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Targeting glutamine catabolism has been attracting more research attention on the development of successful cancer therapy. Catalytic enzymes such as glutaminase (GLS) in glutaminolysis, a series of biochemical reactions by which glutamine is converted to glutamate and then alpha-ketoglutarate, an intermediate of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, can be targeted by small molecule inhibitors, some of which are undergoing early phase clinical trials and exhibiting promising safety profiles. However, resistance to glutaminolysis targeting treatments has been observed, necessitating the development of treatments to combat this resistance. One option is to use synergy drug combinations, which improve tumor chemotherapy's effectiveness and diminish drug resistance and side effects. This review will focus on studies involving the glutaminolysis pathway and diverse combination therapies with therapeutic implications.

Radiotherapy (RT) is applied to eradicate tumors in the clinic. However, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exhibits resistance against RT. It is demonstrated that RT directly inhibits tumor growth but which induces type I interferons (IFNs) expression to phosphorylate STATs and increase STATs-downstream PD-L1 levels in the survival tumor cells. Since sorafenib is capable of suppressing STATs, we, therefore, hypothesize that sorafenib suppresses IFNs-mediated radioresistance and PD-L1 in the residual tumor cells and may synergistically enhance RT-mediated reactivation of CD8

Tumor cells express immune checkpoints to exhaust CD8+ T cells. Irradiation damages tumor cells and augments tumor immunotherapy in clinical applications. However, the radiotherapy-mediated molecular mechanism affecting CD8+ T cell activity remains elusive. We aimed to uncover the mechanism of radiotherapy augmenting cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). EGFR-positive NSCLC cell lines were co-cultured with CD8+ T cells from healthy volunteers. Tumor cell viability and apoptosis were consequently measured. IFNγ was identified secreted by CD8+ T cells and PBMCs. Therefore, RNAseq was used to screen the IFNγ-mediated gene expression in A549 cells. The irradiation effect to IFNγ-mediated gene expression was investigated using qPCR and western blots. We found that the co-culture of tumor cells stimulated the increase of granzyme B and IFNγ in CD8+ T, but A549 exhibited resistance against CD8+ T cytotoxicity compared to HCC827. Irradiation inhibited A549 proliferation and enhanced apoptosis, augmenting PBMCs-mediated cytotoxicity against A549. We found that IFNγ simultaneously increased phosphorylation on STAT1 and STAT3 in EGFR-positive lung cancer, resulting in overexpression of PD-L1 (p &lt, 0.05). In RNAseq analysis, MCL1 was identified and increased by the IFNγ-STAT3 axis (p &lt, 0.05). We demonstrated that irradiation specifically inhibited phosphorylation on STAT1 and STAT3 in IFNγ-treated A549, resulting in reductions of PD-L1 and MCL1 (both p &lt, 0.05). Moreover, knockdowns of STAT3 and MCL1 increased the PBMCs-mediated anti-A549 effect. This study demonstrated that A549 expressed MCL1 to resist CD8+ T cell-mediated tumor apoptosis. In addition, we found that irradiation suppressed IFNγ-mediated STAT3 phosphorylation and PD-L1 and MCL1 expression, revealing a potential mechanism of radiotherapy augmenting immune surveillance.

Cancer stem cells play a vital role against clinical therapies, contributing to tumor relapse. There are many oncogenes involved in tumorigenesis and the initiation of cancer stemness properties. Since gene expression in the formation of colorectal cancer-derived tumorspheres is unclear, it takes time to discover the mechanisms working on one gene at a time. This study demonstrates a method to quickly discover the driver genes involved in the survival of the colorectal cancer stem-like cells in vitro. Colorectal HT29 cancer cells that express the LGR5 when cultured as spheroids and accompany an increase CD133 stemness markers were selected and used in this study. The protocol presented is used to perform RNAseq with available bioinformatics to quickly uncover the overexpressed driver genes in the formation of colorectal HT29-derived stem-like tumorspheres. The methodology can quickly screen and discover potential driver genes in other disease models.

