Localization and density of tertiary lymphoid structures associate with molecular subtype and clinical outcome in colorectal cancer liver metastases.

BACKGROUND: Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) have been proposed to assess the prognosis of patients with cancer. Here, we investigated the prognostic value and relevant mechanisms of TLSs in colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM). METHODS: 603 patients with CRCLM treated by surgical resection from three cancer centers were included. The TLSs were categorized according to their anatomic subregions and quantified, and a TLS scoring system was established for intratumor region (T score) and peritumor region (P score). Differences in relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) between groups were determined. Multiplex immunohistochemical staining (mIHC) was used to determine the cellular composition of TLSs in 40 CRCLM patients. RESULTS: T score positively correlated with superior prognosis, while P score negatively associated with poor survival (all p<0.05). Meanwhile, T score was positively associated with specific mutation subtype of KRAS. Furthermore, TLSs enrichment gene expression was significantly associated with survival and transcriptomic subtypes of CRCLM. Subsequently, mIHC showed that the densities of Treg cells, M2 macrophages and Tfh cells were significantly higher in intratumor TLSs than in peritumor TLSs (p=0.029, p=0.047 and p=0.041, respectively), and the frequencies of Treg cells and M2 macrophages were positively correlated with P score, while the frequencies of Tfh cells were positively associated with T scores in intratumor TLSs (all p<0.05). Next, based on the distribution and abundance of TLSs, an Immune Score combining T score and P score was established which categorized CRCLM patients into four immune classes with different prognosis (all p<0.05). Among them, patients with higher immune class have more favorable prognoses. The C-index of Immune Class for RFS and OS was higher than Clinical Risk Score statistically. These results were also confirmed by the other two validation cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution and abundance of TLSs is significantly associated with RFS and OS of CRCLM patients, and a novel immune class was proposed for predicting the prognosis of CRCLM patients.

Epigallocatechin Gallate Attenuates Gentamicin-Induced Nephrotoxicity by Suppressing Apoptosis and Ferroptosis.

Gentamicin (GEN) is a kind of aminoglycoside antibiotic with the adverse effect of nephrotoxicity. Currently, no effective measures against the nephrotoxicity have been approved. In the present study, epigallocatechin gallate (EG), a useful ingredient in green tea, was used to attenuate its nephrotoxicity. EG was shown to largely attenuate the renal damage and the increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the decrease of glutathione (GSH) in GEN-injected rats. In NRK-52E cells, GEN increased the cellular ROS in the early treatment phase and ROS remained continuously high from 1.5 H to 24 H. Moreover, EG alleviated the increase of ROS and MDA and the decrease of GSH caused by GEN. Furthermore, EG activated the protein levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). After the treatment of GEN, the protein level of cleaved-caspase-3, the flow cytometry analysis and the JC-1 staining, the protein levels of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and SLC7A11, were greatly changed, indicating the occurrence of both apoptosis and ferroptosis, whereas EG can reduce these changes. However, when Nrf2 was knocked down by siRNA, the above protective effects of EG were weakened. In summary, EG attenuated GEN-induced nephrotoxicity by suppressing apoptosis and ferroptosis.

Protective effect of inhibiting necroptosis on gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity.

Necroptosis is defined as a novel programmed cell necrosis that is mediated by receptor interacting serine-threonine protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) and other related signals. Necrosis, apoptosis and inflammation are commonly considered as the leading mechanism in acute kidney injury (AKI) induced by gentamicin (GEN), which is a useful antibiotic for treating the infection of Gram-negative bacterial. However, the necroptosis in the pathogenesis of GEN-induced AKI is unknown. In this study, to investigate the process and function of necroptosis in GEN-induced AKI, NRK-52E and HK-2 cells and SD rats were used as the models. The necroptosis-related proteins, including RIPK1, RIPK3, mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) and phosphorylated MLKL (p-MLKL), were all increasing time-dependently when GEN was continuously given. By using the RIPK1 inhibitor necrostatin-1 (NEC-1) and RIPK3 inhibitor (CPD42), the GEN-induced toxicity of tubular cells was alleviated. Moreover, it was validated that GEN-induced cell apoptosis and inflammation were attenuated after treating with NEC-1 or CPD42, both in vivo and in vitro. When MLKL was knocked down by siRNA, NEC-1 and CPD42 can not further protect the damage of tubular cells by GEN. Although the using of pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD significantly decreased GEN-induced apoptosis, it enhanced necroptosis and slightly promoted the decreased cell viability in GEN-treated cells, with the protective effects weaker than NEC-1 or CPD42. Finally, in vitro minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) tests and bacteriostatic ring studies showed that NEC-1 did not interfere with the antibiotic effects of GEN. Thus, suppressing necroptosis can serve as a promising strategy for the prevention of GEN-induced nephrotoxicity.

