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Bitter EE, Skidmore J, Allen CI, Erickson RI, Morris RM, Mortimer T, Meade A, Brog R, Phares T, Townsend M, Pickett BE, O’Neill KL. TK1 expression influences pathogenicity by cell cycle progression, cellular migration, and cellular survival in HCC 1806 breast cancer cells. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0293128. [PMID: 38033034 PMCID: PMC10688958 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis worldwide accounting for 1 out of every 8 cancer diagnoses. The elevated expression of Thymidine Kinase 1 (TK1) is associated with more aggressive tumor grades, including breast cancer. Recent studies indicate that TK1 may be involved in cancer pathogenesis; however, its direct involvement in breast cancer has not been identified. Here, we evaluate potential pathogenic effects of elevated TK1 expression by comparing HCC 1806 to HCC 1806 TK1-knockdown cancer cells (L133). Transcriptomic profiles of HCC 1806 and L133 cells showed cell cycle progression, apoptosis, and invasion as potential pathogenic pathways affected by TK1 expression. Subsequent in-vitro studies confirmed differences between HCC 1806 and L133 cells in cell cycle phase progression, cell survival, and cell migration. Expression comparison of several factors involved in these pathogenic pathways between HCC 1806 and L133 cells identified p21 and AKT3 transcripts were significantly affected by TK1 expression. Creation of a protein-protein interaction map of TK1 and the pathogenic factors we evaluated predict that the majority of factors evaluated either directly or indirectly interact with TK1. Our findings argue that TK1 elevation directly increases HCC 1806 cell pathogenicity and is likely occurring by p21- and AKT3-mediated mechanisms to promote cell cycle arrest, cellular migration, and cellular survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eliza E. Bitter
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
- Thunder Biotech Inc., Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Jonathan Skidmore
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Carolyn I. Allen
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Rachel I. Erickson
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Rachel M. Morris
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Toni Mortimer
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Audrey Meade
- Thunder Biotech Inc., Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Rachel Brog
- Thunder Biotech Inc., Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Tim Phares
- Thunder Biotech Inc., Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Michelle Townsend
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
- Thunder Biotech Inc., Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Brett E. Pickett
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
| | - Kim L. O’Neill
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
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Huang P, Zhou X, Zheng M, Yu Y, Jin G, Zhang S. Regulatory T cells are associated with the tumor immune microenvironment and immunotherapy response in triple-negative breast cancer. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1263537. [PMID: 37767092 PMCID: PMC10521732 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1263537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with a high risk of distant metastasis, an extremely poor prognosis, and a high risk of death. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) contribute to the formation of a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment, which plays an important role in the progression and treatment resistance of TNBC. Methods A public single-cell sequencing dataset demonstrated increased infiltration of Tregs in TNBC tissues relative to normal breast tissue. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to identify Treg infiltration-related modules for METABRIC TNBC samples. Subsequently, we obtained two Treg infiltration-associated clusters of TNBC by applying consensus clustering and further constructed a prognostic model based on this Treg infiltration-associated gene module. The ability of the selected gene in the prognostic model, thymidine kinase-1 (TK1), to promote the progression of TNBC was evaluated in vitro. Results We concluded that two Treg infiltration-associated clusters had different prognoses and sensitivities to drugs commonly used in breast cancer treatment, and multi-omics analysis revealed that the two clusters had different copy number variations of key tumor progression genes. The 7-gene risk score based on TNBC Treg infiltration was a reliable prognostic indicator both in the training and validation cohorts. Moreover, patients with TNBC with high Treg infiltration-related scores lacked the activation of immune activation pathways and exhibited resistance to anti-PD1 immunotherapy. Knocking down TK1 led to impaired proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells in vitro. In addition, specimens from patients with TNBC with high TK1 expression showed significantly higher Treg infiltration in tumors. Results of spatial transcriptome analysis showed that TK1 positive cells mainly localize in tumor area, and Treg cell infiltration in TNBC tissues was associated with high expression of TK1. Pan-cancer analysis also demonstrated that TK1 is associated with poor prognosis and activation of proliferation pathways in multiple cancers. Discussion We established a prognostic model related to Treg infiltration and this model can be used to establish a clinically relevant classification of TNBC progression. Additionally, our work revealed the underestimable potential of TK1 as a tumor biomarker and immunotherapeutic target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengfei Huang
- Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, China
| | - Xinyue Zhou
- Graduate School, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Minying Zheng
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin, China
| | - Yongjun Yu
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin, China
| | - Gongsheng Jin
- Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, China
| | - Shiwu Zhang
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin, China
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Zhu C, Zhang N, Zhong A, Xiao K, Lu R, Guo L. A combined strategy of TK1, HE4 and CA125 shows better diagnostic performance than risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA) in ovarian carcinoma. Clin Chim Acta 2022; 524:43-50. [PMID: 34813778 DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2021.11.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The dual marker algorithm Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA) has been widely used in the clinic for the identification of equivocal pelvic masses in ovarian carcinoma. To obtain higher diagnostic efficiency, we created a new diagnostic index, Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Index (ROMI), by combing thymidine kinase 1 (TK1), HE4 and CA125. METHODS 335 patients with pelvic masses on imaging and 46 healthy controls were enrolled. Serum TK1 was analyzed before further study. ROMI and ROMA were evaluated for diagnostic efficiency. RESULTS The level of TK1 was elevated in malignant ovarian tumors compared to benign masses (p < 0.001) and healthy controls (p < 0.001). TK1 expression was positively correlated with stage, intrapelvic metastasis, lymphatic metastasis and distant metastasis (all p values < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of ROMI was higher than that of ROMA for both pre- and postmenopausal women. ROMI had better sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values than ROMA in diagnosis of all-stage or stage I + II ovarian carcinoma for both pre- and postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS TK1 is a potential biomarker in detection of ovarian carcinoma. ROMI shows better diagnostic performance than ROMA in distinguishing malignant ovarian tumors from benign masses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng Zhu
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Nenghua Zhang
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Municipal Key-Innovative Discipline of Molecular Diagnostics, Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiaxing, China
| | - Ailing Zhong
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Kangjia Xiao
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Renquan Lu
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Lin Guo
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
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Sun S, Zane A, Fulton C, Philipoom J. Statistical and bioinformatic analysis of hemimethylation patterns in non-small cell lung cancer. BMC Cancer 2021; 21:268. [PMID: 33711952 PMCID: PMC7953768 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-021-07990-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background DNA methylation is an epigenetic event involving the addition of a methyl-group to a cytosine-guanine base pair (i.e., CpG site). It is associated with different cancers. Our research focuses on studying non-small cell lung cancer hemimethylation, which refers to methylation occurring on only one of the two DNA strands. Many studies often assume that methylation occurs on both DNA strands at a CpG site. However, recent publications show the existence of hemimethylation and its significant impact. Therefore, it is important to identify cancer hemimethylation patterns. Methods In this paper, we use the Wilcoxon signed rank test to identify hemimethylated CpG sites based on publicly available non-small cell lung cancer methylation sequencing data. We then identify two types of hemimethylated CpG clusters, regular and polarity clusters, and genes with large numbers of hemimethylated sites. Highly hemimethylated genes are then studied for their biological interactions using available bioinformatics tools. Results In this paper, we have conducted the first-ever investigation of hemimethylation in lung cancer. Our results show that hemimethylation does exist in lung cells either as singletons or clusters. Most clusters contain only two or three CpG sites. Polarity clusters are much shorter than regular clusters and appear less frequently. The majority of clusters found in tumor samples have no overlap with clusters found in normal samples, and vice versa. Several genes that are known to be associated with cancer are hemimethylated differently between the cancerous and normal samples. Furthermore, highly hemimethylated genes exhibit many different interactions with other genes that may be associated with cancer. Hemimethylation has diverse patterns and frequencies that are comparable between normal and tumorous cells. Therefore, hemimethylation may be related to both normal and tumor cell development. Conclusions Our research has identified CpG clusters and genes that are hemimethylated in normal and lung tumor samples. Due to the potential impact of hemimethylation on gene expression and cell function, these clusters and genes may be important to advance our understanding of the development and progression of non-small cell lung cancer. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-07990-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuying Sun
- Department of Mathematics, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA.