The mechanism exhausting CD8

Background Cancer stem cells are capable of undergoing cell division after surviving cancer therapies, leading to tumor progression and recurrence. Inhibitory agents against cancer stem cells may be therapeutically used for efficiently eradicating tumors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the relevant driver genes that maintain cancer stemness in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and to discover effective therapeutic agents against these genes. Methods In this study, EGFR-positive cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) derived from HCT116 and HT29 cells were used as study models for in vitro inductions. To identify the differential genes that maintain CSLCs, RNAseq analysis was conducted followed by bioinformatics analysis. Moreover, a panel containing 172 therapeutic agents targeting the various pathways of stem cells was used to identify effective therapeutics against CSLCs. Results RNAseq analysis revealed that 654 and 840 genes were significantly upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in the HCT116 CSLCs. Among these genes, notably, platelet-derived growth factor A (PDGFA) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) were relevant according to the cancer pathway analyzed using NetworkAnalyst. Furthermore, therapeutic screening revealed that the agents targeting STAT3 and Wnt signaling pathways were efficient in reducing the cell viabilities of both HCT116 and HT29 cells. Consequently, we discovered that STAT3 inhibition using homoharringtonine and STAT3 knockdown significantly reduced the formation and survival of HT29-derived tumorspheres. We also observed that STAT3 phosphorylation was regulated by epidermal growth factor (EGF) to induce PDGFA and Wnt signaling cascades. Conclusions We identified the potential genes involved in tumorsphere formation and survival in selective EGFR-positive CRCs. The results reveal that the EGF-STAT3 signaling pathway promotes and maintains CRC stemness. In addition, a crosstalk between STAT3 and Wnt activates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which is also responsible for cancer stemness. Thus, STAT3 is a putative therapeutic target for CRC treatment. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12929-018-0456-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objectives YM155, an inhibitor of interleukin enhancer-binding factor 3 (ILF3), significantly suppresses cancer stemness property, implying that ILF3 contributes to cell survival of cancer stem cells. However, the molecular function of ILF3 inhibiting cancer stemness remains unclear. This study aimed to uncover the potential function of ILF3 involving in cell survival of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive lung stem-like cancer, and to investigate the potential role to improve the efficacy of anti-EGFR therapeutics. Materials and methods The association of EGFR and ILF3 in expression and regulations was first investigated in this study. Lung cancer A549 cells with deprivation of ILF3 were created by the gene-knockdown method and then RNAseq was applied to identify the putative genes regulated by ILF3. Meanwhile, HCC827- and A549-derived cancer stem-like cells were used to investigate the role of ILF3 in the formation of cancer stem-like tumorspheres. Results We found that EGFR induced ILF3 expression, and YM155 reduced EGFR expression. The knockdown of ILF3 reduced not only EGFR expression in mRNA and protein levels, but also cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating that ILF3 may play an important role in contributing to cancer cell survival. Moreover, the knockdown and inhibition of ILF3 by shRNA and YM155, respectively, reduced the formation and survival of HCC827- and A549-derived tumorspheres through inhibiting ErbB3 (HER3) expression, and synergized the therapeutic efficacy of afatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, against EGFR-positive A549 lung cells. Conclusion This study demonstrated that ILF3 plays an oncogenic like role in maintaining the EGFR-mediated cellular pathway, and can be a therapeutic target to improve the therapeutic efficacy of afatinib. Our results suggested that YM155, an ILF3 inhibitor, has the potential for utilization in cancer therapy against EGFR-positive lung cancers.

