MicroRNA-548m Suppresses Cell Migration and Invasion by Targeting Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Breast Cancer Cells

Cholesterol-linoleic acid liposomes induced extracellular vesicles secretion from immortalized adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells for in vitro cell migration

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small vesicles that are naturally released by cells and play a crucial role in cell-to-cell communication, tissue repair and regeneration. As naturally secreted EVs are limited, liposomes with different physicochemical properties, such as 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP) and linoleic acid (LA) with modifications have been formulated to improve EVs secretion for in vitro wound healing. Various analyses, including dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were performed to monitor the successful preparation of different types of liposomes. The results showed that cholesterol-LA liposomes significantly improved the secretion of EVs from immortalized adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) by 1.5-fold. Based on the cell migration effects obtained from scratch assay, both LA liposomal-induced EVs and cholesterol-LA liposomal-induced EVs significantly enhanced the migration of human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cell line. These findings suggested that LA and cholesterol-LA liposomes that enhance EVs secretion are potentially useful and can be extended for various tissue regeneration applications.

Downregulation of monocyte miRNAs: implications for immune dysfunction and disease severity in drug-resistant tuberculosis

Background

Monocyte miRNAs govern both protective and pathological responses during tuberculosis (TB) through their differential expression and emerged as potent targets for biomarker discovery and host-directed therapeutics. Thus, this study examined the miRNA profile of sorted monocytes across the TB disease spectrum [drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), drug-sensitive TB (DS-TB), and latent TB] and in healthy individuals (HC) to understand the underlying pathophysiology and their regulatory mechanism.

Methods

We sorted total monocytes including three subsets (HLA-DR⁺CD14⁺, HLA-DR⁺CD14⁺CD16⁺, and HLA-DR⁺CD16⁺cells) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy and TB-infected individuals through flow cytometry and subjected them to NanoString-based miRNA profiling.

Results

The outcome was the differential expression of 107 miRNAs particularly the downregulation of miRNAs in the active TB groups (both drug-resistant and drug-sensitive). The miRNA profile revealed differential expression signatures: i) decline of miR-548m in DR-TB alone, ii) decline of miR-486-3p in active TB but significant elevation only in LTB iii) elevation of miR-132-3p only in active TB (DR-TB and DS-TB) and iv) elevation of miR-150-5p in DR-TB alone. The directionality of functions mediated by monocyte miRNAs from Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) facilitated two phenomenal findings: i) a bidirectional response between active disease (activation profile in DR-TB and DS-TB compared to LTB and HC) and latent infection (suppression profile in LTB vs HC) and ii) hyper immune activation in the DR-TB group compared to DS-TB.

Conclusion

Thus, monocyte miRNA signatures provide pathological clues for altered monocyte function, drug resistance, and disease severity. Further studies on monocyte miRNAs may shed light on the immune regulatory mechanism for tuberculosis.

Exosome-Mediated Transfer of circ-GLIS3 Enhances Temozolomide Resistance in Glioma Cells Through the miR-548m/MED31 Axis

Background: Temozolomide (TMZ) resistance plays a critical role in the treatment of glioma. This research explored how circRNAs affect the chemosensitivity of glioma cells. Materials and Methods: The authors performed gene sequencing and selected circRNAs specifically expressed in TMZ-R cells and used them as target genes for subsequent studies. By knocking out the target gene, the authors clarify its effect on TMZ-R glioma proliferation, invasion, migration, and cell apoptosis; and through tumor-burdened animals, the authors explore the effect of the target gene in an in vivo environment. Results: The authors revealed that circ-GLIS3 was significantly upregulated in TMZ-R glioma cells. Functionally, knocking down circ-GLIS3 could inhibit proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities of TMZ-R glioma cells. Moreover, downregulation of circ-GLIS3 could induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, while miR-548m inhibition and MED31 mRNA could reverse this progress. In vivo silencing of circ-GLIS3 could induce cell apoptosis and suppressed tumor growth. Mechanistically, circ-GLIS3 positively upregulated MED31 expression by sponging miR-548m. Conclusions: All these results demonstrate that circ-GLIS3 accelerates TMZ-R glioma progression through the miR-548m/MED31 axis.

