Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Cirrhotic Liver: Evaluation Using Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Bioinformatics Study Revealed Significance of Exosome Transcriptome in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Diagnosis

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the fifty most common cancers globally, having a high mortality rate being the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. However, little attention has been paid to the involvement of exosomes and ceRNA in HCC.

Method: The study aimed to explore exosome data from exoRBase database and a free online database to estimate possible binding miRNA from mRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA and discover useful exosome biomarkers for HCC therapy.

Results: The results indicated that a total of 159 mRNAs, 60 lncRNAs, and 13 circRNAs were differentially expressed, with HIST2H3C exhibiting the highest log₂FC change, CTD-2031P19 exhibiting the most relevant lncRNA, and CTD-2031P19 exhibiting the most relevant lncRNA. MARCH8, SH3PXD2A, has-circ-0014088, hsa-miR-186-5p, and hsa-miR-613 were identified as hub biomarkers used by Cytoscape. According to the KEGG pathway analysis results, the differentially expressed proteins were primarily enriched in the MAPK signaling network, central carbon metabolism in cancer, the glucagon signaling pathway, glutamatergic synapse, and spliceosome. Furthermore, immunohistochemical images from the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) online tool were used to directly evaluate the protein expression of SMARCA5, CDC42, and UBC between normal and cancer tissues, and the results showed that these three gene expressions were significantly higher in tumor tissues.

Conclusion: This study discovered atypical signature exosomes for HCC prognostic prediction based on an online database. The signals could mimic exosome microenvironmental disorders providing potential biomarkers for exosome treatment.

MRI-Based Radiomic Features Help Identify Lesions and Predict Histopathological Grade of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer. Radiomics is a promising tool that may increase the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the management of HCC. The purpose of our study is to develop an MRI-based radiomics approach to preoperatively detect HCC and predict its histological grade. Thirty-eight HCC patients at staging who underwent axial T2-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) were considered. Three-dimensional volumes of interest (VOIs) were manually placed on HCC lesions and normal hepatic tissue (HT) on arterial phase post-contrast images. Radiomic features from T2 images and arterial, portal and tardive post-contrast images from DCE-MRI were extracted by using Pyradiomics. Feature selection was performed using correlation filter, Wilcoxon-rank sum test and mutual information. Predictive models were constructed for HCC differentiation with respect to HT and HCC histopathologic grading used at each step an imbalance-adjusted bootstrap resampling (IABR) on 1000 samples. Promising results were obtained from radiomic prediction models, with best AUCs ranging from 71% to 96%. Radiomics MRI based on T2 and DCE-MRI revealed promising results concerning both HCC detection and grading. It may be a suitable tool for personalized treatment of HCC patients and could also be used to develop new prognostic biomarkers useful for HCC assessment without the need for invasive procedures.

The Diagnostic Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound and Enhanced CT Combined with Tumor Markers AFP and CA199 in Liver Cancer

Background

Early screening and diagnosis are of great significance to the treatment and prognosis of patients with liver cancer. This study aims to explore the application value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and enhanced CT combined with tumor markers alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199) in the diagnosis of liver cancer.

Methods

Liver cancer group (n = 256), benign disease group (n = 110), and control group (n = 50) participated in this study. The liver cancer and benign disease groups were diagnosed pathologically by contrast-enhanced ultrasound and enhanced CT before operation. The electrochemiluminescence method was used to detect the content of AFP and CA199. And the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn.

Results

The detection rate of contrast-enhanced ultrasound is higher than that of enhanced CT. Serum levels of AFP and CA199 in the liver cancer group were significantly higher than those in the benign lesion group and the control group. The ROC curve showed that the sensitivity, accuracy, and negative prediction rate of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and enhanced CT combined with tumor markers AFP and CA199 in the diagnosis of liver cancer were significantly higher than that of a single test.

Conclusion

The combined detection of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and enhanced CT, AFP, and CA199 significantly improved the sensitivity and accuracy of liver cancer diagnosis. It has a significant effect on the early diagnosis of liver cancer and can be used as an important means of early screening.

