Detection of serum protein and circulating mRNA of cMET, HGF EGF and EGFR levels in lung cancer patients to guide individualized therapy

Plasma hepatocyte growth factor as a noninvasive biomarker in small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a peptide-containing multifunctional cytokine, which is overexpressed and/or activated in multiple malignancies and is reported to be associated with tumor development and inferior survival. At present, the role of HGF in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has not been fully explored yet.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The expression of HGF and its value in predicting survival in SCLC were explored from GEO database and in pan-cancer analysis. Furthermore, we detected the expression of HGF using tumor tissue and paired plasma samples from a validation cohort of 71 SCLC patients at our institute. Correlation between tumor and plasma HGF expression and the prognostic values were analyzed.

RESULTS

GEO database analysis revealed that tumor tissue had lower HGF expression than paired normal tissue in SCLC. At our institute, immunohistochemical staining showed negative expression of HGF in tumor tissue of SCLC at our institute (47/47, 100%). The average baseline plasma HGF was 1.28 (range,0.42-4.35) ng/ml. However, plasma HGF was higher in SCLC patients with patients with N3, M1, liver metastasis (LM) and bone metastasis (BM) disease compared with those N0 - 2 (1.25 vs. 1.75 ng/mL, P = 0.000), M0 (1.26 vs. 1.63 ng/mL, P = 0.003), non-LM (1.32 vs. 2.06 ng/mL, P = 0.009), and non-BM (1.35 vs. 1.77 ng/mL, P = 0.047), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed plasma HGF was an independent predictor for LM and prognostic factor of OS.

CONCLUSION

Our results revealed that plasma HGF rather than tumor HGF exhibited a potential role in predicting metastasis and survival in SCLC. Plasma HGF might be used as a non-invasive detecting and monitoring tool for SCLC.

Prognostic utility of the ovarian cancer secretome: a systematic investigation

BACKGROUND

Ovarian cancer is usually detected at an advanced stage with frequent recurrence. The recurrence-free survival and overall survival is influenced by the age at diagnosis, tumor stage and histological subtype. Nonetheless, quantifiable prognostic biomarkers are needed for early identification of the high-risk patients and for personalized medicine. Several studies link tumor-specific dysregulated expression of certain proteins with ovarian cancer prognosis. However, careful investigation of presence of these prognostically relevant proteins in ovarian cancer secretome is lacking.

OBJECTIVE

To critically analyze the recent published data on prognostically relevant proteins for ovarian cancer and to carefully search how many of them are reported in the published ovarian cancer secretome datasets.

DESIGN

A search for relevant studies in the past 2 years was conducted in PubMed and a comprehensive list of proteins associated with the ovarian cancer prognosis was prepared. These were cross-referred to the published ovarian cancer secretome profiles. The proteins identified in the secretome were further shortlisted based on a scoring strategy employing stringent criteria.

RESULTS

A panel of seven promising secretory biomarkers associated with ovarian cancer prognosis is proposed.

CONCLUSION

Scanning the ovarian cancer secretome datasets provides the opportunity to identify if tumor-specific biomarkers could be tested as secretory biomarkers. Detecting their levels in the body fluid would be more advantageous than evaluating the expression in the tissue, since it could be monitored multiple times over the course of the disease to have a better judgment of the prognosis and response to therapy.

The First Evaluation of Serum Levels of MGP, Gas6 and EGFR after First Dose of Chemotherapy in Lung Cancer

Simple Summary

Serum levels of MGP, Gas6, vitamin K₁, and EGFR were not significantly changed in response to the first cycle of chemotherapy. We found a strong correlation between MGP and VitK₁ serum values, and a moderate negative correlation between VitK₁ and EGFR in pre-treatment patients. The post-treatment value of EGFR is a strong independent factor that correlates positively with the Gas6 post-treatment values.

Abstract

Background: Vitamin K-dependent proteins (VKDPs) and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are involved in lung cancer progression. Therefore, we aimed to study the serum concentration of Matrix Gla protein (MGP), Growth Arrest-specific 6 (Gas6), and EGFR before and after the first cycle of chemotherapy and to investigate how MGP, Gas6, and EGFR are modified after one cycle of chemotherapy. Methods: We performed an observational study on twenty patients diagnosed with lung cancer, by assessing the serum concentration of vitaminK₁ (VitK₁), MGP, Gas6, and EGFR using the ELISA technique before and after three weeks of the first cycle of chemotherapy. Patients were evaluated using RECIST 1.1 criteria. Results: Serum levels of MGP, Gas6, EGFR, and VK₁ before and after treatment were not changed significantly. Regarding the pre-treatment correlation of the MGP values, we found a strong positive relationship between MGP and VK₁ pre-treatment values (r = 0.821, 95%CI 0.523; 0.954, p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a moderately negative correlation between VK₁ and EGFR pre-treatment values, with the relationship between them being marginally significant (r = −0.430, 95%CI −0.772; 0.001, p = 0.058). Post-treatment, we found a strong positive relationship between MGP and VK₁ post-treatment values (r = 0.758, 95%CI 0.436; 0.900, p < 0.001). We also found a moderate positive relationship between Gas6 and EGFR post-treatment values, but the correlation was only marginally significant (r = 0.442, p = 0.051).

