Effect of miR‑146a‑5p on tumor growth in NSCLC using chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and bioinformatics investigation

The new paradigm in animal testing - "3Rs alternatives"

Regulatory studies have revolutionised over time. Today, the focus has shifted from animal toxicity testing to non-animal for regulatory safety testing. This move is in line with the international 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) principle and has also changed the regulator's perspective. The 3R principle has stimulated changes in policy, regulations, and new approaches to safety assessment in drug development in many countries. The 3Rs approach has led to the discovery and application of new technologies and more human-relevant in vitro approaches that minimise the use of animals including non-human primates, in research and improve animal welfare. In 2016, the European Medicines Agency published the Guidelines on the principles of regulatory acceptance of 3Rs testing approaches, followed by a conceptual paper in 2023 to align with current 3R standards. Additionally, the United States Food and Drug Administration passed new legislation in 2023 that no longer requires all new human drugs to be tested on animals, which will change the current testing paradigm. This review paper provides the adoption of the 3Rs and the current regulatory perspective regarding their implementation.

Anchoring Filament Protein Ladinin-1 is an Immunosuppressive Microenvironment and Cold Tumor Correlated Prognosticator in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Anchoring filament protein ladinin-1 (LAD1) codes for an anchor filament protein in the basement membrane. Here, we have aimed to determine its potential role in LUAD. According to the comprehensive analyses conducted in this study, we studied the expression, prognostic significance, function, methylation, copy number variations, and the immune cell infiltration of LAD1 in LUAD. A higher level of LAD1 gene expression was observed in the LUAD tumor tissues compared to the normal lung tissues (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the multivariate analysis indicated that a higher LAD1 gene expression level was the independent prognostic factor. Additionally, the DNA methylation level of the LAD1 was inversely linked to its expression (p < 0.001). We noted that the patients affected due to LAD1 hypomethylation showed a very low overall survival rate compared to the patients with a higher LAD1 methylation score (p < 0.05). Moreover, the results of the immunity analysis indicated that the LAD1 expression might be inversely linked to the immune cell infiltration degree, expression of the infiltrated immune cells, and the PD-L1 levels. Lastly, we supplemented some verification to increase the rigor of the study. The results suggested that high expression of LAD1 may be related to cold tumors. Hence, this indirectly reflects that the immunotherapy effect of LUAD patients with high LAD1 expression might be worse. Based on the role played by the LAD1 in the tumor immune microenvironment, it can be considered a potential biomarker for predicting the immunotherapy response to LUAD.

Chorioallantoic membrane assay revealed the role of TIPARP (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin-inducible poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) in lung adenocarcinoma-induced angiogenesis

BACKGROUND

The chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay is a well-established technique to evaluate tumor invasion and angiogenesis and may overcome the shortcoming of the patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse model. Currently, few reports have described lung cancer invasion and angiogenesis in the CAM assay. We therefore used the CAM assay in the evaluation of lung cancer.

METHOD

Lung cancer cell line-derived organoids or lung cancer cell lines were transplanted into the CAM on embryonic development day (EDD) 10, and an analysis was performed on EDD 15. Microscopic and macroscopic images and movies of the grafts on the CAM were captured and analyzed. The relationships between the graft and chick vessels were evaluated using immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

We transplanted lung cancer cell lines and cell line-derived organoid into a CAM to investigate angiogenesis and invasion. They engrafted on the CAM at a rate of 50-83%. A549-OKS cells showed enhanced cell invasion and angiogenesis on the CAM in comparison to A549-GFP cells as was reported in vitro. Next, we found that A549-TIPARP cells promoted angiogenesis on the CAM. RNA-seq identified 203 genes that were upregulated more than twofold in comparison to A549-GFP cells. A pathway analysis revealed many upregulated pathways related to degradation and synthesis of the extracellular matrix in A549-TIPARP cells.

CONCLUSIONS

The CAM assay can be used to evaluate and research invasion and angiogenesis in lung cancer. The elevated expression of TIPARP in lung cancer may induce angiogenesis by remodeling the extracellular matrix.

