scholarly journals COL6A2/3 can serve as potential therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers for clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Author(s):  
Wingkeung Yiu ◽  
Can-Xuan Li ◽  
Jie Chen

Abstract Background: Growing evidence has shown that the type VI collagen alpha chain (COL6A) family involved in the tumorigenesis and progression of diverse malignancies; however, its biological roles and potential mechanisms in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remain unknown. The study was designed to explore the potential mechanisms and functions of COL6As in ccRCC.Methods: ONCOMINE and GEPIA databases were used to compare the transcriptional expression data of COL6As in ccRCC samples and normal renal samples. UALCAN database was utilized to determine the association between clinicopathological features and COL6As expression. Kaplan–Meier method was employed to determine the prognostic value of COL6As mRNA expression in ccRCC. CBioPortal database was used to investigate the genetic alterations of COL6As in ccRCC. Co-expression analyses, functional enrichment analyses, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were utilized to explore the potential action mechanisms of COL6As in ccRCC. Finally, we estimated the relationship between COL6As expression with immune cell infiltrates.Results: Upregulated transcriptional COL6A2/COL6A3 expression was observed in ccRCC specimens by comparison with noncancerous renal specimens. Patients with increased COL6A2/COL6A3 mRNA expression have a poor clinical outcome and unfavorable prognosis. Gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and GSEA analyses showed that COL6A2/COL6A3 might promote the tumorigenesis and progression of ccRCC by involving in several cancer-related pathways, such as axon guidance, focal adhesion, ECM receptor interaction. Besides, we found that COL6A2/COL6A3 expression was significantly associated with immune infiltration levels in ccRCC.Conclusions: COL6A2 and COL6A3 could act as candidate prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in ccRCC. However, further experimental work was required to validate the conclusions.

BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Quan ◽  
Yuchen Bai ◽  
Yunbei Yang ◽  
Er Lei Han ◽  
Hong Bai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The molecular prognostic biomarkers of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) are still unknown. We aimed at researching the candidate biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets of ccRCC. Methods Three ccRCC expression microarray datasets (include GSE14762, GSE66270 and GSE53757) were downloaded from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ccRCC and normal tissues were explored. The potential functions of identified DEGs were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). And then the protein - protein interaction network (PPI) was established to screen the hub genes. After that, the expressions of hub genes were identified by the oncomine database. The hub genes’ prognostic values of patients with ccRCC were analyzed by GEPIA database. Results A total of 137 DEGs were identified by utilizing the limma package and RRA method, including 63 upregulated genes and 74 downregulated genes. It is found that 137 DEGs were mainly enriched in 82 functional terms and 24 pathways in accordance with the research results. Thirteen highest-scoring genes were screened as hub genes (include 10 upregulated genes and 3 downregulated candidate genes) by utilizing the PPI network and module analysis. Through integrating the oncoming database and GEPIA database, the author found that C3 and CXCR4 are not only overexpressed in ccRCC, but also associated with the prognosis of ccRCC. Further results could reveal that patients with high C3 expression had a poor overall survival (OS), while patients with high CTSS and TLR3 expressions had a good OS; patients with high C3 and CXCR4 expressions had a poor disease-free survival (DFS), while ccRCC patients with high TLR3 expression had a good DFS. Conclusion These findings suggested that C3 and CXCR4 were the candidate biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets of ccRCC patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua-Hui Wu ◽  
Xin Yan ◽  
Zhao Chen ◽  
Guo-Wei Du ◽  
Xiao-Jie Bai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) occupied most of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which associated with poor prognosis. The purpose of this study is to screen novel and prognostic biomarkers for patients with ccRCC. Methods and results Firstly, Gene Expression Omnibus database was used to collect microarray data for weighted gene co-expression network construction. Gene modules related to prognosis which interest us most were picked out. 90 hub genes were further chosen in the key modules, two of which including gonadotropin releasing hormone 1 (GNRH1) and leukotriene B4 receptor (LTB4R) were screened and validated as immune-related prognostic biomarkers. Based on several public databases and ccRCC tissues collected by ourselves, we performed survival analysis, spearman correlation analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), western blotting, immunofluorescence (IF) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining for the validation of immune-related prognostic biomarkers. We further explored the relationship between immune-related prognostic biomarker expressions and immunocytes. Finally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated that the two immune-related prognostic biomarkers were significantly correlated with cell cycle. Conclusions Generally speaking, the present study has identified two novel prognostic biomarkers for patients with ccRCC, which showed strong correlation with prognosis of patients with ccRCC, could further be used as potential prognostic biomarkers in ccRCC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua-Hui Wu ◽  
Xin Yan ◽  
Zhao Chen ◽  
Guo-Wei Du ◽  
Xiao-Jie Bai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) occupied most of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which associated with poor prognosis. The purpose of this study is to screen novel and prognostic biomarkers for patients with ccRCC. Methods and Results: Firstly, Gene Expression Omnibus database was used to collect microarray data for weighted gene co-expression network construction. Gene modules related to prognosis which interest us most were picked out. 90 hub genes were further chosen in the key modules, two of which including GNRH1 and LTB4R were screened and validated as immune-related prognostic biomarkers. Several methods including survival analysis, spearman correlation analysis, HPA, One-way ANOVA and ROC analysis were used for the validation of immune-related prognostic biomarkers. We further explored the relationship between immune-related prognostic biomarker expressions and immunocytes. Finally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated that the two immune-related prognostic biomarkers were significantly correlated with cell cycle. Conclusions: Generally speaking, the present study has identified two novel prognostic biomarkers for patients with ccRCC, which showed strong correlation with prognosis of patients with ccRCC, could further be used as potential prognostic biomarkers in ccRCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 030006052093604
Author(s):  
Yi Jin ◽  
Tian-xi Wang ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
Peng Guo ◽  
Qing-qing Wang

