scholarly journals Abnormal Expression of Centromere Protein U Is Associated with Hepatocellular Cancer Progression

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Yuanlin Yu ◽  
Xiaopeng Chen ◽  
Weidong Zhang ◽  
Jun Liu

Background. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies globally, but its molecular mechanism is unclear. Abnormal expression of centromere protein U (CENPU) is closely related to diverse human cancers. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the function and potential mechanisms of CENPU in HCC development. Methods. We performed bioinformatics analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), and Kaplan-Meier plotter databases to investigate the clinical significance and prognostic value of CENPU in HCC. Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining were used to measure protein expression, while reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to determine mRNA expression. Cell Counting Kit8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays were conducted to examine cell proliferation. Transwell and wound healing assays were used to assess cell migration and invasion. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to explore the potential signaling pathways of CENPU involved in HCC. Results. High expression of CENPU in HCC was predicted by public database analysis and indicated a poor prognosis. CENPU expression was significantly higher in HCC tissues and cells than in normal tissues and cell. In vitro, CENPU promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells. GSEA results indicated that CENPU was linked to the Notch signaling pathway, and our research supported this prediction. Conclusion. CENPU promotes the malignant biological process of HCC and may be a promising target for HCC treatment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kainan Zhang ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Mengsi Yu ◽  
Hui Zhao ◽  
Ning Yang ◽  
...  

The development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a complex pathological process. Long intergenic non–protein-coding RNA 1667 (LINC01667, also known as MGC38584) plays an oncogenic role in several human cancers; however, its functional role in HCC tumorigenesis remains unknown. Here, we first evaluated the gene expression levels of LINC01667 in HCC using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) databases. We then elucidated the association between LINC01667 gene expression levels and the survival rates of patients with HCC. We detected the effect of LINC01667 on the malignant phenotypes (cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis etc.) and the MAPK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathways of HepG2, SMMC-7721 and HUH7 cells. We also analyzed the sensitivity of HepG2, SMMC-7721 and HUH7 with different expression levels of LINC01667 to anti-HCC drugs in vitro. Based on data from the aforementioned databases and our experiments in vitro, we found that LINC01667 was overexpressed in HCC, and that patients with high LINC01667 levels had a remarkably poor overall survival rate. In addition, inhibition of LINC01667 expression suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells and promoted their apoptosis in vitro. In contrast, overexpression of LINC01667 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUH7 cells and suppressed their apoptosis in vitro. ChIRP-seq (chromatin isolation by RNA purification) showed that LINC01667 bound to MEG3, and downregulated the expression of MEG3. In addition, western blotting showed that LINC01667 could activate the NF-κB pathway to promote cancer progression. In conclusion, we report that LINC01667 is an important oncogene in HCC and may be used as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of HCC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Can Chen ◽  
Yi Zong ◽  
Jiaojiao Tang ◽  
Ruisheng Ke ◽  
Lizhi Lv ◽  
...  

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of miR-369-3p in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials & methods: The expression levels of miR-369-3p were detected using the quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR analysis. The cell counting kit-8 and transwell assays were used to explore the effects of miR-369-3p on cell proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells. Results: The miR-369-3p expression was downregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, in comparison to the normal controls, respectively. In vitro, overexpression of miR-369-3p in Hep 3B and Huh7 cells inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. SOX4 was a direct target of miR-369-3p. Conclusion: Our results suggested that miR-369-3p may be a tumor suppressor in HCC by targeting SOX4.


ASN NEURO ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 175909141878194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui-Ming Guo ◽  
Cheng-Bin Zhao ◽  
Peng Li ◽  
Liang Zhang ◽  
Su-Hua Zang ◽  
...  

C-type lectin domain family 18 member B (CLEC18B), encoding a superfamily of CLEC, has been found to be expressed in some of cancer cells, which possibly indicates it associated with cancer. However, the defined functional characterizations of CLEC18B in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) progression still remain unclear. To this end, clinical relevance of CLEC18B expression with GBM patients’ prognosis was analyzed both in The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset of 174 tissues and 40 GBM tumor tissues collected from our hospital by using the Kaplan–Meier survival and the Cox proportional hazard model. The role of CLEC18B in GBM was determined by loss-of-function assay using small interfering RNA approach in vitro. Functional and signaling analyses were also performed to understand how CLEC18B facilitated the aggressiveness of GBM at molecular and cellular levels using Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, wound-healing, transwell, and Western blot analyses. Results from our analyses showed that CLEC18B was markedly elevated in both GBM tissues and cells, and exhibited strong inverse correlation with overall survival in GBM patients. Moreover, CLEC18B was identified as an independent predictor of patient survival. Functionally, knockdown of CLEC18B inhibited the growth, migration, and invasion of GBM cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that silencing of CLEC18B resulted in downregulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling activity. Collectively, our findings provide clinical, molecular, and cellular evidence of CLEC18B as a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for GBM.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changshui Zhuang ◽  
Ying Liu ◽  
Shengqiang Fu ◽  
Chaobo Yuan ◽  
Jingwen Luo ◽  
...  

