MicroRNA-148b enhances the radiosensitivity of B-cell lymphoma cells by targeting Bcl-w to promote apoptosis

MicroRNA Expression Profile in Bone Marrow and Lymph Nodes in B-Cell Lymphomas

Hodgkin's lymphomas (HL) and the majority of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) derive from different stages of B-cell differentiation. MicroRNA (miRNA) expression profiles change during lymphopoiesis. Thus, miRNA expression analysis can be used as a reliable diagnostic tool to differentiate tumors. In addition, the identification of miRNA's role in lymphopoiesis impairment is an important fundamental task. The aim of this study was to analyze unique miRNA expression profiles in different types of B-cell lymphomas. We analyzed the expression levels of miRNA-18a, -20a, -96, -182, -183, -26b, -34a, -148b, -9, -150, -451a, -23b, -141, and -128 in lymph nodes (LNs) in the following cancer samples: HL (n = 41), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (n = 51), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) (n = 15), follicular lymphoma (FL) (n = 12), and lymphadenopathy (LA) (n = 37), as well as bone marrow (BM) samples: HL (n = 11), DLBCL (n = 42), MCL (n = 14), FL (n = 16), and non-cancerous blood diseases (NCBD) (n = 43). The real-time RT-PCR method was used for analysis. An increase in BM expression levels of miRNA-26b, -150, and -141 in MCL (p < 0.01) and a decrease in BM levels of the miR-183-96-182 cluster and miRNA-451a in DLBCL (p < 0.01) were observed in comparison to NCBD. We also obtained data on increased LN levels of the miR-183-96-182 cluster in MCL (p < 0.01) and miRNA-18a, miRNA-96, and miRNA-9 in FL (p < 0.01), as well as decreased LN expression of miRNA-150 in DLBCL (p < 0.01), and miRNA-182, miRNA-150, and miRNA-128 in HL (p < 0.01). We showed that miRNA expression profile differs between BM and LNs depending on the type of B-cell lymphoma. This can be due to the effect of the tumor microenvironment.

Inducing apoptosis by using microRNA in radio-resistant prostate cancer: an in-silico study with an in-vitro validation

BACKGROUND

One of the problems with radiation therapy (RT) is that prostate tumor cells are often radio-resistant, which results in treatment failure. This study aimed to determine the procedure involved in radio-resistant prostate cancer apoptosis. For a deeper insight, we devoted a novel bioinformatics approach to analyze the targeting between microRNAs and radio-resistant prostate cancer genes.

METHOD

This study uses the Tarbase, and the Mirtarbase databases as validated experimental databases and mirDIP as a predicted database to identify microRNAs that target radio-resistant anti-apoptotic genes. These genes are used to construct the radio-resistant prostate cancer genes network using the online tool STRING. The validation of causing apoptosis by using microRNA was confirmed with flow cytometry of Annexin V.

RESULTS

The anti-apoptotic gene of radio-resistant prostate cancer included BCL-2, MCL1, XIAP, STAT3, NOTCH1, REL, REL B, BIRC3, and AKT1 genes. These genes were identified as anti-apoptotic genes for radio-resistant prostate cancer. The crucial microRNA that knockdown all of these genes was hsa-miR-7-5p. The highest rate of apoptotic cells in a cell transfected with hsa-miR-7-5p was (32.90 ± 1.49), plenti III (21.99 ± 3.72), and the control group (5.08 ± 0.88) in 0 Gy (P < 0.001); also, this rate was in miR-7-5p (47.01 ± 2.48), plenti III (33.79 ± 3.40), and the control group (16.98 ± 3.11) (P < 0.001) for 4 Gy.

CONCLUSION

The use of this new treatment such as gene therapy to suppress genes involved in apoptosis can help to improve the treatment results and increase the quality of life of patients with prostate cancer.

The role of BCL-2 family proteins in regulating apoptosis and cancer therapy

Apoptosis, as a very important biological process, is a response to developmental cues or cellular stress. Impaired apoptosis plays a central role in the development of cancer and also reduces the efficacy of traditional cytotoxic therapies. Members of the B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) protein family have pro- or anti-apoptotic activities and have been studied intensively over the past decade for their importance in regulating apoptosis, tumorigenesis, and cellular responses to anticancer therapy. Since the inflammatory response induced by apoptosis-induced cell death is very small, at present, the development of anticancer drugs targeting apoptosis has attracted more and more attention. Consequently, the focus of this review is to summarize the current research on the role of BCL-2 family proteins in regulating apoptosis and the development of drugs targeting BCL-2 anti-apoptotic proteins. Additionally, the mechanism of BCL-2 family proteins in regulating apoptosis was also explored. All the findings indicate the potential of BCL-2 family proteins in the therapy of cancer.

Comprehensive Analysis of RELL2 as a Potential Biomarker Associated with Tumor Immune Infiltrating Cells in a Pan-Cancer Analysis

Background

Receptor expressed in lymphoid tissues-like 2 (RELL2), which is a member of RELT family, is closely associated with the plasma membrane and acts as a modulator for RELT signaling. Overexpression of RELL2 induces the activation of MAPK14/p38 cascade and apoptosis. However, whether RELL2 contributes to cancers remains unclear. Here, we examined its role in cancer patient prognosis and various tumors.

