Functional microRNAs (miRNAs) in exosomes have been recognised as potential stable biomarkers in cancers. The aim of this study is to identify specific miRNAs in exosome as serum biomarkers for the ...early detection of recurrence in human colorectal cancer (CRC).
Serum samples were sequentially obtained from six patients with and without recurrent CRC. The miRNAs were purified from exosomes, and miRNA microarray analysis was performed. The miRNA expression profiles and copy number aberrations were explored using microarray and array CGH analyses in 124 CRC tissues. Then, we validated exosomal miRNAs in 2 serum sample sets (90 and 209 CRC patients) by quantitative real-time RT-PCR.
Exosomal miR-17-92a cluster expression level in serum was correlated with the recurrence of CRC. Exosomal miR-19a expression levels in serum were significantly increased in patients with CRC as compared with healthy individuals with gene amplification. The CRC patients with high exosomal miR-19a expression showed poorer prognoses than the low expression group (P<0.001).
Abundant expression of exosomal miR-19a in serum was identified as a prognostic biomarker for recurrence in CRC patients.
We previously conducted gene expression microarray analyses to identify novel indicators for colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis and prognosis from which we identified PVT-1 as a candidate gene. ...PVT-1, which encodes a long noncoding RNA, mapped to chromosome 8q24 whose copy-number amplification is one of the most frequent events in a wide variety of malignant diseases. However, PVT-1 molecular mechanism of action remains unclear.
We conducted cell proliferation and invasion assays using colorectal cancer cell lines transfected with PVT-1siRNA or negative control siRNA. Gene expression microarray analyses on these cell lines were also carried out to investigate the molecular function of PVT-1. Further, we investigated the impact of PVT-1 expression on the prognosis of 164 colorectal cancer patients by qRT-PCR.
CRC cells transfected with PVT-1 siRNA exhibited significant loss of their proliferation and invasion capabilities. In these cells, the TGF-β signalling pathway and apoptotic signals were significantly activated. In addition, univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that PVT-1 expression level was an independent risk factor for overall survival of colorectal cancer patients.
PVT-1, which maps to 8q24, generates antiapoptotic activity in CRC, and abnormal expression of PVT-1 was a prognostic indicator for CRC patients.
Predictive biomarkers for the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have great benefit in the selection of treatment options, including liver transplantation (LT), for HCC. The purpose of this ...study was to identify specific microRNAs (miRs) in exosomes from the serum of patients with recurrent HCC and to validate these molecules as novel biomarkers for HCC recurrence.
We employed microarray-based expression profiling of miRs derived from exosomes in the serum of HCC patients to identify a biomarker that distinguishes between patients with and without HCC recurrence after LT. This was followed by the validation in a separate cohort of 59 HCC patients who underwent living related LT. The functions and potential gene targets of the recurrence-specific miRs were analysed using a database, clinical samples and HCC cell lines.
We found that miR-718 showed significantly different expression in the serum exosomes of HCC cases with recurrence after LT compared with those without recurrence. Decreased expression of miR-718 was associated with HCC tumour aggressiveness in the validated cohort series. We identified HOXB8 as a potential target gene of miR-718, and its upregulation was associated with poor prognosis.
Circulating miRs in serum exosomes have potential as novel biomarkers for predicting HCC recurrence.
Paired related homoeobox 1 (PRRX1) has been identified as a new epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) inducer in breast cancer. However, the function of PRRX1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) has not ...been elucidated.
We utilised ectopic PRRX1-expressing cell lines to analyse the function of PRRX1 in CRC. The clinical significance of PRRX1 was also examined on three independent CRC case sets.
PRRX1 induced EMT and the stem-like phenotype in CRC cells. In contrast to studies of breast cancer, abundant expression of PRRX1 was significantly associated with metastasis and poor prognosis in CRC.
PRRX1 is an indicator of metastasis and poor prognosis in CRC cases. Further investigation is required to uncover the signalling network regulating PRRX1.
We identified TPX2 and AURAKA as novel co-regulators on the MYC pathway and proposed a new model of MYC-driven cancer. Co-amplification between 8q24 and 20q leads to co-overexpression of MYC and ...AURKA/TPX2, which cooperatively induce MYC downstream target genes. Based on this model, inhibiting the AURKA/TPX2 axis would be a novel synthetic lethal therapeutic approach for MYC-driven cancers.
The MYC oncogene has long been established as a central driver in many types of human cancers including colorectal cancer. However, the realization of MYC-targeting therapies remains elusive; as a result, synthetic lethal therapeutic approaches are alternatively being explored. A synthetic lethal therapeutic approach aims to kill MYC-driven tumors by targeting a certain co-regulator on the MYC pathway.
We analyzed copy number and expression profiles from 130 colorectal cancer tumors together with publicly available datasets to identify co-regulators on the MYC pathway. Candidates were functionally tested by in vitro assays using colorectal cancer and normal fibroblast cell lines. Additionally, survival analyses were carried out on another 159 colorectal cancer patients and public datasets.