Background Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a common urological disease. Expression of the protein tyrosine phosphatase 12 gene ( PTPN12) is decreased in many cancers; however, the relationship between PTPN12 gene function and renal cancer remains unclear. Methods We detected PTPN12 protein expression in ccRCC and corresponding normal tissues from 64 patients with ccRCC by immunohistochemistry, and relative PTPN12 mRNA levels by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The relationships between the relative expression levels of PTPN12 mRNA and the patients’ clinical data were analyzed. Results PTPN12 protein and mRNA expression levels were significantly lower in ccRCC compared with the corresponding normal tissues. The mRNA expression levels in the ccRCC and corresponding normal tissues from the 64 patients with ccRCC were 0.459±0.445 and 1.001±0.128, respectively, compared with the control (glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase). There was a significant correlation between relative expression of PTPN12 mRNA in ccRCC tissues and tumor diameter and clinical stage. Conclusion The expression levels of PTPN12 protein and mRNA were significantly lower in ccRCC tissues compared with normal tissues. The role of PTPN12 may provide new insights and evidence to aid the diagnosis and targeted therapy of ccRCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
Spyridon Kampantais ◽  
Ilias Kounatidis ◽  
Vasiliki Kotoula ◽  
Ioannis Vakalopoulos ◽  
Konstantinos Gkagkalidis ◽  
...  

Introduction: Hypoxia inducible factors (HIF) and prolyl hydroxylase domain (PHD) enzymes play a central role in tumor progression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). However, there are currently no data regarding the behavior of this pathway (HIF/PHD) in a large number of benign renal tumors, the oncocytomas. The aim of the present study was to compare the expression levels of these factors between ccRCC and oncocytoma tumors. Material and methods: A total of 56 fresh frozen specimens from patients with ccRCC and 14 oncocytoma specimens were analyzed via reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in order to assess the expression levels of HIF-1α, HIF-2α, PHD1, PHD2, and PHD3. The analysis involved both fresh frozen tumor samples as well as adjacent normal kidney tissues. Results: In ccRCC, HIF-1α and HIF-2α levels were upregulated in 65.5% and 71.4% of cases, respectively. PHD3 was downregulated only in 15.4% of the ccRCC cases, in contrast with oncocytoma cases, which exhibited low expression levels in the majority. The upregulation of PHD3 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in ccRCC when compared with oncocytoma was statistically significant ( P<0.001). No other comparisons (HIF-1α, HIF-2α, PHD1, and PHD2) were significantly different. HIF-2α and PHD3 mRNA expression levels were negatively correlated with Fuhrman Grade ( P=0.029 and P=0.026, respectively) in ccRCC. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the HIF/PHD pathway was compared between ccRCC and a common benign tumor, identifying the upregulation of PHD3 as the possible underlying factor guiding the difference in the behavior of ccRCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Hao Kuei ◽  
Hui-Yu Lin ◽  
Hsun-Hua Lee ◽  
Che-Hsuan Lin ◽  
Jing-Quan Zheng ◽  
...  

