TNFAIP8 promotes the migration of clear cell renal cell carcinoma by regulating the EMT

Harnessing function of EMT in cancer drug resistance: a metastasis regulator determines chemotherapy response

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complicated molecular process that governs cellular shape and function changes throughout tissue development and embryogenesis. In addition, EMT contributes to the development and spread of tumors. Expanding and degrading the surrounding microenvironment, cells undergoing EMT move away from the main location. On the basis of the expression of fibroblast-specific protein-1 (FSP1), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), collagen, and smooth muscle actin (-SMA), the mesenchymal phenotype exhibited in fibroblasts is crucial for promoting EMT. While EMT is not entirely reliant on its regulators like ZEB1/2, Twist, and Snail proteins, investigation of upstream signaling (like EGF, TGF-β, Wnt) is required to get a more thorough understanding of tumor EMT. Throughout numerous cancers, connections between tumor epithelial and fibroblast cells that influence tumor growth have been found. The significance of cellular crosstalk stems from the fact that these events affect therapeutic response and disease prognosis. This study examines how classical EMT signals emanating from various cancer cells interfere to tumor metastasis, treatment resistance, and tumor recurrence.

Identification of neutrophil-related genes and development of a prognostic model for cholangiocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Cholangiocarcinoma is a prevalent gastrointestinal tumor with limited effective early diagnostic methods. The role of neutrophils in the context of cholangiocarcinoma remains largely unexplored.

METHODS

A comprehensive analysis was performed on a cohort of cholangiocarcinoma samples (TCGA-CHOL) from the TCGA database to investigate the relationship between cholangiocarcinoma and neutrophils. Methodologies included single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), differential expression analysis, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA).

RESULTS

The study identified a significant decrease of neutrophils in cholangiocarcinoma via ssGSEA. WGCNA and differential expression analysis led to the identification of a neutrophil-related gene module comprised of 1059 genes. Cluster 1, showing a higher proportion of neutrophils, was linked to better survival outcomes. GSEA disclosed downregulation of complement, inflammatory response and interferon response pathways in Cluster 2, hinting at possible cholangiocarcinoma development triggers. A notable upregulation of PD1, PD-L1 and CTLA4 was observed in Cluster 1, suggesting potential benefits from immunotherapy. A prognostic model was developed based on clinical data and expression levels of three prognostic genes (SOWAHD, TNFAIP8 and EBF3) showing satisfactory discrimination, calibration and clinical benefits. An overexpression of TNFAIP8 in cholangiocarcinoma cells was found, with its knockdown significantly inhibiting cell proliferation and migration.

CONCLUSIONS

This study elucidates a neutrophil-related gene module and prognostic genes, offering insights into the role of neutrophils in cholangiocarcinoma development and progression. It also introduces a clinical prediction model for enhanced prognosis assessment. These findings may lay the groundwork for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies in cholangiocarcinoma treatment.

PI3K/Akt signaling in urological cancers: Tumorigenesis function, therapeutic potential, and therapy response regulation

In addition to environmental conditions, lifestyle factors, and chemical exposure, aberrant gene expression and mutations involve in the beginning and development of urological tumors. Even in Western nations, urological malignancies are among the top causes of patient death, and their prevalence appears to be gender dependent. The prognosis for individuals with urological malignancies remains dismal and unfavorable due to the ineffectiveness of conventional treatment methods. PI3K/Akt is a popular biochemical mechanism that is activated in tumor cells as a result of PTEN loss. PI3K/Akt escalates growth and metastasis. Moreover, due to the increase in tumor cell viability caused by PI3K/Akt activation, cancer cells may acquire resistance to treatment. This review article examines the function of PI3K/Akt in major urological tumors including bladder, prostate, and renal tumors. In prostate, bladder, and kidney tumors, the level of PI3K and Akt are notably elevated. In addition, the activation of PI3K/Akt enhances the levels of Bcl-2 and XIAP, hence increasing the tumor cell survival rate. PI3K/Akt ] upregulates EMT pathways and matrix metalloproteinase expression to increase urological cancer metastasis. Furthermore, stimulation of PI3K/Akt results in drug- and radio-resistant cancers, but its suppression by anti-tumor drugs impedes the tumorigenesis.

