Cuproptosis-related molecular subtypes direct T cell exhaustion phenotypes and therapeutic strategies for patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

Background: T cell exhaustion (TEX) heterogeneity leads to unfavorable immunotherapeutic responses in patients with cancer. Classification of TEX molecular phenotypes is pivotal to overcoming TEX and improving immunotherapies in the clinical setting. Cuproptosis is a novel form of programmed cell death associated with tumor progression. However, the relation between cuproptosis-related genes (CuRGs) and the different TEX phenotypes has not been investigated in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Methods: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm were performed to determine CuRGs-related molecular subtypes and scores for patients with LUAD. The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) landscape in these molecular subtypes and scores was estimated using ESTIMATE and ssGSEA algorithms. Furthermore, TEX characteristics and phenotypes were evaluated in distinct molecular subtypes and scores through GSVA and Spearman correlation analysis. Finally, TIDE scores, immunophenoscore, pRRophetic, GSE78220, and IMvigor210 datasets were employed to appraise the distinguishing capacity of CuRGscore in immunotherapy and pharmacotherapy effectiveness. Results: We identified three CuRGclusters, three geneClusters, and CuRGscore based on 1012 LUAD transcriptional profiles from five datasets. Compared with other molecular subtypes, CuRGcluster B, geneCluster C, and low-CuRGscore group with good prognosis presented fewer TEX characteristics, including immunosuppressive cells infiltration and TEX-associated gene signatures, signal pathways, checkpoint genes, transcription and inflammatory factors. These molecular subtypes were also responsive in distinguishing TEX phenotype in the terminal, GZMK+, and OXPHOS- TEX subtypes, but not the TCF7+ TEX subtype. Notably, copper importer and exporter, SLC31A1 and ATP7B, were remarkably associated with four TEX phenotypes and nine checkpoint genes such as PDCD1, CTLA4, HAVCR2, TIGIT, LAG3, IDO1, SIGLEC7, CD274, PDCD1LG2, indicating that cuproptosis was involved in the development of TEX and immunosuppressive environment in patients with LUAD. Moreover, CuRGscore was significantly related to the TIDE score, immunophenoscore, and terminal TEX score (Spearman R = 0.62, p < 0.001) to effectively predict immunotherapy and drug sensitivity in both training and external validation cohorts. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated the extensive effect of cuproptosis on TEX. CuRGs-related molecular subtypes and scores could illuminate the heterogeneity of TEX phenotype as reliable tools in predicting prognosis and directing more effective immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic strategies for patients with LUAD.

Combining local regional therapy and systemic therapy: Expected changes in the treatment landscape of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.

Improvements in early screening, new diagnostic techniques, and surgical treatment have led to continuous downward trends in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) morbidity and mortality rates. However, high recurrence and refractory cancer after hepatectomy remain important factors affecting the long-term prognosis of HCC. The clinical characteristics and prognosis of recurrent HCC are heterogeneous, and guidelines on treatment strategies for recurrent HCC are lacking. Therapies such as surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation, and transhepatic arterial chemoembolization are effective for tumors confined to the liver, and targeted therapy is a very important treatment for unresectable recurrent HCC with systemic metastasis. With the deepening of the understanding of the immune microenvironment of HCC, blocking immune checkpoints to enhance the antitumor immune response has become a new direction for the treatment of HCC. In addition, improvements in the tumor immune microenvironment caused by local treatment may provide an opportunity to improve the therapeutic effect of HCC treatment. Ongoing and future clinical trial data of combined therapy may develop the new treatment scheme for recurrent HCC. This paper reviews the pattern of recurrent HCC and the characteristics of the immune microenvironment, demonstrates the basis for combining local treatment and systemic treatment, and reports current evidence to better understand current progress and future approaches in the treatment of recurrent HCC.

Perturbation of epithelial apicobasal polarity by rhomboid family-1 gene overexpression.

