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Ragozzino E, Bortolani S, Di Pietro L, Papait A, Parolini O, Monforte M, Tasca G, Ricci E. Muscle fibrosis as a prognostic biomarker in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy: a retrospective cohort study. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2023; 11:165. [PMID: 37849014 PMCID: PMC10583430 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-023-01660-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant epigenetic disorder with highly variable muscle involvement and disease progression. Ongoing clinical trials, aimed at counteracting muscle degeneration and disease progression in FSHD patients, increase the need for reliable biomarkers. Muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies showed that the appearance of STIR-positive (STIR+) lesions in FSHD muscles represents an initial stage of muscle damage, preceding irreversible adipose changes. Our study aimed to investigate fibrosis, a parameter of muscle degeneration undetectable by MRI, in relation to disease activity and progression of FSHD muscles. We histologically evaluated collagen in FSHD1 patients' (STIR+ n = 27, STIR- n = 28) and healthy volunteers' (n = 12) muscles by picrosirius red staining. All patients (n = 55) performed muscle MRI before biopsy, 45 patients also after 1 year and 36 patients also after 2 years. Fat content (T1 signal) and oedema/inflammation (STIR signal) were evaluated at baseline and at 1- and 2-year MRI follow-up. STIR+ muscles showed significantly higher collagen compared to both STIR- (p = 0.001) and healthy muscles (p < 0.0001). STIR- muscles showed a higher collagen content compared to healthy muscles (p = 0.0194). FSHD muscles with a worsening in fatty infiltration during 1- (P = 0.007) and 2-year (P < 0.0001) MRI follow-up showed a collagen content of 3.6- and 3.7-fold higher compared to FSHD muscles with no sign of progression. Moreover, the fibrosis was significantly higher in STIR+ muscles who showed a worsening in fatty infiltration in a timeframe of 2 years compared to both STIR- (P = 0.0006) and STIR+ muscles with no sign of progression (P = 0.02). Fibrosis is a sign of muscle degeneration undetectable at MRI never deeply investigated in FSHD patients. Our data show that 23/27 of STIR+ and 12/28 STIR- muscles have a higher amount of collagen deposition compared to healthy muscles. Fibrosis is higher in FSHD muscles with a worsening in fatty infiltration thus suggesting that its evaluation with innovative non-invasive techniques could be a candidate prognostic biomarker for FSHD, to be used to stratify patients and to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elvira Ragozzino
- Dipartimento Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
| | - Sara Bortolani
- Unità Operativa Complessa di Neurologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Lorena Di Pietro
- Dipartimento Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Papait
- Dipartimento Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Ornella Parolini
- Dipartimento Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Mauro Monforte
- Unità Operativa Complessa di Neurologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Giorgio Tasca
- Unità Operativa Complessa di Neurologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
- John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
| | - Enzo Ricci
- Unità Operativa Complessa di Neurologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
- Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
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Hu X, Li D, Zhu H, Yu T, Xiong X, Xu X. ATP6V1F is a novel prognostic biomarker and potential immunotherapy target for hepatocellular carcinoma. BMC Med Genomics 2023; 16:188. [PMID: 37587505 PMCID: PMC10428557 DOI: 10.1186/s12920-023-01624-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest malignancies worldwide, with late detection, ineffective treatment and poor overall survival. Immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy, holds great potential for treatment of HCC. Although some patients respond well to ICIs, many fail to obtain a significant benefit. It is therefore of great interest to find appropriate markers to stratify patient responses to immunotherapy and to explore suitable targets for modulating the TME and immune cell infiltration. ATP6V1F encodes a constituent of vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase). V-ATPase-mediated acidification of organelles is required for intracellular processes such as zymogen activation, receptor-mediated endocytosis, protein sorting and synaptic vesicle proton gradient generation. In this study, we confirmed for the first time that ATP6V1F is overexpressed in HCC and related to poor prognosis in these patients. We identified that overexpression of ATP6V1F is associated with infiltration of some immune cells and expression of several immune checkpoints. Furthermore, we explored the possible mechanisms of action of ATP6V1F. Finally, we conducted in vitro experiments, including wound healing, Transwell invasion, and apoptosis assays, to verify that ATP6V1F promotes development of HCC by promoting migration and invasion and inhibiting apoptosis of HCC cells. Our findings will contribute to providing precise immunotherapy to patients with HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyao Hu
- Cancer Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Dan Li
- Department of Pharmacy, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Hua Zhu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Tao Yu
- Department of Oncology, Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Xiaoxing Xiong
- Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
| | - Ximing Xu
- Cancer Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