Embryonated Chicken Tumor Xenografts Derived from Circulating Tumor Cells as a Relevant Model to Study Metastatic Dissemination: A Proof of Concept

Simple Summary

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are heterogeneous and rare in the bloodstream, but responsible for cancer metastasis. Their in vitro or in vivo expansion remains a major challenge. The chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) assay has proven to be a reliable alternative to the murine model, notably for tumor xenografts. We have developed a promising model of CTC-derived xenografts in the chicken CAM and demonstrated the feasibility of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis in this assay, with a genomic concordance between the in ovo tumor and the original patient’s tumor. We also evidenced metastatic dissemination from the xenograft in the chicken embryo’s distant organs. Further characterization of the in ovo tumors and metastases may provide new insights into the mechanisms of tumor dissemination. The development of a xenograft from a given patient’s CTCs, in a time frame compatible with managing the patient’s treatment, could also be a step forward towards personalized medicine.

Abstract

Patient-Derived Xenografts (PDXs) in the Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) are a representative model for studying human tumors. Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are involved in cancer dissemination and treatment resistance mechanisms. To facilitate research and deep analysis of these few cells, significant efforts were made to expand them. We evaluated here whether the isolation of fresh CTCs from patients with metastatic cancers could provide a reliable tumor model after a CAM xenograft. We enrolled 35 patients, with breast, prostate, or lung metastatic cancers. We performed microfluidic-based CTC enrichment. After 48–72 h of culture, the CTCs were engrafted onto the CAM of embryonated chicken eggs at day 9 of embryonic development (EDD9). The tumors were resected 9 days after engraftment and histopathological, immunochemical, and genomic analyses were performed. We obtained in ovo tumors for 61% of the patients. Dedifferentiated small tumors with spindle-shaped cells were observed. The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of CTCs could explain this phenotype. Beyond the feasibility of NGS in this model, we have highlighted a genomic concordance between the in ovo tumor and the original patient’s tumor for constitutional polymorphism and somatic alteration in one patient. Alu DNA sequences were detected in the chicken embryo’s distant organs, supporting the idea of dedifferentiated cells with aggressive behavior. To our knowledge, we performed the first chicken CAM CTC-derived xenografts with NGS analysis and evidence of CTC dissemination in the chicken embryo.

miR-4731-5p Enhances Apoptosis and Alleviates Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition through Targeting RPLP0 in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Background/Aim. MircoRNA-4731-5p (miR-4731-5p) is a new miRNA involved in different human cancers, but its function has not been clarified in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The present study attended to resolve the role of miR-4731-5p in NSCLC. Materials and Methods. The expression level of miR-4731-5p or ribosomal protein large P0 (RPLP0) and NSCLC clinicopathologic characteristics were analyzed. The binding between miR-4731-5p and RPLP0 was confirmed by TargetScan prediction and luciferase reporter experiment. Also, the probable role of miR-4731-5p in NSCLC via RPLP0 was elaborated by the MTT, western blotting, immunofluorescence, transwell, flow cytometry, and TUNEL assays. Moreover, in vivo verification was conducted in xenografted nude mice. Results. The level of miR-4731-5p was notably declined in vivo and in vitro, which was involved in the prognosis of lung cancer patients. The miR-4731-5p mimic could remarkably restrain cell viability, invasion, and the translational expression level of vimentin and e-cadherin, with promoted cell apoptosis in NSCLC, which were notably reversed by RPLP0 overexpression. Conclusion. miR-4731-5p/RPLP0 axis might be an underlying therapeutic target for NSCLC.

Identification of TIMELESS and RORA as key clock molecules of non-small cell lung cancer and the comprehensive analysis

Background

The incidence rate of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been increasing worldwide, and the correlation of circadian rhythm disruption with a raised risk of cancer and worse prognosis has been shown by accumulating evidences recently. On the other hand, drug resistance and the impact of tumor heterogeneity have been inevitable in NSCLC therapy. These both lead to an urgent need to identify more useful prognostic and predictive markers for NSCLC diagnosis and treatment, especially on the aspect of circadian clock genes.

