RIPK3 Suppresses the Progression of Spontaneous Intestinal Tumorigenesis

Receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIPK3), a member of the family of serine/threonine protein kinases, emerged as a critical regulator of necroptosis. Downregulated expression of RIPK3 is correlated with poor prognosis in multiple tumor types. Here, we show that RIPK3 is involved in the progression of spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis. As a clinical correlate, reduced expression of RIPK3 is positively associated with histological grade, lymphatic metastasis and poor prognosis in CRC patients. RIPK3-deficient (Ripk3-/-) mice exhibit increased tumor formation in Apcmin/+ spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis. Apcmin/+Ripk3-/- tumors promote hyperactivation of IL-6/STAT3 signaling, which exacerbates proliferation and inhibits apoptosis. Blocking IL-6 signaling suppressed tumor formation and reduced STAT3 activation in Apcmin/+Ripk3-/- mice. Thus, our results reveal that RIPK3 is a tumor suppressor in spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis, and implicate targeting the IL-6/STAT3 signaling axis as a potential therapeutic strategy for intestinal tumor patients with reduced RIPK3.

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The Disruption of the β-Catenin/TCF-1/STAT3 Signaling Axis by 4-Acetylantroquinonol B Inhibits the Tumorigenesis and Cancer Stem-Cell-Like Properties of Glioblastoma Cells, In Vitro and In Vivo

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers10120491 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 491 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Heng-Wei Liu ◽

Yu-Kai Su ◽

Oluwaseun Bamodu ◽

Dueng-Yuan Hueng ◽

Wei-Hwa Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Poor Prognosis ◽

Migration And Invasion ◽

Rank Test ◽

Lower Grade ◽

Aberrant Expression ◽

Stat3 Signaling ◽

Log Rank Test ◽

Signaling Axis

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM), a malignant form of glioma, is characterized by resistance to therapy and poor prognosis. Accumulating evidence shows that the initiation, propagation, and recurrence of GBM is attributable to the presence of GBM stem cells (GBM-CSCs). Experimental approach: Herein, we investigated the effect of 4-Acetylantroquinonol B (4-AAQB), a bioactive isolate of Antrodia cinnamomea, on GBM cell viability, oncogenic, and CSCs-like activities. Results: We observed that aberrant expression of catenin is characteristic of GBM, compared to other glioma types (p = 0.0001, log-rank test = 475.2), and correlates with poor prognosis of GBM patients. Lower grade glioma and glioblastoma patients (n = 1152) with low catenin expression had 25% and 21.5% better overall survival than those with high catenin expression at the 5 and 10-year time-points, respectively (p = 3.57e-11, log-rank test = 43.8). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that compared with adjacent non-tumor brain tissue, primary and recurrent GBM exhibited enhanced catenin expression (~10-fold, p < 0.001). Western blot analysis showed that 4-AAQB significantly downregulated β-catenin and dysregulated the catenin/LEF1/Stat3 signaling axis in U87MG and DBTRG-05MG cells, dose-dependently. 4-AAQB–induced downregulation of catenin positively correlated with reduced Sox2 and Oct4 nuclear expression in the cells. Furthermore, 4-AAQB markedly reduced the viability of U87MG and DBTRG-05MG cells with 48 h IC50 of 9.2 M and 12.5 M, respectively, effectively inhibited the nuclear catenin, limited the migration and invasion of GBM cells, with concurrent downregulation of catenin, vimentin, and slug; similarly, colony and tumorsphere formation was significantly attenuated with reduced expression of c-Myc and KLF4 proteins. Conclusions: Summarily, we show for the first time that 4-AAQB suppresses the tumor-promoting catenin/LEF1/Stat3 signaling, and inhibited CSCs-induced oncogenic activities in GBM in vitro, with in vivo validation; thus projecting 4-AAQB as a potent therapeutic agent for anti-GBM target therapy.

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VGLL4 interacts with STAT3 to function as a tumor suppressor in triple-negative breast cancer

Experimental & Molecular Medicine ◽

10.1038/s12276-019-0338-8 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 51 (11) ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Hongming Song ◽

