Development of ovine chorionic somatomammotropin hormone-deficient pregnancies.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Chorionic somatomammotropin hormone (CSH), a placenta-specific secretory product found at high concentrations in maternal and fetal circulation throughout gestation, is significantly reduced in human and sheep IUGR pregnancies. The objective of this study was to knock down ovine CSH (oCSH) expression in vivo using lentiviral-mediated short-hairpin RNA to test the hypothesis that oCSH deficiency would result in IUGR of near-term fetal lambs. Three different lentiviral oCSH-targeting constructs were used and compared with pregnancies (n = 8) generated with a scrambled control (SC) lentiviral construct. Pregnancies were harvested at 135 days of gestation. The most effective targeting sequence, "target 6" (tg6; n = 8), yielded pregnancies with significant reductions (P ≤ 0.05) in oCSH mRNA (50%) and protein (38%) concentrations, as well as significant reductions (P ≤ 0.05) in placental (52%) and fetal (32%) weights compared with the SC pregnancies. Fetal liver weights were reduced 41% (P ≤ 0.05), yet fetal liver insulin-like growth factor-I (oIGF1) and -II mRNA concentrations were reduced (P ≤ 0.05) 82 and 71%, respectively, and umbilical artery oIGF1 concentrations were reduced 62% (P ≤ 0.05) in tg6 pregnancies. Additionally, fetal liver oIGF-binding protein (oIGFBP) 2 and oIGFBP3 mRNA concentrations were reduced (P ≤ 0.05), whereas fetal liver oIGFBP1 mRNA concentration was not impacted nor was maternal liver oIGF and oIGFBP mRNA concentrations or uterine artery oIGF1 concentrations (P ≥ 0.10). Based on our results, it appears that oCSH deficiency does result in IUGR, by impacting placental development as well as fetal liver development and function.

Pseudohypoxia induced by miR-126 deactivation promotes migration and therapeutic resistance in renal cell carcinoma.

Pseudohypoxia plays a central role in the progression and therapeutic resistance of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC); however, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. MicroRNA miR-126 has decreased expression in metastatic or relapsed ccRCC as compared to primary tumors, but the mechanisms by which miR-126 is implicated in RCC remain unknown. Through RNA-seq profiling to evaluate the impact of overexpression or CRISPR knockout of miR-126, we have identified SERPINE1 as a miR-126-5p target regulating cell motility, and SLC7A5 as a miR-126-3p target regulating the mTOR/HIF pathway. Specifically, miR-126 inhibits HIFα protein expression independent of von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (VHL). On the other hand, deactivation of miR-126 induces a pseudohypoxia state due to increased HIFα expression, which further enhances therapeutic resistance and cell motility mediated by SLC7A5 and SERPINE1, respectively. Finally, the clinical relevance of miR-126 modulated gene regulation in ccRCC has been confirmed with profiling data from The Cancer Genome Atlas.

Prognostic microRNA signatures derived from The Cancer Genome Atlas for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.

Identification of novel prognostic biomarkers typically requires a large dataset which provides sufficient statistical power for discovery research. To this end, we took advantage of the high-throughput data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to identify a set of prognostic biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) including oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) and other subtypes. In this study, we analyzed miRNA-seq data obtained from TCGA patients to identify prognostic biomarkers for OPSCC. The identified miRNAs were further tested with an independent cohort. miRNA-seq data from TCGA was also analyzed to identify prognostic miRNAs in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Our study identified that miR-193b-3p and miR-455-5p were positively associated with survival, and miR-92a-3p and miR-497-5p were negatively associated with survival in OPSCC. A combined expression signature of these four miRNAs was prognostic of overall survival in OPSCC, and more importantly, this signature was validated in an independent OPSCC cohort. Furthermore, we identified four miRNAs each in OSCC and LSCC that were prognostic of survival, and combined signatures were specific for subtypes of HNSCC. A robust 4-miRNA prognostic signature in OPSCC, as well as prognostic signatures in other subtypes of HNSCC, was developed using sequencing data from TCGA as the primary source. This demonstrates the power of using TCGA as a potential resource to develop prognostic tools for improving individualized patient care.