New insight in urological cancer therapy: From epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to application of nano-biomaterials

A high number of cancer-related deaths (up to 90) are due to metastasis and simple definition of metastasis is new colony formation of tumor cells in a secondary site. In tumor cells, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) stimulates metastasis and invasion, and it is a common characteristic of malignant tumors. Prostate cancer, bladder cancer and renal cancer are three main types of urological tumors that their malignant and aggressive behaviors are due to abnormal proliferation and metastasis. EMT has been well-documented as a mechanism for promoting invasion of tumor cells and in the current review, a special attention is directed towards understanding role of EMT in malignancy, metastasis and therapy response of urological cancers. The invasion and metastatic characteristics of urological tumors enhance due to EMT induction and this is essential for ensuring survival and ability in developing new colonies in neighboring and distant tissues and organs. When EMT induction occurs, malignant behavior of tumor cells enhances and their tend in developing therapy resistance especially chemoresistance promotes that is one of the underlying reasons for therapy failure and patient death. The lncRNAs, microRNAs, eIF5A2, Notch-4 and hypoxia are among common modulators of EMT mechanism in urological tumors. Moreover, anti-tumor compounds such as metformin can be utilized in suppressing malignancy of urological tumors. Besides, genes and epigenetic factors modulating EMT mechanism can be therapeutically targeted for interfering malignancy of urological tumors. Nanomaterials are new emerging agents in urological cancer therapy that they can improve potential of current therapeutics by their targeted delivery to tumor site. The important hallmarks of urological cancers including growth, invasion and angiogenesis can be suppressed by cargo-loaded nanomaterials. Moreover, nanomaterials can improve chemotherapy potential in urological cancer elimination and by providing phototherapy, they mediate synergistic tumor suppression. The clinical application depends on development of biocompatible nanomaterials.

Inflammatory Networks in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Cancer-associated inflammation has been established as a hallmark feature of almost all solid cancers. Tumor-extrinsic and intrinsic signaling pathways regulate the process of cancer-associated inflammation. Tumor-extrinsic inflammation is triggered by many factors, including infection, obesity, autoimmune disorders, and exposure to toxic and radioactive substances. Intrinsic inflammation can be induced by genomic mutation, genome instability and epigenetic remodeling in cancer cells that promote immunosuppressive traits, inducing the recruitment and activation of inflammatory immune cells. In RCC, many cancer cell-intrinsic alterations are assembled, upregulating inflammatory pathways, which enhance chemokine release and neoantigen expression. Furthermore, immune cells activate the endothelium and induce metabolic shifts, thereby amplifying both the paracrine and autocrine inflammatory loops to promote RCC tumor growth and progression. Together with tumor-extrinsic inflammatory factors, tumor-intrinsic signaling pathways trigger a Janus-faced tumor microenvironment, thereby simultaneously promoting or inhibiting tumor growth. For therapeutic success, it is important to understand the pathomechanisms of cancer-associated inflammation, which promote cancer progression. In this review, we describe the molecular mechanisms of cancer-associated inflammation that influence cancer and immune cell functions, thereby increasing tumor malignancy and anti-cancer resistance. We also discuss the potential of anti-inflammatory treatments, which may provide clinical benefits in RCCs and possible avenues for therapy and future research.