// Ken-Hong Lim 1,2,3,4 , Caleb Gon-Shen Chen 2,3,4,5 , Yu-Cheng Chang 2,3,4 , Yi-Hao Chiang 2,3 , Chen-Wei Kao 3 , Wei-Ting Wang 3 , Chiao-Yi Chang 3 , Ling Huang 3 , Ching-Sung Lin 3 , Chun-Chia Cheng 3 , Hung-I Cheng 6 , Nai-Wen Su 2,3,4 , Johnson Lin 2 , Yi-Fang Chang 2,3,4 , Ming-Chih Chang 2,3,4 , Ruey-Kuen Hsieh 2,3 , Huan-Chau Lin 2,3 and Yuan-Yeh Kuo 1 1 Graduate Institute of Oncology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 3 Department of Medical Research, Laboratory of Good Clinical Research Center, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 4 Department of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan 5 Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 6 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan Correspondence to: Ken-Hong Lim, email: // Huan-Chau Lin, email: // Yuan-Yeh Kuo, email: // Keywords : B cell, CALR, essential thrombocythemia, immune Received : January 06, 2017 Accepted : February 28, 2017 Published : March 18, 2017 Abstract Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a BCL-ABL1 -negative myeloproliferative neoplasm. We have reported that increased activated B cells can facilitate platelet production mediated by cytokines regardless JAK2 mutational status in ET. Recently, calreticulin ( CALR ) mutations were discovered in ~30% JAK2 / MPL- unmutated ET and primary myelofibrosis. Here we sought to screen for CALR mutations and to evaluate B cell immune profiles in a cohort of adult Taiwanese ET patients. B cell populations, granulocytes/monocytes membrane-bound B cell-activating factor (mBAFF) levels, B cells toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression and intracellular levels of interleukin (IL)-1β/IL-6 and the expression of CD69, CD80, and CD86 were quantified by flow cytometry. Serum BAFF concentration was measured by ELISA. 48 healthy adults were used for comparison. 19 (35.2%) of 54 ET patients harbored 8 types of CALR exon 9 mutations including 4 (7.4%) patients with concomitant JAK2 V617F mutations. Compared to JAK2 V617F mutation, CALR mutations correlated with younger age at diagnosis ( p =0.04), higher platelet count ( p =0.004), lower hemoglobin level ( p =0.013) and lower leukocyte count ( p =0.013). Multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, follow-up period and hematological parameters confirmed that increased activated B cells were universally present in JAK2 -mutated, CALR -mutated and triple-negative ET patients when compared to healthy adults. JAK2 - and CALR -mutated ET have significantly higher fraction of B cells with TLR4 expression when compared to triple-negative ET ( p =0.019 and 0.02, respectively). CALR -mutated ET had significantly higher number of CD69-positive activated B cells when compared to triple-negative ET ( p =0.035). In conclusion, increased B cell activation is present in ET patients across different mutational subgroups.

Background HER3 mediates drug resistance against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), resulting in tumor relapse in lung cancers. Previously, we demonstrated that EGFR induces HER3 overexpression, which facilitates the formation of cancer stem-like tumorspheres. However, the cellular mechanism through which EGFR regulates HER3 expression remains unclear. We hypothesized that EGFR downstream of STAT3 participates in HER3 expression because STAT3 contributes to cancer stemness and survival of EGFR-TKI resistant cancers. Methods First, RNAseq was used to uncover potential genes involved in the formation of lung cancer HCC827-derived stem-like tumorspheres. EGFR-positive lung cancer cell lines, including HCC827, A549, and H1975, were individually treated with a panel containing 172 therapeutic agents targeting stem cell-associated genes to search for potential agents that could be applied against EGFR-positive lung cancers. In addition, gene knockdown and RNAseq were used to investigate molecular mechanisms through which STAT3 regulates tumor progression and the survival in lung cancer. Results BBI608, a STAT3 inhibitor, was a potential therapeutic agent that reduced the cell viability of EGFR-positive lung cancer cell lines. Notably, the inhibitory effects of BBI608 were similar with those associated with YM155, an ILF3 inhibitor. Both compounds reduced G9a-mediated HER3 expression. We also demonstrated that STAT3 upregulated G9a to silence miR-145-5p, which exacerbated HER3 expression in this study. Conclusions The present study revealed that BBI608 could eradicate EGFR-positive lung cancers and demonstrated that STAT3 enhanced the expression of HER3 through miR-145-5p repression by G9a, indicating that STAT3 is a reliable therapeutic target against EGFR-TKI-resistant lung cancers.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), a transcriptional factor involved in tumorigenesis and cancer stemness formation, contributes to drug resistance in cancer therapies. STAT3 not only mediates gene transcription but also participates in microRNA suppression. This study identified a STAT3-downstream micro RNA (miRNA) involved in drug resistance against regorafenib in colorectal cancer stem-like tumorspheres. Small RNAseq was used to investigate differential microRNAs in colorectal cancer cell-derived tumorspheres and in a STAT3-knockdown strain. The miRNA-mediated genes were identified by comparing RNAseq data with gene targets predicted using TargetScan. Assays for detecting cell viability and apoptosis were used to validate findings. The formation of colorectal cancer stem-like tumorspheres was inhibited by BBI608, a STAT3 inhibitor, but not by regorafenib. Additional investigations for microRNA expression demonstrated an increase in 10 miRNAs and a decrease in 13 miRNAs in HT29-derived tumorspheres. A comparison of small RNAseq results between tumorspheres and HT29shSTAT3 cells revealed the presence of four STAT3-mediated miRNAs in HT29-derived tumorspheres: hsa-miR-215-5p, hsa-miR-4521, and hsa-miR-215-3p were upregulated, whereas miR-30a-5p was downregulated. Furthermore, hsa-miR-4521 was associated with poor overall survival probability, and miR-30a-5p was associated with better overall survival probability in patients with rectum cancer. Comparisons of RNAseq findings between HCT116- and HT29-derived tumorspheres revealed that HSPA5 were mediated by the STAT3-miR-30a-5p axis, which is overexpressed in colorectal tumorspheres associating to anti-apoptosis. In addition, the transfection of miR-30a-5p and inhibition of HSPA5 by HA15 significantly reduced cell viability and increased apoptosis in HT29 cells. In conclusion, a STAT3-miR-30a-5p-HSPA5 axis was observed against regorafenib-mediated apoptosis in colorectal cancer tumorspheres. The expression of miR-30a-5p was repressed by STAT3, in addition, HSPA5 was identified as the target gene of miR-30a-5p and contributed to both tumorsphere formation and anti-apoptosis.

