The four‑microRNA signature identified by bioinformatics analysis predicts the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Uncovering the ceRNA network and DNA methylation associated with gene expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to uncover abnormally expressed genes regulated by competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) and DNA methylation nasopharyngeal carcinoma and to validate the role of lncRNAs in the ceRNA network on nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression.

METHODS

Based on the GSE64634 (mRNA), GSE32960 (miRNA), GSE95166 (lncRNA), and GSE126683 (lncRNA) datasets, we screened differentially expressed mRNAs, miRNAs and lncRNAs in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A ceRNA network was subsequently constructed. Differentially methylated genes were screened using the GSE62336 dataset. The abnormally expressed genes regulated by both the ceRNA network and DNA methylation were identified. In the ceRNA network, the expression of RP11-545G3.1 lncRNA was validated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and cells by RT-qPCR. After a knockdown of RP11-545G3.1, the viability, migration, and invasion of CNE-2 and NP69 cells was assessed by CCK-8, wound healing and Transwell assays.

RESULTS

This study identified abnormally expressed mRNAs, miRNAs and lncRNAs in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues. A ceRNA network was constructed, which contained three lncRNAs, 15 miRNAs and 129 mRNAs. Among the nodes in the PPI network based on the mRNAs in the ceRNA network, HMGA1 was assessed in relation to the overall and disease-free survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. We screened two up-regulated genes regulated by the ceRNA network and hypomethylation and 26 down-regulated genes regulated by the ceRNA network and hypermethylation. RP11-545G3.1 was highly expressed in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and cells. Moreover, the knockdown of RP11-545G3.1 reduced the viability, migration, and invasion of CNE-2 and NP69 cells.

CONCLUSION

Our findings uncovered the epigenetic regulation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and identified the implications of RP11-545G3.1 on the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Promising Biomarkers in Head and Neck Cancer: The Most Clinically Important miRNAs

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) comprise a heterogeneous group of tumors that extend from the oral cavity to the upper gastrointestinal tract. The principal etiologic factors for oral tumors include tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, while human papillomavirus (HPV) infections have been accused of a high incidence of pharyngeal tumors. Accordingly, HPV detection has been extensively used to categorize carcinomas of the head and neck. The diverse nature of HNC highlights the necessity for novel, sensitive, and precise biomarkers for the prompt diagnosis of the disease, its successful monitoring, and the timely prognosis of patient clinical outcomes. In this context, the identification of certain microRNAs (miRNAs) and/or the detection of alterations in their expression patterns, in a variety of somatic fluids and tissues, could serve as valuable biomarkers for precision oncology. In the present review, we summarize some of the most frequently studied miRNAs (including miR-21, -375, -99, -34a, -200, -31, -125a/b, -196a/b, -9, -181a, -155, -146a, -23a, -16, -29, and let-7), their role as biomarkers, and their implication in HNC pathogenesis. Moreover, we designate the potential of given miRNAs and miRNA signatures as novel diagnostic and prognostic tools for successful patient stratification. Finally, we discuss the currently ongoing clinical trials that aim to identify the diagnostic, prognostic, or therapeutic utility of miRNAs in HNC.

Relationship of PI3K-Akt/mTOR/AMPK signaling pathway genetic mutation with efficacy and prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

OBJECTIVES

Genetic mutation is one of the important causes for tumor genesis and development, but genetic mutation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has rarely been reported. This study explored the role of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase-protein kinase B (PI3K-Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway in the efficacy and prognosis in patients with NPC.

METHODS

A total of 31 patients with advanced NPC, who came from the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine of Central South University/Hunan Provincial Cancer Hospital, were enrolled. All of the exons of 288 genes, introns of 38 genes and promoters or fusion breakpoint regions from the nasopharyngeal biopsy tissues before treatment were detected by the gene sequencing platform Illumina NextSeq CN500. The coding regions of 728 genes were carried out a high-depth sequencing of target region capture, and the 4 variant types of tumor genes (including point mutations, insertion deletions of small fragments, copy number variations, and currently known fusion genes) were detected. All of 31 patients received platinum-based induction chemotherapy combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy and were followed up for a long time.

