Identification of a glutamine metabolism reprogramming signature for predicting prognosis, immunotherapy efficacy, and drug candidates in bladder cancer

Implications of c-Myc in the pathogenesis and treatment efficacy of urological cancers

Urological cancers, including prostate, bladder, and renal cancers, are significant causes of death and negatively impact the quality of life for patients. The development and progression of these cancers are linked to the dysregulation of molecular pathways. c-Myc, recognized as an oncogene, exhibits abnormal levels in various types of tumors, and current evidence supports the therapeutic targeting of c-Myc in cancer treatment. This review aims to elucidate the role of c-Myc in driving the progression of urological cancers. c-Myc functions to enhance tumorigenesis and has been documented to increase growth and metastasis in prostate, bladder, and renal cancers. Furthermore, the dysregulation of c-Myc can result in a diminished response to therapy in these cancers. Non-coding RNAs, β-catenin, and XIAP are among the regulators of c-Myc in urological cancers. Targeting and suppressing c-Myc therapeutically for the treatment of these cancers has been explored. Additionally, the expression level of c-Myc may serve as a prognostic factor in clinical settings.

Pan-cancer analysis reveals potential immunological and prognostic roles of COA6 in human cancers and preliminary exploration of COA6 in bladder cancer

BACKGROUND

Cytochrome C oxidase assembly factor 6 (COA6) is significantly involved in the progression of cancer and is aberrantly expressed in disease. Nevertheless, the comprehensive analysis of COA6 using many omics techniques, and its impact on the prognosis and immunological microenvironment of cancer patients, remains unexplored.

METHODS

We gathered data from 33 cancer cases and conducted a thorough analysis of abnormalities in COA6 gene expression. This analysis included examining its relevance to disease, its diagnostic and prognostic value, pathway enrichment, the immune microenvironment, its association with immune checkpoints, and its ability to predict patient response to immunotherapy and natural small molecule drugs that target the COA6 protein. Ultimately, we examined the function of COA6 in bladder cancer by in vitro research.

RESULTS

Our study revealed significant variations in gene expression and identified COA6 as a potential diagnostic biomarker for cancer. COA6 was also discovered to have a crucial function in pan-cancer involving the tumor microenvironment. COA6 has a strong correlation with well-known immunological checkpoints, including TMB and MSI. Molecular docking identified natural small chemical inhibitors that specifically target the COA6 protein. Ultimately, scientific evidence has verified that suppressing the expression of the COA6 gene hinders the growth and infiltration of bladder cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study emphasizes the significant potential of COA6 as a predictive and immunotherapeutic response biomarker. This finding may lead to future investigation into the mechanism of tumor infiltration and the therapeutic possibilities of COA6 in cancer.

Integration of multi-omics and clinical treatment data reveals bladder cancer therapeutic vulnerability gene combinations and prognostic risks

Background

Bladder cancer (BCa) is a common malignancy of the urinary tract. Due to the high heterogeneity of BCa, patients have poor prognosis and treatment outcomes. Immunotherapy has changed the clinical treatment landscape for many advanced malignancies, opening new avenues for the precise treatment of malignancies. However, effective predictors and models to guide clinical treatment and predict immunotherapeutic outcomes are still lacking.

Methods

We downloaded BCa sample data from The Cancer Genome Atlas to identify anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy-related genes through an immunotherapy dataset and used machine learning algorithms to build a new PD-L1 multidimensional regulatory index (PMRI) based on these genes. PMRI-related column-line graphs were constructed to provide quantitative tools for clinical practice. We analyzed the clinical characteristics, tumor immune microenvironment, chemotherapy response, and immunotherapy response of patients based on PMRI system. Further, we performed function validation of classical PMRI genes and their correlation with PD-L1 in BCa cells and screening of potential small-molecule drugs targeting PMRI core target proteins through molecular docking.

Results

PMRI, which consists of four anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy-associated genes (IGF2BP3, P4HB, RAC3, and CLK2), is a reliable predictor of survival in patients with BCa and has been validated using multiple external datasets. We found higher levels of immune cell infiltration and better responses to immunotherapy and cisplatin chemotherapy in the high PMRI group than in the low PMRI group, which can also be used to predict immune efficacy in a variety of solid tumors other than BCa. Knockdown of IGF2BP3 inhibited BCa cell proliferation and migration, and IGF2BP3 was positively correlated with PD-L1 expression. We performed molecular docking prediction for each of the core proteins comprising PMRI and identified 16 small-molecule drugs with the highest affinity to the target proteins.

Conclusions

Our PD-L1 multidimensional expression regulation model based on anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy-related genes can accurately assess the prognosis of patients with BCa and identify patient populations that will benefit from immunotherapy, providing a new tool for the clinical management of intermediate and advanced BCa.

Roles of non-coding RNAs in the metabolism and pathogenesis of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is featured as the second most common malignancy of the urinary tract worldwide with few treatments leading to high incidence and mortality. It stayed a virtually intractable disease, and efforts to identify innovative and effective therapies are urgently needed. At present, more and more evidence shows the importance of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) for disease-related study, diagnosis, and treatment of diverse types of malignancies. Recent evidence suggests that dysregulated functions of ncRNAs are closely associated with the pathogenesis of numerous cancers including BC. The detailed mechanisms underlying the dysregulated role of ncRNAs in cancer progression are still not fully understood. This review mainly summarizes recent findings on regulatory mechanisms of the ncRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, microRNAs, and circular RNAs, in cancer progression or suppression and focuses on the predictive values of ncRNAs-related signatures in BC clinical outcomes. A deeper understanding of the ncRNA interactive network could be compelling framework for developing biomarker-guided clinical trials.