Hypoxic microenvironment is a common situation in solid tumors. Carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9) is one of the reliable cellular biomarkers of hypoxia. The role of CA9 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains to be clarified. CA9 inhibitor such as sulfonamides is known to block CA9 activation and reduce tumor growth consequently. Here, we aimed to investigate the CA9 expression in serum and tumor from different stages of CRC patients and utilize sulfonamide derivative with indium-111 labeling as a probe for CRC nuclear imaging detection in vivo. The serum CA9 was correlated with the tumor CA9 levels in different stages of CRC patients. Hypoxia increased cell viability and CA9 expression in colorectal cancer HCT-15 cells. Sulfonamide derivative 5-(2-aminoethyl)thiophene-2-sulfonamide (ATS) could bind with CA9 in vitro under hypoxia. Moreover, tumor tissues in HCT-15-induced xenograft mice possessed higher hypoxic fluorescence signal as compared with other organs. We also found that the radioisotope signal of indium-111 labeled ATS, which was utilized for CRC detection in HCT-15-induced xenograft mice, was markedly enhanced in tumors as compared with non-ATS control. Taken together, these findings suggest that CA9 is a potential hypoxic CRC biomarker and measurement of serum CA9 can be as a potential tool for diagnosing CA9 expressions in CRC clinical practice. The radioisotope-labeled sulfonamide derivative (ATS) may be useful to apply in CRC patients for nuclear medicine imaging.

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) overexpressed in many cancers, including lung and head and neck cancers, and is involved in cancer cell progression and survival. PD-L1, increases in tumor cells to evade and inhibit CD8+ T cells, is a clinical immunotherapeutic target. This study investigated the molecular mechanism of EGF on regulating PD-L1 in EGFR-positive cancers and determined potential agents to reduce PD-L1 expression. RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and bioinformatics analysis were performed to determine potential driver genes that regulate PD-L1 in tumor cells-derived tumorspheres which mimicking cancer stem cells. Then, the specific inhibitors targeting EGFR were applied to reduce the expression of PD-L1 in vitro and in vivo. We validated that EGF could induce PD-L1 expression in the selected EGFR-positive cancers. RNAseq results revealed that STAT1 increased as a driver gene in KOSC-3-derived tumorspheres; these data were analyzed using PANTHER followed by NetworkAnalyst. The blockade of EGFR by afatinib resulted in decreased STAT1 and IRF-1 levels, both are transcriptional factors of PD-L1, and disabled the IFNr-STAT1-mediated PD-L1 axis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, STAT1 knockdown significantly reduced EGF-mediated PD-L1 expression, and ruxolitinib, a JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor, significantly inhibited STAT1 phosphorylation to reduce the IFNr-mediated PD-L1 axis. These results indicate that EGF exacerbates PD-L1 by increasing the protein levels of STAT1 to enforce the IFNr-JAK1/2-mediated signaling axis in selected EGFR-positive cancers. The inhibition of EGFR by afatinib significantly reduced PD-L1 and may be a potential strategy for enhancing immunotherapeutic efficacy.

