MicroRNA-338-3p targets SOX4 and inhibits cell proliferation and invasion of renal cell carcinoma

Role of microRNA-363 during tumor progression and invasion

Recent progresses in diagnostic and therapeutic methods have significantly improved prognosis in cancer patients. However, cancer is still considered as one of the main causes of human deaths in the world. Late diagnosis in advanced tumor stages can reduce the effectiveness of treatment methods and increase mortality rate of cancer patients. Therefore, investigating the molecular mechanisms of tumor progression can help to introduce the early diagnostic markers in these patients. MicroRNA (miRNAs) has an important role in regulation of pathophysiological cellular processes. Due to their high stability in body fluids, they are always used as the non-invasive markers in cancer patients. Since, miR-363 deregulation has been reported in a wide range of cancers, we discussed the role of miR-363 during tumor progression and metastasis. It has been reported that miR-363 has mainly a tumor suppressor function through the regulation of transcription factors, apoptosis, cell cycle, and structural proteins. MiR-363 also affected the tumor progression via regulation of various signaling pathways such as WNT, MAPK, TGF-β, NOTCH, and PI3K/AKT. Therefore, miR-363 can be introduced as a probable therapeutic target as well as a non-invasive diagnostic marker in cancer patients.

SPRR3, a novel miR‑338‑3p target, regulates the malignant progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma in vitro via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of renal cell carcinoma and has a poor prognosis. However, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of small proline-rich repeat protein 3 (SPRR3) in the proliferation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells and to investigate its upstream and downstream regulatory mechanisms. Survival analysis was performed using the UALCAN website based on the The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Normal renal cell line HK-2 and ccRCC cell lines (786-O, CaKi-1 and UMRC-2) were used. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to detect mRNA and microRNA (miRNA) levels. Western blotting was used to detect protein levels. Cell Counting Kit-8 and colony formation assays, a wound healing assay and a Transwell invasion assay were used to assess the proliferation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells, respectively. Transfection of overexpression plasmids and small interfering RNAs were used to upregulate and knockdown SPRR3 expression, respectively. Transfection of miRNA-mimics was used to overexpress miR-338-3p. A luciferase reporter gene assay was used to verify the predicted binding relationship between SPRR3 mRNA and miR-338-3p. The results indicated the following: i) SPRR3 was a risk factor for the survival of patients with ccRCC, and was upregulated in ccRCC cell lines; ii) SPRR3 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells; iii) SPRR3 regulated the tumor phenotypes of ccRCC cells via the PI3K/Akt pathway; iv) miR-338-3p directly targeted SPRR3 mRNA and negatively regulated SPRR3 expression; and v) miR-338-3p inhibited the PI3K/Akt pathway and the tumor phenotypes of ccRCC cells by downregulating SPRR3. In conclusion, SPRR3, as a novel target of miR-338-3p, regulated the proliferation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells via the PI3K/Akt pathway; this finding not only enriches our understanding of the mechanism underlying ccRCC development, but also demonstrates a potential novel therapeutic target for this disease.

The Diagnostic Value of Serum Ang, VEGF, and CRP Combined with the Chinese Medicine Antitumor Formula in the Treatment of Advanced Renal Carcinoma

Objective

To explore the diagnostic value of serum angiopoietin (Ang), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and C-reactive protein (CRP) combined with the Chinese medicine antitumor formula in the treatment of advanced renal carcinoma.

Methods

Retrospective analysis was performed for the data of 60 patients with advanced renal cancer admitted at Yantaishan Hospital from February 2019 to February 2020. All patients were treated with Chinese medicine antitumor formula. The serum Ang, VEGF, and CRP levels in venous blood samples were detected before and after treatment. Sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of combined serum Ang, VEGF, and CRP were analyzed utilizing the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) (95% CI).

