African-specific molecular taxonomy of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is characterized by considerable geo-ethnic disparity. African ancestry is a significant risk factor, with mortality rates across sub-Saharan Africa of 2.7-fold higher than global averages1. The contributing genetic and non-genetic factors, and associated mutational processes, are unknown2,3. Here, through whole-genome sequencing of treatment-naive prostate cancer samples from 183 ancestrally (African versus European) and globally distinct patients, we generate a large cancer genomics resource for sub-Saharan Africa, identifying around 2 million somatic variants. Significant African-ancestry-specific findings include an elevated tumour mutational burden, increased percentage of genome alteration, a greater number of predicted damaging mutations and a higher total of mutational signatures, and the driver genes NCOA2, STK19, DDX11L1, PCAT1 and SETBP1. Examining all somatic mutational types, we describe a molecular taxonomy for prostate cancer differentiated by ancestry and defined as global mutational subtypes (GMS). By further including Chinese Asian data, we confirm that GMS-B (copy-number gain) and GMS-D (mutationally noisy) are specific to African populations, GMS-A (mutationally quiet) is universal (all ethnicities) and the African-European-restricted subtype GMS-C (copy-number losses) predicts poor clinical outcomes. In addition to the clinical benefit of including individuals of African ancestry, our GMS subtypes reveal different evolutionary trajectories and mutational processes suggesting that both common genetic and environmental factors contribute to the disparity between ethnicities. Analogous to gene-environment interaction-defined here as a different effect of an environmental surrounding in people with different ancestries or vice versa-we anticipate that GMS subtypes act as a proxy for intrinsic and extrinsic mutational processes in cancers, promoting global inclusion in landmark studies.

Advancing the frontiers of colorectal cancer treatment: harnessing ferroptosis regulation.

In recent years, colorectal cancer incidence and mortality have increased significantly due to poor lifestyle choices. Despite the development of various treatments, their effectiveness against advanced/metastatic colorectal cancer remains unsatisfactory due to drug resistance. However, ferroptosis, a novel iron-dependent cell death process induced by lipid peroxidation and elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels along with reduced activity of the glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) antioxidant enzyme system, shows promise as a therapeutic target for colorectal cancer. This review aims to delve into the regulatory mechanisms of ferroptosis in colorectal cancer, providing valuable insights into potential therapeutic approaches. By targeting ferroptosis, new avenues can be explored for innovative therapies to combat colorectal cancer more effectively. In addition, understanding the molecular pathways involved in ferroptosis may help identify biomarkers for prognosis and treatment response, paving the way for personalized medicine approaches. Furthermore, exploring the interplay between ferroptosis and other cellular processes can uncover combination therapies that enhance treatment efficacy. Investigating the tumor microenvironment's role in regulating ferroptosis may offer strategies to sensitize cancer cells to cell death induction, leading to improved outcomes. Overall, ferroptosis presents a promising avenue for advancing the treatment of colorectal cancer and improving patient outcomes.

Polo-like Kinase-1 Regulates Myc Stabilization and Activates a Feedforward Circuit Promoting Tumor Cell Survival.

MYCN amplification in human cancers predicts poor prognosis and resistance to therapy. However, pharmacological strategies that directly target N-Myc, the protein encoded by MYCN, remain elusive. Here, we identify a molecular mechanism responsible for reciprocal activation between Polo-like kinase-1 (PLK1) and N-Myc. PLK1 specifically binds to the SCFFbw7 ubiquitin ligase, phosphorylates it, and promotes its autopolyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation, counteracting Fbw7-mediated degradation of N-Myc and additional substrates, including cyclin E and Mcl1. Stabilized N-Myc in turn directly activates PLK1 transcription, constituting a positive feedforward regulatory loop that reinforces Myc-regulated oncogenic programs. Inhibitors of PLK1 preferentially induce potent apoptosis of MYCN-amplified tumor cells from neuroblastoma and small cell lung cancer and synergistically potentiate the therapeutic efficacies of Bcl2 antagonists. These findings reveal a PLK1-Fbw7-Myc signaling circuit that underlies tumorigenesis and validate PLK1 inhibitors, alone or with Bcl2 antagonists, as potential effective therapeutics for MYC-overexpressing cancers.

