC. Therefore, this review will address different lncRNAs that could be promoting malignant phenotypic characteristics in GBC cells and lncRNAs that may be useful as markers due to their capability to predict a poor prognosis in GBC patients.

MiR-421 regulates goat intramuscular preadipocytes differentiation via targeting FGF13

As a member of the MicroRNA s (miRNAs) family, miR-421 has been widely studied in regulating the proliferation and apoptosis of cancer cells a. However, there are still no reports on miR-421 in regulating adipocyte differentiation and its related mechanisms. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the potential involvement of miR-421 in goat intramuscular preadipocytes (P_IMA). The expression level of miR-421 was measured via quantitative real-time PCR during goat P_IMA differentiation. And the effects of miR-421 on goat P_IMA differentiation were studied by liposome transfection, Oil red O staining and qRT-PCR. Furthermore, the miR-421 target was searched and the underlying mechanism was clarified by luciferase reporter assay and rescue experiment. Our results showed that inhibition of miR-421 could accumulation of lipid droplets by upregulation the expression level of AP2, LPL, C/EBPα and SREBP1. Further studies showed that fibroblast growth factor 13 (FGF13) was the direct target of miR-421. Knocking down of FGF13 expression could inhibit lipid droplet formation and down-regulated the expression of key adipogenic regulatory genes. In addition, the rescue experiment revealed that FGF13 is involved in miR-421-induced differentiation of goat P_IMA as a key factor. Overall, these findings indicate that miR-421 is a negative regulator in the progression of differentiation of goat P_IMA by inhibiting the expression of FGF13.

Circ_WWC3 overexpression decelerates the progression of osteosarcoma by regulating miR-421/PDE7B axis

Background

Emerging evidence has shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are vital regulators in osteosarcoma (OS) progression. However, the effects of circ_WWC3 in OS have not been explored. In this research, the functions and mechanisms of circ_WWC3 in OS were investigated.

Methods

Quantitative reverse trancription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was adopted to determine the levels of circ_WWC3, WW and WWC3 mRNA, miR-421, and phosphodiesterase 7B (PDE7B) mRNA. RNase R assay was used to determine the characteristic of circ_WWC3. Colony formation assay and 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay were applied for cell growth. Transwell assay was performed for cell migration and invasion. Flow cytometry analysis was utilized for cell apoptosis. Western blot assay was conducted for the levels of apoptosis-related proteins and PDE7B protein. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was carried out to analyze the targeting relationship between miR-421 and circ_WWC3 or PDE7B. The murine xenograft model was established to explore the effect of circ_WWC3 in vivo.

Results

Compared to normal tissues and cells, circ_WWC3 and PDE7B were downregulated in OS tissues and cells. Overexpression of circ_WWC3 or PDE7B suppressed OS cell growth, migration, and invasion and promoted apoptosis in vitro. Regarding the mechanism analysis, circ_WWC3 positively modulated PDE7B expression by targeting miR-421. MiR-421 overexpression restored the impacts of circ_WWC3 on OS cell growth, metastasis, and apoptosis. Inhibition of miR-421 repressed the malignant behaviors of OS cells by targeting PDE7B. In addition, circ_WWC3 inhibited the tumorigenicity of OS in vivo.

Conclusion

Circ_WWC3 overexpression slowed the development of OS by elevating PDE7B via sponging miR-421.

Long Non-Coding RNA OIP5-AS1 Contributes to Gallbladder Cancer Cell Invasion and Migration by miR-143-3p Suppression

Objective

This study was designed to investigate the effect of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) OIP5-AS1 on cell migration and invasion of gallbladder cancer (GBC) and its specific mechanism.

Methods

The expressions of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 and miR-143-3p in GBC cell lines (GBC-SD, SGC996 and NOZ) and gallbladder epithelial cells (HGBE cells) were measured by qRT-PCR. After loss- and gain-of-function experiments for OIP5-AS1 and miR-143-3p in GBC-SD cells, CCK-8 was applied to examine cell viability, cell scratch assay to measure cell migration, and transwell chamber to inspect cell invasion capacity. The interaction between OIP5-AS1 and miR-143-3p was predicted by StarBase. Then, luciferase reporter gene assay and RNA pull-down were used to verify the targeting relationship between miR-143-3p and OIP5-AS1.