Association of TNFAIP8 gene polymorphisms with cancer risk in Chinese population

As TNFAIP8 plays an important role in the development of cancer, several studies have analyzed the relationship between potential functional polymorphic loci of the TNFAIP8 gene and cancer risk. However, some results were inconsistent. Therefore, the current study aims to systematically assess the relationship between these genetic polymorphisms and cancer risk using a meta-analysis approach. Relevant studies were obtained from CNKI, Embase, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. RevMan software was used to conduct data analysis. The combined analysis containing four studies with 2786 cancer patients and 2550 control individuals indicated that rs11064 polymorphism was not associated with cancer risk. The pooled analysis containing three studies with 950 cancer patients and 1036 control individuals showed that rs1045241 polymorphism was associated with cancer risk in the heterozygous model (CT vs. CC: OR = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.10-1.62, P_z=0.003) and dominant model [(TT + CT) vs. CC: OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.15-1.66, P_z=0.0006], but not in other models. The pooled analysis containing two studies 436 cancer patients and 479 control individuals showed that rs1045242 polymorphism was associated with cancer risk in the heterozygous model (AG vs. AA: OR = 1.52, 95%CI = 1.14-2.03, P_z=0.005), dominant model [(GG + AG) vs. AA: OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.18-2.07, P_z=0.002] and allelic model (G vs. A: OR = 1.48, 95%CI = 1.16-1.90, P_z=0.002).In conclusion, the current findings suggest that the rs1045241 and rs1045242 polymorphisms located on the TNFAIP8 gene were associated with cancer risk in Chinese population, and may serve as valuable genetic susceptibility markers.

Tumor necrosis factor-α induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8/TIPE) family is differentially expressed in oral cancer and regulates tumorigenesis through Akt/mTOR/STAT3 signaling cascade

BACKGROUND

Highest incidence of oral cancer is reported in India with reduced survival rate in the advanced stages due to lack of effective biomarkers. Therefore, it is essential to develop novel biomarkers for the better management of this disease. In the current study, TNFAIP8/TIPE protein family comprising of four proteins is explored for its role in oral cancer.

METHODS

IHC analysis of oral cancer TMA and Western blot analysis of tobacco treated oral cancer cells were performed to determine the differential expression of TIPE proteins in oral cancer. Further, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing was done to generate TIPE proteins' knockouts and MTT, colony formation, wound healing, cell cycle and Western blot analysis were performed to determine the effect of gene knockouts on various cancer hallmarks and the associated molecular targets of TIPE proteins.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

IHC results revealed that expression of TIPE, TIPE2 and TIPE3 were upregulated and TIPE1 was downregulated in oral cancer tissues compared to normal tissues. Similar results were observed upon treating oral cancer cells with tobacco carcinogens. Furthermore, knockout of TIPE or TIPE2 or TIPE3 significantly reduced the survival, proliferation, colony formation and migration of oral cancer cells whereas knockout of TIPE1 had an opposite effect. Further, TIPE, TIPE2 and TIPE3 knockout-mediated inhibition of proliferation was associated with inhibition of cell cycle progression at S or G2/M phases, and downregulation of proteins involved in cancer progression. We found that TIPE, TIPE1 and TIPE2 proteins regulate oral cancer progression through modulation of Akt/mTOR signaling cascade, whereas TIPE3 acts through an Akt-independent mTOR/STAT3 pathway.

CONCLUSION

Collectively, the TIPE proteins were proved to play significant roles in the progression of oral cancer thus warranting research and clinic attention for their therapeutic and prognostic values and raising the importance of specific targeting of TIPE proteins in cancer treatment.

Decoupling tumor cell metastasis from growth by cellular pilot protein TNFAIP8

Cancer metastasis accounts for nearly 90% of all cancer deaths. Metastatic cancer progression requires both cancer cell migration to the site of the metastasis and subsequent proliferation after colonization. However, it has long been recognized that cancer cell migration and proliferation can be uncoupled; but the mechanism underlying this paradox is not well understood. Here we report that TNFAIP8 (tumor necrosis factor-α-induced protein 8), a "professional" transfer protein of phosphoinositide second messengers, promotes cancer cell migration or metastasis but inhibits its proliferation or cancer growth. TNFAIP8-deficient mice developed larger tumors, but TNFAIP8-deficient tumor cells completely lost their ability to migrate toward chemoattractants and were defective in colonizing lung tissues as compared to wild-type counterparts. Mechanistically, TNFAIP8 served as a cellular "pilot" of tumor cell migration by locally amplifying PI3K-AKT and Rac signals on the cell membrane facing chemoattractant; at the same time, TNFAIP8 also acted as a global inhibitor of tumor cell growth and proliferation by regulating Hippo signaling pathway. These findings help explain the migration-proliferation paradox of cancer cells that characterizes many cancers.

