Activation of the PERK/eIF2α axis is a pivotal prerequisite of taxanes to cancer cell apoptosis and renders synergism to overcome paclitaxel resistance in breast cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Microtubule polymerization is usually considered as the upstream of apoptotic cell death induced by taxanes, but recently published studies provide more insights into the mechanisms responsible for the antineoplastic effect of taxanes. In this study, we figure out the role of the stress-related PERK/eIF2α axis in tumor cell death upon taxane treatment along with paclitaxel resistance. METHODS: Utilizing immunoblot assay, the activation status of PERK-eIF2α signaling was detected in a panel of cancer cell lines after the treatment of taxanes. The causal role of PERK-eIF2α signaling in the cancer cell apoptosis induced by taxanes was examined via pharmacological and genetic inhibitions of PERK. The relationship between microtubule polymerization and PERK-eIF2α activation was explored by immunofluorescent and immunoblotting assays. Eventaually, the combined therapeutic effect of paclitaxel (PTX) and CCT020312, a PERK agonist, was investigated in PTX-resistant breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: PERK-eIF2α axis was dramatically activated by taxanes in several cancer cell types. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of PERK efficiently impaired taxane-induced apoptotic cell death, independent of the cellular microtubule polymerization status. Moreover, PTX was able to activate the PERK/eIF2α axis in a very low concentration without triggering microtubule polymerization. In PTX-resistant breast cancer cells, the PERK/eIF2α axis was attenuated in comparison with the PTX-sensitive counterparts. Reactivation of the PERK/eIF2α axis in the PTX-resistant breast cancer cells with PERK agonist sensitized them to PTX in vitro. Combination treatment of the xenografted PTX-resistant breast tumors with PERK agonist and PTX validated the synergic effect of PTX and PERK activation in vivo. CONCLUSION: Activation of the PERK/eIF2α axis is a pivotal prerequisite of taxanes to initiate cancer cell apoptosis, which is independent of the well-known microtubule polymerization-dependent manner. Simultaneous activation of PERK-eIF2α signaling would be a promising therapeutic strategy to overcome PTX resistance in breast cancer or other cancers.

Integrative analysis of multi-omics data reveals inhibition of RB1 signaling promotes apatinib resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Although apatinib is a promising drug for the treatment of liver cancer, the underlying drug resistance mechanism is still unclear. Here, we constructed apatinib-resistant HepG2 cells. We then characterized the epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic landscapes both in apatinib-resistant and non-resistant HepG2 cells. Differential expression, ATAC-seq, and proteomic data analyses were performed. We found that the cell cycle related protein RB1 may play an essential role in the process of apatinib resistant to hepatocarcinoma. Moreover, there were extensive variations at the transcriptome, epigenetic, and proteomic level. Finally, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blot analysis showed that expression level of RB1 in apatinib-resistant cell as well as the samples of patients in progressive disease were significantly lower than that in controls. Those results also showed that the RB1 pathway inhibitors CDK2-IN-73 and Palbociclib could relieve the resistance of apatinib resistant cells. Our results further enhance our understanding of the anti-tumorigenic and anti-angiogenic efficacy of apatinib in liver cancer and provide a novel perspective regarding apatinib resistance. Furthermore, we proved that CDKN2B inhibition of RB1 signaling promoted apatinib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma. Those findings have greatly important biological significance for the resistance of apatinib and the treatment of liver cancer.

Loss of the adaptor protein Sh3bgrl initiates ovarian fibrosis in zebrafish.

Ovarian fibrosis is a reproduction obstacle leading to female infertility in vertebrates, but the cause underlying the cellular events is unclear. Here, we found that the small adaptor protein SH3-domain-binding glutamate-rich protein like (Sh3bgrl) plays an important role in female reproduction in zebrafish. Two sh3bgrl mutant alleles that result in sh3bgrl depletion contribute to female spawning inability. Comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that sh3bgrl knockout mechanistically causes the upregulation of genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) and fiber generation in the zebrafish ovary. Consequently, extra ECM or fibers accumulate and are deposited in the ovary, resulting in eventual spawning inability. Our findings thus provide insights into understanding the underlying mechanism of infertility by ovarian fibrosis and provide a novel and valuable model to study female reproduction abnormality.

