Role of the CTRP family in tumor development and progression

Tumor-related factor complement Clq/TNF-related protein 6 affects the development of digestive system tumors through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway

In this editorial, we review the work of Razali et al published in World J Gastroenterology, with a particular focus on the effect of rs10889677 variation in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway and buparlisib on colitis-associated cancer. The role of PI3K in promoting cancer progression has been widely recognized, as it is involved in regulating the survival, differentiation, and proliferation of cancer cells. The complement Clq/TNF-related protein 6 (CTRP6) is a newer tumor-associated factor. Recent studies have revealed the pro-tumor effect of CTRP6 in gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and other gastrointestinal tumors through the PI3K pathway. This article attempts to reveal the mechanism through which the CTRP6 affects the development of digestive system tumors through the PI3K pathway by summarizing recent research.

Down regulation of C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein 6 is associated with increased risk of breast cancer

C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein 6 (CTRP6), a member of the C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein (CTRP) family, is reported to be associated with the progression of different malignancies, however, its expression levels and role in breast cancer (BC) are yet unknown. In this study, we investigated the levels of circulating CTRP6 in BC patients and evaluated its role as a potential diagnostic biomarker in BC patients. Then we investigated the effect of recombinant CTRP6 on cellular viability in MCF-7 cells along with its effects on the expression of inflammatory cytokines, interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in addition to the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as a marker of angiogenesis. Our results showed decreased expression of circulating CTRP6 in BC patients with an inverse correlation between CTRP6 and IL-6, TNF-α and VEGF levels. Besides, Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that the assessment of CTRP6 levels could be used to predict BC. Moreover, treatment of MCF-7 cells with recombinant CTRP6 protein reduced cellular viability and decreased IL-6, TNF-α and VEGF expression. In conclusion, these results provide new insights into the role of CTRP6 in BC pathogenesis and suggest its potential use as a novel diagnostic biomarker of BC.

Prediction of anticancer drug sensitivity using an interpretable model guided by deep learning

BACKGROUND

The prediction of drug sensitivity plays a crucial role in improving the therapeutic effect of drugs. However, testing the effectiveness of drugs is challenging due to the complex mechanism of drug reactions and the lack of interpretability in most machine learning and deep learning methods. Therefore, it is imperative to establish an interpretable model that receives various cell line and drug feature data to learn drug response mechanisms and achieve stable predictions between available datasets.

RESULTS

This study proposes a new and interpretable deep learning model, DrugGene, which integrates gene expression, gene mutation, gene copy number variation of cancer cells, and chemical characteristics of anticancer drugs to predict their sensitivity. This model comprises two different branches of neural networks, where the first involves a hierarchical structure of biological subsystems that uses the biological processes of human cells to form a visual neural network (VNN) and an interpretable deep neural network for human cancer cells. DrugGene receives genotype input from the cell line and detects changes in the subsystem states. We also employ a traditional artificial neural network (ANN) to capture the chemical structural features of drugs. DrugGene generates final drug response predictions by combining VNN and ANN and integrating their outputs into a fully connected layer. The experimental results using drug sensitivity data extracted from the Cancer Drug Sensitivity Genome Database and the Cancer Treatment Response Portal v2 reveal that the proposed model is better than existing prediction methods. Therefore, our model achieves higher accuracy, learns the reaction mechanisms between anticancer drugs and cell lines from various features, and interprets the model's predicted results.

CONCLUSIONS

Our method utilizes biological pathways to construct neural networks, which can use genotypes to monitor changes in the state of network subsystems, thereby interpreting the prediction results in the model and achieving satisfactory prediction accuracy. This will help explore new directions in cancer treatment. More available code resources can be downloaded for free from GitHub ( https://github.com/pangweixiong/DrugGene ).

The clinical role of combined circulating complement C1q and AIP for CAD with LDL-C level below 1.8mmol/L

BACKGROUND

In the past few years, circulating complement C1q involvement in atherosclerosis has garnered growing research interest in addition to the emerging recognition of the novel lipid marker named atherogenic index of plasma (AIP). Nevertheless, among patients experiencing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels less than 1.8mmol/L, the interplay between C1q combined with the AIP for coronary artery disease (CAD) is ambiguous.

METHODS

Patients were stratified into a non-CAD and CAD group according to their coronary angiography. The association between C1q in conjunction with the AIP and CAD was explored using restricted cubic spline analyses and logistic regression models. To assess how it predicted, a receiver operating characteristic analysis was undertaken.

