scholarly journals Down-Regulation of MiR-1294 is Related to Dismal Prognosis of Patients with Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma through Elevating C-MYC Expression

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Liu ◽  
Liyi Li ◽  
Aizemaiti Rusidanmu ◽  
Yongqing Wang ◽  
Xiayi Lv

Aims: Changes in the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been found in many cancers. This study aimed to investigate the expression of miR-1294 in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its effect on prognosis. The underlying mechanism was explored as well. Methods: We examined the expression of miRNA in human ESCC cancer tissues and adjacent non-tumor controls using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). And the relationship between expressions of miR-1294 and ESCC prognosis was analyzed in this study. Over-expression and knock-down methods were used to investigate the biological functions of miRNA-1294. The effect of miRNA-1294 on cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT. Besides, the function of miR-1294 on cell migration and invasion were evaluated by transwell assays. Results: MiR-1294 was significantly down-regulated in human ESCC tissues compared with the non-tumor controls tissues (P=0.014). And patients with low miR-1294 expression had a significantly poorer prognosis than those with a high miR-1294 expression (P=0.040). Negative association was defined between the expression of miR-1294 and the c-MYC expression in ESCC patients (Pearson correlation, r=-0.299, P=0.0079). Additionally, it was found that miR-1294 suppress esophageal cancer cells proliferation, migration and invasion capacity through targeting c-MYC in vitro. Conclusions: Down-regulation of miR-1294 correlates with poor prognosis of ESCC. It's partially due to the reduced function of c-MYC. This study may give insight into the understanding of pathogenesis of esophageal cancer and provide evidence for diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiwei Cheng ◽  
Haibo Ma ◽  
Ming Yan ◽  
Wenqun Xing

AbstractEsophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the digestive system with a high incidence and poor prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNA) have been reported to be closely associated with the occurrence and development of various human cancers. Data from GSE89102 shows an increase of THAP9-AS1 expression in ESCC. However, its functions and mechanisms underlying ESCC progression remain to be investigated. In this study, we found that THAP9-AS1 was overexpressed in ESCC tissues and cells. High THAP9-AS1 expression was positively correlated with tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and worse prognosis. Functionally, depletion of THAP9-AS1 suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while enhanced apoptosis in vitro. Consistently, knockdown of THAP9-AS1 inhibited xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, THAP9-AS1 could serve as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-133b, resulting in the upregulation of SOX4. Reciprocally, SOX4 bound to the promoter region of THAP9-AS1 to activate its transcription. Moreover, the anti-tumor property induced by THAP9-AS1 knockdown was significantly impaired due to miR-133b downregulation or SOX4 overexpression. Taken together, our study reveals a positive feedback loop of THAP9-AS1/miR-133b/SOX4 to facilitate ESCC progression, providing a potential molecular target to fight against ESCC.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongfen Liu ◽  
Qiang Zhen ◽  
Yakun Fan

Background Recent studies have shown that long noncoding RNA (IncRNA) gastric carcinoma highly expressed transcript 1 (GHET1) was involved in the progression of tumors. However, the role of GHET1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. Methods The expression of IncRNA GHET1 was examined in 55 paired ESCC tissues and adjacent nontumor tissues. Molecular and cellular techniques were used to explore the role of GHET1 on ESCC cells. Results Our data showed that GHET1 expression was significantly increased in ESCC tissues and cell lines. High GHET1 expression in ESCC tissues was significantly associated with poor differentiation, advanced tumor nodes metastasis stage, and lymph node metastasis. GHET1 showed high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing ESCC. Our data from in vitro assays showed that GHET1 inhibition suppressed ESCC cells proliferation, migration, and invasion, and induced cells apoptosis. Furthermore, western blot showed that GHET1 inhibition significantly decreased the expression of vimentin and N-cadherin while it increased the expression of E-cadherin. Conclusions Our study indicates that GHET1 acts as an oncogene in ESCC and may represent a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of ESCC patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaodan Wu ◽  
Yihui Fan ◽  
Yupeng Liu ◽  
Biao Shen ◽  
Haimin Lu ◽  
...  

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play important roles in human cancers, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In the current study, we identified CCAT2 as a relevant lncRNA and investigated its role in the progression of ESCC. RT-qPCR was adopted to detect CCAT2 expression in collected clinical samples, ESCC cell lines, and a normal cell line. We tested the correlation between CCAT2 expression and the prognosis of ESCC. RT-qPCR or immunoblotting was adopted to detect the expression of relevant factors in ESCC tissues or cells. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were examined by colony formation assay, flow cytometry, scratch assay, and Transwell assay, respectively, while subcutaneous tumorigenesis in nude mice was adopted to examine the role of CCAT2 in tumorigenesis of ESCC cells in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis, dual luciferase reporter assay, and RIP were conducted for the target relationship profiling. Me-RIP was adopted to detect m6A modification level of TK1 in ESCC tissues or cells. Upregulated CCAT2, IGF2BP2, and TK1 expression and inhibited miR-200b expression were observed in ESCC cells and tissues. CCAT2 bound to miR-200b and reduced its expression, leading to upregulated IGF2BP2 expression. IGF2BP2 improved TK1 mRNA stability to enhance its expression by recognizing its m6A modification. CCAT2 promoted the migration and invasion of ESCC cells in vitro, and tumorigenesis in vivo by upregulating TK1 expression, while overexpression of miR-200b reversed these effects of CCAT2. Overall, this study suggests that CCAT2 competitively binds to miR-200b to alleviate its inhibitory effects on IGF2BP2 expression, resulting in elevated TK1 expression, and an ensuing promotion of the development of ESCC.