Methods

We used several bioinformatics methods, specifically gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), ScanNeo, and ESTIMATE, to analyze the CCLE dataset, GTEx dataset, and TCGA dataset. We investigated the possible association of RELL2 with the microsatellite instability (MSI) of various tumors, tumor mutational burden (TMB), immune checkpoint, immune neoantigens, immune microenvironment, and patient prognosis.

Result

RELL2 is highly expressed in cancer compared with normal tissues. RELL2 expression is linked with worse progression-free interval and overall survival in numerous cancers. In most cancers, high RELL2 expression was related to a poor prognosis. RELL2 expression was significantly associated with the tumor microenvironment, MSI, and TMB. RELL2 expression is strongly associated with phenotypes that are of major clinical significance, particularly those associated with immune neoantigens and the expression profiles of immune checkpoint genes in pan-cancer. RELL2 expression strongly linked with the expressions of methyltransferases and DNA repair genes. It also significantly correlated with multiple signaling pathways through gene set enrichment analysis.

Conclusion

RELL2 may be a prognostic biomarker in pan-cancer and may have an important function in tumorigenesis and progression.

The emerging role non-coding RNAs in B cell-related disorders

Long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs have recently attained much attention regarding their role in the development of B cell lineage as well as participation in the lymphomagenesis. These transcripts have a highly cell type specific signature which endows them the potential to be used as biomarkers for clinical situations. Aberrant expression of several non-coding RNAs has been linked with B cell malignancies and immune related disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematous, asthma and graft-versus-host disease. Moreover, these transcripts can alter response of immune system to infectious conditions. miR-7, miR-16-1, miR-15a, miR-150, miR-146a, miR-155, miR-212 and miR-132 are among microRNAs whose role in the development of B cell-associated disorders has been investigated. Similarly, SNHG14, MALAT1, CRNDE, AL133346.1, NEAT1, SMAD5-AS1, OR3A4 and some other long non-coding RNAs participate in this process. In the current review, we describe the role of non-coding RNAs in B cell malignancies.

miRNA-148b and its role in various cancers

miRNA-148b belongs to the family miR-148/-152, with significant differences in nonseed sequences, which can target diverse mRNA molecules. Reportedly, it may undergo deregulation in lung and ovarian cancers and downregulation in gastric, pancreatic and colon cancers. However, there is a need for further studies to better characterize its mechanism of action and in different types of cancer. In this review, we focus on the aberrant expression of miR-148b in different cancer types and highlight its main target genes and signaling pathways, as well as its pathophysiologic role and relevance to tumorigenesis in several types of cancer.

miRNA-148a Enhances the Treatment Response of Patients with Rectal Cancer to Chemoradiation and Promotes Apoptosis by Directly Targeting c-Met

Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) who achieve a pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) have an excellent prognosis, but only approximately 30% of patients achieve pCR. Therefore, identifying predictors of pCR is imperative. We employed a microRNA (miRNA) microarray to compare the miRNA profiles of patients with LARC who achieved pCR (pCR group, n = 5) with those who did not (non-pCR group, n = 5). The validation set confirmed that miRNA-148a was overexpressed in the pCR group (n = 11) compared with the non-pCR group (n = 40). Cell proliferation and clonogenic assays revealed that miRNA-148a overexpression radio-sensitized cancer cells and inhibited cellular proliferation, before and after irradiation (p < 0.01). Apoptosis assays demonstrated that miRNA-148a enhanced apoptosis before and after irradiation. Reporter assays revealed that c-Met was the direct target gene of miRNA-148a. An in vivo study indicated that miRNA-148a enhanced the irradiation-induced suppression of xenograft tumor growth (p < 0.01). miRNA-148a may be a biomarker of pCR following NACRT and can promote apoptosis and inhibit proliferation in CRC cells by directly targeting c-Met in vitro and enhancing tumor response to irradiation in vivo.

Effects of miR-204 on apoptosis and inflammatory response of Clostridium perfringens beta2 toxin induced IPEC-J2 cells via targeting BCL2L2

Clostridium perfringens beta2 (CPB2) toxin can cause intestinal damage and inflammatory responses in a variety of animals, which seriously endanger the healthy development of animal husbandry. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) can play an important regulatory role in the process of pathogenic infection. In our previous study, we found that miR-204 was highly expressed in the ileum tissues of the susceptible group diarrhea piglets after infection with Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) type C. In this study, we found that miR-204 was also up-regulated in different time points after CPB2 toxin treatment. Overexpression of miR-204 promoted apoptosis and inflammatory response of intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-J2), whereas the opposite results were displayed after transfected with miR-204 inhibitor. Furthermore, the luciferase reporter assays confirmed that BCL2L2 was a direct target gene of miR-204. Interestingly, we found that overexpression BCL2L2 attenuated the apoptosis and inflammatory response of CPB2 toxin induced IPEC-J2 cells. In conclusion, these results find that miR-204 promotes the apoptosis and intensify inflammatory response of CPB2 toxin induced IPEC-J2 cells via targeting BCL2L2. These data provide a valuable reference for the piglets resistance diarrhea at the molecular level.