Exploration into Plasma Hsa_circ_0052184 as a New Biomarker of Colorectal Cancer Prognosis

Background

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are strong modulators of tumor pathology. Herein, our goal was to examine the plasma hsa_circ_0052184 content among colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, and assess its association with patient clinicopathological profile and diagnostic values.

Methods

Overall, we collected 228 presurgical CRC and 146 normal plasma samples from The First People's Hospital of Wenling. Circulating hsa_circ_0052184 levels were assessed via qRT-PCR, and the diagnostic prediction was conducted with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

Results

Relative to healthy controls, CRC patients exhibited markedly enhanced circulating hsa_circ_0052184 levels, which were closely correlated with advanced stage of disease and worse outcome. Based on our uni- (UA) and multivariate assessments (MA), elevated hsa_circ_0052184 levels were a stand-alone predictor of poor prognosis. The ROC curve depicted an area under the curve (AUC) for CRC diagnosis to be 0.9072.

Conclusion

Circulating hsa_circ_0052184 is a potential bioindicator of CRC outcome.

An emphasis on the interaction of signaling pathways highlights the role of miRNAs in the etiology and treatment resistance of gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is 4th in incidence and mortality rates globally. Several genetic and epigenetic factors, including microRNAs (miRNAs), affect its initiation and progression. miRNAs are short chains of nucleic acids that can regulate several cellular processes by controlling their gene expression. So, dysregulation of miRNAs expressions is associated with GC initiation, progression, invasion capacity, apoptosis evasions, angiogenesis, promotion and EMT enhancement. Of important pathways in GC and controlled by miRNAs are Wnt/β-catenin signaling, HMGA2/mTOR/P-gp, PI3K/AKT/c-Myc, VEGFR and TGFb signaling. Hence, this review was conducted to review an updated view of the role of miRNAs in GC pathogenesis and their modulatory effects on responses to different GC treatment modalities.

Evaluation of plasma circ_0006282 as a novel diagnostic biomarker in colorectal cancer

Background

Nowadays, non‐invasive and rapid detection of cancers through molecular biomarkers has received much attention. Therefore, this study investigated the non‐invasive and rapid diagnosis of colorectal cancer through one of the newest biomarkers (circular RNA).

Methods

For this purpose, we collected tumoral, adjacent normal tissue, and plasma samples from 100 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, 25 postoperative CRC patients, 28 colitis patients, and 108 healthy donors. First Illumina high‐throughput (Hi Seq 2000) sequencing was performed to identify known and novel differentially expressed circRNAs in the cancerous and adjacent normal tissues (n = 3). We used quantitative real‐time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) to detect the expression level of hsa_circ_0006282 among the different samples. Moreover, inter‐ and intra‐assays were performed to evaluate the potential of hsa_circ_0006282 as being a biomarker. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn to appraise its diagnostic efficacy, and the sensitivity of this circ RNA was evaluated.

Results

Based on RNA‐sequencing results circ_0006282, cirs7, circ‐0001313, circ_0055625, circ_000984, circ_0055625, circ_0001178, circ_0071589, circ‐001569 were upregulated, and circ‐ITGA7, circ‐CDYL, circITCH, circ_0026344, circ_0000038, circ_0002220, circ_0067480, circIGHV3‐20‐1, circ_104916, circ_0009361 were downregulated circRNA. The hsa_circ_0006282 was the highest upregulated differentially expressed circRNA. Expression evaluation of this circRNA on different samples showed upregulation in CRC tissues (p < 0.0001) and plasma samples of CRC patients in comparison to healthy controls (p < 0.0001), while the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.831 (95% CI: 0.779–0.883). Expression of hsa_circ_0006282 in CRC patients decreased to normal after surgery (p < 0.0001). Our results showed high specificity and sensitivity of CRC detection when hsa_circ_0006282, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and carbohydrate antigen199 (CA199) are combined.

Conclusion

Plasma hsa_circ_0006282 can be used as a novel diagnostic and dynamic monitoring biomarker in CRC patients.

Comprehensive Assessment of Plasma Circ_0004771 as a Novel Diagnostic and Dynamic Monitoring Biomarker in Gastric Cancer

Purpose

Due to the lack of specific and sensitive detection indicators, most patients with GC are already in the advanced stage at the time of diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to search for effective diagnostic biomarkers that can be applied in clinic.

Materials and Methods

We screened out circ_0004771 through circRNA sequencing. Exonuclease digestion assay, agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and Sanger sequencing verified the potential of circ_0004771 being a biomarker. Additionally, we established quantitative real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to detect the expression level of circ_0004771 and evaluated the methodology. What's more, we collected plasma samples from 120 GC patients, 40 superficial gastritis patients, 20 postoperative GC patients, 20 postoperative recurrence patients and 120 healthy donors. We constructed the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) to appraise its diagnostic efficacy.

