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Mao Q, Wu P, Li H, Fu X, Gao X, Yang L. CRISPR/Cas9‑mediated EZH2 knockout suppresses the proliferation and migration of triple‑negative breast cancer cells. Oncol Lett 2023; 26:343. [PMID: 37427349 PMCID: PMC10326815 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2023.13929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of BC characterized by extensive intratumoral heterogeneity. Compared with other types of BC, TNBC is more prone to invasion and metastasis. The aim of the present study was to determine whether adenovirus-mediated clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system is capable of effectively targeting enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in TNBC cells and lay an experimental basis for the investigation of the CRISPR/Cas9 system as a gene therapy for BC. In the present study, EZH2 was knocked out in MDA-MB-231 cells using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool to create EZH2-knockout (KO) group (EZH2-KO group). Moreover, the GFP knockout group (control group), and a blank group (Blank group), were employed. The success of vector construction and EZH2-KO were verified by T7 endonuclease I (T7EI) restriction enzyme digestion, mRNA detection and western blotting. Changes in proliferation and migration ability of MDA-MB-231 cells following gene editing were detected by MTT, wound healing, Transwell and in vivo tumor biology assays. As indicated by the results of mRNA and protein detection, the mRNA and protein expression of EZH2 were significantly downregulated in the EZH2-KO group. The difference in EZH2 mRNA and protein between the EZH2-KO and the two control groups was statistically significant. MTT, wound healing and transwell assay suggested that the proliferation and migration ability of MDA-MB-231 cells in the EZH2-KO group were significantly decreased after EZH2 knockout. In vivo, the tumor growth rate in the EZH2-KO group was significantly lower than that in the control groups. In brief, the present study revealed that the biological functions of tumor cells were inhibited after EZH2 knockout in MDA-MB-231 cells. The aforementioned findings suggested that EZH2 can have a key role in the development of TNBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiqi Mao
- Department of General Surgery, Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315000, P.R. China
| | - Peibin Wu
- Faculty of Preclinical Medicine, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Haochen Li
- Department of Healthcare, Tianjin International Travel Healthcare Center (Tianjin Customs Port Outpatient Department), Tianjin 300000, P.R. China
| | - Xiaolan Fu
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Xuechen Gao
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215000, P.R. China
| | - Lei Yang
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
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Darbeheshti F, Kadkhoda S, Keshavarz-Fathi M, Razi S, Bahramy A, Mansoori Y, Rezaei N. Investigation of BRCAness associated miRNA-gene axes in breast cancer: cell-free miR-182-5p as a potential expression signature of BRCAness. BMC Cancer 2022; 22:668. [PMID: 35715772 PMCID: PMC9206264 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-022-09761-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The concept of the ‘BRCAness’ phenotype implies the properties that some sporadic breast cancers (BC) share with BRCA1/2-mutation carriers with hereditary BC. Breast tumors with BRCAness have deficiencies in homologous recombination repair (HRR), like BRCA1/2-mutation carriers, and consequently could benefit from poly-(ADP)-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and DNA-damaging chemotherapy. Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) show a higher frequency of BRCAness than the other BC subtypes. Therefore, looking for BRCAness-related biomarkers could improve personalized management of TNBC patients. microRNAs (miRNAs) play a pivotal role in onco-transcriptomic profiles of tumor cells besides their suitable features as molecular biomarkers. The current study aims to evaluate the expression level of some critical miRNAs-mRNA axes in HRR pathway in tumors and plasma samples from BC patients. The expression levels of three multi-target miRNAs, including miR-182-5p, miR-146a-5p, and miR-498, as well as six downstream HRR-related protein-coding genes, have been investigated in the breast tumors and paired adjacent normal tissues by Real-time PCR. In the next step, based on the results derived from the previous step, we examined the level of cell-free miR-182-5p in the blood plasma samples from the patients. Our results highlight the difference between TNBC and non-TNBC tumor subgroups regarding the dysregulation of the key miRNA/mRNA axes involved in the HRR pathway. Also, for the first time, we show that the level of cell-free miR-182-5p in plasma samples from BC patients could be a clue for screening BC patients eligible for receiving PARP inhibitors through a personalized manner. Altogether, some sporadic BC patients, especially sporadic TNBC, have epigenetically dysregulated HRR pathway that could be identified and benefit from BRCAness-specific therapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farzaneh Darbeheshti
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,Cancer Immunology Project (CIP), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
| | - Sepideh Kadkhoda
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mahsa Keshavarz-Fathi
- Cancer Immunology Project (CIP), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.,School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sepideh Razi
- Cancer Immunology Project (CIP), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.,School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Afshin Bahramy
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Yaser Mansoori
- Noncommunicable Disease Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran. .,Department of Medical Genetics, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.
