A systematic pan-cancer analysis identifies LDHA as a novel predictor for immunological, prognostic, and immunotherapy resistance.

Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA), a critical enzyme involved in glycolysis, is broadly involved multiple biological functions in human cancers. It is reported that LDHA can impact tumor immune surveillance and induce the transformation of tumor-associated macrophages, highlighting its unnoticed function of LDHA in immune system. However, in human cancers, the role of LDHA in prognosis and immunotherapy hasn't been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the expression pattern and prognostic value of LDHA in pan-cancer and explored its association between tumor microenvironment (TME), immune infiltration subtype, stemness scores, tumor mutation burden (TMB), and immunotherapy resistance. We found that LDHA expression is tumor heterogeneous and that its high expression is associated with poor prognosis in multiple human cancers. In addition, LDHA expression was positively correlated with the presence of mononuclear/macrophage cells, and also promoted the infiltration of a range of immune cells. Genomic alteration of LDHA was common in different types of cancer, while with prognostic value in pan-cancers. Pan-cancer analysis revealed that the significant correlations existed between LDHA expression and tumor microenvironment (including stromal cells and immune cells) as well as stemness scores (DNAss and RNAss) across cancer types. Drug sensitivity analysis also revealed that LDHA was able to predict response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Furthermore, it was confirmed that knockdown of LDHA reduced proliferation and migration ability of lung cancer cells. Taken together, LDHA could serve as a prognostic biomarker and a potential immunotherapy marker.

Integrative analysis revealed a correlation of PIAS family genes expression with prognosis, immunomodulation and chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Protein inhibitor of activated STATs (PIAS) has pleiotropic biological effects, such as protein post-translational modification, transcriptional coregulation and gene editing. It is reported that PIAS family genes are also correlated with immune cells infiltration in cancers that highlights their unnoticed biological role in tumor progression. However, the relationship of their expression with prognosis, immune cell infiltration, tumor microenvironment, and immunotherapy in pan-cancer has been rarely reported. METHODS: The multi-omics data were used to investigate the expression level of PIAS family members in pan-cancer, and the prognostic value of their expression in different tumors was analyzed by univariate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier. Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship of PIAS gene expression with tumor microenvironment, immune infiltrating subtypes, stemness score and drug sensitivity. In addition, we also used wound healing and transwell assays to verify the biological effects of PIAS family gene expression on invasion and metastasis of HCC cells. RESULTS: We found that PIAS family genes expression is significantly heterogeneous in tumors by multi-genomic analysis, and associated with poor prognosis in patients with multiple types of cancer. Furthermore, we also found that genetic alterations of PIAS family genes were not only common in different types of human tumors, but were also significantly associated with disease-free survival (DFS) across pan-cancer. Single-cell analysis revealed that PIAS family genes were mainly distributed in monocytes/macrophages. Additionally, we also found that their expression was associated with tumor microenvironment (including stromal cells and immune cells) and stemness score (DNAss and RNAss). Drug sensitivity analysis showed that PIAS family genes were able to predict the response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. PIAS family genes expression is closely related to tumor metastasis, especially PIAS3. High PIAS3 expression significantly promotes the migration and invasion of liver cancer cell lines (HCC-LM3 and MHCC97-H). CONCLUSIONS: Taking together, these findings contribute to determine whether the PIAS family genes are a potential oncogenic target gene, which have important contribution for the development of cancer immunotherapy.

