Targeting BCL10 by small peptides for the treatment of B cell lymphoma

Identification of new candidate drugs for primary Sjögren's syndrome using a drug repurposing transcriptomic approach

OBJECTIVES

To date, no immunomodulatory drug has demonstrated its efficacy in primary SS (pSS). We sought to analyse potential commonalities between pSS transcriptomic signatures and signatures of various drugs or specific knock-in or knock-down genes.

METHODS

Gene expression from peripheral blood samples of patients with pSS was compared with that of healthy controls in two cohorts and three public databases. In each of the five datasets, we analysed the 150 most up- and downregulated genes between pSS patients and controls with regard to the differentially expressed genes resulting from the biological action on nine cell lines of 2837 drugs, 2160 knock-in and 3799 knock-down genes in the Connectivity Map database.

RESULTS

We analysed 1008 peripheral blood transcriptomes from five independent studies (868 patients with pSS and 140 healthy controls). Eleven drugs could represent potential candidate drugs, with histone deacetylases and PI3K inhibitors among the most significantly associated. Twelve knock-in genes were associated with a pSS-like profile and 23 knock-down genes were associated with a pSS-revert profile. Most of those genes (28/35, 80%) were interferon-regulated.

CONCLUSION

This first drug repositioning transcriptomic approach in SS confirms the interest of targeting interferons and identifies histone deacetylases and PI3K inhibitors as potential therapeutic targets.

BCL10 correlates with bad prognosis and immune infiltration of tumor microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma

It has been reported that B-cell CLL-lymphoma 10 (BCL10) serves as an oncogene in cervical cancer. However, the roles of BCL10 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), especially involved in immune infiltration remain not clear. This study aims to explore the relationship between BCL10 and the prognosis and clinical significance, and immune infiltration in HCC. The expression of BCL10 was analyzed between HCC samples and non-tumor samples in the multiple datasets. In addition, the prognostic values of BCL10 and its methylation in HCC were also investigated. The clinical significance of BCL10 has also been explored. Furthermore, the correlation between BCL10 and immune infiltration in HCC microenvironment was assessed. Finally, the biological behaviors of BCL10 in HCC were verified by cell function experiments. It was found that the expression levels of BCL10 were increased in HCC patients in multiple datasets. Moreover, the increased BCL10 and its reduced methylation were associated with the poor survival. BCL10 was significantly associated with immune infiltration. When BCL10 was knocked down in HCC cells, their proliferation ability was significantly inhibited, their migration was significantly decreased, their apoptosis was significantly increased, and AKT signaling pathway was inhibited. In conclusion, BCL10 is a potential prognostic and diagnostic biomarker related to immune infiltration in HCC microenvironment.

Cell-Penetrating Peptide Conjugated Au Nanoclusters Selectively Suppress Refractory Lymphoma Cells via Targeting Both Canonical and Noncanonical NF-κB Signaling Pathways

Activated B cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (ABC-DLBCL) is the most aggressive form of DLBCL, with a significantly inferior prognosis due to resistance to the standard R-CHOP immunochemotherapy. Survival of ABC-DLBCL cells addicted to the constitutive activations of both canonical and noncanonical NF-κB signaling makes them attractive therapeutic targets. However, a pharmaceutical approach simultaneously targeting the canonical and noncanonical NF-κB pathway in the ABC-DLBCL cell is still lacking. Peptide-conjugated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged unique intrinsic biomedical activities and possess a great potential in cancer theranostics. Here, we demonstrated a Au₂₅ nanocluster conjugated by cell-penetrating peptides that can selectively repress the growth of ABC-DLBCL cells by inducing efficient apoptosis, more efficiently than glutathione (GSH)-conjugated AuNCs. The mechanism study showed that the cell-penetrating peptides enhanced the cellular internalization efficiency of AuNCs, and the selective repression in ABC-DLBCL cells is due to the inhibition of inherent constitutive canonical and noncanonical NF-κB activities by AuNCs. Several NF-κB target genes involved in chemotherapy resistance in ABC-DLBCL cells, including anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members and DNA damage repair proteins, were effectively down-regulated by the AuNC. The emerged novel activity of AuNCs in targeting both arms of NF-κB signaling in ABC-DLBCL cells may provide a promising candidate and a new insight into the rational design of peptide-conjugated Au nanomedicine for molecular targeting treatment of refractory lymphomas.

