Immunometabolism in the tumor microenvironment and its related research progress

Increased Immune Infiltration and Improved Prognosis of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Associated with Reduced Ancient Ubiquitous Protein 1 Gene Expression

This study aimed to explore the molecular mechanism underlying the prognostic role of ancient ubiquitous protein 1 (AUP1) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and its relationship with the tumor immune microenvironment. Various web resources were used to analyze the differential expression of AUP1 and its role in the HNSCC pathogenesis. A nomogram aimed at predicting 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates was developed based on the patient's clinicopathological characteristics and AUP1 expression pattern. Several algorithms and analytical tools were used to explore the correlation between AUP1 expression and sensitivity to immune checkpoint gene therapy by evaluating infiltrating immune cells in patients with HNSCC. Higher AUP1 mRNA and protein expression levels were observed in most tumors and HNSCC than in the normal tissues. High AUP1 expression was an independent predictive risk factor for the overall survival of patients as it was closely associated with the patients' T, M, clinical, and pathological stages and lymphovascular invasion in HNSCC. In conclusion, AUP1 is involved in the occurrence and progression of HNSCC, may be used as an independent prognostic factor in patients with HNSCC, and could serve as a potential intervention target to improve immunotherapy sensitivity in HNSCC.

Advances in tumor immune microenvironment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: A review of literature

Squamous cell carcinoma is seen as principal malignancy of head and neck. Tumor immune microenvironment plays a vital role in the occurrence, development and treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The effect of immunotherapy, in particular, is closely related to tumor immune microenvironment. This review searched for high-quality literature included within PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus using the keywords "head and neck cancers," "tumor microenvironment" and "immunotherapy," with the view to summarizing the characteristics of HNSCC immune microenvironment and how various subsets of immune cells promote tumorigenesis. At the same time, based on the favorable prospects of immunotherapy having been shown currently, the study is committed to pinpointing the latest progress of HNSCC immunotherapy, which is of great significance in not only further guiding the diagnosis and treatment of HNSCC, but also conducting its prognostic judgement.

Lipid Metabolism-Related Gene Signature Predicts Prognosis and Indicates Immune Microenvironment Infiltration in Advanced Gastric Cancer

Objective

Abnormal lipid metabolism is known to influence the malignant behavior of gastric cancer. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the biological significance of genes involved in lipid metabolism in advanced gastric cancer (AGC).

Methods

We obtained gene expression profiles from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database for early and advanced gastric cancer samples and performed differential expression analysis to identify specific lipid metabolism-related genes in AGC. We then used consensus cluster analysis to classify AGC patients into molecular subtypes based on lipid metabolism and constructed a diagnostic model using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator- (LASSO-) Cox regression analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). We evaluated the discriminative ability and clinical significance of the model using the Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve, ROC curve, DCA curve, and nomogram. We also estimated immune levels based on immune microenvironment expression, immune checkpoints, and immune cell infiltration and obtained hub genes by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of differential genes from the two molecular subtypes.

Results

We identified 6 lipid metabolism genes that were associated with the prognosis of AGC and used consistent clustering to classify AGC patients into two subgroups with significantly different overall survival and immune microenvironment. Our risk model successfully classified patients in the training and validation sets into high-risk and low-risk groups. The high-risk score predicted poor prognosis and indicated low degree of immune infiltration. Subgroup analysis showed that the risk model was an independent predictor of prognosis in AGC. Furthermore, our results indicated that most chemotherapeutic agents are more effective for AGC patients in the low-risk group than in the high-risk group, and risk scores for AGC are strongly correlated with drug sensitivity. Finally, we performed qRT-PCR experiments to verify the relevant results.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that lipid metabolism-related genes play an important role in predicting the prognosis of AGC and regulating immune invasion. These results have important implications for the development of targeted therapies for AGC patients.

Pan-cancer analysis: SPAG5 is an immunological and prognostic biomarker for multiple cancers

Sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) is a mitotic spindle protein that regulates the separation of sister chromatids into daughter cells. Recent studies have discovered its overexpression in various cancers, suggesting its oncogenic characteristics and functions. However, a comprehensive analysis of SPAG5 regarding its diagnostic, prognostic, and immune-related effects across different cancer types is lacking. In this study, we employed bioinformatics methods and integrated multiple public databases to explore the potential oncogenic role of SPAG5. We analyzed its expression, prognosis, related chemicals, enriched pathways, immune infiltration, and its impact on different tumor genetic alterations. The results revealed that SPAG5 is highly expressed in most cancers and significantly correlates with poor patient prognosis. Additionally, SPAG5 expression showed potential for early cancer diagnosis in 15 different cancer types. In terms of tumor immunity, high expression of SPAG5 was associated with an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and immune therapy efficacy indicators. SPAG5 expression exhibited a negative correlation with most immune cell infiltrates but demonstrated a significant positive correlation with Th2 cells and MDSC cells. Multicolor fluorescence immunohistochemistry demonstrated that SPAG5 activates immune cell populations within tumors, indicating its significant role in the tumor microenvironment. Enrichment analysis indicated that SPAG5-related genes are mainly involved in cell cycle, cellular senescence, P53 signaling pathway, and FoxO signaling pathway. Furthermore, we confirmed the high expression of SPAG5 in cancer cells and observed that its knockdown upregulated the expression of the p53 protein. In conclusion, SPAG5 holds value as a diagnostic, prognostic, and immune biomarker in various cancers and may provide a novel target for tumor immunotherapy.

Atherosclerosis, Diabetes Mellitus, and Cancer: Common Epidemiology, Shared Mechanisms, and Future Management

The involvement of cardiovascular disease in cancer onset and development represents a contemporary interest in basic science. It has been recognized, from the most recent research, that metabolic syndrome-related conditions, ranging from atherosclerosis to diabetes, elicit many pathways regulating lipid metabolism and lipid signaling that are also linked to the same framework of multiple potential mechanisms for inducing cancer. Otherwise, dyslipidemia and endothelial cell dysfunction in atherosclerosis may present common or even interdependent changes, similar to oncogenic molecules elevated in many forms of cancer. However, whether endothelial cell dysfunction in atherosclerotic disease provides signals that promote the pre-clinical onset and proliferation of malignant cells is an issue that requires further understanding, even though more questions are presented with every answer. Here, we highlight the molecular mechanisms that point to a causal link between lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis in metabolic syndrome-related atherosclerotic disease with the development of cancer. The knowledge of these breakthrough mechanisms may pave the way for the application of new therapeutic targets and for implementing interventions in clinical practice.

Small extracellular vesicle-mediated metabolic reprogramming: from tumors to pre-metastatic niche formation

Metastasis, the spread of a tumor or cancer from the primary site of the body to a secondary site, is a multi-step process in cancer progression, accounting for various obstacles in cancer treatment and most cancer-related deaths. Metabolic reprogramming refers to adaptive metabolic changes that occur in cancer cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) to enhance their survival ability and metastatic potential. Stromal cell metabolism also changes to stimulate tumor proliferation and metastasis. Metabolic adaptations of tumor and non-tumor cells exist not only in the TME but also in the pre-metastatic niche (PMN), a remote TME conducive for tumor metastasis. As a novel mediator in cell-to-cell communication, small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), which have a diameter of 30-150 nm, reprogram metabolism in stromal and cancer cells within the TME by transferring bioactive substances including proteins, mRNAs and miRNAs (microRNAs). sEVs can be delivered from the primary TME to PMN, affecting PMN formation in stroma rewriting, angiogenesis, immunological suppression and matrix cell metabolism by mediating metabolic reprogramming. Herein, we review the functions of sEVs in cancer cells and the TME, how sEVs facilitate PMN establishment to trigger metastasis via metabolic reprogramming, and the prospective applications of sEVs in tumor diagnosis and treatment. Video Abstract.

[Bacteriological analysis of nasal secretions in patients with nasal lymphoma]

Objective:To investigate the etiological characteristics of nasal bacterial infection in patients with nasal lymphoma. Methods:The results of bacterial culture of nasal secretions from 39 healthy people and 86 patients with nasal lymphoma in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2019 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, and the differences in nasal bacteria distribution between nasal lymphoma and healthy people were analyzed and compared. Results:Corynebacterium（38.90%） was the most common bacteria in the nasal cavity of healthy people, followed by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus（31.95%）, Staphylococcus epidermidis（15.28%） and Staphylococcus aureus（6.95%）. The most common bacteria in nasal lymphoma patients was Staphylococcus aureus（30.37%）, followed by Corynebacterium（9.63%）, Staphylococcus epidermidis（7.41%） and coagulase negative Staphylococcus（6.67%）. A total of 81 nasal lymphoma patients were detected with bacteria, positive rate is as high as 94.19%（81/86）. Conclusion:Staphylococcus aureus is the main pathogenic bacteria in nasal secretion of patients with nasal lymphoma, which provides guiding significance for the clinical prevention and treatment of nasal lymphoma complicated with infection or not.