scholarly journals Downregulation of RBP4 indicates a poor prognosis and correlates with immune cell infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingxing Li ◽  
Zhihui Wang ◽  
Lixu Zhu ◽  
Yifang Shui ◽  
Shuijun Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Retinol Binding Protein ◽  
Antibiotic Biosynthesis ◽  
Pathway Enrichment Analysis ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor ◽  
Advanced Tumor ◽  
Tumor Stages

Recent research has indicated that metabolically related genes play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We evaluated the associations between novel biomarkers and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) for predicting clinical HCC outcomes, hub-related genes, pathway regulation, and immune cells infiltration. Bioinformatic analyses based on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas were performed using online analysis tools. RBP4 expression was low in HCC and was also downregulated in pan-cancers compared to normal tissues. RBP4 expression was also significantly different based on age (41–60 years old versus 61–80 years old), and low RBP4 expression levels were associated with advanced tumor stages and grades. Higher RBP4 expression was associated with better overall survival time in HCC patients, and we identified a deletion-mutation rate of 1.4% in RBP4. We also identified ten co-expressed genes most related to RBP4 and explored the relationships between six hub genes (APOB, FGA, FGG, SERPINC1, APOA1, and F2) involved in RBP4 regulation. A pathway enrichment analysis for RBP4 indicated complement and coagulation cascades, metabolic pathways, antibiotic biosynthesis pathways, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling pathways, and pyruvate metabolism pathways. These results suggest that RBP4 may be a novel biomarker for HCC prognosis, and an indicator of low immune response to the disease.

scholarly journals Multi-Omic Analyses of the m5C Regulator ALYREF Reveal Its Essential Roles in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Xue ◽  
Yalei Zhao ◽  
Ganglei Li ◽  
Lanjuan Li
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Cancer Tissue ◽  
Hub Genes ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Expression Levels ◽  
Advanced Tumor

The ALYREF protein acts as a crucial epigenetic regulator in several cancers. However, the specific expression levels and functional roles of ALYREF in cancers are largely unknown, including for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In a pan-cancer tissue analysis that included HCC, we assessed the expression of ALYREF compared to normal tissues using The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Associations between ALYREF gene expression and the clinical characteristics of HCC patient samples were assessed using the UALCAN database. Kaplan-Meier plots were performed to assess HCC patient prognosis, and the TIMER database was used to explore associations between ALYREF expression and immune-cell infiltrations. The same methods were used to assess eIF4A3 expression in HCC patient samples. In addition, ALYREF- and elF4A3-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined using LinkedOmics, associated protein functionalities were predicted for positively associated DEGs, and both the TargetScan and miRDB databases were used to predict potential upstream miRNAs for control of ALYREF and eIF4A3 expression. We found that ALYREF gene expression was dysregulated in several cancers and was significantly elevated in HCC patient tissue samples and HCC cell lines. The overexpression of ALYREF was significantly related to both advanced tumor-node-metastasis stages and poor HCC prognosis. Furthermore, we found that eIF4A3 expression was significantly correlated with ALYREF expression, and that upregulated eIF4A3 was significantly associated with poor HCC patient outcomes. In the protein-protein interaction network, we identified eight hub genes based on the positively associated DEGs in common between ALYREF and eIF4A3, and the high expression levels of these hub genes were positively associated with patient clinical outcomes. In addition, we identified miR-4666a-5p and miR-6124 as potential regulators of ALYREF and eIF4A3 expression. These findings suggest that increased ALYREF expression may function as a novel biomarker for both HCC diagnosis and prognosis predictions.

Influence of irisin on diet-induced metabolic syndrome in experimental rat model

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia Medhat ◽  
Mona A. El-Bana ◽  
Sherien M. El-Daly ◽  
Magdi N. Ashour ◽  
Tahany R. Elias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Lipid Profile ◽  
Histopathological Examination ◽  
Retinol Binding Protein ◽  
Albino Rats ◽  
Standard Diet ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor ◽  
Alcoholic Fatty Liver ◽  
Kidney Functions

Abstract Objective To evaluate the influence of irisin on the experimental paradigm of non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) as a part of MetS cluster. Methods Forty male albino rats were divided into four groups; normal control, standard diet + irisin, high carbohydrate and fat diet (HCHF), and HCHF + irisin. After the experimental period, levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS), insulin, lipid profile, kidney functions, salusin-alpha (Sal-α), adropin, and retinol-binding protein-4 (RBP-4) were evaluated. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1α) expression in skeletal muscle was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR. Aorta, liver, pancreas, and skeletal muscle tissue samples were prepared for histopathological examination. Results Rats administrated HCHF showed elevated levels of FBS, lipid profile, kidney functions, RBP-4, and downregulation of PGC-1α expression along with a decline in levels of insulin, Sal-α, and adropin while administration of irisin significantly attenuated these levels. Conclusions Irisin as based therapy could emerge as a new line of treatment against MetS and its related diseases.

