Cyclin E1 is a strong prognostic marker for death from lymph node negative breast cancer. A population-based case-control study

Prostate Cancer: Advances in Genetic Testing and Clinical Implications

The demand for genetic testing (GT) for prostate cancer (PCa) is expanding, but there is limited knowledge about the genetic counseling (GC) needs of men. A strong-to-moderate inherited genetic predisposition causes approximately 5–20% of prostate cancer (PCa). In men with prostate cancer, germline testing may benefit the patient by informing treatment options, and if a mutation is noticed, it may also guide screening for other cancers and have family implications for cascade genetic testing (testing of close relatives for the same germline mutation). Relatives with the same germline mutations may be eligible for early cancer detection strategies and preventive measures. Cascade family testing can be favorable for family members, but it is currently unutilized, and strategies to overcome obstacles like knowledge deficiency, family communication, lack of access to genetic services, and testing expenses are needed. In this review, we will look at the genetic factors that have been linked to prostate cancer, as well as the role of genetic counseling and testing in the early detection of advanced prostate cancer.

SCUBE3 downregulation modulates hepatocellular carcinoma by inhibiting CCNE1 via TGFβ/PI3K/AKT/GSK3β pathway

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to verify the role of signal peptide-CUB-EGF-like domain-containing protein3 (SCUBE3) in the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression.

METHODS

The role of SCUBE3 in HCC cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle in vitro were detected using MTT assay, colony formation assay, 5-ethynyl-2´-deoxyuridine assay (EDU), Celigo cell counting assay, Caspase3/7 activity assay, and flow cytometry. The effect of SCUBE3 on HCC cell proliferation in vivo was inspected by a xenograft tumour model in nude mice. The related mechanisms were further studied.

RESULTS

The level of SCUBE3 was upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of SCUBE3 inhibited proliferation, promoted apoptosis, and induced cell cycle arrest in HCC cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Screening of cell cycle-related proteins revealed that CCNL2, CDK6, CCNE1, and CCND1 exhibited a significantly different expression profile. We found that SCUBE3 may promote the proliferation of HCC cells by regulating CCNE1 expression. The pathway enrichment analysis showed that the TGFβ signalling pathway and the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway were significantly altered. Co-immunoprecipitation results showed that SCUBE3 binds to the TGFβRII receptor. SCUBE3 knockdown inhibited the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway and the phosphorylation of GSK3β to inhibit its kinase activity.

CONCLUSIONS

SCUBE3 promotes HCC development by regulating CCNE1 via TGFβ/PI3K/AKT/GSK3β pathway. In addition, SCUBE3 may be a new molecular target for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

Cyclin E1 is a prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in osteosarcoma

While amplified expressed cyclin E1 is a well-known tumorigenic factor and prognostic biomarker in several malignancies, its prognostic predictive potential and function in osteosarcoma is poorly understood. Here we reveal discrete expression pattern, correlation to clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis and overall function of cyclin E1 in osteosarcoma. Sixty-nine osteosarcoma patient tumor specimens were enrolled to construct a tissue microarray to evaluate cyclin E1 expression through immunohistochemical staining. Cyclin E1 expression in osteosarcoma cell lines and fresh tissues was assessed by Western blot. Cyclin E1 gene expression was evaluated using RNA sequencing data acquired from the public database. We correlated staining intensity to clinical characteristics. Cyclin E1 small interfering RNA was used to determine the effect of cyclin E1 silencing on osteosarcoma cell proliferation and chemotherapeutic sensitivity. Sixty-one percent of the osteosarcoma patient specimens in the tissue microarray had high cyclin E1 expression. Cyclin E1 gene was significantly highly expressed in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines compared to normal tissues. The expression of cyclin E1 positively correlated with disease status, and inversely correlated to prognosis and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The expression of cyclin E1 was an independent prognostic factor for osteosarcoma patients. In addition, silencing cyclin E1 expression in osteosarcoma cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased sensitivity to chemotherapeutics. We conclude that cyclin E1 is overexpressed in osteosarcoma and is a promising biomarker for prognosis and chemotherapeutic response. We confirm aberrant cyclin E1 expression is a potent therapeutic target in osteosarcoma, and its selective inhibition is a rational treatment strategy for osteosarcoma.