Long non-coding RNA ARAP1-AS1 contributes to cell proliferation and migration in clear cell renal cell carcinoma via the miR-361-3p/placental growth factor axis

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. Therefore, investigating the molecular mechanism of ccRCC is important for ccRCC treatment. Here, we aimed to explore the effect of the long non-coding RNA ARAP1-AS1/miR-361-3p/PGF axis on ccRCC. The expression of lncRNA ARAP1-AS1, miR-361-3p, and placental growth factor (PGF) in ccRCC cells was verified by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The influence of the ARAP1-AS1/miR-361-3p/PGF axis on ccRCC cells was identified using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, and wound healing assay. The interaction between ARAP1-AS1, miR-361-3p, and PGF was confirmed by bioinformatics analysis and luciferase assay. The results showed that the levels of ARAP1-AS1 and PGF increased in ccRCC cells, while miR-361-3p expression decreased. Cell functional experiments showed that cell proliferation and migration were inhibited by silencing ARAP1-AS1 or PGF, while miR-361-3p inhibitor or PGF overexpression could relieve the inhibitory effect of silencing ARAP1-AS1 on ccRCC cells. Moreover, ARAP1-AS1 sponges miR-361-3p to increase PGF expression. In conclusion, our study revealed that ARAP1-AS1 enhanced the malignancy of ccRCC cells by regulating the miR-361-3p/PGF axis.

Knockdown of circ_0004104 Alleviates Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein-Induced Vascular Endothelial Cell Injury by Regulating miR-100/TNFAIP8 Axis

ABSTRACT

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a common cardiovascular disease, mainly due to vascular endothelial cell (VEC) injury caused by atherosclerosis. Circular RNA has been shown to be involved in the regulation of various diseases. However, the role and mechanism of circ_0004104 in CAD are still unclear. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) was used to construct the VEC injury model in vitro. The expression levels of circ_0004104 and miR-100 were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The proliferation of VECs was determined using 3-(45)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-35-di-phenytetrazoliumromide assay and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine staining assay. VEC apoptosis rate was assessed using flow cytometry, and caspase-3 activity was measured using a Caspase-3 Assay Kit. The protein expression levels of Ki-67, cleaved-caspase3, and tumor necrosis factor-α-induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8) were detected by western blot analysis. Furthermore, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to assess the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines. In addition, the relationship between miR-100 and circ_0004104 or TNFAIP8 was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay and biotin-labeled RNA pull-down assay. Our results revealed that circ_0004104 was upregulated and miR-100 was downregulated in patients with CAD and ox-LDL-induced VECs. Ox-LDL could inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis and inflammation of VECs to induce VEC injury. However, silenced circ_0004104 could alleviate VEC injury induced by ox-LDL. Moreover, we found that circ_0004104 could sponge miR-100 and a miR-100 inhibitor could reverse the inhibition effect of circ_0004104 knockdown on ox-LDL-induced VEC injury. In addition, TNFAIP8 was a target of miR-100, and miR-100 alleviated ox-LDL-induced VEC injury by targeting TNFAIP8. Our data suggested that circ_0004104 promoted ox-LDL-induced VEC injury by the miR-100/TNFAIP8 axis, indicating that circ_0004104 might be a potential biomarker for CAD treatment.

Overexpression of Tumour Necrosis Factor-α-Induced Protein 8 is Associated with Prognosis in Colon Cancer

Purpose

The present study aimed to examine the association of tumour necrosis factor-α-induced protein 8 (TIPE) expression levels with clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with colon cancer following surgery.

