miR‑205 targets YAP1 and inhibits proliferation and invasion in thyroid cancer cells

Circular RNA_0057209 Acts as ceRNA to Inhibit Thyroid Cancer Progression by Promoting the STK4-Mediated Hippo Pathway via Sponging MicroRNA-183

Thyroid cancer is the most common malignancy of the endocrine system, and its outcome remains unsatisfactory. In recent years, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have emerged as crucial regulators in cancers. In the current study, we aimed to investigate whether and how circRNA_0057209 functioned in thyroid cancer. Initial results revealed that circRNA_0057209 and STK4 were both reduced, while miR-183 was up-regulated in thyroid cancer tissues and cells. Experiments including RNA pull-down and RIP assays further identified that upregulation of circRNA_0057209 augmented the expression of STK4, a target gene of miR-183, by competitively-binding to miR-183. Furthermore, functional experiments provided evidence that overexpression of circRNA_0057209 not only inhibited the proliferative, migratory, and invasive properties of thyroid cancer cells while facilitating their apoptosis but also delayed tumor growth. Conversely, upregulation of miR-183 or silencing of STK4 reversed the changes induced by circRNA_0057209. Meanwhile, mechanistic experimentation demonstrated that circRNA_0057209 promoted STK4 expression by sponging miR-183, while STK4 enhanced YAP phosphorylation to mediate the Hippo pathway, thereby suppressing tumor progression. Altogether, our findings indicated that circRNA_0057209 may serve as a competing endogenous RNA of miR-183 to increase STK4 expression, thus inhibiting the development of thyroid cancer.

MicroRNAs in Papillary Thyroid Cancer: What Is New in Diagnosis and Treatment

Introduction

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) accounts for up to 80% of thyroid malignancies. New diagnostic and therapeutic options are suggested including innovative molecular methods. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are nonprotein coding single-stranded RNAs that regulate many cell processes. The aim of the present study is to review the deregulated miRNAs associated with PTCs.

Methods

A bibliographic research was conducted, resulting in 272 articles referred to miRNAs and PTC. Regarding our exclusion criteria, 183 articles were finally included in our review.

Results

A remarkably large number of miRNAs have been found to be deregulated during PTC manifestation in the literature. The deregulated miRNAs are detected in tissue samples, serum/plasma, and FNA samples of patients with PTC. These miRNAs are related to several molecular pathways, involving genes and proteins responsible for important biological processes. MiRNA deregulation is associated with tumor aggressiveness, including larger tumor size, multifocality, extrathyroidal extension, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node and distant metastasis, and advanced tumor node metastasis stage.

Conclusion

MiRNAs are proposed as new diagnostic and therapeutic tools regarding PTC. They could be essential biomarkers for PTC diagnosis applied in serum and FNA samples, while their contribution to prognosis is of great importance.

Evaluation of Diagnostic Potential of Epigenetically Deregulated MiRNAs in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Background

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies among women worldwide. Early diagnosis of EOC could help in ovarian cancer management. MicroRNAs, a class of small non-coding RNA molecules, are known to be involved in post-transcriptional regulation of ~60% of human genes. Aberrantly expressed miRNAs associated with disease progression are confined in lipid or lipoprotein and secreted as extracellular miRNA in body fluid such as plasma, serum, and urine. MiRNAs are stably present in the circulation and recently have gained an importance to serve as a minimally invasive biomarker for early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Methods

Genome-wide methylation pattern of six EOC and two normal ovarian tissue samples revealed differential methylation regions of miRNA gene promoter through MeDIP-NGS sequencing. Based on log2FC and p-value, three hypomethylated miRNAs (miR-205, miR-200c, and miR-141) known to have a potential role in ovarian cancer progression were selected for expression analysis through qRT-PCR. The expression of selected miRNAs was analyzed in 115 tissue (85 EOC, 30 normal) and 65 matched serum (51 EOC and 14 normal) samples.

