Mitochondrial DNA methylation is a predictor of immunotherapy response and prognosis in breast cancer: scRNA-seq and bulk-seq data insights.

Background: Alterations in Mitochondrial DNA methylation (MTDM) exist in many tumors, but their role in breast cancer (BC) development remains unclear. Methods: We analyzed BC patient data by combining scRNA-seq and bulk sequencing. Weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of TCGA data identified mitochondrial DNA methylation (MTDM)-associated genes in BC. COX regression and LASSO regression were used to build prognostic models. The biological function of MTDM was assessed using various methods, such as signaling pathway enrichment analysis, copynumber karyotyping analysis, and quantitative analysis of the cell proliferation rate. We also evaluated MTDM-mediated alterations in the immune microenvironment using immune microenvironment, microsatellite instability, mutation, unsupervised clustering, malignant cell subtype differentiation, immune cell subtype differentiation, and cell-communication signature analyses. Finally, we performed cellular experiments to validate the role of the MTDM-associated prognostic gene NCAPD3 in BC. Results: In this study, MTDM-associated prognostic models divided BC patients into high/low MTDM groups in TCGA/GEO datasets. The difference in survival time between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.001). We found that high MTDM status was positively correlated with tumor cell proliferation. We analyzed the immune microenvironment and found that low-MTDM group had higher immune checkpoint gene expression/immune cell infiltration, which could lead to potential benefits from immunotherapy. In contrast, the high MTDM group had higher proliferation rates and levels of CD8+T cell exhaustion, which may be related to the secretion of GDF15 by malignant breast epithelial cells with a high MTDM status. Cellular experiments validated the role of the MTDM-associated prognostic gene NCAPD3 (the gene most positively correlated with epithelial malignant cell proliferation in the model) in BC. Knockdown of NCAPD3 significantly reduced the activity and proliferation of MDA-MB-231 and BCAP-37 cells, and significantly reduced their migration ability of BCAP-37 cell line. Conclusion: This study presented a holistic evaluation of the multifaceted roles of MTDM in BC. The analysis of MTDM levels not only enables the prediction of response to immunotherapy but also serves as an accurate prognostic indicator for patients with BC. These insightful discoveries provide novel perspectives on tumor immunity and have the potentially to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of BC.

[Hydroxysafflor yellow A inhibits proliferation, migration, and chemoresistance of colorectal cancer cells through Akt/mTOR-autophagy pathway].

In recent years, the clinical treatment of colorectal cancer(CRC) has made great progress, but chemoresistance is still one of the main reasons for reducing the survival rate of patients with colorectal cancer. Therefore, ameliorating chemotherapy resis-tance is an urgent problem to be solved. The purpose of this study was to investigate the regulatory role and related molecular mechanisms of hydroxysafflor yellow A(HSYA) in colorectal cancer cell proliferation, migration, and 5-fluorouracil(5-FU) chemoresistance. In this study, HCT116 and HT-29 cells were used as research subjects. Firstly, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT) assay and colony formation assay were used to detect and analyze the effect of HSYA on the proliferation of CRC cells. Secondly, the effect of HSYA on the cell cycle in CRC cells was analyzed by cell cycle assay. Furthermore, the effect of HSYA on the migration of CRC cells was analyzed by wound-healing assay and Transwell assay. Based on the above, the influences of HSYA on 5-FU chemoresistance of CRC cells and related molecular mechanisms were explored and analyzed. The results showed that HSYA significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of CRC cells, and arrested the cell cycle in G_0/G_1 phase. In addition, HSYA significantly ameliorated the chemoresistance of CRC cells to 5-FU. The results of acridine orange staining and Western blot showed that the autophagy activity of CRC cells in the HSYA and 5-FU combined treatment group was significantly higher than that in the 5-FU single drug treatment group. As compared with the 5-FU single drug treatment group, the phosphorylation levels of protein kinase B(Akt) and mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) in the HSYA and 5-FU combined treatment group were significantly reduced, indicating that the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in the combined treatment group was down-regulated in CRC cells. In conclusion, HSYA may upregulate autophagy activity through the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting the proliferation and migration of CRC cells and ameliorating the chemoresistance to 5-FU.

Wnt-activated olfactory ensheathing cells stimulate neural stem cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation.

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are special glial cells localized in olfactory system which secrete large number of neurotrophic factors and promote the migration and survival of neurons. Canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling is activated in OECs during development and facilitates the growth and regeneration of axons. In the present study, we investigated the effects of Wnt-activated OECs on the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) in vitro. Primary neonatal mouse OECs were cultured and identified by immunostaining of P75 and GFAP. Wnt activation was achieved by lentivirus transfection of dominant-active-ß-catenin (EbC) and examined by immunostaining of PY489. The conditioned medium (CM) of Wnt-activated OECs (wOECs-CM) and control OECs (cOECs-CM) was used to stimulate NSCs. In proliferation assay, wOECs-CM could increase the percentage of Ki67/Sox2 double positive cells. Under differentiation condition, wOECs-CM could maintain the expression of Nestin and promote the differentiation of NSCs into Tuj1-positive neurons. Taken together, our data revealed that wOECs stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs in a secretory manner, indicating that combined transplantation of wOECs and NSCs may be beneficial for regeneration.

Effects of salinomycin and 17­AAG on proliferation of human gastric cancer cells in vitro.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects and mechanisms of 17­AAG combined with salinomycin treatment on proliferation and apoptosis of the SGC­7901 gastric cancer cell line. An MTT assay was used to detect the proliferation of SGC­7901 cells. Morphological alterations of cells were observed under inverted phase­contrast and fluorescence microscopes. Cell cycle and apoptosis were assessed by flow cytometry analysis. The protein expression of nuclear factor (NF)­κB p65 and Fas­ligand (L) were evaluated by immunocytochemistry. Salinomycin with a concentration range of 1­32 µmol/l was demonstrated to inhibit growth of SGC­7901 cells effectively, affect the morphology and apoptosis rate of cells, and arrest SGC­7901 cells in S phase. Furthermore, salinomycin significantly increased the protein expression of Fas­L and decreased the protein expression of NF­κB p65. The alterations in SGC­7901 cells co­treated with salinomycin and 17­AAG were more significant compared with cells treated with one drug only. In conclusion, the individual use of salinomycin and combined use with 17­AAG may significantly inhibit SGC­7901 gastric cancer cell proliferation and induce cell apoptosis. The potential mechanisms may be associated with upregulation of Fas­L and downregulation of NF­κB. These results provide a basis for the potential use of salinomycin in gastric cancer treatment.