Evaluating Germline Testing Panels in Southern African Males With Advanced Prostate Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Germline testing for prostate cancer is on the increase, with clinical implications for risk assessment, treatment, and management. Regardless of family history, NCCN recommends germline testing for patients with metastatic, regional, very-high-risk localized, and high-risk localized prostate cancer. Although African ancestry is a significant risk factor for aggressive prostate cancer, due to a lack of available data no testing criteria have been established for ethnic minorities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Through deep sequencing, we interrogated the 20 most common germline testing panel genes in 113 Black South African males presenting with largely advanced prostate cancer. Bioinformatic tools were then used to identify the pathogenicity of the variants. RESULTS: After we identified 39 predicted deleterious variants (16 genes), further computational annotation classified 17 variants as potentially oncogenic (12 genes; 17.7% of patients). Rare pathogenic variants included CHEK2 Arg95Ter, BRCA2 Trp31Arg, ATM Arg3047Ter (2 patients), and TP53 Arg282Trp. Notable oncogenic variants of unknown pathogenicity included novel BRCA2 Leu3038Ile in a patient with early-onset disease, whereas patients with FANCA Arg504Cys and RAD51C Arg260Gln reported a family history of prostate cancer. Overall, rare pathogenic and early-onset or familial-associated oncogenic variants were identified in 6.9% (5/72) and 9.2% (8/87) of patients presenting with a Gleason score ≥8 or ≥4 + 3 prostate cancer, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this first-of-its-kind study of southern African males, we provide support of African inclusion for advanced, early-onset, and familial prostate cancer genetic testing, indicating clinical value for 30% of current gene panels. Recognizing current panel limitations highlights an urgent need to establish testing guidelines for men of African ancestry. We provide a rationale for considering lowering the pathologic diagnostic inclusion criteria and call for further genome-wide interrogation to ensure the best possible African-relevant prostate cancer gene panel.

A novel approach to quantify calcifications of thyroid nodules in US images based on deep learning: predicting the risk of cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: Based on ultrasound (US) images, this study aimed to detect and quantify calcifications of thyroid nodules, which are regarded as one of the most important features in US diagnosis of thyroid cancer, and to further investigate the value of US calcifications in predicting the risk of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). METHODS: Based on the DeepLabv3+ networks, 2992 thyroid nodules in US images were used to train a model to detect thyroid nodules, of which 998 were used to train a model to detect and quantify calcifications. A total of 225 and 146 thyroid nodules obtained from two centers, respectively, were used to test the performance of these models. A logistic regression method was used to construct the predictive models for LNM in PTCs. RESULTS: Calcifications detected by the network model and experienced radiologists had an agreement degree of above 90%. The novel quantitative parameters of US calcification defined in this study showed a significant difference between PTC patients with and without cervical LNM (p < 0.05). The calcification parameters were beneficial to predicting the LNM risk in PTC patients. The LNM prediction model using these calcification parameters combined with patient age and other US nodular features showed a higher specificity and accuracy than the calcification parameters alone. CONCLUSIONS: Our models not only detect the calcifications automatically, but also have value in predicting cervical LNM risk of PTC patients, thereby making it possible to investigate the relationship between calcifications and highly invasive PTC in detail. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: Due to the high association of US microcalcifications with thyroid cancers, our model will contribute to the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules in daily practice. KEY POINTS: • We developed an ML-based network model for automatically detecting and quantifying calcifications within thyroid nodules in US images. • Three novel parameters for quantifying US calcifications were defined and verified. • These US calcification parameters showed value in predicting the risk of cervical LNM in PTC patients.

LINC02418 upregulates EPHA2 by competitively sponging miR-372-3p to promote 5-Fu/DDP chemoresistance in colorectal cancer.

Chemoresistance is a huge clinical challenge in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and messenger RNA (mRNA) are involved in CRC chemoresistance. However, the profiles of long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), mRNAs and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks in CRC chemoresistance are still largely unknown. Here, we compared the gene expression profiles in chemosensitive (HCT8) and chemoresistant [HCT8/5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and HCT8/cisplatin (DDP)] cell lines by whole-transcriptome sequencing. The common differentially expressed RNAs in two drug-resistant cells were selected to construct lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks. The ceRNA network closely related to chemoresistance was further established based on the widely accepted drug resistance-associated genes enriched in three signaling pathways involved in chemoresistance. In total 52 lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA pathways were screened out, among which EPHA2 and LINC02418 were identified as hub genes; thus, LINC02418/miR-372-3p/EPHA2 were further selected and proved to affect the 5-Fu and DDP resistance of CRC. Mechanistically, LINC02418 upregulated EPHA2 by functioning as a 'sponge' of miR-372-3p to modulate the chemoresistance of CRC. Collectively, our study uncovered the underlying mechanism of LINC02418/miR-372-3p/EPHA2 in 5-Fu and DDP resistance of CRC, which may provide potential therapeutic targets for improving the chemosensitivity of CRC.

