scholarly journals Investigating resistin like beta (RETNLB) as a tumor promoter for oral squamous cell carcinoma

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Jin ◽  
Hui Miao ◽  
Yuan-Wen Nie ◽  
Yang-Yang Lin

Abstract Background Oral cavity cancer ranks the sixth most common malignancy worldwide, of which oral squamous cell carcinoma is the predominant type. This study aimed to investigate the function and the underlying mechanism of resistin like beta (RETNLB) in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Methods The data of oral squamous cell carcinoma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas database was used to examine RETNLB expression and assess its correlation with the clinical outcomes. Biological functions of RETNLB on the growth, invasion and migration of cells were determined by cell counting kit 8, clonogenic growth, and Transwell assays. Gene set enrichment analysis was utilized to identify the important gene sets associated with RETNLB expression, which was further confirmed by western blot. Results We found that RETNLB was upregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues and cells. High expression of RETNLB was closely linked to age and pathological tumor, and significantly related to poor survival of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients. Further functional experiments showed that knockdown of RETNLB significantly reduced the viability, mobility and invasiveness of cells. Moreover, gene set enrichment analysis suggested that Toll-like receptor signaling pathway was significantly correlated with high RETNLB expression. Further western blot analysis verified that silencing RETNLB could notably suppress the protein levels of Toll-like receptor 2, Toll-like receptor 4 and phosphor- extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Conclusions These results suggested that downregulation of RETNLB may restrain the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma by inactivating TLR/2/4/ERK pathway.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hung-Sheng Shih ◽  
Li-Yu Hung ◽  
Ming-Yu Hsieh

Abstract Background: A few recent studies have addressed the function of FN1 (Fibronectin 1) in head and neck cancer. The clinical information from 500 HNSCC (Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma) patients with FN1 gene expression data set was published by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The correlation between clinicopathologic characteristics and FN1 expression was analyzed by Logistic regression and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Survival function was performed employing Kaplan-Meier estimator, and the relationship between clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic outcome, and FN1 expression were examined by using Cox regression analysis. As Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed, we investigated the correlation between FN1 expression and immune cell infiltrates with single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). Results: Patients with high FN1 expression revealed a significantly decreased overall survival (OS), and disease-specific survival (DSS) than those with low FN1 expression in Kaplan-Meier survival analyses. According to the above results, univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that patients with high FN1 expression had lower OS than those with low FN1 expression.Conclusions: The findings of this research provide insights for FN1 may be potential prognostic biomarkers for diagnosis as well as therapeutic targets in HNSCC patients.


Author(s):  
Yixiu Yu ◽  
Jiamei Niu ◽  
Xingwei Zhang ◽  
Xue Wang ◽  
Hongquan Song ◽  
...  

ORAL squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a malignant tumor with the highest incidence among tumors involving the oral cavity maxillofacial region, and is notorious for its high recurrence and metastasis potential. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which regulate the genesis and evolution of cancers, are potential prognostic biomarkers. This study identified HOTAIRM1 as a novel significantly upregulated lncRNA in OSCC, which is strongly associated with unfavorable prognosis of OSCC. Systematic bioinformatics analyses demonstrated that HOTAIRM1 was closely related to tumor stage, overall survival, genome instability, the tumor cell stemness, the tumor microenvironment, and immunocyte infiltration. Using biological function prediction methods, including Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), and Gene set variation analysis (GSVA), HOTAIRM1 plays a pivotal role in OSCC cell proliferation, and is mainly involved in the regulation of the cell cycle. In vitro, cell loss-functional experiments confirmed that HOTAIRM1 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation of OSCC cells, and arrested the cell cycle in G1 phase. At the molecular level, PCNA and CyclinD1 were obviously reduced after HOTAIRM1 knockdown. The expression of p53 and p21 was upregulated while CDK4 and CDK6 expression was decreased by HOTAIRM1 knockdown. In vivo, knocking down HOTAIRM1 significantly inhibited tumor growth, including the tumor size, weight, volume, angiogenesis, and hardness, monitored by ultrasonic imaging and magnetic resonance imaging In summary, our study reports that HOTAIRM1 is closely associated with tumorigenesis of OSCC and promotes cell proliferation by regulating cell cycle. HOTAIRM1 could be a potential prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target for OSCC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin ◽  
Lee ◽  
Kuei ◽  
Lin ◽  
Lu ◽  
...  

