Identification of miR-199-5p and miR-199-3p Target Genes: Paxillin Facilities Cancer Cell Aggressiveness in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Physiological and cellular mechanisms of ischemic preconditioning microRNAs-mediated in underlying of ischemia/reperfusion injury in different organs

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, as a pathological phenomenon, takes place when blood supply to an organ is disrupted and then aggravated during restoration of blood flow. Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is a potent method for attenuating subsequent events of IR damage in numerous organs. IPC protocol is determined by a brief and sequential time periods of I/R before the main ischemia. MicroRNAs are endogenous non-coding RNAs that regulate post-transcriptionally target mRNA translation via degrading it and/or suppressing protein synthesis. This review introduces the physiological and cellular mechanisms of ischemic preconditioning microRNAs-mediated after I/R insult in different organs such as the liver, kidney, heart, brain, and intestine. Data of this review have been collected from the scientific articles published in databases such as Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scientific Information Database from 2000 to 2023. Based on these literature studies, IPC/IR intervention can affect cellular mechanisms including oxidative stress, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and inflammation through up-regulation or down-regulation of multiple microRNAs and their target genes.

Evaluation of Paxillin Expression in Odontogenic Cysts and Tumors

Statement of the Problem

Paxillin (PXN) is one of the proteins involved in cell adhesion. PXN and integrins constitute a key site for the focal adhesion between the cell and extracellular matrix. Several studies have shown that PXN is a factor in tumor formation, progression, invasion, and metastasis.

Purpose

This study evaluated PXN expression in four types of odontogenic lesions with different aggressive behaviors.

Materials and Method

In this retrospective cross-sectional study, PXN expression was immunohistochemically assessed in 68 paraffin-embedded tissue samples from patients with the confirmed diagnosis of four types of odontogenic lesions, including 14 dentigerous cysts (DC), 20 odontogenic keratocyst (OKC), 16 unicystic ameloblastoma, and 18 solid ameloblastoma. The PXN expression in these samples were scored based on the percentage and intensity of immunoreactivity, and compared among the groups by Chi-square test.

Results

The PXN marker was detected in the cytoplasm of tumor cells (unicystic and solid ameloblastoma) and the epithelial layer of cysts (DC and OKC). The intensively stained marker of PXN was observed in 9 cases (64.3%) of the DC, 14 cases (70%) of OKC, 12 cases (75%) of unicystic ameloblastoma, and 13 cases (72.2%) of solid ameloblastoma. However, there was not statistical difference of PXN protein expression between DC and OKC (p Value = 0.51) and unicystic and solid ameloblastoma (p = 0.58), also the same was true for cysts and tumors (p = 0.37).

Conclusion

The expression of PXN is not related to the biological behaviors of odontogenic lesions.

miRNAs as short non-coding RNAs in regulating doxorubicin resistance

The treatment of cancer patients has been prohibited by chemoresistance. Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anti-tumor compound disrupting proliferation and triggering cell cycle arrest via inhibiting activity of topoisomerase I and II. miRNAs are endogenous RNAs localized in cytoplasm to reduce gene level. Abnormal expression of miRNAs changes DOX cytotoxicity. Overexpression of tumor-promoting miRNAs induces DOX resistance, while tumor-suppressor miRNAs inhibit DOX resistance. The miRNA-mediated regulation of cell death and hallmarks of cancer can affect response to DOX chemotherapy in tumor cells. The transporters such as P-glycoprotein are regulated by miRNAs in DOX chemotherapy. Upstream mediators including lncRNAs and circRNAs target miRNAs in affecting capacity of DOX. The response to DOX chemotherapy can be facilitated after administration of agents that are mostly phytochemicals including curcumol, honokiol and ursolic acid. These agents can regulate miRNA expression increasing DOX's cytotoxicity. Since delivery of DOX alone or in combination with other drugs and genes can cause synergistic impact, the nanoparticles have been introduced for drug sensitivity. The non-coding RNAs determine the response of tumor cells to doxorubicin chemotherapy. microRNAs play a key role in this case and they can be sponged by lncRNAs and circRNAs, showing interaction among non-coding RNAs in the regulation of doxorubicin sensitivity.

Curcumin nanoemulsions inhibit oral squamous cell carcinoma cell proliferation by PI3K/Akt/mTOR suppression and miR-199a upregulation: A preliminary study

BACKGROUND

Accumulating evidence indicates that curcumin (CUR) has anticancer properties in various cancers including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but CUR is greatly restricted in clinical studies and applications due to its low bioavailability. Interestingly, the bioavailability of CUR was found to be significantly improved using loaded lipid nanoemulsions (NEs).

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the effect of CUR-NEs on cell proliferation of OSCC HSC-3 cells in vitro, and explore the potential mechanism of this effect in a preliminary study.

RESULTS

CUR-NEs exhibited significantly cytotoxic effects on OSCC cells in a dose-dependent manner, compared with the control. The percentage of cells in proliferative phases (S + G2/M) was gradually decreased in a dose- or time-dependent manner caused by CUR-NEs. Moreover, CUR-NEs downregulated the protein expression of PI3K/Akt/mTOR and upregulated the expression of miR-199a that targeted PI3K in a dose- or time-dependent manner in OSCC cells. Importantly, CUR-NEs cloud effectively counteract the influence on cell proliferation of OSCC cells and the proliferative phases of cell cycle caused by miR-199a inhibitor a time-dependent manner.

CONCLUSIONS

This in vitro preliminary study indicated that CUR-NEs may be an effective therapeutic agent for OSCC. Such effects could be related to inhibition of OSCC cell proliferation by PI3K/Akt/mTOR suppression and miR-199a upregulation.