CDK5RAP3 acts as a putative tumor inhibitor in papillary thyroid carcinoma via modulation of Akt/GSK-3ß/Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 3 (CDK5RAP3) has been documented as a vital cancer-related protein that is implicated in numerous cancer types. However, the relevance of CDK5RAP3 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is less well understood. The goal of this work was to understand the relationship between CDK5RAP3 and PTC. Our data showed significant decreases in CDK5RAP3 levels in PTC tissues and cell lines. Functional studies revealed that upregulation of CDK5RAP3 in PTC cell lines resulted in significant reduction of cellular proliferation. Moreover, overexpression of CDK5RAP3 induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in PTC cells. In addition, the migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in PTC cells were markedly suppressed via overexpression of CDK5RAP3. Further investigation documented that overexpression of CDK5RAP3 remarkably downregulated the levels of phospho-Akt, phospho-GSK-3ß, and active ß-catenin, leading to a significant decrease in activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. Notably, knockdown of Akt abolished CDK5RAP3-silencing-mediated effects on the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. Reactivation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway partially reversed CDK5RAP3-mediated tumor-inhibitory effects in PTC cells. Overexpression of CDK5RAP3 also weakened the tumorigenic potential of PTC cells in vivo. In summary, our work demonstrates that CDK5RAP3 is underexpressed in PTC and acts as a putative tumor suppressor of PTC. Our findings reveal that CDK5RAP3 exerts a tumor-suppressive role in PTC through downregulation of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling via modulation of the Akt/GSK-3ß axis.

Kinesin family member 23 exerts a protumor function in breast cancer via stimulation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

Kinesin family member 23 (KIF23) has been described as one of the main genes that are associated with malignant transformation in numerous cancers. However, the exact significance of KIF23 in breast cancer has not been well-addressed. The present study was dedicated to the comprehensive investigation of KIF23 in breast cancer. Initial expression analysis through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) demonstrated high KIF23 levels in breast cancer compared with normal controls. These in silico data showing high levels of KIF23 in breast cancer were verified by assessing clinical specimens using real-time quantitative PCR and immunoblot assays. Moreover, a high KIF23 level was correlated with adverse clinical outcomes in breast cancer patients. Cellular functional experiments showed that the down-regulation of KIF23 affected the malignant behaviors of breast cancer cells in vitro, whereas the forced expression of KIF23 stimulated them. Mechanistic studies revealed that KIF23 restraint down-regulated the levels of phosphorylated glycogen synthetase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß), ß-catenin, cyclin D1 and c-myc in breast cancer cells, showing an inhibitory effect on the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. The suppression of GSK-3ß was able to reverse KIF23-silencing-induced inactivation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. Inhibition of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway abolished KIF23 overexpression-mediated protumor effects in breast cancer. A xenograft assay confirmed the in vivo antitumor function of KIF23 inhibition. In conclusion, these findings suggest that KIF23 may exert a protumor function in breast cancer by stimulating the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. This work suggests that KIF23 has potential values for targeted therapy and prognosis in breast cancer.

An integrated AI model to improve diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound and output known risk features in suspicious thyroid nodules.

OBJECTIVES: From the viewpoint of ultrasound (US) physicians, an ideal thyroid US computer-assisted diagnostic (CAD) system for thyroid cancer should perform well in suspicious thyroid nodules with atypical risk features and be able to output explainable results. This study aims to develop an explainable US CAD model for suspicious thyroid nodules. METHODS: A total of 2992 solid or almost-solid thyroid nodules were analyzed retrospectively. All nodules had pathological results (1070 malignancies and 1992 benignities) confirmed by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology and histopathology after thyroidectomy. A deep learning model (ResNet50) and a multiple risk features learning ensemble model (XGBoost) were used to train the US images of 2794 thyroid nodules. Then, an integrated AI model was generated by combining both models. The diagnostic accuracies of the three AI models (ResNet50, XGBoost, and the integrated model) were predicted in a testing set including 198 thyroid nodules and compared to the diagnostic efficacy of five ultrasonographers. RESULTS: The accuracy of the integrated model was 76.77%, while the mean accuracy of the ultrasonographers was 68.38%. Of the risk features, microcalcifications showed the highest contribution to the diagnosis of malignant nodules. CONCLUSIONS: The integrated AI model in our study can improve the diagnostic accuracy of suspicious thyroid nodules and output the known risk features simultaneously, thus aiding in training young ultrasonographers by linking the explainable results to their clinical experience and advancing the acceptance of AI diagnosis for thyroid cancer in clinical practice. KEY POINTS: • We developed an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnosis model based on both deep learning and multiple risk feature ensemble learning methods. • The AI diagnosis model showed higher diagnostic accuracy for suspicious thyroid nodules than ultrasonographers. • The AI diagnosis model showed partial explainability by outputting the known risk features, thus aiding young ultrasonic doctors in increasing the diagnostic level for thyroid cancer.

Lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma in the context of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

BACKGROUND: Whether Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) affects the lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) remains uncertain. The diagnostic criteria for HT differed in previous studies. Our study focused on analysing the influence of HT on PTC lymph node metastasis (LNM) with stringent diagnostic criteria for HT. METHODS: A total of 444 patients diagnosed with PTC from 2019 to 2020 were enrolled and divided into two groups: HT group and non-HT group. Diagnostic criteria of HT were as follows: thyroid peroxidase antibody (+) and postoperative histopathology of Hashimoto's disease. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the LNM rate between HT group and non-HT group. Patients in the HT group had fewer numbers of metastatic LNs and lower metastatic LNs ratio in central region. In the HT group, age < 55 and tumor size ≥10 mm were independent risk factors for central LNM. CONCLUSION: The autoimmune response of HT seems to reduce the central lymph node metastasis of HT PTCs. Age < 55 and tumor size ≥10 mm were independent risk factors of central lymph node metastasis in HT PTCs.

Sonographic assessment of compression effect on urethra following transobturator MUS.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between compression effect exerted by the sling on the urethra using translabial ultrasound and the prognosis of sling surgery in women for stress urinary incontinence (SUI). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 151 women with SUI who had undergone either a TVT-Abbrevo (n = 81) or TVT-O (n = 70) procedure. Preoperative and 12-month postoperative assessments including sonographic data, urinary symptoms and signs were compared. Objective and subjective success rates were assessed at 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Overall, 140 patients (92.7%) were objectively cured and 138 patients (91.4%) were subjectively cured of SUI 12 months after the operation with no significant differences between groups (p > 0.05). After both the TVT-Abbrevo and TVT-O procedures, the shortest distance between the tape and the urethral cavity line (TU) on straining (objective cure 4.1 mm vs. 4.5 mm, subjective cure 4.1 mm vs. 4.4 mm), the changes of the angle (∆) between the two arms of the sling (objective cure 15.8° vs. 20.8°, subjective cure 16.5° vs. 21.3°) and the gap between the sling and symphysis pubis (objective cure 9.9 mm vs. 12.1 mm, subjective cure 9.8 mm vs. 12.4 mm) were significantly smaller in the success group (p < 0.05). Analysis of ultrasound measurements in women reporting success and those reporting failure of the procedure showed the ∆TU (objective cure 1.6 mm vs. 0.9 mm, subjective cure 1.6 mm vs. 1.0 mm) and the angle on straining (objective cure 93.4° vs. 89.2°, subjective cure 94.3° vs. 88.9°) to be significantly bigger (p < 0.05). However, none of the assessed sonographic variables showed any significant differences between the TVT-Abbrevo and TVT-O groups. CONCLUSIONS: The change in distance between the tape and urethral cavity line in the center of the urethra in the mid-sagittal plane after straining is an effective indicator of the compression effect exerted by the sling on the urethra after a mid-urethral sling (MUS) procedure and may contribute to both objective and subjective cure rates postoperatively.

Synergistic targeting of CHK1 and mTOR in MYC-driven tumors.