Results

OIP5-AS1 was highly expressed and miR-143-3p was downregulated in GBC cell lines, when compared with HGBE cells. Overexpression of OIP5-AS1 or downregulation of miR-143-3p facilitated GBC-SD cell invasion, proliferation and migration, while different expression patterns were found in GBC-SD cells in response to OIP5-AS1 suppression or miR-143-3p overexpression. OIP5-AS1 negatively mediated miR-143-3p. MiR-143-3p upregulation partially reversed the inhibitory effect of OIP5-AS1 knockdown on GBC-SD cell activities.

Conclusion

LncRNA OIP5-AS1 accelerates the progression of GBC by suppressing miR-143-3p.

LncRNA TUG1 inhibits neuronal apoptosis in status epilepticus rats via targeting the miR-421/mTOR axis

Status epilepticus (SE) induces apoptosis of hippocampal neurons. However, the underlying mechanism in SE is not fully understood. Recently, lncRNA TUG1 is reported as a significant mediator in neuronal development. In present study, we aimed to investigate whether lncRNA TUG1 induces apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in SE rat models. TUG1 expression in serum of normal volunteers and SE patients, SE rats and neurons with epileptiform discharge was detected. SE rat model was established and intervened with TUG1 to evaluate hippocampal neuronal apoptosis. The experiments in vitro were further performed in neurons with epileptiform discharge to verify the effects of TUG1 on neuronal apoptosis of SE rats. The downstream mechanism of TUG1 was predicted and verified. miR-421 was intervened to perform the rescue experiments. Levels of oxidative stress and inflammation-related factors and mTOR pathway-related proteins in SE rats and hippocampal neurons were detected. TUG1 was highly expressed in serum of SE patients, SE rats and neurons with epileptiform discharge. Inhibition of TUG1 relieved pathological injury, oxidative stress and inflammation and reduced neuronal apoptosis in SE rats, which were further verified in hippocampal neurons. TUG1 upregulated TIMP2 expression by targeting miR-421. Overexpressed miR-421 inhibited hippocampal neuronal apoptosis. TUG1 knockout inactivated the mTOR pathway via the miR-421/TIMP2 axis to relieve neuronal apoptosis, oxidative stress and inflammation in SE rats and hippocampal neurons. Taken together, these findings showed that downregulation of lncRNA TUG1 inhibited apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in SE rats, and attenuated oxidative stress and inflammation damage through regulating the miR-421/mTOR axis.

LncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 are Promising Biomarkers for Prognosis in Synchronous Colorectal Liver Metastasis Following Hepatectomy

Purpose

Synchronous colorectal liver metastasis (SCLM) had limited availability of tools to predict survival and tumor recurrence. LncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 have been proven to be closely related to cancer progression. However, the predictive value of lncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 in cancer prognosis is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether lncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 could be used as promising biomarkers for prognosis prediction of SCLM patients who underwent hepatectomy.

Methods

The expression profile of lncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 in serum of SCLM patients was examined by qRT-PCR. The relationship between lncRNA expression and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. The Cox proportional-hazards regression model and Kaplan-Meier analysis were performed to analyze the association between lncRNA expression and overall survival (OS) and tumor recurrence of SCLM patients.

Results

Levels of lncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 in patients who underwent recurrence or death were significantly higher than that of patients with recurrence-free or survival (P<0.01). Both lncRNA CRNDE high level and lncRNA SNHG7 high level showed a significant correlation with differentiation of primary tumor, invasion depth of primary focus, lymph node metastases, number of liver metastases, and liver metastasis grade. High levels of lncRNA CRNDE or lncRNA SNHG7 predicted shorter recurrence time, shorter OS time, higher recurrence rate and lower OS rate. Furthermore, lncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 were independent risk factors for high recurrence and poor OS in SCLM underwent hepatectomy.

Conclusion

Taken together, lncRNA CRNDE and lncRNA SNHG7 could be promising biomarkers for prediction of OS and tumor recurrence in SCLM underwent hepatectomy.