Long acting tariquidar loaded stearic acid-modified hydroxyapatite enhances brain penetration and antitumor effect of temozolomide.

Temozolomide (TMZ) is the first line chemotherapy for glioblastoma (GBM) treatment, but the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) expressed in blood-brain barrier (BBB) will pump out TMZ from the brain leading to decreased TMZ concentration. Tariquidar (TQD), a selective and potent P-gp inhibitor, may be suitable for combination therapy to increase concentration of TMZ in brain. Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is a biodegradable material with sustained release characteristics, and stearic acid surface-modified HAP (SA-HAP) can increase hydrophobicity to facilitate TQD loading. TQD-loaded stearic acid surface-modified HAP (SA-HAP-TQD) was prepared with optimal size and high TQD loading efficiency, and in vitro release and cellular uptake of SA-HAP-TQD showed that SA-HAP-TQD were taken up into lysosome and continuously released TQD from macrophages. In vivo studies have found that over 70% of SA-HAP was degraded and 80% of TQD was released from SA-HAP-TQD 28 days after administration. SA-HAP-TQD could increase brain penetration of TMZ, but it would not enhance adverse effects of TMZ in healthy mice. SA-HAP-TQD and TMZ combination had longer median survival than TMZ single therapy in GL261 orthotopic model. These results suggest that SA-HAP-TQD has sustained release characteristics and are potential for improving antitumor effect with TMZ treatment.

A glucose-blue light AND gate-controlled chemi-optogenetic cell-implanted therapy for treating type-1 diabetes in mice.

Exogenous insulin therapy is the mainstay treatment for Type-1 diabetes (T1D) caused by insulin deficiency. A fine-tuned insulin supply system is important to maintain the glucose homeostasis. In this study, we present a designed cell system that produces insulin under an AND gate control, which is triggered only in the presence of both high glucose and blue light illumination. The glucose-sensitive GIP promoter induces the expression of GI-Gal4 protein, which forms a complex with LOV-VP16 in the presence of blue light. The GI-Gal4:LOV-VP16 complex then promotes the expression of UAS-promoter-driven insulin. We transfected these components into HEK293T cells, and demonstrated the insulin was secreted under the AND gate control. Furthermore, we showed the capacity of the engineered cells to improve the blood glucose homeostasis through implantation subcutaneously into Type-1 diabetes mice.

Influenza A virus NS1 protein represses antiviral immune response by hijacking NF-κB to mediate transcription of type III IFN.

Background: Non-structural protein 1 (NS1), one of the viral proteins of influenza A viruses (IAVs), plays a crucial role in evading host antiviral immune response. It is known that the IAV NS1 protein regulates the antiviral genes response mainly through several different molecular mechanisms in cytoplasm. Current evidence suggests that NS1 represses the transcription of IFNB1 gene by inhibiting the recruitment of Pol II to its exons and promoters in infected cells. However, IAV NS1 whether can utilize a common mechanism to antagonize antiviral response by interacting with cellular DNA and immune-related transcription factors in the nucleus, is not yet clear. Methods: Chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) was used to determine genome-wide transcriptional DNA-binding sites for NS1 and NF-κB in viral infection. Next, we used ChIP-reChIP, luciferase reporter assay and secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) assay to provide information on the dynamic binding of NS1 and NF-κB to chromatin. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) transcriptomic analyses were used to explore the critical role of NS1 and NF-κB in IAV infection as well as the detailed processes governing host antiviral response. Results: Herein, NS1 was found to co-localize with NF-κB using ChIP-seq. ChIP-reChIP and luciferase reporter assay confirmed the co-localization of NS1 and NF-κB at type III IFN genes, such as IFNL1, IFNL2, and IFNL3. We discovered that NS1 disturbed binding manners of NF-κB to inhibit IFNL1 expression. NS1 hijacked NF-κB from a typical IFNL1 promoter to the exon-intron region of IFNL1 and decreased the enrichment of RNA polymerase II and H3K27ac, a chromatin accessibility marker, in the promoter region of IFNL1 during IAV infection, consequently reducing IFNL1 gene expression. NS1 deletion enhanced the enrichment of RNA polymerase II at the IFNL1 promoter and promoted its expression. Conclusion: Overall, NS1 hijacked NF-κB to prevent its interaction with the IFNL1 promoter and restricted the open chromatin architecture of the promoter, thereby abating antiviral gene expression.

