Lung cancer screening: advantages, controversies, and applications

miR-130a-Mediated KLF3 Can Inhibit the Growth of Lung Cancer Cells

Background

The role of microRNA (miR) in tumors has been reported in numerous articles. Previous studies have found that miR-130a is low expressed in lung cancer, but the related mechanism has not been fully elucidated. This study mainly explores the mechanism of miR-130a in lung cancer, so as to provide potential therapeutic targets for clinical applications.

Methods

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of miR-130a and KLF3 in the tissues of lung cancer patients. The miR-130a-mimics and miR-130a-inhibit were constructed. Cell proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis were determined by CCK-8, transwell, scratch test and flow cytometry. Western Blot was used to determine the expression of KLF3 protein in cells, and the dual-luciferase reporter to determine the relationship between KLF3 and miR-130a.

Results

miR-130a shows low expression in NSCLC patients, while KLF3 shows high expression, exhibiting a negative correlation. The 5-year survival rate of patients with low miR-130a expression and high KLF3 expression was reduced. Cox regression analysis showed that miR-130a was an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients. The dual-luciferase reporter revealed that miR-130a bound to KLF3 in a targeted manner, and cell experiments showed that miR-130a could inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells by regulating the expression of KLF3.

Conclusion

miR-130a shows low expression in lung cancer and predicts a poor prognosis. In addition, up-regulation of miR-130a can down-regulate KLF3 and inhibit the growth of lung cancer.

CRISPR/Cas9 library screening uncovered methylated PKP2 as a critical driver of lung cancer radioresistance by stabilizing β-catenin

Radiation resistance is a major cause of lung cancer treatment failure. Armadillo (ARM) superfamily proteins participate in various fundamental cellular processes; however, whether ARM proteins regulate radiation resistance is not fully understood. Here, we used an unbiased CRISPR/Cas9 library screen and identified plakophilin 2 (PKP2), a member of the ARM superfamily of proteins, as a critical driver of radiation resistance in lung cancer. The PKP2 level was significantly higher after radiotherapy than before radiotherapy, and high PKP2 expression after radiotherapy predicted poor overall survival (OS) and postprogression survival (PPS). Mechanistically, mass spectrometry analysis identified that PKP2 was methylated at the arginine site and interacted with protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1). Methylation of PKP2 by PRMT1 stabilized β-catenin by recruiting USP7, further inducing LIG4, a key DNA ligase in nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair. Concomitantly, PKP2-induced radioresistance depended on facilitating LIG4-mediated NHEJ repair in lung cancer. More strikingly, after exposure to irradiation, treatment with the PRMT1 inhibitor C-7280948 abolished PKP2-induced radioresistance, and C-7280948 is a potential radiosensitizer in lung cancer. In summary, our results demonstrate that targeting the PRMT1/PKP2/β-catenin/LIG4 pathway is an effective approach to overcome radiation resistance in lung cancer.

Correlation Between Promoter Hypomethylation and Increased Expression of Syncytin-1 in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Introduction

Syncytin-1 is a human endogenous retroviral (HERVW) envelope protein, which has been implicated in trophoblast and cancer cell fusions as well as in immunomodulatory functions. We investigated syncytin-1 expression and promoter methylation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the adjacent, para-carcinoma tissues. In addition, the correlation to patient survival differentiation of between 5-year survival and death group was analyzed.

Methods

Survival ratio was calculated by Kaplan-Meier survival curve. Death risk assessment was executed by Cox risk regression model. The 5ʹ-LTR methylation level of HERVW promoter was detected by EpiTYPER method.

Results

Syncytin-1 expression in NSCLC tissue was found to be significantly higher than in para-carcinoma tissues. Moreover, the 5-year survival group has a lower syncytin-1 expression than the death group. Clinical stage and the percentage of syncytin-1 positive cells were top risk factors according to Cox ratio risk regression model analysis. While the methylation level of the 5ʹ-LTR in HERVW gene promoter was relatively lower in NSCLC than para-carcinoma tissues, the methylation status of a CpG-2 site overlapping the Oct-1 binding site was found to be an important element potentially involved in the epigenetic regulation of HERVW gene expression.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that syncytin-1 could be a biomarker for the diagnosis/prognosis of NSCLC, and further studies are required to elucidate the exact role of syncytin-1 in the development of NSCLC as well as the underlying molecular mechanism for syncytin-1 function and regulation.

Down-Regulation of TMPO-AS1 Induces Apoptosis in Lung Carcinoma Cells by Regulating miR-143-3p/CDK1 Axis

Evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) play pivotal roles in cancer promotion as well as suppression. But the molecular mechanism of lncRNA TMPO antisense transcript 1 (TMPO-AS1) in lung cancer (LC) remains unclear. This study mainly investigated the effect of TMPO-AS1 in LC treatment. TMPO-AS1 was tested by Kaplan-Meier method. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was employed to assess the expressions of TMPO-AS1, miR-143-3p, and CDK1 respectively in LC tissues and cell lines. TMPO-AS1, miR-143-3p and CDK1 expressions in LC cells were regulated through cell transfection, followed by MTT for cell viability detection. Besides, dual-luciferase reporter assays were performed to verify the interrelated microRNA of TMPO-AS1 and the target of miR-143-3p. Western blot experiments were used to examine the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins, and flow cytometry tested the cell apoptosis in treated cells. TMPO-AS1 and CDK1 were overexpressed in LC tissues and cells, while miR-143-3p level was suppressed. The decrease of TMPO-AS1 led to the increase of miR-143-3p, which further resulted in the reduction of CDK1. Down-regulating TMPO-AS1 reduced LC cell viability, motivated cell apoptosis, as well as promoted the expressions of Bcl and CCND1 and restrained Caspase-3 level, but all these consequences were abrogated by miR-143-3p inhibitor. Simultaneously, siCDK1 could reverse the anti-apoptosis and pro-activity functions of miR-143-3p inhibitor in LC cells. Down-regulation of TMPO-AS1 has the effects of pro-apoptosis in LC by manipulating miR-143-3p/CDK1, which is hopeful to be a novel therapy for LC patients.