Qifeng Luo ◽

Xiaochong Deng ◽

Changle Ji ◽

Dengfeng Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Tumor Suppressor ◽

Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽

Poor Prognosis ◽

Triple Negative ◽

Nude Mouse Model ◽

Stat3 Signaling ◽

Signaling Axis ◽

Stat Pathway

AbstractTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis, and there are no effective molecular-targeted drugs for TNBC patients in clinical practice. The JAK-STAT pathway is implicated in tumorigenesis and the progression of various cancers. In this study, the results demonstrated that VGLL4 is expressed at low levels in both TNBC specimens and cell lines and that VGLL4 expression is negatively correlated with Ki67 expression and tumor size in TNBC patients. VGLL4 knockdown can promote the growth of TNBC cells, while VGLL4 overexpression significantly suppresses the growth of TNBC cells in vitro. More importantly, VGLL4 significantly inhibits tumor progression in a nude mouse model. In addition, VGLL4 is a direct target of miR-454, and the upregulation of miR-454 decreases VGLL4 expression and promotes the cell growth of TNBC cells. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that VGLL4 interacts with STAT3, the core component of the JAK-STAT pathway, leading to the inactivation of STAT3 and the inhibition of STAT3 downstream transcription. Collectively, these findings indicate that VGLL4 expression is negatively associated with poor prognosis in TNBC patients. High expression of miR-454 may be one of the causes of the downregulation of VGLL4 in TNBC, and VGLL4 acts as a tumor suppressor in TNBC by interacting with STAT3 and subsequently suppresses the STAT3 signaling axis, providing potential biomarkers and therapeutic approaches for this fatal disease.

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TNMplot.com: a web tool for the comparison of gene expression in normal, tumor and metastatic tissues

10.1101/2020.11.10.376228 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Áron Bartha ◽

Balázs Győrffy

Keyword(s):

Statistical Significance ◽

Gene Array ◽

Tumor Formation ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Sequencing Data ◽

Multiple Tumor ◽

Therapy Targets ◽

Tumor Types ◽

Analysis Platform ◽

Target Effects

ABSTRACTGenes showing higher expression in either tumor or metastatic tissues can help in better understanding tumor formation, and can serve as biomarkers of progression or as therapy targets with minimal off-target effects. Our goal was to establish an integrated database using available transcriptome-level datasets and to create a web-platform enabling mining of this database by comparing normal, tumor and metastatic data across all genes in real time.We utilized data generated by either gene arrays or RNA-seq. Gene array data were manually selected from NCBI-GEO. RNA sequencing data was downloaded from the TCGA, TARGET, and GTEx repositories. TCGA and TARGET contain predominantly tumor and metastatic samples from adult and pediatric patients, while GTEx samples are from healthy tissues. Statistical significance was computed using Mann-Whitney or Kruskall-Wallis tests.The entire database contains 56,938 samples including 33,520 samples from 3,180 gene chip-based studies (453 metastatic, 29,376 tumorous and 3,691 normal samples), 11,010 samples from TCGA (394 metastatic, 9,886 tumorous and 730 normal), 1,193 samples from TARGET (1 metastatic, 1,180 tumor, 12 normal) and 11,215 normal samples from GTEx. The most consistently up-regulated genes across multiple tumor types were TOP2A (mean FC=7.8), SPP1 (FC=7.0) and CENPA (FC=6.03) and the most consistently down-regulated gene was ADH1B (mean FC=0.15). Validation of differential expression using equally sized training and test sets confirmed reliability of the database in breast, colon, and lung cancer (p<0.0001). The online analysis platform enables unrestricted mining of the database and is accessible at www.tnmplot.com.

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Inhibition of the CCL2 receptor, CCR2, enhances tumor response to immune checkpoint therapy

Communications Biology ◽

10.1038/s42003-020-01441-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Megan M. Tu ◽

Hany A. Abdel-Hafiz ◽

Robert T. Jones ◽

Annie Jean ◽

Katelyn J. Hoff ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cell ◽

Tumor Response ◽

Multiple Cancer ◽

Cell Recruitment ◽

Multiple Tumor ◽

Area Of Interest ◽

Signaling Axis ◽

Metastasis Models ◽

Cancer Types ◽

Tumor Types

AbstractImmunotherapies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis are now a mainstay in the clinical management of multiple cancer types, however, many tumors still fail to respond. CCL2 is highly expressed in various cancer types and has been shown to be associated with poor prognosis. Inhibition or blockade of the CCL2/CCR2 signaling axis has thus been an area of interest for cancer therapy. Here we show across multiple murine tumor and metastasis models that CCR2 antagonism in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy leads to sensitization and enhanced tumor response over anti-PD-1 monotherapy. We show that enhanced treatment response correlates with enhanced CD8+ T cell recruitment and activation and a concomitant decrease in CD4+ regulatory T cell. These results provide strong preclinical rationale for further clinical exploration of combining CCR2 antagonism with PD-1/PD-L1-directed immunotherapies across multiple tumor types especially given the availability of small molecule CCR2 inhibitors and antibodies.

