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2.
ACS Nano ; 18(19): 12105-12116, 2024 May 14.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38669469

ABSTRACT

Early detection of cancer is critical to improving clinical outcomes, especially in territories with limited healthcare resources. DNA methylation biomarkers have shown promise in early cancer detection, but typical workflows require highly trained personnel and specialized equipment for manual and lengthy processing, limiting use in resource-constrained areas. As a potential solution, we introduce the Automated Cartridge-based Cancer Early Screening System (ACCESS), a compact, portable, multiplexed, automated platform that performs droplet magnetofluidic- and methylation-specific qPCR-based assays for the detection of DNA methylation cancer biomarkers. Development of ACCESS focuses on esophageal cancer, which is among the most prevalent cancers in low- and middle-income countries with extremely low survival rates. Upon implementing detection assays for two esophageal cancer methylation biomarkers within ACCESS, we demonstrated successful detection of both biomarkers from esophageal tumor tissue samples from eight esophageal cancer patients while showing specificity in paired normal esophageal tissue samples. These results illustrate ACCESS's potential as an amenable epigenetic diagnostic tool for resource-constrained areas toward early detection of esophageal cancer and potentially other malignancies.


Subject(s)
Biomarkers, Tumor , DNA Methylation , Esophageal Neoplasms , Humans , Biomarkers, Tumor/analysis , Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics , Esophageal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Esophageal Neoplasms/genetics , Early Detection of Cancer/instrumentation , Automation , Microfluidic Analytical Techniques/instrumentation
3.
Aging (Albany NY) ; 16(5): 4348-4362, 2024 Mar 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38431308

ABSTRACT

Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) are major air pollutants emitted from automobile engines. Prenatal exposure to DEPs has been linked to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging. However, the specific mechanism by DEPs impair the hippocampal synaptic plasticity in the offspring remains unclear. Pregnant C57BL/6 mice were administered DEPs solution via the tail vein every other day for a total of 10 injections, then the male offsprings were studied to assess learning and memory by the Morris water maze. Additionally, protein expression in the hippocampus, including CPEB3, NMDAR (NR1, NR2A, NR2B), PKA, SYP, PSD95, and p-CREB was analyzed using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The alterations in the histomorphology of the hippocampus were observed in male offspring on postnatal day 7 following prenatal exposure to DEPs. Furthermore, 8-week-old male offspring exposed to DEPs during prenatal development exhibited impairments in the Morris water maze test, indicating deficits in learning and memory. Mechanistically, the findings from our study indicate that exposure to DEPs during pregnancy may alter the expression of CPEB3, SYP, PSD95, NMDAR (NR1, NR2A, and NR2B), PKA, and p-CREB in the hippocampus of both immature and mature male offspring. The results offer evidence for the role of the NMDAR/PKA/CREB and CPEB3 signaling pathway in mediating the learning and memory toxicity of DEPs in male offspring mice. The alterations in signaling pathways may contribute to the observed damage to synaptic structure and transmission function plasticity caused by DEPs. The findings hold potential for informing future safety assessments of DEPs.


Subject(s)
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects , Vehicle Emissions , Female , Pregnancy , Humans , Mice , Animals , Male , Vehicle Emissions/toxicity , Maze Learning , Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/metabolism , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/metabolism , Hippocampus/metabolism , Neuronal Plasticity , RNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism
4.
Dis Model Mech ; 17(1)2024 Jan 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38258518

ABSTRACT

Organoid culture systems are very powerful models that recapitulate in vivo organ development and disease pathogenesis, offering great promise in basic research, drug screening and precision medicine. However, the application of organoids derived from patients with cancer to immunotherapeutic research is a relatively untapped area. Esophageal cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide, including two major pathological subtypes: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma. ESCC shares many biological and genomic features with oral squamous cell cancers. Herein, we provide a versatile protocol for the establishment and maintenance of oral and esophageal organoid cultures derived from both murine and human samples. We describe culture conditions for organoids derived from normal tongue, esophagus and gastroesophageal junction, esophageal cancer and Barrett's esophagus. In addition, we establish an ex vivo model by co-culturing patient tumor-derived organoids and autologous CD8+ T lymphocytes to assess CD8+ T cell-mediated tumor killing. Our protocol can also be modified for organoid establishment from other squamous epithelia and carcinomas. The co-culture model can serve as a template for studies of other tumor-immune cell interactions and the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapy.


Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma , Esophageal Neoplasms , Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma , Humans , Animals , Mice , Organoids
5.
Am Psychol ; 79(2): 285-298, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37982780

ABSTRACT

Many of us interact with voice- or text-based conversational agents daily, but these conversational agents may unintentionally retrieve misinformation from human knowledge databases, confabulate responses on their own, or purposefully spread disinformation for political purposes. Does such misinformation or disinformation become part of our memory to further misguide our decisions? If so, can we prevent humans from suffering such social contagion of false memory? Using a social contagion of memory paradigm, here, we precisely controlled a social robot as an example of these emerging conversational agents. In a series of two experiments (ΣN = 120), the social robot occasionally misinformed participants prior to a recognition memory task. We found that the robot was as powerful as humans at influencing others. Despite the supplied misinformation being emotion- and value-neutral and hence not intrinsically contagious and memorable, 77% of the socially misinformed words became the participants' false memory. To mitigate such social contagion of false memory, the robot also forewarned the participants about its reservation toward the misinformation. However, one-time forewarnings failed to reduce false memory contagion. Even relatively frequent, item-specific forewarnings could not prevent warned items from becoming false memory, although such forewarnings helped increase the participants' overall cautiousness. Therefore, we recommend designing conversational agents to, at best, avoid providing uncertain information or, at least, provide frequent forewarnings about potentially false information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).


Subject(s)
Robotics , Humans , Mental Recall/physiology , Social Interaction , Memory/physiology , Recognition, Psychology/physiology , Communication
6.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37920186

ABSTRACT

Background: Kidney stone disease induces chronic renal insufficiency by crystal-induced renal tubular epithelial cell injury. It has been reported that the prevalence of kidney stone disease is increasing, accompanied by the high recurrence rate. Alkaline mineral water has been reported to possess beneficial effects to attenuate inflammation. Here, we explored the potential protective effects and underlying mechanisms of alkaline mineral water against calcium oxalate-induced kidney injury. Methods: We performed the mice kidney stone model by administering glyoxylate at 100 mg/kg once daily for 7 days. To assess the effects of alkaline mineral water on oxalate-induced kidney injury, mice drank different water (distilled water, natural mineral water at pH = 8.0, as well as natural mineral water at pH = 9.3) for 7 days, respectively, followed by glyoxylate exposure. After collection, crystal formation, kidney injury and cell apoptosis, fibrosis, oxidative stress, as well as inflammation were measured. Results: Our results showed that glyoxylate treatment led to kidney crystal formation and fibrosis, which can be attenuated by drinking alkaline mineral water. Furthermore, alkaline mineral water also reduced kidney injury and cell apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Conclusion: Alkaline mineral water supplement prevents progression of glyoxylate-induced kidney stones through alleviating oxidative stress and inflammation.

7.
Funct Integr Genomics ; 23(2): 79, 2023 Mar 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36882550

ABSTRACT

As a well-known behavioral risk factor for human health, smoking is involved in carcinogenesis, tumor progression, and therapeutic interventions of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The stratification of disease subtypes according to tobacco use is expressively needed for HNSCC precision therapy. High-throughput transcriptome profiling by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was collected and collated for differential expression analysis and pathway enrichment analysis to characterize the molecular landscape for non-smoking HNSCC patients. Molecular prognostic signatures specific to non-smoking HNSCC patients were identified by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis and were then verified via internal and external validation cohorts. While proceeding to immune cell infiltration and after drug sensitivity analysis was further carried out, a proprietary nomogram was finally developed for their respective clinical applications. In what it relates to the non-smoking cohort, the enrichment analysis pointed to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, with the prognostic signature consisting of another ten prognostic genes (COL22A1, ADIPOQ, RAG1, GREM1, APBA2, SPINK9, SPP1, ARMC4, C6, and F2RL2). These signatures showed to be independent factors, and the related nomograms were, thus, constructed for their further and respective clinical applications. While the molecular landscapes and proprietary prognostic signature were characterized based on non-smoking HNSCC patients, a clinical nomogram was constructed to provide better HNSCC patient classification and guide treatment for non-smoking HNSCC patients. Nonetheless, there are still significant challenges in the recognition, diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of the potentially efficient mechanisms of HNSCC with no tobacco use.