CircVAPA exerts oncogenic property in non-small cell lung cancer by the miR-876-5p/WNT5A axis

BACKGROUND

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most fatal malignant tumors. Emerging studies have clarified the crucial roles of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in the tumorigenesis of cancers. CircVAPA was demonstrated to function in some human cancers. The present study aimed to investigate the role of circVAPA in NSCLC.

METHODS

A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the expression of genes. Actinomycin D and RNase R were employed to examine the stability of circVAPA. Cell-counting kit-8, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine, Transwell and sphere formation assays, and well as western blot analysis, were conducted to examine the changes of NSCLC cells in response to circVAPA knockdown. A luciferase reporter assay was conducted for the molecular mechanism.

RESULTS

Our findings demonstrated high expression of circVAPA in tissues and cell lines of NSCLC. Knockdown of circVAPA had a suppressive effect on cell proliferation, migration, invasion and stemness, and also inhibited tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, circVAPA acted as a competing endogenous RNA to up-regulate WNT5A by sponging miR-876-5p. Moreover, circVAPA activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling by up-regulation of WNT5A. Rescue assays showed that silencing of miR-876-5p or overexpression of WNT5A reversed the circVAPA knockdown-mediated inhibition on cellular processes in NSCLC.

CONCLUSIONS

CircVAPA promotes aggressive phenotypes of NSCLC cells by the miR-876-5p/WNT5A axis activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

Downregulation of long non-coding RNA LINC-PINT serves as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in gene regulation. Several lncRNAs have been demonstrated to be associated with the diagnosis and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The present study aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA long intragenic non-protein-coding RNA p53-induced transcript (LINC-PINT) in NSCLC to identify a novel non-invasive biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis was performed to detect LINC-PINT expression in the tissue and serum samples of patients with NSCLC. The diagnostic and prognostic values of LINC-PINT were assessed via the receiver operating characteristic curve, and Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses, respectively. The results demonstrated that LINC-PINT expression was significantly downregulated in NSCLC serum samples and tissues. In addition, serum LINC-PINT exhibited diagnostic value in patients with NSCLC, and may be used to predict prognosis. Furthermore, aberrant LINC-PINT expression in tumor tissues was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, tumor size, differentiation and TNM stage. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that lncRNA LINC-PINT may be an independent diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in NSCLC.

Downregulated microRNA-140-5p expression regulates apoptosis, migration and invasion of lung cancer cells by targeting zinc finger protein 800

Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment in recent years, lung cancer is still one of the primary causes of cancer-associated morbidity and mortality in globally. Abnormally expressed microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) in tumor tissues serve vital roles in the pathological mechanism of tumors and have become prospective biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of the miR-140-5p/zinc finger protein 800 (ZNF800) axis in lung carcinoma, and determine its potential underlying molecular mechanisms. The degree of cell proliferation was assessed via the MTT assay, while the migratory and invasive abilities of lung cancer cells were determined via the Transwell and Matrigel assays. The expression levels of miR-140-5p and ZNF800 were detected via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analyses. The results demonstrated that miR-140-5p expression was notably higher in normal human bronchial epithelial cells compared with the respective lung cancer cell lines, H292, PC-9, CL1-5 and H460. Furthermore, miR-140-5p expression increased in the lung cancer cells compared with the control cells following transfection with miR-140-5p mimic. Overexpressing miR-140-5p significantly suppressed the proliferative, invasive and migratory abilities of H460 and PC-9 cells, and stimulated cell apoptosis by upregulating the expression of cleaved-caspase-3. Notably, these effects were reversed following transfection with miR-140-5p inhibitor. miR-140-5p was predicted as a negative regulator of ZNF800, and ZNF800 knockdown significantly suppressed the proliferative and metastatic abilities of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells, which was comparable to the effects of miR-140-5p mimic. Taken together, these results suggest that miR-140-5p may block the malignant phenotype of LUAD by negatively regulating ZNF800 expression. Thus, the miR-140-5p/ZNF800 axis may be used as an alternative therapeutic target for lung carcinoma in general, and LUAD in particular.

Comparison of clinical diagnostic value of spiral CT with different dose in patients with early-stage peripheral lung cancer

PURPOSE

To compare the clinical diagnostic value of spiral CT scan with different dose in patients with early-stage peripheral lung cancer.

METHODS

A total of 163 cases of patients with early-stage peripheral lung cancer who came to People's Hospital of Rizhao for treatment from June 2014 to January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 78 cases of patients who received low-dose CT scanning were the low-dose group, another 84 cases of patients who received routine dose CT scanning were the routine dose group. Multislice helical CT (MSCT) scanning was performed in both groups, with tube voltage of 120 kV. Tube current was 25 m A in the low-dose group and 250 m A in the routine dose group. In addition, a total of 80 patients with lobar pneumonia were added as the control group of diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. Pathological diagnosis was taken as the gold standard to compare the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the two groups.

RESULTS

The image quality, nodules and signs of the two groups were compared, and the results of radiation dose of the two groups were compared. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the low-dose group were 82.05%, 87.50% and 84.81%, respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the routine dose group were 85.71%, 86.25% and 85.97%, respectively. The diagnostic value of the two groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). However, the radiation dose in the low-dose group was significantly lower than that in the routine group.