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Li S, Li Q, Zhang L, Qi Y, Bai H. M6A RNA methylation modification and tumor immune microenvironment in lung adenocarcinoma. Biophys Rep 2023; 9:146-158. [PMID: 38028153 PMCID: PMC10648234 DOI: 10.52601/bpr.2023.220020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Lung adenocarcinoma is one of the deadliest tumors. Studies have shown that N6-methyladenosine RNA methylation regulators, as a dynamic chemical modification, affect the occurrence and development of lung adenocarcinoma. To investigate the relationship between mutations and expression levels of m6A regulators in lung adenocarcinoma, we investigated the mutations and expression levels of 38 m6A regulators. We found that mutations in m6A regulatory factors did not affect the changes in expression levels, and 19 differentially expressed genes were identified. All tumor samples were classified into two subtypes based on the expression levels of 19 differentially expressed m6A-regulated genes. Survival analysis showed significant differences in survival between the two subtypes. To explore the relationship between immune cell infiltration and survival in both subtypes, we calculated the infiltration of 23 immune cells in both subtypes, and we found that the subtype with high immune cell infiltration had better survival. We found that subtypes with low tumor purity and high stromal and immune scores had better survival. The m6A-related immune genes were identified by taking the intersection of differentially expressed genes and immune genes in the two isoforms and calculating the Pearson correlation coefficients between the intersecting immune genes and the differentially expressed m6A-regulated genes. Finally, a prognostic model associated with m6A and associated with immunity was developed using prognostic genes screened from m6A-associated immune genes. The predictive power of the model was evaluated and our model was able to achieve good prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shujuan Li
- Laboratory of Theoretical Biophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
| | - Qianzhong Li
- Laboratory of Theoretical Biophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
- The State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010070, China
| | - Luqiang Zhang
- Laboratory of Theoretical Biophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
| | - Yechen Qi
- Laboratory of Theoretical Biophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
| | - Hui Bai
- Laboratory of Theoretical Biophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
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Pu Z, Liu J, Liu Z, Peng F, Zhu Y, Wang X, He J, Yi P, Hu X, Fan X, Chen J. STING pathway contributes to the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and identification of prognostic gene signatures correlated to tumor microenvironment. Cancer Cell Int 2022; 22:314. [PMID: 36224658 PMCID: PMC9554977 DOI: 10.1186/s12935-022-02734-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant solid tumors worldwide. Recent evidence shows that the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway is essential for anti-tumor immunity via inducing the production of downstream inflammatory cytokines. However, its impact on the prognosis and tumor microenvironment of HCC was still limited known. Methods We obtained gene expression profiles of HCC from GEO, TCGA, and ICGC databases, and immune-related genes (IRGs) from the ImmPort database. Multivariate Cox regression was performed to identify independent prognostic factors. Nomogram was established to predict survival probability for individual patients. Kaplan–Meier curve was used to evaluate the survival difference. Afterward, ESTIMATE, TISCH, and TIMER databases were combined to assess the immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, the qPCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were done to evaluate gene expression, and in vitro cell models were built to determine cell migratory ability. Results We found that gene markers of NLRC3, STING1, TBK1, TRIM21, and XRCC6 within STING pathway were independent prognostic factors in HCC patients. Underlying the finding, a predictive nomogram was constructed in TCGA-training cohort and further validated in TCGA-all and ICGC datasets, showing credible performance. Experimentally, up-regulated TBK1 promotes the ability of HCC cell migration. Next, the survival-related immune-related co-expressed gene signatures (IRCGS) (VAV1, RHOA, and ZC3HAV1) were determined in HCC cohorts and their expression was verified in human HCC cells and clinical samples. Furthermore, survival-related IRCGS was associated with the infiltration of various immune cell subtypes in HCC, the transcriptional expression of prominent immune checkpoints, and immunotherapeutic response. Conclusion Collectively, we constructed a novel prognostic nomogram model for predicting the survival probability of individual HCC patients. Moreover, an immune-related prognostic gene signature was determined. Both might function as potential therapeutic targets for HCC treatment in the future. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-022-02734-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhangya Pu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China.,Department of Infectious Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Jinghua Liu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, Shandong, China
| | - Zelong Liu
- Division of Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Fang Peng
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Cancer Proteomics, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 41800, Hunan Province, China
| | - Yuanyuan Zhu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China.,NHC Key Laboratory of Cancer Proteomics, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 41800, Hunan Province, China
| | - Xiaofang Wang
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China
| | - Jiayan He
- Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Panpan Yi
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China
| | - Xingwang Hu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China.