Results

There were 52 cases of clear-cell carcinoma (86.7%), 7 cases of papillary carcinoma (11.7%), and 1 case of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (1.7%). The average tumor diameter was (9.67 ± 0.65) cm, and the KPS score was (74.68 ± 1.52). About 75% of the patients had metastasis. After treatment, the level of serum Ang, VEGF, and CRP was immensely lower compared to that before treatment (P < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC (95%CI) of the combined detection of Ang, VEGF, and CRP before treatment were 86.7%, 90.0%, and 0.883 (0.817-0.950), while the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC (95%CI) of the combined detection of Ang, VEGF, and CRP were 83.3%, 86.7%, and 0.850 (0.776-0.9524), respectively.

Conclusion

The combined detection of serum Ang, VEGF, and CRP has high diagnostic value for patients with advanced renal cancer treated with Chinese medicine antitumor formula.

Molecular interactions of miR-338 during tumor progression and metastasis

Background

Cancer, as one of the main causes of human deaths, is currently a significant global health challenge. Since the majority of cancer-related deaths are associated with late diagnosis, it is necessary to develop minimally invasive early detection markers to manage and reduce mortality rates. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), as highly conserved non-coding RNAs, target the specific mRNAs which are involved in regulation of various fundamental cellular processes such as cell proliferation, death, and signaling pathways. MiRNAs can also be regulated by long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs). They are highly stable in body fluids and have tumor-specific expression profiles, which suggest their suitability as efficient non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic tumor markers. Aberrant expression of miR-338 has been widely reported in different cancers. It regulates cell proliferation, migration, angiogenesis, and apoptosis in tumor cells.

Main body

In the present review, we have summarized all miR-338 interactions with other non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and associated signaling pathways to clarify the role of miR-338 during tumor progression.

Conclusions

It was concluded that miR-338 mainly functions as a tumor suppressor in different cancers. There were also significant associations between miR-338 and other ncRNAs in tumor cells. Moreover, miR-338 has a pivotal role during tumor progression using the regulation of WNT, MAPK, and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. This review highlights miR-338 as a pivotal ncRNA in biology of tumor cells.

hsa_circ_0001018 promotes papillary thyroid cancer by facilitating cell survival, invasion, G1/S cell cycle progression, and repressing cell apoptosis via crosstalk with miR-338-3p and SOX4

We identified a novel interactome, circ_0001018/miR-338-3p/SOX4, in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), and we intended to confirm the regulatory relationship between the three and to study the effects of the three in PTC. The bioinformatics method was used to screen out the circular RNA and mRNA of interest. A cellular fractionation assay and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay were conducted to prove that circ_0001018 and CCT4 (the host gene of circ_0001018) mRNA primarily localized in the cytoplasm of PTC cell lines. By qRT-PCR analysis, the expression of circ_0001018 and SOX4 mRNA was found upregulated while the expression of miR-338-3p was found downregulated in PTC tissues and cells. circ_0001018 silence significantly inhibited the tumor growth in xenografted nude mice. A series of cytological experiments such as a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, a 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay, cell cycle profiling, wound healing, a transwell assay, and cell apoptosis were conducted and showed that circ_0001018 and SOX4 promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, inhibited cell apoptosis, and reduced the cell cycle arrest at the G₁ phase in PTC cells. Compared with circ_0001018 and SOX4, miR-338-3p held the opposite function. The regulatory relationship between circ_0001018 and miR-338-3p, and between miR-338-3p and SOX4 mRNA, was validated using a luciferase reporter gene assay and/or RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP assay). Our findings showed that circ_0001018 acted as the tumor promoter via sponging miR-338-3p to elevate SOX4 expression level in PTC. Importantly, this novel circ_0001018/miR-338-3p/SOX4 axis has the potential to be considered as a therapy target for PTC.