SH3BGRL Suppresses Liver Tumor Progression through Enhanced ATG5-Dependent Autophagy.

SH3BGRL, an adaptor protein, is upregulated in breast cancers and indicates its tumorigenic role. But the function of SH3BGRL in other types of cancers is largely unknown. Here, we modulate SH3BGRL expression level in two liver cancer cells and conduct both in vitro and in vivo analyses of SH3BGRL in cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Results demonstrate that SH3BGRL notably inhibits cell proliferation and arrests the cell cycle in both LO2 and HepG2 cells. Molecularly, SH3BGRL upregulates the expression of ATG5 from proteasome degradation as well as the inhibitions of Src activation and its downstream ERK and AKT signaling pathways, which eventually enhance autophagic cell death. The xenograft mouse model reveals that SH3BGRL overexpression can efficiently suppress tumorigenesis in vivo, while the additional silencing ATG5 in SH3BGRL-overexpressing cells attenuates the inhibitory effect of SH3BGRL on both hepatic tumor cell proliferation and tumorigenicity in vivo. The relevance of SH3BGRL downregulation in liver cancers and their progression is validated based on the large-scale tumor data. Taken together, our results clarify the suppressive role of SH3BGRL in tumorigenesis of liver cancer, which would be of help to the diagnosis of liver cancer, while either promoting the autophagy of liver cancer cells or inhibiting the downstream signaling induced from SH3BGRL downregulation would be a promising therapy.

Erk5 functions in modulation of zebrafish intestinal permeability.

The intestine of zebrafish consists of mucosa, muscularis and serosa. Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) act as a physical and biochemical barrier to protect against invasion by external commensal bacteria. Cell junction is one of the crucial basis of the barrier function. When cell junctions were disrupted, intestinal permeability would be naturally impeded. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5), belonging to the Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, is involved in the normal physiological development of the cardiovascular system and nervous system. But the role of erk5 in intestinal morphogenesis and intestinal function is yet to know. Here, we showed that knockout of the erk5 in zebrafish larvae resulted in intestinal wall hypoplasia, including the thinned intestinal wall, reduced intestinal folds, and disrupted cell junctions. In addition, the intestinal permeability assay demonstrated that knockout of erk5 resulted in increased intestinal permeability. All of these showed that erk5 plays an essential role in the maintenance of intestinal barrier function. Thus, our data indicate that erk5 is a critical effector in intestinal morphogenesis and intestinal function, and dysfunction of erk5 would lead to intestinal diseases.

Histone methylation modification patterns and relevant M-RiskScore in acute myeloid leukemia.

Objective: We tried to identify novel molecular subtypes of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) associated with histone methylation and established a relevant scoring system to predict treatment response and prognosis of AML. Methods: Gene expression data and clinical characteristics of patients with AML were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Molecular subtyping was carried out by consensus clustering analysis, based on the expression of 24 histone methylation modification regulators (HMMRs). The clinical and biological features of each clustered pattern were taken into account. The scoring system was constructed by using differential expression analysis, Cox regression method and lasso regression analysis. Subsequently, the scoring system in the roles of prognostic and chemotherapeutic prediction of AML were explored. Finally, an independent GSE dataset was used for validating the established clustering system. Results: Two distinct subtypes of AML were identified based on the expression of the 24 HMMRs, which exhibited remarkable differences in several clinical and biological characteristics, including HMMRs expression, AML-M0 distribution, NPM1 mutation, tumor mutation burden, somatic mutations, pathway activation, immune cell infiltration and patient survival. The scoring system, M-RiskScore, was established. Integrated analysis demonstrated that patients with the low M-RiskScore displayed a prominent survival advantage and a good response to decitabine treatment, while patients with high M-RiskScore have resistance to decitabine, but they could benefit from IA regimen therapy. Conclusion: Detection of HMMRs expression would be a potential strategy for AML subtyping. Meanwhile, targeting histone methylation would be a preferred strategy for either AML-M0 or NPM1 mutant patients. M-RiskScore was a useful prognostic biomarker and a guide for the choice of appropriate chemotherapy strategy.

