ABSTRACT
Background: To investigate the role of DTL in the development of skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) and possible mechanisms. Methods: We examined the expression of DTL in SKCM in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Oncomine database and analyzed the relationship between DTL expression and melanoma prognosis. Furthermore, we silenced the DTL gene by RNA interference in A375 cells and investigated the effect of DTL silencing on the biological function of melanoma cells. Results: The expression of DTL in SKCM was upregulated in the tumor tissues compared with the paired normal tissues. Survival analysis showed that higher DTL expression in SKCM patients was associated with poor clinical outcome compared with the lower DTL expression group. Silencing of DTL in A375 cells significantly inhibited the melanoma cell growth and proliferation ability, and also significantly decreased the total glucose consumption and lactate production. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that MYC targets gene set pathway was highly enriched in the DTL high expression group. The expression levels of some MYC targets-related oncogenes, including c-MYC, HK1, HK2, PGK1, ENO1, LDHA, IDH1, ACLY, and HMGCR, were reduced in the A375 cells with knockdown DTL and upregulated in SKCM tissues with high DTL expression, and there was a positive correlation between them. Conclusions: An important role is played by DTL in promoting melanoma cell growth and glucose metabolism, possibly through activation of the MYC target pathway.
ABSTRACT
Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer, exhibiting extensive local invasion and early distant metastasis. Aberrant expression of ubiquitin-protein ligase E3C (UBE3C) plays a key role in tumor development and progression. In the present study, we analyzed UBE3C expression in samples of cancerous and normal skin tissue. Levels of UBE3C expression were much higher in primary and metastatic melanoma tissues than in normal skin, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma or basal cell carcinoma. Melanoma cells overexpressing UBE3C frequently exhibited a mesenchymal phenotype, including reduced expression of the epithelial marker E-cadherin and expression of the mesenchymal marker vimentin. Knockdown of UBE3C expression in melanoma cells significantly suppressed melanoma growth and progression. Furthermore, silencing UBE3C led to increased E-cadherin expression and decreased vimentin and Snail1 expression. Thus UBE3C promotes melanoma progression, possibly by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition in melanoma cells. Inhibiting UBE3C activity may suppress melanoma invasion and metastasis and may represent a targeted therapeutic approach.
Subject(s)
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/physiology , Melanoma/enzymology , Melanoma/pathology , Skin Neoplasms/enzymology , Skin Neoplasms/pathology , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolism , Adult , Aged , Cell Line, Tumor , Disease Progression , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Melanoma, Cutaneous MalignantABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Dermatitis palmaris sicca (DPS) is a common dry-fissured palmar dermatitis in Asian women. It may be an irritant contact dermatitis, but the immunophenotype of the cells in its infiltrate is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of inflammatory cells in the pathogenesis of DPS. METHODS: Patch testing was done in 68 patients with DPS, 87 subjects with hand eczema, and 31 healthy subjects. Immunophenotyping of cutaneous inflammatory cells was performed in 8 patients with DPS, 10 subjects with hand eczema, and 8 healthy individuals. RESULTS: Positive patch rates were higher in patients with DPS and those with hand eczema compared with healthy controls, but strong positive (++ or +++) reactions in DPS were fewer compared with hand eczema. Density of CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD68 cells in skin lesions of DPS and hand eczema was significantly higher than that in normal skin. Sparse CD20 cells were present only in hand eczema. Compared with hand eczema, the number of CD3, CD8, CD68, and dermal CD1a cells decreased, but epidermal CD1a cells and CD4/CD8 ratio increased in DPS. CONCLUSIONS: The absolute lack of CD20 cells and relative scarcity of dermal CD8 and CD1a cells in skin lesions might be insufficient to induce contact hypersensitivity, so DPS may be an irritant but not allergic contact dermatitis.