The human rhomboid family (RHBDF)1 gene is highly expressed in breast cancer under clinical conditions but not in normal mammary gland tissues. Silencing the RHBDF1 gene in breast cancer xenograft tumors leads to inhibition of tumor growth. We show in this study that artificially raising RHBDF1 protein levels in the mammary epithelial cells MCF-10A results in severe perturbations of the ability of the cells to form lumen-containing acini, either in 3-dimensional cell cultures or implanted in mouse mammary fat pads. Knocking down RHBDF1 with short hairpin (sh)RNA leads to restoration of acinus formation. Consistently, RHBDF1 overexpression gives rise to disordered distribution of polarity markers GM130 and laminin-5, which otherwise are located in apical and basal positions, respectively, in the acini. Further investigations reveal that RHBDF1 directly binds to Par6a, a component of a protein complex consisting of partitioning-defective scaffold protein (Par)6, Par3, renin-angiotensin system-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate (Rac)1, and cell-division cycle (Cdc)42, which is structurally critical to the formation of apicobasal polarity. RHBDF1 binding to Par6a results in collapse of the protein complex and thus disruption of polarity formation. Since early stages of breast cancer are characterized by the loss of mammary gland epithelial cell polarity, our findings indicate that perturbations of apicobasal polarity by high levels of RHBDF1 is a significant attribute in the development of breast neoplasia.-Peng, X.-M., Gao, S., Deng, H.-T., Cai, H.-X., Zhou, Z., Xiang, R., Zhang, Q.-Z., Li, L.-Y. Perturbation of epithelial apicobasal polarity by rhomboid family-1 gene overexpression.

Vascular endothelial growth factor suppresses TNFSF15 production in endothelial cells by stimulating miR-31 and miR-20a expression via activation of Akt and Erk signals.

Tumor necrosis factor superfamily-15 (TNFSF15; VEGI; TL1A) is a negative modulator of angiogenesis for blood vessel homeostasis and is produced by endothelial cells in a mature vasculature. It is known to be downregulated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a major regulator of neovascularization but the mechanism of this interaction is unclear. Here we report that VEGF is able to stimulate the production of two microRNAs, miR-20a and miR-31, which directly target the 3'-UTR of TNFSF15. Additionally, we show that two VEGF-stimulated cell growth signals, Erk and Akt, are responsible for promoting the expression of miR-20a and miR-31. Treatment of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with Akt inhibitor LY294002 results in diminished miR-20a and miR-31 production, while Erk inhibitor U0126 prevented VEGF-stimulated expression of miR-20a but not that of miR-31. Furthermore, inactivation of either Erk or Akt signals restores TNFSF15 gene expression. In an angiogenesis assay, elevated miR-20a or miR-31 levels in HUVECs leads to enhancement of capillary-like tubule formation in vitro, whereas lowered miR-20a and miR-31 levels results in an inhibition. These findings are consistent with the view that miR-20a and miR-31 mediate VEGF-induced downregulation of TNFSF15. Targeting these microRNA molecules may therefore provide an effective approach to inhibit angiogenesis.

TNFSF15 suppresses VEGF production in endothelial cells by stimulating miR-29b expression via activation of JNK-GATA3 signals.

Vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) plays a pivotal role in promoting neovascularization. VEGF gene expression in vascular endothelial cells in normal tissues is maintained at low levels but becomes highly up-regulated in a variety of disease settings including cancers. Tumor necrosis factor superfamily 15 (TNFSF15; VEGI; TL1A) is an anti-angiogenic cytokine prominently produced by endothelial cells in a normal vasculature. We report here that VEGF production in mouse endothelial cell line bEnd.3 can be inhibited by TNFSF15 via microRNA-29b (miR-29b) that targets the 3'-UTR of VEGF transcript. Blocking TNFSF15 activity by using either siRNA against the TNFSF15 receptor known as death domain-containing receptor-3 (DR3; TNFRSF25), or a neutralizing antibody 4-3H against TNFSF15, led to inhibition of miR-29b expression and reinvigoration of VEGF production. In addition, we found that TNFSF15 activated the JNK signaling pathway as well as the transcription factor GATA3, resulting in enhanced miR-29b production. Treatment of the cells either with SP600125, an inhibitor of JNK, or with JNK siRNA, led to eradication of TNFSF15-induced GATA3 expression. Moreover, GATA3 siRNA suppressed TNFSF15-induced miR-29b expression. These findings suggest that VEGF gene expression can be suppressed by TNFSF15-stimulated activation of the JNK-GATA3 signaling pathway which gives rise to up-regulation of miR-29b.