scholarly journals Distribution of tumor-infiltrating-T-lymphocytes and possible tumor-escape mechanisms avoiding immune cell attack in locally advanced adenocarcinomas of the esophagus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schoemmel ◽  
◽  
H. Loeser ◽  
M. Kraemer ◽  
S. Wagener-Ryczek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Locally Advanced ◽  
Tumor Escape ◽  
Inflammatory Microenvironment ◽  
Advanced Tumor ◽  
Tumor Stages ◽  
Tumor Center ◽  
Class 1

Abstract Introduction The inflammatory microenvironment has emerged as one of the focuses of cancer research. Little is known about the immune environment in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and possible tumor-escape mechanisms to avoid immune cell attack. Patients and methods We measured T cell inflammation (CD3, CD8) in the microenvironment using a standardized software-based evaluation algorithm considering different predefined tumor areas as well as expression of MHC class 1 and PD-L1 on 75 analyzable primarily resected and locally advanced (≥ pT2) EACs. We correlated these findings statistically with clinical data. Results Patients with high amounts of T cell infiltration in their tumor center showed a significant survival benefit of 41.4 months compared to 16.3 months in T cell poor tumors (p = 0.025), although CD3 fails to serve as an independent prognostic marker in multivariate analysis. For the invasion zone, a correlation between number of T-cells and overall survival was not detectable. Loss of MHC1 protein expression on tumor cells was seen in 32% and PD-L1 expression using the combined positive score (CPS) in 21.2%. Most likely due to small numbers of cases, both markers are not prognostically relevant, even though PD-L1 expression correlates with advanced tumor stages. Discussion Our analyses reveal an outstanding, though not statistically independent, prognostic relevance of T-cell-rich inflammation in our group of EACs, in particular driven by the tumor center. For the first time, we describe that the inner part of the invasion zone in EACs shows significantly fewer T-cells than other tumor segments and is prognostically irrelevant. We also demonstrate that the loss of antigen presenting ability via MHC1 downregulation by the carcinoma cells is a common escape mechanism in EACs. Future work will need to show whether tumors with MHC class 1 loss respond less well to immunotherapy.

scholarly journals Modularity of the metabolic gene network as a prognostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengdan Ye ◽  
Dongya Jia ◽  
Mingyang Lu ◽  
Herbert Levine ◽  
Michael W Deem
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Prognostic Biomarker ◽  
Malignant Tumors ◽  
Aerobic Glycolysis ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Cancer Recurrence ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Driver Genes ◽  
Tumor Stages

AbstractAbnormal metabolism is an emerging hallmark of cancer. Cancer cells utilize both aerobic glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) for energy production and biomass synthesis. Understanding the metabolic reprogramming in cancer can help design therapies to target metabolism and thereby to improve prognosis. We have previously argued that more malignant tumors are usually characterized by a more modular expression pattern of cancer-associated genes. In this work, we analyzed the expression patterns of metabolism genes in terms of modularity for 371 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We found that higher modularity significantly correlated with glycolytic phenotype, later tumor stages, higher metastatic potential, and cancer recurrence, all of which contributed to poorer prognosis. Among patients with recurred tumor, we found the correlation of higher modularity with worse prognosis during early to mid-progression. Furthermore, we developed metrics to calculate individual modularity, which was shown to be predictive of cancer recurrence and patients’ survival and therefore may serve as a prognostic biomarker. Our overall conclusion is that more aggressive HCC tumors, as judged by decreased host survival probability, had more modular expression patterns of metabolic genes. These results may be used to identify cancer driver genes and for drug design.

scholarly journals Hypoxic Characteristic in the Immunosuppressive Microenvironment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuomao Mo ◽  
Daiyuan Liu ◽  
Dade Rong ◽  
Shijun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Cancer Genome ◽  
Gene Set Enrichment Analysis ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Immune Checkpoints ◽  
Immune Cell Infiltration ◽  
Immunosuppressive Microenvironment