Author(s):  
Zhirong Li ◽  
Xuebo Qin ◽  
Wei Bian ◽  
Yishuai Li ◽  
Baoen Shan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In recent years, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are of great importance in development of different types of tumors, while the function of lncRNA ZFAS1 is rarely discussed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Therefore, we performed this study to explore the expression of exosomal lncRNA ZFAS1 and its molecular mechanism on ESCC progression. Methods Expression of ZFAS1 and miR-124 in ESCC tissues was detected. LncRNA ZFAS1 was silenced to detect its function in the biological functions of ESCC cells. A stable donor and recipient culture model was established. Eca109 cells transfected with overexpressed and low expressed ZFAS1 plasmid and miR-124 inhibitor labeled by Cy3 were the donor cells, and then co-cultured with recipient cells to observe the transmission of Cy3-ZFAS1 between donor cells and recipient cells. The changes of cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration in recipient cells were detected. The in vivo experiment was conducted for verifying the in vitro results. Results LncRNA ZFAS1 was upregulated and miR-124 was down-regulated in ESCC tissues. Silencing of ZFAS1 contributed to suppressed proliferation, migration, invasion and tumor growth in vitro and induced apoptosis of ESCC cells. LncRNA ZFAS1 was considered to be a competing endogenous RNA to regulate miR-124, thereby elevating STAT3 expression. Exosomes shuttled ZFAS1 stimulated proliferation, migration and invasion of ESCC cells and restricted their apoptosis with increased STAT3 and declined miR-124. Furthermore, in vivo experiment suggested that elevated ZFAS1-exo promoted tumor growth in nude mice. Conclusion This study highlights that exosomal ZFAS1 promotes the proliferation, migration and invasion of ESCC cells and inhibits their apoptosis by upregulating STAT3 and downregulating miR-124, thereby resulting in the development of tumorigenesis of ESCC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiming Dong ◽  
Shengmian Li ◽  
Xuan Wu ◽  
Yunfeng Niu ◽  
Xiaoliang Liang ◽  
...  

AbstractNatural antisense lncRNAs can interfere with their corresponding sense transcript to elicit concordant or discordant regulation. LncRNA ZNF667-AS1 and its sense gene ZNF667 were found to be downregulated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues by RNA sequencing; however, the exact roles of both genes in ESCC occurrence and development have not been clarified. This study was to investigate the expression patterns, epigenetic inactivation mechanisms, function, and prognostic significance of ZNF667-AS1 and ZNF667 in ESCC tumorigenesis. Frequent downregulation of ZNF667-AS1 and ZNF667 was detected in esophageal cancer cells and ESCC tissues. The expression levels of ZNF667-AS1 and ZNF667 were significantly reversed by treatment with 5-Aza-dC and TSA in esophageal cancer cell lines. The CpG sites hypermethylation within proximal promoter influenced the binding ability of transcription factor E2F1 to the binding sites and then affected the transcription and expression of ZNF667-AS1 and ZNF667. Overexpression of ZNF667-AS1 and ZNF667 suppressed the viability, migration, and invasion of esophageal cancer cells in vitro. Overexpression of ZNF667-AS1 increased mRNA and protein expression level of ZNF667. ZNF667-AS1 interacts with and recruits TET1 to its target gene ZNF667 and E-cadherin to hydrolyze 5′-mc to 5′-hmc and further activates their expression, meanwhile, ZNF667-AS1 also interacts with UTX to decrease histone H3K27 tri-methylation to activate ZNF667 and E-cadherin expression. Furthermore, ZNF667-AS1 or ZNF667 expression and promoter methylation status were correlated with ESCC patients’ survival. Thus, these findings suggest that ZNF667-AS1 and ZNF667 may act as tumor suppressors and may serve as potential targets for antitumor therapy.


