ONCOS-102 plus pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma: a randomized phase 2 study investigating clinical outcomes and the tumor microenvironment.

BACKGROUND: ONCOS-102, an oncolytic adenovirus expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, can alter the tumor microenvironment to an immunostimulatory state. Combining ONCOS-102 with standard-of-care chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) may improve treatment outcomes. METHODS: In this open-label, randomized study, patients with unresectable MPM received intratumoral ONCOS-102 (3×1011 virus particles on days 1, 4, 8, 36, 78, and 120) and pemetrexed plus cisplatin/carboplatin (from day 22), or pemetrexed plus cisplatin/carboplatin alone. The primary endpoint was safety. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival, objective response rate, and tumor immunologic activation (baseline and day 36 biopsies) were also assessed. RESULTS: In total, 31 patients (safety lead-in: n=6, randomized: n=25) were enrolled. Anemia (15.0% and 27.3%) and neutropenia (40.0% and 45.5%) were the most frequent grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) in the ONCOS-102 (n=20) and chemotherapy-alone (n=11) cohorts. No patients discontinued ONCOS-102 due to AEs. No statistically significant difference in efficacy endpoints was observed. There was a numerical improvement in OS (30-month OS rate 34.1% vs 0; median OS 20.3 vs 13.5 months) with ONCOS-102 versus chemotherapy alone in chemotherapy-naïve patients (n=17). By day 36, ONCOS-102 was associated with increased T-cell infiltration and immune-related gene expression that was not observed in the control cohort. Substantial immune activation in the tumor microenvironment was associated with survival at month 18 in the ONCOS-102 cohort. CONCLUSIONS: ONCOS-102 plus pemetrexed and cisplatin/carboplatin was well tolerated by patients with MPM. In injected tumors, ONCOS-102 promoted a proinflammatory environment, including T-cell infiltration, which showed association with survival at month 18.

A Circular RNA Expressed from the FAT3 Locus Regulates Neural Development.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are key regulators of cellular processes, are abundant in the nervous system, and have putative regulatory roles during neural differentiation. However, the knowledge about circRNA functions in brain development is limited. Here, using RNA-sequencing, we show that circRNA levels increased substantially over the course of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into rostral and caudal neural progenitor cells (NPCs), including three of the most abundant circRNAs, ciRS-7, circRMST, and circFAT3. Knockdown of circFAT3 during early neural differentiation resulted in minor transcriptional alterations in bulk RNA analysis. However, single-cell transcriptomics of 30 and 90 days differentiated cerebral organoids deficient in circFAT3 showed a loss of telencephalic radial glial cells and mature cortical neurons, respectively. Furthermore, non-telencephalic NPCs in cerebral organoids showed changes in the expression of genes involved in neural differentiation and migration, including FAT4, ERBB4, UNC5C, and DCC. In vivo depletion of circFat3 in mouse prefrontal cortex using in utero electroporation led to alterations in the positioning of the electroporated cells within the neocortex. Overall, these findings suggest a conserved role for circFAT3 in neural development involving the formation of anterior cell types, neuronal differentiation, or migration.

The RNA Atlas expands the catalog of human non-coding RNAs.

Existing compendia of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) are incomplete, in part because they are derived almost exclusively from small and polyadenylated RNAs. Here we present a more comprehensive atlas of the human transcriptome, which includes small and polyA RNA as well as total RNA from 300 human tissues and cell lines. We report thousands of previously uncharacterized RNAs, increasing the number of documented ncRNAs by approximately 8%. To infer functional regulation by known and newly characterized ncRNAs, we exploited pre-mRNA abundance estimates from total RNA sequencing, revealing 316 microRNAs and 3,310 long non-coding RNAs with multiple lines of evidence for roles in regulating protein-coding genes and pathways. Our study both refines and expands the current catalog of human ncRNAs and their regulatory interactions. All data, analyses and results are available for download and interrogation in the R2 web portal, serving as a basis for future exploration of RNA biology and function.