RESULTS

The 3-year regional failure-free survival (RFFS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with PI3K-Akt pathway mutation were significantly lower than those in unmutated patients (χ2=6.647, P<0.05). The 3-year RFFS and DFS in patients with mTOR pathway mutations were significantly lower than those in unmutated patients, and there was significant difference (χ2=5.570, P<0.05). The rate of complete response (CR) in patients with unmutated AMPK pathway was significantly higher than that in patients with mutation at 3 months after treatment (P<0.05), and the 3-year RFFS and DFS in patients with AMPK pathway mutation were significantly lower than those in unmutated patients (χ2=4.553, P<0.05). PI3K-Akt/mTOR/AMPK signaling pathway mutations and pre-treatment EB virus DNA copy numbers were independent prognostic factors for 3-year RFFS and DFS in patients with NPC (both P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The NPC patients with PI3K-Akt/mTOR/AMPK signaling pathway mutation have poor prognosis, and the detection of PI3K-Akt, mTOR, AMPK driver genes and signaling pathways by next-generation sequencing is expected to provide new idea for basic research and targeted therapy of NPC.

Identification of a 3-miRNA Signature Associated With the Prediction of Prognosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor caused by an infection of the epithelial cells of the nasopharynx, which is highly metastatic and aggressive. Due to the deep anatomical site and atypical early symptoms, the majority of NPC patients are diagnosed at terminal stages. There is growing evidence that microRNAs offer options for early detection, accurate diagnosis, and prediction of malignancy treatment response. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to identify microRNAs that predict the prognosis of patients with NPC by integrating biological information analysis. In this study, we utilized the GSE36682 dataset rooted in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data bank, including 62 cases of NPC tissues and six cases of non-cancerous tissues. The miRNAs were subjected to weighted gene co-expression network analysis, and hub miRNAs were screened for differentially upregulated miRNAs from modules highly correlated with tumor progression. We took a lot of time to calculate the risk scores of miRNA markers for 62 NPC patients, and incidentally combined the clinical survival information of patients to finally identify the three key miRNAs, and then divided the patients into low- and high-risk groups. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis revealed that the overall survival of patients in the high-risk group was obviously shorter than that of the low-risk group. Subsequently, the target genes of the three miRNAs were predicted and analyzed for functional enrichment. In summary, a prognostic predictive risk model based on three miRNA profiles may increase prognostic predictive value and provide reference information for the precise treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A novel three-microRNA signature for predicting survival in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant neoplasm of the head and neck. This study aims to use integrated bioinformatics technologies to develop a predictive miRNA-signature correlated with the prognosis of NPC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Initially, the differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in NPC were identified, and then DEMs related to the prognosis of NPC were further screened. Subsequently, the relatively important DEMs identified by random forest algorithm were used to construct a predictive signature by multivariate COX regression analysis. Moreover, PCA, Kaplan-Meier analysis, time-dependent ROC analysis, and univariate and multivariate COX regression analysis were performed to evaluate the ability of the signature in risk identification and prognosis prediction in NPC.

RESULTS

Hsa-miR-29c, hsa-miR-30e and hsa-miR-93 were selected from DEMs to construct a signature, and their abnormal expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis of NPC. The average AUC values of 1- to 5-year OS, DFS and DMFS predicted by the signature were all above 0.7, and showed better clinical independence than other indexes. In addition, 295 differentially expressed mRNAs could be used as potential target genes of the 3 DEMs. Among them, 56 differentially expressed mRNAs were related to PFS. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that the poor prognosis of NPC was related to the abnormality of chromosomes, cytokines, and chemokines.

CONCLUSION

We constructed a three-miRNA signature with good independent performance in predicting the prognosis for NPC. This study may lay the foundation for exploring new therapeutic targets and improving survival outcomes in NPC patients.