| | - Xuegong Fan
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No. 87, Xiangya Rd, Kaifu District, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China.
| | - Jiang Chen
- Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Zaman S, Chobrutskiy BI, Patel JS, Callahan BM, Tong WL, Mihyu MM, Blanck G. MMP7 sensitivity of mutant ECM proteins: An indicator of melanoma survival rates and T-cell infiltration. Clin Biochem 2019; 63:85-91. [PMID: 30414845 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2018.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Revised: 10/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the potential impact of mutant ECM amino acids (AA) on melanoma-related matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP7) activity. DESIGN AND METHODS We applied a novel scripted algorithm, based on the MEROPS database, to reveal mutant-dependent sensitivity changes across the cancer genome atlas, melanoma dataset. RESULTS This approach revealed a strong bias in favor of mutant AA dependent protease sensitivity increases. Thus, melanoma specimens with relatively few mutations had only MMP7 mutant sensitive, ECM peptides. As mutations increased, melanoma specimens included mutant AA representing mostly increased sensitivity and a small but increasing number of mutant AA representing decreased MMP7 sensitivity. There was no detection of melanoma specimens with only decreases in MMP7 sensitivity. Furthermore, melanoma specimens with exclusively increased sensitivity and thereby only a few overall mutations represented reduced T-cell infiltrates and worse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the results indicated that changes in MMP7 sensitivity, attributable to mutant AA, have the potential of identifying patients with distinct survival outcomes as well as patients with cancer specimen immune activity.
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Zaman S, Chobrutskiy BI, Patel JS, Callahan BM, Tong WL, Blanck G. Mutant cytoskeletal and ECM peptides sensitive to the ST14 protease are associated with a worse outcome for glioblastoma multiforme. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2018; 503:2218-2225. [PMID: 29953855 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.06.141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Accepted: 06/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
We previously identified a set of the most frequently mutated cytoskeleton- and extracellular matrix-related proteins (CECMPs) in numerous cancer datasets. In this report, we used a bioinformatics approach to assess the impact of amino acid (AA) substitutions on the sensitivity of CECMPs to the ST14 protease (matriptase I), a transmembrane serine protease previously implicated in cancer development. Results indicated that AA substitutions in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) CECMPs are skewed toward increased resistance to the ST14 protease, in comparison to the wild-type peptide sequence. Furthermore, the protease resistant AA substitutions represent relatively high binding affinities to HLA class I proteins, when assessing the binding specificities using HLA class I alleles matched to the source of the mutant AA. Moreover, samples representing AA substitutions that increased protease sensitivity also represented reduced overall and disease-free survival periods for patients with glioblastoma. To assess tumor specimen immunogenicity, we identified T-cell receptor (TCR) V(D)J recombinations in GBM exome files. The overlap between ST14 protease sensitive mutant barcodes and the TCR V(D)J recombination read positive barcodes represented significantly reduced survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saif Zaman
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Boris I Chobrutskiy
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Jay S Patel
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Blake M Callahan
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Wei Lue Tong
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - George Blanck
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA; Immunology Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.
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