A subset of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), categorized as miRNA-host gene lncRNAs (lnc-miRHGs), is processed to produce miRNAs and involved in cancer progression. This work aimed to investigate the influences and the molecular mechanisms of lnc-miRHGs MIR497HG in bladder cancer (BCa). The miR-497 and miR-195 were derived from MIR497HG. We identified that lnc-miRHG MIR497HG and two harbored miRNAs, miR-497 and miR-195, were downregulated in BCa by analyzing The Cancer Genome Atlas and our dataset. Silencing of MIR497HG by CRISPR/Cas13d in BCa cell line 5637 promoted cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro. Conversely, overexpression of MIR497HG suppressed cell progression in BCa cell line T24. MiR-497/miR-195 mimics rescued significantly the oncogenic roles of knockdown of MIR497HG by CRISPR/Cas13d in BCa. Mechanistically, miR-497 and miR-195 co-ordinately suppressed multiple key components in Hippo/Yap and transforming growth factor β signaling and particularly attenuated the interaction between Yap and Smad3. In addition, E2F4 was proven to be critical for silencing MIR497HG transcription in BCa cells. In short, we propose for the first time to reveal the function and mechanisms of MIR497HG in BCa. Blocking the pathological process may be a potential strategy for the treatment of BCa.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhua Yin ◽  
Dejun Wu ◽  
Jianping Shi ◽  
Xiyi Wei ◽  
Nuyun Jin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Extensive research has revealed that genes play a pivotal role in tumor development and growth. However, the underlying involvement of gene expression in gastric carcinoma (GC) remains to be investigated further.Methods: In this study, we identified overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by comparing tumor tissue with adjacent normal tissue using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.Results: Our analysis identified 79 up-regulated and ten down-regulated genes. Functional enrichment analysis and prognosis analysis were conducted on the identified genes, and the fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase (FALDH) gene, ALDH3A2, was chosen for more detailed analysis. We performed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and immunocorrelation analysis (infiltration, copy number alterations, and checkpoints) to elucidate the mechanisms of action of ALDH3A2 in depth. The immunohistochemical (IHC) result based on 140 paraffin-embedded human GC samples indicated that ALDH3A2 was over-expressed in low-grade GC cases and the OS of patients with low expression of ALDH3A2 was significantly shorter than those with high ALDH3A2 expression. In vitro results indicated that the expression of ALDH3A2 was negatively correlated with PDCD1, PDCD1LG2, and CTLA-4.Conclusion: We conclude that ALDH3A2 might be useful as a potential reference value for the relief and immunotherapy of GC, and also as an independent predictive marker for the prognosis of GC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Chaoqun Huang ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Xiaochuan Zhao ◽  
Libin Zhao ◽  
Fuxiang Wang

Liver cancer is a major contributor to cancer-related death with poor survival for sufferers. Meanwhile, Hepatic B virus X protein (HBx) and XB130 are likely to participate in the pathogenesis of liver cancer. However, the detailed mechanism of HBx/XB130 in liver cancer remains to be further investigated. Our study explored the effects of HBx/XB130 on liver cancer progression. HBx and XB130 expression was detected by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blot. Overexpression of HBx and XB130 was found in liver cancer tissues and cells. Mechanistic study revealed that HBx could bind to and positively regulate XB130 in HepG2 cells. Subsequently, HBx expression was knocked down, while XB130 was overexpressed in HepG2 cells in order to observe the specific role of HBx/XB130 in liver cancer in vitro. Results of CCK-8, Transwell, wound healing, and colony formation assays suggested that HBx could mediate biological function of HepG2 cells by activating the XB130-mediated PI3K/AKT pathway. In summary, our data illustrate that inhibition of HBx effectively suppressed proliferation and metastasis and induced apoptosis of liver cancer cells, which might be partially reversed by XB130. HBx and XB130 may be potential targets for liver cancer pathogenesis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenpeng Cao ◽  
Zhirui Zeng ◽  
Runsang Pan ◽  
Zhiwei He ◽  
Hao Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Hypoxia participated in the occurrence and development of pancreatic cancer (PC). However, genes associated with hypoxia respond and their regulated mechanism in PC cells were unclear. The current research was aimed to illuminate the role and hypoxia regulated mechanism of fucosyltransferase 11 (FUT11) in the progression of PC.Methods: After predicting FUT11 as a key hypoxia associated gene in PC using bioinformatics analysis. The expression of FUT11 in PC using quantitative real-time fluorescent PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry. The effects of FUT11 on PC cells proliferation, migration and invasion under normoxia and hypoxia were detected using Cell Counting Kit 8, 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine assay, colony formation assay and transwell assay. Spleen capsule injected liver metastasis and subcutaneously injected model were performed to confirm the effects of FUT11 in vivo. Furthermore, western blot, luciferase assay and immunoprecipitation were performed to explore the regulated relationship among FUT11, hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) in PC.Results: FUT11 was markedly increased of PC cells in hypoxia, up-regulated in the PC clinical tissues, and predicted a poor outcome. Inhibition of FUT11 reduced PC cell growth and mobility of PC cells under normoxia and hypoxia conditions in vitro, and growth and mobility in vivo. FUT11 bind with PDK1 and regulated the expression PDK1 under normoxia and hypoxia. FUT11 knockdown significantly increased the degradation rate of PDK1 under hypoxia, while treatment with MG132 can relieve the degradation of PDK1 induced by FUT11 knockdown. Overexpression of PDK1 in PC cells under hypoxia conditions reversed the suppressiv impacts of FUT11 knockdown on PC cell growth and mobility. In addition, HIF1α bound to the enhancer of FUT11 and increased its expression, as well as co-expressing with FUT11 in PC tissues. Furthermore, overexpress of FUT11 partially rescued the suppressiv effects of HIF1α knockdown on PC cell growth and mobility in hypoxia conditions.Conclusion: Our data further implicate that hypoxia-induced FUT11 in PC contributes to proliferation and metastasis by maintaining the stability of PDK1, and suggest FUT11 maybe a novel and effective target for treatment of pancreatic cancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 153303382095700
Author(s):  
Saijun Liu ◽  
Yunfeng Hu ◽  
Shi Wu ◽  
Yong He ◽  
Liehua Deng