Patients and Methods

The present study included 200 patients with colon cancer who underwent colon resection between June 2011 and October 2012. All follow-ups were censored in July 2020, with a median follow-up time of 62.25 months. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to determine predictors for the overall survival rate.

Results

High expression of TIPE was associated with lymph node metastasis, higher Dukes' stage and right-sided colon cancer (RCC). An exploratory subgroup analysis found that high expression of TIPE was associated with age ≥65, lymphatic invasion and higher Dukes' stage only in the RCC group (P<0.05), whereas no similar trend was observed in the left-sided colon cancer (LCC) subgroup. Age ≥65, differentiation, lymph node metastasis and TIPE expression levels were independent prognostic factors influencing the survival rate of patients with colon cancer following surgery in multivariate Cox analysis (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the immunoreactive score of TIPE had good predictive value for five-year survival rates (AUC=0.727) and lymph node metastasis (AUC=0.760) among patients with RCC. Survival analysis revealed that the expression of TIPE had a significant impact on survival, and higher expression levels suggested a worse prognosis.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that TIPE may be a novel biomarker for predicting the survival outcome and lymph node metastasis. TIPE was overexpressed in colon cancer tissue and significantly associated with poor patient survival, especially in patients with RCC.

A Novel mRNA-miRNA Regulatory Sub-Network Associated With Prognosis of Metastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a urinary disease with high incidence. The high incidence of metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with ccRCC. This study was aimed to identify the gene signatures during the metastasis of ccRCC.

Methods

Two datasets, including one gene expression profile dataset and one microRNA (miRNA) expression profile dataset, were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The integrated bioinformatics analysis was performed using the (limma) R package, miRWalk, DAVID, STRING, Kaplan-Meier plotter databases. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was conducted to validate the expression of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and DE-miRNAs.

Results

In total, 84 DEGs (68 up-regulated and 16 down-regulated) and 41 DE-miRNAs (24 up-regulated and 17 down-regulated) were screened from GSE22541 and GSE37989 datasets, respectively. Furthermore, 11 hub genes and 3 key miRNAs were identified from the PPI network, including FBLN1, THBS2, SCGB1A1, NKX2-1, COL11A1, DCN, LUM, COL1A1, COL6A3, SFTPC, SFTPB, miR-328, miR-502, and miR-504. The qPCR data showed that most of the selected genes and miRNAs were consistent with that in our integrated analysis. A novel mRNA-miRNA network, SFTPB-miR-328-miR-502-miR-504-NKX2-1 was found in metastatic ccRCC after the combination of data from expression, survival analysis, and experiment validation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, key candidate genes and miRNAs were identified and a novel mRNA-miRNA network was constructed in ccRCC metastasis using integrated bioinformatics analysis and qPCR validation, which might be utilized as diagnostic biomarkers and molecular targets of metastatic ccRCC.

The enigmatic role of TIPE2 in asthma

Unlike other members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8/TIPE) family that play a carcinogenic role and regulate apoptosis, TNFAIP8-like 2 (TIPE2) can not only maintain immune homeostasis but also regulate inflammation. TIPE2 mainly restrains the activation of T cell receptor (TCR) and Toll-like receptors (TLR), regulating its downstream signaling pathways, thereby regulating inflammation. Interestingly, TIPE2 is abnormally expressed in many inflammatory diseases and may promote or inhibit inflammation in different diseases. This review summarizes the molecular target and cellular function of TIPE2 in immune cells and inflammatory diseases and the underlying mechanism by which TIPE2 regulates inflammation. The function and mechanism of TIPE2 in asthma is also explained in detail. TIPE2 is abnormally expressed in asthma and participates in the pathogenesis of different phenotypes of asthma through regulating multiple inflammatory cells' activity and function. Considering the indispensable role of TIPE2 in asthma, TIPE2 may be an effective therapeutic target in asthma. However, the available data are insufficient to provide a full understanding of the complex role of TIPE2 in human asthma. Further study is still necessary to explore the possible mechanism and functions of TIPE2 in different asthma phenotypes.