miRNA-mediated GALNT modulation of invasion and immune suppression: A sweet deal for metastatic cells

Genetic analysis of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets associated with ferroptosis from bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Ferroptosis is a recently identified form of cell death that is distinct from the conventional modes such as necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy. Its role in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains inadequately understood. To address this gap, we obtained BPD-related RNA-seq data and ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) from the GEO database and FerrDb, respectively. A total of 171 BPD-related differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes (DE-FRGs) linked to the regulation of autophagy and immune response were identified. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and SVM-RFE algorithms identified 23 and 14 genes, respectively, as marker genes. The intersection of these 2 sets yielded 9 genes (ALOX12B, NR1D1, LGMN, IFNA21, MEG3, AKR1C1, CA9, ABCC5, and GALNT14) with acceptable diagnostic capacity. The results of the functional enrichment analysis indicated that these identified marker genes may be involved in the pathogenesis of BPD through the regulation of immune response, cell cycle, and BPD-related pathways. Additionally, we identified 29 drugs that target 5 of the marker genes, which could have potential therapeutic implications. The ceRNA network we constructed revealed a complex regulatory network based on the marker genes, further highlighting their potential roles in BPD. Our findings offer diagnostic potential and insight into the mechanism underlying BPD. Further research is needed to assess its clinical utility.

Analysis of exosome-derived microRNAs reveals insights of intercellular communication during invasion of breast, prostate and glioblastoma cancer cells

MiRNAs represent a mechanism that regulates gene expression in many pathological conditions. Exosomes are known to be secreted from all types of cells, and the exosomes-released molecules are crucial messengers that can regulate cellular processes. We investigated the miRNAs content of exosomes released by cancer cells during the invasion . An invasion stimulus has been generated through scratches created on the confluent cells of cancer cell lines: glioblastoma, breast and prostate cancers.Several miRNAs were found to be significantly differentially abundant during the cell invasion , both in common among different cell lines and exclusive. Understanding the language codes among cells involved in invasion can lead to the development of therapies that can inhibit cellular communication, slowing or eventually stopping their activity.

miR-30b-5p inhibits proliferation, invasion, and migration of papillary thyroid cancer by targeting GALNT7 via the EGFR/PI3K/AKT pathway

Background

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is a common endocrine tumor. Increasing evidence has shown that microRNA dysfunction is involved in the occurrence and development of cancer. The expression of MicroRNA-30b-5p (miR-30b-5p) was down-regulated in PTC; however, its role in the development of PTC is not clear. Hence, this study aimed to explore the role and mechanism of miR-30b-5p in the occurrence and development of PTC.

Methods

The qRT-PCR assay was used to detect the expression of miR-30b-5p in 60 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma along with their matched non-cancerous tissues. This study explored the biological function of miR-30b-5p by the functional gain and loss experiments in vitro and vivo. The direct target gene of miR-30b-5p and its signaling pathway was identified through bioinformatics analysis, qRT-PCR, western blot, rescue experiments, and double luciferase 3'-UTR report analysis.

Results

This study demonstrated that the low expression of miR-30b-5p is related to poor clinicopathological features. Functionally, the overexpression of miR-30b-5p inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and migration of PTC cells. Bioinformatics and luciferase analysis showed that GALNT7 is the direct and functional target of miR-30b-5p. Moreover, miR-30b-5p inhibited the proliferation of PTC in vivo by inhibiting the expression of GALNT7. The studies on the mechanism have shown that GALNT7 promotes cell proliferation and invasion by activating EGFR/PI3K/AKT kinase pathway, which can be attenuated by the kinase inhibitors.

Conclusions

Overall, miR-30b-5p inhibited the progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma by targeting GALNT7 and inhibiting the EGFR/PI3K/AKT pathway.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-021-02323-x.

Elevated GALNT10 expression identifies immunosuppressive microenvironment and dismal prognosis of patients with high grade serous ovarian cancer

High grade ovarian serous cancer (HGSC) is a malignant disease with high mortality. Glycosylation plays important roles in tumor invasion and immune evasion, but its effect on the immune microenvironment of HGSC remains unclear. This study examined the association of glycosyltransferase expression with HGSC prognosis and explored the underlying mechanism using clinical specimens and integrated bioinformatic analyses. We identified a cluster of 15 glycogenes associated with reduced overall survival, and GALNT10 was found to be an independent predictor of HGSC prognosis. The high GALNT10 expression was associated with increased regulatory CD4+ T cells infiltration and decreased granzyme B expression in CD8+ T cells. The expression of GALNT10 and its product, Tn antigen, in HGSC specimens was associated with the increased infiltration of M2 macrophages and neutrophils, and the decreased infiltration of CD3+ T cells, NK cells, and B cells. Taken collectively, high GALNT10 expression confers with immunosuppressive microenvironment to promote tumor progression and predicts poor clinical outcomes in HGSC patients.