Author(s):  
Lujuan Han ◽  
Suli Dai ◽  
Zhirong Li ◽  
Cong Zhang ◽  
Sisi Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. With currently available therapies, only 20% ~ 30% patients can survive this disease for more than 5 years. TRAIL, a natural ligand for death receptors that can induce the apoptosis of cancer cells, has been explored as a therapeutic agent for cancers, but it has been reported that many cancer cells are resistant to TRAIL, limiting the potential clinical use of TRAIL as a cancer therapy. Meanwhile, Periplocin (CPP), a natural compound from dry root of Periploca sepium Bge, has been studied for its anti-cancer activity in a variety of cancers. It is not clear whether CPP and TRAIL can have activity on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells, or whether the combination of these two agents can have synergistic activity. Methods We used MTS assay, flow cytometry and TUNEL assay to detect the effects of CPP alone or in combination with TRAIL on ESCC cells. The mechanism of CPP enhances the activity of TRAIL was analyzed by western blot, dual luciferase reporter gene assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. The anti-tumor effects and the potential toxic side effects of CPP alone or in combination with TRAIL were also evaluated in vivo. Results In our studies, we found that CPP alone or in combination with TRAIL could inhibit the proliferation of ESCC cells and induce apoptosis, and we certificated that combination of two agents exert synergized functions. For the first time, we identified FoxP3 as a key transcriptional repressor for both DR4 and DR5. By down-regulating FoxP3, CPP increases the expression of DR4/DR5 and renders ESCC cells much more sensitive to TRAIL. We also showed that CPP reduced the expression of Survivin by inhibiting the activity of Wnt/β-catenin pathway. All these contributed to synergistic activity of CPP and TRAIL on ESCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion Our data suggest that CPP and TRAIL could be further explored as potential therapeutic approach for esophageal cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi He ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
Rong Hua ◽  
Zhigang Li

Abstract Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are reported act as important regulators in various cancers. LncRNA JPX was identified as an oncogenic regulator in lung cancer. However, the function of lncRNA JPX in the progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. Methods: The effects and molecular mechanism of JPX on the progression of ESCC were investigated using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), cell proliferation, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), western blot, dual luciferase, cell cycle, 5-Ethynyl-2′-Deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation, transwell, RNA pull-down, tube formation and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. Results: In the present study, we found JPX was highly expressed in tissues of ESCC patients and different ESCC cell lines. Functional assays demonstrated that JPX promoted ESCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, we found JPX promoted ESCC mobility in vitro. Mechanistically, the results showed that JPX functions as a sponge of miR-516b-5p, which targets an oncogene vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) in ESCC cells. Interactions between miR-516b-5p and JPX or VEGFA were confirmed by luciferase reporter assays. Furthermore, inhibition of JPX significantly attenuated the cell growth and mobility ability of ESCC cells in vitro. In addition, miR-516b-5p overexpression abrogated JPX enhanced proliferation, migration, invasion, and angiogenesis of ESCC cells. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that JPX played an important role in promoting ESCC progression via the miR-516b-5p/VEGFA pathway and might serve as a promising novel therapeutic target for ESCC patients.


Author(s):  
Qian Wang ◽  
Lili Yang ◽  
Yanxin Fan ◽  
Weiwei Tang ◽  
Handong Sun ◽  
...  

Circular RNA (circRNA) exhibits a covalently closed circular conformation and is structurally stable. Nevertheless, the precise effects exerted by circRNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains uncertain. circRNA was ascertained by a human circRNA array study and was confirmed by the quantification of reverse transcriptase polymerase reactions. A luciferase reporter, fluorescence in situ hybridization experiment was exploited to explore the interaction between circ-ZDHHC5 and miR-217. The function of circ-ZDHHC5 was determined by siRNA-mediated knockout of circ-ZDHHC5 in in vitro proliferation, migration, and invasion. circ-ZDHHC5, rather than linear ZDHHC5 mRNA, rose in the tissues of patients with ESCC, plasma, and ESCC cell lines in comparison with normal controls. Knockdown of circ-ZDHHC5 inhibited tumorigenesis in ESCC cells, and the co-transfection of si-circ-ZDHHC5 and miR-217 mimics further enhanced the above effect. Noticeably, the present study showed that circ-ZDHHC5 was an miR-217 sponge that modulated the expression of zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), further facilitating ESCC tumorigenesis. As revealed by this study, circ-ZDHHC5 can act as a new potential circular biomarker for detecting ESCC. It provides a novel perceptivity for the treatment of ESCC suggesting that circ-ZDHHC5 could impact on ESCC progression by sponging miR-217 with ZEB1.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Ping Gao ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
Jie Yan ◽  
Xiao-Xia Hou ◽  
Yong-Xu Jia ◽  
...  

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignancies with poor prognosis and lack of effective targeted therapies. In this study, we investigated the tumor suppressive role of the cell death inducing DFF like effector A (CIDEA) in ESCC. Firstly, public datasets and ESCC tissue microarray analysis showed that CIDEA was frequently down-regulated at both the mRNA and protein level. This was significantly associated with low differentiation and TNM stage in ESCC, and indicated poor prognosis for ESCC patients. Bisulfite genomic sequencing (BGS) and methylation-specific PCR (MSP) analysis revealed that the down-regulation of CIDEA was associated with hypermethylation of its promoter, which was also correlated with the poor prognosis in ESCC patients. In vitro and in vivo functional studies demonstrated that CIDEA decreased cell growth, foci formation, DNA replication, and tumorigenesis in nude mice. Further study revealed that, during starvation or cisplatin induced DNA damage, CIDEA facilitated the G1-phase arrest or caspase-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis through the JNK-p21/Bad pathway. Therefore, CIDEA is a novel tumor suppressor gene that plays an important role in the development and progression of ESCC, and may provide a potential therapeutic target for patients with ESCC.


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