Epigenetic and Immune-Cell Infiltration Changes in the Tumor Microenvironment in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background

Epigenetics regulate gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. Epigenetics targeted chemotherapeutic approach can be used to overcome treatment resistance and low response rate in HCC. However, a comprehensive review of genomic data was carried out to determine the role of epigenesis in the tumor microenvironment (TME), immune cell-infiltration characteristics in HCC is still insufficient.

Methods

The association between epigenetic-related genes (ERGs), inflammatory response-related genes (IRRGs) and CRISPR genes was determined by merging genomic and CRISPR data. Further, characteristics of immune-cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment was evaluated.

Results

Nine differentially expressed genes (ANP32B, ASF1A, BCORL1, BMI1, BUB1, CBX2, CBX3, CDK1, and CDK5) were shown to be independent prognostic factors based on lasso regression in the TCGA-LIHC and ICGC databases. In addition, the results showed significant differences in expression of PDCD-1 (PD-1) and CTLA4 between the high- and low-epigenetic score groups. The CTRP and PRISM-derived drug response data yielded four CTRP-derived compounds (SB-743921, GSK461364, gemcitabine, and paclitaxel) and two PRISM-derived compounds (dolastatin-10 and LY2606368). Patients with high ERGs benefited more from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy than patients with low ERGs. In addition, the high ERGs subgroup had a higher T cell exclusion score, while the low ERGs subgroup had a higher T cell dysfunction. However, there was no difference in microsatellite instability (MSI) score among the two subgroups. Further, genome-wide CRISPR-based loss-of function screening derived from DepMap was conducted to determine key genes leading to HCC development and progression. In total, 640 genes were identified to be essential for survival in HCC cell lines. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network demonstrated that IRRGs PSEN1 was linked to most ERGs and CRISPR genes such as CDK1, TOP2A, CBX2 and CBX3.

Conclusion

Epigenetic alterations of cancer-related genes in the tumor microenvironment play a major role in carcinogenesis. This study showed that epigenetic-related novel biomarkers could be useful in predicting prognosis, clinical diagnosis, and management in HCC.

Development and Validation of a Pyroptosis-Related Long Non-coding RNA Signature for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive malignant disease, and numerous studies have demonstrated that an inflammatory environment can induce normal cells to transform into cancerous.

Methods: We integrated genomic data to comprehensively assess the association between pyroptosis and tumor microenvironment (TME) cell-infiltrating characteristics in HCC, as well as the potential molecular function and clinical significance of lncRNA.

Results: The analysis of CNV alteration frequency displayed that CNV changes were common in 33 PRGs, and most were focused on copy number amplification. As a result of lasso regression analysis, nine differentially expressed lncRNAs (AL031985.3, NRAV, OSMR-AS1, AC073611.1, MKLN1-AS, AL137186.2, AL049840.4, MIR4435-2HG, and AL118511.1) were selected as independent prognosis factors of HCC patients. Patients at high risk have poorer survival than those in the low-risk group in training and testing cohorts. A low-risk score was significantly associated with an IC50 of chemotherapeutics such as bortezomib (p < 0.001), but a high-risk score was significantly linked to docetaxel (p < 0.001), implying that signature served as a prospective predictor for chemosensitivity.

Conclusion: This work suggests pyroptosis-related lncRNAs features and their potential mechanisms on tumor microenvironment. The exploration may assist in identifying novel biomarkers and assist patients in predicting their prognosis, clinical diagnosis, and management.