CONCLUSION

Low-dose MSCT scanning can meet the clinical requirements for imaging diagnosis of peripheral lung cancer, and can reduce the radiation dose of patients.

A model of twenty-three metabolic-related genes predicting overall survival for lung adenocarcinoma

Background

The highest rate of cancer-related deaths worldwide is from lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) annually. Metabolism was associated with tumorigenesis and cancer development. Metabolic-related genes may be important biomarkers and metabolic therapeutic targets for LUAD.

Materials and Methods

In this study, the gleaned cohort included LUAD RNA-SEQ data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and corresponding clinical data (n = 445). The training cohort was utilized to model construction, and data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, GSE30219 cohort, n = 83; GEO, GSE72094, n = 393) were regarded as a testing cohort and utilized for validation. First, we used a lasso-penalized Cox regression analysis to build a new metabolic-related signature for predicting the prognosis of LUAD patients. Next, we verified the metabolic gene model by survival analysis, C-index, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were utilized to verify the gene signature as an independent prognostic factor. Finally, we constructed a nomogram and performed gene set enrichment analysis to facilitate subsequent clinical applications and molecular mechanism analysis.

Result

Patients with higher risk scores showed significantly associated with poorer survival. We also verified the signature can work as an independent prognostic factor for LUAD survival. The nomogram showed better clinical application performance for LUAD patient prognostic prediction. Finally, KEGG and GO pathways enrichment analyses suggested several especially enriched pathways, which may be helpful for us investigative the underlying mechanisms.

How long is cessation of preoperative smoking required to improve postoperative survival of patients with pathological stage I non-small cell lung cancer?

Background

Smoking can cause non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the effects of preoperative smoking on tumor progression are not well-known. In addition, the duration of smoking cessation that can provide NSCLC patients with smoking history similar postoperative prognosis as that of nonsmokers remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the period of smoking cessation that may “compensate” for past smoking history regarding postoperative survival in cases of resected pathological stage I NSCLC by examining the relationship between clinicopathological factors and preoperative smoking.

Methods

We retrospectively examined clinicopathological factors including preoperative smoking status and postoperative survival in 453 patients with pathologically proven stage I NSCLC at our Institute. Smoking status was evaluated using the following four parameters: cigarettes per day, number of years of smoking, pack-years, and number of years since smoking cessation.

Results

Pathological factors that reflect tumor invasiveness including vascular invasion (VI) and pleural invasion (PL) were associated with the degree of preoperative smoking in adenocarcinomas, particularly invasive diameters of 2–3 cm. Such a relationship was not identified for non-adenocarcinomas. Heavy smoking status was significantly related to PL in lepidic or papillary predominant adenocarcinomas and to VI in acinar or solid predominant adenocarcinomas. Former smokers who quit smoking for ≥10 years had similar postoperative survival as non-smokers for adenocarcinoma ≤3 cm.

Conclusions

Accumulative smoking habit correlated with VI and PL, particularly in 2–3 cm adenocarcinoma, whereas larger adenocarcinomas and non-adenocarcinomas of any size appear to grow and become invasive independent of preoperative smoking status. Longer smoking cessation ≥10 years can result in postoperative survival similar to that of non-smokers with adenocarcinomas ≤3 cm. Current smokers should quit smoking immediately to ensure longer survival even though they suffer from small-sized lung adenocarcinomas in the future.

miR‑379‑5p inhibits cell proliferation and promotes cell apoptosis in non‑small cell lung cancer by targeting β‑arrestin‑1

Lung cancer is the most common fatal type of cancer, demonstrating high incidence rates in both sexes. Therefore, it is of vital importance to devise more effective and targeted therapies to improve the treatment quality for patients. The present study aimed to determine the effects of microRNA (miR)-379-5p on cell proliferation and apoptosis, in addition to its underlying molecular mechanisms in lung cancer. Tumor and adjacent normal tissues were obtained from patients with NSCLC and transfection experiments in A549 cells were performed using miR-379-5p mimics and pcDNA3.1- β-arrestin-1 (ARRB1) overexpression plasmids. The cell proliferation rate was determined using a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and the cell apoptotic rate was analyzed using flow cytometry. Additionally, the mRNA and protein expression levels of proliferation-related signaling (PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT and p-AKT) and apoptotic-related factors (Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3) were detected using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting, respectively. The results of the present study revealed that miR-379-5p expression levels were downregulated, whereas ARRB1 expression levels were significantly upregulated in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. Following the successful transfection of the miR-379-5p mimic and ARRB1 overexpression plasmid, it was revealed that the overexpression of miR-379-5p inhibited cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis, whereas ARRB1 overexpression reversed this inhibition over proliferation and promotion of apoptosis. The increased cell apoptotic rate observed in the miR-379-5p mimics group was associated with a significant downregulation and upregulation of Bcl-2, and Bax and caspase-3 expression levels, respectively. Finally, ARRB1 was identified as a target gene of miR-379-5p. In conclusion, the expression levels of miR-379-5p were demonstrated to be significantly downregulated in lung cancer. In addition, miR-379-5p overexpression led to the decreased expression levels of Bcl-2, phosphorylated (p)-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT, and the increased expression levels of Bax and caspase-3. Overall, this resulted in the inhibition of cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis by directly targeting ARRB1. Therefore, miR-379-5p may be a potential target for NSCLC treatment due to its ability to inhibit cell proliferation and accelerate the apoptotic process.

