Overexpression of Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzyme E2C Is Associated with Worsened Prognosis in Prostate Cancer

Curcumin inhibits prostate cancer by upregulating miR-483-3p and inhibiting UBE2C

Prostate cancer (PCa) is an extremely common genitourinary malignancy among elderly men. Many evidence have shown the efficacy of curcumin (CUR) in inhibiting the progression of PCa. However, the pharmacological function of CUR in PCa is still not quite clear. In this research, CUR was found to suppress the proliferation and enhance the apoptotic rate in in vitro PCa cell models in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In a xenograft animal model, the administration of CUR contributed to a significant decrease in the growth of the xenograft tumor induced by the transplanted PC-3 cells. Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 C is implicated in the modulation of multiple types of cancers. In humans, the expression levels of UBE2C are significantly higher in PCa versus benign prostatic hyperplasia. Treatment with CUR decreased the expression of UBE2C, whereas it increased miR-483-3p expression. In contrast with the control mice, the CUR-treated mice showed a significant reduction in UBE2C and Ki-67 in PCa cells. The capability of proliferation, migration, and invasion of PCa cells was inhibited by the knockdown of UBE2C mediated by siRNA. Furthermore, dual luciferase reporter gene assay indicated the binding of miR-483-3p to UBE2C. In summary, CUR exerts its antitumor effects through regulation of the miR-483-3p/UBE2C axis by decreasing UBE2C and increasing miR-483-3p. The findings may also provide new molecular markers for PCa diagnosis and treatment.

Role of UBE2C in Brain Cancer Invasion and Dissemination

Glioblastoma (GB) and brain metastases (BM) are the most common brain tumors in adults and are invariably associated with a dismal outcome. These highly malignant tumors share common features including increased invasion and migration of the primary or metastatic brain cancer cells, whose triggering mechanisms are largely unknown. Emerging evidence has suggested that the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2C (UBE2C), essential for controlling cell cycle progression, is overexpressed in diverse malignancies, including brain cancer. This review highlights the crucial role of UBE2C in brain tumorigenesis and its association with higher proliferative phenotype and histopathological grade, with autophagy and apoptosis suppression, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, migration, and dissemination. High expression of UBE2C has been associated with patients' poor prognosis and drug resistance. UBE2C has also been proven as a promising therapeutic target, despite the lack of specific inhibitors. Thus, there is a need to further explore the role of UBE2C in malignant brain cancer and to develop effective targeted therapies for patients with this deadly disease.

Combined Inhibition of UBE2C and PLK1 Reduce Cell Proliferation and Arrest Cell Cycle by Affecting ACLY in Pan-Cancer

Various studies have shown that the cell-cycle-related regulatory proteins UBE2C, PLK1, and BIRC5 promote cell proliferation and migration in different types of cancer. However, there is a lack of in-depth and systematic research on the mechanism of these three as therapeutic targets. In this study, we found a positive correlation between the expression of UBE2C and PLK1/BIRC5 in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, revealing a potential combination therapy candidate for pan-cancer. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western blotting (WB), cell phenotype detection, and RNA-seq techniques were used to evidence the effectiveness of the combination candidate. We found that combined interference of UBE2C with PLK1 and UBE2C with BIRC5 affected metabolic pathways by significantly downregulating the mRNA expression of IDH1 and ACLY, which was related to the synthesis of acetyl-CoA. By combining the PLK1 inhibitor volasertib and the ACLY inhibitor bempedoic acid, it showed a higher synergistic inhibition of cell viability and higher synergy scores in seven cell lines, compared with those of other combination treatments. Our study reveals the potential mechanisms through which cell-cycle-related genes regulate metabolism and proposes a potential combined targeted therapy for patients with higher PLK1 and ACLY expression in pan-cancer.

Epigenetics regulation of prostate cancer: Biomarker and therapeutic potential

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the second leading cause of cancer death and displays a broad range of clinical behavior from relatively indolent to aggressive metastatic disease. The etiology of most cases of CaP is not understood completely, which makes it imperative to search for the molecular basis of CaP and markers for early diagnosis. Epigenetic modifications, including changes in DNA methylation patterns, histone modifications, miRNAs, and lncRNAs are key drivers of prostate tumorigenesis. These epigenetic defects might be due to deregulated expression of the epigenetic machinery, affecting the expression of several important genes like GSTP1, RASSF1, CDKN2, RARRES1, IGFBP3, RARB, TMPRSS2-ERG, ITGB4, AOX1, HHEX, WT1, HSPE, PLAU, FOXA1, ASC, GPX3, EZH2, LSD1, etc. In this review, we highlighted the most important epigenetic gene alterations and their variations as a diagnostic marker and target for therapeutic intervention of CaP in the future. Characterization of epigenetic changes involved in CaP is obscure and adequate validation studies are still required to corroborate the present results that would be the impending future of transforming basic research settings into clinical practice.

The correlation between the expression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2C and prostate cancer prognosis

PURPOSE

Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 C (UBE2C) is known to show a causal relationship with cancer development and advancement. The role of UBE2C is to control the mitotic spindle checkpoint. Excess UBE2C has been identified in patients with advanced prostate cancer. The objective of the present study was to examine positive connections between the expression of UBE2C and prognostic factors for prostate cancer.

METHODS

Prostate cancer patients' clinical data were analysed. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) were also performed for human prostate cancer tissues (n = 335) and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues (n = 22). TMA slides were incubated with antibodies against UBE2C. Cores were scored by a pathologist who was blind to cancer results.

RESULTS

Of 335 prostate cancer patients, 200 could be assessed for biochemical recurrence, clinical recurrence, and overall survival. Human prostate cancer tissues showed higher expression of UBE2C than adjacent non-neoplastic tissues. High expression level of UBE2C showed a strong positive relationship with a high prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason's score, and pathological stage of prostate cancer. Patients with a higher UBE2C grade demonstrated greater lymphatic engagement of prostate cancer than those with a lower UBE2C grade.

CONCLUSION

The expression of UBE2C has positive correlations with several prognostic factors for prostate cancer. Thus, investigating the expression level of UBE2C staining is a promising tool for predicting prostate cancer prognosis.