TGF‑β1 affects the renal cancer miRNome and regulates tumor cells proliferation

Effect of traditional Chinese medicine in osteosarcoma: Cross-interference of signaling pathways and potential therapeutic targets

Osteosarcoma (OS) has a high recurrence rate, disability rate, mortality and metastasis, it brings great economic burden and psychological pressure to patients, and then seriously affects the quality of life of patients. At present, the treatment methods of OS mainly include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgical therapy and neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with limb salvage surgery. These treatment methods can relieve the clinical symptoms of patients to a certain extent, and also effectively reduce the disability rate, mortality and recurrence rate of OS patients. However, because metastasis of tumor cells leads to new complications, and OS cells become resistant with prolonged drug intervention, which reduces the sensitivity of OS cells to drugs, these treatments still have some limitations. More and more studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has the characteristics of "multiple targets and multiple pathways," and can play an important role in the development of OS through several key signaling pathways, including PI3K/AKT, Wnt/β-catenin, tyrosine kinase/transcription factor 3 (JAK/STAT3), Notch, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/Smad, nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), Hippo/YAP, OPG/RANK/RANKL, Hedgehog and so on. In this paper, the signaling pathways of cross-interference between active ingredients of TCM and OS were reviewed, and the development status of novel OS treatment was analyzed. The active ingredients in TCM can provide therapeutic benefits to patients by targeting the activity of signaling pathways. In addition, potential strategies for targeted therapy of OS by using ferroptosis were discussed. We hope to provide a unique insight for the in-depth research and clinical application of TCM in the fields of OS growth, metastasis and chemotherapy resistance by understanding the signaling crosstalk between active ingredients in TCM and OS.

RORα inhibits gastric cancer proliferation through attenuating G6PD and PFKFB3 induced glycolytic activity

BACKGROUND

Glycolysis is critical for harvesting abundant energy to maintain the tumor microenvironment in malignant tumors. Retinoic acid-related orphan receptor α (RORα) has been identified as a circadian gene. However, the association of glycolysis with RORα in regulating gastric cancer (GC) proliferation remains poorly understood.

METHODS

Bioinformatic analysis and retrospective study were utilized to explore the role of RORα in cell cycle and glycolysis in GC. The mechanisms were performed in vitro and in vivo including colony formation, Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), Epithelial- mesenchymal transition (EMT) and subcutaneous tumors of mice model assays. The key drives between RORα and glycolysis were verified through western blot and chip assays. Moreover, we constructed models of high proliferation and high glucose environments to verify a negative feedback and chemoresistance through a series of functional experiments in vitro and in vivo.

RESULTS

RORα was found to be involved in the cell cycle and glycolysis through a gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) algorithm. GC patients with low RORα expression were not only associated with high circulating tumor cells (CTC) and high vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels. However, it also presented a positive correlation with the standard uptake value (SUV) level. Moreover, the SUVmax levels showed a positive linear relation with CTC and VEGF levels. In addition, RORα expression levels were associated with glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and phosphofructokinase-2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (PFKFB3) expression levels, and GC patients with low RORα and high G6PD or low RORα and high PFKFB3 expression patterns had poorest disease-free survival (DFS). Functionally, RORα deletion promoted GC proliferation and drove glycolysis in vitro and in vivo. These phenomena were reversed by the RORα activator SR1078. Moreover, RORα deletion promoted GC proliferation through attenuating G6PD and PFKFB3 induced glycolytic activity in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, RORα was recruited to the G6PD and PFKFB3 promoters to modulate their transcription. Next, high proliferation and high glucose inhibited RORα expression, which indicated that negative feedback exists in GC. Moreover, RORα deletion improved fluorouracil chemoresistance through inhibition of glucose uptake.

CONCLUSION

RORα might be a novel biomarker and therapeutic target for GC through attenuating glycolysis.

Molecular insight into renal cancer and latest therapeutic approaches to tackle it: an updated review

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most lethal genitourinary cancers, with the highest mortality rate, and may remain undetected throughout its development. RCC can be sporadic or hereditary. Exploring the underlying genetic abnormalities in RCC will have important implications for understanding the origins of nonhereditary renal cancers. The treatment of RCC has evolved over centuries from the era of cytokines to targeted therapy to immunotherapy. A surgical cure is the primary treatment modality, especially for organ-confined diseases. Furthermore, the urologic oncology community focuses on nephron-sparing surgical approaches and ablative procedures when small renal masses are detected incidentally in conjunction with interventional radiologists. In addition to new combination therapies approved for RCC treatment, several trials have been conducted to investigate the potential benefits of certain drugs. This may lead to durable responses and more extended survival benefits for patients with metastatic RCC (mRCC). Several approved drugs have reduced the mortality rate of patients with RCC by targeting VEGF signaling and mTOR. This review better explains the signaling pathways involved in the RCC progression, oncometabolites, and essential biomarkers in RCC that can be used for its diagnosis. Further, it provides an overview of the characteristics of RCC carcinogenesis to assist in combating treatment resistance, as well as details about the current management and future therapeutic options. In the future, multimodal and integrated care will be available, with new treatment options emerging as we learn more about the disease.