Impact of low-dose CT screening for lung cancer on ethnic health inequities in New Zealand: a cost-effectiveness analysis

OBJECTIVE

There are large inequities in the lung cancer burden for the Indigenous Māori population of New Zealand. We model the potential lifetime health gains, equity impacts and cost-effectiveness of a national low-dose CT (LDCT) screening programme for lung cancer in smokers aged 55-74 years with a 30 pack-year history, and for formers smokers who have quit within the last 15 years.

DESIGN

A Markov macrosimulation model estimated: health benefits (health-adjusted life-years (HALYs)), costs and cost-effectiveness of biennial LDCT screening. Input parameters came from literature and NZ-linked health datasets.

SETTING

New Zealand.

PARTICIPANTS

Population aged 55-74 years in 2011.

INTERVENTIONS

Biennial LDCT screening for lung cancer compared with usual care.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated using the average difference in costs and HALYs between the screened and the unscreened populations. Equity analyses included substituting non-Māori values for Māori values of background morbidity, mortality and stage-specific survival. Changes in inequities in lung cancer survival and 'health-adjusted life expectancy' (HALE) were measured.

RESULTS

LDCT screening in NZ is likely to be cost-effective for the total population: NZ$34 400 per HALY gained (95% uncertainty interval NZ$27 500 to NZ$42 900) and for Māori separately (using a threshold of gross domestic product per capita NZ$45 000). Health gains per capita for Māori females were twice that for non-Māori females and 25% greater for Māori males compared with non-Māori males. LDCT screening will narrow absolute inequities in HALE and lung cancer mortality for Māori, but will slightly increase relative inequities in mortality from lung cancer (compared with non-Māori) due to differential stage-specific survival.

CONCLUSION

A national biennial LDCT lung cancer screening programme in New Zealand is likely to be cost-effective, will improve total population health and reduce health inequities for Māori. Attention must be paid to addressing ethnic inequities in stage-specific lung cancer survival.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Nuclear Medicine: Future Perspectives

Artificial intelligence and machine learning based approaches are increasingly finding their way into various areas of nuclear medicine imaging. With the technical development of new methods and the expansion to new fields of application, this trend is likely to become even more pronounced in future. Possible means of application range from automated image reading and classification to correlation with clinical outcomes and to technological applications in image processing and reconstruction. In the context of tumor imaging, that is, predominantly FDG or PSMA PET imaging but also bone scintigraphy, artificial intelligence approaches can be used to quantify the whole-body tumor volume, for the segmentation and classification of pathological foci or to facilitate the diagnosis of micro-metastases. More advanced applications aim at the correlation of image features that are derived by artificial intelligence with clinical endpoints, for example, whole-body tumor volume with overall survival. In nuclear medicine imaging of benign diseases, artificial intelligence methods are predominantly used for automated and/or facilitated image classification and clinical decision making. Automated feature selection, segmentation and classification of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy can help in identifying patients that would benefit from intervention and to forecast clinical prognosis. Automated reporting of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease might be extended to early diagnosis-being of special interest, if targeted treatment options might become available. Technological approaches include artificial intelligence-based attenuation correction of PET images, image reconstruction or anatomical landmarking. Attenuation correction is of special interest for avoiding the need of a coregistered CT scan, in the process of image reconstruction artefacts might be reduced, or ultra low-dose PET images might be denoised. The development of accurate ultra low-dose PET imaging might broaden the method's applicability, for example, toward oncologic PET screening. Most artificial intelligence approaches in nuclear medicine imaging are still in early stages of development, further improvements are necessary for broad clinical applications. In this review, we describe the current trends in the context fields of body oncology, cardiac imaging, and neuroimaging while an additional section puts emphasis on technological trends. Our aim is not only to describe currently available methods, but also to place a special focus on the description of possible future developments.

LINC00324 affects non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation and invasion through regulation of the miR-139-5p/IGF1R axis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are proved to perform critical function in regulating cancer cell behavior. It is reported that LINC00324 promotes lung adenocarcinoma development by regulating miR-615-5p/AKT1 axis. This study aimed to demonstrate whether LINC00324 participates in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pathogenesis through other molecular mechanism. Relative mRNA, lncRNA, and microRNA levels were analyzed using quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Western blot was used to detect protein level. MTT assay shown proliferation ability and transwell assay shown invasive ability. Luciferase reporter assay illustrated the interaction between RNA molecules. In NSCLC, the high expression of LINC00324 had correlation with the poor prognosis. LINC00324 promoted the proliferation and invasion of NSCLC cells while miR-139-5p inhibited these behaviors. LINC00324 overexpression promoted insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) expression via absorbing miR-139-5p. The tumor-promoting effects of LINC00324 were attenuated through miR-139-5p overexpression. Highly expressed LINC00324 in NSCLC through sponged miR-139-5p to elevate IGF1R expression and promoted cell proliferation and invasion. This research demonstrated that LINC00324 is a potential NSCLC diagnosis and therapy target.

Possible role of circulating tumor cells in early detection of lung cancer

The prognosis of lung cancer varies highly depending on the disease stage at diagnosis, from a 5-year survival rate close to 90% in stage I, to 10% or less in stage IV disease. The enhancement of early diagnosis of this malignancy is mandatory to improve prognosis, because lung cancer patients stay long asymptomatic or few symptomatic after disease onset. Nowadays, liquid biopsy has emerged as a minimally-invasive tool to address the urgent need for real time monitoring, stratification, and personalized treatment of malignancies, including lung cancer. Liquid biopsy refers to a class of biomarkers, including circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tdEV). Since CTCs represent a crucial step in disease progression and metastasis, we reviewed here the scientific literature about the use of CTCs in early diagnosis of lung cancer; different techniques, and different strategies (e.g., source of analysis sample or high-risk groups of patients) were discussed showing the potential of implementing liquid biopsy in the clinical routine of non-metastatic lung cancer.