Subject(s)
Head and Neck Neoplasms , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck , Transcriptome , Humans , Head and Neck Neoplasms/diagnosis , Head and Neck Neoplasms/genetics , Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/genetics , Prognosis , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck/diagnosis , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck/genetics
8.
J Gene Med ; 25(7): e3495, 2023 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36894497

ABSTRACT

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is one of the mechanisms regulating cell death, which activates adaptive immunity in immunocompetent hosts and is associated with tumor progression, prognosis and therapeutic response. Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most common malignancies of the female genital tract, and the potential role of immunogenic cell death-related genes (IRGs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) remains unclear. We describe the variation of IRGs and assess the expression patterns in EC samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus cohorts. Based on the expression of 34 IRGs, we identified two different ICD-related clusters and subsequently differentially expressed genes between the two ICD-related clusters were used for the identification of two ICD gene clusters. We identified the clusters and found that alterations in the multilayer IRG were associated with patient prognosis and TME cell infiltration characteristics. On this basis, ICD score risk scores were calculated, and ICD signatures were constructed and validated for their predictive power in EC patients. To help clinicians better apply the ICD signature, an accurate nomogram was constructed. The low ICD risk group was characterized by high microsatellite instability, high tumor mutational load, high IPS score and stronger immune activation. Our comprehensive analysis of IRGs in EC patients suggested a potential role in the tumor immune interstitial microenvironment, clinicopathological features and prognosis. These findings may improve our understanding of the role of ICDs, and provide a new basis for assessing prognosis and developing more effective immunotherapeutic strategies in EC.


Subject(s)
Endometrial Neoplasms , Immunogenic Cell Death , Humans , Female , Tumor Microenvironment/genetics , Endometrial Neoplasms/genetics , Multigene Family , Mutation
9.
Front Pharmacol ; 14: 1138452, 2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36843929

ABSTRACT

Background: Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most frequent ocular neoplasm with a strong metastatic ability. The prognostic value of metastasis-associated genes (MAGs) of UM remains unclear. It is urgent to develop a prognostic score system according to the MAGs of UM. Methods: Unsupervised clustering was used to identify MAGs-based molecular subtypes. Cox methods were utilized to generate a prognostic score system. The prognostic ability of the score system was detected by plotting ROC and survival curves. The immune activity and underlying function were depicted by CIBERSORT GSEA algorithms. Results: Gene cluster analysis determined two MAGs-based subclusters in UM, which were remarkably different in clinical outcomes. A risk score system containing six MAGs (COL11A1, AREG, TIMP3, ADAM12, PRRX1 and GAS1) was set up. We employed ssGSEA to compare immune activity and immunocyte infiltration between the two risk groups. Notch, JAK/STAT and mTOR pathways were greatly enriched in the high-risk group. Furthermore, we observed that knockdown of AREG could inhibit UM proliferation and metastasis by in vitro assays. Conclusion: The MAGs-based subtype and score system in UM can enhance prognosis assessment, and the core system provides valuable reference for clinical decision-making.

10.
Cell Death Discov ; 9(1): 5, 2023 Jan 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36635258

ABSTRACT

Circular RNAs play important roles in many cancers, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), but the precise functions of most circular RNAs are poorly understood. Here we detected significant downregulation of circTRPS1-2 in ESCC based on high-throughput sequencing of three pairs of ESCC tissue and adjacent normal tissue, followed by PCR validation with another 30 tissue pairs. Patients with ESCC whose circTRPS1-2 expression was below the median level for the sample showed significantly shorter median overall survival (13 months) than patients whose circTRPS1-2 expression was above the median (36 months). Overexpressing circTRPS1-2 in the human ESCC cell lines K150 and E109, which express low endogenous levels of circTRPS1-2, inhibited cell proliferation and migration. Conversely, knocking down circTRPS1-2 using short interfering RNA promoted cell proliferation and migration. Similar results were observed in mice bearing K150 xenografts in which circTRPS1-2 was overexpressed or knocked down. Several ribosomal proteins co-immunoprecipitated with circTRPS1-2 from K150 cells in culture, and K150 cells overexpressing circTRPS1-2 showed reduced numbers of ribosomes by A260 absorbance measure and electron microscopy. Our results suggest that circTRPS1-2 can inhibit ESCC proliferation and migration by reducing the production of ribosomes, establishing its potential usefulness in ESCC treatment and prediction of prognosis.