Deregulation of v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (MYC) occurs in a broad range of human cancers and often predicts poor prognosis and resistance to therapy. However, directly targeting oncogenic MYC remains unsuccessful, and indirectly inhibiting MYC emerges as a promising approach. Checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) is a protein kinase that coordinates the G2/M cell cycle checkpoint and protects cancer cells from excessive replicative stress. Using c-MYC-mediated T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and N-MYC-driven neuroblastoma as model systems, we reveal that both c-MYC and N-MYC directly bind to the CHK1 locus and activate its transcription. CHIR-124, a selective CHK1 inhibitor, impairs cell viability and induces remarkable synergistic lethality with mTOR inhibitor rapamycin in MYC-overexpressing cells. Mechanistically, rapamycin inactivates carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 2, aspartate transcarbamoylase, and dihydroorotase (CAD), the essential enzyme for the first three steps of de novo pyrimidine synthesis, and deteriorates CHIR-124-induced replicative stress. We further demonstrate that dual treatments impede T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia and neuroblastoma progression in vivo. These results suggest simultaneous targeting of CHK1 and mTOR as a novel and powerful co-treatment modality for MYC-mediated tumors.

Concurrence of quantum anomalous Hall and topological Hall effects in magnetic topological insulator sandwich heterostructures.

The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is a consequence of non-zero Berry curvature in momentum space. The QAH insulator harbours dissipation-free chiral edge states in the absence of an external magnetic field. However, the topological Hall (TH) effect, a hallmark of chiral spin textures, is a consequence of real-space Berry curvature. Here, by inserting a topological insulator (TI) layer between two magnetic TI layers, we realized the concurrence of the TH effect and the QAH effect through electric-field gating. The TH effect is probed by bulk carriers, whereas the QAH effect is characterized by chiral edge states. The appearance of the TH effect in the QAH insulating regime is a consequence of chiral magnetic domain walls that result from the gate-induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and occurs during the magnetization reversal process in the magnetic TI sandwich samples. The coexistence of chiral edge states and chiral spin textures provides a platform for proof-of-concept dissipationless spin-textured spintronic applications.

Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy.

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) metals may be key ingredients in next-generation quantum and optoelectronic devices. However, 2D metals must be stabilized against environmental degradation and integrated into heterostructure devices at the wafer scale. The high-energy interface between silicon carbide and epitaxial graphene provides an intriguing framework for stabilizing a diverse range of 2D metals. Here we demonstrate large-area, environmentally stable, single-crystal 2D gallium, indium and tin that are stabilized at the interface of epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. The 2D metals are covalently bonded to SiC below but present a non-bonded interface to the graphene overlayer; that is, they are 'half van der Waals' metals with strong internal gradients in bonding character. These non-centrosymmetric 2D metals offer compelling opportunities for superconducting devices, topological phenomena and advanced optoelectronic properties. For example, the reported 2D Ga is a superconductor that combines six strongly coupled Ga-derived electron pockets with a large nearly free-electron Fermi surface that closely approaches the Dirac points of the graphene overlayer.

WEE1 inhibition induces glutamine addiction in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs) are aggressive and heterogeneous hematologic tumors resulting from the malignant transformation of T-cell progenitors. The major challenges in the treatments of T-ALL are dose-limiting toxicities of chemotherapeutics and drug resistance. Despite important progress in deciphering the genomic landscape of T-ALL, translation of these findings into effective targeted therapies remains largely unsuccessful. New targeted agents with significant antileukemic efficacy and less toxicity are in urgent need. We herein report that the expression of WEE1, a nuclear tyrosine kinase involved in cell cycle G2-M checkpoint signaling, is significantly elevated in T-ALL. Mechanistically, oncogenic MYC directly binds to the WEE1 promoter and activates its transcription. T-ALL cells particularly rely on the elevated WEE1 for cell viability. Pharmacological inhibition of WEE1 elicits global metabolic reprogramming which results in a marked suppression of aerobic glycolysis in T-ALL cells, leading to an increased dependency on glutaminolysis for cell survival. As such, dual targeting of WEE1 and glutaminase (GLS1) induces synergistic lethality in multiple T-ALL cell lines and shows great efficacy in T-ALL patient-derived xenografts. These findings provide mechanistic insights in the regulation of WEE1 kinase in T-ALL and suggest an additional vulnerability during WEE1 inhibitor treatments. In aggregate, we highlight a promising combination strategy of dual inhibition of cell cycle kinase and metabolic enzymes for T-ALL therapeutics.

Suppression of the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells by ST7L occurs through inhibition of activation of Wnt/GSK-3ß/ß-catenin signalling.