Aberrant Methylation and Immune Microenvironment Are Associated With Overexpressed Fibronectin 1: A Diagnostic and Prognostic Target in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: Fibronectin 1 (FN1) is involved in cell adhesion and migration processes such as metastasis, wound healing, embryogenesis, blood coagulation, and host defense. However, the role of FN1 in the diagnosis and prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is far from understood. Methods: FN1 expression profiles and clinical parameters from multiple HNSCC datasets were applied to evaluate the association between FN1 expression and HNSCC survival. We also identified FN1 expression in the mRNA and protein levels in 20 pairs of clinical samples by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to demonstrate the potential diagnostic value of FN1 in HNSCC. Aberrant methylation PPI networks were established using multiple bioinformatic tools based on TCGA database. The immune microenvironment and levels of immune checkpoints were investigated between groups with high and low FN1 expression. Results: FN1 was significantly upregulated in HNSCC compared with para-carcinoma tissues on the basis of TCGA database and our clinical samples. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that FN1 could be an independent indicator for prognosis of HNSCC. GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis demonstrated that cell adhesion, focal adhesion, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway might be involved in the potential mechanisms of FN1's prognostic performance in HNSCC. Methylation of FN1 was also higher and closely associated with poorer survival in HNSCC. In addition, FN1 expression was positively correlated with three DNA methyltransferases (DNMT1, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B). Furthermore, FN1 was positively associated with CD4⁺ T cells, endothelial cells, macrophages, and NK cells and negatively correlated with CD8⁺ T cells Conclusion: FN1 might be an independent prognostic biomarker for HNSCC patients. Hypermethylation, the aberrant proportions of immune cells, and the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway might be involved in the mechanism of FN1's oncogene role in HNSCC.

Transcriptome Based Estrogen Related Genes Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background

Lung cancer is the tumor with the highest morbidity and mortality, and has become a global public health problem. The incidence of lung cancer in men has declined in some countries and regions, while the incidence of lung cancer in women has been slowly increasing. Therefore, the aim is to explore whether estrogen-related genes are associated with the incidence and prognosis of lung cancer.

Methods

We obtained all estrogen receptor genes and estrogen signaling pathway genes in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and then compared the expression of each gene in tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) separately. Survival analysis was performed of the differentially expressed genes in LUAD and LUSC patients separately. The diagnostic and prognostic values of the candidate genes were validated in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets.

Results

We found 5 estrogen receptor genes and 66 estrogen pathway genes in TCGA. A total of 50 genes were differently expressed between tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues and 6 of the 50 genes were related to the prognosis of LUAD in TCGA. 56 genes were differently expressed between tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues and none of the 56 genes was related to the prognosis of LUSC in TCGA. GEO datasets validated that the 6 genes (SHC1, FKBP4, NRAS, PRKCD, KRAS, ADCY9) had different expression between tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues in LUAD, and 3 genes (FKBP4, KRAS, ADCY9) were related to the prognosis of LUAD.

Conclusions

The expressions of FKBP4 and ADCY9 are related to the pathogenesis and prognosis of LUAD. FKBP4 and ADCY9 may serve as biomarkers in LUAD screening and prognosis prediction in clinical settings.

Circulating RNA biomarkers in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a systematic review

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common histological subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). DLBCL is an aggressive malignancy that displays a great heterogeneity in terms of morphology, genetics and biological behavior. While a sustained complete remission is obtained in the majority of patients with standard immunochemotherapy, patients with refractory of relapsed disease after first-line treatment have a poor prognosis. This patient group represents an important unmet need in lymphoma treatment. In recent years, improved understanding of the underlying molecular pathogenesis had led to new classification and prognostication tools, including the development of cell-free biomarkers in liquid biopsies. Although the majority of studies have focused on the use of cell-free fragments of DNA (cfDNA), there has been an increased interest in circulating-free coding and non-coding RNA, including messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and circular RNA (circRNA), as well as RNA encapsulated in extracellular vesicles or tumor-educated platelets (TEPs). We performed a systematic search in PubMed to identify articles that evaluated circulating RNA as diagnostic, subtype, treatment response or prognostic biomarkers in a human DLBCL population. A total of 35 articles met the inclusion criteria. The aim of this systematic review is to present the current understanding of circulating RNA molecules as biomarker in DLBCL and to discuss their future potential.

MiR-519a functions as a tumor suppressor and is negatively associated with poor prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the major type of lung cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are currently considered as novel targets and tools in cancer therapy.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression level and functional role of miR-519a in NSCLC, as well as its clinical values.

METHODS

One hundred and two patients with NSCLC were recruited. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used for the measurement of the expression level of miR-519a. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses were conducted to explore the prognostic significance of miR-519a in NSCLC. MTT and Transwell assays were used to detect the effect of miR-519a on NSCLC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.

RESULTS

MiR-519a was significantly downregulated in NSCLC tissues, as well as NSCLC cell lines. The expression level of miR-519a was prominently associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that low miR-519a expression was closely associated with shorter overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that miR-519a expression level and TNM stage were two independent prognostic factors for 5-year overall survival in NSCLC patients. In vitro study, miR-519a significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of NSCLC cells. STAT3 was proved to be the target gene of miR-519a.

CONCLUSIONS

MiR-519a functions as a tumor suppressor and inhibits tumor progression of NSCLC via targeting STAT3. MiR-519a may act as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for NSCLC.