Although mTOR inhibitors have been approved as first-line therapy for treating metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the lack of useful markers reduces their therapeutic effectiveness. The objective of this study was to estimate if inositol monophosphatase 2 (IMPA2) downregulation refers to a favorable outcome in metastatic ccRCC receiving mTOR inhibitor treatment. Gene set enrichment analysis predicted a significant activation of mTORC1 in the metastatic ccRCC with IMPA2 downregulation. Transcriptional profiling of IMPA2 and mTORC1-related gene set revealed significantly inverse correlation in ccRCC tissues. Whereas the enforced expression of exogenous IMPA2 inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt/mTORC1, artificially silencing IMPA2 led to increased phosphorylation of Akt/mTORC1 in ccRCC cells. The pharmaceutical inhibition of mTORC1 activity by rapamycin reinforced autophagy initiation but suppressed the cellular migration and lung metastatic abilities of IMPA2-silenced ccRCC cells. In contrast, blocking autophagosome formation with 3-methyladenine rescued the mitigated metastatic potential in vitro and in vivo in IMPA2-overexpressing ccRCC cells. Our findings indicated that IMPA2 downregulation negatively activates mTORC1 activity and could be a biomarker for guiding the use of mTOR inhibitors or autophagy inducers to combat metastatic ccRCC in the clinic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoliang Sun ◽  
Yue Ge ◽  
Yangjun Zhang ◽  
Libin Yan ◽  
Xiaoliang Wu ◽  
...  

Dysregulation of transcription factors contributes to the carcinogenesis and progression of cancers. However, their roles in clear cell renal cell carcinoma remain largely unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of TFs and investigate their potential molecular mechanisms in ccRCC. Data were accessed from the cancer genome atlas kidney clear cell carcinoma cohort. Bioinformatics algorithm was used in copy number alterations mutations, and differentially expressed TFs’ analysis. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify clinically significant TFs and construct a six-TF prognostic panel. TFs’ expression was validated in human tissues. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was utilized to find enriched cancer hallmark pathways. Functional experiments were conducted to verify the cancer-promoting effect of BARX homeobox 1 (BARX1) and distal-less homeobox 4 (DLX4) in ccRCC, and Western blot was performed to explore their downstream pathways. As for results, many CNAs and mutations were identified in transcription factor genes. TFs were differentially expressed in ccRCC. An applicable predictive panel of six-TF genes was constructed to predict the overall survival for ccRCC patients, and its diagnostic efficiency was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC). BARX1 and DLX4 were associated with poor prognosis, and they could promote the proliferation and migration of ccRCC. In conclusion, the six-TF panel can be used as a prognostic biomarker for ccRCC patients. BARX1 and DLX4 play oncogenic roles in ccRCC via promoting proliferation and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. They have the potential to be novel therapeutic targets for ccRCC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzi Li ◽  
Bingde Yin ◽  
Mulin Chen ◽  
Jingtao Peng ◽  
Xinyu Mu ◽  
...  

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) comprises approximately 75% of renal cell carcinomas, which is one of the most common and lethal urologic cancers, with poor quality of life for patients and is a huge economic burden to health care systems. It is imperative we find novel prognostic and therapeutic targets for ccRCC clinical intervention. In this study, we found that the expression of the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) ASB16-AS1 was downregulated in ccRCC tissues compared with non-diseased tissues and was also associated with advanced tumor stage and larger tumors. By constructing cell and mouse models, it was found that downregulated lncRNA ASB16-AS1 enhanced cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and promoted tumor growth and metastasis. Furthermore, by performing bioinformatics analysis, biotinylated RNA pull-downs, AGO2-RIP, and luciferase reporter assays, our findings showed that downregulated ASB16-AS1 decreased La-related protein 1 (LARP1) expression by inhibiting miR-185-5p and miR-214-3p. Furthermore, it was found that overexpression of LARP1 reversed the promotive effects of downregulated ASB16-AS1 on ccRCC cellular progression. Our results revealed that downregulated ASB16-AS1 promotes ccRCC progression via a miR-185-5p-miR-214-3p-LARP1 pathway. We suggest that this pathway could be used to monitor prognosis and presents therapeutic targets for ccRCC clinical management.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document