Identification of miR-192 target genes in porcine endometrial epithelial cells based on miRNA pull-down.

INTRODUCTION: MicroRNAs (miRNAs)-a class of small endogenous non-coding RNAs-are widely involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation of numerous physiological processes. High-throughput sequencing revealed that the miR-192 expression level appeared to be significantly higher in the blood exosomes of sows at early gestation than that in non-pregnant sows. Furthermore, miR-192 was hypothesized to have a regulatory role in embryo implantation; however, the target genes involved in exerting the regulatory function of miR-192 required further elucidation. METHODS: In the present study, potential target genes of miR-192 in porcine endometrial epithelial cells (PEECs) were identified through biotin-labeled miRNA pull-down; functional and pathway enrichment analysis was performed via gene ontology analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment. Bioinformatic analyses were concurrently used to predict the potential target genes associated with sow embryo implantation. In addition, double luciferase reporter vectors, reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and Western blot were performed to verify the targeting and regulatory roles of the abovementioned target genes. RESULTS: A total of 1688 differentially expressed mRNAs were identified via miRNA pull-down. Through RT-qPCR, the accuracy of the sequencing data was verified. In the bioinformatics analysis, potential target genes of miR-192 appeared to form a dense inter-regulatory network and regulated multiple signaling pathways, such as metabolic pathways and the PI3K-Akt, MAPKs, and mTOR signaling pathways, that are relevant to the mammalian embryo implantation process. In addition, CSK (C-terminal Src kinase) and YY1 (Yin-Yang-1) were predicted to be potential candidates, and we validated that miR-192 directly targets and suppresses the expression of the CSK and YY1 genes. CONCLUSION: We screened 1688 potential target genes of miR-192 were screened, and CSK and YY1 were identified as miR-192 target genes. The outcomes of the present study provide novel insights into the regulatory mechanism of porcine embryo implantation and the identification of miRNA target genes.

Efficacy evaluation of surgery combined with chemotherapy for stage IIIA small cell lung cancer patients: a retrospective analysis.

Background: The efficacy of surgery in combination of chemotherapy for stage IIIA small cell lung cancer (IIIA-SCLC) is controversial. The aim of the present study was to analyze the efficacy of surgery combined with chemotherapy, especially in the setting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by surgery for IIIA-SCLC. Methods: Between 2004 and 2015, we reviewed 2,199 chemotherapy-treated stage IIIA (N1/2) SCLC cases in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, and 32 NAC + intentional radical resection-treated, centrally-located IIIA-SCLC cases at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SPH). Outcomes were compared between surgically and non-surgically treated patients from the SEER database after propensity score matching (PSM), and comparing lobectomy/bi-lobectomy and pneumonectomy patients from SPH. Prognostic factors were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results: There was significantly higher overall survival (OS) in surgically treated IIIA-SCLC patients (OS, 44.8 vs. 21.2 months, P=0.048), and similar efficacy was observed between sub-lobectomy and lobectomy/bi-lobectomy patients (OS: 55.6 vs. 30.3 months, P=0.167) in SEER database. At SPH, significantly higher OS was associated with T1 stage (before NAC: T1 vs. T2-4, 48.7 vs. 32.2 months, P=0.025; after NAC: T1 vs. T2-4, 42.7 vs. 21.3 months, P=0.048). Female sex [hazard ratio (HR): 0.078, P=0.009], T1 stage (HR: 13.048, P=0.026), and pneumonectomy (HR: 0.095, P=0.009) were independent prognostic factors for IIIA-SCLC patients who received NAC + intentional radical resection. Conclusions: For stage IIIA SCLC patients, complete resection combined with chemotherapy might improve the prognosis than patients without surgery. Post-NAC lobectomy was not found to be superior to sub-lobectomy, while pneumonectomy was considered suitable for central-type IIIA-SCLC patients after NAC treatment.