RESULTS

A total of 7270 patients comprised 1476 non-CAD patients and 5794 patients diagnosed with CAD were analyzed. A comparison of the two groups showed that the C1q levels were notably higher compared to the CAD group, while AIP exhibited an inverse trend. Across quartiles of C1q, the AIP demonstrated a decline with increasing C1q levels, and significant differences were observed between the groups. A correlation analysis underscored a notable negative correlation between the two variables. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed significant associations between CAD and the C1q quartile groups/AIP. Furthermore, compared with the Q4 group, a decrease in the C1q levels corresponded to an escalation in CAD risk, with the odds ratio rising from 1.661 to 2.314.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, there appears to be a notable positive correlation between the combination of C1q with the AIP and CAD.

CTRP13 alleviates palmitic acid-induced inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis and endothelial cell dysfunction in HUVECs

C1q/tumor necrosis factor-related protein 13 (CTRP13) has been reported to participate in cardiovascular diseases. However, the role and molecular mechanism of CTRP13 in obesity-induced endothelial cell damage is still unclear. In palmitic acid (PA)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), qRT-PCR and western blot were used to examine CTRP13 expression. CCK-8 and TUNEL assays were adopted to assess cell viability and apoptosis, respectively. ROS level and MDA content were evaluated by their commercial kits and inflammatory cytokines were measured using ELISA. Endothelial cell dysfunction was evaluated by detecting NO production and eNOS expression, and tube formation assay was performed to assess angiogenesis. AMPK pathway-related proteins were detected by western blot. The results showed that CTRP13 was downregulated in PA-induced HUVECs. CTRP13 overexpression reduced PA-induced cell viability loss and oxidative stress in HUVECs. Moreover, CTRP13 overexpression suppressed PA-induced inflammation and apoptosis, improved angiogenesis ability, and alleviated endothelial cell dysfunction in HUVECs. In addition, CTRP13 overexpression activated AMPK pathway and regulated the expressions of downstream NOX1/p38 and KLF2. Furthermore, compound C countervailed the impacts of CTRP13 overexpression on cell viability, oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis and endothelial function in PA-induced HUVECs. To sum up, CTRP13 overexpression may alleviate PA-induced endothelial cell damage.

CTRP3 alleviates mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress injury in pathological cardiac hypertrophy by activating UPRmt via the SIRT1/ATF5 axis

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is an independent risk factor for heart failure. Disruption of mitochondrial protein homeostasis plays a key role in pathological cardiac hypertrophy; however, the mechanism of maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis in pathological cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the regulatory mechanisms of mitochondrial protein homeostasis in pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Wildtype (WT) mice, knockout mice, and mice transfected with lentivirus overexpressing mouse C1q-tumor necrosis factor-related protein-3 (CTRP3) underwent transverse aortic constriction or sham surgery. After 4 weeks, cardiac function, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress injury were examined. For mechanistic studies, neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were treated with small interfering RNA or overexpression plasmids for the relevant genes. CTRP3 overexpression attenuated transverse aortic constriction (TAC) induced pathological cardiac hypertrophy, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress injury compared to that in WT mice. TAC or Ang II resulted in compensatory activation of UPRmt, but this was not sufficient to counteract pathologic cardiac hypertrophy. CTRP3 overexpression further induced activation of UPRmt during pathologic cardiac hypertrophy and thereby alleviated pathologic cardiac hypertrophy, whereas CTRP3 knockout or knockdown inhibited UPRmt. ATF5 was a key regulatory molecule of UPRmt, as ATF5 knockout prevented the cardioprotective effect of CTRP3 in TAC mice. In vitro, SIRT1 was identified as a possible downstream CTRP3 effector molecule, and SIRT1 knockout blocked the cardioprotective effects of CTRP3. Our results also suggest that ATF5 may be regulated by SIRT1. Our study demonstrates that CTRP3 activates UPRmt via the SIRT1/ATF5 axis under pathological myocardial hypertrophy, thus attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress injury.