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MicroRNA-21 Plays Multiple Oncometabolic Roles in the Process of NAFLD-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma via PI3K/AKT, TGF-β, and STAT3 Signaling

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13050940 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 940

Author(s):

Chi-Yu Lai ◽

Kun-Yun Yeh ◽

Chiu-Ya Lin ◽

Yang-Wen Hsieh ◽

Hsin-Hung Lai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Signaling Pathways ◽

Stellate Cell ◽

Human Cancer ◽

Tumor Formation ◽

Transgenic Zebrafish ◽

Zebrafish Model ◽

Lipid Metabolism Disorder ◽

Full Spectrum ◽

Stat3 Signaling

MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is one of the most frequently upregulated miRNAs in liver diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, mechanistic pathways that connect NAFLD and HCC remain elusive. We developed a doxycycline (Dox)-inducible transgenic zebrafish model (LmiR21) which exhibited an upregulation of miR-21 in the liver, which in turn induced the full spectrum of NAFLD, including steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and HCC, in the LmiR21 fish. Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) treatment led to accelerated liver tumor formation and exacerbated their aggressiveness. Moreover, prolonged miR-21 expression for up to ten months induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-related HCC (NAHCC). Immunoblotting and immunostaining confirmed the presence of miR-21 regulatory proteins (i.e., PTEN, SMAD7, p-AKT, p-SMAD3, and p-STAT3) in human nonviral HCC tissues and LmiR21 models. Thus, we demonstrated that miR-21 can induce NAHCC via at least three mechanisms: First, the occurrence of hepatic steatosis increases with the decrease of ptenb, pparaa, and activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway; second, miR-21 induces hepatic inflammation (or NASH) through an increase in inflammatory gene expression via STAT3 signaling pathways, and induces liver fibrosis through hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation and collagen deposition via TGF-β/Smad3/Smad7 signaling pathways; finally, oncogenic activation of Smad3/Stat3 signaling pathways induces HCC. Our LmiR21 models showed similar molecular pathology to the human cancer samples in terms of initiation of lipid metabolism disorder, inflammation, fibrosis and activation of the PI3K/AKT, TGF-β/SMADs and STAT3 (PTS) oncogenic signaling pathways. Our findings indicate that miR-21 plays critical roles in the mechanistic perspectives of NAHCC development via the PTS signaling networks.

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MYH9-dependent polarization of ATG9B promotes colorectal cancer metastasis by accelerating focal adhesion assembly

Cell Death and Differentiation ◽

10.1038/s41418-021-00813-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yan Zhong ◽

Ting Long ◽

Chuan-Sha Gu ◽

Jing-Yi Tang ◽

Ling-Fang Gao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Focal Adhesion ◽

Poor Prognosis ◽

Cancer Metastasis ◽

Integrin Β1 ◽

Independent Manner ◽

Interacting Protein ◽

Tumour Metastasis ◽

Elevated Expression ◽

Dependent Polarization

AbstractTumour metastasis is a major reason accounting for the poor prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), and the discovery of targets in the primary tumours that can predict the risk of CRC metastasis is now urgently needed. In this study, we identified autophagy-related protein 9B (ATG9B) as a key potential target gene for CRC metastasis. High expression of ATG9B in tumour significantly increased the risk of metastasis and poor prognosis of CRC. Mechanistically, we further find that ATG9B promoted CRC invasion mainly through autophagy-independent manner. MYH9 is the pivotal interacting protein for ATG9B functioning, which directly binds to cytoplasmic peptide segments aa368–411 of ATG9B by its head domain. Furthermore, the combination of ATG9B and MYH9 enhance the stability of each other by decreasing their binding to E3 ubiquitin ligase STUB1, therefore preventing them from ubiquitin-mediated degradation, which further amplified the effect of ATG9B and MYH9 in CRC cells. During CRC cell invasion, ATG9B is transported to the cell edge with the assistance of MYH9 and accelerates focal adhesion (FA) assembly through mediating the interaction of endocytosed integrin β1 and Talin-1, which facilitated to integrin β1 activation. Clinically, upregulated expression of ATG9B in human CRC tissue is always accompanied with highly elevated expression of MYH9 and associated with advanced CRC stage and poor prognosis. Taken together, this study highlighted the important role of ATG9B in CRC metastasis by promoting focal adhesion assembly, and ATG9B together with MYH9 can provide a pair of potential therapeutic targets for preventing CRC progression.