Single-Cell Transcriptome Identifies Drug-Resistance Signature and Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Metastatic Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a deadly neuroendocrine malignancy with high metastasis. However, the heterogeneity of metastatic SCLC at the single-cell level remains elusive. The single-cell transcriptome of a total of 24 081 cells in metastatic lymph node samples from seven SCLC patients via endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is examined. Genomic alterations are also examined by whole exome sequencing (WES) and the immune infiltration between SCLC and non-SCLC (NSCLC) is compared using public single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. It is identified that malignant cells in lymph-node metastatic SCLC have inter-patient and intra-tumor heterogeneity characterized by distinct ASCL1 and NEUROD1 expression patterns. High expression of genes such as FZD8 in WNT pathway is associated with drug resistance in malignant cells. Compared to NSCLC, SCLC harbors a unique immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Malignant cells exhibit a pattern of attenuated MHC-I antigen presentation-related gene expression, which is associated with relatively low proportion of exhausted T cells. Natural killer (NK) cells display impaired antitumor function with high expression of TGFBR2. This work characterizes the inter-patient and intra-tumor heterogeneity of metastatic SCLC and uncovers the exhaustion signatures in NK cells, which may pave the way for novel treatments for SCLC including immune checkpoint blockade-based immunotherapy.

Single-Cell Transcriptome Identifies Drug-Resistance Signature and Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Metastatic Small Cell Lung Cancer (Advanced Genetics 2/03).

Single-Cell RNA Sequencing This cover illustrates the work of Xujun Wang, Xianmin Zhu, Peng Zhang, and co-workers in article number 2100060 which reveals the drug-resistance signature and immunosuppressive microenvironment in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) by single-cell RNA-sequencing. "Wu Song Fought the Tiger" comes from the famous Chinese novel: Outlaws of the Marsh. In the cover, the warrior Wu Song stands for the doctors and researchers. The tiger bearing "SCLC" on its face is dangerous for its sharp teeth and claws (early metastasis and drug resistance) and the surrounding water bubbles (immune infiltration). In addition, 2022 is the Year of the Tiger.

Correlation between tumor location and survival in stage I lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma: a SEER-based study.

Background: Whether location mattered remained controversial in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study with the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Overall survival (OS) and lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS) with landmark analysis and restricted mean survival time (RMST) were compared between patients with a tumor in upper lobe and non-upper lobe. The multivariable Cox analysis was applied to evaluate multiple prognostic factors. Results: Tumor in non-upper lobe had worse OS (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.354, p < 0.001) and LCSS (HR: 1.476, p = 0.005) than the upper lobe in stage IB adenocarcinoma in 32-month landmark and IA3 (OS, HR: 1.300, p < 0.001; LCSS, HR: 1.413, p = 0.004) adenocarcinoma in 48-month landmark, but not in stage IA1 and IA2 adenocarcinoma. The results remained positive in subgroups of < 4, ≥ 4 and ≥ 11 LN examined in stage IB tumor and ≥ 4 LN examined in stage IA3 tumor. For SCC, non-upper lobar tumor had similar OS and LCSS with upper lobar tumor in all stages. The multivariate Cox analysis confirmed that the non-upper lobe was an independent risk factor in stage IA3-IB adenocarcinoma, but not in SCC. Adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) could improve OS in stage IB adenocarcinoma (HR: 0.586, p < 0.001) and SCC (HR: 0.708, p = 0.030) located in non-upper lobe. Conclusions: Non-upper lobar adenocarcinoma in stage IA3-IB was associated with worse prognosis. ACT may improve prognosis in stage IB tumor located in non-upper lobe.

The modification of T description according to visceral pleural invasion and tumor size from 3.1 cm to 4.0 cm in non-small cell lung cancer: A retrospective analysis based on the SEER database.