Identification of Three Key Genes Associated with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression Based on Co-expression Analysis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in the world. Due to the recurrence of HCC, its survival rate is still low. Therefore, it is vital to seek prognostic biomarkers for HCC. In this study, differential analysis was conducted on gene expression data in The Cancer Genome Atlas -LIHC, and 4482 differentially expressed genes in tumor tissue were selected. Then, weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to analyze the co-expression of the gained differential genes. By module-trait correlation analysis, the turquoise gene module that was significantly related to tumor grade, pathologic_T stage, and clinical stage was identified. Thereafter, enrichment analysis of genes in this module uncovered that the genes were mainly enriched in the signaling pathways involved in spliceosome and cell cycle. After that, through correlation analysis, 18 hub genes highly correlated with tumor grade, clinical stage, pathologic_T stage, and the turquoise module were selected. Meanwhile, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by using genes in the module. Finally, three key genes, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L, serrate RNA effector molecule, and cyclin B2, were identified by intersecting the top 30 genes with the highest connectivity in PPI network and the previously obtained 18 hub genes in the turquoise module. Further survival analysis revealed that high expression of the three key genes predicted poor prognosis of HCC. These results indicated the direction for further research on clinical diagnosis and prognostic biomarkers of HCC.

Integrated analysis of the functions and prognostic values of RNA binding proteins in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, ranks as the fifth most common cancer and has been the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death. RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are proteins that interact with different classes of RNA and are commonly detected in cells.

Methods

We used RNA sequencing data from TCGA to display dysfunctional RBPs microenvironments and provide potential useful biomarkers for HCC diagnosis and prognosis.

Results

330 differently expressed RBPs (208 upregulated and 122 downregulated) were identified. KEGG were mainly enriched in RNA degradation, Influenza A, Hepatitis C, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway, Herpes simplex virus 1 infection and RNA transport. CBioPortal results demonstrated that these genes were altered in 50 samples out of 357 HCC patients (14%) and the amplification of BRCA1 was the largest frequent copy-number alteration.

Conclusion

Based on the online database, we identified novel RBPs markers for the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-021-01843-0.

Single sample scoring of hepatocellular carcinoma: A study based on data mining

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a high mortality malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Because the immune system plays a dual role by assisting the host barrier and tumor progression, there are complex interactions with considerable prognostic significance. Herein, we performed single-sample gene set enrichment (ssGSEA) to explore the tumor microenvironment (TME) and quantify the tumor-infiltrating immune cell (TIIC) subgroups of immune responses based on the HCC cohort of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We evaluate molecular subpopulations, survival, function, and expression differential associations, as well as reveal potential targets, and biomarkers for immunotherapy. We combined the TME score and the 29 immune cell types in the low, medium, and high immunity groups. The stromal score, immune score, and ESTIMATE score were positively correlated with immune activity but negatively correlated with the tumor purity. There were 23 human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-related genes that were significantly different. However, KIAA1429 was not significant among the different immunity groups. Besides, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) expression increased with the increase of immune activity. This may provide valuable information for HCC immunotherapy. We also found that there was no significant difference in naïve B cells, macrophages M1, activated mast cells, resting natural killer (NK) cells, and T cells gamma delta among the different immunity groups. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed that the differential proteins were mainly enriched in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) metabolism, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis-heparan sulfate/heparin, glycosphingolipid biosynthesis-ganglio series and proteasome. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the immune scene, uncovering remarkable immune infiltration patterns of various subtypes of HCC using ssGSEA. This study advances the understanding of immune response and provides a basis for research to enhance immunotherapy.

Factors influencing early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after curative resection

Objective

To identify the factors influencing early recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative resection.

Methods

Clinical data for 99 patients with HCC undergoing curative resection were analyzed. The clinicopathological factors influencing early recurrence were analyzed by Cox regression.

Results

Twenty-five of 99 patients (25.3%) suffered from early recurrence. There were significant differences between patients with and without recurrence in terms of tumor diameter, tumor capsular integrity, and preoperative alpha fetoprotein level. Cox regression analysis revealed that a tumor diameter >2.6 cm and preoperatively increased total bilirubin (TBL) level were risk factors for postoperative recurrence, while tumor capsular integrity had a protective effect on postoperative recurrence. After adjusting for preoperative TBL level and tumor capsular integrity, the risk of HCC recurrence was markedly increased in line with increasing tumor diameter in a non-linear manner.