MiR-15b regulates cell differentiation and survival by targeting CCNE1 in APL cell lines

MicroRNAs have been shown to be involved in various cell processes, including proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. However, little is known about their function in granulopoiesis. In the present study, overexpression and knockdown experiments revealed that miR-15b was required to block the proliferation of NB4 and HL60 cells and induce them differentiated to granulocyte lineage. Moreover, we identified CCNE1 as a direct target of miR-15b, and demonstrated that CCNE1 was involved in cell differentiation and proliferation in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells. In addition, we demonstrated a novel pathway in which miR-15b regulated cells arrested in the G0/G1 phase and promoted terminal differentiation of cells by targeting CCNE1, which could modulate the cell cycle effort pRb in APL cells. These events blocked cell proliferation and promoted granulocyte differentiation. In conclusion, our data highlighted, for the first time, the important role of miR-15b in myeloid differentiation and suggested the potential role of miR-15b in cancer therapy.

Clinical significance and biological roles of cyclins in gastric cancer

Background and aim

Cyclins have been reported to be overexpressed with poor prognosis in several human cancers. However, limited numbers of studies evaluated the expressions and prognostic roles of cyclins in gastric cancer (GC). We aim to evaluate the expressions and prognostic roles of cyclins. Also, further efforts were made to explore biological function of the differentially expressed cyclins.

Methods

Cyclins expressions were analyzed by Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets, and the prognostic roles of cyclins in GC patients were investigated by the Kaplan–Meier Plotter database. Then, a comprehensive PubMed literature search was performed to identify expression and prognosis of cyclins in GC. Biological functions of the differentially expressed cyclins were explored through Enrich R platform, and KEGG and transcription factor were analyzed.

Results

The expression levels of CCNA2 (cyclin A2), CCNB1 (cyclin B1), CCNB2 (cyclin B2), and CCNE1 (cyclin E1) mRNAs were identified to be significantly higher in GC tissues than in normal tissues in both Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets. High expressions of CCNA2, CCNB1, and CCNB2 mRNAs were identified to be related with poor overall survival in Kaplan–Meier Plotter dataset. Evidence from clinical studies showed that CCNB1 was related with overall survival in GC patients. Cyclins were associated with several biological pathways, including cell cycle, p53 signaling pathway, FoxO signaling pathway, viral carcinogenesis, and AMPK signaling pathway. Enrichment analysis also showed that cyclins interacted with some certain transcription factors, such as FOXM1, SIN3A, NFYA, and E2F4.

Conclusion

Based on our results, high expressions of cyclins were related with poor prognosis in GC patients. The above information might be useful for better understanding the clinical and biological roles of cyclins mRNA and guiding individualized treatments for GC patients.

Prognostic Values of CCNE1 Amplification and Overexpression in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

A number of studies revealed that CCNE1 copy number amplification and overexpression (on mRNA or protein expression level) were associated with prognosis of diverse cancers, however, the results were inconsistent among studies. So we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic values of CCNE1 amplification and overexpression in cancer patients. PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, CNKI and WanFang database (last update by February 15, 2018) were searched for literatures. A total of 20 studies were included and 5 survival assessment parameters were measured in this study, which included overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS), recurrence free survival (RFS), cancer specific survival (CSS) and distant metastasis free survival (DMFS). Pooled analyses showed that CCNE1 amplification might predict poor OS (HR=1.59, 95% CI: 1.05-2.40, p=0.027) rather than PFS (HR=1.49, 95% CI: 0.83-2.67, p=0.177) and RFS (HR=0.982, 95% CI: 0.2376-4.059, p=0.9801) in various cancers; CCNE1 overexpression significantly correlated with poor OS (HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.05-2.20, p=0.027), PFS (HR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.07-1.34, p=0.001) and DMFS (HR=1.62, 95% CI: 1.09-2.40, p=0.017) rather than RFS (HR=1.68, 95% CI: 0.81-3.50, p=0.164) and CSS (HR=1.54, 95% CI: 0.74-3.18, p=0.246). On the whole, these results indicated CCNE1 amplification and overexpression were associated with poor survival of patients with cancer, suggesting that CCNE1 might be an effective prognostic signature for cancer patients.