Prediction of Pathogenic Factors in Dysbiotic Gut Microbiomes of Colorectal Cancer Patients Using Reverse Microbiomics.

Background: Gut microbiome plays a crucial role in the formation and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). To better identify the underlying gene-level pathogenic mechanisms of microbiome-associated CRC, we applied our newly developed Reverse Microbiomics (RM) to predict potential pathogenic factors using the data of microbiomes in CRC patients. Results: Our literature search first identified 40 bacterial species enriched and 23 species depleted in the guts of CRC patients. These bacteria were systematically modeled and analyzed using the NCBI Taxonomy ontology. Ten species, including 6 enriched species (e.g., Bacteroides fragilis, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Streptococcus equinus) and 4 depleted species (e.g., Bacteroides uniformis and Streptococcus thermophilus) were chosen for follow-up comparative genomics analysis. Vaxign was used to comparatively analyze 47 genome sequences of these ten species. In total 18 autoantigens were predicted to contribute to CRC formation, six of which were reported with experimental evidence to be correlated with drug resistance and/or cell invasiveness of CRC. Interestingly, four human homology proteins (EDK89078.1, EDK87700.1, EDK89777.1, and EDK89145.1) are conserved among all enriched strains. Furthermore, we predicted 76 potential virulence factors without homology to human proteins, including two riboflavin synthase proteins, three ATP-binding cassettes (ABC) transporter protein family proteins, and 12 outer membrane proteins (OMPs). Riboflavin synthase is present in all the enriched strains but not in depleted species. The critical role of riboflavin synthase in CRC development was further identified from its hub role in our STRING-based protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and from the finding of the riboflavin metabolism as the most significantly enriched pathway in our KEGG pathway analysis. A novel model of the CRC pathogenesis involving riboflavin synthase and other related proteins including TpiA and GrxC was further proposed. Conclusions: The RM strategy was used to predict 18 autoantigens and 76 potential virulence factors from CRC-associated microbiome data. In addition to many of these autoantigens and virulence factors experimentally verified as reported in the literature, our study predicted many new pathogenetic factors and developed a new model of CRC pathogenesis involving the riboflavin synthase from the enriched colorectal bacteria and other associated proteins.

Adaptor SH3BGRL drives autophagy-mediated chemoresistance through promoting PIK3C3 translation and ATG12 stability in breast cancers.

Acquired chemotherapy resistance is one of the main culprits in the relapse of breast cancer. But the underlying mechanism of chemotherapy resistance remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that a small adaptor protein, SH3BGRL, is not only elevated in the majority of breast cancer patients but also has relevance with the relapse and poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. Functionally, SH3BGRL upregulation enhances the chemoresistance of breast cancer cells to the first-line doxorubicin treatment through macroautophagic/autophagic protection. Mechanistically, SH3BGRL can unexpectedly bind to ribosomal subunits to enhance PIK3C3 translation efficiency and sustain ATG12 stability. Therefore, inhibition of autophagy or silence of PIK3C3 or ATG12 can effectively block the driving effect of SH3BGRL on doxorubicin resistance of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. We also validate that SH3BGRL expression is positively correlated with that of PIK3C3 or ATG12, as well as the constitutive occurrence of autophagy in clinical breast cancer tissues. Taken together, our data reveal that SH3BGRL upregulation would be a key driver to the acquired chemotherapy resistance through autophagy enhancement in breast cancer while targeting SH3BGRL could be a potential therapeutic strategy against breast cancer.Abbreviations: ABCs: ATP-binding cassette transporters; Act D: actinomycin D; ACTB/ß-actin: actin beta; ATG: autophagy-related; Baf A1: bafilomycin A1; CASP3: caspase 3; CHX: cycloheximide; CQ: chloroquine; Dox: doxorubicin; FBS: fetal bovine serum; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GEO: gene expression omnibus; GFP: green fluorescent protein; G6PD: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase; GSEA: gene set enrichment analysis; IHC: immunochemistry; KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; MAP1LC3B/LC3B: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; mRNA: messenger RNA; PIK3C3: phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 3; SH3BGRL: SH3 domain binding glutamate-rich protein-like; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; ULK1: unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1.