11.
Sci Transl Med ; 14(673): eabq6146, 2022 11 30.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36449602

ABSTRACT

Inactivation of the tumor suppressor genes tumor protein p53 (TP53) and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) occurs early during gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) tumorigenesis. However, because of a paucity of GEJ-specific disease models, cancer-promoting consequences of TP53 and CDKN2A inactivation at the GEJ have not been characterized. Here, we report the development of a wild-type primary human GEJ organoid model and a CRISPR-edited transformed GEJ organoid model. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated TP53 and CDKN2A knockout (TP53/CDKN2AKO) in GEJ organoids induced morphologic dysplasia and proneoplastic features in vitro and tumor formation in vivo. Lipidomic profiling identified several platelet-activating factors (PTAFs) among the most up-regulated lipids in CRISPR-edited organoids. PTAF/PTAF receptor (PTAFR) abrogation by siRNA knockdown or a pharmacologic inhibitor (WEB2086) reduced proliferation and other proneoplastic features of TP53/CDKN2AKO GEJ organoids in vitro and tumor formation in vivo. In addition, murine xenografts of Eso26, an established human esophageal adenocarcinoma cell line, were suppressed by WEB2086. Mechanistically, TP53/CDKN2A dual inactivation disrupted both the transcriptome and the DNA methylome, likely mediated by key transcription factors, particularly forkhead box M1 (FOXM1). FOXM1 activated PTAFR transcription by binding to the PTAFR promoter, further amplifying the PTAF-PTAFR pathway. Together, these studies established a robust model system for investigating early GEJ neoplastic events, identified crucial metabolic and epigenomic changes occurring during GEJ model tumorigenesis, and revealed a potential cancer therapeutic strategy. This work provides insights into proneoplastic mechanisms associated with TP53/CDKN2A inactivation in early GEJ neoplasia, which may facilitate early diagnosis and prevention of GEJ neoplasms.


Subject(s)
Organoids , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 , Humans , Animals , Mice , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/genetics , Esophagogastric Junction , Carcinogenesis , Cell Transformation, Neoplastic , Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16/genetics
12.
Nanomaterials (Basel) ; 12(17)2022 Aug 30.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36080048

ABSTRACT

Single-phase multiferroics that allow the coexistence of ferroelectric and magnetic ordering above room temperature are highly desirable, and offer a fundamental platform for novel functionality. In this work, a double perovskite multiferroic Pr2FeAlO6 ceramic is prepared using a sol-gel process followed by a quenching treatment. The well-crystallized and purified Pr2FeAlO6 in trigonal structure with space group R3c is confirmed. A combination of the ferroelectric (2Pr = 0.84 µC/cm2, Ec = 7.78 kV/cm at an applied electric field of 20 kV/cm) and magnetic (2Mr = 433 memu/g, Hc = 3.3 kOe at an applied magnetic field of 1.0 T) hysteresis loops reveals the room-temperature multiferroic properties. Further, the magnetoelectric effect is observed from the measurements of magnetically induced dielectric response and polarization. The present results suggest a new complex oxide candidate for room-temperature multiferroic applications.

13.
Front Nutr ; 9: 806887, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35495921

ABSTRACT

Background: In this study, we enrolled 862 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) in China to investigate the correlation between serum vitamin D (SVD) and serum lipids, inflammatory biomarkers, and important clinical parameters. Materials and Methods: 25(OH)D was measured by LS/MS/MS. Correlation analysis, chi-square tests, and logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the correlations between vitamin D and potential risk factors when vitamin D levels were lower than 10 ng/mL or 20 ng/mL. Results: The incidence of severe vitamin D deficiency (SVD < 10 ng/mL) in patients with CD was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (28.9 vs. 9.5%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that penetrating disease [odds ratio (OR) = 2.18], low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) (OR = 1.91), high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (OR = 1.73), and platelet count (PLT) (OR = 2.71) were regarded as predictors of severe vitamin D deficiency, while only PLT (OR = 1.90) and HDL (OR = 1.76) were considered as predictors of mild vitamin D deficiency (SVD 10-20 ng/mL). Conclusion: Our results confirm a higher incidence of severe vitamin D deficiency in patients with CD in China and show that vitamin D deficiency could result from the combined effects of penetrating disease, inflammation, and low levels of HDL.

