HnRNPR-CCNB1/CENPF axis contributes to gastric cancer proliferation and metastasis

Gastric cancer (GC) is a common disease globally with high mortality rate. It is therefore necessary to develop novel therapies targeting specific events in the pathogenesis of GC. Some hnRNP family members are involved in multiple cancer biological behaviors. However, the potential function and mechanism of hnRNPR, a new molecule of hnRNP family in GC remains unknown. We found that the expression of hnRNPR was significantly overexpressed in multiple cancers compared to the normal tissues. Functionally, hnRNPR promoted cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Knockdown of hnRNPR in two type mice models, with two types of tumors models decreased the tumor aggressiveness and metastasis. Mechanistically, hnRNPR targeted oncogenic pathways by stabilizing the expression of CCNB1 and CENPF mRNA level. Knockdown of CCNB1 and CENPF abolished the hnRNPR-induced cell growth and invasion, respectively. Furthermore, the protein level of hnRNPR in the tumor was positively correlated with the expression of CCNB1 and CENPF in clinical samples. Together, these results indicate that overexpression of hnRNPR promoted the aggressiveness of GC by increasing the mRNA expression of CCNB1 and CENPF. HnRNPR-CCNB1/CENPF axis may be a potential therapeutic target for GC treatment.

The miR-561-5p/CX3CL1 Signaling Axis Regulates Pulmonary Metastasis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Involving CX3CR1+ Natural Killer Cells Infiltration

Natural killer (NK) cell can inhibit tumor initiation and regulates metastatic dissemination, acting as key mediators of the innate immune response. Intrinsic factors modulating NK cells infiltration and its anticancer activity remain poorly characterized. We investigated the roles of dysregulation of micro(mi)RNAs and NK cells in progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: Small RNA sequencing were used to detect the miRNA profiles of tumor tissues from HCC patients with (n=14) or without (n=13) pulmonary metastasis and HCC cell lines with different pulmonary metastatic potentials. Chemokine expression profiling and bioinformatics were used to detect the downstream target of candidate target. In gain- and loss-of-function assays were used to investigate the role of miRNA in HCC progression. Different subsets of NK cells were isolated and used for chemotaxis and functional assays in vivo and in vitro. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to detect the expression of miRNA in tumor tissues from 242 HCC patients undergoing curative resection from 2010.

Results: Three miRNAs (miR-137, miR-149-5p, and miR-561-5p) were identified to be associated with pulmonary metastasis in patients with HCC. miR-561-5p was most highly overexpressed in metastatic HCC tissues and high-metastatic-potential HCC cell lines. In gain- and loss-of-function assays in a murine model, miR-561-5p promoted tumor growth and spread to the lungs. Yet, miR-561-5p did not appear to affect cellular proliferation and migration in vitro. Bioinformatics and chemokine expression profiling identified chemokine (C-X₃-C motif) ligand 1 (CX₃CL1) as a potential target of miR-561-5p. Furthermore, miR-561-5p promoted tumorigenesis and metastasis via CX₃CL1-dependent regulation of CX₃CR1⁺ NK cell infiltration and function. CX₃CR1⁺ NK cells demonstrated stronger in vivo anti-metastatic activity relative to CX₃CR1^- NK cells. CX₃CL1 stimulated chemotactic migration and cytotoxicity in CX₃CR1⁺ NK cells via STAT3 signaling. Blockade of CX₃CL1, CX₃CR1, or of pSTAT3 signaling pathways attenuated the antitumor responses. Clinical samples exhibited a negative correlation between miR-561-5p expression and levels of CX₃CL1 and CX₃CR1⁺ NK cells. High miR-561-5p abundance, low CX₃CL1 levels, and low numbers of CX₃CR1⁺ NK cells were associated with adverse prognosis.

Conclusion: We delineated a miR-561-5p/CX3CL1/NK cell axis that drives HCC metastasis and demonstrated that CX₃CR1⁺ NK cells serve as potent antitumor therapeutic effectors.

Development and validation of a new tumor-based gene signature predicting prognosis of HBV/HCV-included resected hepatocellular carcinoma patients

BACKGROUND

Due to the phenotypic and molecular diversity of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), it is still a challenge to determine patients' prognosis. We aim to identify new prognostic markers for resected HCC patients.