Decitabine Enhances Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cell Apoptosis through SH3BGRL Upregulation.

BACKGROUND: SH3-domain-binding glutamic acid-rich protein-like protein (SH3BGRL) is downregulated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Clinically, DNA demethylating drug decitabine (DAC) combined with traditional chemotherapies reveals better efficacy on AML patients than the conventional chemotherapies alone. Our previous results revealed that human SH3-domain-binding glutamic acid-rich protein-like protein (SH3BGRL) plays a tumor suppressive role in AML but whether there is a connection between DAC and SH3BGRL expression remains elusive. METHODS: Here, we tentatively treated AML cell lines U937, MV4, and HL-60 with DAC and Western Blots, RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of SH3BGRL. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were determined using Annexin V/7- AAD staining. Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to determine the expression of SH3BGRL mRNA and protein. Methylation-specific PCR was used to quantify the DNA methylation in AML cell lines. RESULTS: DAC had cytotoxicity in HL-60, MV4, and U937. In U937 cell lines, treatment with DAC showed the upregulation of cleaved caspase3, PARP, and SH3BGRL. Upon treatment, up-regulation of SH3BGRL mRNA and protein was dose-dependent and this activity was partially inhibited in endogenous SH3BGRL knockdown cell lines. CONCLUSION: Thus, our results demonstrated a possibly cytotoxic role of DAC on AML cells by upregulation of SH3BGRL expression at epigenetic modulation level and the methylation status in the SH3BGRL promoter region could be a supplemental diagnostic marker to the precise administration of DAC to AML patients.

Experimental and Simulation Research on the Preparation of Carbon Nano-Materials by Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Carbon nano-materials have been widely used in many fields due to their electron transport, mechanics, and gas adsorption properties. This paper introduces the structure and properties of carbon nano-materials the preparation of carbon nano-materials by chemical vapor deposition method (CVD)-which is one of the most common preparation methods-and reaction simulation. A major factor affecting the material structure is its preparation link. Different preparation methods or different conditions will have a great impact on the structure and properties of the material (mechanical properties, electrical properties, magnetism, etc.). The main influencing factors (precursor, substrate, and catalyst) of carbon nano-materials prepared by CVD are summarized. Through simulation, the reaction can be optimized and the growth mode of substances can be controlled. Currently, numerical simulations of the CVD process can be utilized in two ways: changing the CVD reactor structure and observing CVD chemical reactions. Therefore, the development and research status of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for CVD are summarized, as is the potential of combining experimental studies and numerical simulations to achieve and optimize controllable carbon nano-materials growth.

Development of full-length cell-culture infectious clone and subgenomic replicon for a genotype 3a isolate of hepatitis C virus.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 is widely distributed, and genotype 3-infected patients achieve a lower cure rate in direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy and are associated with a higher risk of hepatic steatosis than patients with other genotypes. Thus, the study of the virology and pathogenesis of genotype 3 HCV is increasingly relevant. Here, we developed a full-length infectious clone and a subgenomic replicon for the genotype 3a isolate, CH3a. From an infected serum, we constructed a full-length CH3a clone, however, it was nonviable in Huh7.5.1 cells. Next, we systematically adapted several intergenotypic recombinants containing Core-NS2 and 5'UTR-NS5A from CH3a, and other sequences from a replication-competent genotype 2 a clone JFH1. Adaptive mutations were identified, of which several combinations facilitated the replication of CH3a-JFH1 recombinants; however, they failed to adapt to the full-length CH3a and the recombinants containing CH3a NS5B. Thus, we attempted to separately adapt CH3a NS5B-3'UTR by constructing an intragenotypic recombinant using 5'UTR-NS5A from an infectious genotype 3a clone, DBN3acc, from which L3004P/M in NS5B and a deletion of 11 nucleotides (Δ11nt) downstream of the polyU/UC tract of the 3'UTR were identified and demonstrated to efficiently improve virus production. Finally, we combined functional 5'UTR-NS5A and NS5B-3'UTR sequences that carried the selected mutations to generate full-length CH3a with 26 or 27 substitutions (CH3acc), and both revealed efficient replication and virus spread in transfected and infected cells, releasing HCV of 104.2 f.f.u. ml-1. CH3acc was inhibited by DAAs targeting NS3/4A, NS5A and NS5B in a dose-dependent manner. The selected mutations permitted the development of subgenomic replicon CH3a-SGRep, by which L3004P, L3004M and Δ11nt were proven, together with a single-cycle virus production assay, to facilitate virus assembly, release, and RNA replication. CH3acc clones and CH3a-SGRep replicon provide new tools for the study of HCV genotype 3.

