EIF4A3-negatively driven circular RNA ß-catenin (circß-catenin) promotes colorectal cancer progression via miR-197-3p/CTNND1 regulatory axis.

BACKGROUND: Circß-catenin, our first reported circRNA, has been reported to mediate tumorigenesis in various cancers. However, its biological functions and underlying mechanisms in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unknown. METHODS: The qRT-PCR examination was used to detect the expression of circß-catenin, miR-197-3p, and CTNND1 in cells and human tissues. Western blot was conducted to detect the protein expression levels. The biological function of circß-catenin was verified by MTT, colony formation, wound healing, and transwell assays. The in vivo effects of circß-catenin were verified by nude mice xenograft and metastasis models. The regulatory network of circß-catenin/miR-197-3p/CTNND1 was confirmed via dual-luciferase reporter and RIP assays. RESULTS: In the present study, circß-catenin was found to promote CRC cell proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, circß-catenin served as miRNA decoy to directly bind to miR-197-3p, then antagonized the repression of the target gene CTNND1, and eventually promoted the malignant phenotype of CRC. More interestingly, the inverted repeated Alu pairs termed AluJb1/2 and AluY facilitated the biogenesis of circß-catenin, which could be partially reversed by EIF4A3 binding to Alu element AluJb2. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings illustrated a novel mechanism of circß-catenin in modulating CRC tumorigenesis and metastasis, which provides a potential therapeutic target for CRC patients.

The network pharmacology study and molecular docking to investigate the potential mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma against Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's Disease is considered as an insidious neurodegenerative progressive disease but its pathogenesis has not been elucidated. Acoritataninowii Rhizoma exhibits anti-dementia effects as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is linked to its anti- Alzheimer's Disease mechanism. In this study, network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to examine the potential of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma for Alzheimer's Disease. In order to construct PPI networks and drug-component-target-disease networks, disease-related genes and proteins were gathered from the database. Gene ontology (GO), pathway enrichment (KEGG), and molecular docking were used to forecast the potential mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma on Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, 4 active ingredients and 81 target genes were screened from Acoritataninowii Rhizoma, 6765 specific target genes were screened from Alzheimer's Disease, and 61 drug-disease cross genes were validated. GO analysis showed that Acoritataninowii Rhizoma can regulate processes such as the protein serine/threonine kinase associated with MAPK. KeGG pathway analysis showed that the signaling pathways affected by Acoritataninowii Rhizoma were fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, AGE-RAGE and other pathways. Molecular docking implied that the pharmacological influences of the bioactive constituents of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma (Cycloaartenol and kaempferol) on Alzheimer's Disease may related to ESR1 and AKT1, respectively. AKT1 and ESR1 may be the core target genes of the treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Kaempferol and Cycloartenol might be core bioactive constituents for treatment.

LncRNA-NEF suppressed oxaliplatin resistance and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer through epigenetically inactivating MEK/ERK signaling.

A major cause of oxaliplatin chemoresistance in colorectal cancer (CRC) is acquired epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cancer cells, making the cancer cells easy to metastasis and recurrence. LncRNA Neighboring Enhancer of FOXA2 (lncRNA-NEF) has been characterized as a tumor suppressor to mediate cancer metastasis in multiple cancer types. However, whether it mediated the drug resistance remains unknown. In the present study, an oxaliplatin-resistant CRC cell line (SW620R) was established and lncRNA-NEF was obviously down-regulated in this resistant cell line. The further loss and gain-of-function studies demonstrated that this lncRNA suppressed oxaliplatin resistance as well as EMT programme in vitro and inhibited metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, lncRNA-NEF epigenetically promoted the expression of DOK1 (Downstream of Tyrosine kinase 1), a negative regulator of MEK/ERK signaling, by disrupting DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs)-mediated DNA methylation. DOK1, in turn, induced the inactivation of MEK/ERK signaling, forming the lncRNA-NEF/DOK1/MEK/ERK regulatory axis to mediate oxaliplatin resistance in CRC. Collectively, our work reveals the critical function of lncRNA-NEF in mediating the oxaliplatin chemotherapy resistance in CRC, and provides a promising therapeutic strategy for CRC patients with oxaliplatin resistance.

Linc-ROR drive adriamycin resistance by targeting AP-2α/Wnt/ß-catenin axis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Adriamycin is widely used as a chemotherapeutic strategy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the clinical response was disappointing because of the acquired drug resistance with long-term usage. Revealing the underlying mechanism could provide promising therapeutics for the drug-resistant patients. The recently identified linc-ROR (long intergenic non-protein-coding RNA, regulator of reprogramming) has been found to be an oncogene in various cancers, and it also demonstrated to mediate drug resistance and metastasis. We thereby wonder whether this lincRNA could mediate adriamycin chemoresistance in HCC. In this study, linc-ROR was found to be upregulated in adriamycin-resistant HCC cells. And its overexpression accelerated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program and adriamycin resistance. Conversely, its silence suppressed EMT and made HCC cells sensitize to adriamycin in vitro and in vivo. Further investigation revealed that linc-ROR physically interacted with AP-2α, mediated its stability by a post-translational modification manner, and sequentially activated Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. Furthermore, linc-ROR expression was positively associated with ß-catenin expression in human clinical specimens. Taken together, linc-ROR promoted tumorigenesis and adriamycin resistance in HCC via a linc-ROR/AP-2α/Wnt/ß-catenin axis, which could be developed as a potential therapeutic target for the adriamycin-resistant patients.

Evaluation of Burma Reed as Substrate for Production of Pleurotus eryngii.

Burma reed (Neyraudia reynaudiana), a giant C4 grass, was included in substrate at the rates of 0, 20, 40 and 66 % to partially or wholly substitute sawdust and cottonseed hulls to evaluate its suitability for Pleurotus eryngii cultivation. Inclusion of 20 and 40 % Burma reed did not significantly affect linear mycelial growth, dry matter loss, spawn run period and fructification, and achieved high fruiting body yields and biological efficiency of 336.67 g/bag, 67.33 % and 342.15 g/bag, 68.43 %, respectively, which were not significantly different from 350.08 g/bag to 70.02 % obtained from the control substrate. Enzyme assay revealed that on the mixed substrates laccase and manganese peroxidase activity were significantly enhanced, but cellulase was significantly reduced in the middle stage of incubation as compared with the control substrate. Even on Burma reed substrate without sawdust and cottonseed hulls, fruiting body yield (313.56 g/bag) and biological efficiency (62.71 %) were satisfactory, although significantly lower than that on the control substrate. Therefore, Burma reed was a promising potential substrate for P. eryngii production to largely substitute sawdust and cottonseed hulls.