Exploration and validation of a novel ferroptosis-related gene signature predicting the prognosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

The potential of cancer stem cells for personalized risk assessment and therapeutic intervention in individuals with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Accumulating evidence suggests that intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a stem cell-based disease, but information on the biology of cancer stem cells (CSC) in ICC is very limited.

METHODS

ICC RNA-seq cohorts from three different public databases were integrated and the protein-coding genes were divided into different modules using "WGCNA" to screen the most relevant modules with CSC scores. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression were introduced to construct prognostic classification models. In addition, the extent of immune cell infiltration in patients in different risk groups was assessed based on the ESTIMATE, CIBERSORT, MCP-Counter, and single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) algorithms. Finally, the correlation between different risk scores and common drugs was analyzed by pRRophetic package and Spearman method.

RESULTS

In the present study, we found that a high CSC score was associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with ICC. The yellow module obtained by WGCNA was significantly positively correlated with the CSCs score, in which 8 genes were served to build a prognostic classification model, and the obtained risk score was negatively correlated with CSCs score and prognosis. The low-risk score was more suitable for immunotherapy, and the high-risk score was more suitable for treatment with 11 antitumor drugs.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed the regulatory role of CSC-mediated EMT, angiogenesis, and immunomodulatory biological processes in ICC, and applied a prognostic classification model to highlight the great potential of CSC for personalized risk assessment, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy intervention in ICC individuals.

UBA3 promotes the occurrence and metastasis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma through MAPK signaling pathway

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) accounts for approximately 15% of primary liver cancers, and the incidence rate has been increasing in recent years. Surgical resection is the best treatment for ICC, but the 5-year survival rate is less than 30%. ICC signature genes are crucial for the early diagnosis of ICC, so it is especially important to identify signature genes. The aim of this study is to screen the signature genes of ICC and find the potential target for the treatment of ICC. We find that UBA3 is highly expressed in ICC, and knockdown of UBA3 inhibits ICC proliferation, invasion and migration. Mechanistic experiments show that UBA3 promotes ICC proliferation, invasion and migration by affecting ANXA2 through the MAPK signaling pathway. UBA3 is a target of bufalin, and bufalin targeting UBA3 inhibits ICC development and progression through the MAPK signaling pathway. In conclusion, our study shows that bufalin inhibits ICC by targeting UBA3, which has emerged as a new biomarker and potential therapeutic target for ICC.

Knockdown of SLC39A14 inhibits glioma progression by promoting erastin-induced ferroptosis SLC39A14 knockdown inhibits glioma progression

BACKGROUND

Ferroptosis is a newly classified form of regulated cell death with implications in various tumor progression pathways. However, the roles and mechanisms of ferroptosis-related genes in glioma remain unclear.

METHODS

Bioinformatics analysis was employed to identify differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes in glioma. The expression levels of hub genes were assessed using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). To explore the role of SLC39A14 in glioma, a series of in vitro assays were conducted, including cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), flow cytometry, wound healing, and Transwell assays. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was utilized to measure the levels of indicators associated with ferroptosis. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining were performed to illustrate the clinicopathological features of the mouse transplantation tumor model. Additionally, Western blot analysis was used to assess the expression of the cGMP-PKG pathway-related proteins.

RESULTS

Seven ferroptosis-related hub genes, namely SLC39A14, WWTR1, STEAP3, NOTCH2, IREB2, HIF1A, and FANCD2, were identified, all of which were highly expressed in glioma. Knockdown of SLC39A14 inhibited glioma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while promoting apoptosis. Moreover, SLC39A14 knockdown also facilitated erastin-induced ferroptosis, leading to the suppression of mouse transplantation tumor growth. Mechanistically, SLC39A14 knockdown inhibited the cGMP-PKG signaling pathway activation.

CONCLUSION

Silencing SLC39A14 inhibits ferroptosis and tumor progression, potentially involving the regulation of the cGMP-PKG signaling pathway.