Abnormal expression and clinical significance of surface receptors on natural killer cells in the peripheral blood of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Natural killer (NK) cells typically function as frontline lymphocytes against cancer although little is known about their engagement in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study compared the performance and activity of NK cells and their subsets in the peripheral blood of NSCLC sufferers and healthy participants. In total, 67 healthy controls (40 males; 59.7%) and 56 patients with NSCLC (35 males; 62.5%) were included (mean age, 66.6 years). Flow cytometry identified NK cells and their subpopulations in external blood, and the total number, proportion, activity, surface activating, and inhibitory receptor expression levels were determined. Results showed that NK cell surface receptors CD107a, IFN-γ, and TNF-α activity were markedly reduced in lung cancer patients compared to healthy controls. The number and ratio of NK cells within the lymphocyte population were decreased in patients. The concentration of the inhibitory receptors TIGIT, TIM-3, CD96, PD-1, and Siglec-7 were increased in patients, whereas the expression level of the activating receptor NKP30 was decreased. Moreover, the expression levels of IFN-γ, TIGIT, CD96, PD-1, and TIM-3 were correlated with the clinical phase of NSCLC. These findings suggest that surface receptors from NK cells are likely to be involved in the evolution of NSCLC.

Hepatic NCoR1 deletion exacerbates alcohol-induced liver injury in mice by promoting CCL2-mediated monocyte-derived macrophage infiltration.

Nuclear receptor corepressor 1 (NCoR1) is a corepressor of the epigenetic regulation of gene transcription that has important functions in metabolism and inflammation, but little is known about its role in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). In this study, we developed mice with hepatocyte-specific NCoR1 knockout (NCoR1Hep-/-) using the albumin-Cre/LoxP system and investigated the role of NCoR1 in the pathogenesis of ALD and the underlying mechanisms. The traditional alcohol feeding model and NIAAA model of ALD were both established in wild-type and NCoR1Hep-/- mice. We showed that after ALD was established, NCoR1Hep-/- mice had worse liver injury but less steatosis than wild-type mice. We demonstrated that hepatocyte-specific loss of NCoR1 attenuated liver steatosis by promoting fatty acid oxidation by upregulating BMAL1 (a circadian clock component that has been reported to promote peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARα)-mediated fatty ß-oxidation by upregulating de novo lipid synthesis). On the other hand, hepatocyte-specific loss of NCoR1 exacerbated alcohol-induced liver inflammation and oxidative stress by recruiting monocyte-derived macrophages via C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2). In the mouse hepatocyte line AML12, NCoR1 knockdown significantly increased ethanol-induced CCL2 release. These results suggest that hepatocyte NCoR1 plays distinct roles in controlling liver inflammation and steatosis, which provides new insights into the development of treatments for steatohepatitis induced by chronic alcohol consumption.

Anti-fibrotic effect of wogonin in renal tubular epithelial cells via Smad3-dependent mechanisms.

Renal fibrosis, a common feature and leading cause for End Stage Renal Disease, still lacks effective therapy. In the current study, we detected and compared the anti-fibrotic effects of wogonin and wogonoside, two major components of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, in TGF-ß1-treated tubular epithelial cells of human and murine origins. Results consistently showed that compared with wogonoside, wogonin inhibits TGF-ß1-induced upregulated mRNA and protein levels of collagen I and α-SMA with more efficiency, which was further confirmed by the immunofluorescence results that wogonin decreased the percentage of collagen I and α-SMA positive cells in TGF-ß1-treated tubular epithelial cells. Mechanistically, wogonin mainly decreased Smad3 phosphorylation, but had marginal effect on non-canonical TGF-ß signaling pathways, such as p38 and ERK MAP Kinase. Furthermore, in the cells deficient for TGF-ß signaling or downstream Smad3, results demonstrated that even high concentration of wogonin failed to further decrease the level of collagen I and α-SMA, indicating the essential role of TGF-ß/Smad3 signaling inhibition in the therapeutic action of wogonin in TGF-ß1-stimulated tubular epithelial cells. Collectively, our results indicated that wogonin may be utilized as a potential anti-fibrotic Traditional Chinese Medicine monomer in the treatment of renal fibrosis.