Identification and validation of a seven-gene prognostic marker in colon cancer based on single-cell transcriptome analysis

Colon cancer (CC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed tumours worldwide. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) can accurately reflect the heterogeneity within and between tumour cells and identify important genes associated with cancer development and growth. In this study, scRNA-seq was used to identify reliable prognostic biomarkers in CC. ScRNA-seq data of CC before and after 5-fluorouracil treatment were first downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The data were pre-processed, and dimensionality reduction was performed using principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding algorithms. Additionally, the transcriptome data, somatic variant data, and clinical reports of patients with CC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Seven key genes were identified using Cox regression analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method to establish signatures associated with CC prognoses. The identified signatures were validated on independent datasets, and somatic mutations and potential oncogenic pathways were further explored. Based on these features, gene signatures, and other clinical variables, a more effective predictive model nomogram for patients with CC was constructed, and a decision curve analysis was performed to assess the utility of the nomogram. A prognostic signature consisting of seven prognostic-related genes, including CAV2, EREG, NGFRAP1, WBSCR22, SPINT2, CCDC28A, and BCL10, was constructed and validated. The proficiency and credibility of the signature were verified in both internal and external datasets, and the results showed that the seven-gene signature could effectively predict the prognosis of patients with CC under various clinical conditions. A nomogram was then constructed based on features such as the RiskScore, patients' age, neoplasm stage, and tumor (T), nodes (N), and metastases (M) classification, and the nomogram had good clinical utility. Higher RiskScores were associated with a higher tumour mutational burden, which was confirmed to be a prognostic risk factor. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that high-score groups were enriched in 'cytoplasmic DNA sensing', 'Extracellular matrix receptor interactions', and 'focal adhesion', and low-score groups were enriched in 'natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity', and 'T-cell receptor signalling pathways', among other pathways. A robust seven-gene marker for CC was identified based on scRNA-seq data and was validated in multiple independent cohort studies. These findings provide a new potential marker to predict the prognosis of patients with CC.

Post-translational modification of MALT1 and its role in B cell- and T cell-related diseases

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1 (MALT1) is a multifunctional protein. MALT1 functions as an adaptor protein to assemble and recruit proteins such as B-cell lymphoma 10 (BCL10) and caspase-recruitment domain (CARD)-containing coiled-coil protein 11 (CARD11). Conversely it also acts as a paracaspase to cleave specified substrates. Because of its involvement in immunity, inflammation and cancer through its dual functions of scaffolding and catalytic activity, MALT1 is becoming a promising therapeutic target in B cell- and T cell-related diseases. There is growing evidence that the function of MALT1 is subtly modulated via post-translational modifications. This review summarized recent progress in relevant studies regarding the physiological and pathophysiological functions of MALT1, post-translational modifications of MALT1 and its role in B cell- and T cell- related diseases. In addition, the current available MALT1 inhibitors were also discussed.

CARD9 Regulation and its Role in Cardiovascular Diseases

Caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 9 (CARD9) is an adaptor protein expressed on myeloid cells and located downstream of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which transduces signals involved in innate immunity. CARD9 deficiency is associated with increased susceptibility to various fungal diseases. Increasing evidence shows that CARD9 mediates the activation of p38 MAPK, NF-κB, and NLRP3 inflammasome in various CVDs and then promotes the production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which contribute to cardiac remodeling and cardiac dysfunction in certain cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Moreover, CARD9-mediated anti-apoptosis and autophagy are implicated in the progression of CVDs. Here, we summarize the structure and function of CARD9 in innate immunity and its various roles in inflammation, apoptosis, and autophagy in the pathogenesis of CVDs. Furthermore, we discuss the potential therapies targeting CARD9 to prevent CVDs and raise some issues for further exploring the role of CARD9 in CVDs.