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The Protein Arginine Methyltransferases (PRMTs) family is involved in various biological processes, including gene transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA translation, and protein stability. Recently, mounting evidence has shown that PRMTs also play critical roles in regulating the host antiviral immune response, either in an enzymatic activity dependent or independent manner. This review aims to provide an overview of the recent findings regarding the function and regulatory mechanisms of PRMTs in the antiviral response. These findings have the potential to aid in the discovery and design of novel therapeutic strategies for viral infections.

Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is among the most prevalent cancers worldwide, ranking as the third most prevalent malignancy in incidence and mortality. The somatostatin receptor (SSTR) family comprises G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which couple to inhibitory G proteins (Gi and Go) upon binding to somatostatin (SST) analogs. GPCRs are involved in hormone release, neurotransmission, cell growth inhibition, and cancer suppression. However, their roles in COAD remain unclear. This study used bioinformatics to investigate the expression, prognosis, gene alterations, functional enrichment, and immunoregulatory effects of the SSTR family members in COAD. SSTR1-4 are differentially downregulated in COAD, and low SSTR2 expression indicates poor survival. Biological processes and gene expression enrichment of the SSTR family in COAD were further analyzed using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Gene Ontology. A strong correlation was observed between SSTR expression and immune cell infiltration. We also quantified SSTR2 expression in 25 COAD samples and adjacent normal tissues using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. We analyzed its correlation with the dendritic cell–integrin subunit alpha X marker gene. The biomarker exploration of the solid tumors portal was used to confirm the correlation between SSTR2 with immunomodulators and immunotherapy responses. Our results identify SSTR2 as a promising target for COAD immunotherapy. Our findings provide new insights into the biological functions of the SSTR family and their implications for the prognosis of COAD.

The transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) is a downstream effector of the Hippo pathway. It has been identified as an oncogene in certain tumor types; however, the function and role of TAZ in colorectal cancer (CRC) has not been illustrated. Here, we aimed to analyze the expression and role of TAZ in CRC. In this study, we investigated the expression level of TAZ in 127 CRC and matched adjacent normal tissues by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and analyzed its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics in CRC. Moreover, we further analyzed the role of TAZ in the CRC-associated immunology using integrative bioinformatic analyses. The cBioPortal and WebGestalt database were used to analyze the co-expressed genes and related pathways of TAZ in CRC by gene ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment analyses. Meanwhile, the correlations between TAZ and the infiltrating immune cells and gene markers were analyzed by TIMER database. Our study revealed that TAZ expression is higher in CRC tissues than in matched adjacent non-tumor tissues. In addition, CRC patients with higher TAZ expression demonstrated poor overall survival (OS) and recurrent-free survival rates as compared to CRC patients with lower expression of TAZ. Furthermore, the TAZ expression was identified to closely associate with the immune infiltration of CD4 + T, CD8 + T, and B cells. Taken together, our findings suggest that TAZ may serve as a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in CRC.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is a malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Members from the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) gene family function as oncogenes in various tumor types, but their roles in PAAD have not been elucidated. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of the SMC family in tumor progression and cancer immune infiltration in PAAD using integrative bioinformatic analyses. The results showed that the SMC 1A, 2, 3, 4, and 6 were overexpressed in PAAD tissues; of these, SMC 1A, 4, 5, and 6 could be potential prognostic biomarkers for PAAD. The expression of SMC genes was found to be strongly associated with immune cell infiltration. According to the infiltrative status of various immune cells, the mRNA expression of SMC genes in PAAD was associated with the overall and recurrence-free survival of patients. In conclusion, the SMC gene family is associated with PAAD and may be involved in tumorigenesis and cancer-immune interactions; thus, members from this gene family may serve as promising prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers of PAAD.

Worldwide, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant cancers with poor prognosis. The structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) gene family has been shown to play important roles in human cancers. Nevertheless, the role of SMC members in HCC is not well-understood. In this study, we comprehensively explored the role of the SMC family in HCC using a series of bioinformatic analysis tools. Studies have demonstrated that the mRNA expression levels of SMC1A, SMC1B, SMC2, SMC4, and SMC6 are significantly overexpressed in HCC, and the protein levels of SMC1A, SMC2, SMC3, SMC4, SMC5, and SMC6 are similarly elevated. Moreover, HCC patients with high SMC2 and SMC4 expression levels exhibit poor survival. Using KEGG and GO analyses, we analyzed the enrichment of gene expression in the biological functions and pathways of the SMC family in HCC. Immune infiltration analysis revealed that the expression of the SMC family is closely associated with B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and DCs. In conclusion, our findings will enhance a more thorough understanding of the SMC family in HCC progression and provide new directions for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC in the future.

Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is an important glycolytic enzyme that promotes glycolysis and plays a crucial role in cancer cell invasion and immune infiltration. However, the relevance of LDHA in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) remains unclear. In this study, we analyzed the correlation between the expression of LDHA and clinicopathological characteristics in COAD using immunohistochemistry analysis, and then used integrative bioinformatics analyses to further study the function and role of LDHA in COAD. We found that LDHA was highly expressed in COAD tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and that COAD patients with high LDHA expression levels showed poor survival. In addition, LDHA expression was closely associated with the immune infiltrating levels of CD8+ T cells, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. Our findings highlight the potential role of LDHA in the tumorigenesis and prognosis of COAD. Furthermore, our results indicate that COAD is a novel immune checkpoint in the diagnosis and treatment of COAD.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common gastrointestinal cancers, with extremely high rates of morbidity and mortality. The main cause of death in CRC is distant metastasis; it affects patient prognosis and survival and is one of the key challenges in the treatment of CRC. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNA molecules with more than 200 nucleotides. Abnormal lncRNA expression is closely related to the occurrence and progression of several diseases, including cancer. Recent studies have shown that numerous lncRNAs play pivotal roles in the CRC metastasis, and reversing the expression of these lncRNAs through artificial means can reduce the malignant phenotype of metastatic CRC to some extent. This review summarizes the major mechanisms of lncRNAs in CRC metastasis and proposes lncRNAs as potential therapeutic targets for CRC and molecular markers for early diagnosis.

Background: Adolescence is a crucial period for the development of depression, and previous studies have suggested that the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) plays a significant role. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to explore the mediating role of anhedonia in the relationship between BAS and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents. Method: A total of 1,023 high-school students aged 15-18 years participated in the study, with 916 continuing their participation three months later. All participants completed the Behavioral Inhibition System/Activation System (BIS/BAS) scale, Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale (DARS), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S/T). Pathway model analysis was performed to examine the concurrent and prospective mediating effects of anhedonia and the potential moderating effect of sex. Result: Anhedonia in the domains of social activities, hobbies and sensory experiences significantly mediated the cross-sectional relationship between BAS and depressive level three months later. Furthermore, the beta-value of the mediating effect of social activities was significantly higher than that of the other domains of hedonic capacity cross-sectionally and longitudinally. However, sex showed no significant moderating effect. Conclusion: Our findings underscore the importance of hedonic capacity, especially within the social domain, in the development of depressive symptoms. These findings contribute to the early diagnosis and prevention of depressive disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionThe care for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is challenging. This study is to evaluate the effect of adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A HCC patients after hepatectomy.MethodsConsecutive HCC patients with BCLC stage A, treated by hepatectomy alone (HA) or hepatectomy with TACE (HT), were retrospectively enrolled. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance baseline differences. The recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier. The impact of TACE on survival outcome was determined by Cox hazard regression.ResultsAfter PSM, 230 patients (115 HT and 115 HA) were enrolled in the analysis. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year RFS rates were 87.0, 63.5, and 50.4%, respectively, for the HT group, and 87.8, 67.0, and 58.3% for the HA group. The OS rates at 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 99.1, 93.9, and 87%, respectively, for the HT group, and 100, 92.2, and 88.7% for the HA group. No significant differences were seen in either the RFS (log-rank test, χ2 = 0.891, p = 0.345) or OS (log-rank test, χ2 = 0.146, p = 0.702) between the specific pairs of two groups. Cox regression identified that TACE was not the factor affecting RFS or OS (p = 0.399; HR 0.847; 95% CI 0.576–1.245 for RFS vs. p = 0.989; HR 0.995; 95% CI 0.471–2.100 for OS).ConclusionOur data indicate that TACE is not an effective intervention in the adjuvant setting for BCLC stage A HCC after hepatectomy.