Radiotherapy is commonly used to treat patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but a subpopulation of OSCC patients shows a poor response to irradiation treatment. Therefore, identifying a biomarker to predict the effectiveness of radiotherapy in OSCC patients is urgently needed. In silico analysis of public databases revealed that upregulation of CHRNA5, the gene encoding nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha-5, is extensively detected in primary tumors compared to normal tissues and predicts poor prognosis in OSCC patients. Moreover, CHRNA5 transcript level was causally associated with the effective dose of irradiation in a panel of OSCC cell lines. Artificial silencing of CHRNA5 expression enhanced, but nicotine reduced, the radiosensitivity of OSCC cells. Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated that the E2F signaling pathway is highly activated in OSCC tissues with high levels of CHRNA5 and in those derived from patients with cancer recurrence after radiotherapy. CHRNA5 knockdown predominantly suppressed E2F activity and decreased the phosphorylation of the Rb protein; however, nicotine treatment dramatically promoted E2F activity and increased Rb phosphorylation, which was mitigated after CHRNA5 knockdown in OSCC cells. Notably, the signature combining increased mRNA levels of CHRNA5 and the E2F signaling gene set was associated with worse recurrence-free survival probability in OSCC patients recorded to be receiving radiotherapy. Our findings suggest that CHRNA5 is not only a useful biomarker for predicting the effectiveness of radiotherapy but also a druggable target to enhance the cancericidal effect of irradiation on OSCC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideyuki Takahashi ◽  
Reika Kawabata-Iwakawa ◽  
Shota Ida ◽  
Ikko Mito ◽  
Hiroe Tada ◽  
...  

Abstract Altered metabolism is an emerging hallmark of cancer. Cancer cells preferentially utilize glycolysis for energy production, termed “aerobic glycolysis.” In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the glycolysis status in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. We first divided 520 patients with HNSCC into two groups based on the mRNA expression of 16 glycolysis-related genes. The glycolysis-high signature positively correlated with human papillomavirus-negative tumor type, advanced T factor, and unfavorable prognosis. The gene set enrichment analysis revealed upregulation of several pathways, including interferon-alpha response, myc targets, hypoxia, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, transforming growth factor-β signaling, and interleukin 6-Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling, in the glycolysis-high group. Immune cell enrichment analysis revealed decreased infiltration of T cells, dendritic cells, and B cells in the glycolysis-high group, suggesting impaired tumor antigen presentation, T cell activation, and antibody production in TME. Moreover, the expression of TGFB1, CD274, and PDCD1LG2, which facilitate immunosuppression in the TME, was upregulated in the glycolysis-high group. Collectively, these findings suggest the potential of glycolysis monitoring as a biomarker for tumor progression and immunosuppression in the TME of HNSCC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Qinghua Ji ◽  
Yingying Cai ◽  
Sachin Mulmi Shrestha ◽  
Duo Shen ◽  
Wei Zhao ◽  
...  

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy may benefit patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); however, novel biomarkers are needed to help predict the response of patients to treatment. Differentially expressed immune-related genes within The Cancer Genome Atlas ESCC dataset were selected using the weighted gene coexpression network and lasso Cox regression analyses. Based on these data, an immune-related gene prognostic index (IRGPI) was constructed. The molecular characteristics of the different IRGPI subgroups were assessed using mutation information and gene set enrichment analysis. Differences in immune cell infiltration and the response to ICI therapy and other drugs were also analyzed. Additionally, tumor and adjacent control tissues were collected from six patients with ESCC and the expression of these genes was verified using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. IRGPI was designed based on CLDN1, HCAR3, FNBP1L, and BRCA2, the expression of which was confirmed in ESCC samples. The prognosis of patients in the high-IRGPI group was poor, as verified using publicly available expression data. KMT2D mutations were more common in the high-IRGPI group. Enrichment analysis revealed an active immune response, and immune infiltration assessment showed that the high-IRGPI group had an increased infiltration degree of CD8 T cells, which contributed to the improved response to ICI treatment. Collectively, these data demonstrate that IRGPI is a robust biomarker for predicting the prognosis and response to therapy of patients with ESCC.


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