Antiviral activity of theaflavins against Zika virus in vivo and in vitro.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence and infection of the Zika virus (ZIKV) have recently posed a major threat to global public health security. However, there is currently a lack of specific vaccines and effective antiviral drugs for ZIKV infection. METHODS: Theaflavins TF1 and TF2 were selected by evaluating the anti-Zika virus activity of four kinds of theaflavins in vitro. Subsequently, in vivo, we investigated the effects of TF1 and TF2 on weight, survival, tissue viral load, and cytokines in ZIKV-infected mice. RESULTS: We compared the anti-ZIKV activity of four theaflavins (TFs) in cells and found that TF1 and TF2b significantly inhibited the replication of ZIKV/Z16006 toxic strain in BHK and Vero cells by inhibiting the replication and release of ZIKV, while no similar effects were observed for TF2a and TF3. In vivo assay, we only found that TF2b improved the survival rate of infected mice. In tissues of ZIKV-infected mice, the viral load was higher in spleen and blood, followed by liver, epididymis, and testis, the lowest in muscle. Additionally, TF2b treatment significantly reduced the expression of cytokines (IL-6, IL-1ß, TNF-α) and chemokines (CCL2, CCL5, CXCL10) induced by ZIKV infection. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that TF2b has a potent antiviral effect and can be used as a potential candidate for the treatment of ZIKV infection.

TMX family genes and their association with prognosis, immune infiltration, and chemotherapy in human pan-cancer.

BACKGROUND: The thioredoxin (TMX) system, an important redox system, plays crucial roles in several immune-related diseases. However, there is limited research on the correlation of TMX family gene expression with human pan-cancer prognosis, tumor microenvironment (TME), and immunotherapy. METHODS: Based on the integration of several bioinformatics analysis methods, we explored the expression levels and prognostic value of TMX family members in pan-cancer and analyzed their association between TME, immune infiltration, stemness scores, and drug sensitivity. Using KEGG enrichment analysis, we explored the potential signaling pathways of their regulation. Additionally, we conducted a transwell assay to verify the relationship between TMX family gene expression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in liver cancer. RESULTS: Expression of the TMX family genes was shown to have an obvious intratumoral heterogeneity. In some cancers, TMX family members expression was also been found to correlate with poor prognosis of patients. Furthermore, TMX family genes may serve important roles in TME. The expression of TMX family genes was found to have a strong correlation with the stromal scores, immune scores, DNAss and RNAss in pan-cancer. Specifically, the expression levels of TMX family genes have been found to be associated with immune subtypes of renal clear cell carcinoma and liver hepatocellular carcinoma. High TMX2 expression promote EMT in liver cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study may elucidate the biological roles of TMX family genes as potential targets for pan-cancer and also offer valuable insights for further investigating how these genes function in the development and spreading of cancer.

A potential Chinese medicine monomer against influenza A virus and influenza B virus: isoquercitrin.

BACKGROUND: Influenza viruses, especially Influenza A virus and Influenza B virus, are respiratory pathogens and can cause seasonal epidemics and pandemics. Severe influenza viruses infection induces strong host-defense response and excessive inflammatory response, resulting in acute lung damage, multiple organ failure and high mortality. Isoquercitrin is a Chinese medicine monomer, which was reported to have multiple biological activities, including antiviral activity against HSV, IAV, SARS-CoV-2 and so on. Aims of this study were to assess the in vitro anti-IAV and anti-IBV activity, evaluate the in vivo protective efficacy against lethal infection of the influenza virus and searched for the more optimal method of drug administration of isoquercitrin. METHODS: In vitro infection model (MDCK and A549 cells) and mouse lethal infection model of Influenza A virus and Influenza B virus were used to evaluate the antiviral activity of isoquercitrin. RESULTS: Isoquercitrin could significantly suppress the replication in vitro and in vivo and reduced the mortality of mouse lethal infection models. Compared with virus infection group, isoquercitrin mitigated lung and multiple organ damage. Moreover, isoquercitrin blocked hyperproduction of cytokines induced by virus infection via inactivating NF-κB signaling. Among these routes of isoquercitrin administration, intramuscular injection is a better drug delivery method. CONCLUSION: Isoquercitrin is a potential Chinese medicine monomer Against Influenza A Virus and Influenza B Virus infection.

Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. polysaccharide inhibits influenza A virus in vitro and in vivo.

