Crosstalk between the Notch signaling pathway and non-coding RNAs in gastrointestinal cancers

A novel risk score model based on five angiogenesis-related long non-coding RNAs for bladder urothelial carcinoma

Background

Tumour angiogenesis is an independent risk factor for bladder urothelial carcinoma (BUC) progression, but viable and promising antiangiogenic targets are understudied. Emerging evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play prominent role in the tumour microenvironment and tumour angiogenesis.

Methods

The clinical data of BUC patients were obtained from TCGA database and clinical specimens of 138 BUC patients. Univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses were used to identify survival-related ARLNRs (sARLNRs) from The Molecular Signatures Database v4.0. Fisher’s exact probability method was used to detect the correlations between sARLNRs levels and clinicopathological characteristics. A chain of experiments including FACS, qPCR, immunohistochemistry, tube formation, migration and invasion assays, combining with co-culture models, were utilized to validate the clinical significance and angiogenetic correlation of sARLNRs.

Results

Five sARLNRs were employed to establish an angiogenesis-related risk score model, by which patients in the low-risk group obtained better overall survival than those in the high-risk group. The expression of AC005625.1 and AC008760.1 was significantly related to ECs percentage, tumour size and muscle invasion status. Besides, AC005625.1 and AC008760.1 expressed lower in BUC cell lines and tumour tissues than that in normal urothelial cells and adjacent normal tissues, with much lower levels in more advanced T stages. A prominently higher proportion of ECs was detected in tumour tissues with lower expression of AC005625.1 and AC008760.1. In the co-culture models, we found that knockdown of AC005625.1 and AC008760.1 in BUC cells increased the tube formation, migration and invasion abilities of HUVEC. The expression levels of CD31, VEGF-A, VIMENTIN and N-CADHERIN were also enhanced in HUVEC cells co-cultured with siR-AC005625.1 and siR-AC008760.1-treated T24 cells.

Conclusion

In the study, we identify five sARLNRs and validate their clinical significance, angiogenesis correlation and prognosis-predictive values in BUC. These findings may provide a new perspective and some promising antiangiogenic targets for clinical diagnosis and treatment strategies of BUC.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-022-02575-1.

Changes in NOTCH1 gene and its regulatory circRNA, hsa_circ_0005986 expression pattern in human gastric adenocarcinoma and human normal fibroblast cell line following the exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic field

The effect of an extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELF-MFs) on the expression levels of NOTCH1 and its regulatory circular RNA (circ-RNA) in gastric cancer has not yet investigated. This study aimed to find the expression changes of NOTCH1 and its regulatory circ-RNA, hsa_circ_0005986, in human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line (AGS) and human normal fibroblast (Hu02) cells fallowing the exposure to discontinuously magnetic flux densities (MFDs) of 0.25, 0.5 ,1 and 2 millitesla (mT) for 18h in comparison to unexposed cells. In addition, the effect of various MFDs on viability of tumor and normal cells was investigated. The cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay. The relative expression of NOTCH1and hsa_circ_0005986 mRNAs was analyzed by quantitative Real-time PCR. The viability of tumor cells was decreased under the exposure of MFs, while the normal cells viability was increased. NOTCH1 was significantly down-regulated in AGS cells and up-regulated in Hu02 cells at all MFDs. The expression changes of NOTCH1 in tumor and  normal cells was depended to the MFD of MFs. According to our results, the tumor and normal cells show different behavior at the molecular level in various MFDs in terms of NOTCH1 and hsa_circ_0005986 expression level. Decrease in tumor cell survival following the exposure to ELF-MFs may be the result of decreased in the expression level of NOTCH1 and its Reg-circ-RNA. These magnetic field-reducing effects on cancer cell survival through the change on the expression of genes involved in the proliferation and progression of cancer can be a new key in cancer treatment.

Interaction of Long Noncoding RNAs and Notch Signaling: Implications for Tissue Homeostasis Loss

The Notch signaling is a crucial pathway involved in cellular development, progression, and differentiation. Deregulation of Notch signaling pathway commonly impacts tissue homeostasis, being highly associated with proliferative disorders. The long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are transcripts with more than 200 nucleotides that do not code for proteins, were already described as Notch signaling pathway-interacting molecules. Many of them act as important transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulators, affecting gene expression and targeting other regulatory molecules, such as miRNAs. Due to their strong impact on function and gene expression of Notch-related molecules, lncRNAs influence susceptibility to cancer and other diseases, and can be regarded as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Along this chapter, we summarize the cross talk between the Notch signaling pathway and their most important modulating lncRNAs, as well as the pathological consequences of these interactions, in different tissues.