Breast cancer in young women and prognosis: How important are proliferation markers?

AIM

Compared to middle-aged women, young women with breast cancer have a higher risk of systemic disease. We studied expression of proliferation markers in relation to age and subtype and their association with long-term prognosis.

METHODS

Distant disease-free survival (DDFS) was studied in 504 women aged <40 years and 383 women aged ≥40 years from a population-based cohort. Information on patient characteristics, treatment and follow-up was collected from medical records. Tissue microarrays were produced for analysis of oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor (PR), Her2, Ki-67 and cyclins.

RESULTS

Young women with luminal tumours had significantly higher expression of Ki-67 and cyclins. Proliferation markers were prognostic only within this subtype. Ki-67 was a prognostic indicator only in young women with luminal PR+ tumours. The optimal cut-off for Ki-67 varied by age. High expression of cyclin E1 conferred a better DDFS in women aged <40 years with luminal PR- tumours (hazard ratio [HR] 0.47 [0.24-0.92]). Age <40 years was an independent risk factor of DDFS exclusively in women with luminal B PR+ tumours (HR 2.35 [1.22-4.50]). Young women with luminal B PR- tumours expressing low cyclin E1 had a six-fold risk of distant disease compared with luminal A (HR 6.21 [2.17-17.6]).

CONCLUSIONS

The higher expression of proliferation markers in young women does not have a strong impact on prognosis. Ki-67 is only prognostic in the subgroup of young women with luminal PR+ tumours. The only cyclin adding prognostic value beyond subtype is cyclin E1. Age is an independent prognostic factor only in women with luminal B PR+ tumours.

High expression of cyclin D1 is associated to high proliferation rate and increased risk of mortality in women with ER-positive but not in ER-negative breast cancers

Purpose

Cyclin D1 has a central role in cell cycle control and is an important component of estrogen regulation of cell cycle progression. We have previously shown that high cyclin D expression is related to aggressive features of ER-positive but not ER-negative breast cancer. The aims of the present study were to validate this differential ER-related effect and furthermore explore the relationship between cyclin D overexpression and CCND1 gene amplification status in a node-negative breast cancer case–control study.

Methods

Immunohistochemical nuclear expression of cyclin D1 (n = 364) and amplification of the gene CCND1 by fluorescent in situ hybridization (n = 255) was performed on tissue microarray sections from patients with T1-2N0M0 breast cancer. Patients given adjuvant chemotherapy were excluded. The primary event was defined as breast cancer death. Breast cancer-specific survival was analyzed in univariate and multivariable models using conditional logistic regression.

Results

Expression of cyclin D1 above the median (61.7%) in ER breast cancer was associated with an increased risk for breast cancer death (OR 3.2 95% CI 1.5–6.8) also when adjusted for tumor size and grade (OR 3.1). No significant prognostic impact of cyclin D1 expression was found among ER-negative cases. Cyclin D1 overexpression was significantly associated to high expression of the proliferation markers cyclins A (ρ 0.19, p = 0.006) and B (ρ 0.18, p = 0.003) in ER-positive tumors, but not in ER-negative cases. There was a significant association between CCND1 amplification and cyclin D1 expression (p = 0.003), but CCND1 amplification was not statistically significantly prognostic (HR 1.4, 95% CI 0.4–4.4).

Conclusion

We confirmed our previous observation that high cyclin D1 expression is associated to high proliferation and a threefold higher risk of death from breast cancer in ER-positive breast cancer.