Multimodality Management of EBV-Associated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare cancer of the nasopharyngeal mucosa with a specific geographic predisposition. NPC is often associated with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection and as a result contains many characteristic biomarkers. Treatment of locally-contained NPC is generally achieved through use of radiotherapy (RT), as part of a multimodality treatment regimen. Induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent RT and platinum-based chemotherapy regimen has emerged as the definitive treatment of choice for locoregionally-advanced NPC. Recently, immunotherapy is finding a role in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic NPC. Immune checkpoint blockade therapies targeted against the programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor have demonstrated efficacy in early phase clinical trials, with ongoing phase III trials in effect. Biomarkers for treatment efficacy remain an ongoing area of investigation, with important prognostic implications on the horizon.

Exploration of a Novel Prognostic Risk Signature and Its Effect on the Immune Response in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly invasive and metastatic carcinoma with different molecular characteristics and clinical outcomes. In this work, we aimed to establish a novel gene signature that could predict the prognosis of NPC patients. A total of 13 significant genes between the recurrence/metastasis (RM) group and the no recurrence/metastasis (no-RM) group were identified by machine learning from RNA-Seq data including 60 NPC tumor biopsies. Based on these genes, a 4-mRNA signature (considering U2AF1L5, TMEM265, GLB1L and MLF1) was identified. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analyses indicated that this signature had good prognostic value for NPC. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of the patients in the high-risk group were significantly shorter than those of the patients in the low-risk group (p = 0.00126 and p = 0.000059, respectively). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of the 4-mRNA signature were higher than those of T stage and N stage for OS (0.893 vs 0.619 and 0.582, respectively) and PFS (0.86 vs 0.538 and 0.622, respectively). Furthermore, the 4-mRNA signature was closely associated with cell proliferation and the immune response. The expression of GLB1L and TMEM265 was associated with the level of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (r > 0.4, p < 0.05). We have validated the model through measuring the expression levels of the 4-mRNA signature by qRT-PCR, in an independent cohort of NPC patients. Here, we report a novel gene signature that can serve as a new tool for predicting the prognosis of NPC patients.

A Five-MicroRNA Signature Predicts the Prognosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Background

There is no effective prognostic signature that could predict the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods

We constructed a prognostic signature based on five microRNAs using random forest and Least Absolute Shrinkage And Selection Operator (LASSO) algorithm on the GSE32960 cohort (N = 213). We verified its prognostic value using three independent external validation cohorts (GSE36682, N = 62; GSE70970, N = 246; and TCGA-HNSC, N = 523). Through principal component analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, and C-index calculation, we confirmed the predictive accuracy of this prognostic signature.

Results

We calculated the risk score based on the LASSO algorithm and divided the patients into high- and low-risk groups according to the calculated optimal cutoff value. The patients in the high-risk group tended to have a worse prognosis outcome and chemotherapy response. The time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the 1-year overall survival rate of the five-microRNA signature had an area under the curve of more than 0.83. A functional annotation analysis of the five-microRNA signature showed that the patients in the high-risk group were usually accompanied by activation of DNA repair and MYC-target pathways, while the patients in the low-risk group had higher immune-related pathway signals.

Conclusions

We constructed a five-microRNA prognostic signature, which could accurately predict the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and constructed a nomogram that could conveniently predict the overall survival of patients.

A Clinical Update on the Prognostic Effect of microRNA Biomarkers for Survival Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Simple Summary

Current estimates by GLOBOCAN now incorporate NPC as a malignancy discrete from other head and neck malignancies among the 36 disease locales assessed. Based on the latest report, the global cancer burden is estimated to have risen to 19.3 million new cases, and 9.6 million malignancies were recorded in 2020 throughout the world. The study has clinical implications and could improve treatment decision-making and post-treatment care. The study could also motivate future clinical research and development in the arena of NPC prognostic biomarkers.ve men and one in every six women develops cancer during their lifetime, and one out of eight men and one in every 11 women progresses to chronic stage. The study has clinical implications and could improve treatment decision-making and post-treatment care. The study could also motivate future clinical research and development in the arena of NPC prognostic biomarkers.