Methods

The expression of the main clock genes in cancer was probed with TIMER and Oncomine databases. The prognostic value of key clock genes was probed systematically with the Kaplan–Meier estimate and Cox regression on samples from TCGA database. RT-qPCR was performed on patient tissue samples to further validate the results from databases. The functional enrichment analysis was performed using the “ClusterProfiler” R package, and the correlation of key clock genes with tumor mutation burden, immune checkpoint, and immune infiltration levels were also assessed using multiple algorithms including TIDE, TIMER2.0, and XCELL.

Results

TIMELESS was significantly upregulated in lung tissue of clinical lung cancer patients as well as TCGA and Oncomine databases, while RORA was downregulated. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that TIMELESS (P = 0.004, HR = 1.21 [1.06, 1.38]) and RORA (P = 0.047, HR = 0.868 [0.755, 0.998]) has a significant correlation with overall survival in NSCLC. Genes related to TIMELESS were enriched in the cell cycle and immune system, and the function of RORA was mainly focused on oncogenic signaling pathways or glycosylation and protein activation. Also, TIMELESS was positively correlated with tumor mutation burden while RORA was negatively correlated with it. TIMELESS and RORA were also significantly correlated with immune checkpoint and immune infiltration levels in NSCLC. Additionally, TIMELESS showed a significant positive relationship with lipid metabolism.

Conclusions

TIMELESS and RORA were identified as key clock genes in NSCLC, and were independent prognostic factors for overall survival in NSCLC. The function of them were assessed in many aspects, indicating the strong potential of the two genes to serve as biomarkers for NSCLC progression and prognosis.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09203-1.

Extending the Applicability of In Ovo and Ex Ovo Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane Assays to Study Cytostatic Activity in Neuroblastoma Cells

Purpose

The chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay can provide an alternative versatile, cost-effective, and ethically less controversial in vivo model for reliable screening of drugs. In the presented work, we demonstrate that CAM assay (in ovo and ex ovo) can be simply employed to delineate the effects of cisplatin (CDDP) and ellipticine (Elli) on neuroblastoma (Nbl) cells in terms of their growth and metastatic potential.

Methods

The Nbl UKF-NB-4 cell line was established from recurrent bone marrow metastases of high-risk Nbl (stage IV, MYCN amplification, 7q21 gain). Ex ovo and in ovo CAM assays were optimized to evaluate the antimetastatic activity of CDDP and Elli. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, and DNA isolation were performed.

Results

Ex ovo CAM assay was employed to study whether CDDP and Elli exhibit any inhibitory effects on growth of Nbl xenograft in ex ovo CAM assay. Under the optimal conditions, Elli and CDDP exhibited significant inhibition of the size of the primary tumor. To study the efficiency of CDDP and Elli to inhibit primary Nbl tumor growth, intravasation, and extravasation in the organs, we adapted the in ovo CAM assay protocol. In in ovo CAM assay, both studied compounds (CDDP and Elli) exhibited significant (p < 0.001) inhibitory activity against extravasation to all investigated organs including distal CAM.

Conclusions

Taken together, CAM assay could be a helpful and highly efficient in vivo approach for high-throughput screening of libraries of compounds with expected anticancer activities.

Epigenetic regulation of angiogenesis in lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, in which angiogenesis is highly required for lung cancer cell growth and metastasis. Genetic regulation of this multistep process is being studied extensively, however, relatively less is known about the epigenetic regulation of angiogenesis in lung cancer. Several epigenetic alterations contribute to regulating angiogenesis, such as epimodifications of DNA, posttranslational modification of histones, and expression of noncoding RNAs. Here, we review the current knowledge of the epigenetic regulation of angiogenesis and discuss the potential clinical applications of epigenetic-based anticancer therapy in lung cancer. Overall, epigenetic-based therapy will likely emerge as a prominent approach to treat lung cancer in the future.

