Serum cytokine profiles are altered in patients with progressive infantile hemangioma

Inhibiting Interleukin-6/Signal Transducers and Activators of Transduction-3/Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α Signaling Pathway Suppressed the Growth of Infantile Hemangioma

OBJECTIVE

 This study aims to evaluate the expression of interleukin 6 (IL-6) in patients with infantile hemangioma (IH) and investigate the role of the IL-6/signal transducers and activators of transduction-3 (STAT3)/hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) pathways in the progression of IH.

METHODS

 Serum samples were obtained from the patients with IH and normal infants to measure IL-6 expression. Hemangioma-derived stem cells (HemSCs) were transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting IL-6, HIF-1α, or STAT3. Then, cell viability and wound healing assays were conducted. After that, the HemSC tumor mouse model was established. The in vivo anticancer effect of the IL-6 inhibitor was investigated.

RESULTS

 The patients with IH had much higher IL-6 levels compared with the healthy controls (p = 0.005). HemSCs transfected with IL-6 siRNA had significantly lower viability and migration rates than normal HemSCs. HemSCs transfected with STAT3 siRNA or HIF-1α siRNA had similar tendencies. On tumor-bearing mice, the IL-6 inhibitor treatment significantly delayed tumor growth. Compared with the control group, caspase-3 was significantly increased in the IL-6 inhibitor group (p < 0.05), whereas Ki-67 was decreased in the IL-6 inhibitor group (p < 0.05). In the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, the IL-6 inhibitor group had much higher apoptosis rates than the controls (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

 Our findings indicate that inhibiting the IL-6/STAT3/HIF-1α signaling pathways could suppress IH growth.

Identification of novel potential biomarkers in infantile hemangioma via weighted gene co-expression network analysis

Background

Infantile hemangioma (IH) is the most common benign tumor in children and is characterized by endothelial cells proliferation and angiogenesis. Some hub genes may play a critical role in angiogenesis. This study aimed to identify the hub genes and analyze their biological functions in IH.

Methods

Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in hemangioma tissues, regardless of different stages, were identified by microarray analysis. The hub genes were selected through integrated weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network. Subsequently, detailed bioinformatics analysis of the hub genes was performed by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Finally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was conducted to validate the hub genes expression in hemangioma-derived endothelial cells (HemECs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

Results

In total, 1115 DEGs were identified between the hemangiomas and normal samples, including 754 upregulated genes and 361 downregulated genes. Two co-expression modules were identified by WGCNA and green module eigengenes were highly correlated with hemangioma (correlation coefficient = 0.87). Using module membership (MM) > 0.8 and gene significance (GS) > 0.8 as the cut-off criteria, 108 candidate genes were selected and put into the PPI network, and three most correlated genes (APLN, APLNR, TMEM132A) were identified as the hub genes. GSEA predicted that the hub genes would regulate endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis. The differential expression of these genes was validated by qRT-PCR.

Conclusions

This research suggested that the identified hub genes may be associated with the angiogenesis of IH. These genes may improve our understanding of the mechanism of IH and represent potential anti-angiogenesis therapeutic targets for IH.

Change of serum cytokine profiles by propranolol treatment in patients with infantile hemangioma

Infantile hemangioma is a benign cutaneous tumor, which sometimes rapidly enlarges, causes cosmetic problem, destroys normal tissue, and possibly threatens life. Dye lasers, steroid administration, and watchful waiting had been the treatment options for infantile hemangioma, but in recent years propranolol therapy has become available. The mechanism underlying the action of propranolol, however, is still unknown. We hypothesized that cytokines whose expressions change before and during the treatment are responsible for the efficacy of the drug. This study aims to prove the hypothesis using patients' sera and membrane array. In this study, the serum cytokine concentrations of five patients with infantile hemangioma were measured using membrane array of 20 angiogenic cytokines. We compared them before and during propranolol treatment to identify the cytokines responsible for the effect of propranolol. Signals for angiogenin, epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted chemokine (RANTES), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP-2) were evident in all five cases before treatment. Furthermore, PDGF-BB was the only cytokine of which concentration was decreased during treatment with statistically significant difference. This report is a pilot study with a small number of samples, and further detailed research with increased number of samples is necessary. Nonetheless, our results suggest that PDGF-BB may be involved in the action of propranolol. In addition, its serum concentration can be utilized as a potential marker of the therapeutic effect.

Up-regulation of IGF-1, RANTES and VEGF in patients with anti-centromere antibody-positive early/mild systemic sclerosis

OBJECTIVE

Multiple cytokine network may control the pathogenesis of vasculopathy in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). We aimed at comparing angiogenic cytokine profile among SSc patients at various clinical stage.

METHODS

We divided nine patients with anti-centromere antibody (ACA) who were suspected of SSc and diagnosed as having SSc into three groups (group1: pre-clinical stage of SSc, group2: mild/early SSc and group3: typical lcSSc) according to the ACR/EULAR2013 classification criteria or ACR1980 preliminary classification, and serum sample were obtained from them. We evaluated the expression levels of 20 cytokines by membrane array.

RESULTS

Average values of EGF, ENA-78, bFGF, IGF-I, IL-8, MCP-1, TGF-β1, thrombopoietin, VEGF and VEGF-D in group2 were increased compared as those of group1 more than twofold. Statistically significant difference was found in serum levels of IGF-1, RANTES and VEGF between group1 and group2. There was also significant difference in the value of VEGF between group1 and group3. There were mild and significant correlations between serum IGF-1 and RANTES levels (r = 0.721, p = .028).

CONCLUSION

IGF-1, RANTES and VEGF are thought to be involved in the disease development from pre-clinical stage of SSc to early/mild SSc. Thus, these cytokines may be utilized as a biomarker for early diagnosis.

Elevated eosinophil levels observed in infantile hemangioma patients from Kaifeng, China

Infantile hemangioma (IH) is one of the most common soft-tissue neoplasms of infancy. Although clinical diagnosis for IH is well-established, the haematological parameters associated with IH are not well explored. In this short study, we observed significantly higher eosinophil (EO) numbers in IH patient blood compared to healthy controls. This contributed to the observed higher EO % in the peripheral blood of IH patients and was irrespective of age. This new haematological finding could carry a potential diagnostic/prognostic relevance for IH.