Comparison of Oncogenes, Tumor Suppressors, and MicroRNAs Between Schizophrenia and Glioma: The Balance of Power

The risk of cancer in schizophrenia has been controversial. Confounders of the issue are cigarette smoking in schizophrenia, and antiproliferative effects of antipsychotic medications. The author has previously suggested comparison of a specific cancer like glioma to schizophrenia might help determine a more accurate relationship between cancer and schizophrenia. To accomplish this goal, the author performed three comparisons of data; the first a comparison of conventional tumor suppressors and oncogenes between schizophrenia and cancer including glioma. This comparison determined schizophrenia has both tumor-suppressive and tumor-promoting characteristics. A second, larger comparison between brain-expressed microRNAs in schizophrenia with their expression in glioma was then performed. This identified a core carcinogenic group of miRNAs in schizophrenia offset by a larger group of tumor-suppressive miRNAs. This proposed "balance of power" between oncogenes and tumor suppressors could cause neuroinflammation. This was assessed by a third comparison between schizophrenia, glioma and inflammation in asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma (ALRCM). This revealed that schizophrenia shares more oncogenic similarity to ALRCM than glioma.

The Role of Paxillin Aberrant Expression in Cancer and Its Potential as a Target for Cancer Therapy

Paxillin is a multi-domain adaptor protein. As an important member of focal adhesion (FA) and a participant in regulating cell movement, paxillin plays an important role in physiological processes such as nervous system development, embryonic development, and vascular development. However, increasing evidence suggests that paxillin is aberrantly expressed in many cancers. Many scholars have also recognized that the abnormal expression of paxillin is related to the prognosis, metastases, invasion, survival, angiogenesis, and other aspects of malignant tumors, suggesting that paxillin may be a potential cancer therapeutic target. Therefore, the study of how aberrant paxillin expression affects the process of tumorigenesis and metastasis will help to develop more efficacious antitumor drugs. Herein, we review the structure of paxillin and its function and expression in tumors, paying special attention to the multifaceted effects of paxillin on tumors, the mechanism of tumorigenesis and progression, and its potential role in tumor therapy. We also hope to provide a reference for the clinical prognosis and development of new tumor therapeutic targets.

Doxorubicin and Cisplatin Modulate miR-21, miR-106, miR-126, miR-155 and miR-199 Levels in MCF7, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 Cells That Makes Them Potential Elements of the DNA-Damaging Drug Treatment Response Monitoring in Breast Cancer Cells—A Preliminary Study

One of the most innovative medical trends is personalized therapy, based on simple and reproducible methods that detect unique features of cancer cells. One of the good prognostic and diagnostic markers may be the miRNA family. Our work aimed to evaluate changes in selected miRNA levels in various breast cancer cell lines (MCF7, MDA-MB-231, SK-BR-3) treated with doxorubicin or cisplatin. The selection was based on literature data regarding the most commonly altered miRNAs in breast cancer (21-3p, 21-5p, 106a-5p, 126-3p, 126-5p, 155-3p, 155-5p, 199b-3p, 199b-5p, 335-3p, 335-5p). qPCR assessment revealed significant differences in the basal levels of some miRNAs in respective cell lines, with the most striking difference in miR-106a-5p, miR-335-5p and miR-335-3p—all of them were lowest in MCF7, while miR-153p was not detected in SK-BR-3. Additionally, different alterations of selected miRNAs were observed depending on the cell line and the drug. However, regardless of these variables, 21-3p/-5p, 106a, 126-3p, 155-3p and 199b-3p miRNAs were shown to respond either to doxorubicin or to cisplatin treatment. These miRNAs seem to be good candidates for markers of breast cancer cell response to doxorubicin or cisplatin. Especially since some earlier reports suggested their role in affecting pathways and expression of genes associated with the DNA-damage response. However, it must be emphasized that the preliminary study shows effects that may be highly related to the applied drug itself and its concentration. Thus, further examination, including human samples, is required.

Identification of Tumor-Suppressive miR-30e-3p Targets: Involvement of SERPINE1 in the Molecular Pathogenesis of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Recently, our studies revealed that some passenger strands of microRNAs (miRNAs) were closely involved in cancer pathogenesis. Analysis of miRNA expression signatures showed that the expression of miR-30e-3p (the passenger strand of pre-miR-30e) was significantly downregulated in cancer tissues. In this study, we focused on miR-30e-3p (the passenger strand of pre-miR-30e). We addressed target genes controlled by miR-30e-3p that were closely associated with the molecular pathogenesis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Ectopic expression assays demonstrated that the expression of miR-30e-3p attenuated cancer cell malignant phenotypes (e.g., cell proliferation, migration, and invasive abilities). Our analysis of miR-30e-3p targets revealed that 11 genes (ADA, CPNE8, C14orf126, ERGIC2, HMGA2, PLS3, PSMD10, RALB, SERPINE1, SFXN1, and TMEM87B) were expressed at high levels in HNSCC patients. Moreover, they significantly predicted the short survival of HNSCC patients based on 5-year overall survival rates (p < 0.05) in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Among these targets, SERPINE1 was found to be an independent prognostic factor for patient survival (multivariate Cox regression; hazard ratio = 1.6078, p < 0.05). Aberrant expression of SERPINE1 was observed in HNSCC clinical samples by immunohistochemical analysis. Functional assays by targeting SERPINE1 expression revealed that the malignant phenotypes (e.g., proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities) of HNSCC cells were suppressed by the silencing of SERPINE1 expression. Our miRNA-based approach will accelerate our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of HNSCC.