Influenza virus is prone to seasonal spread and widespread outbreaks, which pose important challenges to public health security. Therefore, it is important to effectively prevent and treat influenza virus infection. Schisandra polysaccharide (SPJ) is a polysaccharide derived from the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral activity of SPJ in vitro and in vivo, especially against influenza A virus (IAV) infection. By analyzing SPJ structure and monosaccharide composition, the molecular weight of SPJ was determined to be 115.5 KD, and it is composed of galacturonic acid (89.4%), rhamnose (0.8%), galactose (4.4%), arabinose (3.8%), and glucose (1.7%). Immunofluorescence analysis showed that SPJ treatment reduced the positive rate of viral nucleoproteins in cells, indicating that the compound had an inhibitory effect on influenza virus replication. Furthermore, SPJ therapy improved the survival of infected mice. Lung virus titer assays indicated that SPJ treatment significantly reduced viral loading in the lung tissue of infected mice and alleviated the pathological damage caused by influenza virus infection. Moreover, SPJ reduced cytokine expression during influenza virus challenge. In conclusion, SPJ has anti-influenza virus effects and may have potential as an anti-influenza drug candidate in further clinical studies.

Taurolidine improved protection against highly pathogenetic avian influenza H5N1 virus lethal-infection in mouse model by regulating the NF-κB signaling pathway.

Taurolidine (TRD), a derivative of taurine, has anti-bacterial and anti-tumor effects by chemically reacting with cell-walls, endotoxins and exotoxins to inhibit the adhesion of microorganisms. However, its application in antiviral therapy is seldom reported. Here, we reported that TRD significantly inhibited the replication of influenza virus H5N1 in MDCK cells with the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (EC50) of 34.45 â€‹µg/mL. Furthermore, the drug inhibited the amplification of the cytokine storm effect and improved the survival rate of mice lethal challenged with H5N1 (protection rate was 86%). Moreover, TRD attenuated virus-induced lung damage and reduced virus titers in mice lungs. Administration of TRD reduced the number of neutrophils and increased the number of lymphocytes in the blood of H5N1 virus-infected mice. Importantly, the drug regulated the NF-κB signaling pathway by inhibiting the separation of NF-κB and IκBa, thereby reducing the expression of inflammatory factors. In conclusion, our findings suggested that TRD could act as a potential anti-influenza drug candidate in further clinical studies.

Anti-inflammatory effects of theaflavin-3'-gallate during influenza virus infection through regulating the TLR4/MAPK/p38 pathway.

Severe pathological damage caused by the influenza virus is one of the leading causes of death. However, the prevention and control strategies for influenza virus infection have certain limitations, and the exploration for new influenza antiviral drugs has become the major research direction. This study evaluated the antiviral activities of four theaflavin derivatives (TFs). Cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assay revealed that theaflavin-3'-gallate (TF2b) and theaflavin (TF1) could effectively inhibit the replication of influenza viruses H1N1-UI182, H1N1-PR8, H3N2, and H5N1, and TF2b exhibited the most significant antiviral activity in vivo. Intraperitoneal injection of TF2b at 40 mg/kg/d effectively alleviated viral pneumonia, maintained body weight, and improved the survival rate of mice infected with a lethal dose of H1N1-UI182 to 55.56%. Hematological analysis of peripheral blood further showed that TF2b increased the number of lymphocytes and decreased the number of neutrophils, monocytes, and platelets in the blood of infected mice. RT-qPCR results showed that TF2b reduced the mRNA expression levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1ß), chemokines (CXCL-2 and CCL-3), and interferons (IFN-α and IFN-γ) after influenza virus infection. In addition, TF2b significantly down-regulated the expression levels of TLR4, p-p38, p-ERK, and cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-10. These results suggest that TF2b not only significantly inhibits viral replication and proliferation in vitro, but also alleviates pneumonia injury in vivo. Its antiviral effect might be attributed to the down-regulation of influenza virus-induced inflammatory cytokines by regulating the TLR4/MAPK/p38 signaling pathway.