| | - Austin Zane
- Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Carolyn Fulton
- Department of Mathematics, Schreiner University, Kerrville, TX, USA
| | - Jasmine Philipoom
- Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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Bitter EE, Townsend MH, Erickson R, Allen C, O'Neill KL. Thymidine kinase 1 through the ages: a comprehensive review. Cell Biosci 2020; 10:138. [PMID: 33292474 PMCID: PMC7694900 DOI: 10.1186/s13578-020-00493-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Proliferation markers, such as proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Ki-67, and thymidine kinase 1 (TK1), have potential as diagnostic tools and as prognostic factors in assessing cancer treatment and disease progression. TK1 is involved in cellular proliferation through the recovery of the nucleotide thymidine in the DNA salvage pathway. TK1 upregulation has been found to be an early event in cancer development. In addition, serum levels of TK1 have been shown to be tied to cancer stage, so that higher levels of TK1 indicate a more serious prognosis. As a result of these findings and others, TK1 is not only a potentially viable biomarker for cancer recurrence, treatment monitoring, and survival, but is potentially more advantageous than current biomarkers. Compared to other proliferation markers, TK1 levels during S phase more accurately determine the rate of DNA synthesis in actively dividing tumors. Several reviews of TK1 elaborate on various assays that have been developed to measure levels in the serum of cancer patients in clinical settings. In this review, we include a brief history of important TK1 discoveries and findings, a comprehensive overview of TK1 regulation at DNA to protein levels, and recent findings that indicate TK1’s potential role in cancer pathogenesis and its growing potential as a tumor biomarker and therapeutic target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eliza E Bitter
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, 701 E University Pkwy, LSB room 4007, Provo, UT, 84602, USA.
| | - Michelle H Townsend
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, 701 E University Pkwy, LSB room 4007, Provo, UT, 84602, USA
| | - Rachel Erickson
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, 701 E University Pkwy, LSB room 4007, Provo, UT, 84602, USA
| | - Carolyn Allen
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, 701 E University Pkwy, LSB room 4007, Provo, UT, 84602, USA
| | - Kim L O'Neill
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, 701 E University Pkwy, LSB room 4007, Provo, UT, 84602, USA.
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Ferrer-Navarro M, Strehlitz A, Medina E, Vila J. Changed Expression of Cytoskeleton Proteins During Lung Injury in a Mouse Model of Streptococcus pneumoniae Infection. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:928. [PMID: 29867838 PMCID: PMC5952171 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2017] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Infections by Streptococcus pneumoniae are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, often causing community-acquired pneumonia, otitis media and also bacteremia and meningitis. Studies on S. pneumoniae are mainly focused on its virulence or capacity to evade the host immune system, but little is known about the injury caused in lungs during a pneumococcal infection. Herein we investigated this issue comparing the proteome profile of lungs from S. pneumoniae-infected mice with control mice by means of difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) technology. In order to obtain reliable results three biological replicas were used, and four technical replicas were carried out in each biological replica. Proteomic comparison was performed at two time points: 24 and 48 h post infection. A total of 91 proteins were identified with different abundance. We found important changes in the protein profiles during pneumococcal infection mainly associated with regulation of vesicle-mediated transport, wound healing, and cytoskeleton organization. In conclusion, the results obtained show that the cytoskeleton of the host cell is modified in S. pneumoniae infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Ferrer-Navarro
- Instituto Salud Global, Barcelona Centre, International Health Research, Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Anja Strehlitz
- Infection Immunology Research Group, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Eva Medina
- Infection Immunology Research Group, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Jordi Vila
- Instituto Salud Global, Barcelona Centre, International Health Research, Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Zhang Y, Wang J, Xie J, Yang D, Han G, Zhang Y, Fu Q. The assay and clinical significance of serum thymidine kinase 1 in patients with colorectal carcinoma. Eur Surg 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10353-015-0342-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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