The combination of PRL-3 inhibitor with sorafenib synergistically promotes AML apoptosis.

Phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) is recognized as a novel independent crucial driver for AML progression. Thus, the specific inhibitor of PRL-3 would be a potential therapeutic agent to AML in clinics, but there are not enough preclinical applications reported yet. Here we evaluated the cytotoxicity of PRL-3 inhibitor, BR-1, against AML cells ML-1 and MOLM-13. Meanwhile, the effect of BR-1 on the biological characteristics of AML cells and the underlying mechanism was investigated along with the combination of BR-1 and sorafenib on the AML cell viability. Our results show that BR-1 promotes apoptosis by inactivation of the JAK/STAT5 and PI3K/AKT pathways, while inhibits cell proliferation through arresting cell cycle in the S phase. In addition, a combination of BR-1 with sorafenib can further improve the therapeutic effect on AML. Thus, our results demonstrated that BR-1 would be a novel and potent therapeutic agent to AML, and its combination with other anti-AML drugs would be a promising strategy for AML therapy.

Adaptor SH3BGRL promotes breast cancer metastasis through PFN1 degradation by translational STUB1 upregulation.

Metastatic recurrence is still a major challenge in breast cancer treatment, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report that a small adaptor protein, SH3BGRL, is upregulated in the majority of breast cancer patients, especially elevated in those with metastatic relapse, indicating it as a marker for the poor prognosis of breast cancer. Physiologically, SH3BGRL can multifunctionally promote breast cancer cell tumorigenicity, migration, invasiveness, and efficient lung colonization in nude mice. Mechanistically, SH3BGRL downregulates the acting-binding protein profilin 1 (PFN1) by accelerating the translation of the PFN1 E3 ligase, STUB1 via SH3BGRL interaction with ribosomal proteins, or/and enhancing the interaction of PFN1 with STUB1 to accelerate PFN1 degradation. Loss of PFN1 consequently contributes to downstream multiple activations of AKT, NF-kB, and WNT signaling pathways. In contrast, the forced expression of compensatory PFN1 in SH3BGRL-high cells efficiently neutralizes SH3BGRL-induced metastasis and tumorigenesis with PTEN upregulation and PI3K-AKT signaling inactivation. Clinical analysis validates that SH3BGRL expression is negatively correlated with PFN1 and PTEN levels, but positively to the activations of AKT, NF-kB, and WNT signaling pathways in breast patient tissues. Our results thus suggest that SH3BGRL is a valuable prognostic factor and a potential therapeutic target for preventing breast cancer progression and metastasis.

Development of cell culture infectious clones for hepatitis C virus genotype 1b and transcription analysis of 1b-infected hepatoma cells.

