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OBJECTIVE: Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in urinary system. Recently, the function of family with sequence similarity 107 member A (FAM107A) has been reported in several carcinomas. This study aimed to reveal the potential role of FAM107A in bladder cancer. METHODS: Bioinformatics analysis was performed to assess the expression level of FAM107A in BC tissues and adjacent tumor-free bladder tissues. The results were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blot and immunohistochemistry staining in BC tissues and adjacent tumor-free bladder tissues as well as BC cell lines. In addition, plasmid was constructed to increase FAM107A protein level in BC cell lines. The effect of FM107A on cell growth, cell migration and invasion were analyzed by CCK8 assay, wound healing assay and transwell-invasion assay. RESULTS: The data showed that FAM107A was remarkably down-regulated in bladder cancer tissues and bladder cancer cell lines. Besides, low FAM107A expression was associated with high tumor grade of patients with bladder cancer. Moreover, the restoration of FAM107A remarkably suppressed the cell growth, migration, and invasion of BC cells. CONCLUSION: In summary, FAM107A might serve as a tumor suppressor which inhibits BC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. This study suggests that FAM107A can be a candidate new diagnostic marker and possible therapeutic target gene of bladder cancer. © 2022 by the Association of Clinical Scientists, Inc.

Ever since the gene editing function was discovered in the CRISPR-Cas9 system, numerous applications and utilities were investigated in order to apply this technique to medical use. However, the clinical practice was limited by unsatisfactory efficiency and unacceptable off-target editing. Modifications from different aspects of the Cas9 protein and gRNAs were published that aimed to improve its function in one way or another. Under the inspiration of Jacob L. Litke and Samie R. Jaffrey, we propose a novel gRNA design that could achieve rapid circular gRNA assembly inside the cells. This circular design consists of the gRNA of interested flanked by Twister ribozymes. The function of this circular gRNA was proved in vitro in both CRISPR-dCas9 and CRISPR-Cas9 systems. It presented a remarkable reduction in the off-target rate in accompany with reduced efficiency. With future improvement in its efficiency, this tool broadens our understanding and possibility of the CRISPR application. Copyright © 2022 Wang, Xu, Meng and Huang.

Background: Recent studies showed that HOXA1 can promote or suppress the transcription of target genes via binding to their promoter region, therefore regulating the development and progression of various cancers. However, the biological function of HOXA1 in bladder cancer (Bca) remains unknown. Methods: qRT-PCR and Western blot assay was performed to measure the mRNA protein level of HOXA1 in Bca cells. CCK-8 and cell colony formation assay were carried out to detect cell proliferation ability. Wound healing assay was applied to detect cell migration ability, while transwell assay was applied to detect cell invasion ability. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and dual-luciferase reporter assay were used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying HOXA1. Results: In this study, we discovered that HOXA1 mRNA and protein was dramatically increased in Bca tissues and cells compared to matched normal tissues and normal bladder epithelial cell. Enhanced HOXA1 expression was positively correlated with bigger tumor size and lymphatic metastasis, causing shorter overall survival to Bca patients. Knockdown of HOXA1 obviously impaired cell proliferation and metastasis ability. Further experiments proved that HOXA1 could strength the transcription of SMAD3 via binding to the promoter region of SMAD3. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study suggested that HOXA1 contributed to the growth and metastasis of Bca and it might serve as a tumor biomarker for Bca treatment and prognosis monitoring. © 2022 Elsevier GmbH