| | - Nima Rezaei
- Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Qarib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran. .,Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. .,Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
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Darbeheshti F, Zokaei E, Mansoori Y, Emadi Allahyari S, Kamaliyan Z, Kadkhoda S, Tavakkoly Bazzaz J, Rezaei N, Shakoori A. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0044234 as distinct molecular signature of triple negative breast cancer: a potential regulator of GATA3. Cancer Cell Int 2021; 21:312. [PMID: 34126989 PMCID: PMC8201848 DOI: 10.1186/s12935-021-02015-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been implicated in the initiation and development of breast cancer as functional non-coding RNAs (ncRNA). The roles of circRNAs as the competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) to sponge microRNAs (miRNAs) have also been indicated. However, the functions of circRNAs in breast cancer have not been totally elucidated. This study aimed to explore the clinical implications and possible roles of circ_0044234 in carcinogenesis of the most problematic BC subtype, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which are in desperate need of biomarkers and targeted therapies. METHODS The importance of circ_0044234 as one of the most dysregulated circRNAs in TNBC was discovered through microarray expression profile analysis. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to confirm the downregulation of circ_0044234 in triple negative tumors and cell lines versus non-triple negative ones. The bioinformatics prediction revealed that circ_0044234 could act as an upstream sponge in the miR-135b/GATA3 axis, two of the most dysregulated transcripts in TNBC. RESULTS Our experimental investigation of circ_0044234 expressions in various BC subtypes as well as cell lines reveals that TNBC expresses circ_0044234 at a substantially lower level than non-TNBC. The ROC curve analysis indicates that it could be applied as a discriminative biomarker to identify TNBC from other BC subtypes. Moreover, circ_0044234 expression could be an independent prognostic biomarker in BC. Interestingly, a substantial inverse expression correlation was detected between circ_0044234 and miR-135b-5p as well as between miR-135b-5p and GATA3 in breast tumors. CONCLUSIONS The possible clinical usefulness of circ_0044234 as a promising distinct biomarker and upcoming therapeutic target for TNBC have been indicated in this research. Our comprehensive approach revealed the potential circ_0044234/miR135b-5p/GATA3 ceRNA axis in TNBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farzaneh Darbeheshti
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,Medical Genetics Network (MeGeNe), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
| | - Elham Zokaei
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
| | - Yaser Mansoori
- Noncommunicable Disease Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.,Department of Medical Genetics, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
| | - Sima Emadi Allahyari
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Zeeba Kamaliyan
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sepideh Kadkhoda
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Javad Tavakkoly Bazzaz
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nima Rezaei
- Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Qarib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran. .,Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. .,Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
| | - Abbas Shakoori
- Medical Genetic Ward, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Qarib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran. .,Breast Disease Research Center (BDRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Padayachee J, Singh M. Therapeutic applications of CRISPR/Cas9 in breast cancer and delivery potential of gold nanomaterials. Nanobiomedicine (Rij) 2020; 7:1849543520983196. [PMID: 33488814 PMCID: PMC7768851 DOI: 10.1177/1849543520983196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Globally, approximately 1 in 4 cancers in women are diagnosed as breast cancer (BC). Despite significant advances in the diagnosis and therapy BCs, many patients develop metastases or relapses. Hence, novel therapeutic strategies are required, that can selectively and efficiently kill malignant cells. Direct targeting of the genetic and epigenetic aberrations that occur in BC development is a promising strategy to overcome the limitations of current therapies, which target the tumour phenotype. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system, composed of only an easily modifiable single guide RNA (sgRNA) sequence bound to a Cas9 nuclease, has revolutionised genome editing due to its simplicity and efficiency compared to earlier systems. CRISPR/Cas9 and its associated catalytically inactivated dCas9 variants facilitate the knockout of overexpressed genes, correction of mutations in inactivated genes, and reprogramming of the epigenetic landscape to impair BC growth. To achieve efficient genome editing in vivo, a vector is required to deliver the components to target cells. Gold nanomaterials, including gold nanoparticles and nanoclusters, display many advantageous characteristics that have facilitated their widespread use in theranostics, as delivery vehicles, and imaging and photothermal agents. This review highlights the therapeutic applications of CRISPR/Cas9 in treating BCs, and briefly describes gold nanomaterials and their potential in CRISPR/Cas9 delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Moganavelli Singh
- Nano-Gene and Drug Delivery Laboratory, Discipline of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus), Durban, South Africa
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Moghbeli M. Genetic and molecular biology of breast cancer among Iranian patients. J Transl Med 2019; 17:218. [PMID: 31286981 PMCID: PMC6615213 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-019-1968-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2019] [Accepted: 07/04/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract Background, Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in Iran. This high ratio of mortality had a rising trend during the recent years which is probably associated with late diagnosis. Main body Therefore it is critical to define a unique panel of genetic markers for the early detection among our population. In present review we summarized all of the reported significant genetic markers among Iranian BC patients for the first time, which are categorized based on their cellular functions. Conclusions This review paves the way of introducing a unique ethnic specific panel of diagnostic markers among Iranian BC patients. Indeed, this review can also clarify the genetic and molecular bases of BC progression among Iranians.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meysam Moghbeli
- Medical Genetics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
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