Results

All three miRNAs (miR-205, miR-200c, and miR-141) showed significantly higher expression in both tissue and serum cohorts when compared with normal controls (p < 0.0001). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of miR-205, miR-200c, and miR-141 has area under the curve (AUC) values of 87.6 (p < 0.0001), 78.2 (p < 0.0001), and 86.0 (p < 0.0001), respectively; in advance-stage serum samples, however, ROC has AUC values of 88.1 (p < 0.0001), 78.9 (p < 0.0001), and 86.7 (p < 0.0001), respectively, in early-stage serum samples. The combined diagnostic potential of the three miRNAs in advance-stage serum samples and early-stage serum samples has AUC values of 95.9 (95% CI: 0.925-1.012; sensitivity = 96.6% and specificity = 80.0%) and 98.1 (95% CI: 0.941-1.021; sensitivity = 90.5% and specificity = 100%), respectively.

Conclusion

Our data correlate the epigenetic deregulation of the miRNA genes with their expression. In addition, the miRNA panel (miR-205 + miR-200c + miR-141) has a much higher AUC, sensitivity, and specificity to predict EOC at an early stage in both tissue and serum samples.

Targeting the Hippo Pathway in Prostate Cancer: What's New?

Simple Summary

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the UK, accounting for the deaths of over 11,000 men per year. A major problem in this disease are tumours which no longer respond to available treatments. Understanding how this occurs will reveal new ways to treat these patients. In this review, the latest findings regarding a particular group of cellular factors which make up a signalling network called the Hippo pathway will be described. Accumulating evidence suggests that this network contributes to prostate cancer progression and resistance to current treatments. Identifying how this pathway can be targeted with drugs is a promising area of research to improve the treatment of prostate cancer.

Abstract

Identifying novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of prostate cancer (PC) remains a key area of research. With the emergence of resistance to androgen receptor (AR)-targeting therapies, other signalling pathways which crosstalk with AR signalling are important. Over recent years, evidence has accumulated for targeting the Hippo signalling pathway. Discovered in Drosophila melanogasta, the Hippo pathway plays a role in the regulation of organ size, proliferation, migration and invasion. In response to a variety of stimuli, including cell–cell contact, nutrients and stress, a kinase cascade is activated, which includes STK4/3 and LATS1/2 to inhibit the effector proteins YAP and its paralogue TAZ. Transcription by their partner transcription factors is inhibited by modulation of YAP/TAZ cellular localisation and protein turnover. Trnascriptional enhanced associate domain (TEAD) transcription factors are their classical transcriptional partner but other transcription factors, including the AR, have been shown to be modulated by YAP/TAZ. In PC, this pathway can be dysregulated by a number of mechanisms, making it attractive for therapeutic intervention. This review looks at each component of the pathway with a focus on findings from the last year and discusses what knowledge can be applied to the field of PC.

Targeting Yes1 Associated Transcriptional Regulator Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression and Improves Sensitivity to Sorafenib: An in vitro and in vivo Study

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Yes1 associated transcriptional regulator (YAP1) in the pathology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its potential as a therapeutic target.

Methods

YAP1 expression in HCC and adjacent tissues was determined via immunohistochemistry; in HCC and human normal liver cell lines, expression was examined via Western blotting. The effects of YAP1 knockdown and overexpression were detected following transfection of HCC cells with siRNA-YAP1 recombinants or pcDNA3.1-YAP1 plasmids. A tumor xenograft model was constructed by implanting YAP1-knockdown lentivirus-infected Hep-3B cells into nude mice, and the animals were treated with sorafenib.

Results

In patients with HCC, YAP1 was upregulated in tumor tissue compared with adjacent tissue, and its high expression in the tumor was associated with increased Edmonson grade. In vitro, YAP1 expression was increased in Hep-3B, SK-HEP-1 and Huh7 cells, while it was similar in SMMC-7721 cells and LO2 cells. Meanwhile, YAP1 increased cell proliferation and invasion, promoted the progression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and inhibited cell apoptosis in HCC cells; furthermore, YAP1 knockdown combined with the administration of sorafenib decreased cell viability and increased cell apoptosis compared with YAP1 knockdown or treatment with sorafenib alone. In vivo, YAP1 knockdown inhibited tumor growth and metastasis, whereas it promoted apoptosis; meanwhile, YAP1 knockdown synergized with sorafenib to suppress tumor progression in HCC mice.

Conclusion

YAP1 is upregulated in both HCC tumor tissues and cell lines. Moreover, it promotes cell proliferation and invasion and promoted the progression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in vitro. Furthermore, targeting YAP1 inhibits HCC progression and improves sensitivity to sorafenib in vitro and in vivo.