A Case of Oncocytic Adrenal Cortical Neoplasm with Uncertain Malignant Potential Turned Out to Be Oncocytic Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma with Distant Metastasis: Could Pathology Do Better Initially?

Oncocytic adrenal cortical neoplasms are rare cases and are divided into oncocytoma, oncocytic neoplasms of uncertain malignant potential and oncocytic adrenal cortical carcinomas, based on the Lin-Weiss-Bisceglia (LWB) histological system adopted in the current World Health Organization (WHO). We reported a 42-year-old female diagnosed with an oncocytic neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential initially, which turned out to be a carcinoma owing to distant metastasis to the scalp and lung. To our knowledge, this is the first published case of oncocytic adrenal cortical carcinoma with scalp metastasis. This case also highlights the limitation of the current diagnostic algorithm and emphasizes the importance of two parameters (PHH3 and Ki-67) for determining the malignant potential of oncocytic adrenal cortical neoplasms.

Fast cross-staining alignment of gigapixel whole slide images with application to prostate cancer and breast cancer analysis.

Joint analysis of multiple protein expressions and tissue morphology patterns is important for disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and drug development, requiring cross-staining alignment of multiple immunohistochemical and histopathological slides. However, cross-staining alignment of enormous gigapixel whole slide images (WSIs) at single cell precision is difficult. Apart from gigantic data dimensions of WSIs, there are large variations on the cell appearance and tissue morphology across different staining together with morphological deformations caused by slide preparation. The goal of this study is to build an image registration framework for cross-staining alignment of gigapixel WSIs of histopathological and immunohistochemical microscopic slides and assess its clinical applicability. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study to perform real time fully automatic cross staining alignment of WSIs with 40× and 20× objective magnification. The proposed WSI registration framework consists of a rapid global image registration module, a real time interactive field of view (FOV) localization model and a real time propagated multi-level image registration module. In this study, the proposed method is evaluated on two kinds of cancer datasets from two hospitals using different digital scanners, including a dual staining breast cancer data set with 43 hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) WSIs and 43 immunohistochemical (IHC) CK(AE1/AE3) WSIs, and a triple staining prostate cancer data set containing 30 H&E WSIs, 30 IHC CK18 WSIs, and 30 IHC HMCK WSIs. In evaluation, the registration performance is measured by not only registration accuracy but also computational time. The results show that the proposed method achieves high accuracy of 0.833 ± 0.0674 for the triple-staining prostate cancer data set and 0.931 ± 0.0455 for the dual-staining breast cancer data set, respectively, and takes only 4.34 s per WSI registration on average. In addition, for 30.23% data, the proposed method takes less than 1 s for WSI registration. In comparison with the benchmark methods, the proposed method demonstrates superior performance in registration accuracy and computational time, which has great potentials for assisting medical doctors to identify cancerous tissues and determine the cancer stage in clinical practice.

Long Noncoding RNA LINC02470 Sponges MicroRNA-143-3p and Enhances SMAD3-Mediated Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition to Promote the Aggressive Properties of Bladder Cancer.

Bladder cancer progression and metastasis have become major threats in clinical practice, increasing mortality and therapeutic refractoriness; recently, epigenetic dysregulation of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related signaling pathways has been explored. However, research in the fields of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulation in bladder cancer progression is just beginning. This study was designed to determine potential EMT-related ceRNA regulation in bladder cancer progression and elucidate the underlying mechanisms that provoke aggressiveness. After screening the intersection of bioinformatic pipelines, LINC02470 was identified as the most upregulated lncRNA during bladder cancer initiation and progression. Both in vitro and in vivo biological effects indicated that LINC02470 promotes bladder cancer cell viability, migration, invasion, and tumorigenicity. On a molecular level, miR-143-3p directly targets and reduces both LINC02470 and SMAD3 RNA expression. Therefore, the LINC02470-miR-143-3p-SMAD3 ceRNA axis rescues SMAD3 translation upon LINC02470 sponging miR-143-3p, and SMAD3 consequently activates the TGF-ß-induced EMT process. In conclusion, this is the first study to demonstrate that LINC02470 plays a pivotally regulatory role in the promotion of TGF-ß-induced EMT through the miR-143-3p/SMAD3 axis, thereby aggravating bladder cancer progression. Our study warrants further investigation of LINC02470 as an indicatively prognostic marker of bladder cancer.