Mutations in JAK2, MPL and CALR genes have been identified in the majority of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) patients, and patients negative for these three mutations are the so-called triple-negative (TN) MPN. In this study, we examined the mutational profiles of 16 triple-negative MPN patients including 7 essential thrombocythemia (ET), 1 primary myelofibrosis and 8 polycythemia vera (PV). Targeted next-generation sequencing was performed using the ACTOnco Comprehensive Cancer Panel (Ion AmpliSeq Comprehensive Cancer Panel, Life Technologies) to target all coding exons of 409 cancer-related genes. Overall, 30 nonsynonymous somatic mutations were detected in 12 (75%) patients with a range of 1-5 mutations per sample. Notably, one ET patient was found to have JAK2V617F and KITP551L mutations at very low allele frequency. One MPLP70L and 1 MPLM602T mutations were identified each in 1 ET and 1 PV, respectively. Other recurrent mutations were also identified including KMT2C, KMT2D, IRS2, SYNE1, PDE4DIP, SETD2, ATM, TNFAIP3 and CCND2. In addition, germline mutations were also found in some cancer-related genes. Copy number changes were rare in this cohort of TN MPNs. In conclusion, both somatic and germline mutations can be detected in TN MPN patients.

// Siao-Syun Guan 1,2 , Jungshan Chang 3 , Chun-Chia Cheng 2,3 , Tsai-Yueh Luo 2 , Ai-Sheng Ho 4 , Chia-Chi Wang 5 , Cheng-Tien Wu 1 and Shing-Hwa Liu 1,6,7 1 Institute of Toxicology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 2 Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, Taoyuan, Taiwan 3 Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan 4 Division of Gastroenterology, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 5 Division of Hepatology, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation and School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan 6 Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 7 Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Correspondence: Shing-Hwa Liu, email: // Keywords : colorectal cancer / HER2 / afatinib / micelles Received : March 31, 2014 Accepted : May 30, 2014 Published : June 1, 2014 Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) is known as a common malignant neoplasm worldwide. The role of EGFR/HER2 in CRC is unclear. Afatinib is an irreversible EGFR/HER2 inhibitor. There were few studies of afatinib on CRC. Here, we investigated the protein levels/expressions of HER2 in sera and tumors from CRC patients and the therapeutic effect of afatinib on HER2-overexpressed CRC in vitro and in vivo . The increased HER2 levels were detected in the collected sera and tumors of patients with CRC. The serological HER2 levels were correlated with the tumor HER2 expressions in patients. Afatinib also inhibited the HER2-positive tumor cell growth and caused apoptosis in HER2-overexpressed human colorectal cancer HCT-15 cells but not in low HER2 expressed human gastric cancer MKN45 cells. In vivo study showed that afatinib reduced tumor growth in HER2-overexpressed xenografts. Moreover, afatinib-encapsulated micelles displayed higher cytotoxic activity in HCT-15 cells and were more effective for tumor growth suppression in HCT-15-induced tumor xenografts than afatinib performance alone. Taken together, these findings suggest that higher serum HER2 levels reflect the higher HER2 contents in tumors of CRC patients, and the improved afatinib-encapsulated micelles possess high therapeutic efficacy in HER2-overexpressed CRC in vitro and in vivo .

Chun-Chia Cheng,1,2,* Chiung-Fang Huang,3,4,* Ai-Sheng Ho,5 Cheng-Liang Peng,6 Chun-Chao Chang,7,8 Fu-Der Mai,1,9 Ling-Yun Chen,10 Tsai-Yueh Luo,2 Jungshan Chang1,11,121Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 2Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, Taoyuan, 3School of Dental Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 4Division of Family and Operative Dentistry, Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, 5Division of Gastroenterology, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, 6Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 7Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, 8Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 9Department of Biochemistry, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 10Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, 11Neuroscience Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, 12Research Center for Biomedical Implants and Microsurgery Devices, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workAbstract: Increased expression of cellular membrane bound glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) is considered to be one of the biomarkers for gastric cancers. Therefore, peptides or molecules with specific recognition to GRP78 can act as a guiding probe to direct conjugated imaging agents to localized cancers. Based on this rationale, GRP78-guided polymeric micelles were designed and manufactured for nuclear imaging detection of tumors. Thiolated GRP78 binding peptide (GRP78BP) was first labeled with maleimide-terminated poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(ε-caprolactone) and then mixed with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-linked poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(ε-caprolactone) to form DTPA/GRP78BP-conjugated micelles. The coupling efficiency of micelles with radioisotope indium-111 (111In) was measured and analyzed by instant thin layer chromatography. The coupling efficiency of DTPA-conjugated micelles and DTPA/GRP78BP-conjugated micelles with 111In was 85% and 93%, respectively. For characterization and trace imaging, the radioisotope 111In-targeting tumors were detected and imaged in a xenograft murine model using nano single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography. The results revealed that the radioactive intensity measured in the animals administered with GRP78BP-guided 111In-labeled micelles was statistically higher than that in animals administered with 111In-labeled micelles, demonstrating that GRP78BP more than doubled the accumulation of micelles to the tumor tissue (P < 0.05). The results indicate that the gastric cancer biomarker GRP78 is a probing target in the application of nuclear imaging for tumor diagnosis. This novel GRP78BP-guided micelle agent may be applied in clinical practice to complement the histological diagnosis.Keywords: biomarker, glucose-regulated protein 78, nuclear imaging, gastric cancer, micelles

