Correlated non-nuclear COX2 and low HER2 expression confers a good prognosis in colorectal cancer

The prognostic value of COX-2 in predicting metastasis of patients with colorectal cancer: A systematic review and meta analysis

Introduction

COX-2 is overexpressed in colorectal tumour tissue relative to the healthy colonic mucosa, thus we investigated the prognostic significance of COX-2 in determining the metastasis of patients with colorectal cancer.

Methods

PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched using the following terms colorectal cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, colorectal carcinoma, Cyclooxygenase-2, and prognosis to identify articles providing information on the prognostic importance of COX-2 in adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Review papers, non-research letters, comments, case reports, animal studies, original research with sample sizes of fewer than 20, case reports and series, non-English language articles, and pediatric studies (those under the age of 17) were excluded. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess the credibility of the included studies. The full texts were evaluated and this study complied with the terms of the local protocol and the Helsinki Declaration.

Results

Eight relevant studies were included in this review involving 937 patients. The meta-analysis revealed that COX-2 expression is associated with lymph node invasion (RR 1.85 [1.21, 2.83], P = 0.005, I2 = 88 %) and liver metastasis (RR 4.90 [1.12, 21.57], P = 0.04, I2 = 42 %), but not with venous dissemination (RR 1.48 [0.72, 3.03], P = 0.28, I2 = 87 %).

Conclusion

COX-2 expression is associated with lymph node invasion in colorectal cancer but further studies are required to determine the prognostic significance of COX-2 expression in determining metastasis status for colorectal cancer patients.

Detection of COX-2 in liquid biopsy of patients with prostate cancer

AIMS

To determine the profile of COX-2 gene expression in patients with prostate cancer attended at the ABC University Health Center outpatient clinic and correlate the results with patients' anatomopathological examinations. Prostate cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer worldwide and the second in Brazil. COX-2 expression is associated with an unfavourable prognosis.

METHODS

15.0 mL of peripheral blood were collected from 24 patients and 25 healthy men. RNA extraction was performed using the QIAamp RNA Blood Mini Kit. Complementary DNA synthesis was performed using SuperScript II RNAse Reverse Transcriptase. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed with specific COX-2 oligonucleotides and the endogenous GAPDH gene.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 69 years old. The Gleason scoring system showed 37.5% of patients with Gleason 6 (slow growth, low risk), 45.8% with Gleason 7 (intermediate risk) and 16.7% with Gleason 8 or 9 (risk of high-grade cancer). The median COX-2 expression in the study group was 0.97, while in the control group it was 0.11 (p<0.045).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with prostate cancer showed higher COX-2 expression at diagnosis compared with the control group. Since COX-2 detection associated with prostate-specific antigen dosage shows promise as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis in patients with prostate cancer, further research is required to confirm these findings.

Precision Medicine in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Targeting ERBB2 (HER-2) Oncogene

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in terms of incidence rate in adults and the second most common cause of cancer-related death in Europe. The treatment of metastatic CRC (mCRC) is based on the use of chemotherapy, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) for RAS wild-type tumors. Precision medicine tries to identify molecular alterations that could be treated with targeted therapies. ERBB2 amplification (also known as HER-2) has been identified in 2-3% of patients with mCRC, but there are currently no approved ERBB2-targeted therapies for mCRC. The purpose of this review is to describe the molecular structure of ERBB2, clinical features of these patients, diagnosis of ERBB2 alterations, and the most relevant clinical trials with ERBB2-targeted therapies in mCRC.

PTGS2 Over-Expression: A Colorectal Carcinoma Initiator not an Invasive Factor

BACKGROUND

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) main product is Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) which cause mitogenesis and inflammation. COX-2 is the product of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) gene expression. COX-2 dysregulation can cause angiogenesis, differentiation, and promotion of cancer and its suppression related to control of the tumor's size, number, and cell shape. This study focused on the association of COX-2 expression with colorectal carcinoma (CRC) among Iranian patients on mRNA level and in the Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) colon and rectum RNAseq dataset, and its relation with pathological features.

METHODS

PTGS2 expression was assayed by quantitative-PCR method from 90 tissue samples collected from 45 participants. The control samples come from the non-tumor area of the same patients. The data analyzed based on ΔΔCq. The PTGS2-RNAseq data extracted and analyzed by UCSC Xena browser, and its association assessed the occurrence of CRC and invasive-features.

RESULTS

PTGS2 showed very significant over-expression in tumor tissues (p< 0.0001) with an N-fold expression of 2.25. But, there was not any significant association between PTGS2 and CRC invasive-pathological features such as Lymphatic, vascular and perineural invasion, the Grades of cancer, and Pathologic-M in both parts of this study.

CONCLUSION

The increase in PTGS2 is related to the occurrence of CRC among patient samples. But in both part of this study, PTGS2 is not an invasive factor, and it does not affect the cell differentiation of tumors and metastasis. Based on the high N-fold for patient samples, it can be a strong candidate as a CRC initiator biomarker.

RNA sequencing: new technologies and applications in cancer research

Over the past few decades, RNA sequencing has significantly progressed, becoming a paramount approach for transcriptome profiling. The revolution from bulk RNA sequencing to single-molecular, single-cell and spatial transcriptome approaches has enabled increasingly accurate, individual cell resolution incorporated with spatial information. Cancer, a major malignant and heterogeneous lethal disease, remains an enormous challenge in medical research and clinical treatment. As a vital tool, RNA sequencing has been utilized in many aspects of cancer research and therapy, including biomarker discovery and characterization of cancer heterogeneity and evolution, drug resistance, cancer immune microenvironment and immunotherapy, cancer neoantigens and so on. In this review, the latest studies on RNA sequencing technology and their applications in cancer are summarized, and future challenges and opportunities for RNA sequencing technology in cancer applications are discussed.

Modulation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor inhibits esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression by repressing COX2/PGE2/STAT3 axis

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors with poor prognosis. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor and emerging evidence shows it is associated with tumor initiation and promotion. However, the relationship between AHR and ESCC is not clear and it is meaningful to explore whether AHR could be a therapeutic target. In the present study, immunohistochemistry was performed to determine AHR expression levels in ESCC tissues. Knockdown of AHR expression in ESCC cell lines genetically and modulation of AHR by 3, 3'-diindolylmethane (DIM) pharmacologically both in vitro and in vivo were utilized to examine the corresponding alterations in cell growth, migration and invasion. Our study indicated that AHR expression levels were elevated in ESCC and associated with poor prognosis. Both knockdown and modulation of AHR inhibited tumor progression through down-regulating expression levels of PCNA, Bcl-2, Cyclin D1, MMP1, MMP2, MMP9 and up-regulating expression levels of Bax, Cleaved-Caspase 3. Our findings also indicated that repressing COX2/PGE₂/STAT3 axis exerted inhibitory effects on ESCC both in vitro and in vivo assays. Taken together, AHR plays the key role in ESCC progression and targeting AHR as a therapeutic strategy with DIM is deserved for further exploration.