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Activation of FXR modulates SOCS3/Jak2/STAT3 signaling axis in a NASH-dependent hepatocellular carcinoma animal model

Biochemical Pharmacology ◽

10.1016/j.bcp.2021.114497 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 114497

Author(s):

Yasmeen M Attia ◽

Rasha A Tawfiq ◽

Abdullah A Gibriel ◽

Aya A Ali ◽

Dina H Kassem ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Animal Model ◽

Stat3 Signaling ◽

Signaling Axis

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Targeting AURKA in Cancer: molecular mechanisms and opportunities for Cancer therapy

Molecular Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12943-020-01305-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ruijuan Du ◽

Chuntian Huang ◽

Kangdong Liu ◽

Xiang Li ◽

Zigang Dong

Keyword(s):

Cancer Therapy ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Aurora Kinase ◽

Interacting Proteins ◽

Multiple Tumor ◽

Oncogenic Pathways ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Family ◽

Tumor Types ◽

Cancer Tissues

AbstractAurora kinase A (AURKA) belongs to the family of serine/threonine kinases, whose activation is necessary for cell division processes via regulation of mitosis. AURKA shows significantly higher expression in cancer tissues than in normal control tissues for multiple tumor types according to the TCGA database. Activation of AURKA has been demonstrated to play an important role in a wide range of cancers, and numerous AURKA substrates have been identified. AURKA-mediated phosphorylation can regulate the functions of AURKA substrates, some of which are mitosis regulators, tumor suppressors or oncogenes. In addition, enrichment of AURKA-interacting proteins with KEGG pathway and GO analysis have demonstrated that these proteins are involved in classic oncogenic pathways. All of this evidence favors the idea of AURKA as a target for cancer therapy, and some small molecules targeting AURKA have been discovered. These AURKA inhibitors (AKIs) have been tested in preclinical studies, and some of them have been subjected to clinical trials as monotherapies or in combination with classic chemotherapy or other targeted therapies.

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EBV-LMP1 promotes radioresistance by inducing protective autophagy through BNIP3 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Cell Death and Disease ◽

10.1038/s41419-021-03639-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

Author(s):

San Xu ◽

Zhuan Zhou ◽

Xingzhi Peng ◽

Xuxiu Tao ◽

Peijun Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ◽

Crucial Role ◽

Epstein Barr Virus ◽

Interacting Protein ◽

Multiple Tumors ◽

Barr Virus ◽

Signaling Axis ◽

Epstein Barr ◽

Adenovirus E1b

AbstractStudies have indicated that dysfunction of autophagy is involved in the initiation and progression of multiple tumors and their chemoradiotherapy. Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a lymphotropic human gamma herpes virus that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). EBV encoded latent membrane protein1 (LMP1) exhibits the properties of a classical oncoprotein. In previous studies, we experimentally demonstrated that LMP1 could increase the radioresistance of NPC. However, how LMP1 contributes to the radioresistance in NPC is still not clear. In the present study, we found that LMP1 could enhance autophagy by upregulating the expression of BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa protein-interacting protein 3 (BNIP3). Knockdown of BNIP3 could increase the apoptosis and decrease the radioresistance mediated by protective autophagy in LMP1-positive NPC cells. The data showed that increased BNIP3 expression is mediated by LMP1 through the ERK/HIF1α signaling axis, and LMP1 promotes the binding of BNIP3 to Beclin1 and competitively reduces the binding of Bcl-2 to Beclin1, thus upregulating autophagy. Furthermore, knockdown of BNIP3 can reduce the radioresistance promoted by protective autophagy in vivo. These data clearly indicated that, through BNIP3, LMP1 induced autophagy, which has a crucial role in the protection of LMP1-positive NPC cells against irradiation. It provides a new basis and potential target for elucidating LMP1-mediated radioresistance.

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Enhance the Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Efficacy with Radiotherapy Induced Immunogenic Cell Death: A Comprehensive Review and Latest Developments

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13040678 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 678 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adrien Procureur ◽

Audrey Simonaggio ◽

Jean-Emmanuel Bibault ◽

Stéphane Oudard ◽

Yann-Alexandre Vano

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Tumor Antigens ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Mitotic Cell ◽

Immunogenic Cell Death ◽

Dna Damages ◽

Multiple Tumor ◽

Tumor Types

The immunogenic cell death (ICD) is defined as a regulated cell death able to induce an adaptive immunity. It depends on different parameters including sufficient antigenicity, adjuvanticity and favorable microenvironment conditions. Radiation therapy (RT), a pillar of modern cancer treatment, is being used in many tumor types in curative, (neo) adjuvant, as well as metastatic settings. The anti-tumor effects of RT have been traditionally attributed to the mitotic cell death resulting from the DNA damages triggered by the release of reactive oxygen species. Recent evidence suggests that RT may also exert its anti-tumor effect by recruiting tumor-specific immunity. RT is able to induce the release of tumor antigens, to act as an immune adjuvant and thus to synergize with the anti-tumor immunity. The advent of new efficient immunotherapeutic agents, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), in multiple tumor types sheds new light on the opportunity of combining RT and ICI. Here, we will describe the biological and radiobiological rationale of the RT-induced ICD. We will then focus on the interest to combine RT and ICI, from bench to bedside, and summarize the clinical data existing with this combination. Finally, RT technical adaptations to optimize the ICD induction will be discussed.

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