METHODS

274 patients were retrospectively identified and samples collected from Zhongshan hospital, Fudan University. We analyzed the gene expression patterns of tumors and compared expression patterns with patient survival times. We identified a "9-gene signature" associated with survival by using the coefficient and regression formula of multivariate Cox model. This molecular signature was then validated in three patients cohorts from internal cohort (n = 69), TCGA (n = 369) and GEO dataset (n = 80).

RESULTS

We identified 9-gene signature consisting of ZC2HC1A, MARCKSL1, PTGS1, CDKN2B, CLEC10A, PRDX3, PRKCH, MPEG1 and LMO2. The 9-gene signature was used, combined with clinical parameters, to fit a multivariable Cox model to the training cohort (concordance index, ci = 0.85), which was successfully validated (ci = 0.86 for internal cohort; ci = 0.78 for in silico cohort). The signature showed improved performance compared with clinical parameters alone (ci = 0.70). Furthermore, the signature predicted patient prognosis than previous gene signatures more accurately. It was also used to stratify early-stage, HBV or HCV-infected patients into low and high-risk groups, leading to significant differences in survival in training and validation (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The 9-gene signature, in which four were upregulated (ZC2HC1A, MARCKSL1, PTGS1, CDKN2B) and five (CLEC10A, PRDX3, PRKCH, MPEG1, LMO2) were downregulated in HCC with poor prognosis, stratified HCC patients into low and high risk group significantly in different clinical settings, including receiving adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization and especially in early stage disease. This new signature should be validated in prospective studies to stratify patients in clinical decisions.

HNRNPAB-regulated lncRNA-ELF209 inhibits the malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma

Our previous study demonstrated that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein AB (HNRNPAB) is a key gene that facilitates metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanisms behind this relationship are not fully understood. In our study, we utilized long-noncoding RNA (lncRNA) microarrays to identify a HNRNPAB-regulated lncRNA named lnc-ELF209. Our findings from chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicate that HNRNPAB represses lnc-ELF209 transcription by directly binding to its promoter region. We also analyzed clinical samples from HCC patients and cell lines with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions, RNA in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and found that there is a negative relationship between HNRNPAB and lnc-ELF209 expression. Up/downregulation assays and rescue assays indicate that lnc-ELF209 inhibits cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition regulated by HNRNPAB. This suggests a new regulatory mechanism for HNRNPAB-promoted HCC progression. RNA pull-down and LC-MS/MS were used to determine triosephosphate isomerase, heat shock protein 90-beta and vimentin may be involved in the tumor-suppressed function of lnc-ELF209. Furthermore, we found lnc-ELF209 could stabilize TPI protein expression. We also found that lnc-ELF209 overexpression in HCCLM3 cell resulted in a lower rate of lung metastatic, which suggested a less aggressive HCC phenotype. Collectively, these findings offer new insights into the regulatory mechanisms that underlie HNRNPAB cancer-promoting activities and demonstrate that lnc-ELF209 is a HNRNPAB-regulated lncRNA that may play an important role in the inhibition of HCC progression.

[Differential expressions analysis of piwi-interacting RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma]

Objective: To investigates the role of piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNA) in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Second-generation small RNA sequencing was performed on cancer and paracancerous tissues, metastatic and non-metastatic liver cancer tissues of patients with liver cancer, and the sequencing data were filtered out for the common RNA sequences to be repeated. The piRNA predictor was used to forecast the possible new piRNA merged with the downloaded known piRNA to screen out distinction. A miRanda algorithm was used to predict the corresponding target genes and functional enrichment analysis. piRNA was selected for experimental functional (migration) analysis. An independent t-test was used to compare means between the two groups. Results: 66 772 piRNAs (known 149) were obtained by sequencing. 241 piRNAs were found in cancer and paracancerous tissues, and 1 634 piRNAs were found in metastatic and non-metastatic tumors. Analysis of the GO and KEGG pathways of the target genes of differential piRNAs revealed that they were mainly involved in cell adhesion. An experimental functional analysis was performed on the selected Pirna (PIR1/97), which showed that it promoted the migration of hepatoma cells (LM3: t = 8.829, P < 0.05; PLC: t = 7.318, P < 0.05). Conclusion: The expression levels of piRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with cancer and paracancerous tissues, metastasis and non-metastatic liver cancer tissues are different and it could be entailed in the metastasis process of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hence, experimental functional analysis is required for research and experimental confirmation.

Aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index predicts prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma after postoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization

Background and aim

To investigate the value of the aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and build a new nomogram for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing postoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (PATACE).

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 351 patients with HCC undergoing PATACE. We collected baseline HCC patient characteristics to obtain the risk factors for determining poor disease-free survival (DFS) and early time to recurrence (TTR) after PATACE. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to build new nomogram based on significant prognostic factors of outcomes.

Results

We generated the cutoff value of the APRI as 0.50 using the X-tile to distinguish patients with different outcomes in the whole cohort. Two hundred seventeen patients with high APRI had poorer survival (P<0.001) than did 134 patients with low APRI. Furthermore, a nomogram, including tumor size, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level, white blood cell counts, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer grade, and APRI was built for DFS, while factors including hepatitis B surface antigen, tumor size, ALT, microvascular invasion, and APRI was built for TTR. Internal validation with 500 bootstrapped sample sets had a good concordance index of 0.729 for DFS and 0.730 for TTR. Additionally, nomogram based on APRI conferred more prognostic value than previous biomarkers.

Conclusion

High APRI was associated with worse survival and shorter TTR for HCC patients undergoing PATACE. This simple nomogram based on APRI conferred personalized survival and recurrence data for HCC patients undergoing PATACE.

Overexpression of semaphorin 3A promotes tumor progression and predicts poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma after curative resection

The semaphorins were originally identified as having roles as guidance cues during neural development. Class 3 semaphorins are involved in cancer progression. However, the roles of class 3 semaphorins in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are unknown. We examined the expression levels of class 3 semaphorins in HCC cell lines with different metastatic potential and in carcinoma tissue samples. The results indicated that Semaphorin 3A expression was up-regulated in metastatic cell lines and in samples from patients with tumor recurrence. Cell functional studies revealed that Semaphorin 3A promoted HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Animal studies indicated that Semaphorin 3A overexpression enhanced tumor growth and lung metastasis. Semaphorin 3A also acted as a chemoattractant involved in direct recruitment of macrophages in vitro, and facilitated tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) infiltration in vivo. Multivariate analysis revealed that Semaphorin 3A expression alone, or combined with the number of TAMs, can be an independent predictor for overall survival time and time to recurrence. Overall, the results suggested that Semaphorin 3A increased TAM infiltration and promoted HCC progression. Semaphorin 3A expression alone, or combined with the number of TAMs, is a new prognostic factor and potential target for the treatment of HCC.

[High expression of hnRNPAB/Kap1 together promote poor prognosis in HCC]

Objective: To further understand the interaction protein spectrum of heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein AB (hnRNP AB), and to investigate their clinical significance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: We carried out mass spectrometry to reveal the specific peptides of KRAB-associated protein 1 (Kap1) and hnRNPAB, and verified their interaction by immunocoprecipitation and western blotting. Expression of hnRNPAB/Kap1 proteins were detected by immunohistochemical staining in the tissue microarrays. Categorical data were analyzed by the chi square test or Fisher exact test; enumeration data between groups were compared using Student t-test or Wilcocon signed rank test; the cumulative recurrence and survival rates were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the differences were assessed using the log-rank test. Results: We identified Kap1 as a molecular partner for hnRNPAB in HCCLM3 cells and HepG2 cells as well. We found that the 5-year survival rate of the Kap1high patients was significantly lower than the survival rate of those of the Kap1low group (36% vs 59% , HR = 1.67, P < 0.001). Similarly, Kap1high HCC patients had the poorest prognosis at 5-years, with higher cumulative recurrence rate than Kap1low patients (72% vs 54%, HR = 1.66, P = 0.001). Univariate and Multivariate analyses revealed that hnRNPAB /Kap1 alone (HR = 1.35 /1.28, P = 0.001) or in combination with Kap1 (HR =1.24 /1.27, P < 0.05) were independent prognostic indicators for overall survival and time to recurrence. Conclusion: In HCC cells, hnRNPAB and Kap1 form protein complexes. The expression levels of hnRNPAB alone or in combination with Kap1 in HCC patients are important because they provide not only a predictor for HCC prognosis but also a therapeutic target for future studies.

