High expression of pituitary tumor-transforming gene-1 predicts poor prognosis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Elevated PTTG1 predicts poor prognosis in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma and correlates with immunity

Background

PTTG1 has been reported to be linked with the prognosis and progression of various cancers, including kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC). In this article, we mainly investigated the associations between prognosis, immunity, and PTTG1 in KIRC patients.

Method

We downloaded transcriptome data from the TCGA-KIRC database. PCR and immunohistochemistry were used, respectively, to validate the expression of PTTG1 in KIRC at the cell line and the protein levels. Survival analyses as well as univariate or multivariate Cox hazard regression analyses were used to prove whether PTTG1 alone could affect the prognosis of KIRC. The most important point was to study the relationship between PTTG1 and immunity.

Results

The results of the paper revealed that the expression levels of PTTG1 were elevated in KIRC compared with para-cancerous normal tissues, validated by PCR and immunohistochemistry at the cell line and the protein levels (P < 0.05). High PTTG1 expression was related to shorter overall survival (OS) in patients with KIRC (P < 0.05). Through univariate or multivariate regression analysis, PTTG1 was confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor for OS of KIRC (P < 0.05), and its related seven pathways were obtained through gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA; P < 0.05). Moreover, tumor mutational burden (TMB) and immunity were found to be significantly connected with PTTG1 in KIRC (P < 0.05). Correlations between PTTG1 and immunotherapy responses implied that the low-PTTG1 group was more sensitive to immunotherapy (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

PTTG1 was closely associated with TMB or immunity, and it had a superior ability to forecast the prognosis of KIRC patients.

Clinical significance of securin expression in solid cancers: A PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis of published studies and bioinformatics analysis based on TCGA dataset

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have investigated the clinical significance of securin expression in solid cancers; however, the results have been inconsistent. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis of published studies to assess the clinical value of securin expression in patients with solid cancers.

METHODS

The Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, PubMed, and EMDASE databases were searched for eligible studies (from inception up to April 2021). Bioinformatics analysis based on The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset was also performed to evaluate the prognostic value of securin expression.

RESULTS

A total of 25 articles with 26 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results of the meta-analysis implied that high securin expression was positively correlated with unfavorable overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio = 1.52, 95% CI, 1.33-1.73; P < .001) and lymph node metastasis (odd ratio = 2.96, 95% CI, 2.26-3.86; P < .001). Consistently, our bioinformatics analysis showed that increased securin expression was associated with worse OS and shorter disease-free survival in cancer patients.

CONCLUSION

Our study indicated that securin overexpression was positively associated with metastasis and inversely related to the prognosis of patients with solid cancers. However, additional high-quality studies should be conducted to validate these findings.

SREBP1 site 1 protease inhibitor PF-429242 suppresses renal cell carcinoma cell growth

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells have increased lipogenesis and cholesterol synthesis. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1 (SREBP1) is cleaved by site 1 protease (S1P) to release the transcriptionally active amino-terminal domain. PF-429242 is a potent and competitive S1P inhibitor. We here tested its activity in RCC cells. In established and primary human RCC cells, PF-429242 potently inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. The S1P inhibitor provoked apoptosis activation in RCC cells. Furthermore, shRNA-mediated S1P silencing or CRISPR/Cas9-induced S1P knockout led to RCC cell growth inhibition and apoptosis activation. Conversely, ectopic overexpression of SREBP1 or S1P augmented RCC cell proliferation and migration. Daily i.v. injection of a single dose of PF-429242 robustly inhibited RCC xenograft growth in severe combined immunodeficiency mice. Additionally, intratumoral injection of S1P shRNA lentivirus inhibited RCC xenograft growth in mice. SREBP1, S1P, and its target gene low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) were significantly elevated in human RCC tissues. These results suggest that targeting S1P by PF-429242 inhibited RCC cell growth in vitro and in vivo.

Identification of hub genes associated with prognosis, diagnosis, immune infiltration and therapeutic drug in liver cancer by integrated analysis

Background

Liver cancer is one of the most common cancers and causes of cancer death worldwide. The objective was to elucidate novel hub genes which were benefit for diagnosis, prognosis, and targeted therapy in liver cancer via integrated analysis.

Methods

GSE84402, GSE101685, and GSE112791 were filtered from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by using the GEO2R. The GO and KEGG pathway of DEGs were analyzed in the DAVID. PPI and TF network of the DEGs were constructed by using the STRING, TRANSFAC, and Harmonizome. The relationship between hub genes and prognoses in liver cancer was analyzed in UALCAN based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The diagnostic value of hub genes was evaluated by ROC. The relationship between hub genes and tumor-infiltrate lymphocytes was analyzed in TIMER. The protein levels of hub genes were verified in HPA. The interaction between the hub genes and the drug were identified in DGIdb.

Results

In total, 108 upregulated and 60 downregulated DEGs were enriched in 148 GO terms and 20 KEGG pathways. The mRNA levels and protein levels of CDK1, HMMR, PTTG1, and TTK were higher in liver cancer tissues compared to normal tissues, which showed excellent diagnostic and prognostic value. CDK1, HMMR, PTTG1, and TTK were positively correlated with tumor-infiltrate lymphocytes, which might involve tumor immune response. The CDK1, HMMR, and TTK had close interaction with anticancer agents.

Conclusions

The CDK1, HMMR, PTTG1, and TTK were hub genes in liver cancer; hence, they might be potential biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and targeted therapy of liver cancer.