OBJECTIVES: As a poor prognostic factor, visceral pleural invasion (VPI) was incorporated into non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) staging system. For modifying the T description of NSCLC, the prognostic value of VPI was assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2010-2015, data on stage pT2N0M0 NSCLC patients with tumor size (TS) from 3.1 cm to 5.0 cm who received surgery from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were enrolled retrospectively. Propensity score matching was utilized to balance the baseline factors according to different TS intervals. Overall survival (OS) was assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analysis were applied to identify the prognostic factors. The risk factors of VPI were calculated by logistic regression model. RESULT: The sum of 4005 resected stage pT2N0M0 NSCLC patients with TS from 3.1 cm to 5.0 cm were recruited, which had 1084 patients with VPI and 2921 patients without VPI respectively. As TS interval of 3.1-4.0 cm, the 5-year OS of patients without VPI was significantly better than those with VPI (62.6 % vs 58.7 %, P = 0.015), while the 5-year OS of patients with VPI and TS interval of 3.1-4.0 cm had no significant difference compared with patients whose TS interval of 4.1-5.0 cm (58.7 % vs 58.8 %, P = 0.918). Logistic regressive analysis manifested that older age, female, worse differentiation grade and larger TS had higher incidence of VPI (OR = 1.01, 1.25, 1.25, 1.16, respectively; P < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: This study underlined the prognostic effect of VPI and suggested that early-stage NSCLC with VPI and TS interval of 3.1-4.0 cm could be appropriately upstaged from pT2a (stage pIB) to pT2b (modified stage pIIA).

The comparison of predictive factors regarding prognoses and invasion of thymic neuroendocrine tumors preoperatively and postoperatively.

BACKGROUND: Thymic neuroendocrine tumors (TNT), in the anterior mediastinum, are extremely rare diseases which have significantly poor prognoses. Studies have rarely provided conclusive evidence of the prognostic factors of TNT. Standard therapies have been controversial. METHODS: TNT patients (n=173) were enrolled from Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database (SEER). Univariate and multivariate analyses were utilized to evaluate predictive factors of prognoses. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the plausible correlation between histological grade, and cancer invasion. Stratification analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of adjuvant therapies. RESULTS: According to our analysis, local Masaoka stage, surgery, radiotherapy, and non-chemotherapy predicted better overall survival (OS) (P<0.05, for all) in 173 TNT patients. We found that the higher the histological grade of the tumor, the greater the rate of metastasis (P<0.05). The focus was on 125 surgically treated patients, who were females with poor prognostic factors of OS, upgraded histological grade, and advanced Masaoka stage (P<0.01, for all). The effectiveness of radiotherapy treatments had discrepancies at different clinical stages. In the local stage, radiotherapy caused significantly worse OS (P=0.011), while in the advanced stage, patients demonstrated significantly better OS with this treatment (P=0.028). Chemotherapy caused worse OS, primarily, in females (P=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: Surgery, Masaoka stage, and adjuvant treatments were prognostic factors. With surgically treated TNT, gender, histological grade, and Masaoka stage predicted significantly worse OS. Chemotherapy decreased female patients' OS. Radiotherapy significantly promoted advanced and local advanced patients' OS; however, it decreased local stage patients' OS. Predicted TNT invasiveness significantly correlated with histological grade.

ERK inhibition represses gefitinib resistance in non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Gefitinib, an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is used to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with activating EGFR mutations. However, the resistance to gefitinib eventually emerges in most of the patients. To understand its mechanism, we generated two acquired gefitinib-resistant NSCLC cell lines. The resistant cells have slower growth rates, but are more resistant to apoptosis in the presence of gefitinib, compared with their sensitive counterparts. In addition, our genome-wide transcriptome analysis reveals unexpected pathways, particularly autophagy, are dysregulated in the gefitinib-resistant cells. Autophagy is significantly enhanced in resistant cells. Importantly, inhibition of autophagy reduces gefitinib resistance. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of ERK, the extracellular signal-regulated kinase, is activated in resistant cells. Inhibition of ERK phosphorylation abrogates gefitinib resistance by suppressing autophagy both in vitro and in vivo. These findings establish a link between ERK and autophagy in gefitinib resistance, and suggest that the ERK signaling may serve as the potentially therapeutic target for treating gefitinib resistance in NSCLC patients.