The GAUGAA Motif Is Responsible for the Binding between circSMARCA5 and SRSF1 and Related Downstream Effects on Glioblastoma Multiforme Cell Migration and Angiogenic Potential.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a large class of RNAs with regulatory functions within cells. We recently showed that circSMARCA5 is a tumor suppressor in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and acts as a decoy for Serine and Arginine Rich Splicing Factor 1 (SRSF1) through six predicted binding sites (BSs). Here we characterized RNA motifs functionally involved in the interaction between circSMARCA5 and SRSF1. Three different circSMARCA5 molecules (Mut1, Mut2, Mut3), each mutated in two predicted SRSF1 BSs at once, were obtained through PCR-based replacement of wild-type (WT) BS sequences and cloned in three independent pcDNA3 vectors. Mut1 significantly decreased its capability to interact with SRSF1 as compared to WT, based on the RNA immunoprecipitation assay. In silico analysis through the "Find Individual Motif Occurrences" (FIMO) algorithm showed GAUGAA as an experimentally validated SRSF1 binding motif significantly overrepresented within both predicted SRSF1 BSs mutated in Mut1 (q-value = 0.0011). U87MG and CAS-1, transfected with Mut1, significantly increased their migration with respect to controls transfected with WT, as revealed by the cell exclusion zone assay. Immortalized human brain microvascular endothelial cells (IM-HBMEC) exposed to conditioned medium (CM) harvested from U87MG and CAS-1 transfected with Mut1 significantly sprouted more than those treated with CM harvested from U87MG and CAS-1 transfected with WT, as shown by the tube formation assay. qRT-PCR showed that the intracellular pro- to anti-angiogenic Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGFA) mRNA isoform ratio and the amount of total VEGFA mRNA secreted in CM significantly increased in Mut1-transfected CAS-1 as compared to controls transfected with WT. Our data suggest that GAUGAA is the RNA motif responsible for the interaction between circSMARCA5 and SRSF1 as well as for the circSMARCA5-mediated control of GBM cell migration and angiogenic potential.

The RNA-binding protein SFPQ preserves long-intron splicing and regulates circRNA biogenesis in mammals.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) represent an abundant and conserved entity of non-coding RNAs; however, the principles of biogenesis are currently not fully understood. Here, we identify two factors, splicing factor proline/glutamine rich (SFPQ) and non-POU domain-containing octamer-binding protein (NONO), to be enriched around circRNA loci. We observe a subclass of circRNAs, coined DALI circRNAs, with distal inverted Alu elements and long flanking introns to be highly deregulated upon SFPQ knockdown. Moreover, SFPQ depletion leads to increased intron retention with concomitant induction of cryptic splicing, premature transcription termination, and polyadenylation, particularly prevalent for long introns. Aberrant splicing in the upstream and downstream regions of circRNA producing exons are critical for shaping the circRNAome, and specifically, we identify missplicing in the immediate upstream region to be a conserved driver of circRNA biogenesis. Collectively, our data show that SFPQ plays an important role in maintaining intron integrity by ensuring accurate splicing of long introns, and disclose novel features governing Alu-independent circRNA production.

High-throughput RNA sequencing from paired lesional- and non-lesional skin reveals major alterations in the psoriasis circRNAome.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by hyperproliferation and abnormal differentiation of keratinocytes. It is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin conditions in adults worldwide, with a considerable negative impact on quality of life. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a recently identified type of non-coding RNA with diverse cellular functions related to their exceptional stability. In particular, some circRNAs can bind and regulate microRNAs (miRNAs), a group of RNAs that play a role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. The aim of this study was to characterize the circRNAome in psoriasis and to assess potential correlations to miRNA expression patterns. METHODS: We used high-throughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), NanoString nCounter technology and RNA chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) to profile the circRNA expression in paired lesional and non-lesional psoriatic skin from patients with psoriasis vulgaris. In addition, 799 miRNAs were profiled using NanoString nCounter technology and laser capture microdissection was used to study the dermis and epidermis separately. RESULTS: We found a substantial down-regulation of circRNA expression in lesional skin compared to non-lesional skin. We observed that this mainly applies to the epidermis by analyzing laser capture microdissected tissues. We also found that the majority of the circRNAs were downregulated independently of their corresponding linear host genes. The observed downregulation of circRNAs in psoriasis was neither due to altered expression levels of factors known to affect circRNA biogenesis, nor because lesional skin contained an increased number of inflammatory cells such as lymphocytes. Finally, we observed that the overall differences in available miRNA binding sites on the circRNAs between lesional and non-lesional skin did not correlate with differences in miRNA expression patterns. CONCLUSIONS: We have performed the first genome-wide circRNA profiling of paired lesional and non-lesional skin from patients with psoriasis and revealed that circRNAs are much less abundant in the lesional samples. Whether this is a cause or a consequence of the disease remains to be revealed, however, we found no evidence that the loss of miRNA binding sites on the circRNAs could explain differences in miRNA expression between lesional and non-lesional skin.