Applications of the Chick Chorioallantoic Membrane as an Alternative Model for Cancer Studies

A variety of in vivo experimental models have been established for the studies of human cancer using both cancer cell lines and patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). In order to meet the aspiration of precision medicine, the in vivomurine models have been widely adopted. However, common constraints such as high cost, long duration of experiments, and low engraftment efficiency remained to be resolved. The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is an alternative model to overcome some of these limitations. Here, we provide an overview of the applications of the chick CAM model in the study of oncology. The CAM model has shown significant retention of tumor heterogeneity alongside increased xenograft take rates in several PDX studies. Various imaging techniques and data analysis have been applied to study tumor metastasis, angiogenesis, and therapeutic response to novel agents. Lastly, to practically illustrate the feasibility of utilizing the CAM model, we summarize the general protocol used in a case study utilizing an ovarian cancer PDX.

Comprehensive clinical implications of homeobox A10 in 3,199 cases of non-small cell lung cancer tissue samples combining qRT-PCR, RNA sequencing and microarray data

In the current study, we proposed to explore the potential role and related signaling pathways of Homobox A10 (HOXA10) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). HOXA10 levels in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) were detected by qRT-PCR and the expression of HOXA10 was significantly up-regulated in the NSCLC tissue of all 55 pairs (P = 0.037). Overexpression of HOXA10 was closely correlated with the clinical stage of LUSC (P = 0.011). HOXA10 expression in RNA sequencing data based on 1, 077 cases exhibited concordant significant up-regulation in NSCLC, LUAD and LUSC (P < 0.001). In NSCLC, HOXA10 expression was closely correlated to patient T stage (P = 0.006). In LUAD, HOXA10 expression was compactly correlated to patient N stage (P = 0.02). Some of the microarrays from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and ArrayExpress showed consistent over-expression of HOXA10 levels in NSCLCs. More importantly, the combined SMD value was 0.052 (95% CI: 0.29-0.75, P < 0.001) generated by meta-analysis from 47 datasets based on 4, 616 cases of NSCLC. The area under the curve (AUC) of SROC supported the over-expression of HOXA10 in NSCLC as being 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81-0.93), with sensitivity and specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81-0.93) and 0.56 (95% CI: 0.44-0.66), respectively. In addition, 111 co-expressed genes were collected from cBioPortal and enriched in "cell cycle", "cell adhesion molecules", "p53 signaling", and "adherens junction". Interestingly, an up-regulation trend of HOXA10 protein expression was also observed in NSCLC through tissue chips and immunohistochemistry. In conclusion, the overexpression of HOXA10 may play a pivotal role in the tumorigenesis of NSCLC, and this effect is observed more obviously in LUSC than in LUAD.

Neonatal Micro-RNA Profile Determines Endothelial Function in Offspring of Hypertensive Pregnancies

Offspring of hypertensive pregnancies are at increased risk of developing hypertension in adulthood. In the neonatal period they display endothelial cell dysfunction and altered microvascular development. MicroRNAs, as important endothelial cellular regulators, may play a role in this early endothelial dysfunction. Therefore we identified differential microRNA patterns in endothelial cells from offspring of hypertensive pregnancies and determined their role in postnatal vascular cell function. Studies were performed on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVECs) samples from 57 pregnancies. Unbiased RNA-sequencing identified 30 endothelial-related microRNAs differentially expressed in HUVECs from hypertensive compared to normotensive pregnancies. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) confirmed a significant higher expression level of the top candidate, miR-146a. Combined miR-146a targeted gene expression and pathway analysis revealed significant alterations in genes involved in inflammation, angiogenesis and immune response in the same HUVECs. Elevated miR-146a expression level at birth identified cells with reduced ability for in vitro vascular tube formation, which was rescued by miR-146a inhibition. In contrast, miR-146a overexpression significantly reduced vascular tube formation in HUVECs from normotensive pregnancies. Finally, we confirmed that mir146a levels at birth predicted in vivo microvascular development during the first three postnatal months. Offspring of hypertensive pregnancy have a distinct endothelial regulatory microRNA profile at birth, which is related to altered endothelial cell behaviour, and predicts patterns of microvascular development during the first three months of life. Modification of this microRNA profile in vitro can restore impaired vascular cell function.