MicroRNA in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Systematic Review from 2018 to June 2020

Simple Summary

The most common form of endocrine cancer - papillary thyroid carcinoma, has an increasing incidence. Although this disease usually has an indolent behavior, there are cases when it can evolve more aggressively. It has been known for some time that it is possible to use microRNAs for the diagnosis, prognosis and even treatment monitoring of papillary thyroid cancer. The purpose of this study is to summarize the latest information provided by publications regarding the involvement of microRNAs in papillary thyroid cancer, underling the new clinical perspectives offered by these publications.

Abstract

The involvement of micro-ribonucleic acid (microRNAs) in metabolic pathways such as regulation, signal transduction, cell maintenance, and differentiation make them possible biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The purpose of this review is to summarize the information published in the last two and a half years about the involvement of microRNAs in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Another goal is to understand the perspective offered by the new findings. Main microRNA features such as origin, regulation, targeted genes, and metabolic pathways will be presented in this paper. We interrogated the PubMed database using several keywords: “microRNA” + “thyroid” + “papillary” + “carcinoma”. After applying search filters and inclusion criteria, a selection of 137 articles published between January 2018–June 2020 was made. Data regarding microRNA, metabolic pathways, gene/protein, and study utility were selected and included in the table and later discussed regarding the matter at hand. We found that most microRNAs regularly expressed in the normal thyroid gland are downregulated in PTC, indicating an important tumor-suppressor action by those microRNAs. Moreover, we showed that one gene can be targeted by several microRNAs and have nominally described these interactions. We have revealed which microRNAs can target several genes at once.

The role of microRNAs in the pathogenesis of thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer is the most frequent type of cancers originating from the endocrine system. Early diagnosis leads to good clinical outcome in differentiated types of thyroid cancer. Yet, there are few treatment options for patients with medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer. Thus, identification of molecular markers that explain the pathologic process during evolution of this cancer has practical significance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to influence the activity of thyroid cancer-related signaling pathways such as MAPK pathway and RET gene. These small transcripts not only can differentiate malignant tissues from non-malignant tissues, but also have differential expression in different stages of thyroid cancer. Assessment of serum levels of miRNAs is a practical noninvasive method for follow-up of patients after thyroidectomy. Moreover, the therapeutic effects of a number of miRNAs have been verified in xenograft models of thyroid cancer. In the current review, we summarize the data regarding the role of miRNAs in thyroid cancer.

microRNA-205 and microRNA-338-3p Reduces Cell Apoptosis in Prostate Carcinoma Tissue and LNCaP Prostate Carcinoma Cells by Directly Targeting the B-Cell Lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) Gene

Background

The inhibitor of apoptosis, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), is encoded by the BCL2 gene. Previous studies have shown that microRNAs are downregulated in prostate cancer. This study aimed to investigate the role of microRNA-205 and microRNA-338-3p and cell apoptosis in prostate carcinoma tissue and the LNCaP human prostate adenocarcinoma cell line by directly targeting the BCL2 gene and Bcl-2 protein expression.

Material/Methods

Bioinformatics methods predicted the target genes of miR-205 and miR-338-3p, which were validated by a luciferase assay. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect Bcl-2 protein expression in 30 samples of prostate carcinoma tissue and 30 matched samples of normal prostate. The normal prostate epithelial cell line, RWPE-1, and LNCaP human prostate adenocarcinoma cells studied in vitro. BCL2 mRNA expression and Bcl-2 protein expression were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. Cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry using annexin V, fluorescein isothiocyanate, and phycoerythrin (annexin V-FITC/PE).

Results

TargetScan Human 7.2 predicted that the structures of miR-205 and miR-338-3p had a binding site on the proto-oncogene, BCL2, which was verified by a luciferase assay. The expression of miR-205 and miR-338-3p were significantly downregulated in prostate carcinoma tissues and LNCaP cells when compared with normal controls. BCL2 expression was significantly inhibited by overexpression of miR-205 and miR-338-3p in LNCaP cells.

Conclusions

The results of this study showed that miR-205 and miR-338-3p downregulated the expression of the BCL2 gene and decreased apoptosis in prostate carcinoma.