Conclusion

Tumor diameter >2.6 cm and preoperatively increased TBL level are associated with a higher risk of early recurrence after curative resection in patients with HCC, while tumor capsular integrity is associated with a lower risk of early recurrence.

RPLP1 is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and promotes proliferation, invasion and migration of human hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3b cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common primary malignant tumor with a high mortality rate. Increasing evidence suggests that ribosomal protein LP1 (RPLP1) is involved in the progression of different types of cancer. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of RPLP1 in HCC progression. The cellular behaviors of Hep3b cells were assessed via Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, wound healing and Transwell assays. Western blot analysis was performed to detect protein expression levels, while reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis was performed to detect mRNA expression levels. The results demonstrated that RPLP1 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and cells, and the overexpression of RPLP1 was associated with a less favorable prognosis of patients with HCC. Notably, downregulation of RPLP1 significantly suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of Hep3b cells. Taken together, the results of the present study suggested that RPLP1 acts as an oncogene in HCC, and thus may be used to treat patients with HCC.

A Shock-Like Pain and Inability to Ambulate: Thoracic Spinal Cord Compression from Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma commonly metastasizes to organs, but there are few reports of vertebral metastases causing cord compression. Here, we present a case of thoracic cord compression in a patient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Providers' and patient's awareness of this risk is important, as this is an oncological emergency.

High CENPM mRNA expression and its prognostic significance in hepatocellular carcinoma: a study based on data mining

Background

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a high mortality disease, the fifth most general cancer worldwide, and the second leading to cancer-related deaths, with more than 500,000 new patients diagnosed each year. First, the high expression of centromere M (CENPM) in mammary gland tissue of b-catenin transformed mice was identified.

Materials and methods

In our study, we evaluated the expression of CENPM in hepatocellular carcinoma based on data obtained from an online database. Multivariate analysis showed that the expression of CENPM and M classification was an independent prognostic factor for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Results

Survival analysis showed that patients with high CENPM had a worse prognosis than patients with low CENPM (P < 0.01). A multivariate Cox regression hazard model showed that B cells, CD8+ T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells infiltrated by immune cells were statistically significant in liver cancer (P < 0.05). Using the network, the 50 most frequently changed neighbor genes of CENPM were shown, and the most common change was RAD21 (18.3%).

Conclusion

Our study found that the expression of CENPM was significantly increased in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and it was related to a variety of clinical characteristics, its correlation with the level of immune infiltration and poor prognosis, so CENPM can be used as a useful prognosis for patients' markers and HCC.

Identification of a protein signature for predicting overall survival of hepatocellular carcinoma: a study based on data mining

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Over 500,000 new HCC cases are diagnosed each year. Combining advanced genomic analysis with proteomic characterization not only has great potential in the discovery of useful biomarkers but also drives the development of new diagnostic methods.

METHODS

This study obtained proteomic data from Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) and validated in The Cancer Proteome Atlas (TCPA) and TCGA dataset to identify HCC biomarkers and the dysfunctional of proteogenomics.

RESULTS

The CPTAC database contained data for 159 patients diagnosed with Hepatitis-B related HCC and 422 differentially expressed proteins (112 upregulated and 310 downregulated proteins). Restricting our analysis to the intersection in survival-related proteins between CPTAC and TCPA database revealed four coverage survival-related proteins including PCNA, MSH6, CDK1, and ASNS.

CONCLUSION

This study established a novel protein signature for HCC prognosis prediction using data retrieved from online databases. However, the signatures need to be verified using independent cohorts and functional experiments.