Tumor-Associated Neutrophils Recruit Macrophages and T-Regulatory Cells to Promote Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Resistance to Sorafenib

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Neutrophils can either promote or inhibit tumor progression, depending on the tumor microenvironment, via release of cytokines. Neither the factors produced by tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) nor their effects on tumor progression have been characterized. We investigated the roles of TANs in progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using cell lines and immune cells isolated from patients.

METHODS

We performed studies with HepG2, PLC/PRF/5, MHCC97H, and HCCLM3 human and Hepa1-6 and H22 mouse HCC cell lines; expression of chemokines and cytokines were knocked down with small hairpin RNAs. Cells were analyzed in chemotaxis assays and as growth as tumors in mice. HCC tissues and peripheral blood were collected from 20 patients undergoing curative resection or 20 healthy individuals (controls) in 2012 at Zhongshan Hospital in China. TANs and peripheral blood neutrophils (PBNs) were isolated and exposed to conditioned media from HCC cell lines; reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the expression of cytokines and chemokines. We collected neutrophils from another 60 patients undergoing curative resection for HCC in 2012 to measure the production of C-C motif chemokine ligand 2(CCL2) and CCL17. Patients were followed up until March 15, 2014. For immunohistochemical analyses, we collected HCC tissues and paired, adjacent, nontumor cirrhotic liver tissues from 832 HCC patients undergoing curative resection from 2006 through 2008. All patients were followed up until March 15, 2013. To study the effects of sorafenib, we collected clinical and pathology data from 46 patients who underwent curative resection in 2010.

RESULTS

CCL2 and CCL17 were the cytokines most highly expressed by TANs and HCC cell-activated PBNs. Levels of CCL2 and CCL17 messenger RNAs and proteins were significantly higher in TANs than in PBNs, and increased in patients with HCC recurrence. CCL2 and CCL17 messenger RNA and proteins also increased when PBNs were exposed to conditioned media from HCC cell lines. Immunohistochemical analysis of a tissue microarray showed that CCL2+ and CCL17+ cells, which also expressed the neutrophil marker CD66b, were distributed throughout the HCC stroma, but not in tumor cells or the adjacent nontumor liver cells. The number of CCL2+ or CCL17+ TANs correlated with tumor size, microvascular invasion, tumor encapsulation, tumor differentiation, and stage. Patients whose tumors had lower levels of CCL2+ or CCL17+ cells had longer survival times than those with higher numbers of these cells. TAN-conditioned media, as well as recombinant CCL2 and CCL17, increased the migratory activity of the macrophages and T-regulatory (Treg) cells from patients or mice with HCC to a greater extent that PBN-conditioned media. Neutralizing antibodies against CCL2 and CCL17, or their receptors C-C chemokine receptor 2 and C-C chemokine receptor 4, reduced the migratory activities of macrophage and Treg cells. HCC cell lines injected into mice formed larger tumors when they were co-injected with TANs and formed more pulmonary metastases; these tumors were infiltrated by Ly6G+ cells, F4/80+ macrophages, and Foxp3+ Treg cells. In a phosphokinase array of human PBNs, levels of phosphorylated AKT and P38 increased after exposure to conditioned media from all 4 HCC cell types. Pharmacologic inhibitors of AKT and P38 inhibited secretion of CCL2 and CCL17 by these PBNs. In tumor-bearing mice, sorafenib increased the numbers of TANs and levels of CCL2 and CCL17 in tumors. HCC tissues from patients who received sorafenib before surgery contained more TANs than tissues from patients who did not receive sorafenib. In knockdown cells, HCC cell-derived CXCL5 was the strongest effector of neutrophil migration under hypoxic conditions. In mice, the combination of sorafenib and TAN depletion inhibited tumor growth and neovascularization to a greater extent than sorafenib alone.

CONCLUSIONS

TANs recruit macrophages and Treg cells to HCCs to promote their growth, progression, and resistance to sorafenib.