Different Diets Change the Expression of Bovine Serum Extracellular Vesicle-miRNAs

Simple Summary

Studies over the last decade have shown that cells can communicate with neighboring or distant cells through complex packets stuffed with selected proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, called extracellular vesicles. The wrapped macromolecules are miRNAs, which play a central role in mediating the signal communication of creatural patho/physiological systems. Extracellular vesicle-miRNAs vary among species and different body fluids, such as milk, urine, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid and blood, providing general and individual characters of the vesicles. Cow’s milk is significant in the supply of human nutrition. Therefore, the extracellular vesicle-related physiological process of dairy cows should be of concern. This study clarified the miRNA profiling of bovine serum and found their potential influence on immunity. Moreover, we found that different diets could affect miRNA expression. The results implied that people could implement effective dietary strategies to intervene in the physiological state of animals.

Abstract

Cells can communicate with neighboring or distant cells using extracellular vesicles (EVs), mainly attributed to their containing miRNAs. Given that diets can change host circulatory miRNA profiling, and EVs are the major miRNA carriers in serum, we hypothesized that different diets could change bovine circulating EV-miRNA expression. We partly replaced alfalfa hay with whole cotton seed and soybean hull in the feed formula of the tested cows. Blood EVs were isolated using a polyethylene glycol precipitation kit. Particle size analysis revealed exosomes were dominant in bovine serum EVs. Small RNAs were enriched in bovine serum EVs, including miRNAs, snRNAs, tiRNAs, Cis-regulatory elements, piRNAs, etc. In total, 359 types of Bos taurus miRNAs were identified by Solexa sequencing. Each cow in the control group contained about 244 types of serum EV-miRNAs, compared to 246 types in the tested group. There were 15 immune-related miRNAs in the top 20 serum EV-miRNAs, accounting for about 80% of the total. Seven differently expressed known miRNAs were detected in responding to different diets. An analysis of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) showed differently expressed miRNAs were related to hormone signal pathways and protein metabolism. Bovine serum EVs are abundant with miRNAs, most of which are immune-related. Different diets eventually change the miRNA profiling of bovine serum EVs.

MiR-4262 promotes cell apoptosis and inhibits proliferation of colon cancer cells: involvement of GALNT4

A role of microRNA-4262 (miR-4262) in the carcinogenesis of colon cancer remains undetermined. In this study, we studied the effects and mechanisms of miR-4262 to the colon cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis. We found that the levels of miR-4262 significantly down-regulated in colon cancer tissue, compared to the paired adjacent non-tumor colon tissue. The miR-4262 levels in colon cancer cell lines were significantly lower than those in control normal colon tissues. Transfection with the miR-4262 mimic decreased the cell proliferation and increased cell apoptosis in colon cancer cells, while transfection with the antisense of miR-4262 (as-miR-4262) increased cell proliferation and suppressed cell apoptosis in colon cancer cells. Bioinformatics analyses showed that GALNT4 was a potential target gene of miR-4262. The luciferase activities assay and Western blot verified that miR-4262 targeted GALNT4 mRNA to modulate its protein levels. When we treated cells with miR-4262 and GALN4 siRNA, the cell viability was significantly decreased. Together, our study suggests that aberrantly expressed miR-4262 may affect cell apoptosis and proliferation of human colon cancer cells via GALNT4, which appears to be a promising therapeutic target for colon cancer.

Long non-coding RNA-SNHG7 acts as a target of miR-34a to increase GALNT7 level and regulate PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in colorectal cancer progression

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) arises in a multistep molecular network process, which is from either discrete genetic perturbation or epigenetic dysregulation. The long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), emerging as key molecules in human malignancy, has become one of the hot topics in RNA biology. Aberrant O-glycosylation is a well-described hallmark of many cancers. GALNT7 acts as a glycosyltransferase in protein O-glycosylation, involving in the occurrence and development of CRC.

Methods

The microarrays were used to survey the lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles of primary CRC cell line SW480 and metastatic CRC cell line SW620. Cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis were assayed. Xenograft mouse models were used to determine the role of lncRNA-SNHG7 in CRC in vivo. In addition, CNC analysis and competing endogenous analysis were used to detect differential SNHG7 and relational miRNAs expression in CRC cell lines.

