TNNT2 as a potential biomarker for the progression and prognosis of colorectal cancer

Cancer survivorship at heart: a multidisciplinary cardio-oncology roadmap for healthcare professionals

In cancer, a patient is considered a survivor from the time of initial diagnosis until the end of life. With improvements in early diagnosis and treatment, the number of cancer survivors (CS) has grown considerably and includes: (1) Patients cured and free from cancer who may be at risk of late-onset cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity (CTR-CVT); (2) Patients with long-term control of not-curable cancers in whom CTR-CVT may need to be addressed. This paper highlights the importance of the cancer care continuum, of a patient-centered approach and of a prevention-oriented policy. The ultimate goal is a personalized care of CS, achievable only through a multidisciplinary-guided survivorship care plan, one that replaces the fragmented management of current healthcare systems. Collaboration between oncologists and cardiologists is the pillar of a framework in which primary care providers and other specialists must be engaged and in which familial, social and environmental factors are also taken into account.

Cardiac tropoini T (TNNT2) plays a potential oncogenic role in colorectal carcinogenesis

PURPOSE

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of TNNT2 in the proliferation, migration and invasion of CRC cells and its expression in CRC tissues to better understand the regulatory role of TNNT2 in CRC.

METHODS

Western blotting (WB) and qPCR were used to detect the expression of TNNT2 in colorectal cancer tissues and paracancerous tissues. CCK-8, colony formation, Transwell and other experiments were used to clarify the role of TNNT2 in the proliferation, migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells. Changes in TNNT2, EGFR and HER2 mRNA transcription levels were detected by SYBR Real-Time PCR assay, and the effects of TNNT2 overexpression or knockdown on the expression of EGFR, HER2 and EMT-related proteins in CRC cells were determined by WB. TNNT2 and EGFR intreaction was carried out in HCT116 cells by coimmunoprecipitation experiments.

RESULTS

The protein and mRNA expression level of TNNT2 in CRC tissues were higher than those in paracancerous tissues. The CCK-8 results suggested that overexpression of TNNT2 significantly promoted the proliferation of HCT116 and RKO cells, and TNNT2 konckdown gets the opposite result; and the colony formation results were the same as tthose of CCK-8 assay. Transwell invasion and migration experiments showed that overexpression of TNNT2 promoted the migration and invasion of HCT116 and PKO cells, and TNNT2 konckdown suppressed the migration and invasion of the these cells. The SYBR Green I real-time PCR method revealed that them RNA levels of TNNT2, EGFR and HER2 in the TNNT2 overexpression group were higher than those in RKO cells. WB showed that overexpressing TNNT2 increased the expression of EGFR and HER2 in HCT16 and RKO cells,decreased the expression of EMT marker E-cadherin, and increased the expression of Vimentin and N-cadherin. Konckdown of TNNT2 decreased the expression of EGFR and HER2, increased the expression of E-cadherin, and decreased the expression of Vimentin and N-cadherin in HCT16 and RKO cells. The immunocoprecipitation experiment showed that there was an interaction between EGFR and TNNT2.

CONCLUSION

TNNT2 can promote the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. There is an interaction between TNNT2 and EGFR protein. TNNT2 can upregulate EGFR and HER2-related proteins in colorectal cancer cells and promote the occurrence of EMT. Therefore, TNNT2 can promote the invasion and metastasis of CRC cells through the EGFR/HER2/EMT signal axis, suggesting that TNNT2 is a potential target of CRC treatment.

Slow skeletal muscle troponin T acts as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma

Slow skeletal muscle troponin T (TNNT1) as a poor prognostic indicator is upregulated in colon and breast cancers. However, the role of TNNT1 in the disease prognosis and biological functions of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR), immunoblot, and immunohistochemical analyses were applied to evaluate the TNNT1 expression of human HCC. The impact of TNNT1 levels on disease progression and survival outcome was studied using TCGA analysis. Moreover, the bioinformatics analysis and HCC cell culture were used to investigate the biological functions of TNNT1. Besides, the immunoblot analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to detect the extracellular TNNT1 of HCC cells and circulating TNNT1 of HCC patients, respectively. The effect of TNNT1 neutralization on oncogenic behaviors and signaling was further validated in the cultured hepatoma cells. In this study, tumoral and blood TNNT1 was upregulated in HCC patients based on the analyses using bioinformatics, fresh tissues, paraffin sections, and serum. From the multiple bioinformatics tools, the TNNT1 overexpression was associated with advanced stage, high grade, metastasis, vascular invasion, recurrence, and poor survival outcome in HCC patients. By the cell culture and TCGA analyses, TNNT1 expression and release were positively correlated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes in HCC tissues and cells. Moreover, TNNT1 neutralization suppressed oncogenic behaviors and EMT in hepatoma cells. In conclusion, TNNT1 may serve as a non-invasive biomarker and drug target for HCC management. This research finding may provide a new insight for HCC diagnosis and treatment.

Aberrant Expression of Cardiac Troponin-T in Lung Cancer Tissues in Association With Pathological Severity

Background

Cardiac troponin-T (TNNT2) is exclusively present in cardiac muscle. Measurement of TNNT2 is used for diagnosing acute coronary syndrome. However, its expression may not be limited in myocardium. This study aimed at evaluating the expression of TNNT2 in neoplastic tissues.

Methods and Results

We used paraffin-embedded blocks of 68 patients with lung cancer (age, 68 ± 11 years old; early-stage, 33; advance-stage, 35) at Miyazaki University Hospital, Japan between January 1, 2017, and March 31, 2019. We stained the slide sections with primary monoclonal antibody against TNNT2 protein, and assessed the frequency of positive staining, and its association with pathological severity. In addition, we examined whether TNNT2 gene is detected in lung cancer tissues of four patients using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Immunoreactivity for TNNT2 protein was present in the cytoplasm and nucleus of lung cancer cells. The frequency was 37% (25 of 68) in all patients and was irrespective of histologic type (six of 13, squamous cell carcinoma; 18 of 50, adenocarcinoma; 0 of 4, neuroendocrine cell carcinoma; 1 of 1, large cell carcinoma). The prevalence increased with pathological staging [9% (3 of 33) at early-stage (Stage 0–I); 63% (22 of 35) at advance-stage (Stage II–IV and recurrence)]. In addition, frequency of positive staining for TNNT2 increased with pleural (χ² = 5.877, P = 0.015) and vascular (χ² = 2.449, P = 0.118) invasions but decreased with lymphatic invasion (χ² = 3.288, P = 0.070) in specimens performed surgical resection. Furthermore, TNNT2 mRNA was detected in the resected squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma tissues.

Conclusions

Our data suggest the aberrant expression of TNNT2 in lung cancer and its prevalence increases with pathological severity.