scholarly journals Evaluation of Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Expression in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Skin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nimita Kant ◽  
Perumal Senthiappan Jayaraj

Abstract Introduction Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is highly invasive malignant tumor showing keratinocytic differentiation and is often associated with chronic exposure to UV light. Telomerase is RNA dependent DNA polymerase that causes addition of telomeric repeat DNA sequences to chromosomal ends. Recently, UV signature mutations have been identified in core promoter region of TERT gene, which encodes the main catalytic subunit leading to overexpression in cutaneous melanoma. However, its role and expression pattern have not been studied in eyelid skin SCC. Objectives Present study aimed to analyze the presence of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) in eyelid SCC, as its expression pattern and mutational status have not been studied in SCC. Materials and Methods Nineteen cases of eyelid SCC were evaluated for the presence of TERT protein using monoclonal antibody against TERT, and its mutational status was verified using PCR and DNA sequencing. Bioedit software was used for analyzes and primers were vindicated using NCBI Primer Blast. Results were correlated with clinicopathological features of SCC. Results A C to T mutation was observed in 6 of 19 SCC cases. Positive expression of TERT was found in 57% of the cases analyzed and it showed a significant association with keratinocytic differentiation (p = 0.04). Conclusion Relation between TERT promoter mutation and TERT immunohistochemistry is studied for the first time in eyelid skin SCC. Our results suggested that overexpression of TERT may contribute to the aggressive behavior associated with SCC and such patients may warrant aggressive treatment.


2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 267-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kolja Freier ◽  
Susanne Pungs ◽  
Christa Flechtenmacher ◽  
Franz X. Bosch ◽  
Peter Lichter ◽  
...  




2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahendar Porika ◽  
Radhika Tippani ◽  
Anwar Mohammad ◽  
Sekhar R Bollam ◽  
Sree D Panuganti ◽  
...  

Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is the catalytic subunit of human telomerase and its rate-limiting component. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic value of hTERT in serum of cervical cancer patients. Preoperative values of hTERT, squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-ag) and cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 192 patients with squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix and 38 healthy controls. Elevated pretreatment levels of hTERT were identified in 80.2% of squamous cell carcinoma and 73.8% of adenocarcinoma patients. The expression of serum hTERT was correlated with telomerase activity in cancer tissues of both histological types. Pretreatment serum hTERT levels showed a significant correlation with clinical stage, tumor size and lymph node metastasis, but not with age. Serum hTERT measurement was found to be useful in the diagnosis and assessment of clinical stage of cervical cancer, and to be superior to the conventional tumor markers. Therefore, serum hTERT is a novel and readily available marker for cervical malignancies.



Oncotarget ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (49) ◽  
pp. 85492-85503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wu ◽  
Chunxiang Bian ◽  
Chunlin Zhen ◽  
Liu Liu ◽  
Zhenghong Lin ◽  
...  


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Mao ◽  
Xiaoweng Wu ◽  
Zhengpeng Gong ◽  
Ming Yu ◽  
Zhi Huang

Abstract Background/objective Accumulated evidence has demonstrated that aerobic glycolysis serves as a regulator of tumor cell growth, invasion, and angiogenesis. Herein, we explored the role of protein disulfide isomerase family 6 (PDIA6) in the aerobic glycolysis and the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods The expression pattern of PDIA6 in OSCC tissues was determined by qPCR and western blotting. Lentivirus and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were introduced into cells to upregulate and downregulate PDIA6 expression. CCK-8, flow cytometry, transwell, and xenotransplantation models were applied to detect cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion, and tumorigenesis, respectively. Results A high expression pattern of PDIA6 was observed in OSCC tissues, which was closely associated with lower overall survival and malignant clinical features in OSCC. Compared with the control group, overexpression of PDIA6 induced significant enhancements in cell growth, migration, invasiveness, and tumorigenesis and decreased cell apoptosis, while knockdown of PDIA6 caused opposite results. In addition, overexpression of PDIA6 increased glucose consumption, lactate production, and ATP level in OSCC cells. Conclusion This study demonstrated that PDIA6 expression was elevated in OSCC tissues, and overexpression of it promoted aerobic glycolysis and OSCC progression.



Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 3580
Author(s):  
Shatavisha Dasgupta ◽  
Patricia C. Ewing-Graham ◽  
Sigrid M. A. Swagemakers ◽  
Thierry P. P. van den Bosch ◽  
Peggy N. Atmodimedjo ◽  
...  

DNA methylation is the most widely studied mechanism of epigenetic modification, which can influence gene expression without alterations in DNA sequences. Aberrations in DNA methylation are known to play a role in carcinogenesis, and methylation profiling has enabled the identification of biomarkers of potential clinical interest for several cancers. For vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC), however, methylation profiling remains an under-studied area. We sought to identify differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in VSCC, by performing Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip (Illumina) array sequencing, on a set of primary VSCC (n = 18), and normal vulvar tissue from women with no history of vulvar (pre)malignancies (n = 6). Using a false-discovery rate of 0.05, beta-difference (Δβ) of ± 0.5, and CpG-island probes as cut-offs, 199 DMGs (195 hyper-methylated, 4 hypo-methylated) were identified for VSCC. Most of the hyper-methylated genes were found to be involved in transcription regulator activity, indicating that disruption of this process plays a vital role in VSCC development. The majority of VSCCs harbored amplifications of chromosomes 3, 8, and 9. We identified a set of DMGs in this exploratory, hypothesis-generating study, which we hope will facilitate epigenetic profiling of VSCCs. Prognostic relevance of these DMGs deserves further exploration in larger cohorts of VSCC and its precursor lesions.



2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Wu ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
Tingyuan Yan ◽  
Xueping Ke ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The homeobox gene Homeobox B7 (HOXB7) is overexpressed across a range of cancers and promotes tumorigenesis through varying effects on proliferation, survival, migration and invasion. However, its expression pattern and oncogenic role of HOXB7 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remain largely unexplored. Here, we aimed to explore the expression pattern of HOXB7, its clinical significance as well as functional roles in HNSCC. Methods HOXB7 mRNA expression in HNSCC was determined by data mining and analyses from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) datasets. The protein abundance of HOXB7 was measured by immunohistochemistry in 119 primary HNSCC samples and associations between its expression and clinicopathological parameters and patient survival were evaluated. The pro-tumorigenic roles of HOXB7 in HNSCC were further delineated in vitro by loss-of-function assay. And a xenograft tumor model was established in nude mice to assess the role of HOXB7 in tumor growth. Connectivity Map (CMap) analysis was performed to identify bioactive small molecules which might be potential inhibitors for HOXB7. Results Bioinformatics analyses showed that HOXB7 mRNA was significantly overexpressed in 8 independent HNSCC datasets from TCGA and GEO databases. HOXB7 protein was markedly upregulated in HNSCC samples as compared to normal counterparts and its overexpression significantly associated with high pathological grade, advanced clinical stage, cervical node metastasis (P = 0.0195, 0.0152, 0.0300) and reduced overall and disease-free survival (P = 0.0014, 0.0007). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses further revealed HOXB7 as an independent prognostic factor for patients’ overall survival. Moreover, HOXB7 knockdown significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion and induced cell apoptosis in HNSCC cells, and resulted in compromised tumour growth in vivo. Furthermore, CMap (Connectivity map) analysis has identified three potential bioactive small molecule inhibitors (NU-1025, thiamine, vinburnine) for HOXB7 targeted therapy in HNSCC. Conclusions Our findings revealed that overexpression of HOXB7 was associates with tumour aggressiveness and unfavourable prognosis by serving a novel prognostic biomarker in HNSCC. Moreover, HOXB7 might be involved in the development and progression of HNSCC as an oncogene, and thereby might be a potential therapeutic target for HNSCC.



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