Identification of Candidate MicroRNA-mRNA Subnetwork for Predicting the Osteosarcoma Progression by Bioinformatics Analysis

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the pretty common primary cancer of the bone among the malignancies in adolescents. A single molecular component or a limited number of molecules is insufficient as a predictive biomarker of OS progression. Hence, it is necessary to find novel network biomarkers to improve the prediction and therapeutic effect for OS. Here, we identified 230 DE-miRNAs and 821 DE-mRNAs through two miRNA expression-profiling datasets and three mRNA expression-profiling datasets. We found that hsa-miR-494 is closely linked with the survival of OS patients. In addition, we analyzed GO and KEGG enrichment for targets of hsa-miR-494-5p and hsa-miR-494-3p through R programming. And five mRNAs were predicted as common targets of hsa-miR-494-5p and hsa-miR-494-3p. We further revealed that upregulated TRPS1 was strongly correlated with poor outcomes in OS patients through the survival analysis based on the TARGET database. The qRT-PCR study verified that the expression of hsa-miR-494-5p and hsa-miR-494-3p was declined considerably, while TRPS1 was notably raised in OS cells when compared to the osteoblasts. Thus, we generated a new regulatory subnetwork of key miRNAs and target mRNAs using Cytoscape software. These results indicate that the novel miRNA-mRNA subnetwork composed of hsa-miR-494-5p, hsa-miR-494-3p, and TRPS1 might be a characteristic molecule for assessing the prognostic value of OS patients.

STING agonist enhances the efficacy of programmed death-ligand 1 monoclonal antibody in breast cancer immunotherapy by activating the interferon-β signalling pathway

This study aimed to explore the role of a stimulator of interferon (IFN) gene (STING) agonist in breast cancer (BCa) immunotherapy. Clinical samples were collected from 37 patients with BCa. A tumor-bearing mouse model was established by injecting 4T1 cells into the mammary fat pad of mice. STING agonist and atezolizumab were injected in the mice twice a week for 2 weeks. Peripheral blood, tumor mass, lung, liver, brain cortex and kidney samples of the tumor-bearing mice were collected. Anti-IFN alpha receptor subunit 1 (IFNAR1) was used to treat 4T1 cells. Tumor tissues of patients with BCa exhibited lower STING and high programmed cell death protein 1 and programmed death-ligand 1 protein expressions. The STING agonist inhibited 4T1 cell growth in mice (P < 0.001) and increased the IFN-β level and phosphorylation of STING, TBK1, IRF3 and STAT1 in tumor mass of tumor-bearing mice (P < 0.001). It synergized with atezolizumab to inhibit 4T1 cell growth in mice and increased tumor necrosis factor-α, IFN-β, interleukin-10 and IFN-γ levels in the peripheral blood and tumor mass (P < 0.01). It synergized with atezolizumab to increase CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and decrease FOXP3+ Treg cells in the tumor-bearing mouse model. The STING agonist was nontoxic to the lung, liver, brain cortex and kidney. Anti-IFNAR1 reversed the STING agonist promotion on TBK1, IRF3 and STAT1 phosphorylation in 4T1 cells (P < 0.01). STING agonists enhance the efficacy of atezolizumab in BCa immunotherapy by activating the IFN-β signaling pathway.

Where the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Meets the microRNAs: Literature Review of the Last 10 Years

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is an environmentally responsive ligand-activated transcription factor, identified in the ‘70s for its toxic responses to halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as dioxin. Recently, AhR has been recognized as engaged in multiple physiological processes in health and diseases, particularly in the immune system, inflammatory response, tumorigenesis, and cellular differentiation by epigenetic mechanisms involving miRNAs. However, there is still scarce information about AhR-dependent miRNA regulation and miRNA-mediated epigenetic control in pathologies and therapies. In this review, we explore the mutual regulation of AhR and miRNA over the last decade of studies since many miRNAs have dioxin response elements (DRE) in their 3’ UTR, as well as AhR might contain binding sites of miRNAs. TCDD is the most used ligand to investigate the impact of AhR activation, and the immune system is one of the most sensitive of its targets. An association between TCDD-activated AhR and epigenetic mechanisms like post-transcriptional regulation by miRNAs, DNA methylation, or histone modification has already been confirmed. Besides, several studies have shown that AhR-induced miR-212/132 cluster suppresses cancers, attenuates autoimmune diseases, and has an anti-inflammatory role in different immune responses by regulating cytokine levels and immune cells. Together the ever-expanding new AhR roles and the miRNA therapeutics are a prominent segment among biopharmaceuticals. Additionally, AhR-activated miRNAs can serve as valuable biomarkers of diseases, notably cancer progression or suppression and chemical exposure. Once AhR-dependent gene expression may hinge on the ligand, cell type, and context singularity, the reviewed outcomes might help contextualize state of the art and support new trends and emerging opportunities in the field.