Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) show patterns of tissue- and cell type-specific expression that are very similar to those of protein coding genes and consequently have the potential to control stem ...and progenitor cell fate decisions along a differentiation trajectory. To understand the roles that lncRNAs may play in hematopoiesis, we selected a subset of mouse lncRNAs with potentially relevant expression patterns and refined our candidate list using evidence of conserved expression in human blood lineages. For each candidate, we assessed its possible role in hematopoietic differentiation in vivo using competitive transplantation. Our studies identified two lncRNAs that were required for hematopoiesis. One of these, Spehd, showed defective multilineage differentiation, and its silencing yielded common myeloid progenitors that are deficient in their oxidative phosphorylation pathway. This effort not only suggests that lncRNAs can contribute to differentiation decisions during hematopoiesis but also provides a path toward the identification of functional lncRNAs in other differentiation hierarchies.
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•Conserved differential expression of syntelogs to enrich functional lncRNAs•Bone marrow transplant of lncRNA-depleted HSCs uncovers in vivo functional lncRNAs•Spehd is required for differentiation during reconstitution and homeostasis•Myeloid progenitors depleted of Spehd show oxidative phosphorylation defects
Delás et al. identify Spehd as an lncRNA expressed in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and required for in vivo differentiation during transplantation and homeostasis.
Bladder Cancer (BC) represents a clinical and social challenge due to its high incidence and recurrence rates, as well as the limited advances in effective disease management. Currently, a ...combination of cytology and cystoscopy is the routinely used methodology for diagnosis, prognosis and disease surveillance. However, both the poor sensitivity of cytology tests as well as the high invasiveness and big variation in tumour stage and grade interpretation using cystoscopy, emphasizes the urgent need for improvements in BC clinical guidance. Liquid biopsy represents a new non-invasive approach that has been extensively studied over the last decade and holds great promise. Even though its clinical use is still compromised, multiple studies have recently focused on the potential application of biomarkers in liquid biopsies for BC, including circulating tumour cells and DNA, RNAs, proteins and peptides, metabolites and extracellular vesicles. In this review, we summarize the present knowledge on the different types of biomarkers, their potential use in liquid biopsy and clinical applications in BC.
Immunotherapy has been proven a viable treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment in patients. However, some patients still do not benefit. Finding new predictive biomarkers ...for immunocheckpoint inhibitor (ICI) response will improve treatment management in the clinical routine. In this regard, liquid biopsy is a useful and noninvasive alternative to surgical biopsies. In the present study, we evaluated the potential diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive value of seven different soluble mediators involved in immunoregulation. Fifty-two plasma samples from advanced NSCLC treated in first-line with pembrolizumab at baseline (PRE) and at first response assessment (FR) were analyzed. In terms of diagnostic value, our results revealed that sFGL1, sGAL-3, and sGAL-1 allowed for optimal diagnostic efficacy for cancer patients. Additionally, the combination of sFGL1 and sGAL-3 significantly improved diagnostic accuracy. Regarding the predictive value to assess patients' immune response, sCD276 levels at PRE were significantly higher in patients without tumor response (
= 0.035). Moreover, we observed that high levels of sMICB at PRE were associated with absence of clinical benefit (pembrolizumab treatment less than 6 months) (
= 0.049), and high levels of sMICB and sGAL-3 at FR are also related to a lack of clinical benefit (
= 0.027 and
= 0.03, respectively). Finally, in relation to prognosis significance, at PRE and FR, sMICB levels above the 75th percentile are related to poor progression-free survival (PFS) (
= 0.013 and
= 0.023, respectively) and overall survival (OS) (
= 0.001 and
= 0.011, respectively). An increase in sGAL3 levels at FR was associated with worse PFS (
= 0.037). Interestingly, high sGAL-3 at PRE was independently associated with PFS and OS with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.45 (95% CI 1.14-5.25;
= 0.021) and 4.915 (95% CI 1.89-12.73;
= 0.001). In conclusion, plasma levels of sFGL1, sGAL-3, and sGAL-1 could serve as diagnostic indicators and sMICB, sCD276, and sGAL3 were linked to outcomes, suggesting their potential in assessing NSCLC under pembrolizumab treatment. Our results highlight the value of employing soluble immune biomarkers in advanced lung cancer patients treated with pembrolizumab at first-line.
