Targeting the raft-associated Akt signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Caveolin-1 and flotillin-1 are considered as markers of lipid rafts which can be regarded as sorting platforms for targeted transport of transmembrane proteins and are involved in fundamental cellular events such as signal transduction, cell adhesion, lipid/protein sorting, and human cancer. We addressed caveolin-1 and flotillin-1 expression in 90 human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and adjacent noncancerous tissues (ANT) samples by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting with specific antibodies. Significant caveolin-1 and flotillin-1 overexpression was found in HCC tissues compared to ANT and was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Raft-associated Akt signaling pathway components involved in the regulation of cell survival were altered by western blotting in HCC microdomain-enriched subcellular fractions purified from paired HCC and ANT samples. Our results demonstrated that the activity of raft-associated but not total membrane Akt determines its cellular functions. Lipid rafts differ in different types of tissues, which allows for the possibility of tissue-type-specific targeting for cell survival.

Cross-sectional study of the relationship of peripheral blood cell profiles with severity of infection by adenovirus type 55.

BACKGROUND: The immunologic profiles of patients with human adenovirus serotype 55 (HAdV-55) infections were characterized in subjects diagnosed with silent infections (n = 30), minor infections (n = 27), severe infections (n = 34), and healthy controls (n = 30) during a recent outbreak among Chinese military trainees. METHODS: Blood was sampled at the disease peak and four weeks later, and samples were analyzed to measure changes in leukocyte and platelet profiles in patients with different severities of disease. Differential lymphocyte subsets and cytokine profiles were measured by flow cytometry and Luminex xMAP®, and serum antibodies were analyzed by ELISA and immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: Patients with severe HAdV infections had higher proportions of neutrophils and reduced levels of lymphocytes (p < 0.005 for both). Patients with minor and severe infections had significantly lower platelet counts (p < 0.005 for both) than those with silent infections. The silent and minor infection groups had higher levels of dendritic cells than the severe infection group. Relative to patients with silent infections, patients with severe infections had significantly higher levels of IL-17+CD4+ cells, decreased levels of IL-17+CD8+ cells, and higher levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-α2 (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with different severities of disease due to HAdV-55 infection had significantly different immune responses. These data provide an initial step toward the identification of patients at risk for more severe disease and the development of treatments against HAdV-55 infection.

Overexpression of metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 predicts a poor outcome of hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM: To investigate the intratumoral expression of metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 (MACC1) and c-Met and determine their clinical values associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A retrospective study admitted three hundred fifty-four patients with HBV-related HCC. The expression and distribution of MACC1 and c-Met were assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry staining. Prognostic factors influencing survival, metastasis and recurrence were assessed. RESULTS: Intratumoral MACC1 level was found to be associated with HCC disease progression. Both median tumor-free survival (TFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly shorter in the postoperative HCC patients with high intratumoral MACC1 expression, as compared to those with low intratumoral MACC1 levels (TFS: 34 mo vs 48.0 mo, P < 0.001; OS: 40 mo vs 48 mo, P < 0.01). Multivariable analysis indicated that high MACC1 expression or co-expression with c-Met were independent predictors for HCC clinic outcome (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: High intratumoral MACC1 expression can be associated with enhanced tumor progression and poor outcome of HBV-related HCC. MACC1 may serve as a prognostic biomarker for postoperative HCC.

Upregulation of circulating PD-L1/PD-1 is associated with poor post-cryoablation prognosis in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The programmed cell death-1 receptor/programmed cell death-1 ligand (PD-1/PD-L1) pathway plays a crucial role in tumor evasion from host immunity. This study was designed to evaluate the association between circulating PD-L1/PD-1 and prognosis after cryoablation in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, 141 HBV-related HCC patients were enrolled and of those 109 patients received cryoablation. Circulating PD-L1/PD-1 expression was tested by flow cytometry, and 23 patients were simultaneously evaluated for intratumoral PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemical staining. Circulating PD-1/PD-L1 expression was associated with severity of diseases in patients with HCC, and the circulating PD-L1 expression was closely correlated with intratumoral PD-L1 expression. Of the clinical parameters, PD-1/PD-L1 expression was associated with tumor size, blood vessel invasion and BCLC staging. Moreover, PD-1/PD-L1 expression dropped after cryoablation while being elevated at the time of tumor recurrence. Patients with higher expression of circulating PD-L1, as well as circulating PD-1, had a significantly shorter overall survival and tumor-free survival than those with lower expression. Multivariate analysis confirmed that circulating PD-L1 could serve as an independent predictor of overall survival and tumor-recurrence survival in HCC patients after cryoablation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Upregulation of circulating PD-L1/PD-1 is associated with poor post-cryoablation prognosis in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

[Increase in peripheral and liver infiltrating regulatory T cells favors development of primary hepatocellular carcinoma].

AIM: This study attempted to investigate the features of Treg cells in peripheral blood and liver of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 30 HCC patients and 30 healthy control subjects, then were quantitatively analyzed for Treg cells by using flow cytometry. Liver infiltrating lymphocytes (LIL) isolated from resected tumor samples of 7 HCC patients were simultaneously analyzed. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the frequency of peripheral Treg cells in HCC patients compared with healthy controls (P < 0.01). Furthermore, we also found that there was a higher frequency of infiltrated Treg within tumor samples than the counterpart in non-tumor region (P < 0.05). In addition, CD4(+) CD25(low) and CD4(+) CD25(-) T cells isolated from resected tumor samples were found to express higher level of FOXP3 molecules. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that a dramatic increasing increase of Treg in peripheral blood and liver tissue of HCC patients may be associated with the significant increased development of Treg, which favors the disease progression through the suppressive effect of Treg on host immune response in these patients.