15.
China CDC Wkly ; 3(3): 54-57, 2021 Jan 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34594956

ABSTRACT

SUMMARY: What is already known about this topic? China has a significant population of left-behind children, and their health and living environments remain a major public health challenge. Children under 6 years old are especially vulnerable to poor health knowledge and behaviors of their caregivers. What is added by this report? The prevalence of stunting, being underweight, and often sick were 13%, 3.4%, and 5%, respectively. Only 53.9% of left-behind children could eat meat often, and 59.5% could control their intake of sugary drinks. The proportions of children who had a safe home environment, a safe play environment, and no family violence were 22.5%, 75.3%, and 45.9%, respectively. The percentages of caregivers who ensured that they rarely left their children alone and were always in their sight are 76.1% and 92.4%, respectively. What are the implications for public health practice? The implementation of early home visits is necessary to improve the physical health and safety of the living environment of left-behind children. Primary health workers should pay attention to improving the health knowledge and behaviors of caregivers.

16.
Sci Rep ; 11(1): 19288, 2021 09 29.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34588587

ABSTRACT

Larval metamorphosis in bivalves is a key event for the larva-to-juvenile transformation. Previously we have identified a thyroid hormone receptor (TR) gene that is crucial for larvae to acquire "competence" for the metamorphic transition in the mussel Mytilus courscus (Mc). The mechanisms of thyroid signaling in bivalves are still largely unknown. In the present study, we molecularly characterized the full-length of two iodothyronine deiodinase genes (McDx and McDy). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that deiodinases of molluscs (McDy, CgDx and CgDy) and vertebrates (D2 and D3) shared a node representing an immediate common ancestor, which resembled vertebrates D1 and might suggest that McDy acquired specialized function from vertebrates D1. Anti-thyroid compounds, methimazole (MMI) and propylthiouracil (PTU), were used to investigate their effects on larval metamorphosis and juvenile development in M. coruscus. Both MMI and PTU significantly reduced larval metamorphosis in response to the metamorphosis inducer epinephrine. MMI led to shell growth retardation in a concentration-dependent manner in juveniles of M. coruscus after 4 weeks of exposure, whereas PTU had no effect on juvenile growth. It is hypothesized that exposure to MMI and PTU reduced the ability of pediveliger larvae for the metamorphic transition to respond to the inducer. The effect of MMI and PTU on larval metamorphosis and development is most likely through a hormonal signal in the mussel M. coruscus, with the implications for exploring the origins and evolution of metamorphosis.


Subject(s)
Antithyroid Agents/pharmacology , Metamorphosis, Biological/physiology , Mytilus/physiology , Thyroid Hormones/metabolism , Animals , Iodide Peroxidase/metabolism , Larva/drug effects , Larva/growth & development , Metamorphosis, Biological/drug effects , Methimazole/pharmacology , Mytilus/drug effects , Propylthiouracil/pharmacology
17.
Ann Transl Med ; 9(7): 552, 2021 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33987250

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To assess and limit the SARS-CoV-2 exposure risk from symptomless individuals in the hospital setting, molecular and serological screening of staff and patients attending a tertiary hospital in China was conducted. METHODS: SARS-CoV-2 RNA was tested by quantitative RT-PCR. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG were screened initially with two lateral flow immunoassays (LFIs) and further confirmed with three chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIAs). The assay performance was assessed using archived samples from 32 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 80 healthy individuals. RESULTS: Between April 24 and May 8, 2020, 16,043 subjects (7,392 medical staff, 4,714 inpatients, 1,209 chaperones, 1,705 outpatients, and 1,023 fever clinic patients) were screened. No subject tested positive for viral RNA. Seventy-three (0.46%) tested positive for IgM or IgG on the initial LFI screening, of whom 63 were investigated with CLIAs: 2 (0.01%) were confirmed as seroreactive and 18 (0.11%) were indeterminate. Unconfirmed seroreactivity was significantly more frequent in fever clinic patients. The CLIAs showed similar (95.0-100%) IgM or IgG specificity but higher IgG sensitivity (93.75-96.88% vs. 31.25-81.25%) than the LFIs. The confirmed seropositive cases included a previously discharged COVID-19 patient and an undiagnosed symptomless patient showing detectable IgM and IgG over 35 days of follow-up. No transmission was evidenced within the corresponding family cluster. CONCLUSIONS: Low SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and limited exposure risk were observed. Seroprevalence varied between 0.012% and 0.12% according to the testing algorithm and the confirmation criteria used, indicating that quality standards for serological tests are needed. Protective immunity in asymptomatic COVID-19 patients who recovered needs to be investigated further, but the associated risk of transmission appeared limited.