Globally, hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b is the most prevalent, and its infection has been found to associate with a higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than other genotype viruses. However, an efficient infectious HCV genotype 1b culture system is unavailable, which has largely hampered the study of this important genotype virus. In this study, by using a systematic approach combining the sequences of infectious 1a TNcc clone and adaptive mutations, we succeeded in culture adaption of two full-length 1b clones for the reference strain Con1 and a clinical isolate A6, and designated as Con1cc and A6cc, respectively. Con1cc and A6cc replicated efficiently in hepatoma Huh7.5.1 cells, released HCV infectivity titers of 104.1 and 103.72 focus forming units per milliliter, respectively, and maintained the engineered mutations after passages. Both viruses responded to sofosbuvir and velpatasvir in a dose-dependent manner. With culture infectious 1b clones, we characterized the transcriptomes of 1b Con1cc-infected cells, in comparison with 2a-infected and uninfected cells. In conclusion, we have developed two infectious clones for genotype 1b and shown a novel strategy for culture adaptation of HCV isolates by using a genetically close backbone sequence. Furthermore, this study provides transcriptional landscape of HCV 1b-infected hepatoma cells facilitating the study of genotype 1b infection.

Vaxign2: the second generation of the first Web-based vaccine design program using reverse vaccinology and machine learning.

Vaccination is one of the most significant inventions in medicine. Reverse vaccinology (RV) is a state-of-the-art technique to predict vaccine candidates from pathogen's genome(s). To promote vaccine development, we updated Vaxign2, the first web-based vaccine design program using reverse vaccinology with machine learning. Vaxign2 is a comprehensive web server for rational vaccine design, consisting of predictive and computational workflow components. The predictive part includes the original Vaxign filtering-based method and a new machine learning-based method, Vaxign-ML. The benchmarking results using a validation dataset showed that Vaxign-ML had superior prediction performance compared to other RV tools. Besides the prediction component, Vaxign2 implemented various post-prediction analyses to significantly enhance users' capability to refine the prediction results based on different vaccine design rationales and considerably reduce user time to analyze the Vaxign/Vaxign-ML prediction results. Users provide proteome sequences as input data, select candidates based on Vaxign outputs and Vaxign-ML scores, and perform post-prediction analysis. Vaxign2 also includes precomputed results from approximately 1 million proteins in 398 proteomes of 36 pathogens. As a demonstration, Vaxign2 was used to effectively analyse SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing COVID-19. The comprehensive framework of Vaxign2 can support better and more rational vaccine design. Vaxign2 is publicly accessible at http://www.violinet.org/vaxign2.

Reverse Microbiomics: A New Reverse Dysbiosis Analysis Strategy and Its Usage in Prediction of Autoantigens and Virulent Factors in Dysbiotic Gut Microbiomes From Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

Alterations in the gut microbiome have been associated with various human diseases. Most existing gut microbiome studies stopped at the stage of identifying microbial alterations between diseased or healthy conditions. As inspired by reverse vaccinology (RV), we developed a new strategy called Reverse Microbiomics (RM) that turns this process around: based on the identified microbial alternations, reverse-predicting the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease and microbial alternations. Our RM methodology starts by identifying significantly altered microbiota profiles, performing bioinformatics analysis on the proteomes of the microbiota identified, and finally predicting potential virulence or protective factors relevant to a microbiome-associated disease. As a use case study, this reverse methodology was applied to study the molecular pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Those bacteria differentially associated with RA were first identified and annotated from published data and then modeled and classified using the Ontology of Host-Microbiome Interactions (OHMI). Our study identified 14 species increased and 9 species depleted in the gut microbiota of RA patients. Vaxign was used to comparatively analyze 15 genome sequences of the two pairs of species: Gram-negative Prevotella copri (increased) and Prevotella histicola (depleted), as well as Gram-positive Bifidobacterium dentium (increased) and Bifidobacterium bifidum (depleted). In total, 21 auto-antigens were predicted to be related to RA, and five of them were previously reported to be associated with RA with experimental evidence. Furthermore, we identified 94 potential adhesive virulence factors including 24 microbial ABC transporters. While eukaryotic ABC transporters are key RA diagnosis markers and drug targets, we identified, for the first-time, RA-associated microbial ABC transporters and provided a novel hypothesis of RA pathogenesis. Our study showed that RM, by broadening the scope of RV, is a novel and effective strategy to study from bacterial level to molecular level factors and gain further insight into how these factors possibly contribute to the development of microbial alterations under specific diseases.