Silver nanoparticles achieve cytotoxicity against breast cancer by regulating long-chain noncoding RNA XLOC_006390-mediated pathway

The specific cytotoxic effect of nanoparticles on tumor cells may be used in future antitumor clinical applications. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been reported to have potent cytotoxic effect, but the mechanism is unclear. Here, AgNPs were synthesized, and the particle average size was 63.1 ± 8.3 nm and showed a nearly circular shape, which were determined by transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The selected area electron diffraction patterns showed that the nanoparticles were crystalline. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum proved that silver is the main component of nanoparticles. The AgNPs showed potent cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells, no matter whether they were tamoxifen sensitive or resistant. Next, we found that a long noncoding RNA, XLOC_006390, was decreased in AgNPs-treated breast cancer cells, coupled to inhibited cell proliferation, altered cell cycle and apoptotic phenotype. Downstream of AgNPs, XLOC_006390 was recognized to target miR-338-3p and modulate the SOX4 expression. This signaling pathway also mediates the AgNPs function of sensitizing tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells to tamoxifen. These results provide a new clue for the antitumor mechanism of AgNPs, and a new way for drug development by using AgNPs.

LINC02738 Participates in the Development of Kidney Cancer Through the miR-20b/Sox4 Axis

Background

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can affect tumorigenesis. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCAG) suggest that LINC02783 is highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and is expected to be a potential biological target. We conducted this study to verify this.

Patients and Methods

We conducted this study to verify the opinion that "LINC02783 is highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and is expected to be a potential biological target". We employed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to test LINC02783 expression in RCC tissues, CKK-8 assay and transwell assay to assess the viability and invasion of RCC cells, Western blot to quantify Sox-4 expression, dual-luciferase reporter (DLR) assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay to analyze the interaction between LINC02783 and miR-20b, in vivo experiments to test tumor formation.

Results

We detected high LINC02783 expression in RCC patients. Patients with higher LINC02783 levels had a markedly poorer prognosis. In vitro and in vivo, the down-regulation of LINC02783 suppressed the viability and invasion of RCC cells. The DLR assay results revealed that LINC02783 enhanced Sox-4 expression by regulating miR-20b. LINC02783 can act as a sponge for miR-20b to inhibit Sox-4 expression.

Conclusion

LINC02783 is highly expressed in RCC patients and indicates a poor prognosis. LINC02783 can affect the occurrence and progression of RCC through the miR-20b/Sox-4 axis, making it a promising target for the treatment of RCC.

Dysregulation of the miR-25-IMPA2 axis promotes metastatic progression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Background

The molecular mechanism underlying clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) metastasis remains unclear. We therefore aimed to elucidate the role of IMPA2 in ccRCC metastatic progression.

Methods

Using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining, we investigated differences in IMPA2 mRNA and protein expression, as well as their clinical relevance, in ccRCC. To investigate the function of IMPA2 in ccRCC metastasis, we performed in vitro migration and in vivo lung colony-forming assays. We further explored the effect of microRNA (miR)-25 on IMPA2 expression by performing a luciferase reporter assay.

Findings

We show that ccRCC expresses relatively lower transcript levels of IMPA2 than normal kidney tissue. IMPA2 downregulation was greater in high-grade ccRCC than in low-grade ccRCC and was correlated with a poor prognosis in ccRCC patients. Importantly, we demonstrate that IMPA2 expression is inversely associated with the metastatic potential of ccRCC cells. We found that IMPA2 knockdown promotes, but overexpression suppresses, the cellular migration and lung colony-forming abilities of ccRCC cells. By using in silico and luciferase reporter assays, we found that IMPA2 expression is primarily influenced by miR-25 in ccRCC cells. Significantly, the inhibition of miR-25 function restored IMPA2 expression, thereby diminishing the metastatic potential of ccRCC cells.

Interpretation

We conclude that miR-25-mediated IMPA2 downregulation constitutes a novel signature for cancer metastasis and poor outcomes in ccRCC. We further postulate that the therapeutic targeting of miR-25 can be useful for preventing the metastatic progression of ccRCC associated with IMPA2 downregulation.

Fund

This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 107-2314-B-038-094, MOST 106-2314-B-038-069-MY3, MOST 105-2320-B-038-021-MY3 and MOST 107-2320-B-038-056).