Ellagic Acid Resensitizes Gemcitabine-Resistant Bladder Cancer Cells by Inhibiting Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Gemcitabine Transporters.

Gemcitabine (GCB) resistance is a major issue in bladder cancer chemoresistance, but its underlying mechanism has not been determined. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been shown to be comprehensively involved in GCB resistance in several other cancer types, but the direct connection between EMT and GCB remains unclear. This study was designed to elucidate the mechanism of EMT-related GCB resistance in bladder cancer and identify a potential phytochemical to modulate drug sensitivity. The biological effects of ellagic acid (EA) or its combined effects with GCB were compared in GCB-resistant cells and the GCB-sensitive line in terms of cell viability, apoptosis, motility, and in vivo tumorigenicity. The molecular regulation of EMT-related GCB resistance was evaluated at both the mRNA and protein expression levels. Our results indicated that TGF-ß/Smad induced the overactivation of EMT in GCB-resistant cells and reduced the expression of GCB influx transporters (hCNT1 and hENT1). Moreover, ellagic acid (EA) inhibited the TGF-ß signaling pathway both in vitro and in vivo by reducing Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4 expression and thereby resensitized GCB sensitivity. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that TGF-ß/Smad-induced EMT contributes to GCB resistance in bladder cancer by reducing GCB influx and also elucidate the novel mechanisms of EA-mediated inhibition of TGF-ß/Smad-induced EMT to overcome GCB resistance. Our study warrants further investigation of EA as an effective therapeutic adjuvant agent for overcoming GCB resistance in bladder cancer.

Amongst Women Stratified to Receive Endocrine Therapy on the Basis of Their Tumor Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Levels, Those with Higher Tumor Progesterone Receptor Levels Had a Better Outcome Than Those with Lower Levels of Tumor Progesterone Receptor.

BACKGROUND: To realize the association between stratified expression levels of ER and PgR and long-term prognosis of breast cancer patients who received adjuvant hormone therapy, this study aimed to propose better prognostic cut-off levels for estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR). METHODS: Patients who received adjuvant hormone therapy after surgical intervention were selected. The ER and PgR status and their effects on breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and disease-free survival (DFS) over 5 and 10 years were evaluated. Next, subgroups were generated based on ER and PgR expression percentage and Allred scores. Survival curves were constructed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: ER and PgR expression were significantly associated with better prognosis in 5 years, whereas only PgR expression was significantly associated during the 10-year follow-up. The optimal cut-off values for better 5-year BCSS were ER > 50%; ER Allred score > 7; PgR ≥ 1%; or PgR Allred score ≥ 3; the corresponding values for DFS were ER > 40%; ER Allred score > 6; PgR > 10%; or PgR Allred score ≥ 3. In the long-term follow-up, PgR of > 50% or Allred score of > 5 carriers revealed a better prognosis of both BCSS and DFS. CONCLUSION: Patients with a PgR expression > 50% or an Allred score > 5 exhibited better 10-year BCSS and DFS.

Decreased drug resistance of bladder cancer using phytochemicals treatment.