Renal cancer secretome induces migration of mesenchymal stromal cells

BACKGROUND

Advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is therapeutically challenging. RCC progression is facilitated by mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) that exert remarkable tumor tropism. The specific mechanisms mediating MSCs' migration to RCC remain unknown. Here, we aimed to comprehensively analyze RCC secretome to identify MSCs attractants.

METHODS

Conditioned media (CM) were collected from five RCC-derived cell lines (Caki-1, 786-O, A498, KIJ265T and KIJ308T) and non-tumorous control cell line (RPTEC/TERT1) and analyzed using cytokine arrays targeting 274 cytokines in addition to global CM proteomics. MSCs were isolated from bone marrow of patients undergoing standard orthopedic surgeries. RCC CM and the selected recombinant cytokines were used to analyze their influence on MSCs migration and microarray-targeted gene expression. The expression of genes encoding cytokines was evaluated in 100 matched-paired control-RCC tumor samples.

RESULTS

When compared with normal cells, CM from advanced RCC cell lines (Caki-1 and KIJ265T) were the strongest stimulators of MSCs migration. Targeted analysis of 274 cytokines and global proteomics of RCC CM revealed decreased DPP4 and EGF, as well as increased AREG, FN1 and MMP1, with consistently altered gene expression in RCC cell lines and tumors. AREG and FN1 stimulated, while DPP4 attenuated MSCs migration. RCC CM induced MSCs' transcriptional reprogramming, stimulating the expression of CD44, PTX3 and RAB27B. RCC cells secreted hyaluronic acid (HA), a CD44 ligand mediating MSCs' homing to the kidney. AREG emerged as an upregulator of MSCs' transcription.

CONCLUSIONS

Advanced RCC cells secrete AREG, FN1 and HA to induce MSCs migration, while DPP4 loss prevents its inhibitory effect on MSCs homing. RCC secretome induces MSCs' transcriptional reprograming to facilitate their migration. The identified components of RCC secretome represent potential therapeutic targets.

Study on the influence of scaffold morphology and structure on osteogenic performance

The number of patients with bone defects caused by various bone diseases is increasing yearly in the aging population, and people are paying increasing attention to bone tissue engineering research. Currently, the application of bone tissue engineering mainly focuses on promoting fracture healing by carrying cytokines. However, cytokines implanted into the body easily cause an immune response, and the cost is high; therefore, the clinical treatment effect is not outstanding. In recent years, some scholars have proposed the concept of tissue-induced biomaterials that can induce bone regeneration through a scaffold structure without adding cytokines. By optimizing the scaffold structure, the performance of tissue-engineered bone scaffolds is improved and the osteogenesis effect is promoted, which provides ideas for the design and improvement of tissue-engineered bones in the future. In this study, the current understanding of the bone tissue structure is summarized through the discussion of current bone tissue engineering, and the current research on micro-nano bionic structure scaffolds and their osteogenesis mechanism is analyzed and discussed.

Coordinated reprogramming of renal cancer transcriptome, metabolome and secretome associates with immune tumor infiltration

BACKGROUND

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common subtype of renal cancer. The molecules (proteins, metabolites) secreted by tumors affect their extracellular milieu to support cancer progression. If secreted in amounts detectable in plasma, these molecules can also serve as useful, minimal invasive biomarkers. The knowledge of ccRCC tumor microenvironment is fragmentary. In particular, the links between ccRCC transcriptome and the composition of extracellular milieu are weakly understood. In this study, we hypothesized that ccRCC transcriptome is reprogrammed to support alterations in tumor microenvironment. Therefore, we comprehensively analyzed ccRCC extracellular proteomes and metabolomes as well as transcriptomes of ccRCC cells to find molecules contributing to renal tumor microenvironment.