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) overexpressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) is a tumor target for developing the anti-tumor theranostic agents. Cetuximab, an anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody against EGFR-positive tumors, inhibits cell proliferation and growth was labeled with radioactiveWe conjugated cetuximab with an isotope chelator, diethylene triamine penta acetic acid (DTPA), and consequently labeled cetuximab-DTPA withThe conjugated ratio between cetuximab and DTPA was 1:6 measured by MALDI-TOF-MS. The better labeling concentration of cetuximab with 10 mCi ofWe suggested that the

The survivals of gastric cancer (GC) patients are associated with early diagnosis and effective treatments. Therefore, it is urgent for the discovery of early GC biomarkers and tumor-targeting therapeutics. The aim of this study was to uncover putative tissue biomarkers of GC using 2D DIGE and then apply one of these specific markers in GC treatment. We found three putative biomarkers of GC with significant differences in expression level compared to adjacent normal tissue, including glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and glutathione s-transferase pi (GSTpi) with increased expression level, and alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) with reduced expression level. The overexpressed GRP78 was used as a targeted protein for guiding the drugs to tumor cells, leading to more effective treatment for GC xenografts. Our results demonstrated that the designated GRP78-binding peptide based on the sequence, WIFPWIQL, was selectively prone to recognize and bind to GC MKN45 cells in vitro, and also improve the delivery efficiency of polymeric micelles-encapsulated drugs into tumor cells and displayed better therapeutic outcome in experimental animals. This strategy of GRP78-mediated drug targeting system may bring chemotherapeutic drugs with more precise targeting to tumor cells, leading to minimize side effects on patients after chemotherapy.

Background Hypoxia in tumor niche is one of important factors to start regeneration of blood vessels, leading to increase survival, proliferation, and invasion in cancer cells. Under hypoxia microenvironment, furthermore, steadily increased hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is observed, and can increase vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and promote angiogenesis. Zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP), a heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) inhibitor, is potential to inhibit tumor proliferation and progression. However, the mechanism of ZnPP in inhibition of tumor is not completely clear. We hypothesize that ZnPP may modulate HIF-1α through inhibiting HO-1, and then inhibit angiogenesis and tumor progression. This study aimed to dissect the mechanism of ZnPP in tumor suppression. Results We observed the amount of VEGF was increased in the sera of the colorectal cancer (CRC) patients (n = 34, p

Cancer stem cell survival is the leading factor for tumor recurrence after tumor-suppressive treatments. Therefore, specific and efficient inhibitors of cancer stemness must be discovered for reducing tumor recurrence. YM155 has been indicated to significantly reduce stemness-derived tumorsphere formation. However, the pharmaceutical mechanism of YM155 against cancer stemness is unclear. This study investigated the potential mechanism of YM155 against cancer stemness in lung cancer. Tumorspheres derived from epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant HCC827 and EGFR wild-type A549 cells expressing higher cancer stemness markers (CD133, Oct4, and Nanog) were used as cancer stemness models. We observed that EGFR autophosphorylation (Y1068) was higher in HCC827- and A549-derived tumorspheres than in parental cells; this autophosphorylation induced tumorsphere formation by activating G9a-mediated stemness. Notably, YM155 inhibited tumorsphere formation by blocking the autophosphorylation of EGFR and the EGFR-G9a-mediated stemness pathway. The chemical and genetic inhibition of EGFR and G9a revealed the significant role of the EGFR-G9a pathway in maintaining the cancer stemness property. In conclusion, this study not only revealed that EGFR could trigger tumorsphere formation by elevating G9a-mediated stemness but also demonstrated that YM155 could inhibit this formation by simultaneously blocking EGFR autophosphorylation and G9a activity, thus acting as a potent agent against lung cancer stemness.