Integration of platelet features in blood and platelet rich plasma for detection of lung cancer

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether the integration platelet features in blood and platelet rich plasma can establish a model to diagnose lung cancer and colon cancer, even differentiate lung malignancy from lung benign diseases.

METHODS

245 individuals including 159 lung cancer and 86 normal participants were divided into the training cohort and testing cohort randomly. Then, 32 colon cancers, 37 lung cancers, and 21 benign patients were enrolled into validate cohort. The whole blood and corresponding platelet rich plasma (PRP) samples from all participants were prospectively collected, and the platelet features were determined. The features which are statistically significant at the univariate analysis in the training cohort and reported significant features were entered the diagnostic model. A receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the accuracy of the model in each cohort.

RESULTS

In the training cohort, multiple platelet features were significantly different in lung cancer patients, including MPV in whole blood, MPV, and platelet count in PRP and platelet recovery rate (PRR). For the training cohort, the diagnostic model for lung cancer performed well (AUC = 0.92). The probability distribution of lung cancers and controls in testing cohort were also separated well by the diagnostic model (AUC = 0.79). The diagnostic model for colon cancer also performed well (AUC = 0.79). The model also has a potential value in differentiating the lung malignancy from the benign (AUC = 0.69).

CONCLUSION

The PRR was first raised and used in the detection of lung cancer. This study identified a diagnostic model based on PRR and other platelet features in whole blood and PRP samples with the potential to distinguish patients with lung cancer or colon cancer from healthy controls. The model could also be used to distinguish between lung cancer from the benign disease.

Incorporating deep learning and multi-omics autoencoding for analysis of lung adenocarcinoma prognostication

Lung cancer is the most occurring cancer type, and its mortality rate is also the highest, among them lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) accounts for about 40 % of lung cancer. There is an urgent need to develop a prognosis prediction model for lung adenocarcinoma. Previous LUAD prognosis studies only took single-omics data, such as mRNA or miRNA, into consideration. To this end, we proposed a deep learning-based autoencoding approach for combination of four-omics data, mRNA, miRNA, DNA methylation and copy number variations, to construct an autoencoder model, which learned representative features to differentiate the two optimal patient subgroups with a significant difference in survival (P = 4.08e-09) and good consistency index (C-index = 0.65). The multi-omics model was validated though four independent datasets, i.e. GSE81089 for mRNA (n = 198, P = 0.0083), GSE63805 for miRNA (n = 32, P = 0.018), GSE63384 for DNA methylation (n = 35, P = 0.009), and TCGA independent samples for copy number variations (n = 94, P = 0.0052). Finally, a functional analysis was performed on two survival subgroups to discover genes involved in biological processes and pathways. This is the first study incorporating deep autoencoding and four-omics data to construct a robust survival prediction model, and results show the approach is useful at predicting LUAD prognostication.

LINC00667 promotes the proliferation, migration, and pathological angiogenesis in non-small cell lung cancer through stabilizing VEGFA by EIF4A3

To better treat patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the investigations on novel molecules affecting NSCLC progression are of vital importance. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are identified as pivotal regulators that can affect the cellular activities of carcinomas. Long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 667 (LINC00667) is a newly found lncRNA, and its expression pattern and potent mechanisms are still obscure in NSCLC. Our study was the first to illustrate that LINC00667 was upregulated in NSCLC and LINC00667 silence refrained the proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis of NSCLC cells in vitro. In addition, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) was modulated by LINC00667 at posttranscriptional level. Furthermore, mechanism experiments depicted that LINC00667 recruited eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A3 (EIF4A3) to stabilize VEGFA messenger RNA. Eventually, rescue assays implied that LINC00667 modulated NSCLC progression via EIF4A3-stabilized VEGFA. Jointly, these findings hinted that LINC00667 was a tumor promoter in NSCLC, providing guidance for the exploration on NSCLC treatment.

Ventilation Heterogeneity and Its Association with Nodule Formation Among Participants in the National Lung Screening Trial-A Preliminary Investigation

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

We have developed a technique to measure ventilation heterogeneity (VH) on low dose chest CT scan that we hypothesize may be associated with the development of lung nodules, and perhaps cancer. If true, such an analysis may improve screening by identifying regional areas of higher risk.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using the National Lung Screening Trial database, we identified a small subset of those participants who were labeled as having a positive screening test at 1 year (T1) but not at baseline (T0). We isolated the region in which the nodule would form on the T0 scan ("target region") and measured VH as the standard deviation of the linear dimension of a virtual cubic airspace based on measurement of lung attenuation within the region.

RESULTS

We analyzed 24 cases, 9 with lung cancer and 15 with a benign nodule. We found that the VH of the target region was nearly statistically greater than that of the corresponding contralateral control region (0.168 [0.110-0.226] vs. 0.112 [0.083-0.203], p = 0.051). The % emphysema within the target region was greater than that of the corresponding contralateral control region (1.339 [0.264-4.367] vs. 1.092 [0.375-4.748], p = 0.037). There was a significant correlation between the % emphysema and the VH of the target region (rho = +0.437, p = 0.026).

CONCLUSION

Our study provides the first data in support of increased local VH being associated with subsequent lung nodule formation. Further work is necessary to determine whether this technique can enhance screening for lung cancer by low dose chest CT scan.