Upregulation of PTTG1 is associated with poor prognosis in prostate cancer

Pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) is a regulator of chromosome stability. PTTG1 overexpression had been associated with tumor aggressiveness in several cancer types. To examine its prognostic utility in prostate cancer, a tissue microarray including 12 427 tumors with clinical and molecular data was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. PTTG1 immunostaining was largely absent in normal prostate epithelial cells. In cancers, staining was considered weak in 5.4%, moderate in 5.6% and strong in 0.8%. Strong staining was linked to advanced pT stage, high classical and quantitative Gleason grade, high Ki67-labeling index (all P < 0.0001) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0083). The prognostic impact of PTTG1 expression was independent of established preoperative and postoperative prognostic features. Comparison with molecular features revealed that PTTG1 upregulation was associated with nine of 12 common genomic deletions (P < 0.05), p53 alterations and high androgen receptor levels (P < 0.001 each), but was unrelated to the TMPRSS2:ERG fusion status. In conclusion, these data identify PTTG1 as a strong and independent prognostic feature in prostate cancer. PTTG1 measurement, either alone or in combination with other biomarkers might be instrumental for determining prostate cancer aggressiveness.

EZH2 cooperates with E2F1 to stimulate expression of genes involved in adrenocortical carcinoma aggressiveness

Background

EZH2 is overexpressed and associated with poor prognosis in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and its inhibition reduces growth and aggressiveness of ACC cells in culture. Although EZH2 was identified as the methyltransferase that deposits the repressive H3K27me3 histone mark, it can cooperate with transcription factors to stimulate gene transcription.

Methods

We used bioinformatics approaches on gene expression data from three cohorts of patients and a mouse model of EZH2 ablation, to identify targets and mode of action of EZH2 in ACC. This was followed by ChIP and functional assays to evaluate contribution of identified targets to ACC pathogenesis.

Results

We show that EZH2 mostly works as a transcriptional inducer in ACC, through cooperation with the transcription factor E2F1 and identify three positive targets involved in cell cycle regulation and mitosis i.e., RRM2, PTTG1 and ASE1/PRC1. Overexpression of these genes is associated with poor prognosis, suggesting a potential role in acquisition of aggressive ACC features. Pharmacological and siRNA-mediated inhibition of RRM2 blocks cell proliferation, induces apoptosis and inhibits cell migration, suggesting that it may be an interesting target in ACC.

Conclusions

Altogether, these data show an unexpected role of EZH2 and E2F1 in stimulating expression of genes associated with ACC aggressiveness.

The long noncoding RNA urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 overexpression as a poor prognostic biomarker in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Long noncoding RNA urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 has previously played important roles in cancer. However, its role is still unknown in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. We utilized the most recent molecular and clinical data of clear cell renal cell carcinoma from The Cancer Genome Atlas project, and the relationship between urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 expression and the clinicopathological features was analyzed. Our results indicated that urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 overexpression was associated with male ( p = 0.003), wild-type PBRM1 ( p = 0.021), and BAP1 mutation ( p = 0.022) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, although lower expression was found in tumors compared with normal controls, validated in tumor tissues from The Cancer Genome Atlas and 21 clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients at our hospital. Moreover, urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 overexpression indicated poor prognosis independently (Hazard Ratio [HR]: 1.92, p = 0.000) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma; it might be a potential detrimental gene considered as a predictive biomarker involved in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Pituitary tumor transforming gene-1 in non-small cell lung cancer: Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical analysis

Pituitary tumor transforming gene-1 (PTTG1) is a novel oncogene and overexpressed in a wide variety of human cancers. However, the clinical and prognostic significance of PTTG1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unknown. The expression status of PTTG1 in NSCLC at the publicly available GEO databases (GSE19804) was observed. The mRNA and protein expression of PTTG1 in NSCLC tissues and cell lines was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot, and the association between PTTG1 expression and clinicopathological factors was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. In our Results, PTTG1 was one of genes overexpressed in NCSLC samples compared with paired adjacent normal lung samples in microarray data (GSE19804). PTTG1 mRNA and protein expressions were increased in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. PTTG1 protein expression was correlated with malignant status and poor prognosis of NSCLC patients. In conclusion, PTTG1 is correlated with NSCLC progression and as an independent poor prognostic factor in NSCLC patients.

A Five-Gene Signature Predicts Prognosis in Patients with Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma

Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is one of the most common cancers with high mortality all over the world. Many studies have proposed that genes could be used to predict prognosis in KIRC. In this study, RNA expression data from next-generation sequencing and clinical information of 523 patients downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset were analyzed in order to identify the relationship between gene expression level and the prognosis of KIRC patients. A set of five genes that significantly associated with overall survival time was identified and a model containing these five genes was constructed by Cox regression analysis. By Kaplan-Meier and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis, we confirmed that the model had good sensitivity and specificity. In summary, expression of the five-gene model is associated with the prognosis outcomes of KIRC patients, and it may have an important clinical significance.

Expression of PGAM1 in renal clear cell carcinoma and its clinical significance

OBJECTIVE

This study is aimed to evaluate the expression of phosphoglycerate mutase 1 (PGAM1) in normal kidney and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC), also to evaluate the correlation between PGAM1 expression and clinicopathological features in CCRCC.

METHODS

PGAM1 expression was detected in 80 cases of normal kidney and 192 cases of CCRCC by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Meanwhile, PGAM1 expression measured in 8 cases of CCRCC and matched normal kidney tissues by Western blot. Then, the correlation between PGAM1 expression and clinicalpathological features was analyzed in CCRCC.

RESULTS

IHC results exhibited that the high-expression rate of PGAM1 in CCRCC tissues was 45.8%, which was significantly higher than those in normal kidney tissues (32.5%, P=0.044). Meanwhile, PGAM1 expression in CCRCC was significantly greater compared with those in normal kidney by Western blot. Moreover, PGAM1 expression was significantly associated with age, tumor size and T stage in CCRCC.

CONCLUSION

PGAM1 is highly expressed in CCRCC and correlated with clinicalpathological features, which may contribute to tumor formation and progression.