The aim of the study is to investigate the ability of phytochemicals to overcome the multiple drug resistance (MDR) of bladder cancer. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxic sensitivity of T24-GCB cells, a GCB resistant cell line, to different phytochemicals, including capsaicin, quercetin, curcumin, and resveratrol, and their combination with gemcitabine. Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression of membranous ABCC2 and metabolic proteins, DCK, TK1, and TK2 in tumor cells. Animal models were used to confirm the treatment efficacy of phytochemicals in combination with gemcitabine to bladder cancer. The observed/expected ratio of cytotoxicity analysis revealed that capsaicin has synergistic effect with gemcitabine to T24-GCB cells in a dose-dependent pattern. Quercetin, curcumin, and resveratrol have additive effect with gemcitabine to T24-GCB cells. Capsaicin and quercetin alone and combination with gemcitabine decreased the expression of ABCC2 and DCK and TKs, in T24-GCB cells. On the contrary, resveratrol and curcumin alone and combination with gemcitabine increased the expression of ABCC2 but decreased cytoplasmic kinases simultaneously. In xenografted subcutaneous tumor model on nude mice, combination treatment of capsaicin and gemcitabine demonstrated the highest tumor suppression effect when compared to capsaicin or gemcitabine treatment alone. The MDR of bladder cancer is closely related to membranous ABCC2, cytoplasmic DCK, and TKs expression. Capsaicin owns the strongest synergistic cytotoxic effect of gemcitabine to T24-GCB cells. This combination regimen may provide as an adjunctive treatment for overcoming MDR in bladder cancer.

Exosome-Derived LINC00960 and LINC02470 Promote the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Aggressiveness of Bladder Cancer Cells.

Exosomes are essential for several tumor progression-related processes, including the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) comprise a major group of exosomal components and regulate the neoplastic development of several cancer types; however, the progressive role of exosomal lncRNAs in bladder cancer have rarely been addressed. In this study, we identified two potential aggressiveness-promoting exosomal lncRNAs, LINC00960 and LINC02470. Exosomes derived from high-grade bladder cancer cells enhanced the viability, migration, invasion and clonogenicity of recipient low-grade bladder cancer cells and activated major EMT-upstream signaling pathways, including ß-catenin signaling, Notch signaling, and Smad2/3 signaling pathways. Nevertheless, LINC00960 and LINC02470 were expressed at significantly higher levels in T24 and J82 cells and their secreted exosomes than in TSGH-8301 cells. Moreover, exosomes derived from LINC00960 knockdown or LINC02470 knockdown T24 cells significantly attenuated the ability of exosomes to promote cell aggressiveness and activate EMT-related signaling pathways in recipient TSGH-8301 cells. Our findings indicate that exosome-derived LINC00960 and LINC02470 from high-grade bladder cancer cells promote the malignant behaviors of recipient low-grade bladder cancer cells and induce EMT by upregulating ß-catenin signaling, Notch signaling, and Smad2/3 signaling. Both lncRNAs may serve as potential liquid biomarkers for the prognostic surveillance of bladder cancer progression.

The modulation study of multiple drug resistance in bladder cancer by curcumin and resveratrol.

Gemcitabine (GCB), which functions via the inhibition of DNA synthesis, is commonly used in the treatment of bladder cancer; however, its response rate is not satisfactory due to the development of drug resistance. The potential for phytochemicals to reverse drug resistance in bladder cancer tumor cells was evaluated. A human bladder cancer cell line, T24, was cultured, and GCB-resistant cells (T24-GCB) were also established. The acquired resistance of T24-GCB to GCB was measured using an MTT assay. The gene expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter protein family members was analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis, and western blotting was performed to verify ABC family protein, cytoplasmic thymidine kinase (TK) and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) expression on whole cell lysates. Subsequently, resveratrol and curcumin were used to evaluate their modulation potential in decreasing the drug resistance of T24-GCB cells to GCB using MTT and migration assays. T24-GCB cells have increased drug resistance ability, with an 18.75-fold higher ID50 value compared with native T24 cells (105 vs. 5.6 nM). T24-GCB cells also exhibit increased cross resistance to mitomycin C and paclitaxel. The mRNA expression of ABCC2 in T24-GCB cells increased compared with that in native T24 cells. Via western blot analysis, it was determined that the expression of ABCC2 protein was also increased in T24-GCB cells. Conversely, the expression of ABCB1, ABCG2, deoxycytidine kinase (DCK), TK1 and TK2 decreased. Following curcumin and resveratrol treatment alone or combined with GCB, additive cytotoxic enhancement was observed, and the migratory abilities of T24-GCB cells were significantly decreased. Western blot analysis revealed that ABCC2 protein expression increased, and DCK, TK1 and TK2 expression decreased following co-treatment of T24-GCB cells with GCB + curcumin or resveratrol compared with GCB alone. Of note, there was a marked increase in cleaved-PARP expression in T24-GCB cells treated with a combination of GCB + curcumin or resveratrol. Both curcumin and resveratrol could reverse the drug resistance of T24-GCB cells in an additive pattern though PARP enhancement without changes in ABCC2 and DCK, TK1 and TK2 expression.