Checking NEKs: Overcoming a Bottleneck in Human Diseases

In previous years, several kinases, such as phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), have been linked to important human diseases, although some kinase families remain neglected in terms of research, hiding their relevance to therapeutic approaches. Here, a review regarding the NEK family is presented, shedding light on important information related to NEKs and human diseases. NEKs are a large group of homologous kinases with related functions and structures that participate in several cellular processes such as the cell cycle, cell division, cilia formation, and the DNA damage response. The review of the literature points to the pivotal participation of NEKs in important human diseases, like different types of cancer, diabetes, ciliopathies and central nervous system related and inflammatory-related diseases. The different known regulatory molecular mechanisms specific to each NEK are also presented, relating to their involvement in different diseases. In addition, important information about NEKs remains to be elucidated and is highlighted in this review, showing the need for other studies and research regarding this kinase family. Therefore, the NEK family represents an important group of kinases with potential applications in the therapy of human diseases.

A novel microRNA signature for pathological grading in lung adenocarcinoma based on TCGA and GEO data

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the most common types of lung cancer and its poor prognosis largely depends on the tumor pathological stage. Critical roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported in the tumorigenesis and progression of lung cancer. However, whether the differential expression pattern of miRNAs could be used to distinguish early-stage (stage I) from mid-late-stage (stages II–IV) LUAD tumors is still unclear. In this study, clinical information and miRNA expression profiles of patients with LUAD were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. TCGA-LUAD (n=470) dataset was used for model training and validation, and the GSE62182 (n=94) and GSE83527 (n=36) datasets were used as external independent test datasets. The diagnostic model was created through miRNA feature selection followed by SVM classifier and was confirmed by 5-fold cross-validation. A receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of the model. Using the DX score and LIBSVM tool, a 16-miRNA signature that could distinguish LUAD pathological stages was identified. The area under the curve rates were 0.62 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.56–0.67], 0.66 (95% CI: 0.54–0.76) and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.43–0.82) in TCGA-LUAD internal validation dataset, the GSE62182 external validation dataset, and the GSE83527 external validation dataset, respectively. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Gene Ontology enrichment analyses suggested that the target genes of the 16-miRNA signature were mainly involved in metabolic pathways. The present findings demonstrate that a 16-miRNA signature could serve as a promising diagnostic biomarker for pathological staging in LUAD.

Restoration of Mal overcomes the defects of apoptosis in lung cancer cells

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Cancer is one of the life-threatening diseases of human beings; the pathogenesis of cancer remains to be further investigated. Toll like receptor (TLR) activities are involved in the apoptosis regulation. This study aims to elucidate the role of Mal (MyD88-adapter-like) molecule in the apoptosis regulation of lung cancer (LC) cells.

METHODS

The LC tissues were collected from LC patients. LC cells and normal control (NC) cells were isolated from the tissues and analyzed by pertinent biochemical and immunological approaches.

RESULTS

We found that fewer apoptotic LC cells were induced by cisplatin in the culture as compared to NC cells. The expression of Fas ligand (FasL) was lower in LC cells than that in NC cells. FasL mRNA levels declined spontaneously in LC cells. A complex of FasL/TDP-43 was detected in LC cells. LC cells expressed less Mal than NC cells. Activation of Mal by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) increased TDP-43 expression in LC cells. TDP-43 formed a complex with FasL mRNA to prevent FasL mRNA from decay. Reconstitution of Mal or TDP-43 restored the sensitiveness of LC cells to apoptotic inducers.

CONCLUSIONS

LC cells express low Mal levels that contributes to FasL mRNA decay through impairing TDP-43 expression. Reconstitution of Mal restores sensitiveness of LC cells to apoptosis inducers that may be a novel therapeutic approach for LC treatment.

Pleurodesis and Immunotherapy in NSCLC; Medical Thoracoscopy or VATS?

Introduction: Immunotherapy is a treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer advanced disease. However; immunotherapy in several patients induces orogonitis and effusion in different cavities. It is up to the treating physician to understand whether there is effusion due to adverse effect or disease progression. Pleurodesis in both cases might be a solution for recurrent pleura effusion.

Patients and Methods: Three hundred and thirty seven non-small cell lung cancer patients with adenocarcinoma and pleura effusion during first line immunotherapy treatment underwent medical thoracoscopy or Video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for pleurodesis with talk poudrage. Uniportal medical thoracoscopy was performed under general with dual channel endotracheal tube in one hundred and eleven patients. Video assisted thoracic surgery was performed in one hundred and eighty seven patients and conversion from medical to VATS procedure was done to thirty nine patients. All patients had stage IV disease with pleura involvement and were under first line pembrolizumab treatment with 200mg (PD-L1 ≥ 50%).

Results: The quantitative parameters of the study (expression, PY and cycle) were converted to an ordinal scale to facilitate the performance of statistical analysis. All parameters were examined as dependent against the parameter technique acting as independent to detect potential relationships. The results of multi Y versus X relationship revealed no statistically significant effect (p>0.05) of the three levels of technique against any response considered. Thus we can infer, quite safely, that the innovative operation (level 0) does not differ from the other two conventional methods (levels 2 and 3) through all parameters entered in the model. There was no significant difference between the different pleurodesis techniques.

Discussion: Immunotherapy is known to induce in a number of patients pleura effusion and pericarditis. However; pleurodesis is efficient when the appropriate method is performed to every patient. Careful assessment in a case by case manner has to be performed for each patient before any procedure is performed.

