ABSTRACT
Introduction: Nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) is an important regulator involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and energy metabolism. However, the specific mechanism of NRF1 in anoikis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) remains unclear. Methods: We examined the effect of NRF1 on mitochondria and identified the specific mechanism through transcriptome sequencing, and explored the relationships among NRF1, anoikis, and EMT. Results: We found that upregulated NRF1 expression led to increased mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and ATP generation. Simultaneously, a significant amount of ROS is generated during OXPHOS. Alternatively, NRF1 upregulates the expression of ROS-scavenging enzymes, allowing tumor cells to maintain low ROS levels and promoting anoikis resistance and EMT. We also found that exogenous ROS was maintained at a low level by NRF1 in breast cancer cells. Conclusion: our study provides mechanistic insight into the function of NRF1 in breast cancer, indicating that NRF1 may serve as a therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment.
Subject(s)
Anoikis , Breast Neoplasms , Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition , Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1 , Humans , Female , Cell Line, Tumor , Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/genetics , Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1/genetics , Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1/metabolism , Oxidative Phosphorylation , Homeostasis , Anoikis/genetics , Adenosine Triphosphate/biosynthesis , Mitochondria/metabolism , Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial , Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolismABSTRACT
Numerous studies have identified various prognostic long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) in a specific cancer type, but a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis for prediction of LncRNAs that may serve as prognostic biomarkers is of great significance to be performed. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant adult primary brain tumor. There is an urgent need to identify novel therapies for GBM due to its poor prognosis and universal recurrence. Using available LncRNA expression data of 12 cancer types and survival data of 30 cancer types from online databases, we identified 48 differentially expressed LncRNAs in cancers as potential pan-cancer prognostic biomarkers. Two candidate LncRNAs were selected for validation in GBM. By the expression detection in GBM cell lines and survival analysis in GBM patients, we demonstrated the reliability of the list of pan-cancer prognostic LncRNAs obtained above. By constructing LncRNA-mRNA-drug network in GBM, we predicted novel drug-target interactions for GBM correlated LncRNA. This analysis has revealed common prognostic LncRNAs among cancers, which may provide insights into cancer pathogenesis and novel drug target in GBM.