Characterization of Canine Influenza Virus A (H3N2) Circulating in Dogs in China from 2016 to 2018.

Avian H3N2 influenza virus follows cross-host transmission and has spread among dogs in Asia since 2005. After 2015-2016, a new H3N2 subtype canine influenza epidemic occurred in dogs in North America and Asia. The disease prevalence was assessed by virological and serological surveillance in dogs in China. Herein, five H3N2 canine influenza virus (CIV) strains were isolated from 1185 Chinese canine respiratory disease samples in 2017-2018; these strains were on the evolutionary branch of the North American CIVs after 2016 and genetically far from the classical canine H3N2 strain discovered in China before 2016. Serological surveillance showed an HI antibody positive rate of 6.68%. H3N2 was prevalent in the coastal areas and northeastern regions of China. In 2018, it became the primary epidemic strain in the country. The QK01 strain of H3N2 showed high efficiency in transmission among dogs through respiratory droplets. Nevertheless, the virus only replicated in the upper respiratory tract and exhibited low pathogenicity in mice. Furthermore, highly efficient transmission by direct contact other than respiratory droplet transmission was found in a guinea pig model. The low-level replication in avian species other than ducks could not facilitate contact and airborne transmission in chickens. The current results indicated that a novel H3N2 virus has become a predominant epidemic strain in dogs in China since 2016 and acquired highly efficient transmissibility but could not be replicated in avian species. Thus, further monitoring is required for designing optimal immunoprophylactic tools for dogs and estimating the zoonotic risk of CIV in China.

Low REST Expression Indicates a Biomarker of Poor Prognosis in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma.

It was initially found that neural-restrictive silencer factor/repressor 1-silencing transcription factor (REST) is a transcriptional repressor of neuronal genes in nonneuronal cells. However, it is reported to be abundantly expressed in various types of aggressive cancer cells. In this study, we evaluated the expression patterns of REST in renal cell carcinoma and found that its expression is lower in tumor tissues compared to normal tissues. The chi-square test showed that the low REST expression was closely related to patients' clinicopathologic parameters, including the pathologic stage and survival status. ROC curve showed that REST had excellent clinical diagnostic prospect. In addition, patients with low REST expression had poor over survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed that the low REST expression was an independent predictor of poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma. Gene set enrichment analysis identified P53 pathway, reactive oxygen species pathway, glycolysis, DNA repair, cholesterol homeostasis, and MYC targets V2 enriched with low REST expression phenotype. These results suggested that REST may be a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of renal cell carcinoma in clinical applications.

PVT1 Expression Is a Predictor for Poor Survival of Prostate Cancer Patients.

OBJECTIVE: Dysregulation of long noncoding RNA is associated with a variety of cancers and LncRNA has anticancer or carcinogenic activities. PVT1, as a long noncoding RNA, plays an important role in the development of cancer. METHODS: We use R to download and analyze the data in TCGA database. ROC curve is generated to evaluate the significance of PVT1 expression for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Chi-square test is used to test correlation between PVT1 expression and clinical pathological features. Survival curve and univariate and multivariate cox regression analysis is performed to compare differences in the effect on the survival rate between PVT1 high expression and low expression. RESULTS: The expression of PTV1 in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues(P<2.2e-16). The difference of PTV1 expression was observed according to vital status (P = 0.0051) and Gleason score (P = 0.0012). The expression of PTV1 is significantly associated with T classification (P < 0.0001), N classification (P = 0.0499), PSA (P = 0.0001), Gleason Score (P < 0.0001), targeted molecular therapy (P = 0.0264) and vital status(P = 0.0036). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.860, which revealed PTV1 expression has excellent diagnostic value in prostate cancer. Patients with high PVT1 expression had a worse prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: PVT1 expression may be a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.