Abstract

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a relatively uncommon malignancy in the Western world, is highly prevalent in Southeast Asia where the treatment outcomes are poor. Despite recent improvements in diagnosis and treatment locoregional control, distant metastasis and chemoresistance continue to be a significant cause of mortality. Identification of a reliable and comprehensive prognostic biomarker is highly desirable. The potential relevance of microRNAs (miRNAs) as prognostic markers in NPC is assessed in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A systematic review was performed using the PubMed and Science Direct databases. The search was limited to search results between 2018 and 2020 with the keywords and search strings developed as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The recovered articles were carefully screened based on the selection criteria. In the meta-analysis study, high and low expression levels of miRNAs were measured using the hazard ratio (HR) and 95 percent confidence interval (CI) for patients’ survival outcomes. Egger’s bias indicator test and funnel plot symmetry were used to assess the risk of bias. Results: Amongst the 25 studies, 13 fulfilled the conditions of inclusion in this meta-analysis. The researchers further delved into the 21 miRNA expression levels from 3015 NPC patients to ascertain a link between miRNA’s predictive role and survival outcomes. The majority of the articles retrieved during this study were from China, with two studies from Canada and Malaysia. The overall pooled effect size estimation (HR) for dysregulated miRNAs was 1.590 (95% CI: 1.253–2.017), displaying that miRNA marker expression increased the risk of mortality in NPC patients by 59%. Conclusions: This meta-analysis is novel and looks at the prognostic significance of miRNAs as biomarkers in NPC patients using a continuous version pooled meta-analysis. Although our findings are ambiguous, they do show that greater miRNA expression in NPC may be associated with a lower overall survival rate. To acquire clear conclusions, more prospective studies with large cohorts are required to determine the clinical utility of miRNAs as prognostic biomarkers.

Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis-Related Genes Affect the Development of Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Through PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the common malignant tumors in China, which occurs on the top and sidewalls of the nasopharyngeal cavity. The incidence of malignant tumors of the ear, nose and throat is the highest. However, little is known about the growth of the cells. Therefore, this study constructed a multi-regulator-driven NPC cell growth-related module, aiming to explore the mechanism of functional pathways regulating the proliferation of NPC cells in an all-round way. Firstly, differential expression analysis, co-expression analysis, enrichment analysis and connectivity analysis were synthesized to identify the intrinsic genes of expression disorder module. Subsequently, we analyzed the module by crosstalk, and observed the interaction between modules intuitively. Finally, based on hypergeometric test, the significance of multi-regulators on the regulation of potential modules is calculated. We obtained 17 cell growth-related expression disorder modules by 2148 gene modules focusing. These modules are mainly involved in the growth cycle of NPC cells, including cell proliferation, migration and apoptosis. At the same time, they mainly affect the proliferation and apoptosis of NPC cells through PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, NF-kappa B signaling pathway and Wnt signaling pathway. Based on the growth-related modules of NPC cells, we have obtained a series of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) including microRNA-92a-3p, microRNA-19a-3p and microRNA-130a-3p, play an important role in regulating the growth of NPC cells. Similarly, we also predicted transcription factors (involving E2F1, NFKB1, SP1, etc.) that may play a key role in cell growth-related modules. This study is based on cell growth-related expression disorder module to explore the regulatory role of its functional pathway on cell proliferation mechanism, which will help researchers to have a deeper understanding of the potential pathogenesis of NPC.

Y-Box Binding Protein 1 Regulates Angiogenesis in Bladder Cancer via miR-29b-3p-VEGFA Pathway

Angiogenesis plays a vital role in the development of bladder cancer (BC). The Y-box-binding protein 1 (YB-1) is a well-known oncoprotein which is closely related to angiogenesis of tumors, but the relationship and mechanism of YB-1 and angiogenesis in BC remain unclear. Based on 56 clinical BC specimens, this study found that high expression of YB-1 samples demonstrated a higher expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) than those of YB-1 low expression. Subsequently, the expression of YB-1 and miR-29b-3p was regulated in the BC cell lines where we noted that YB-1 promoted VEGFA expression by downregulating the expression of miR- 29b-3p. The ability of BC cells to induce angiogenesis decreased after YB-1 was knocked down. Moreover, the in vivo study further confirmed that YB-1 promotes angiogenesis in BC. Our findings enhance the understanding of how YB-1 promotes angiogenesis in BC and provide evidence for YB-1 as a therapeutic target of BC. Moreover, this may provide new inspiration for miRNAs replacement therapies.