The elevated preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts poor prognosis in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients undergoing hepatectomy

A high preoperative peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported to be a predictor of poor survival in patients with various cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive significance of the NLR in patients undergoing hepatectomy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). From 2005 to 2011, 322 patients who underwent hepatectomy for ICC were enrolled in this retrospective study. Clinicopathological parameters, including NLR, were evaluated to identify predictors of overall and recurrence-free survival after hepatectomy. The best cutoff for NLR was 2.49, and 177 of 322 patients (54.9 %) had an NLR ≥ 2.49. The 5-year survival rate after hepatectomy was 51.1 % in patients with NLR < 2.49 and 24.8 % in those with NLR ≥ 2.49 (P = 0.0001). Univariate analyses revealed that NLR was significantly associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS; both P < 0.05). Multivariable analyses revealed that elevated NLR independently predicted poorer OS (P = 0.003, hazard ratio [HR] = 1.600). In summary, our results indicate that elevated NLR is a promising independent predictor of poor survival after hepatectomy in patients with ICC.

Using inverse-weighting in cost-effectiveness analysis with censored data

Due to induced dependent censoring, estimating mean costs and quality-adjusted survival in a cost-effectiveness analysis using standard life-table methods leads to biased results. In this paper we propose methods for estimating the difference in mean costs and the difference in effectiveness, together with their respective variances and covariance in the presence of dependent censoring. We consider the situation in which the measure of effectiveness is either the probability of patients surviving a duration of interest, mean survival time over a duration of interest or mean quality-adjusted survival time over a duration of interest. The method of inverse-weighting is used for censored cost and quality of life data. The methods are illustrated in an example using an incremental net benefit analysis.

Understanding cell migration guidance: lessons from sex myoblast migration in C. elegans

Studies of sex myoblast (SM) migration in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have shown that multiple guidance mechanisms cooperate to ensure the accurate and reproducible targeting of the SMs. Many issues arise in the analysis of SM migration, including the action of multiple guidance mechanisms, redundant sources of guidance information, the multiple uses of molecular components, and whether factors affect cell fate determination events or the guidance mechanisms themselves. These issues are common to many cell migration events and make the analysis of SM migration instructive to our general understanding of how cell migrations are controlled.

egl-17 encodes an invertebrate fibroblast growth factor family member required specifically for sex myoblast migration in Caenorhabditis elegans

The proper guidance of the Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite sex myoblasts (SMs) requires the genes egl-15 and egl-17. egl-15 has been shown to encode the C. elegans orthologue of the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR). Here we clone egl-17 and show it to be a member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family, one of the first functional invertebrate FGFs known. egl-17 shares homology with other FGF members, conserving the key residues required to form the distinctive tertiary structure common to FGFs. Genetic and molecular evidence demonstrates that the SM migration defect seen in egl-17 mutant animals represents complete loss of egl-17 function. While mutations in egl-17 affect only SM migration, mutations in egl-15 can result in larval arrest, scrawny body morphology, and the ability to suppress mutations in clr-1. We propose that EGL-17 (FGF) acts as a ligand for EGL-15 (FGFR) specifically during SM migration and that another ligand(s) activates EGL-15 for its other functions.

Genetic enhancers of sem-5 define components of the gonad-independent guidance mechanism controlling sex myoblast migration in Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites

The migrations of the sex myoblasts in Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites involve two guidance mechanism: a gonad-dependent attraction that confers precise positioning of the sex myoblasts and a gonad-independent mechanism that is sufficient for coarse positioning in the absence of the gonad (Thomas et al., 1990). Here we show that mutations in unc-53, unc-71, and unc-73 disrupt sex myoblast positioning in the absence of the gonad, while they do not affect positioning in the presence of the gonad. Thus, mutations in these genes appear to compromise the gonad-independent mechanism without affecting motility or the gonad-dependent attraction. Mutations in sem-5 confer dramatic sex myoblast positioning defects in double mutant combinations with unc-53, unc-71, or unc-73 mutations, even in the presence of the gonad. This suggests that sem-5 is required for the gonad-dependent attractive mechanism. Mutations in let-60 ras and let-341 also confer sex myoblast migration defects in an unc-53 background, implicating these genes in gonad-dependent positioning as well.