Enzyme-free digital counting of endogenous circular RNA molecules in B-cell malignancies.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed endogenous molecules with tissue- and disease-specific expression patterns, which have potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cancer. The molecules are formed by a backsplicing event linking the 3'-end of an exon to the 5'-end of the same or an upstream exon, and they exert diverse regulatory functions important in carcinogenesis. The landscape of circRNA expression has not been characterized in B-cell malignancies, and current methods for circRNA quantification have several limitations that prevent development of clinically applicable assays. Here, we demonstrate that circRNAs can be accurately quantified without enzymatic reactions or bias using color-coded probes (NanoString technology). First, we performed high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of several mantle cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma cell lines to profile the genome-wide landscape of circRNA expression. We detected several circRNAs known to be deregulated in other cancers and identified a novel circRNA from the IKZF3 gene. Based on these data, we selected 52 unique circRNAs for which we designed color-coded probes spanning their specific backsplicing junctions. These circRNAs were quantified in cell lines and patient samples from several different B-cell malignancies (mantle cell lymphoma, multiple myeloma, follicular lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia) simultaneously using the NanoString technology. The circRNA expression profiles obtained could distinguish different B-cell malignancies, and confirmed the presence of the novel circRNA derived from IKZF3. The NanoString assays were specific for circRNA detection and data were more reproducible and quantitatively more accurate than RNA-seq data. In addition, we obtained high-quality data on severely degraded RNA samples from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. Together, we provide a map of circRNA expression in B-cell malignancies and present an enzyme-free digital counting methodology, which has the potential to become a new gold standard for circRNA quantification.

CircSMARCA5 Inhibits Migration of Glioblastoma Multiforme Cells by Regulating a Molecular Axis Involving Splicing Factors SRSF1/SRSF3/PTB.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have recently emerged as a new class of RNAs, highly enriched in the brain and very stable within cells, exosomes and body fluids. To analyze their involvement in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) pathogenesis, we assayed the expression of twelve circRNAs, physiologically enriched in several regions of the brain, through real-time PCR in a cohort of fifty-six GBM patient biopsies and seven normal brain parenchymas. We focused on hsa_circ_0001445 (circSMARCA5): it was significantly downregulated in GBM biopsies as compared to normal brain tissues (p-value < 0.00001, student's t-test), contrary to its linear isoform counterpart that did not show any differential expression (p-value = 0.694, student's t-test). Analysis of a public dataset revealed a negative correlation between the expression of circSMARCA5 and glioma's histological grade, suggesting its potential negative role in the progression to malignancy. Overexpressing circSMARCA5 in U87MG cells significantly decreased their migration, but not their proliferation rate. In silico scanning of circSMARCA5 sequence revealed an enrichment in binding motifs for several RNA binding proteins (RBPs), specifically involved in splicing. Among them, serine and arginine rich splicing factor 1 (SRSF1), a splicing factor known to be a positive controller of cell migration and known to be overexpressed in GBM, was predicted to bind circSMARCA5 by three different prediction tools. Direct interaction between circSMARCA5 and SRSF1 is supported by enhanced UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (eCLIP) data for SRSF1 in K562 cells from Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE). Consistently, U87MG overexpressing circSMARCA5 showed an increased expression of serine and arginine rich splicing factor 3 (SRSF3) RNA isoform containing exon 4, normally skipped in a SRSF1-dependent manner, resulting in a non-productive non-sense mediated decay (NMD) substrate. Interestingly, SRSF3 is known to interplay with two other splicing factors, polypyrimidine tract binding protein 1 (PTBP1) and polypyrimidine tract binding protein 2 (PTBP2), that positively regulate glioma cells migration. Collectively, our data show circSMARCA5 as a promising druggable tumor suppressor in GBM and suggest that it may exert its function by tethering the RBP SRSF1.