Emerging evidence has indicated that suppression of tumorigenicity 7-like (ST7L) is a tumour suppressor in multiple types of cancers. However, the functional involvement of ST7L has not been studied in breast cancer. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential biological function of ST7L in breast cancer. Herein, we found that ST7L expression was frequently downregulated in breast cancer cell lines. Functional assays revealed that ST7L overexpression significantly inhibited the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells, while ST7L silencing showed opposite effect. Notably, ST7L was found to decrease glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3ß phosphorylation and downregulate active ß-catenin protein expression, thereby leading to repression of ß-catenin transcriptional activity. Activation of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling by treatment of GSK-3ß inhibitor significantly abrogated ST7L-mediated antitumour effect. Additionally, ST7L overexpression blunted the tumorigenicity of breast cancer cells in vivo in xenograft mice. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ST7L exerts antitumor function in breast cancer associated with the suppression of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling, suggesting ST7L as a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer.

Correction to: Sonographic follow-up after endoscopic carpal tunnel release for severe carpal tunnel syndrome: a one-year neuroanatomical prospective observational study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Observation of Interfacial Antiferromagnetic Coupling between Magnetic Topological Insulator and Antiferromagnetic Insulator.

Inducing magnetic orders in a topological insulator (TI) to break its time reversal symmetry has been predicted to reveal many exotic topological quantum phenomena. The manipulation of magnetic orders in a TI layer can play a key role in harnessing these quantum phenomena toward technological applications. Here we fabricated a thin magnetic TI film on an antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulator Cr2O3 layer and found that the magnetic moments of the magnetic TI layer and the surface spins of the Cr2O3 layers favor interfacial AFM coupling. Field cooling studies show a crossover from negative to positive exchange bias clarifying the competition between the interfacial AFM coupling energy and the Zeeman energy in the AFM insulator layer. The interfacial exchange coupling also enhances the Curie temperature of the magnetic TI layer. The unique interfacial AFM alignment in magnetic TI on AFM insulator heterostructures opens a new route toward manipulating the interplay between topological states and magnetic orders in spin-engineered heterostructures, facilitating the exploration of proof-of-concept TI-based spintronic and electronic devices with multifunctionality and low power consumption.

IRAK2 and TLR10 confer risk of Hashimoto's disease: a genetic association study based on the Han Chinese population.

Hashimoto's disease (HD) is one of the major clinical subtypes of autoimmune thyroid disease. Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to the pathogenesis of HD. Previous evidence has shown that both IRAK2 and TLR10 are potential candidate susceptibility genes for HD. In this study, a total of 3654 Chinese women, including 973 HD cases and 2681 healthy controls, were recruited. Thirty-three tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IRAK2 and TLR10 were genotyped. Genetic association analyses at both the single-marker and haplotype levels were performed. Gene-by-gene interaction analyses were also conducted in case-only samples, as well as eQTL analyses for significant SNPs based on data extracted from the GTEx database. We identified that two SNPs, rs165501 (OR = 1.20, P = 0.0008, IRAK2) and rs10004195 (OR = 1.23, P = 0.0001, TLR10), were identified to be significantly associated with HD. Rs10004195 was significantly associated with the gene expression of TLR10 in human pituitary tissues (P = 2.00 × 10-4), while rs165501 was significantly associated with the expression of IRAK2 in human thyroid tissues (P = 3.10 × 10-6). No significant results were obtained in the gene-by-gene interaction analyses. Our findings suggest that both IRAK2 and TLR10 play important roles in the onset and development of HD.

High expression of SPAG5 sustains the malignant growth and invasion of breast cancer cells through the activation of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling.

Sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) has currently emerged as a novel oncogene in various cancers. High expression of SPAG5 has been frequently detected in breast cancer. However, the biological function and regulatory mechanism of SPAG5 in breast cancer remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential biological function of SPAG5 in breast cancer cells. Herein, we found that both the mRNA and protein expression of SPAG5 were significantly up-regulated in breast cancer cell lines. Functional experiments showed that silencing of SPAG5 inhibited the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells, while the overexpression of SPAG5 promoted the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells. Mechanistic investigation demonstrated that SPAG5 promoted the expression of Wnt3 and ß-catenin, and increased the activation of ß-catenin/TCF4 transcriptional activity. Notably, the inhibition of Wnt3 partially reversed the promotion effect of SPAG5 on breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion and ß-catenin/TCF4 signalling. In addition, the inhibition of ß-catenin also significantly abrogated SPAG5-mediated oncogenic effects in breast cancer. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that SPAG5 promotes the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells by activating Wnt/ß-catenin signalling via up-regulating Wnt3 expression.