METHODS

Proteomic and metabolomics analysis of conditioned media isolated from normal kidney cells as well as five ccRCC cell lines was performed using mass spectrometry, with the following ELISA validation. Transcriptomic analysis was done using microarray analysis and validated using real-time PCR. Independent transcriptomic and proteomic datasets of ccRCC tumors were used for the analysis of gene and protein expression as well as the level of the immune infiltration.

RESULTS

Renal cancer secretome contained 85 proteins detectable in human plasma, consistently altered in all five tested ccRCC cell lines. The top upregulated extracellular proteins included SPARC, STC2, SERPINE1, TGFBI, while downregulated included transferrin and DPP7. The most affected extracellular metabolites were increased 4-hydroxy-proline, succinic acid, cysteine, lactic acid and downregulated glutamine. These changes were associated with altered expression of genes encoding the secreted proteins (SPARC, SERPINE1, STC2, DPP7), membrane transporters (SLC16A4, SLC6A20, ABCA12), and genes involved in protein trafficking and secretion (KIF20A, ANXA3, MIA2, PCSK5, SLC9A3R1, SYTL3, and WNTA7). Analogous expression changes were found in ccRCC tumors. The expression of SPARC predicted the infiltration of ccRCC tumors with endothelial cells. Analysis of the expression of the 85 secretome genes in > 12,000 tumors revealed that SPARC is a PanCancer indicator of cancer-associated fibroblasts' infiltration.

CONCLUSIONS

Transcriptomic reprogramming of ccRCC supports the changes in an extracellular milieu which are associated with immune infiltration. The proteins identified in our study represent valuable cancer biomarkers detectable in plasma.

HOXC8 alleviates high glucose-triggered damage of trophoblast cells during gestational diabetes mellitus via activating TGFβ1-mediated Notch1 pathway

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an increasingly frequent disease occurred during pregnancy. HOXC8 has been disclosed to take part in the regulation of cancers. Additionally, the HOXC8 expression was dramatically decreased in the placenta of pre-eclampsia patients, but its expression and function have not been investigated in GDM. In this work, it was demonstrated that the mRNA and protein expression of HOXC8 was lower in GDM placenta tissues and GDM cell model. In addition, HOXC8 facilitated trophoblast cell proliferation and weakened trophoblast cell mitochondrial apoptosis. HOXC8 enhanced trophoblast cell migration and angiogenesis. Moreover, HOXC8 activated the TGFβ1-mediated Notch1 signaling pathway. Results showed that the mRNA and protein expressions of TGFβ1 and Notch1 were both lower in the GDM group than that in the NP group. Besides, there were positive correlations among HOXC8, TGFβ1 and Notch1. Inhibition of TGFβ1 (SB202190 treatment) reversed the effects of HOXC8 on trophoblast cells through modulating cell proliferation, mitochondrial apoptosis, migration and angiogenesis. At last, through in vivo experiments, it was identified that HOXC8 relieved GDM symptoms in vivo. In conclusion, HOXC8 alleviated HG-stimulated damage of trophoblast cells during GDM through activating TGFβ1-mediated Notch1 pathway. This discovery may provide a novel and useful bio-target for GDM treatment.

A Four-MicroRNA Panel in Serum as a Potential Biomarker for Screening Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has been a major health problem and is one of the most malignant tumors around the world. Serum microRNA (miRNA) profiles previously have been reported as non-invasive biomarkers in cancer screening. The aim of this study was to explore serum miRNAs as potential biomarkers for screening RCC. Methods: A three-phase study was conducted to explore serum miRNAs as potential biomarkers for screening RCC. In the screening phase, 12 candidate miRNAs related to RCC were selected for further study by the ENCORI database with 517 RCC patients and 71 NCs. A total of 220 participants [108 RCC patients and 112 normal controls (NCs)] were enrolled for training and validation. The dysregulated candidate miRNAs were further confirmed with 30 RCC patients and 30 NCs in the training phase and with 78 RCC patients and 82 NCs in the validation phase. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were used for assessing the diagnostic value of miRNAs. Bioinformatic analysis and survival analysis were also included in our study. Results: Compared to NCs, six miRNAs (miR-18a-5p, miR-138-5p, miR-141-3p, miR-181b-5p, miR-200a-3p, and miR-363-3p) in serum were significantly dysregulated in RCC patients. A four-miRNA panel was built by combining these candidate miRNAs to improve the diagnostic value with AUC = 0.908. ABCG1 and RNASET2, considered potential target genes of the four-miRNA panel, may play a significant role in the development of RCC. Conclusion: A four-miRNA panel in serum was identified for RCC screening in our study. The four--miRNA panel has a great potential to be a non-invasive biomarker for RCC screening.