18.
Heliyon ; 7(4): e06695, 2021 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33912703

ABSTRACT

Previous research has found that miRNA-20b is highly expressed in gastric cancer (GC), however, its function and underlying mechanism are not clear. Wnt signaling pathway, implicated in tumorigeneisis, is activated in more than 30% of GC. We would like to characterize the biological behavior of miRNA-20b in terms of modulating Wnt/ß-catenin signaling and EMT. We showed that miRNA-20b inhibitors suppressed Topflash/Fopflash dependent luciferase activity and the ß-catenin nuclear translocation, resulting in inhibition of Wnt pathway activity and EMT. SUFU, negatively regulating Wnt and Hedgehog signaling pathway, was proved to be targeted by miRNA-20b. Moreover, additional knockdown of SUFU alleviated the inhibitory effect on Wnt pathway activity, EMT, cell proliferation/migration and colony formation caused by miRNA-20b inhibition. In summary, miRNA-20b is an oncogenic miRNA and promoted cell proliferation, migration and EMT in GC partially by activating Wnt pathway via targeting SUFU.

19.
Cancers (Basel) ; 13(7)2021 Apr 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33916875

ABSTRACT

Barrett's esophagus (BE) is a precursor to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Recently, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as key regulators of biological pathways. However, involvement of lncRNAs in the development of BE and EAC has not been well-studied. The aims of the current study were: (1) to study involvement of the lncRNA, miR205HG, in the development of BE and EAC; (2) to clarify the role of miR205HG in in vitro and in vivo experiments; and (3) to investigate the mechanism of miR205HG involving the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway. These experiments revealed that miR205HG was downregulated in EAC vs. normal esophageal epithelia (NE) as well as in EAC cell lines, and its forced overexpression inhibited EAC cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in vitro. Similarly, overexpression of miR205HG inhibited xenograft tumor growth in mice In vivo. Finally, we show that one mechanism of action of miR205HG involves the Hh signaling pathway: miR205HG and Hh expression levels were inversely correlated in both EAC (r = -0.73) and BE (r = -0.83) tissues, and in vitro studies revealed details of Hh signaling inhibition induced by miR205HG. In conclusion, these findings establish that lncRNA miR205HG functions as a tumor suppressor in the development of BE and EAC, at least in part through its effect on the Hh signaling pathway.

20.
Cell Cycle ; 19(20): 2720-2733, 2020 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33017570

ABSTRACT

The poor prognosis of late gastric carcinomas (GC) underscores the necessity to identify novel biomarkers for earlier diagnosis and effective therapeutic targets. MiRNA-324-5p has been shown to be over-expressed in GC, however the biological function of miRNA-324-5p implicated in gastric cancer and its downstream targets were not well understood. Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway is aberrantly regulated in GC. We sought to explore if miRNA-324-5p promotes oncogenesis through modulating Wnt signaling and EMT. MiRNA-324-5p is highly expressed in GC based on qRT-PCR and TCGA data. In addition, in vitro cell proliferation, cell migration assays and in vivo animal exenograft were executed to show that miRNA-324-5p is an oncogenic miRNA in GC. MiRNA-324-5p activates Wnt signaling and induces EMT in GC. Further, SUFU was identified as a target of miRNA-324-5p confirmed by western blotting and luciferase assays. Spearson analysis and TCGA data indicate that the expression of SUFU is negatively associated with the expression of miRNA-324-5p. Rescue experiments were performed to determine if SUFU mediates the Wnt activation, EMT and oncogenic function of miRNA-324-5p. MiRNA-324-5p inhibitors plus SUFU siRNAs rescue partially the inhibitory effect on Wnt signaling and EMT caused by miRNA-324-5p inhibitors. Finally, the suppression of cell proliferation, migration, and colony formation ability induced by miRNA-324-5p inhibitors is alleviated by addition of SUFU siRNAs. In summary, miRNA-324-5p is overexpressed in vivo and exerts cell growth and migration-promoting effects through activating Wnt signaling and EMT by targeting SUFU in GC. It represents a potential miRNA with an oncogenic role in human gastric cancer.


Subject(s)
MicroRNAs/genetics , Organic Cation Transport Proteins/genetics , Repressor Proteins/genetics , Stomach Neoplasms/genetics , Wnt Signaling Pathway/genetics , beta Catenin/genetics , Animals , Carcinogenesis/genetics , Carcinogenesis/pathology , Cell Line , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Movement/genetics , Cell Proliferation/genetics , Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/genetics , Female , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/genetics , Humans , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Mice, Nude , Mice, SCID , Oncogenes/genetics , Stomach Neoplasms/pathology
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