BRCA1 alterations with additional defects in DNA damage response genes may confer chemoresistance to BRCA-like breast cancers treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

The BRCA-like phenotype is a feature that some sporadic breast cancers share with those occurring in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers. As tumors with the phenotype have defects in the DNA damage response pathway, which may increase sensitivity to drugs such as DNA cross-linking agents and PARP inhibitors, a method to identify this phenotype is important. The prediction of chemoresistance, which frequently develops in these tumors, is also crucial for improving therapy. We examined genomic aberrations and BRCA1 promoter methylation in tumors of 73 breast cancer (20 HR-/HER2- and 53 HR+/HER2-) patients, who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with anthracycline, cyclophosphamide, and taxane, using SNP array CGH and quantitative PCR. The methylation and/or loss or uniparental disomy (UPD) of BRCA1 (BRCA1 alterations) and the loss or UPD of BRCA2 (BRCA2 alterations) were detected in 27 (37%) and 21 (29%), respectively, of the 73 tumors. Tumors with BRCA1 or BRCA2 alterations were associated with a higher number of genomic aberrations (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001) and higher percentage of TP53 alterations (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001) than those without. Overall survival (OS) rates were similar between patients with or without BRCA1 or BRCA2 alterations. However, when 27 patients with BRCA1-altered tumors were classified into those with or without the loss or UPD of PALB2, PAGR1, RAD51B, FANCM, MLL4, or ERCC1/2 in tumors, patients with additional defects in DNA damage response genes had worse OS (P = 0.037, 0.045, 0.038, 0.044, 0.041, or 0.019) than those without. These defects may confer chemoresistance and predict poor outcomes in patients with BRCA1-altered breast cancer.

Dual CCNE1/PIK3CA targeting is synergistic in CCNE1-amplified/PIK3CA-mutated uterine serous carcinomas in vitro and in vivo

Background:

Clinical options for patients harbouring advanced/recurrent uterine serous carcinoma (USC), an aggressive variant of endometrial tumour, are very limited. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) data recently demonstrated that cyclin E1 (CCNE1) gene amplification and pik3ca driver mutations are common in USC and may therefore represent ideal therapeutic targets.

Methods:

Cyclin E1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on 95 USCs. The efficacy of the cyclin-dependent kinase 2/9 inhibitor CYC065 was assessed on multiple primary USC cell lines with or without CCNE1 amplification. Cell-cycle analyses and knockdown experiments were performed to assess CYC065 targeting specificity. Finally, the in vitro and in vivo activity of CYC065, Taselisib (a PIK3CA inhibitor) and their combinations was tested on USC xenografts derived from CCNE1-amplified/pik3ca-mutated USCs.

Results:

We found that 89.5% of the USCs expressed CCNE1. CYC065 blocked cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle and inhibited cell growth specifically in CCNE1-overexpressing USCs. Cyclin E1 knockdown conferred increased resistance to CYC065, whereas CYC065 treatment of xenografts derived from CCNE1-amplified USCs significantly reduced tumour growth. The combination of CYC065 and Taselisib demonstrated synergistic effect in vitro and was significantly more effective than single-agent treatment in decreasing tumour growth in xenografts of CCNE1-amplified/pik3ca-mutated USCs.

Conclusions:

Dual CCNE1/PIK3CA blockade may represent a novel therapeutic option for USC patients harbouring recurrent CCNE1-amplified/pi3kca-mutated tumours.

MicroRNA-16 modulates HuR regulation of cyclin E1 in breast cancer cells

RNA binding protein (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that are implicated in development of cancers. Although their individual roles have been studied, the crosstalk between RBPs and miRNAs is under intense investigation. Here, we show that in breast cancer cells, cyclin E1 upregulation by the RBP HuR is through specific binding to regions in the cyclin E1 mRNA 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) containing U-rich elements. Similarly, miR-16 represses cyclin E1, dependent on its cognate binding sites in the cyclin E1 3'UTR. Evidence in the literature indicates that HuR can regulate miRNA expression and recruit or dissociate RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC). Despite this, miR-16 and HuR do not affect the other’s expression level or binding to the cyclin E1 3'UTR. While HuR overexpression partially blocks miR-16 repression of a reporter mRNA containing the cyclin E1 3'UTR, it does not block miR-16 repression of endogenous cyclin E1 mRNA. In contrast, miR-16 blocks HuR-mediated upregulation of cyclin E1. Overall our results suggest that miR-16 can override HuR upregulation of cyclin E1 without affecting HuR expression or association with the cyclin E1 mRNA.