Down-regulation of miR-338-3p and Up-regulation of MACC1 Indicated Poor Prognosis of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Patients

Objective To detect the expression of microRNA-338-3p (miR-338-3p) and MET transcriptional regulator MACC1 (MACC1) gene in different ovarian tissues, to analyze their relationships, their correlations to the clinicopathologic characteristics of epithelial ovarian cancer and their significant to the progression of ovarian cancer. Methods The expression of miR-338-3p and MACC1 gene in 20 specimens of normal ovarian tissues, 20 specimens of benign epithelial ovarian tumor and 65 specimens of epithelial ovarian cancer was detected by real-time PCR method. Their interrelationships and their correlations to the clinicopathologic characteristics of epithelial ovarian cancer were analyzed. Risk factors of recurrence and death were discussed by binary Logistic regression analysis. The relations between miR-338-3p and MACC1 expression and the survival of ovarian cancer were measured by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results The expressions of miR-338-3p and MACC1 gene in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues were (0.331±0.038) and (0.774±0.025), significant differences were noted between epithelial ovarian cancer and normal ovarian tissues, benign ovarian tumors (F=77.916, P=1.205E-18; F=77.945, P=1.187E-18). In different ovarian tissues, miR-338-3p expression was negatively correlated to MACC1 expression (r = -0.968, P<0.0001). In epithelial ovarian cancer, lower expression of miR-338-3p and higher expression of MACC1 were associated with more advanced FIGO stage, higher histological grade and developed lymph node metastasis. Down-regulation of miR-338-3p was related with the recurrence (P=0. 005, OR=12.862, 95%CI: 2.120~78.026) and death (P=0. 007, OR=12.837, 95%CI: 2.205~81.389) of ovarian cancer patients, which was showed by binary Logistic regression analysis. Compared to other patients, the overall survival rate and progression free survival rate of patients with lower miR-338-3p and higher MACC1 expression were obviously poorer (χ²=16.955, P=7.219E-5; χ²=18.929, P=2.828E-5). Conclusions Down-regulation of miR-338-3p and up-regulation of MACC1 gene were closely related with the poor prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer patients, which could served as bio-markers of the progression and recurrence of ovarian cancer.

Kinesin Motor Protein KIFC1 Is a Target Protein of miR-338-3p and Is Associated With Poor Prognosis and Progression of Renal Cell Carcinoma

KIFC1 (kinesin family member C1) plays a critical role in clustering of extra centrosomes in various cancer cells and thus could be considered as a promising therapeutic target. However, whether KIFC1 is involved in the procession of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) still remains unclear. In this study, we found that KIFC1 was upregulated in RCC tissues and is responsible for RCC tumorigenesis (p < 0.001). The high expression of KIFC1 correlates with aggressive clinicopathologic parameters. Kaplan–Meier analysis suggested that KIFC1 was associated with poor survival prognosis in RCC. Silencing KIFC1 dramatically resulted in inhibition of proliferation, delayed the cell cycle at G₂/M phase, and suppressed cell invasion and migration in vitro. The antiproliferative effect of KIFC1 silencing was also observed in xenografted tumors in vivo. miR-338-3p could directly bind to the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of KIFC1, and ectopic miR-338-3p expression mimicked the inhibitory functions of KIFC1 silencing on RCC cells through inactivation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Therefore, these results revealed that KIFC1 may be a novel biomarker and an effective therapeutic target for the treatment of RCC.

miR-363-3p Inhibits Osteosarcoma Cell Proliferation and Invasion via Targeting SOX4

miR-363-3p has been shown to suppress tumor growth and metastasis in various human cancers. However, the function of miR-363-3p in osteosarcoma (OS) has not been determined. In our study, we found that the expression of miR-363-3p was significantly downregulated in OS tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. miR-363-3p expression was associated with the poor overall survival rate of OS patients. Moreover, we found that overexpression of miR-363-3p markedly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of U2OS and MG63 cells. Moreover, we found that SOX4 was a direct target of miR-363-3p in OS cells. Overexpression of miR-363-3p significantly inhibited the expression of SOX4. Expression levels of miR-363-3p and SOX4 were negatively correlated in OS tissues. Finally, we found that restoration of SOX4 attenuated the suppressive effects of miR-363-3p on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of U2OS and MG63 cells. Therefore, our findings demonstrated that miR-363-3p served as a tumor suppressor in OS tissues by targeting SOX4.