Construction and validation of a novel prognostic signature of microRNAs in lung adenocarcinoma

MicroRNA (miRNA, miR) has been reported to be highly implicated in a wide range of biological processes in lung cancer (LC), and identification of differentially expressed miRNAs between normal and LC samples has been widely used in the discovery of prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and response to therapy. The present study was designed to develop and evaluate a miRNA-based signature with prognostic value for the OS of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), a common histologic subtype of LC. In brief, the miRNA expression profiles and clinicopathological factors of 499 LUAD patients were collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival analysis showed significant correlations between differentially expressed miRNAs and LUAD survival outcomes. Afterward, 1,000 resample LUAD training matrices based on the training set was applied to identify the potential prognostic miRNAs. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) cox regression analysis was used to constructed a six-miRNA based prognostic signature for LUAD patients. Samples with different risk scores displayed distinct OS in K-M analysis, indicating considerable predictive accuracy of this signature in both training and validation sets. Furthermore, time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated the nomogram achieved higher predictive accuracy than any other clinical variables after incorporating the clinical information (age, sex, stage, and recurrence). In the stratification analysis, the prognostic value of this classifier in LUAD patients was validated to be independent of other clinicopathological variables, such as age, gender, tumor recurrence, and early stage. Gene set annotation analyses were also conducted through the Hallmark gene set and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, indicating target genes of the six miRNAs were positively related to various molecular pathways of cancer, such as hallmark UV response, Wnt signaling pathway and mTOR signaling pathway. In addition, fresh cancer tissue samples and matched adjacent tissue samples from 12 LUAD patients were collected to verify the expression of miR-582's target genes in the model, further revealing the potential relationship between SOX9, RASA1, CEP55, MAP4K4 and LUAD tumorigenesis, and validating the predictive value of the model. Taken together, the present study identified a robust signature for the OS prediction of LUAD patients, which could potentially aid in the individualized selection of therapeutic approaches for LUAD patients.

Construction and Analysis of lncRNA-Mediated ceRNA Network in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Based on Weighted Correlation Network Analysis

Increasing evidence indicated that aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in tumorigenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The purpose of this study was to construct a lncRNA-mediated ceRNA network based on weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA). First, modules with highly correlated genes were identified from GSE102349 via WGCNA, and the preservation of the modules was evaluated by GSE68799. Then, the differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs identified from GSE12452 which belonged to the same WGCNA modules and the differentially expressed miRNAs identified from GSE32960 were used to construct a ceRNA network. The prognostic value of the network was evaluated by survival analysis. Furthermore, a risk score model for predicting progression-free survival (PFS) of NPC patients was established via LASSO-penalized Cox regression, and the differences in the expression of the lncRNAs between high- and low-risk groups were investigated. Finally, 14 stable modules were identified, and a ceRNA network composed of 11 lncRNAs, 15 miRNAs, and 40 mRNAs was established. The lncRNAs and mRNAs in the network belonged to the turquoise and salmon modules. Survival analysis indicated that ZNF667-AS1, LDHA, LMNB2, TPI1, UNG, and hsa-miR-142-3p were significantly correlated with the prognosis of NPC. Gene set enrichment analysis indicated that the upregulation of ZNF667-AS1 was associated with some immune-related pathways. Besides, a risk score model consisting of 12 genes was constructed and showed a good performance in predicting PFS for NPC patients. Among the 11 lncRNAs in the ceRNA network, SNHG16, SNHG17, and THAP9-AS1 were upregulated in the high-risk group of NPC, while ZNF667-AS1 was downregulated in the high-risk group of NPC. These results will promote our understanding of the crosstalk among lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs in the tumorigenesis and progression of NPC.