Our in silico screening identified two MYC co-regulator candidates, AURKA and TPX2, which are interacting mitotic regulators located on chromosome 20q. We found the two candidates showed frequent co-amplification with the MYC locus while expression levels of MYC and the two genes were positively correlated with those of MYC downstream target genes across multiple cancer types. In vitro, the aberrant expression of MYC AURKA and TPX2 resulted in more aggressive anchorage-independent growth in normal fibroblast cells. Furthermore, knockdown of AURKA or TPX2, or treatment with an AURKA-specific inhibitor effectively suppressed the proliferation of MYC-expressing colorectal cancer cells. Additionally, combined high expression of MYC AURKA and TPX2 proved to be a poor prognostic indicator of colorectal cancer patient survival.
Through bioinformatic analyses and experiments, we proposed TPX2 and AURKA as novel co-regulators on the MYC pathway. Inhibiting the AURKA/TPX2 axis would be a novel synthetic lethal therapeutic approach for MYC-driven cancers.
The TP53 pathway is frequently inactivated in human cancers. PICT1 (also known as GLTSCR2) is a novel regulator of the MDM2-TP53 pathway via its interaction with the ribosomal protein RPL11 in the ...nucleolus. However, the clinical significance of PICT1 in gastric cancer remains unknown.
To evaluate PICT1 function, we used shRNA to inhibit PICT1 expression in gastric cancer cells that expressed wild-type TP53. PICT1 expression and TP53 mutation status were quantified in 110 cases of primary gastric cancer to explore the impact of PICT1 expression levels on gastric cancer.
Deficiency of PICT1 significantly impaired cell proliferation and colony formation via TP53-mediated cell cycle arrest. Following induction of PICT1 deficiency, RPL11 translocated out of the nucleolus. Of the 110 gastric cancer samples tested, 70 (63.6%) and 40 (36.4%) tumours expressed wild-type and mutant TP53, respectively. In gastric cancer patients with wild-type TP53 tumours, patients with relatively low PICT1 expression levels had a better prognosis compared with high expression level patients (P=0.046).
The findings suggest that PICT1 has a crucial role in gastric cancer progression by regulating the MDM2-TP53 pathway through RPL11. Clinically, PICT1 expression is a novel prognostic parameter in gastric cancer patients with wild-type TP53 tumours.
To characterize the structural properties of collagen lamellae in the normal and keratoconic human corneal stroma, we measured their width and angle relative to Bowman's layer (BL).
Thirteen normal ...and four keratoconic corneas were examined. Collagen lamellae in tissue blocks from the central cornea were visualized by second harmonic generation imaging microscopy. Images obtained in 1-μm steps from BL to Descemet's membrane (DM) were subjected to three-dimensional reconstruction. The reconstructed data sets were divided into 10 layers of equal depth (L1-L10) for analysis. The width of lamellae adherent to BL (L0) was also determined.
For the normal cornea, the width (mean ± SD) of collagen lamellae was 6.5 ± 1.7 μm at L0, decreased to 4.3 ± 1.3 μm at L1, and then increased gradually with progression toward DM to 122.2 ± 34.5 μm at L10, whereas the angle of lamellae was 20.9° ± 5.4° at L1 and decreased initially to 10.6° ± 3.2° at L2 before declining gradually to 2.7° ± 2.2° at L10. The width and angle of collagen lamellae in the keratoconic cornea were significantly larger and smaller, respectively, relative to those in the normal cornea.
In the normal human cornea, collagen lamellae adjacent to BL are narrow and form a steep angle with BL, whereas they increase in width and their angle relative to BL flattens with progression toward DM. These properties of collagen lamellae are altered in keratoconus and are likely related to abnormalities of corneal shape.
Advanced colorectal cancer harbors extensive intratumor heterogeneity shaped by neutral evolution; however, intratumor heterogeneity in colorectal precancerous lesions has been poorly studied. We ...perform multiregion whole-exome sequencing on ten early colorectal tumors, which contained adenoma and carcinoma in situ. By comparing with sequencing data from advanced colorectal tumors, we show that the early tumors accumulate a higher proportion of subclonal driver mutations than the advanced tumors, which is highlighted by subclonal mutations in KRAS and APC. We also demonstrate that variant allele frequencies of subclonal mutations tend to be higher in early tumors, suggesting that the subclonal mutations are subject to selective sweep in early tumorigenesis while neutral evolution is dominant in advanced ones. This study establishes that the evolutionary principle underlying intratumor heterogeneity shifts from Darwinian to neutral evolution during colorectal tumor progression.
Adventitious root cultures of
Rhus javanica L. produced large amounts of galloylglucoses (gallotannins) and an anthocyanidin, riccionidin A, formerly found only in liverworts. Production of both ...galloylglucoses and riccionidin A in the adventitious root culture system was suppressed by light. The
Rhus root culture showed the highest productivity for those secondary metabolites in a modified Linsmaier–Skoog (LS) liquid medium containing 30 mM
NH
+
4
and 30 mM
NO
−
3
as nitrogen sources in the presence of 10
−6 M 3-indoleacetic acid (IAA).
Oenotherin T
1 was isolated from leaves of
Oenothera tetraptera as a major ellagitannin. Its structure, that of a macrocyclic trimer with a new acyl group, an isodehydrovaloneoyl group, was ...established. This compound was also produced by callus tissues induced from
O. laciniata leaves.
Oenotherin T
1 was isolated from leaves of
Oenothera tetraptera as a major ellagitannin. Its structure of a macrocyclic trimer with a new acyl (isodehdrovaloneoyl) group, was established. This compound was also produced by the callus tissues induced from
O. laciniata leaves.