Impact of Overdiagnosis on Long-Term Breast Cancer Survival.

Elucidating whether and how long-term survival of breast cancer is mainly due to cure after early detection and effective treatment and therapy or overdiagnosis resulting from the widespread use of mammography provides a new insight into the role mammography plays in screening, surveillance, and treatment of breast cancer. Given information on detection modes, the impact of overdiagnosis due to mammography screening on long-term breast cancer survival was quantitatively assessed by applying a zero (cured or overdiagnosis)-inflated model design and analysis to a 15-year follow-up breast cancer cohort in Dalarna, Sweden. The probability for non-progressive breast cancer (the zero part) was 56.14% including the 44.34% complete cure after early detection and initial treatment and a small 11.80% overdiagnosis resulting from mammography screening program (8.94%) and high awareness (2.86%). The 15-year adjusted cumulative survival of breast cancer was dropped from 88.25% to 74.80% after correcting for the zero-inflated part of overdiagnosis. The present findings reveal that the majority of survivors among women diagnosed with breast cancer could be attributed to the cure resulting from mammography screening and accompanying effective treatment and therapy and only a small fraction of those were due to overdiagnosis.

Androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer and the risk of autoimmune diseases.

BACKGROUND: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been a mainstay of treatment for advanced prostate cancer (PCa), but limited studies have been performed to investigate the association between ADT and autoimmune diseases. METHODS: We conducted a population-based nationwide cohort study of 17,168 patients newly diagnosed with PCa between 1996 and 2013 using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan. Cox proportional hazards models with 1:1 propensity score-matched analysis were used to investigate the association between ADT use and the risk of autoimmune diseases. The autoimmune diseases included Graves' disease, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Sjogren's syndrome, myasthenia gravis, pernicious anemia, hereditary hemolytic anemia, polyarteritis nodosa, Celiac disease, uveitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, dermatomyositis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, hypersensitivity vasculitis, Behcet's disease, polymyositis, alopecia areata, Wegener's granulomatosis, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, pemphigus, multiple sclerosis, systemic sclerosis, Goodpasture syndrome, giant cell arteritis, thromboangitis obliterans, arteritis obliterans, and Kawasaki disease. The duration of ADT use as a time-dependent variable was also examined for its association with autoimmune diseases. We also performed six secondary analyses. RESULTS: Of the 17,168 selected PCa patients, 14,444 patients met all the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After propensity score matching, 5590 ADT users and 5590 non-ADT users were included in the study cohort. A propensity score-matched analysis (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 0.619, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.51-0.75, P < 0.001) demonstrated a significantly decreased risk of autoimmune diseases in ADT users. A significant decrease in the risk of autoimmune diseases with increasing ADT duration was also demonstrated (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We observed that ADT use in patients with PCa was associated with a decreased risk of autoimmune diseases. These novel findings provide a potential role for androgen deprivation therapy in the modification of inflammation and autoimmunity in Asian patients with prostate cancer.

Increased Risk of Ulcerative Colitis in Patients with Periodontal Disease: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Both periodontal disease (PD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are important diseases of the alimentary tract. Microbiome and immune-mediated inflammatory processes play important roles in these diseases. An association between PD and IBD may exist. This study investigated the risk of IBD in patients with PD. This study used data from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan from 1996 to 2013. A total of 27,041 patients with PD were enrolled as a study group, and 108,149 patients without PD were selected as the control group after matching by gender, age, insured region, urbanization, and income with a 1:4 ratio. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate the risk of IBD. Of the 135,190 participants enrolled in this study, 5392 (4%) with newly diagnosed IBD were identified. The overall incidence of subsequent IBD was similar in both groups (3.8% vs. 4%, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94⁻1.08). However, an increased risk of UC in the PD group was found after adjusting confounding factors (aHR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.13⁻2.15; p < 0.05). This study demonstrated that patients with PD had approximately one-half higher risk of subsequent UC. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the relationship between PD and UC.