High C1QTNF1 expression mediated by potential ncRNAs is associated with poor prognosis and tumor immunity in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma

Background: Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) originates from proximal tubular cells and is the most common subtype of renal cell carcinoma. KIRC is characterized by changes in lipid metabolism, and obesity is a risk factor for it. C1q And TNF Related 1 (C1QTNF1), a novel adipokine and member of the C1q and TNF-related protein (CTRP) family, has been shown to affect the progression of various cancers. However, the role of C1QTNF1 in KIRC has not been studied. Methods: The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to analyze the expression of C1QTNF1 in KIRC tissues and normal tissues. The relationship between clinicopathological features and C1QTNF1 levels was also examined by logistic regression and the Wilcoxon rank sum test. In addition, the effect of C1QTNF1 on the prognosis of KIRC patients was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier (KM). The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used to analyze the potential signaling pathways and biological functions of differential genes. A nomogram was constructed to predict the prognosis of KIRC patients. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to determine the association between C1QTNF1 expression and immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint genes. The upstream miRNAs and lncRNAs of C1QTNF1 were predicted by the ENCORI online tool. Finally, we examined the proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities of KIRC cells after C1QTNF1 knockdown. Results: The expression of C1QTNF1 in KIRC tissues was significantly higher than in normal renal tissues. Patients with higher C1QTNF1 expression had a poor prognosis, a finding supported by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. C1QTNF1 expression was significantly correlated with TNM and pathologic stages, age, and gender (p < 0.05). The C1QTNF1 expression level was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint genes in KIRC. Additionally, high C1QTNF1 expression was associated with poor prognosis in stage I and II, T1 and T2, T3 and T4, N0, and M0 patients (HR > 1, p < 0.05). The calibration diagram shows that the C1QTNF1 model has effective predictive performance for the survival of KIRC patients. Knockdown of C1QTNF1 inhibited KIRC cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell invasion. In addition, CYTOR and AC040970.1/hsa-miR-27b-3p axis were identified as the most likely upstream ncRNA-related pathways of C1QTNF1 in KIRC. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study suggests that high expression of C1QTNF1 is associated with KIRC progression and immune infiltration. The increased expression of C1QTNF1 suggests a poor prognosis in KIRC patients.

Pleiotropy of C1QL proteins across physiological systems and their emerging role in synapse homeostasis

The C1q/TNF superfamily of proteins engages in a pleiotropy of physiological functions associated with various diseases. C1QL proteins demonstrate important protective and regulatory roles in the endocrine, immune, cardiovascular, and nervous systems in both human and rodent studies. Studies in the central nervous system (CNS), adipose, and muscle tissue reveal several C1QL protein and receptor pathways altering multiple cellular responses, including cell fusion, morphology, and adhesion. This review examines C1QL proteins across these systems, summarizing functional and disease associations and highlighting cellular responses based on in vitro and in vivo data, receptor interaction partners, and C1QL-associated protein signaling pathways. We highlight the functions of C1QL proteins in organizing CNS synapses, regulating synapse homeostasis, maintaining excitatory synapses, and mediating signaling and trans-synaptic connections. Yet, while these associations are known, present studies provide insufficient insight into the underlying molecular mechanism of their pleiotropy, including specific protein interactions and functional pathways. Thus, we suggest several areas for more in-depth and interdisciplinary hypothesis testing.

C1q/TNF-related protein 3 alleviates heart failure via attenuation of oxidative stress in myocardial infarction rats

C1q-tumor necrosis factor-related protein 3 (CTRP3), an adipokine, has been reported to be closely related to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the effect of CTRP3 on heart failure (HF) remains dimness. This study was to explore the role of CTRP3 in HF and its potential interaction mechanism. Heart failure model was established by inducing ischemia myocardial infarction (MI) through ligation of the left anterior descending artery in Sprague-Dawley rats. Four weeks later, the rats were detected by transthoracic echocardiography and masson staining. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels, creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and oxidative stress levels were recorded. The level of CTRP3 was reduced in the cardiomyocytes (CMs) treated with oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) and in the heart of MI rats. CTRP3 overexpression alleviated cardiac dysfunction, attenuated the cardiac fibrosis, and inhibited the increases of ANP, BNP, cTnI and CK-MB in the serum of MI rats. The increases of ANP and BNP in the CMs, and the collagen I and collagen III in the cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) induced by OGD were inhibited by CTRP3 overexpression. The enhancement of oxidative stress in the heart of MI rats was inhibited by CTRP3 overexpression. These results indicated that overexpression of CTRP3 could improve cardiac function and the related cardiac fibrosis in MI-induced HF rats via inhibition of oxidative stress. Upregulation of CTRP3 may be a strategy for HF therapy in the future.