Exosome-transmitted long non-coding RNA SENP3-EIF4A1 suppresses the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma

Extracellular communication mediated by exosomes in a tumor microenvironment can substantially affect tumor progression. However, the effect of exosomal long non-coding RNA SENP3-EIF4A1 on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. In this study, SENP3-EIF4A1 expressions in patients with HCC and healthy controls were detected and compared. Results showed that SENP3-EIF4A1 was significantly reduced in HCC tissues and exosomes from the plasma of patients with HCC (P<0.05) and was primarily encapsulated by exosomes. The patients with HCC and the healthy controls could be distinguished using exosomal SENP3-EIF4A1 (AUC=0.8028). The transfer of exosomal SENP3-EIF4A1 secreted by normal cells to HCC cells stimulated apoptosis and weakened the invasion and migration abilities of HCC cells to suppress their malignant biological behavior (P<0.05). Additionally, exosomal SENP3-EIF4A1 was capable of inhibiting tumor growth in vivo and modulating the expression of ZFP36 by competitively binding to miR-9-5p. In conclusion, exosomal SENP3-EIF4A1 is a new favorable biomarker for clinically detecting HCC, and SENP3-EIF4A1 can be transmitted by exosomes from normal cells to HCC cells to inhibit the in vitro and in vivo development of HCC. Thus, exosomal SENP3-EIF4A1 is involved in the communication between normal cells and HCC cells during the onset of HCC.

Exploration of the effects of the CYCLOPS gene RBM17 in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal and malignant tumours worldwide. New therapeutic targets for HCC are urgently needed. CYCLOPS (copy number alterations yielding cancer liabilities owing to partial loss) genes have been noted to be associated with cancer-targeted therapies. Therefore, we intended to explore the effects of the CYCLOPS gene RBM17 on HCC oncogenesis to determine if it could be further used for targeted therapy.

METHODS

We collected data on 12 types of cancer from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) queries for comparison with adjacent non-tumour tissues. RBM17 expression levels, clinicopathological factors and survival times were analysed. RNAseq data were downloaded from the Encyclopaedia of DNA Elements database for molecular mechanism exploration. Two representative HCC cell models were built to observe the proliferation capacity of HCC cells when RBM17 expression was inhibited by shRBM17. Cell cycle progression and apoptosis were also examined to investigate the pathogenesis of RBM17.

RESULTS

Based on 6,136 clinical samples, RBM17 was markedly overexpressed in most cancers, especially HCC. Moreover, data from 442 patients revealed that high RBM17 expression levels were related to a worse prognosis. Overexpression of RBM17 was related to the iCluster1 molecular subgroup, TNM stage, and histologic grade. Pathway analysis of RNAseq data suggested that RBM17 was involved in mitosis. Further investigation revealed that the proliferation rates of HepG2 (P = 0.003) and SMMC-7721 (P = 0.030) cells were significantly reduced when RBM17 was knocked down. In addition, RBM17 knockdown also arrested the progression of the cell cycle, causing cells to halt at the G2/M phase. Increased apoptosis rates were also found in vitro.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that RBM17 is a potential therapeutic target for HCC treatment.

A twenty gene-based gene set variation score reflects the pathological progression from cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma

The molecular mechanism of the pathological progression from cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains elusive. In the present study, tissue samples from normal liver, cirrhosis and HCC were subjected to differentially gene expression analysis, weighted gene correlation network analysis to identify the twenty hub genes (TOP2A, CDC20, PTTG1, CDCA5, CCNB2, PRC1, KIF20A, SF3B4, HSP90AB1, FOXD2, PLOD3, CCT3, SETDB1, VPS45, SPDL1, RACGAP1, MED24, KIAA0101, ZNF282, and USP21) in the pathological progression from cirrhosis to HCC. Each sample was calculated a hub gene set variation analysis (HGSVA) score using Gene Set Variation Analysis, The HGSVA score significantly increased with progression from cirrhosis to HCC, and this result was validated in two independent data sets. Moreover, this score may be used as a blood-based marker for HCC and is an independent prognostic factor of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). High expression of the hub genes may be driven by hypomethylation. The twenty gene-based gene set variation score may reflect the pathological progression from cirrhosis to HCC and is an independent prognostic factor for both OS and RFS.

Development and Validation of CAGIB Score for Evaluating the Prognosis of Cirrhosis with Acute Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Retrospective Multicenter Study

INTRODUCTION

Acute gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is a major cause of death in liver cirrhosis. This multicenter study aims to develop and validate a novel and easy-to-access model for predicting the prognosis of patients with cirrhosis and acute GIB.