MicroRNA-107 may regulate lung cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis by targeting TP53 regulated inhibitor of apoptosis 1

Lung cancer causes over 1.6 million mortalities worldwide annually. MicroRNAs (miRs) are involved in various types of cancer-associated processes. The present study investigated the possible mechanism of miR-107 in the development of lung cancer in order to identify novel targets for clinical treatment. The expression levels of miR-107 and its putative target gene TP53 regulated inhibitor of apoptosis 1 (TRIAP1) were measured in lung cancer tumor tissues and non-tumor adjacent tissues. Subsequently, the association between TRIAP1 and miR-107 was investigated using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Following transfection, the effects of miR-107 and TRIAP1 on the proliferation and apoptosis of lung cancer cell lines in vitro were investigated using Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry assays, respectively. Furthermore, the regulatory effect of miR-107 on the expression levels of TRIAP1 and associated proteins was analyzed using a western blot assay. The results revealed lower expression levels of miR-107 and higher expression levels of TRIAP1 in lung cancer tumor tissues compared with non-tumor adjacent tissues. The dual-luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that TRIAP1 is a target gene of miR-107. Additionally, the results revealed that overexpression of miR-107 resulted in a lower proliferation rate and higher apoptosis rate of A549 cells, compared with the negative control (NC) and control groups (P<0.01). The variation of cell proliferation and apoptosis induced by miR-107 mimics was reversed by co-transfection with pcDNA3.1-TRIAP1. Furthermore, the expression levels of cyclin D1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen were markedly decreased in the miR-107 mimics group compared with the NC group (P<0.01). The expression levels of BCL2 associated X apoptosis regulator, tumor protein p53 and caspase 3 were upregulated and the expression levels of TRIAP1 and BCL2 apoptosis regulator were significantly reduced in the miR-107 mimics group compared with the NC group (P<0.01). The results of the present study suggested that miR-107 regulates lung cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis by targeting TRIAP1.

Downregulation of miR-499a-5p Predicts a Poor Prognosis of Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Restrains the Tumorigenesis by Targeting Fibroblast Growth Factor 9

The aberrant expression of microRNA is an important regulator in the tumorigenesis of non-small cell lung cancer. In this study, we found that miR-499a-5p was notably downregulated in non-small cell lung cancer tissues and cell lines. Decreased miR-499a-5p expression was associated with larger tumor size and higher TNM stage. Non-small cell lung cancer patients with low expression of miR-499a-5p exhibited a worse overall survival rate compared with those patients with high expression of miR-499a-5p. Ectopic expression of miR-499a-5p significantly suppressed non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation and colony formation, and hampered cell cycle at G0/G1 phase in vitro. Conversely, knockdown of miR-499a-5p promoted non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation and colony formation, and induced cell cycle at S phase. Furthermore, in vivo experiments revealed that overexpression of miR-499a-5p inhibited the tumor formation in a nude mouse xenograft model. Mechanistic studies showed that fibroblast growth factor 9 was a direct target gene of miR-499a-5p. miR-499a-5p directly bound to fibroblast growth factor 9 mRNA 3'-UTR, therefore led to the reduction in fibroblast growth factor 9 protein expression. Finally, rescue experiments confirmed that silencing of fibroblast growth factor 9 partially reversed the phenotypes of miR-499a-5p knockdown on non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that downregulation of miR-499a-5p predicts a worse prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and restrains the tumorigenesis by targeting fibroblast growth factor 9. These findings may provide valuable clues for the future development of therapeutic strategies against this cancer.

Early detection of the major male cancer types in blood-based liquid biopsies using a DNA methylation panel

BACKGROUND

Lung (LC), prostate (PCa) and colorectal (CRC) cancers are the most incident in males worldwide. Despite recent advances, optimal population-based cancer screening methods remain an unmet need. Due to its early onset, cancer specificity and accessibility in body fluids, aberrant DNA promoter methylation might be a valuable minimally invasive tool for early cancer detection. Herein, we aimed to develop a minimally invasive methylation-based test for simultaneous early detection of LC, PCa and CRC in males, using liquid biopsies.

RESULTS

Circulating cell-free DNA was extracted from 102 LC, 121 PCa and 100 CRC patients and 136 asymptomatic donors' plasma samples. Sodium-bisulfite modification and whole-genome amplification was performed. Promoter methylation levels of APC_me, FOXA1_me, GSTP1_me, HOXD3_me, RARβ2_me, RASSF1A_me, SEPT9_me and SOX17_me were assessed by multiplex quantitative methylation-specific PCR. SEPT9_me and SOX17_me were the only biomarkers shared by all three cancer types, although they detected CRC with limited sensitivity. A "PanCancer" panel (FOXA1_me, RARβ2_me and RASSF1A_me) detected LC and PCa with 64% sensitivity and 70% specificity, complemented with "CancerType" panel (GSTP1_me and SOX17_me) which discriminated between LC and PCa with 93% specificity, but with modest sensitivity. Moreover, a HOXD3_me and RASSF1A_me panel discriminated small cell lung carcinoma from non-small cell lung carcinoma with 75% sensitivity, 88% specificity, 6.5 LR+ and 0.28 LR-. An APC_me and RASSF1A_me panel independently predicted disease-specific mortality in LC patients.

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded that a DNA methylation-based test in liquid biopsies might enable minimally invasive screening of LC and PCa, improving patient compliance and reducing healthcare costs. Moreover, it might assist in LC subtyping and prognostication.

Prognostic significance of TOP2A in non-small cell lung cancer revealed by bioinformatic analysis

Background

Lung cancer has been a common malignant tumor with a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, current molecular targets are woefully lacking comparing to the highly progressive cancer. The study is designed to identify new prognostic predictors and potential gene targets based on bioinformatic analysis of Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.

Methods

Four cDNA expression profiles GSE19188, GSE101929, GSE18842 and GSE33532 were chosen from GEO database to analyze the differently expressed genes (DEGs) between non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and normal lung tissues. After the DEGs functions were analyzed, the protein-protein interaction network (PPI) of DEGs were constructed, and the core gene in the network which has high connectivity degree with other genes was identified. We analyzed the association of the gene with the development of NSCLC as well as its prognosis. Lastly we explored the conceivable signaling mechanism of the gene regulation during the development of NSCLC.