A substantial fraction of the genome is transcribed in a cell-type-specific manner, producing long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), rather than protein-coding transcripts. Here, we systematically ...characterize transcriptional dynamics during hematopoiesis and in hematological malignancies. Our analysis of annotated and de novo assembled lncRNAs showed many are regulated during differentiation and mis-regulated in disease. We assessed lncRNA function via an in vivo RNAi screen in a model of acute myeloid leukemia. This identified several lncRNAs essential for leukemia maintenance, and found that a number act by promoting leukemia stem cell signatures. Leukemia blasts show a myeloid differentiation phenotype when these lncRNAs were depleted, and our data indicates that this effect is mediated via effects on the MYC oncogene. Bone marrow reconstitutions showed that a lncRNA expressed across all progenitors was required for the myeloid lineage, whereas the other leukemia-induced lncRNAs were dispensable in the normal setting.
Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common neoplasia of the urothelial tract. Due to its high incidence, prevalence, recurrence and mortality, it remains an unsolved clinical and social problem. The ...treatment of BC is challenging and, although immunotherapies have revealed potential benefit in a percentage of patients, it remains mostly an incurable disease at its advanced state. Epigenetic alterations, including aberrant DNA methylation, altered chromatin remodeling and deregulated expression of non-coding RNAs are common events in BC and can be driver events in BC pathogenesis. Accordingly, these epigenetic alterations are now being used as potential biomarkers for these disorders and are being envisioned as potential therapeutic targets for the future management of BC. In this review, we summarize the recent findings in these emerging and exciting new aspects paving the way for future clinical treatment of this disease.
Metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) remains an incurable disease with limited treatment options after platinum-based chemotherapy and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Vinflunine has shown a modest ...increase in overall survival and remains a therapeutic option for chemo- and immunotherapy refractory tumours. However, biomarkers that could identify responding patients to vinflunine and possible alternative therapies after failure to treatment are still missing. In this study, we aimed to identify potential genomic biomarkers of vinflunine response in mUC patient samples and potential management alternatives.
Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples of mUC patients (
= 23) from three university hospitals in Spain were used for genomic targeted-sequencing and transcriptome (using the Immune Profile panel by NanoString) analyses. Patients who received vinflunine after platinum-based chemotherapy failure were classified in non-responders (NR: progressive disease ≤ 3 months;
= 11) or responders (R: response ≥ 6 months;
= 12).
Genomic characterization revealed that the most common alteration,
mutations, had comparable frequency in R (6/12; 50%) and NR (4/11; 36%). Non-synonymous mutations in
(4/12; 33.3%),
(3/12; 25%) and
(3/12; 25%) were predominantly associated with response. No significant difference was observed in tumour mutational burden (TMB) between R and NR patients. The NR tumours showed increased expression of diverse immune-related genes and pathways, including various interferon gamma-related genes. We also identified increased
expression as a potential biomarker of non-responding tumours to vinflunine treatment.
Our data may help to identify potential genomic biomarkers of response to vinflunine. Moreover, tumours refractory to vinflunine showed immune signatures potentially associated with response to ICB. Extensive validation studies, including longitudinal series, are needed to corroborate these findings.
Alterations in the epigenetic machinery in both tumor and immune cells contribute to bladder cancer (BC) development, constituting a promising target as an alternative therapeutic option. Here, we ...have explored the effects of a novel histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor CM-1758, alone or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in BC. We determined the antitumor effects of CM-1758 in various BC cell lines together with the induction of broad transcriptional changes, with focus on the epigenetic regulation of PD-L1. Using an immunocompetent syngeneic mouse model of metastatic BC, we studied the effects of CM-1758 alone or in combination with anti-PD-L1 not only on tumor cells, but also in the tumor microenvironment. In vitro, we found that CM-1758 has cytotoxic and cytostatic effects either by inducing apoptosis or cell cycle arrest in BC cells at low micromolar levels. PD-L1 is epigenetically regulated by histone acetylation marks and is induced after treatment with CM-1758. We also observed that treatment with CM-1758 led to an important delay in tumor growth and a higher CD8 + T cell tumor infiltration. Moreover, anti-PD-L1 alone or in combination with CM-1758 reprogramed macrophage differentiation towards a M1-like polarization state and increased of pro-inflammatory cytokines systemically, yielding potential further antitumor effects. Our results suggest the possibility of combining HDAC inhibitors with immunotherapies for the management of advanced metastatic BC.