Elucidating the Reaction Pathway of Decarboxylation-Assisted Olefination Catalyzed by a Mononuclear Non-Heme Iron Enzyme.

Installation of olefins into molecules is a key transformation in organic synthesis. The recently discovered decarboxylation-assisted olefination in the biosynthesis of rhabduscin by a mononuclear non-heme iron enzyme ( P.IsnB) represents a novel approach in olefin construction. This method is commonly employed in natural product biosynthesis. Herein, we demonstrate that a ferryl intermediate is used for C-H activation at the benzylic position of the substrate. We further establish that P.IsnB reactivity can be switched from olefination to hydroxylation using electron-withdrawing groups appended on the phenyl moiety of the analogues. These experimental observations imply that a pathway involving an initial C-H activation followed by a benzylic carbocation species or by electron transfer coupled ß-scission is likely utilized to complete C═C bond formation.

Mechanistic Investigation of Oxidative Decarboxylation Catalyzed by Two Iron(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Enzymes.

Two non-heme iron enzymes, IsnB and AmbI3, catalyze a novel decarboxylation-assisted olefination to produce indole vinyl isonitrile, an important building block for many natural products. Compared to other reactions catalyzed by this enzyme family, decarboxylation-assisted olefination represents an attractive biosynthetic route and a mechanistically unexplored pathway in constructing a C═C bond. Using mechanistic probes, transient state kinetics, reactive intermediate trapping, spectroscopic characterizations, and product analysis, we propose that both IsnB and AmbI3 initiate stereoselective olefination via a benzylic C-H bond activation by an Fe(IV)-oxo intermediate, and the reaction likely proceeds through a radical- or carbocation-induced decarboxylation to complete C═C bond installation.

MicroRNA-382-5p aggravates breast cancer progression by regulating the RERG/Ras/ERK signaling axis.

Aberrant activation of the Ras/ERK pathway mediates breast cancer initiation and aggressiveness. Therefore, it is important to identify miRNAs that modulate the Ras/ERK pathway during breast carcinogenesis and progression. The Ras GTPase superfamily member RERG (Ras-related and estrogen-regulated growth inhibitor) acts as a tumor suppressor to reduce breast cancer cell proliferation and tumor formation and has been suggested to have a regulatory role in the Ras/ERK pathway. In this study, we found that RERG exerted its tumor suppressor role by attenuating the activation of Ras/ERK signaling effectors. Furthermore, we found that miR-382-5p directly targets and represses RERG to attenuate the inhibitory effects of RERG on the oncogenic Ras/ERK pathway. Thereby, miR-382-5p promoted breast cancer cell viability, clonogenicity, survival, migration, invasion and in vivo tumorigenesis/metastasis. In clinical interpretation, miR-382-5p expression was negatively correlated with RERG expression, and it also significantly functioned as an independent oncomiR for the higher incidence and poorer prognosis of breast cancer. This novel connection highlights new diagnostic and prognostic roles for miR-382-5p and RERG in breast cancer.

Expression of p-FOXO3/FOXO3 in bladder cancer and its correlation with clinicopathology and tumor recurrence.