Role of major adipokines in hypertension: A literature review

The incidence and prevalence of hypertension are increasing as a consequence of the obesity epidemic. Adipocytes and their variety of factors make contributions to the long-term regulation of blood pressure. The pathophysiologic states of hypertension, including obesity, are regulated by the production of adipocyte-derived factors. Increased body mass index was closely linked to elevated blood pressure. Mostly the hypertensive subjects were obese as well as overweight. There are numerous adipokines, however, this review article only focuses on the major adipokines including chemerin, visfatin, retinol-binding protein 4, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, omentin-1, lipocalin-2, vaspin, progranulin, complement c1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein, and nesfatin-1 role in the pathogenesis of hypertension. This review article concludes the significant association of major adipokines in the pathogenesis of hypertensives. New research should be focused on other newly reported adipokine roles in hypertensive subjects and the management of these adipokines in hypertensive subjects. The discovery of this information could result in the creation of antihypertensive medications, particularly those that focus on obesity-related hypertension.

In Silico Pan-Cancer Analysis Reveals Prognostic Role of the Erythroferrone (ERFE) Gene in Human Malignancies

The erythroferrone gene (ERFE), also termed CTRP15, belongs to the C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein (CTRP) family. Despite multiple reports about the involvement of CTRPs in cancer, the role of ERFE in cancer progression is largely unknown. We previously found that ERFE was upregulated in erythroid progenitors in myelodysplastic syndromes and strongly predicted overall survival. To understand the potential molecular interactions and identify cues for further functional investigation and the prognostic impact of ERFE in other malignancies, we performed a pan-cancer in silico analysis utilizing the Cancer Genome Atlas datasets. Our analysis shows that the ERFE mRNA is significantly overexpressed in 22 tumors and affects the prognosis in 11 cancer types. In certain tumors such as breast cancer and adrenocortical carcinoma, ERFE overexpression has been associated with the presence of oncogenic mutations and a higher tumor mutational burden. The expression of ERFE is co-regulated with the factors and pathways involved in cancer progression and metastasis, including activated pathways of the cell cycle, extracellular matrix/tumor microenvironment, G protein-coupled receptor, NOTCH, WNT, and PI3 kinase-AKT. Moreover, ERFE expression influences intratumoral immune cell infiltration. Conclusively, ERFE is aberrantly expressed in pan-cancer and can potentially function as a prognostic biomarker based on its putative functions during tumorigenesis and tumor development.

Deletion of large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels promotes vascular remodelling through the CTRP7-mediated PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

The large-conductance calcium-activated potassium (BK) channel is a critical regulator and potential therapeutic target of vascular tone and architecture, and abnormal expression or dysfunction of this channel is linked to many vascular diseases. Vascular remodelling is the early pathological basis of severe vascular diseases. Delaying the progression of vascular remodelling can reduce cardiovascular events, but the pathogenesis remains unclear. To clarify the role of BK channels in vascular remodelling, we use rats with BK channel α subunit knockout (BK α ^‒/‒). The results show that BK α ^‒/‒ rats have smaller inner and outer diameters, thickened aortic walls, increased fibrosis, and disordered elastic fibers of the aortas compared with WT rats. When the expression and function of BK α are inhibited in human umbilical arterial smooth muscle cells (HUASMCs), the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), MMP9, and interleukin-6 are enhanced, while the expressions of smooth muscle cell contractile phenotype proteins are reduced. RNA sequencing, bioinformatics analysis and qPCR verification show that C1q/tumor necrosis factor-related protein 7 ( CTRP7) is the downstream target gene. Furthermore, except for that of MMPs, a similar pattern of IL-6, smooth muscle cell contractile phenotype proteins expression trend is observed after CTRP7 knockdown. Moreover, knockdown of both BK α and CTRP7 in HUASMCs activates PI3K/Akt signaling. Additionally, CTRP7 is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), and BK α deficiency activates the PI3K/Akt pathway by reducing CTRP7 level. Therefore, we first show that BK channel deficiency leads to vascular remodelling. The BK channel and CTRP7 may serve as potential targets for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Advances in the functions of CTRP6 in the development and progression of the malignancy

CTRP6, a member of the C1q/TNF-related protein (CTRP) family, has gained increasing scientific interest because of its regulatory role in tumor progression. Previous studies have shown that CTRP6 is closely involved in regulating various pathophysiological processes, including glucose and lipid metabolism, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation. To date, CTRP6 has been identified as related to eight different malignancies, including lung cancer, oral cancer, gastric cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, bladder cancer, renal cancer, and ovarian cancer. CTRP6 is reported to be associated with tumor progression by activating a series of related signal networks. This review article mainly discusses the biochemistry and pleiotropic pathophysiological functions of CTRP6 as a new molecular mediator in carcinogenesis, hoping that the information summarized herein could make a modest contribution to the development of novel cancer treatments in the future.