Gastric cancer (GC) has a high rate of morbidity and mortality among various cancers worldwide. The development of noninvasive diagnostic methods or technologies for tracking the occurrence of GC is urgent, and searching reliable biomarkers is considered.This study intended to directly discover differential biomarkers from GC tissues by two-dimension-differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), and further validate protein expression by western blotting (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC).Pairs of GC tissues (gastric cancer tissues and the adjacent normal tissues) obtained from surgery was investigated for 2D-DIEG.Five proteins wereconfirmed by WB and IHC, including glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), glutathione s-transferase pi (GSTpi), apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI), alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) and gastrokine-1 (GKN-1). Among the results, GRP78, GSTpi and A1ATwere significantlyup-regulated and down-regulated respectively in gastric cancer patients. Moreover, GRP78 and ApoAI were correlated with A1AT for protein expressions.This study presumes these proteins could be candidates of reliable biomarkers for gastric cancer.

Objective: Human neutrophil peptides (HNPs) -1, -2 and -3 are significantly upregulated and were reported as biomarkers in gastric cancer (GC). However, the tissue location and function of HNPs 1-3 are still unclear in GC, and the spatial distribution of the triad needs to be disclosed. The aims of this study were to investigate the distribution and relationships among HNPs-1, -2 and -3, and assess whether infiltrated neutrophils accumulate in gastric tumor.Methods: In this study, paired samples (n=33) of the GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues from the same patients were obtained from surgery. Expression of HNPs 1-3 were detected by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The distributions of the HNPs 1-3 in GC tissues were investigated. After verification of HNPs-1 by immunohistochemistry, infiltrated neutrophils were also detected. Then, an in vitro assay was used to observe the binding capacity and measure the cytotoxic effect of HNPs-1 against AGS cells.Results: Comparing to neighboring normal tissue, expressional level of HNPs 1-3 were significantly higher and their distributions overlapped in cancerous tissues of GC patients with high abundance in the lamina propria, whereas HNPs-1 was identified as the highest major peak. Moreover, HNPs-1, -2 and -3 correlated with each other. Besides, we also observed that increased infiltrated neutrophils accumulating in GC tissues, indicating that a strong positive correlation between HNPs 1-3 and infiltrated neutrophils. In addition, the further investigated demonstrated that the major peptide, HNPs-1, was statistically increased with the advance of tumor development from the early to advanced stage of GC (p < 0.05). Moreover, we also noticed that HNPs-1 with a great binding capacity to GC AGS cells in vitro can inhibit tumor cell growth.Conclusions: Our results suggest that neutrophil secreted peptides, HNPs 1-3, increased in the GC tissues and could be used as potential biomarkers detected using MALDI-TOF MS, implying that elevated neutrophils may be used as a tumor target for tumor treatment. The binding capacity of HNPs-1 with GC cells implies that tracking molecules conjugated with HNPs-1 could be applied as a specific probe for GC diagnoses.

Background The gold standard of assessing liver fibrosis is liver biopsy, which is invasive and not without risk. Therefore, searching for noninvasive serologic biomarkers for liver fibrosis is an importantly clinical issue. Methods A total of 16 healthy volunteers and 45 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) were enrolled (F0: n = 16, F1: n = 7, F2: n = 17, F3: n = 8 and F4: n = 13, according to the METAVIR classification). Three serum samples of each fibrotic stage were analyzed by two-dimension difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). The differential proteins were identified by the cooperation of MALDI-TOF/TOF and MASCOT; then western blotting and Bio-Plex Suspension Array were used to quantify the protein levels. Results Three prominent candidate biomarkers were identified: alpha 2 macroglobulin (A2M) is up regulated; vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) and apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) are down regulated. The serum concentration of A2M was significantly different among normal, mild (F1/F2) and advanced fibrosis (F3/F4) (p < 0.01). The protein levels of VDBP and ApoAI were significantly higher in normal/mild fibrosis, when compared to those in advanced fibrosis (both p < 0.01). Conclusions This study not only reveals three putative biomarkers of liver fibrosis (A2M, VDBP and ApoAI) but also proves the differential expressions of those markers in different stages of fibrosis. We expect that combination of these novel biomarkers could be applied clinically to predict the stage of liver fibrosis without the need of liver biopsy.