Immunohistochemical demonstration of alteration of β-catenin during tumor metastasis by different mechanisms according to histology in lung cancer

Association of C8orf4 expression with its methylation status, aberrant β-catenin expression, and the development of cervical squamous cell carcinoma

Chromosome 8 open reading frame 4 (C8orf4) is an activator of Wnt signaling pathway, and participates in the tumorigenesis and progression of many tumors. The expression levels of C8orf4 and β-catenin were assessed via immunohistochemical staining in 100 cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) tissues, 50 high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs), 50 low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs), and 50 normal cervical tissues. Bisulfite sequencing polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to examine the methylation status of the C8orf4 locus in CSCC and normal cervical tissues. The expression rates of C8orf4 and β-catenin were significantly higher in CSCCs or HSILs than in LSILs or normal cervical tissues (P < .05). C8orf4 expression was positively correlated with the poor differentiation of CSCCs (P = .009), and with aberrant expression of β-catenin in CSCCs (P = .002) and squamous intraepithelial lesions (P < .001). The methylation rate of C8orf4 in CSCCs was significantly lower than that in normal cervical tissues (P = .001). The Cancer Genome Atlas genomics data also confirmed that the mRNA expression of C8orf4 was positively associated with the copy number alteration of C8orf4 (correlation coefficient = 0.213, P < .001), and negatively correlated with the methylation level of C8orf4 (correlation coefficient = -0.408, P < .001). In conclusion, the expressions of C8orf4 and β-catenin were synergistically increased in CSCCs and HSILs and higher than those in LSILs and normal cervical tissues. The methylation level of C8orf4 is decreased in CSCCs and is responsible for the increased expression of C8orf4.

Wnt1 silences chemokine genes in dendritic cells and induces adaptive immune resistance in lung adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD)-derived Wnts increase cancer cell proliferative/stemness potential, but whether they impact the immune microenvironment is unknown. Here we show that LUAD cells use paracrine Wnt1 signaling to induce immune resistance. In TCGA, Wnt1 correlates strongly with tolerogenic genes. In another LUAD cohort, Wnt1 inversely associates with T cell abundance. Altering Wnt1 expression profoundly affects growth of murine lung adenocarcinomas and this is dependent on conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and T cells. Mechanistically, Wnt1 leads to transcriptional silencing of CC/CXC chemokines in cDCs, T cell exclusion and cross-tolerance. Wnt-target genes are up-regulated in human intratumoral cDCs and decrease upon silencing Wnt1, accompanied by enhanced T cell cytotoxicity. siWnt1-nanoparticles given as single therapy or part of combinatorial immunotherapies act at both arms of the cancer-immune ecosystem to halt tumor growth. Collectively, our studies show that Wnt1 induces immunologically cold tumors through cDCs and highlight its immunotherapeutic targeting.

Prospective lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network of long non-coding RNA LINC00968 in non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells: A miRNA microarray and bioinformatics investigation

Accumulating evidence suggests that the dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serves vital roles in the incidence and progression of lung cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms of LINC00968, a recently identified lncRNA, remain unknown. The objective of present study was to investigate the role of a prospective lncRNA-miRNA‑mRNA network regulated by LINC00968 in non-small cell lung cancer cells. Following the transfection of lentiviruses carrying LINC00968 into A549 cells, the microRNA (miRNA) expression profile of the cells in response to the overexpression of LINC00968 was detected using an miRNA microarray. Five differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) with LINC00968 overexpression were obtained, including miR-9-3p, miR‑22-5p, miR-668-3p, miR‑3675-3p and miR-4536-3p. Five target prediction algorithms and three target validation algorithms were used to obtain 1,888 prospective target genes of the five DEMs. The result of Gene Ontology analysis suggested that these five DEMs were involved in complex cellular pathways, which included intracellular transport, organelle lumen and nucleotide binding. Furthermore, analysis of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways indicated that the five DEMs were important regulators in the adherens junction and focal adhesion. An lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network and a protein-protein interaction network were then constructed. Eventually, a prospective lncRNA‑miRNA-mRNA regulatory network of LINC00968, three miRNAs (miR-9, miR-22 and miR-4536) and two genes (polo-like kinase 1 and exportin-1) was obtained following validation in the Cancer Genome Atlas database. These results may provide novel insights to support future research into lncRNA in lung cancer.

Differential Expression of β-Catenin, EGFR, CK7, CK20, MUC1, MUC2, and CDX2 in Intestinal and Pancreatobiliary-Type Ampullary Carcinomas

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to associate immunohistochemical expression of β-catenin, EGFR, CK7, CK20, MUC1, MUC2, and CDX2 in ampullary adenocarcinomas with the type of differentiation and prognosis. Methods: Forty-seven patients with ampullary adenocarcinoma who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy with curative intent from 1997 to 2014 were included in this study. Nine patients with perioperative death were included in the association analysis but excluded from survival analysis. All tumors were classified as intestinal or pancreatobiliary type, according to histologic criteria, and immunohistochemically stained against the aforementioned markers. Results: Eighteen carcinomas were classified as intestinal type and 29 carcinomas as pancreatobiliary type. Univariate analysis revealed that CK20 and CDX2 expression correlates with intestinal type, whereas MUC1 positivity indicates pancreatobiliary type. A marginally significant trend was shown for intestinal-type tumors toward larger size and more frequent MUC2 expression. Using multivariate analysis CK20 ( P = .003) and MUC1 ( P = .004) were identified as independent predictors of the intestinal and pancreatobiliary types, respectively. Mean and median survival was 90.3 and 55 months, respectively. Overall 5-year survival rate was 48%. On univariate survival analysis, overall survival was adversely influenced by the number of infiltrated lymph nodes, elevated Ca19-9 serum levels, jaundice, poor differentiation, T4 stage, N1 stage, TNM stage III, and CDX2 immunonegativity. Multivariate analysis identified TNM stage as the only independent prognostic factor in ampullary adenocarcinoma ( P = .048). Conclusions: Immunoreactivity against CK20 and MUC1 in ampullary carcinomas is a useful adjunct to histologic examination in determining histotype. None of the immunohistochemical markers studied had prognostic significance.

Identification of potential COPD genes based on multi-omics data at the functional level

A novel systematic approach MMMG (Methylation–MicroRNA–MRNA–GO) to identify potential COPD genes and their classifying performance evaluation.

Dickkopf-1 induces apoptosis in the JEG3 and BeWo trophoblast tumor cell lines through the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway

Gestational choriocarcinoma is a high-grade malignant tumor. In this study, the effects of Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) on a human trophoblast cell line was examined by using both in vitro and in vivo assays. DKK1 was observed to induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation in JEG3 and BeWo cells. Moreover, DKK1 suppressed tumor growth in established xenograft tumor models. In western blot assays, DKK1 was found to inhibit the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and active the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. Overall, our study demonstrated the antitumor activity of DKK1 towards the JEG3 and BeWo cells. Valuable insight into the mechanisms mediated by DKK1 was obtained, potentially leading to the identification of novel treatments for gestational choriocarcinoma.