Lgr5 Does Not Vary Throughout the Menstrual Cycle in Endometriotic Human Eutopic Endometrium

LGR5, a prognostic stem cell target, promotes endometrial cancer proliferation through autophagy activation

Endometrial cancer (EC) is a common malignant tumor in women worldwide. Although early EC has a good prognosis, advanced endometrial cancer is still associated with the risk of drug resistance and recurrence. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a category closely related to drug resistance and recurrence, are rarely studied at present. Here, we constructed a risk model containing ten stemness-related prognostic genes. Compared with patients in the low-risk group, patients in the high-risk group had a shorter overall survival time. The accuracy of this model was verified by ROC in the TCGA (AUC = 0.779) and Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH, AUC = 0.864) cohorts. The risk score and stage were independent risk factors in the multivariate regression analysis, which was subsequently used to construct the nomogram and verified in the TCGA cohort. LGR5 was significantly correlated with overall survival and involvement in the Wnt signaling pathway. In addition, LGR5 was highly expressed in EC tissues and was related to age, stage, histological type, and menopause status in the TCGA database. Overexpression of LGR5 accelerated the proliferation rate of EC cells, which may be related to autophagy activation. Taken together, our study established a prognostic model based on transcription sequencing data from the TCGA database and verified it in the PKUPH cohort, which has prospective clinical implications for the prognostic evaluation of EC. We systematically studied the code gene LGR5 in EC, which may help clinicians make personalized prognostic assessments and effective clinical decisions for EC.

Digestive system deep infiltrating endometriosis: What do we know

Digestive system infiltrating endometriosis (DSIE) is an uncommon form of endometriosis in the digestive system. DSIE often occurs in the intestines (especially the sigmoid rectum), liver, gallbladder and pancreas. Clinically, DSIE presents with the same symptoms as endometriosis, including cyclic pain, bleeding and infertility, in addition to specific biliary/intestinal obstruction and gastrointestinal bleeding. Compared to general endometriosis, DSIE has unique biological behaviour and pathophysiological mechanisms. Most DSIEs are deep invasive endometrioses, characterized by metastasis to the lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels, angiogenesis, peripheral nerve recruitment, fibrosis and invasion of surrounding tissues. DSIE-related peripheral angiogenesis is divided into three patterns: angiogenesis, vasculogenesis and inosculation. These patterns are regulated by interactions between multiple hypoxia-hormone cytokines. The nerve growth factors regulate the extensive neurofibril recruitment in DSIE lesions, which accounts for severe symptoms of deep pain. They are also associated with fibrosis and the aggressiveness of DSIE. Cyclic changes in DSIE lesions, recurrent inflammation and oxidative stress promote repeated tissue injury and repair (ReTIAR) mechanisms in the lesions, accelerating fibril formation and cancer-related mutations. Similar to malignant tumours, DSIE can also exhibit aggressiveness derived from collective cell migration mediated by E-cadherin and N-cadherin. This often makes DSIE misdiagnosed as a malignant tumour of the digestive system in clinical practice. In addition to surgery, novel treatments are urgently required to effectively eradicate this lesion.

The Elusive Endometrial Epithelial Stem/Progenitor Cells

The human endometrium undergoes approximately 450 cycles of proliferation, differentiation, shedding and regeneration over a woman's reproductive lifetime. The regenerative capacity of the endometrium is attributed to stem/progenitor cells residing in the basalis layer of the tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells have been extensively studied in the endometrium, whereas endometrial epithelial stem/progenitor cells have remained more elusive. This review details the discovery of human and mouse endometrial epithelial stem/progenitor cells. It highlights recent significant developments identifying putative markers of these epithelial stem/progenitor cells that reveal their in vivo identity, location in both human and mouse endometrium, raising common but also different viewpoints. The review also outlines the techniques used to identify epithelial stem/progenitor cells, specifically in vitro functional assays and in vivo lineage tracing. We will also discuss their known interactions and hierarchy and known roles in endometrial dynamics across the menstrual or estrous cycle including re-epithelialization at menses and regeneration of the tissue during the proliferative phase. We also detail their potential role in endometrial proliferative disorders such as endometriosis.

Fertility preservation in women with ovarian cancer: Finding new pathways: A case-control study

Background

Surgery and chemotherapy are the two most common treatments for cancers, including ovarian cancer. Although most ovarian cancers occur over the age of 45 yr, it may involve younger women and affect their reproductive ability.

Objective

To assess the expression of Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5 (LGR5), Forkhead Box O1 (FOXO1), and miR-340 genes in the ovarian cancer tissues as well as ovarian cancer cell lines.

Materials and Methods

In this case-control study, 30 ovarian cancer samples (with the average age of 37 ± 2.5 years) coupled with their non-tumor marginal tissue (as a control) were collected. Proliferated cell lines were treated with several concentrations of cisplatin, and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of cisplatin was quantified by MTT-assay. After RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis and qRT-PCR were done. Finally, the results were analyzed.

Results

While the expression levels of miR-340 and FOXO1 genes in tumor samples displayed a significant reduction (p ≤ 0.001), the LGR5 gene presented a significant increase in expression (p ≤ 0.0001). However, conversely, the expression levels of miR-340 and FOXO1 genes in cisplatin-sensitive cell lines, after 24, 48, and 72 hr of cisplatin treatment, indicated a significant increase (p ≤ 0.001) while the expression of LGR5 gene showed a significant decrease in the cisplatin-sensitive cell line (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

The LGR5, FOXO1, and miR-340 genes can be targeted for early diagnosis and more accurate treatment of ovarian cancer and may prevent some of the ovarian cancer complications such as infertility.