Results

The expression level of circ_0004771 is up-regulated in GC tissues, which is consistent with circRNA sequencing result (P=0.0001). Circ_0004771 can serve as a promising biomarker because of its stable structure and longer half-life. Plasma circ_0004771 expression is markedly richer in GC patients than that in normal people (P<0.0001), and the area under the ROC (AUC) is 0.831 (95% CI: 0.779–0.883). The diagnostic efficacy of circ_0004771 is higher than that of CEA (AUC=0.747, 95% CI: 0.686–0.808) and CA199 (AUC=0.508, 95% CI: 0.433–0.583). Higher diagnostic efficacy can be achieved by combination diagnosis for distinguishing GC patients from normal people (AUC=0.864). Besides, the expression level of circ_0004771 can distinguish GC patients from gastritis patients (AUC=0.845, 95% CI: 0.772–0.917). The plasma circ_0004771 expression in GC patients decreased to normal after surgery (P<0.0001). In addition, plasma circ_0004771 expression increased again in patients with postoperative recurrence.

Conclusion

Plasma circ_0004771 is differentially expressed in GC patients, postoperative GC patients and patients with recurrence, suggesting that plasma circ_0004771 can be used as a novel diagnostic and dynamic monitoring biomarker in GC.

MiRNA-200c, MiRNA-139 and ln RNA H19; new predictors of treatment response in H-pylori- induced gastric ulcer or progression to gastric cancer

Recent evidence indicates that the pathogenesis of gastric ulcer and progression to gastric cancer could be attributed to altered inflammatory/immunological response and associated differential non-coding RNAs expression signatures. However, co-expression profiling of lncRNA-miRNAs in GU/GC patients are scarcely focused on. Therefore, in the present study the expression of H19 and related miRNAs including miR-139, and miR-200 were assayed in the plasma samples of treatment responsive GU vs nonresponsive GC patients. This study is a case-control study carried out on 130 subjects recruited from the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit in Al-Kasr Al-Aini Hospital, in Egypt. All recruited patients were diagnosed with H-pylori infection, 50 of them were gastric cancer patients (GC), with previous H-pylori induced gastric ulcer but were treatment non-respondent. Real-time PCR was performed to evaluate the expression level of serum non-coding RNA; miRNA-200c, miR-139, Ln RNA H19 in patients with peptic ulcer treatment non-respondent, who progressed to GC vs non-progressed gastric ulcer patients (GU) (n = 50), and compared to early diagnosed H-pylori-gastric ulcer patients (n = 30). The association between these miRNAs and the FGF-18/FGF-R signaling indicators of H-pylori-GC pathogenesis were then investigated. RESULTS: showed that the H19 level was significantly elevated while miR-139 and miR-200c expression were significantly down-regulated in GC patients, compared to GU participants (P < 0.01). The herein investigated ncRNAs are correlated to the disease duration with Ln H19 being significantly correlated with all inflammatory markers; TNF-α, INF-γ, TAC, MMP-9, and FGF18/FGFR2. A significant correlation was also observed between miRNA 200c and each of miRNA 139 and FGFR2. Moreover, ROC analysis revealed that miRNA 200c showed the highest AUC (0.906) and 81.2% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Moreover, the combined analysis of miRNA 200c/miRNA 139 revealed superior AUC (0.96) and 93% sensitivity and 100% specificity, than each separately. As for discriminative accuracy between stages III to IV of gastric cancer, LncRNA H19 showed the highest diagnostic accuracy (95.5%), specificity (100%), and sensitivity (90.9%). The current study demonstrated that the combination of serum miRNA 200c/miRNA 139 expression levels (down-regulation) could provide a new potential prognostic panel for GU predictive response and potential sequelae. In conclusion, LncRNA H19 and related miRNAs, miRNA 200c/miRNA 139, could serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker for early gastric cancer diagnosis.