Circular RNA expression is abundant and correlated to aggressiveness in early-stage bladder cancer.

The functions and biomarker potential of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in various cancer types are a rising field of study, as emerging evidence relates circRNAs to tumorigenesis. Here, we profiled the expression of circRNAs in 457 tumors from patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). We show that a set of highly expressed circRNAs have conserved core splice sites, are associated with Alu repeats, and enriched with Synonymous Constraint Elements as well as microRNA target sites. We identified 113 abundant circRNAs that are differentially expressed between high and low-risk tumor subtypes. Analysis of progression-free survival revealed 13 circRNAs, among them circHIPK3 and circCDYL, where expression correlated with progression independently of the linear transcript and the host gene. In summary, our results demonstrate that abundant circRNAs possess multiple biological features, distinguishing them from low-expressed circRNAs and non-circularized exons, and suggest that circRNAs might serve as a new class of prognostic biomarkers in NMIBC.

Comparative analysis of 12 different kits for bisulfite conversion of circulating cell-free DNA.

Blood circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is becoming popular in the search of promising predictive and prognostic biomarkers. Among these biomarkers, cfDNA methylation markers have especially gained considerable attention. A significant challenge in the utilization of cfDNA methylation markers is the limited amount of cfDNA available for analyses; reportedly, bisulfite conversion (BSC) reduce cfDNA amounts even further. Nevertheless, few efforts have focused on ensuring high cfDNA conversion efficiency and recovery after BSC. To compare cfDNA recovery of different BSC methods, we compared 12 different commercially available BSC kits. We tested whether DNA recovery was affected by the molecular weight and/or quantity of input DNA. We also tested BSC efficiency for each kit. We found that recovery varied for DNA fragments of different lengths: certain kits recovered short fragments better than others, and only 3 kits recovered DNA fragments of <100 bp well. In contrast, DNA input amount did not seem to affect DNA recovery: for quantities spanning between 820 and ∼25,000 genome equivalents per BSC, a linear relation was found between input and recovery amount. Overall, mean recovery ranged between 9 and 32%, with BSC efficiency of 97-99.9%. When plasma cfDNA was used as input for BSC, recovery varied from 22% for the poorest and 66% for the best performing kits, while conversion efficiency ranged from 96 to 100% among different kits. In conclusion, clear performance differences exist between commercially available BSC kits, both in terms of DNA recovery and conversion efficiency. The choice of BSC kit can substantially impact the amount of converted cfDNA available for downstream analysis, which is critical in a cfDNA methylation marker setting.

Biogenesis and Function of Ago-Associated RNAs.

Numerous sophisticated high-throughput sequencing technologies have been developed over the past decade, and these have enabled the discovery of a diverse catalog of small non-coding (nc)RNA molecules that function as regulatory entities by associating with Argonaute (Ago) proteins. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are currently the best-described class of post-transcriptional regulators that follow a specific biogenesis pathway characterized by Drosha/DGCR8 and Dicer processing. However, more exotic miRNA-like species that bypass particular steps of the canonical miRNA biogenesis pathway continue to emerge, with one of the most recent additions being the agotrons, which escape both Drosha/DGCR8- and Dicer-processing. We review here the current knowledge and most recent discoveries relating to alternative functions and biogenesis strategies for Ago-associated RNAs in mammals.

Re-inspection of small RNA sequence datasets reveals several novel human miRNA genes.

BACKGROUND: miRNAs are key players in gene expression regulation. To fully understand the complex nature of cellular differentiation or initiation and progression of disease, it is important to assess the expression patterns of as many miRNAs as possible. Thereby, identifying novel miRNAs is an essential prerequisite to make possible a comprehensive and coherent understanding of cellular biology. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Based on two extensive, but previously published, small RNA sequence datasets from human embryonic stem cells and human embroid bodies, respectively [1], we identified 112 novel miRNA-like structures and were able to validate miRNA processing in 12 out of 17 investigated cases. Several miRNA candidates were furthermore substantiated by including additional available small RNA datasets, thereby demonstrating the power of combining datasets to identify miRNAs that otherwise may be assigned as experimental noise. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our analysis highlights that existing datasets are not yet exhaustedly studied and continuous re-analysis of the available data is important to uncover all features of small RNA sequencing.