Role of E-cadherin and cyclin D1 as predictive markers of aggression and clonal expansion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

P4HA2 promotes proliferation, invasion, and metastasis through regulation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Proline 4-hydroxylase 2 (P4HA2) is known for its hydroxylase activity, primarily involved in hydroxylating collagen precursors and promoting collagen cross-linking under physiological conditions. Although its overexpression influences a wide variety of malignant tumors' occurrence and development, its specific effects and mechanisms in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unclear. This study focused on investigating the expression patterns, carcinogenic functions, and underlying mechanisms of P4HA2 in OSCC cells. Various databases, including TCGA, TIMER, UALCAN, GEPIA, and K-M plotter, along with paraffin-embedded samples, were used to ascertain P4HA2 expression in cancer and its correlation with clinicopathological features. P4HA2 knockdown and overexpression cell models were developed to assess its oncogenic roles and mechanisms. The results indicated that P4HA2 was overexpressed in OSCC and inversely correlated with patient survival. Knockdown of P4HA2 suppressed invasion, migration, and proliferation of OSCC cells both in vitro and in vivo, whereas overexpression of P4HA2 had the opposite effects. Mechanistically, the phosphorylation levels of the PI3K/AKT pathway were reduced following P4HA2 silencing. The study reveals that P4HA2 acts as a promising biomarker for predicting prognosis in OSCC and significantly affects metastasis, invasion, and proliferation of OSCC cells through the regulation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Elevated level of neuroserpin is an indication for the resistance to gambogic acid-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in triple-negative breast cancer cells

Background

The triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype, characterized by loss of HER2, estrogen, and progesterone receptors, displays aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis compared to other BC subtypes. Since the TNBC cells are devoid of receptors, endocrine therapy is an ineffective option for TNBC patients, necessitating canonical chemotherapy strategies to treat TNBC. It is crucial to use alternative and natural agents to support chemotherapy in TNBC.

Objectives

To clarify the molecular mechanism of the tumorigenic effects of gambogic acid (GA) on TNBC cells with different epithelial character since GA has a wide spectrum of anticancer activity for most cancer types.

Methods

We determined the cytotoxic dose of GA incubation of TNBC cells (MDA-MB-231 and BT-20 cells) for 24 h. We performed the MTT test and toluidine blue (TB) staining protocol for TNBC cells. We analyzed E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Bax, and neuroserpin mRNAs in both cells by qPCR. We evaluated apoptosis using DAPI staining and assessed the ROS using the 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) method.

Results

We determined the IC50 concentrations of GA in MDA-MB-231 and BT-20 cells to be 315.8 nM and 441.8 nM, respectively. TB staining showed that BT-20 cells survive at excessive cytotoxic doses of GA, while most of the MDA-MB-231 cells were killed. Also, we found that BT-20 cells are more resistant to GA-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress than the MDA-MB-231 cells. qPCR results showed that GA upregulated neuroserpin, an oxidative stress-relieving factor in the BT-20 cells, but not in the MDA-MB-231 cells.

Conclusions

The elevated level of neuroserpin could be a predictive marker to determine the development of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents.

Cyclin D1 and Ki-67 expression and its correlation with histopathological parameters and cervical lymph node metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant tumor among oral cancers. Cyclin D1 and Ki-67 have associated with cell division. The aim of this study was to compare the expression of these markers in OSCC with and without cervical lymph node (LN) metastasis.

Materials and Methods

This cross-sectional study was performed on 40 OSCCs with and without cervical LN metastasis (20 in each group) that was recorded in the pathology archive of Ayatollah Kashani Hospital in Isfahan. Clinical information including age, gender, and location was collected. Some histopathological parameters including depth of invasion, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), perineural invasion (PNI), number of LN metastases, histopathological grade, and stage of disease were evaluated. Immunohistochemical staining was performed for cyclin D1 and Ki-67. All data were entered into SPSS24 software and were analyzed by Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square, Fisher's exact, and t-tests. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Based on LVI and stage of disease, a significant correlation was found between the two groups (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the two groups based on cyclin D1 expression (P = 0.05). The expression of the Ki-67 showed a significant difference based on tumor location (P = 0.026) and PNI (P = 0.033).