Low-dose paclitaxel downregulates MYC proto-oncogene bHLH transcription factor expression in colorectal carcinoma cells.

Paclitaxel (PTX) has been commonly used to treat multiple types of tumor. Its anticancer mechanism differs based on different PTX concentrations and types of tumor cell. In the present study, MTT assays of HCT116 and LOVO cells treated with PTX revealed the chemosensitivity of the cell lines for different PTX concentrations. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration values of PTX for these cells were 2.46 and 2.24 nM, respectively. Cell morphology observation revealed that both cell lines exhibited rounded, wrinkled and damaged morphologies with increasing concentrations of PTX. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis indicated that 1 nM PTX increased the proportion of cells in sub-G1 phases and decreased the proportion of cells in G0/G1 phases, whereas the proportions of cells in S and G2/M phases only slightly changed for both cell lines. Western blot analysis indicated that the total/nuclear protein expression of MYC proto-oncogene bHLH transcription factor (c-Myc) and phosphorylated (P)-c-Myc decreased in HCT116 cells in a dose-dependent manner, whereas the nuclear protein expression of P-c-Myc increased in LOVO cells in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that low-dose PTX downregulates c-Myc and P-c-Myc expression, subsequently inhibiting the cell cycle at G0/G1 in colorectal carcinoma.

Low-Dose Paclitaxel Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth by Regulating Glutaminolysis in Colorectal Carcinoma Cells.

Paclitaxel (PTX) is a natural alkaloid isolated from the bark of a tree, Taxus brevifolia, and is currently used to treat a variety of tumors. Recently, it has been found that low-dose PTX is a promising treatment for some cancers, presenting few side effects. However, antitumor mechanisms of low-dose PTX (<1 nM) have rarely been illuminated. Here we report a new antitumor mechanism of low-dose PTX in colorectal carcinoma cells. We treated colorectal carcinoma HCT116 cells with PTX at 0.1 and 0.3 nM for 0, 1, 2, or 3 days, and found that low-dose PTX inhibits cell growth without altering cell morphology and cell cycle. There was a significant decrease of pH in culture media with 0.3 nM PTX for 3 days. Also, lactate production was significantly increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, expression of glutaminolysis-related genes GLS, SLC7A11 and SLC1A5 were significantly decreased in the colorectal carcinoma cells treated with low-dose PTX. Meanwhile, protein expression levels of p53 and p21 increased significantly in colorectal carcinoma cells so treated. In summary, low-dose PTX down-regulated glutaminolysis-related genes and increased their lactate production, resulting in decreased pH of tumor microenvironments and inhibition of tumor cell growth. Up-regulation of p53 and p21 in colorectal carcinoma cells treated with low-dose PTX also contributed to inhibition of tumor cell growth.

Generation of biallelic knock-out sheep via gene-editing and somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Transgenic sheep can be used to achieve genetic improvements in breeds and as an important large-animal model for biomedical research. In this study, we generated a TALEN plasmid specific for ovine MSTN and transfected it into fetal fibroblast cells of STH sheep. MSTN biallelic-KO somatic cells were selected as nuclear donor cells for SCNT. In total, cloned embryos were transferred into 37 recipient gilts, 28 (75.7%) becoming pregnant and 15 delivering, resulting in 23 lambs, 12 of which were alive. Mutations in the lambs were verified via sequencing and T7EI assay, and the gene mutation site was consistent with that in the donor cells. Off-target analysis was performed, and no off-target mutations were detected. MSTN KO affected the mRNA expression of MSTN relative genes. The growth curve for the resulting sheep suggested that MSTN KO caused a remarkable increase in body weight compared with those of wild-type sheep. Histological analyses revealed that MSTN KO resulted in muscle fiber hypertrophy. These findings demonstrate the successful generation of MSTN biallelic-KO STH sheep via gene editing in somatic cells using TALEN technology and SCNT. These MSTN mutant sheep developed and grew normally, and exhibited increased body weight and muscle growth.