CD147: an integral and potential molecule to abrogate hallmarks of cancer

CD147 also known as EMMPRIN, basigin, and HAb18G, is a single-chain type I transmembrane protein shown to be overexpressed in aggressive human cancers of CNS, head and neck, breasts, lungs, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, skin, hematological, and musculoskeletal. In these malignancies, the molecule is integral to the diverse but complimentary hallmarks of cancer: it is pivotal in cancerous proliferative signaling, growth propagation, cellular survival, replicative immortality, angiogenesis, metabolic reprogramming, immune evasion, invasion, and metastasis. CD147 also has regulatory functions in cancer-enabling characteristics such as DNA damage response (DDR) and immune evasion. These neoplastic functions of CD147 are executed through numerous and sometimes overlapping molecular pathways: it transduces signals from upstream molecules or ligands such as cyclophilin A (CyPA), CD98, and S100A9; activates a repertoire of downstream molecules and pathways including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-2,3,9, hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF)-1/2α, PI3K/Akt/mTOR/HIF-1α, and ATM/ATR/p53; and also functions as an indispensable chaperone or regulator to monocarboxylate, fatty acid, and amino acid transporters. Interestingly, induced loss of functions to CD147 prevents and reverses the acquired hallmarks of cancer in neoplastic diseases. Silencing of Cd147 also alleviates known resistance to chemoradiotherapy exhibited by malignant tumors like carcinomas of the breast, lung, pancreas, liver, gastric, colon, ovary, cervix, prostate, urinary bladder, glioblastoma, and melanoma. Targeting CD147 antigen in chimeric and induced-chimeric antigen T cell or antibody therapies is also shown to be safer and more effective. Moreover, incorporating anti-CD147 monoclonal antibodies in chemoradiotherapy, oncolytic viral therapy, and oncolytic virus-based-gene therapies increases effectiveness and reduces on and off-target toxicity. This study advocates the expedition and expansion by further exploiting the evidence acquired from the experimental studies that modulate CD147 functions in hallmarks of cancer and cancer-enabling features and strive to translate them into clinical practice to alleviate the emergency and propagation of cancer, as well as the associated clinical and social consequences.

Amphiregulin blockade decreases the levodopa-induced dyskinesia in a 6-hydroxydopamine Parkinson's disease mouse model

BACKGROUND

Levodopa (L-DOPA) is considered the most reliable drug for treating Parkinson's disease (PD) clinical symptoms. Regrettably, long-term L-DOPA therapy results in the emergence of drug-induced abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs) in most PD patients. The mechanisms underlying motor fluctuations and dyskinesia induced by L-DOPA (LID) are still perplexing.

METHODS

Here, we first performed the analysis on the microarray data set (GSE55096) from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) repository and identified the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using linear models for microarray analysis (Limma) R packages from the Bioconductor project. 12 genes (Nr4a2, Areg, Tinf2, Ptgs2, Pdlim1, Tes, Irf6, Tgfb1, Serpinb2, Lipg, Creb3l1, Lypd1) were found to be upregulated. Six genes were validated on quantitative polymerase chain reaction and subsequently, Amphiregulin (Areg) was selected (based on log2 fold change) for further experiments to unravel its involvement in LID. Areg LV_shRNA was used to knock down Areg to explore its therapeutic role in the LID model.

RESULTS

Western blotting and immunofluorescence results show that AREG is significantly expressed in the LID group relative to the control. Dyskinetic movements in LID mice were alleviated by Areg knockdown, and the protein expression of delta FOSB, the commonly attributable protein in LID, was decreased. Moreover, Areg knockdown reduced the protein expression of P-ERK. In order to ascertain whether the inhibition of the ERK pathway (a common pathway known to mediate levodopa-induced dyskinesia) could also impede Areg, the animals were injected with an ERK inhibitor (PD98059). Afterward, the AIMs, AREG, and ERK protein expression were measured relative to the control group. A group treated with ERK inhibitor had a significant decrease of AREG and phosphorylated ERK protein expression relative to the control group.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, our results indicate unequivocal involvement of Areg in levodopa-induced dyskinesia, thus a target for therapy development.

The prognostic value of the preoperative inflammatory index on the survival of glioblastoma patients

OBJECTIVES

The growth and development of tumors are closely related to the initiation and amplification of the inflammatory response. Various inflammatory biomarkers had attained growing attention for nearly two decades and were discovered strongly associated with cancer patients' prognosis, indicating that systemic inflammatory response is possibly essential to cancer progression. However, little was known about the sensitive biomarkers associated with the detection, persistence, treatment, and prognosis of GBM. Hence, the retrospective research endeavored to evaluate the prognostic value of preoperative inflammatory biomarkers in patients with GBM who initially received standardized treatment.

METHODS

The 232 glioblastoma patients eligible who were admitted to Qilu Hospitals in Shandong Province from January 2014 to January 2018 were collected for this analysis. Inflammatory markers, including the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), systemic immune response index (SIRI), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and albumin/globulin ratio (AGR), were designed. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and we calculated the area under the ROC curve to determine the AUC value. Besides, we used the Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the relationship between variables and PFS and OS. The statistical differences between variables and PFS and OS were tested through the log-rank test. What is more, the LR method was used to perform Cox multiple regression analysis. The results were represented by hazard ratio (HR), 95% CI, any 2-tailed P < 0.01 was accepted as statistically different.

RESULTS

The multivariate Cox proportional hazard model presented that SII ≥ 659.1 was an independent risk factor affecting OS (HR = 2.238, 95% CI = 1.471-3.406, P < 0.001) and postoperative PFS (HR = 2.000, 95% CI = 1.472-2.716, P < 0.001) in GBM patients. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of the SII < 659.1 group was 70.8%, 26.9%, and 14.1%, respectively, while the 1- and 3-year OS of the SII ≥ 659.1 group was 37.5% and 11.5% (P < 0.001). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year PFS of the SII < 659.1 group was 36.3%, 19.6%, and 13%, respectively, while the 1-year PFS of the SII ≥ 659.1 group was 11.3% (P < 0.001). Results of patients' clinical and pathological characteristics paraded that in comparison to the lower SII group, the higher SII group had significantly inferior Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) scores (P < 0.001) and more frequent cystic changes of the tumors (P < 0.001), whereas the values of SIRI, NLR, PLR, MLR, and AGR were low.

CONCLUSIONS

SII is an independent inflammatory indicator for predicting the prognosis of GBM patients after receiving initially standardized treatments.