Low microRNA150 expression is associated with activated carcinogenic pathways and a poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer amongst women worldwide, and numerous microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are involved in the initiation and progression of breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to identify hub miRNAs and determine the underlying mechanisms regulated by these miRNAs in breast cancer. Breast invasive carcinoma transcriptome data (including mRNAs and miRNAs), and clinical data were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Differential gene expression analysis, co­expression network analysis, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and prognosis analysis were used to screen the hub miRNAs and explore their functions. Functional experiments were used to determine the underlying mechanisms of the hub miRNAs in breast cancer cells. The results revealed that low miR150 expression predicted a more advanced disease stage, and was associated with a less favorable prognosis. Through the combined use of five miRNA­target gene prediction tools, 31 potential miR150 target genes were identified. GSEA revealed that low miR150 expression was associated with the upregulation of several cancer­associated signaling pathways, and the downregulation of several tumor suppressor genes. Furthermore, miR150 independently affected overall survival in patients, and interacted with its target genes to indirectly affect overall and disease­free survival. Functional experiments demonstrated that miR150 positively regulated B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA), and the downregulation of miR150 and BTLA combined promoted cell migration. In conclusion, the present study revealed that low miR150 expression was associated with less favorable clinical features, upregulation of several carcinogenic signaling pathways, and poor patient survival. Additionally, a miR150­BTLA axis was suggested to regulate cell viability and migration.

Identification of STXBP6-IRF1 positive feedback loop in regulation of PD-L1 in cancer.

The clinical success of immune checkpoint blockade against diverse human cancers highlights the critical importance of insightful understanding into mechanisms underlying PD-L1 regulation. IFN-γ released by intratumoral lymphocytes regulates PD-L1 expression in tumor cells through JAK-STAT-IRF1 pathway, while the molecular events prime IRF1 to translocate into nucleus are still obscure. Here we identified STXBP6, previously recognized involving in SNARE complex assembly, negatively regulates PD-L1 transcription via retention of IRF1 in cytoplasm. IFN-γ exposure stimulates accumulation of cytosolic IRF1, which eventually saturates STXBP6 and triggers nuclear translocation of IRF1. Nuclear IRF1 in turn inhibits STXBP6 expression and thereby liberates more IRF1 to migrate to nucleus. Therefore, we identified a novel positive feedback loop between STXBP6 and IRF1 in regulation of PD-L1 expression in cancer. Furthermore, we demonstrate STXBP6 overexpression significantly inhibits T cell activation both in vitro and in vivo. These findings offer new insight into the complexity of PD-L1 expression in cancer and suggest a valuable measure to predict the response to PD-1/PD-L1-based immunotherapy.

Poly C Binding Protein 1 Regulates p62/SQSTM1 mRNA Stability and Autophagic Degradation to Repress Tumor Progression.

Accumulating evidence show that Poly C Binding Protein 1 (PCBP1) is deleted in distinct types of tumors as a novel tumor suppressor, but its tumor suppression mechanism remains elusive. Here, we firstly describe that downregulation of PCBP1 is significantly associated with clinical ovarian tumor progression. Mechanistically, PCBP1 overexpression affects various autophagy-related genes expression at various expression levels to attenuate the intrinsic cell autophagy, including the autophagy-initiating ULK, ATG12, ATG7 as well as the bona fide marker of autophagosome, LC3B. Accordingly, knockdown of the endogenous PCBP1 in turn enhances autophagy and less cell death. Meanwhile, PCBP1 upregulates p62/SQSTM1 via inhibition p62/SQSTM1 autophagolysome and proteasome degradation as well as its mRNA stability, consequently accompanying with the caspase 3 or 8 activation for tumor cell apoptosis. Importantly, clinical ovary cancer sample analysis consistently validates the relevance of PCBP1 expression to both p62/SQSTM1 and caspase-8 to overall survival, and indicates PCBP1 may be a master player to repress tumor initiation. Taken together, our results uncover the tumorigenic mechanism of PCBP1 depletion and suggest that inhibition of tumor cell autophagy with autophagic inhibitors could be an effective therapeutical strategy for PCBP1-deficient tumor.