microRNA-663a (miR-663a) was reported to be highly expressed in cancers. However, its roles in melanoma progression remain unclear. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was conducted to measure miR-663a expression level in melanoma cell lines and normal cells. Cell counting kit-8 assay, wound-healing assay, and transwell invasion assay were conducted to analyze biological roles of miR-663a in melanoma. Luciferase activity reporter assay was conducted to validate the connection of miR-663a and Four and a half LIM domain (FHL) protein 3 (FHL3) in melanoma. Our results showed miR-663a expression level was significantly increased in melanoma cells compared with normal cells. Silencing miR-663a expression suppresses melanoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. Moreover, FHL3 was validated as a functional target of miR-663a. Knockdown of FHL3 partially rescued the inhibitory effects of miR-663a inhibitor on melanoma cell behaviors. Together, our work provided evidence that miR-663a functions as an oncogenic miRNA in melanoma.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1644-1652
Author(s):  
Xueqin Pan ◽  
Dongchun Ma

Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers with a poor survival rate and high mortality worldwide. MiRNAs have been evaluated as crucial regulators of human gene expression, and exerted vital role involved in cancer progression. MiR-302a-3p was aberrant expressed in cancers that include pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular cancer, but its biological role in lung cancer remains elusive. This study aimed to discover the role and potential mechanism of miR-302a-3p in lung cancer. The lung cancer cell line with the highest expression of miR-302a-3p was selected, which was then subjected to transfection of miR-302a-3p mimic. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to detect gene expression. Western blot assay was performed to determine corresponding genes that related to cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion. Cell Counting Kit (CCK)-8 assay, flow cytometry analysis, wound healing and Transwell assay were performed to detect cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion, respectively. Luciferase reporter assay was carried out to identify the targeting relationship of miR-302-3p and HOXA-AS2. MiR-302a-3p was downregulated in lung cancer cells, and overexpression of miR-302a-3p significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, invasion and promoted cell apoptosis. HOXA-AS2 was a direct target of miR-302a-3p and was regulated by miR-302a-3p. HOXA-AS2 was upregulated in lung cancer cells. Upregulated HOXA-AS2 could reverse the effect that overexpression of miR-302a-3p caused on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Overall, miR-302a-3p exhibited anti-oncogenic activity by inhibiting cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and promoting cell apoptosis in lung cancer by targeting HOXA-AS2, disclosing the role and regulatory mechanism of miR-302a-3p, which provided a promising therapeutic target for the clinical application of lung cancer treatment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 582-588
Author(s):  
Ying-Cai Hong ◽  
Zheng Wang ◽  
Bin Peng ◽  
Li-Gang Xia ◽  
Lie-Wen Lin ◽  
...  

AbstractPrevious studies have suggested that Bcl2-associated athanogene 2 (BAG2) serves as a crucial regulator for tumorigenesis in multiple tumors. However, little is known about the effect of BAG2 on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study focused on investigating whether BAG2 functions as a cancer-promoting gene in ESCC. In this work, gene expression data and clinical information from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were collected and analyzed. Expression of BAG2 in ESCC was determined using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). BAG2 was knocked down using small interference RNA (si-RNA) approach. Cell proliferation, migration and invasion were assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays. Molecular mechanism was detected by western blotting assay. The expression of BAG2 both in ESCC tissues and cells was upregulated and overexpression was associated with worsened prognosis. BAG2 silencing inhibited ESCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, which was regulated by the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway. These results reveal contributions of BAG2 as a predictor and potential therapeutic target in ESCC.


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