METHODS

Patients with cirrhosis and acute GIB were enrolled and randomly divided into the training (n = 865) and validation (n = 817) cohorts. In the training cohort, the independent predictors for in-hospital death were identified by logistic regression analyses, and then a new prognostic model (i.e., CAGIB score) was established. Area under curve (AUC) of CAGIB score was calculated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and compared with Child-Pugh, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), MELD-Na, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) scores.

RESULTS

In the training cohort, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), diabetes, total bilirubin (TBIL), albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and serum creatinine (Scr) were independent predictors of in-hospital death. CAGIB score = diabetes (yes = 1, no = 0) × 1.040 + HCC (yes = 1, no = 0) × 0.974 + TBIL (μmol/L) × 0.005 - ALB (g/L) × 0.091 + ALT (U/L) × 0.001 + Scr (μmol/L) × 0.012 - 3.964. In the training cohort, the AUC of CAGIB score for predicting in-hospital death was 0.829 (95% CI 0.801-0.854, P < 0.0001), which was higher than that of Child-Pugh (0.762, 95% CI 0.732-0.791), MELD (0.778, 95% CI 0.748-0.806), MELD-Na (0.765, 95% CI 0.735-0.793), and NLR (0.587, 95% CI 0.553-0.620) scores. In the validation cohort, the AUC of CAGIB score (0.714, 95% CI 0.682-0.746, P = 0.0006) remained higher than that of Child-Pugh (0.693, 95% CI 0.659-0.725), MELD (0.662, 95% CI 0.627-0.695), MELD-Na (0.660, 95% CI 0.626-0.694), and NLR (0.538, 95% CI 0.503-0.574) scores.

CONCLUSION

CAGIB score has a good predictive performance for prognosis of patients with cirrhosis and acute GIB.

MicroRNAs play an essential role in autophagy regulation in various disease phenotypes

Autophagy is a highly conserved catabolic process and fundamental biological process in eukaryotic cells. It recycles intracellular components to provide nutrients during starvation and maintains quality control of organelles and proteins. In addition, autophagy is a well-organized homeostatic cellular process that is responsible for the removal of damaged organelles and intracellular pathogens. Moreover, it also modulates the innate and adaptive immune systems. Micro ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) are a mature class of post-transcriptional modulators that are widely expressed in tissues and organs. And, it can suppress gene expression by targeting messenger RNAs for translational repression or, at a lesser extent, degradation. Research indicates that microRNAs regulate autophagy through different pathways, playing an essential role in the treatment of various diseases. It is an important regulator of fundamental cellular processes such as proliferation, autophagy, and cell apoptosis. In this review article, we first review the current knowledge of autophagy and the function of microRNAs. Then, we summarize the mechanism of autophagy and the signaling pathways related to autophagy by citing at least the main proteins involved in the different phases of the process. Second, we introduce other members of RNA and report some examples in various pathologies. Finally, we review the current literature regarding microRNA-based therapies for cancer, atherosclerosis, cardiac disease, tuberculosis, and viral diseases. MicroRNAs can cause autophagy upregulation or downregulation by targeting genes or affecting autophagy-related signaling pathways. Therefore, the microRNAs have a huge potential in autophagy regulation, and it is the function as diagnostic and prognostic markers.