Bladder cancer is lethal in its advanced, muscle-invasive phase with very limited therapeutic advances
. Recent molecular characterization has defined new (epi)genetic drivers and potential targets ...for bladder cancer
. The immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown remarkable efficacy but only in a limited fraction of bladder cancer patients
. Here, we show that high G9a (EHMT2) expression is associated with poor clinical outcome in bladder cancer and that targeting G9a/DNMT methyltransferase activity with a novel inhibitor (CM-272) induces apoptosis and immunogenic cell death. Using an immunocompetent quadruple-knockout (Pten
; Trp53
; Rb1
; Rbl1
) transgenic mouse model of aggressive metastatic, muscle-invasive bladder cancer, we demonstrate that CM-272 + cisplatin treatment results in statistically significant regression of established tumors and metastases. The antitumor effect is significantly improved when CM-272 is combined with anti-programmed cell death ligand 1, even in the absence of cisplatin. These effects are associated with an endogenous antitumor immune response and immunogenic cell death with the conversion of a cold immune tumor into a hot tumor. Finally, increased G9a expression was associated with resistance to programmed cell death protein 1 inhibition in a cohort of patients with bladder cancer. In summary, these findings support new and promising opportunities for the treatment of bladder cancer using a combination of epigenetic inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockade.
Bladder cancer is a current clinical and social problem. At diagnosis, most patients present with nonmuscle-invasive tumors, characterized by a high recurrence rate, which could progress to ...muscle-invasive disease and metastasis. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-dependent signaling arising from stromal bladder tissue mediates urothelial homeostasis by promoting urothelial cell differentiation. However, the possible role of BMP ligands in bladder cancer is still unclear.
Tumor and normal tissue from 68 patients with urothelial cancer were prospectively collected and analyzed for expression of BMP and macrophage markers. The mechanism of action was assessed
by experiments with bladder cancer cell lines and peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages.
We observed
expression is associated and favored type II macrophage differentiation.
experiments showed that both recombinant BMP4 and BMP4-containing conditioned media from bladder cancer cell lines favored monocyte/macrophage polarization toward M2 phenotype macrophages, as shown by the expression and secretion of IL10. Using a series of human bladder cancer patient samples, we also observed increased expression of
in advanced and undifferentiated tumors in close correlation with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, the p-Smad 1,5,8 staining in tumors showing EMT signs was reduced, due to the increased miR-21 expression leading to reduced
expression.
These findings suggest that BMP4 secretion by bladder cancer cells provides the M2 signal necessary for a protumoral immune environment. In addition, the repression of
by miR-21 makes the tumor cells refractory to the prodifferentiating actions mediated by BMP ligands, favoring tumor growth.
.
Bladder cancer is a clinical and social problem due to its high incidence and recurrence rates. It frequently appears in elderly patients showing other medical comorbidities that hamper the use of ...standard chemotherapy. We evaluated the activity of CDK4/6 inhibitor as a new therapy for patients unfit for cisplatin (CDDP).
Bladder cancer cell lines were tested for
sensitivity to CDK4/6 inhibition. A novel metastatic bladder cancer mouse model was developed and used to test its
activity.
Cell lines tested were sensitive to CDK4/6 inhibition, independent on
gene status. Transcriptome analyses and knockdown experiments revealed a major role for FOXM1 in this response. CDK4/6 inhibition resulted in reduced FOXM1 phosphorylation
and
and showed synergy with CDDP, allowing a significant tumor regression. FOXM1 exerted important oncogenic roles in bladder cancer.
CDK4/6 inhibitors, alone or in combination, are a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with advanced bladder cancer previously classified as unfit for current treatment options.
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