Conclusion

The use of markers should be considered in determining the prognosis of OSCC, and the cyclin D1 marker is one of the useful markers for predictors of cervical LN metastasis.

MAGE-A3 is a prognostic biomarker for poor clinical outcome in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma with perineural invasion via modulation of cell proliferation

Perineural invasion is a pathologic process of neoplastic dissemination along and invading into the nerves. Perineural invasion is associated with aggressive disease and a greater likelihood of poor outcomes. In this study, 3 of 9 patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and perineural invasion exhibited poor clinical outcomes. Tumors from these patients expressed high levels of MAGE-A3, a cancer testis antigen that may contribute to key processes of tumor development. In addition to perineural invasion, the tumors exhibited poor differentiation and deep invasion and were subsequently classified as Brigham and Women's Hospital tumor stage 3. Cyclin E, A and B mRNA levels were increased in these tumors compared with normal skin tissues (102.93±15.03 vs. 27.15±4.59, 36.83±19.41 vs. 11.59±5.83, 343.77±86.49 vs. 95.65±29.25, respectively; p<0.05). A431 cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cells pretreated with MAGE-A3 antibody exhibited a decreased percentage S-phase cells (14.13±2.8% vs. 33.97±1.1%; p<0.05) and reduced closure in scratch assays (43.88±5.49% vs. 61.17±3.97%; p = 0.0058). In a syngeneic animal model of squamous cell carcinoma, immunoblots revealed overexpression of MAGE-A3 and cyclin E, A, and B protein in tumors at 6 weeks. However, knockout of MAGE-A3 expression caused a reduction in tumor growth (mean tumor volume 155.3 mm3 vs. 3.2 mm3) compared with parental cells. These results suggest that MAGE-A3 is a key mediator in cancer progression. Moreover, elevated collagen XI and matrix metalloproteases 3, 10, 11, and 13 mRNA levels were observed in poorly differentiated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma with perineural invasion compared with normal skin tissue (1132.56±882.7 vs. 107.62±183.62, 1118.15±1109.49 vs. 9.5±5, 2603.87±2385.26 vs. 5.29±3, 957.95±627.14 vs. 400.42±967.66, 1149.13±832.18 vs. 19.41±35.62, respectively; p<0.05). In summary, this study highlights the potential prognostic value of MAGE-A3 in clinical outcomes of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma patients.

KIF18A promotes head and neck squamous cell carcinoma invasion and migration via activation of Akt signaling pathway

BACKGROUND

KIF18A has been shown to participate in the development of various human malignancies. However, the role of KIF18A in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains unknown. This study investigated the function of KIF18A in HNSCC as well as its possible mechanisms.

METHODS

In this study, we conducted in vitro experiments. First, we examined the effect of KIF18A on Tu686 and 6-10B cells via determining cell viability, colony formation ability and cell motility. And then, we examined that whether the carcinogenic effect of KIF18A is associated with Akt activation.

RESULTS

Our current study demonstrated that KIF18A expression was increased in HNSCC patients and its cell lines. Knockdown and overexpression of KIF18A in HNSCC cells indicated that KIF18A promoted cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration. Moreover, these bioactivity changes in HNSCC cells were accompanied by enhanced Vimentin expression and suppressed E-cadherin expression induced by KIF18A. Further mechanistic analysis revealed that the carcinogenic effect of KIF18A is associated with Akt activation, and blocking the activity of Akt reversed the malignant progression caused by KIF18A overexpression in HNSCC cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Together, our study reveals that KIF18A accelerates the progression of HNSCC and that targeting KIF18A may be a potential therapeutic strategy for the HNSCC.