CTRP1 Knockout Attenuates Tumor Progression in A549 and HCT116 Cancer Cells

Simple Summary

CTRP1 belongs to the C1q and TNF-related protein family, and we generated CTRP1 knockout cells to examine the role of CTRP1 in tumor progression. CTRP1 knockout attenuates cell growth, invasion and tumor growth in mice, suggesting that CTRP1 expression promotes tumor progression.

Abstract

C1q and TNF-related 1 (C1QTNF1/CTRP1) is an adiponectin-associated protein belonging to the C1q/TNF-related protein family. Recent studies have shown that the C1q and TNF-related protein (CTRP) family is involved in cancer progression; however, the specific role of CTRP1 in tumor progression has not yet been elucidated. To examine the role of CTRP1 in tumor progression, we generated CTRP1 knockout A549 and HCT116 cell lines, which reduced the expression levels of nuclear factor (NF)-κB-dependent and metastasis-promoting transcripts. We demonstrated that CTRP1 knockout inhibited the cell proliferation and invasion and tumor growth. Finally, database analysis showed that CTRP1 expression was upregulated in metastatic cancers and elevated levels of CTRP1 were associated with poor prognosis. These results suggest that CTRP1 expression contributes to NF-κB signaling and promotes tumor progression.

A tumor microenvironment gene set–Based prognostic signature for non-small-cell lung cancer

Background: The tumor microenvironment (TME) is involved in the development and progression of lung carcinomas. A deeper understanding of TME landscape would offer insight into prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets investigation. To this end, we aimed to identify the TME components of lung cancer and develop a prognostic signature to predict overall survival (OS).

Methods: Expression data was retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and differentially expressed TME-related genes were calculated between tumor and normal tissues. Then nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) clustering was used to identify two distinct subtypes.

Results: Our analysis yielded a gene panel consisting of seven TME-related genes as candidate signature set. With this panel, our model showed that the high-risk group experienced a shorter survival time. This model was further validated by an independent cohort with data from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database (GSE50081 and GSE13213). Additionally, we integrated the clinical factors and risk score to construct a nomogram for predicting prognosis. Our data suggested less immune cells infiltration but more fibroblasts were found in tumor tissues derived from patients at high-risk and those patients exhibited a worse immunotherapy response.

Conclusion: The signature set proposed in this work could be an effective model for estimating OS in lung cancer patients. Hopefully analysis of the TME could have the potential to provide novel diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic opportunities.

Association of serum C1Q/TNF-related protein 4 levels with carotid atherosclerosis in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Carotid atherosclerosis (CAS) is a common manifestation of macroangiopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). C1Q/TNF-related protein 4 (CTRP4) was found to be involved in regulation of food intake behaviors and glucolipid metabolism, which were also key factors in the development of CAS. However, the relationship between serum CTRP4 and CAS in T2DM remains unclear.

METHODS

A total of 111 participants with T2DM were enrolled in the study and were divided into 2 groups (T2DM group and T2DM + CAS group) according to the result of carotid ultrasound examinations. Serum CTRP4 levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Trend χ² test and binary stepwise logistic regression were conducted to assess the association between serum CTRP4 and the risk of CAS in T2DM.

RESULTS

Serum CTRP4 concentrations in T2DM + CAS group were significantly lower compared with those in T2DM group [7.98 (5.53) vs. 11.29 (7.36) ng/ml, P < 0.01]. The risk of CAS in T2DM decreased with the increasing of CTRP4 quartiles (P for trend < 0.01). Binary stepwise logistic regression suggested that serum CTRP4 might be an independent influence factor for CAS in patients with T2DM (P < 0.01) and high concentrations of serum CTRP4 were related to low risk of CAS in T2DM.

CONCLUSIONS

The concentrations of serum CTRP4 are lower in T2DM patients with CAS compared to those without CAS. Serum CTRP4 levels are negatively related to the risk of CAS in T2DM.