Exosome-Mediated MiR-155 Transfer Contributes to Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Proliferation by Targeting PTEN

BACKGROUND Most eukaryocytes release nano vesicles (30-120 nm), named exosomes, to various biological fluids such as blood, lymph, and milk. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the tumors with the highest incidence rate in primary malignant carcinoma of the liver. However, the mechanism of HCC proliferation remains elusive. In this study, we aim to explore whether HCC cell-derived exosomes affect the proliferation of cancer cells. MATERIAL AND METHODS Exosomes were isolated from HCC cells by ultracentrifugation and were visualized the phenotype by transmission electron microscopy. Cell proliferation was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 assays and EdU (5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine) incorporation assays. Dual-luciferase assays were performed to validate the paired correlation of miR-155 and 3'-UTR of PTEN (gene of phosphate and tension homology deleted on chromosome 10). A xenograft mice model was constructed to verify the effect of exosome-mediated miR-155 on cell proliferation in vivo. RESULTS Our finding showed that miR-155 was enriched in exosomes released from HCC cells. The exosome-containing miR-155 transferred into new HCC targeted cells and lead to the elevation of HCC cells' proliferation. Besides, the exosomal miR-155 directly bound to 3'-UTR of PTEN leading to the reduction of relevant targets in recipient liver cells. The knockdown of PTEN attenuated the proliferation of HCC cells treated with the exosomal miR-155. Moreover, nude-mouse experiment results revealed a promotional effect of the exosomal miR-155 on HCC cell-acquired xenografts. CONCLUSIONS Our study indicated that exosomal-specific miR-155 transfers to adjacent and/or more distant cells and stimulates the proliferation of HCC cells.

The Long Non-Coding RNA CASC2 Suppresses Cell Viability, Migration, and Invasion in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells by Directly Downregulating miR-183

PURPOSE

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignant tumor of liver cells. Researchers have reported that cancer susceptibility candidate 2 (CASC2), a long non-coding RNA, is down-regulated in various cancers, including HCC. Our study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism(s) of CASC2 in HCC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to analyze the expression of CASC2 and miR-183 in HCC tissues and cells. The viability of HCC SMMC-7721 and Huh-7 cells was detected through MTT assay. Colony formation assay was performed to assess the colony formation ability of HCC cells. The migration and invasion abilities of HCC cells were evaluated by Transwell assay. Western blot was conducted to examine levels of key Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway factors, C-myc, cyclinD, survivin, and β-catenin. The interaction between CASC2 and miR-183 was affirmed by bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay.

RESULTS

CASC2 was down-regulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, while miR-183 was up-regulated. The expression of miR-183 was negatively correlated with CASC2 expression in HCC tissues. Overexpression of CASC2 inhibited cell viability, colony formation, migration, and invasion in HCC cells, as well as Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activity. miR-183 was a downstream target of CASC2 and negatively regulated by CASC2. Introduction of miR-183 rescued CASC2-induced suppressive effects on HCC cell viability, colony formation, migration, and invasion and Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

CONCLUSION

CASC2 inhibited cell viability and the colony formation, migration, and invasion abilities of HCC cells by directly downregulating miR-183 through inactivation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

A Rare Presentation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Infiltrating the Gallbladder

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a solid tumor of the liver and one of the most common primary tumors of the liver. Lifestyle being a major risk factor for the development of HCC makes it a major public health concern worldwide. HCC rarely infiltrates the gall bladder because it rarely destroys the muscle layer and collagen fibers of the gallbladder wall. We report here a rare case of hepatocellular carcinoma that invaded the gallbladder and was initially misdiagnosed as primary gallbladder malignancy invading the liver.

Microvascular Invasion in HCC: The Molecular Imaging Perspective

Hepatocellular carcinoma represents the most frequent primary liver tumor; curative options are only surgical resection and liver transplantation. From 1996, Milan Criteria are applied in consideration of patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular for liver transplantation; nonetheless, more recently, Milan Criteria have been criticized because they appear over conservative. Apart from number and size of lesions and biomarker levels, which already have been associated with poorer prognosis, overall survival and recurrence rates after transplantation are affected also by the presence of vascular invasion. Microvascular invasion suggests a poor prognosis but it is often hard to detect before transplant. Diagnostic imaging and tumor markers may play an important role and become the main tools to define microvascular invasion. In particular, a possible role could be found for computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography. In this paper, we analyze the possible role of positron emission tomography as a preoperative imaging biomarker capable of predicting microvascular invasion in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and thus selecting optimal candidates for liver transplantation.