Enhanced expression of circular RNA circ-DCAF6 predicts adverse prognosis and promotes cell progression via sponging miR-1231 and miR-1256 in gastric cancer

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been reported as essential regulators in various malignancies, including gastric cancer (GC). Previously, circ-DCAF6 was screened as an elevated circRNA in GC patients' tissue samples compared with the normal tissues. To our knowledge, the role of circ-DCAF6 in human cancers is still needed to reveal. The present project is to evaluate the functions and mechanisms of circ-DCAF6 in GC progression. Upregulation of circ-DCAF6 was determined in GC tissue samples and cells by qRT-PCR. Enhanced level of circ-DCAF6 was linked to deeper tumor invasion, positive lymph node metastasis, and higher TNM stages in GC patients. Multivariate analysis further indicated circ-DCAF6 as an independent prognostic indicator. Functionally, CCK-8, clone forming, flow cytometry and transwell assays verified that circ-DCAF6 played as an oncogene in GC cells. Mechanistically, we found the negative correlation between circ-DCAF6 and miR-1231/-1256 in GC specimens. Moreover, luciferase reporter gene assay illustrated that miR-1231 and miR-1256 could be bound to circ-DCAF6. Rescue experiments revealed that circ-DCAF6 facilitated cell growth and invasion via suppressing the levels of miR-1231 and miR-1256. To sum up, circ-DCAF6 acts as an important role in GC tumor progression, and high circ-DCAF6 level may be a useful biomarker for GC.

MiR-141-3p suppresses gastric cancer induced transition of normal fibroblast and BMSC to cancer-associated fibroblasts via targeting STAT4

BACKGROUND

Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are known to be crucial constituents of cancer microenvironment (CME) and play an important role in initiation, progression and metastasis of various types of cancer, such as oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, and gastric cancer. CAFs are usually derived from normal fibroblasts (NFs), but the mechanism of the transition in gastric cancer has not yet been fully elucidated.

METHODS

qRT-PCR and western blot were employed to investigate differences of miR-141 and STAT4 expression respectively. The CAF-like features and wnt/β-catenin pathway related proteins in NF or BMSC were assessed by qRT-PCR or western blot after treated with the conditioned medium from different indicated groups of gastric cancer cells. The invasion and migration ability of AGS cells after transfection were analyzed by Transwell assay and wound healing assay. Dual-luciferase report assay was employed to determine the direct binding of miR-141 to STAT4 3' UTR.

RESULTS

For the first time, the present study found that STAT4 over-expression in gastric cancer cells induced NFs to obtain CAF-like features via activating wnt/β-catenin pathway. Further gain-of-function and loss-of-function analysis revealed that miR-141 not only limited the migration and invasion of the gastric cancer cells, but also inhibited the transition of NFs and BMSC to CAFs. The luciferase assay indicated that miR-141 directly targeted the 3'-UTR predictive sequence of STAT4.

CONCLUSION

Our data showed that miR-141 inhibited migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells and inhibited transition from NFs to CAFs via targeting STAT4/wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Long noncoding RNA GAPLINC promotes gastric cancer cell proliferation by acting as a molecular sponge of miR-378 to modulate MAPK1 expression

Background

Dysregulated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in the development of human cancers. LncRNA GAPLINC has been reported to be increased in gastric cancer (GC) tissues.

Methods

Real-time PCR assays were used to measure expressions of GAPLINC, miR-378, and MAPK1 mRNA. Western blot assays were employed to examine MAPK1 protein expression. Cell proliferation and cell cycle were measured by CCK-8 and propidium iodide-detection assays, respectively. The interaction between GAPLINC and miR-378 was confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis and luciferase assays. Luciferase assays were also used to study whether GAPLINC was able to act as a molecular sponge of miR-378 to modulate MAPK1 expression.

Results

The lncRNA GAPLINC expression was upregulated and positively correlated with MAPK1 expression in gastric cancer tissues and cells. Additionally, lncRNA GAPLINC promoted the expression of MAPK1 and the enhancement of GC cell proliferation and cell cycle progression by LncRNA GAPLINC was dependent on MAPK1 in vitro and in vivo. Consequently, we found that miR-378 expression was inversely correlated with GAPLINC expression in GC tissues and cells. miR-378 could directly bind to GAPLINC and decreased GAPLINC expression, thus reducing MAPK1 expression. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-378 inhibited MAPK1 expression, cell proliferation, and cell cycle progression of gastric cancer cells, while these effects were abrogated by upregulating lncRNA GAPLINC expression.

Conclusion

Taken together, lncRNA GAPLINC promotes gastric cancer cell proliferation by acting as a molecular sponge of miR-378 to modulate MAPK1 expression.

Regulatory effect of traditional Chinese medicine on brain-gut peptides in chronic atrophic gastritis

Chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is a common digestive system disease, which belongs to a type of precancerous lesion of gastric cancer (PLGC). Modern medical research has shown that brain-gut peptides, such as ghrelin, gastrin, somatostatin, and motilin, play an important role in the pathogenesis of CAG and PLGC. In particular, brain-gut peptides can help to judge the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome of CAG and thereby evaluate CAG progression and the therapeutic effect. Based on TCM theory and brain gut interaction, this paper discusses the regulatory effect of TCM intervention on brain-gut peptides in CAG, with an aim to provide a theoretical basis for TCM prevention and treatment of CAG.