A novel microRNA-based signature predicts prognosis among nasopharyngeal cancer patients

IMPACT STATEMENT

Nasopharyngeal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the head and neck. Identification of promising miRNA biomarkers might benefit a lot to the detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A three-miRNA signature (has-miR-142-3p, has-miR-29c, and has-miR-30e) was obviously associated with the overall survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. The model has better clinical independence and has better clinical prediction effect when combined with clinical characteristics. Our results revealed that a three-miRNA signature was a potential novel prognostic biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

[BUB1 gene is highly expressed in gastric cancer:analysis based on Oncomine database and bioinformatics]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the expression of BUB1 gene in gastric cancer.

METHODS

Oncomine, GEPIA, BioGPS and Kaplan-Meier Plotter databases were used to analyze the difference of BUB1 gene expression between gastric cancer tissue and normal gastric tissue. The association of BUB1 expression level with the prognosis of gastric cancer patients was also analyzed. The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) was explored to analyze the expression of BUB1 in T cells and B cells in gastric cancer patients, and the String database was used to generate the network map of BUB1-related proteins and functional annotation of gene ontology (GO). The related pathways of KEGG were analyzed. Tumor immune assessment resource (TIMER) database was used to analyze the expression of BUB1 in immune infiltration and its effect on prognosis of gastric cancer patients. To further verify the results of gene chip analysis in Oncomine database, we collected 30 pairs of surgical specimens of gastric adenocarcinoma and adjacent tissues from patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College from March, 2018 to July, 2019. The results of BUB1 gene expression in Oncomine database were verified by PCR and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

Oncomine, GEPIA and BioGPS analyses showed that BUB1 was highly expressed in gastric cancer compared with normal gastric tissue. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the progression-free survival time (HR=0.52, 95% CI:0.41-0.67, P &lt; 0.05) and the overall survival time (HR=0.67, 95% CI:0.55-0.82, P &lt; 0.05) were prolonged in gastric cancer patients with a high expression of BUB1. Through String data collection, BUB1-related proteins were mainly enriched in 13 cellular components, 4 molecular functions and 12 biological processes, involving 4 signal pathways. TIMER database analysis showed that CD4⁺ T cells and macrophages with high expressions of BUB1 mRNA in the immune microenvironment were associated with a favorable 5-year survival outcome of patients with gastric cancer. In the surgical specimens, real-time quantitative PCR showed that the expression level of BUB1 mRNA was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in the adjacent gastric mucosa tissues, and immunohistochemical results demonstrated positive BUB1 staining in the gastric cancer tissues.

CONCLUSIONS

BUB1 gene is highly expressed in gastric cancer. BUB1 may reduce tumor immunosuppression and helps to evaluate the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.

RNA-Based Therapeutics: From Antisense Oligonucleotides to miRNAs

The first therapeutic nucleic acid, a DNA oligonucleotide, was approved for clinical use in 1998. Twenty years later, in 2018, the first therapeutic RNA-based oligonucleotide was United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved. This promises to be a rapidly expanding market, as many emerging biopharmaceutical companies are developing RNA interference (RNAi)-based, and RNA-based antisense oligonucleotide therapies. However, miRNA therapeutics are noticeably absent. miRNAs are regulatory RNAs that regulate gene expression. In disease states, the expression of many miRNAs is measurably altered. The potential of miRNAs as therapies and therapeutic targets has long been discussed and in the context of a wide variety of infections and diseases. Despite the great number of studies identifying miRNAs as potential therapeutic targets, only a handful of miRNA-targeting drugs (mimics or inhibitors) have entered clinical trials. In this review, we will discuss whether the investment in finding potential miRNA therapeutic targets has yielded feasible and practicable results, the benefits and obstacles of miRNAs as therapeutic targets, and the potential future of the field.