Background: Generally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exists in an immunosuppressive microenvironment that promotes tumor evasion. Hypoxia can impact intercellular crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment. This study aimed to explore and elucidate the underlying relationship between hypoxia and immunotherapy in patients with HCC.Methods: HCC genomic and clinicopathological datasets were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA-LIHC), Gene Expression Omnibus databases (GSE14520) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC-LIRI). The TCGA-LIHC cases were divided into clusters based on single sample gene set enrichment analysis and hierarchical clustering. After identifying patients with immunosuppressive microenvironment with different hypoxic conditions, correlations between immunological characteristics and hypoxia clusters were investigated. Subsequently, a hypoxia-associated score was established by differential expression, univariable Cox regression, and lasso regression analyses. The score was verified by survival and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. The GSE14520 cohort was used to validate the findings of immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoints expression, while the ICGC-LIRI cohort was employed to verify the hypoxia-associated score.Results: We identified hypoxic patients with immunosuppressive HCC. This cluster exhibited higher immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint expression in the TCGA cohort, while similar significant differences were observed in the GEO cohort. The hypoxia-associated score was composed of five genes (ephrin A3, dihydropyrimidinase like 4, solute carrier family 2 member 5, stanniocalcin 2, and lysyl oxidase). In both two cohorts, survival analysis revealed significant differences between the high-risk and low-risk groups. In addition, compared to other clinical parameters, the established score had the highest predictive performance at both 3 and 5 years in two cohorts.Conclusion: This study provides further evidence of the link between hypoxic signals in patients and immunosuppression in HCC. Defining hypoxia-associated HCC subtypes may help reveal potential regulatory mechanisms between hypoxia and the immunosuppressive microenvironment, and our hypoxia-associated score could exhibit potential implications for future predictive models.

scholarly journals MicroRNA-7 as a Potential Biomarker for Prognosis in Pancreatic Cancer

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-qiang Ye ◽  
Chang-lin Zou ◽  
Han-bin Chen ◽  
Ming-jie Jiang ◽  
Zhu Mei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Tumor Progression ◽  
Clinical Significance ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards Model ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Cancer Tissue ◽  
Advanced Tumor ◽  
Potential Biomarker ◽  
Tumor Stages

MicroRNAs play critical roles in tumor progression. Our recent study has indicated that microRNA-7 (miR-7) impairs autophagy-derived pools of glucose to suppress the glycolysis in pancreatic cancer progression. However, the roles of miR-7 in clinical significance and chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer remain unexplored. The aim of this study was to assess the expression of miR-7 in patients with pancreatic cancer and to evaluate the possibility of its usage as a prognostic molecular biomarker. MicroRNA array-based quantification analysis of 372 miRNAs was compared in serum between pancreatic cancer and healthy individuals, gemcitabine-sensitive and gemcitabine-resistance patients. We identified miR-7 showed the potential predictive power for gemcitabine-sensitive patients with pancreatic cancer. Then, the results were validated in pancreatic tissue microarray and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset, demonstrating that lower miR-7 expression was correlated with more advanced tumor stages and worse prognosis in pancreatic cancer. The Cox proportional-hazards model analysis identified miR-7 to be an independent variable for prediction of the survival. Furthermore, the mechanistic exploration suggested the clinical significance of miR-7 involved its interference effect on autophagy and glycolysis in pancreatic cancer using pancreatic cancer tissue microarrays and TCGA data. Therefore, the results of the present study provide evidences that low microRNA-7 expression may contribute to tumor progression and poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer.

scholarly journals PPAR Gamma: Coordinating Metabolic and Immune Contributions to Female Fertility

PPAR Research ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cadence E. Minge ◽  
Rebecca L. Robker ◽  
Robert J. Norman
Keyword(s):  
Cell Activation ◽  
Ovarian Function ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Ovarian Tissue ◽  
Ppar Gamma ◽  
Female Fertility ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator ◽  
Lipid Uptake ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor ◽  
Cyclic Changes

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) regulates cellular functions such as adipogenesis and immune cell activation. However, new information has indicated additional roles of PPARG directing the cyclic changes that occur within ovarian tissue of female mammals, including those that facilitate the release of oocytes each estrous cycle. In addition to ovarian PPARG expression and function, many PPARG actions within adipocytes and macrophages have additional direct and indirect implications for ovarian function and female fertility. This encompasses the regulation of lipid uptake and transport, insulin sensitivity, glucose metabolism, and the regulation of inflammatory mediator synthesis and release. This review discusses the developing links between PPARG activity and female reproductive function, and highlights several mechanisms that may facilitate such a relationship.

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