The role of tensins in malignant neoplasms

Profiling Kinase Activities for Precision Oncology in Diffuse Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. This is due to the fact that majority of the cases of GC are diagnosed at an advanced stage when the treatment options are limited and prognosis is poor. The diffuse subtype of gastric cancer (DGC) under Lauren's classification is more aggressive and usually occurs in younger patients than the intestinal subtype. The concept of personalized medicine is leading to the identification of multiple biomarkers in a large variety of cancers using different combinations of omics technologies. Proteomic changes including post-translational modifications are crucial in oncogenesis. We analyzed the phosphoproteome of DGC by using paired fresh frozen tumor and adjacent normal tissue from five patients diagnosed with DGC. We found proteins involved in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), c-MYC pathway, and semaphorin pathways to be differentially phosphorylated in DGC tissues. We identified three kinases, namely, bromodomain adjacent to the zinc finger domain 1B (BAZ1B), WNK lysine-deficient protein kinase 1 (WNK1), and myosin light-chain kinase (MLCK) to be hyperphosphorylated, and one kinase, AP2-associated protein kinase 1 (AAK1), to be hypophosphorylated. LMNA hyperphosphorylation at serine 392 (S392) was demonstrated in DGC using immunohistochemistry. Importantly, we have detected heparin-binding growth factor (HDGF), heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), and FTH1 as potential therapeutic targets in DGC, as drugs targeting these proteins are currently under investigation in clinical trials. Although these new findings need to be replicated in larger study samples, they advance our understanding of signaling alterations in DGC, which could lead to potentially novel actionable targets in GC.

Immunohistochemical Expression of Tensin-4/CTEN in Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Dogs

C-terminal tensin-like (tensin-4/TNS4/CTEN) is the fourth member of the tensin family, frequently described as displaying oncological functions, including cellular migration, invasion, adhesion, growth, metastasis, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and apoptosis, in several different types of cancer. To investigate, for the first time, the clinical significance of CTEN in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of dogs, we studied a total of 45 SCC sections from various dog breeds. The mean age of the affected dogs was 8.9 ± 3.6 years. Immunohistochemistry confirmed strong cytoplasmatic CTEN expression in the basal layer of the epidermis next to the tumor. We detected high CTEN expression associated with the highest grade of the tumor (grade III) and observed 100% of immunopositivity for this tumor grading (p < 0.0001). These data suggest that CTEN is an oncogene in SCC of dogs and a promising biomarker and a therapeutic target for dogs affected by SCC.

Tensin2 Is a Novel Diagnostic Marker in GIST, Associated with Gastric Location and Non-Metastatic Tumors

GIST is a rare soft tissue sarcoma, for which KIT and DOG1 are used as highly sensitive diagnostic markers. Other diagnostic markers include CD34, protein kinase C θ, deficiency of succinate dehydrogenase complex subunit B, carbonic anhydrase II, and type I insulin-like growth factor receptor. We investigated the role of TNS2 as a diagnostic biomarker by using immunohistochemistry in 176 GISTs and 521 other sarcomas. All GISTs expressed TNS2, with intermediate or high expression in 71.4% of samples. The majority (89.8%) of other sarcomas were negative for TNS2, and intermediate to strong staining was only seen in 2.9% of samples. Strong TNS2 staining was associated with gastric location (gastric 52.8% vs. non-gastric 7.2%; p < 0.001), absence of metastases (non-metastatic tumors 44.3% vs. metastatic tumors 5.9%; p = 0.004), female sex (female 45.9% vs. male 33.8%; p = 0.029), and tumors of lower risk categories (very low or low 46.9% vs. intermediate 51.7% vs. high 29.0%; p = 0.020). TNS2 expression did not correlate with overall survival or metastasis-free survival. No associations between TNS2 expression and KIT/PDGFRA mutation status, tumor size, mitotic count, or age of the patient were detected. The results provide conclusive evidence for the value of TNS2 as a sensitive and specific diagnostic biomarker for GIST.

Immunohistochemical Analysis of the Expression of Adhesion Proteins: TNS1, TNS2 and TNS3 in Correlation with Clinicopathological Parameters in Gastric Cancer

Tensins belong to the group of adhesion proteins that are involved in cell adhesion and migration, actin cytoskeleton maintenance and intercellular communication. TNS1, TNS2 and TNS3 proteins expression was evaluated in 90 patients with gastric cancer by immunohistochemistry method. TNS1 was more frequently present in non-differentiated tumors compared to poorly and moderately differentiated tumors (p = 0.016). TNS1 was also more often observed in metastatic tumors compared to those without distant metastases (p = 0.001). TNS2 was more common in moderately differentiated tumors than in poorly or non-differentiated ones (p = 0.041). TNS2 expression was also more frequently present in tumors with peritumoral inflammation (p = 0.041) and with concomitant H. pylori infection (p = 0.023). In contrast, TNS3 protein was more prevalent in moderately than in poorly and non-differentiated tumors (p = 0.023). No significant relationship was found between tensins' expression and the overall survival rate of patients. TNS1 protein expression is associated with a poor-prognosis type of GC. Higher expression of TNS2 is accompanied by peritumoral inflammation and H. pylori infection, which favor the development of GC of a better prognosis, similarly to higher TNS3 protein expression.