BACKGROUND: Survey for more accurate biomarkers for predicting and preventing the future recurrence in high risk patients is urgently needed. The transcription factor forkhead box-O3 (FOXO3) is a well-established tumor suppressor. Its phosphorylation (p-FOXO3) as well as deregulation is involved in cancer initiation, progression and drug resistance. Therefore, we proposed that p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio change may play important role in the bladder cancer recurrence. METHODS: Surgical specimens of cancer tissue were obtained from 75 patients with bladder cancer (30 of non-recurrent and 45 of recurrent). The relative expression levels of p-FOXO3/FOXO3 in cancer tissue were measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) stain and graded according to stain intensity. The correlation p-FOXO3/FOXO3 with clinicopathological parameters and tumor recurrence was analyzed. RESULTS: For bladder cancer patients with tumor recurrence, higher tumor grade (82% vs 70%, P=0.04) and stage (≥II, 49% vs 33%, P=0.02) in these patients was seen. In IHC study of paired tumor tissues, 39 out of 75 (52%) patients have increased p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio and they are closely related to tumor grade (low grade vs high grade =29.4% vs 58.6%, P=0.01) but not related to stage (low stage vs high stage =46.5% vs 59.3%, P=0.26). Regarding to tumor recurrence, the p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio is significant higher in recurrent group than non-recurrent group patients (0.78±0.15 vs 1.25±0.11, P=0.03). As comparing the first recurrence and subsequent recurrence group patients, there is no difference in the level of p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio (1.25±0.11 vs 1.10±0.09, P=0.25). Interestingly, recurrent tumors in low grade bladder cancer patients have marked increased p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio than non-recurrent tumors (0.90±0.22 vs 0.15±0.12, P=0.02). CONCLUSION: Increased p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio has been observed in bladder cancer patients with tumor recurrence and it is closely related to higher tumor grade. Low grade bladder cancer is high risk in recurrence when p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio increased. These results implicated that p-FOXO3/FOXO3 ratio can be applied as a useful marker for further treatment decision making and prognostic of tumor recurrence in bladder cancer patients.

Reduced miR-550a-3p leads to breast cancer initiation, growth, and metastasis by increasing levels of ERK1 and 2.

Hyperactivation of the Ras/ERK pathway contributes to breast cancer initiation and progression, and recent evidence suggests aberrant signaling of miRNAs that regulate the Ras/ERK pathway play important roles during carcinogenesis and cancer progression. In this study, we demonstrate that miR-550a-3p expression is negatively correlated with levels of ERK1 and ERK2, two pivotal effectors in the Ras/ERK pathway. MiR-550a-3p gradually decreased during breast cancer initiation and progression and this reduction was a prognostic indicator of poorer overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) among breast cancer patients. Our mechanistic studies demonstrated that miR-550a-3p exerts its tumor-suppressor role by directly repressing ERK1 and ERK2 protein expression, thereby suppressing the oncogenic ERK/RSK cascades, which reduced breast cancer cell viability, survival, migration, invasion, tumorigenesis, and metastasis. The inhibitory effects of miR-550a-3p were rescued by ectopic expression of ERK1 and/or ERK2. The novel connection between miR-550a-3p and ERK defines a new diagnostic and prognostic role for miR-550a-3p and highlights ERK inhibition as a candidate therapeutic target for breast cancers exhibiting hyperactivated Ras/ERK signaling.

Estrogen Enhances the Cell Viability and Motility of Breast Cancer Cells through the ERα-ΔNp63-Integrin ß4 Signaling Pathway.

Estrogen induces ERα-positive breast cancer aggressiveness via the promotion of cell proliferation and survival, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and stem-like properties. Integrin ß4 signaling has been implicated in estrogen/ERα-induced tumorigenicity and anti-apoptosis; however, this signaling cascade poorly understood. ΔNp63, an N-terminally truncated isoform of the p63 transcription factor, functions as a transcription factor of integrinß4 and therefore regulates cellular adhesion and survival. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the estrogen-induced interaction between ERα, ΔNp63 and integrin ß4 in breast cancer cells. In ERα-positive MCF-7 cells, estrogen activated ERα transcription, which induced ΔNp63 expression. And ΔNp63 subsequently induced integrin ß4 expression, which resulted in AKT phosphorylation and enhanced cell viability and motility. Conversely, there was no inductive effect of estrogen on ΔNp63-integrinß4-AKT signaling or on cell viability and motility in ERα-negative MDA-MB-231 cells. ΔNp63 knockdown abolishes these estrogen-induced effects and reduces cell viability and motility in MCF-7 cells. Nevertheless, ΔNp63 knockdown also inhibited cell migration in MDA-MB-231 cells through reducing integrin ß4 expression and AKT phosphorylation. In conclusion, estrogen enhances ERα-positive breast cancer cell viability and motility through activating the ERα-ΔNp63-integrin ß4 signaling pathway to induce AKT phosphorylated activation. Those findings should be useful to elucidate the crosstalk between estrogen/ER signaling and ΔNp63 signaling and provide novel insights into the effects of estrogen on breast cancer progression.