Clinical significance of CTHRC1 protein expression in human cancers: a meta-analysis

CTHRC1 May Serve As A Prognostic Biomarker For Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a common malignant cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1) has been increasingly reported to be involved in tumorigenesis and/or tumor progression. However, limited data are available regarding the role of CTHRC1 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods

Paraffin-embedded specimens from a total of 29 patients with HCC were collected in our study. The expression of CTHRC1 in hepatocellular carcinoma was evaluated using immunohistochemistry and bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, Spearman analysis was performed to identify factors of correlation between CTHRC1 and clinicopathological features. Survival curves for hepatocellular carcinoma were produced using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log rank test.

Results

In this study, we confirmed that CTHRC1 is highly expressed in tissues and hepatoma cell lines. The statistical analysis revealed that the levels of CTHRC1 were significantly correlated with cirrhosis (P=0.024), tumor size (P=0.006), vascular invasion (P<0.001), TNM stage (P<0.001), and BCLC stage (P<0.001). High expression of CTHRC1 in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues is significantly associated with poor survival.

Conclusion

CTHRC1 may serve as a prognostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

High expression of Collagen Triple Helix Repeat Containing 1 (CTHRC1) facilitates progression of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma through MAPK/MEK/ERK/FRA-1 activation

Background

Oesophageal cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide,and oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the predominant histological type both globally and in China. Collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1) has been found to be upregulated in ESCC. However, its role in tumourigenesis and progression of ESCC remains unclear.

Methods

Using our previous ESCC mRNA profiling data, we screened upregulated genes to identify those required for proliferation. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine the level of CTHRC1 protein expression in 204 ESCC patients. Correlations between CTHRC1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were assessed. In addition, pyrosequencing and 5-aza-dC treatment were performed to evaluate methylation status of CTHRC1 promoter. In vitro and in vivo analyses were also conducted to determine the role of CTHRC1 in ESCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and RNA sequencing and molecular experiments were performed to study the underlying mechanisms.

Results

Based on mRNA profiling data, CTHRC1 was identified as one of the most significantly upregulated genes in ESCC tissues (n = 119, fold change = 20.5, P = 2.12E-66). RNA interference screening also showed that CTHRC1 was required for cell proliferation. Immunohistochemistry confirmed markedly high CTHRC1 protein expression in tumour tissues, and high CTHRC1 expression was positively correlated with advanced T stage (P = 0.043), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.023), TNM stage (P = 0.024) and poor overall survival (P = 0.020). Promoter hypomethylation at cg07757887 may contribute to increased CTHRC1 expression in ESCC cells and tumours. Forced overexpression of CTHRC1 significantly enhanced cell proliferation, migration and invasion, whereas depletion of CTHRC1 suppressed these cellular functions in three ESCC cell lines and xenografts. CTHRC1 was found to activate FRA-1 (Fos-related antigen 1, also known as FOSL1) through the MAPK/MEK/ERK cascade, which led to upregulation of cyclin D1 and thus promoted cell proliferation. FRA-1 also induced snail1-mediated MMP14 (matrix metallopeptidase 14, also known as MT1-MMP) expression to facilitate ESCC cell invasion, migration, and metastasis.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that CTHRC1 may act as an oncogenic driver in progression and metastasis of ESCC, and may serve as a potential biomarker for prognosis and personalized therapy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13046-017-0555-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.