Results

SNHG7 expression showed a high fold (SW620/SW480) in CRC microarrays. The CRC patients with high expression of SNHG7 had a significantly poor prognosis. Furthermore, SNHG7 promoted CRC cell proliferation, metastasis, mediated cell cycle, and inhibited apoptosis. SNHG7 and GALNT7 were observed for co-expression by CNC analysis, and a negative correlation of SNHG7 and miR-34a were found by competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) analysis. Further results indicated that SNHG7 facilitated the proliferation and metastasis as a competing endogenous RNA to regulate GALNT7 expression by sponging miR-34a in CRC cell lines. SNHG7 also played the oncogenic role in regulating PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway by competing endogenous miR-34a and GALNT7.

Conclusion

The CRC-related SNHG7 and miR-34a might be implicated in CRC progression via GALNT7, suggesting the potential usage of SNHG7/miR-34a/GALNT7 axis in CRC treatment.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13045-018-0632-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

GALNT14 mediates tumor invasion and migration in breast cancer cell MCF-7

Aberrant glycosylation is a hallmark of most human cancers and affects many cellular properties, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, transformation, migration, invasion, and immune responses. Here, we report that N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase14 (GALNT14), which mediates the initial step of mucin-type O-glycosylation and is heterogeneously expressed in most breast cancers, plays a critical role in the invasion and migration of breast cancers by regulating the activity of MMP-2 and expression of some EMT genes. We have modulated the expression of GALNT14 by RNAi and overexpression in MCF-7 cells. Overexpression of GALNT14 significantly enhanced cell migration and invasion and promoted the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Knockdown of GALNT14 reduced clonogenicity and attenuates cell migration and cell invasion. The mRNAs for N-cadherin, vimentin, E-cadherin, MMP-2, VEGF, and TGF-β were determined by RT-qPCR involving GALNT14-overexpressing or knockdown MCF-7 cells. Expression profiling revealed the upregulation of N-cadherin, vimentin, MMP-2, VEGF, TGF-β and the downregulation of E-cadherin in GALNT14 overexpressing cells, with the opposite seen in GALNT14 knockdowns. Gelatin zymography analysis further indicated that overexpression of GALNT14 increased MMP-2 activity in MCF-7 cells. Conversely, downregulation of GALNT14 reduced MMP-2 activity. Promoter analysis revealed that GALNT14 stimulates MMP-2 expression through the AP-1-binding site. Western blot analyses showed that knockdown of GALNT14 significantly reduced the expression of an oncoprotein mucin 1 (MUC1). These findings indicate that GALNT14 contributes to breast cancer invasion by altering the cell proliferation, motility, expression levels of EMT genes, and by stimulating MMP-2 activity, suggesting GALNT14 may be a potential target for breast cancer treatment.

Modulators of the microRNA biogenesis pathway via arrayed lentiviral enabled RNAi screening for drug and biomarker discovery

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous and conserved non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression. Although the first miRNA was discovered well over sixteen years ago, little is known about their biogenesis and it is only recently that we have begun to understand their scope and diversity. For this purpose, we performed an RNAi screen aimed at identifying genes involved in their biogenesis pathway with a potential use as biomarkers. Using a previously developed miRNA 21 (miR-21) EGFP-based biosensor cell based assay monitoring green fluorescence enhancements, we performed an arrayed short hairpin RNA (shRNA) screen against a lentiviral particle ready TRC1 library covering 16,039 genes in 384-well plate format, and interrogating the genome one gene at a time building a panoramic view of endogenous miRNA activity. Using the BDA method for RNAi data analysis, we nominate 497 gene candidates the knockdown of which increased the EGFP fluorescence and yielding an initial hit rate of 3.09%; of which only 22, with reported validated clones, are deemed high-confidence gene candidates. An unexpected and surprising result was that only DROSHA was identified as a hit out of the seven core essential miRNA biogenesis genes; suggesting that perhaps intracellular shRNA processing into the correct duplex may be cell dependent and with differential outcome. Biological classification revealed several major control junctions among them genes involved in transport and vesicular trafficking. In summary, we report on 22 high confidence gene candidate regulators of miRNA biogenesis with potential use in drug and biomarker discovery.

CHO microRNA engineering is growing up: recent successes and future challenges

microRNAs with their ability to regulate complex pathways that control cellular behavior and phenotype have been proposed as potential targets for cell engineering in the context of optimization of biopharmaceutical production cell lines, specifically of Chinese Hamster Ovary cells. However, until recently, research was limited by a lack of genomic sequence information on this industrially important cell line. With the publication of the genomic sequence and other relevant data sets for CHO cells since 2011, the doors have been opened for an improved understanding of CHO cell physiology and for the development of the necessary tools for novel engineering strategies. In the present review we discuss both knowledge on the regulatory mechanisms of microRNAs obtained from other biological models and proof of concepts already performed on CHO cells, thus providing an outlook of potential applications of microRNA engineering in production cell lines.