Search

There are many similarities between embryonic development and tumorigenesis, and gene expression profiles show that certain correlations exist between the gene signature during development and the clinical phenotypes of different cancers. Our group previously reported the gene expression profiles of human lung development, and the expression of one group of proliferation‐related genes (PTN1 genes) steadily decreased during lung development. Here, we examined the prognostic value of PTN1 genes in 5 independent lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) and 5 lung independent squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) microarray datasets and found that the expression levels of PTN1 genes were associated with survival in lung ADC but not lung SCC. All of the lung ADC datasets contained a set of highly correlated genes from PTN1 genes, but the lung SCC datasets had no similar set of genes. We identified 63 unique core genes from the PTN1 genes in the 5 lung ADC datasets: 17 of these core genes appeared in at least 4 of the lung ADC datasets, and the 17 corresponding proteins clearly interacted more strongly with each other in lung ADC than in lung SCC. Moreover, 16 of the 17 core genes play major roles in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. These data indicate that proliferation‐related genes in lung development have a significant prognostic value for lung ADC; the synergistic effects of the 17 core genes play an important role in lung ADC prognosis. These genes may have significant clinical implications for the treatment and prognosis of lung ADC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmembrane and secreted protein delta-like 1 homolog (DLK1) belongs to the EGF-like family. It is widely accepted that DLK1 plays important roles in regulating cell differentiation, such as adipogenesis and osteogenesis. Aberrant expression of DLK1 has been found in various types of human cancers, including lung cancer. A previous study in this lab has revealed that DLK1 is associated with tumor invasion, although the mechanism is still unknown. To explore the potential effects that DLK1 might have on invasion, DLK1 was overexpressed or knocked down in the human lung cancer cell lines. The protein's influences on cell invasion were subsequently evaluated. A transwell assay showed that DLK1 overexpression significantly promoted cancer cell invasion. Western blotting and gelatin zymography analysis indicated that DLK1 could affect both matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) expression and its extracellular activity. An analysis of NOTCH1 and HES1 gene expression and Notch intracellular domain (NICD) nuclear translocation during DLK1 stimulation or depletion demonstrated that DLK1 could activate Notch signaling in lung cancer cells. Additionally, the elevated expression of MMP9 induced by DLK1 stimulation could be significantly decreased by inhibiting Notch signaling using γ-secretase inhibitor (GSI). The data presented in this study suggest that DLK1 can promote the invasion of lung cancer cells by upregulating MMP9 expression, which depends on Notch signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the classic molecular subtype of breast cancer (BRCA) has been widely used in clinical diagnosis, as a highly heterogeneous malignant tumor, the classic scheme is not enough to accurately predict the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are thought to play a paramount role in tumor development and driving poor prognosis. In this study, we aimed to develop a TME-associated, immune-related signature to improve prognosis prediction of BRCA. BRCA&#95;OURS enriched transcriptomic RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of tumor tissue was acquired from 43 breast cancer patients before any treatment. On the immune gene profiles of 43 patients from BRCA&#95;OURS and 932 BRCA patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we identified a robust immune-related signature including one positive coefficients gene (IL-10) and other 9 genes (C14orf79, C1orf168, C1orf226, CELSR2, FABP7, FGFBP1, KLRB1, PLEKHO1, and RAC2), of which the negative coefficients suggesting higher expression were correlated with better prognosis. Based on the expression of these genes, patients were grouped into the high- and low-risk group with significant overall survival (OS) (P<0.0001). The high-risk group was likely to have inferior outcomes related to several important cancer-associated pathways, including mobilizing more Golgi vesicle-mediated transport and intensive DNA double-strand breaking, which are closely related to the infiltration of immune cells and holds the key for further growing and metastasizing. Collectively, our results highlight that the immunological value within BRCA is an essential determinant of prognostic factor. Our signature may provide an effective risk stratification tool for clinical prognosis assessment of patients with BRCA., Competing Interests: None., (AJCR Copyright © 2021.)

Objective: To determine the frequency and common deletion region of allelic losses on chromosome 17p13 in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of human urinary bladder so as to provide clues for isolation of candidate tumor suppressor genes associated with TCC of urinary bladder., Methods: Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis was made on 44 samples of surgically resected primary TCC by using 13 microsatellite markers to map the regions frequently deleted on chromosome 17p13. The relationship between the LOH in each locus and pathological grade and stage was analyzed., Results: Out of the 44 samples, 35 (79.5%) showed allelic loss in at least one of the 17p13 loci. The highest frequency of LOH (41.4%, 12/29) was at D17S513 in 17p13.2, the second highest frequency of LOH (40.5%, 17/42) was at D17S1308 in 17p13.3, and the lowest (14.3%, 4/28) was at D17S261 in 17p13.1. The most frequent LOH loci were mainly located in three regions: D17S695-D17S1308 in 17p13.3, D17S1533-D17S831 in 17p13.2, and TP53 in 17p13.1. Among them only the LOH frequency of TP53 locus was positively correlated to the grade (chi(2) = 5.104, P < 0.05) and stage (chi(2) = 5.382, P < 0.05) of TCC of unrinary bladder., Conclusion: In 17p13 region, except for TP53 gene, still exist two candidate tumor suppressor genes located in D17S695-D17S1308 and D17S1533-D17S831 involved in the carcinogenesis of TCC of urinary bladder. LOH of TP53 locus may be one of the later events in TCC, and LOH in 17p13.3 and 17p13.2 may be the early events of TCC of uninary bladder.