Results

A total of 92 up regulated and 214 down regulated DEGs were shared in four cDNA expression profiles. Based on their PPI network, TOP2A was connected with most of other genes and was selected for further analysis. Kaplan-Meier overall survival analysis (OS) revealed that TOP2A was associated with worse NSCLC patients survival. And both GEPIA analysis and immunohistochemistry experiment (IHC) confirmed that TOP2A was aberrant gain of expression in cancer comparing to normal tissues. The clinical significance of TOP2A and probable signaling pathways it involved in were further explored, and a positive correlation between TOP2A and TPX2 expression was found in lung cancer tissues.

Conclusion

Using bioinformatic analysis, we revealed that TOP2A could be adopted as a prognostic indicator of NSCLC and it potentially regulate cancer development through co-work with TPX2. However, more detailed experiments are needed to clarify its drug target role in clinical medical use.

Variation of Trop2 on non-small-cell lung cancer and normal cell membranes revealed by super-resolution fluorescence imaging

Transmembrane glycoprotein Trop2 is related to many epithelial carcinomas. It not only plays roles in promoting fetal lung growth but also participates in tumor genesis, malignant transformation, and tumor dissemination. However, the detailed distribution of Trop2 at the molecular level remains unknown. Herein, we used direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy to reveal the spatial organization of Trop2 on the membranes of cultured and primary lung cancer cells and normal cells. All types of cancer cells presented more localizations of Trop2 than normal cells. By SR-Teseller cluster analysis, we found that Trop2 existed in the form of clusters on all the membranes; however, cancer cells generated more and larger clusters consisting of more molecules than normal cells. Our findings shed light on the heterogeneous distribution of membrane Trop2 and highlighted the significant differences of its clustering characteristics between lung cancer cells and normal cells, which laid the basis for further studying the mechanism and functions of Trop2 clustering in lung cancer.

EBUS-TNBA 22G samples: Comparison of PD-L1 expression between DAKO and BIOCARE®

Introduction: Lung cancer is diagnosed at advanced stage due to lack of early disease symptoms. Currently we have several different biopsy techniques such as; radial endobronchial ultrasound, convex probe endobronchial ultrasound, electromagnetic navigation, ct guided biospy and transthoracic ultrasound biopsy. Novel therapies such as; immunotherapy is being used for non-small cell lung cancer in the everyday clinical practice as first and second line treatment. Programmed ligand-1 is essential in order to administer immunotherapy as first line treatment. Patients and Methods: Two thousands and two patients were included in our study where programmed ligand 1 was evaluated with DAKO technique and BIOCARE®. Cell blocks were obtain with convex probe ebus-tbna 22G needle. Results: The Deming regression between DAKO and BIOCARE clone revealed an amazingly strong linear relationship as the coefficient of determination indicated (R2=0.999) and the variance ratio close to 1 (0.978), proving that both techniques can equally well be substituted for each other. The regression coefficient equals to 1 and the intercept hardly differs from 0 (0.936). In practice, this relationship permits adopting the economically affordable BIOCARE clone for further medical considerations. Conclusion: No statistical difference was observed between DAKO and BIOCARE®, therefore we propose that both techniques can be used in order to investigate the expression of programmed ligand 1 with safety. PD-L1 expression was higher in the central mass instead of the lymphnodes.

A Machine Learning Method for Identifying Lung Cancer Based on Routine Blood Indices: Qualitative Feasibility Study

Background

Liquid biopsies based on blood samples have been widely accepted as a diagnostic and monitoring tool for cancers, but extremely high sensitivity is frequently needed due to the very low levels of the specially selected DNA, RNA, or protein biomarkers that are released into blood. However, routine blood indices tests are frequently ordered by physicians, as they are easy to perform and are cost effective. In addition, machine learning is broadly accepted for its ability to decipher complicated connections between multiple sets of test data and diseases.

Objective

The aim of this study is to discover the potential association between lung cancer and routine blood indices and thereby help clinicians and patients to identify lung cancer based on these routine tests.

Methods

The machine learning method known as Random Forest was adopted to build an identification model between routine blood indices and lung cancer that would determine if they were potentially linked. Ten-fold cross-validation and further tests were utilized to evaluate the reliability of the identification model.

Results

In total, 277 patients with 49 types of routine blood indices were included in this study, including 183 patients with lung cancer and 94 patients without lung cancer. Throughout the course of the study, there was correlation found between the combination of 19 types of routine blood indices and lung cancer. Lung cancer patients could be identified from other patients, especially those with tuberculosis (which usually has similar clinical symptoms to lung cancer), with a sensitivity, specificity and total accuracy of 96.3%, 94.97% and 95.7% for the cross-validation results, respectively. This identification method is called the routine blood indices model for lung cancer, and it promises to be of help as a tool for both clinicians and patients for the identification of lung cancer based on routine blood indices.

Conclusions

Lung cancer can be identified based on the combination of 19 types of routine blood indices, which implies that artificial intelligence can find the connections between a disease and the fundamental indices of blood, which could reduce the necessity of costly, elaborate blood test techniques for this purpose. It may also be possible that the combination of multiple indices obtained from routine blood tests may be connected to other diseases as well.

Clinical outcomes of radial probe endobronchial ultrasound using a guide sheath for diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions in patients with pulmonary emphysema

BACKGROUND

Generally, structural destruction of lung parenchyma, such as pulmonary emphysema, is considered to be related to the low diagnostic yields and high complication rates of lung biopsies of peripheral lung lesions. Currently, little is known about the clinical outcomes of using endobronchial ultrasound with a guide sheath (EBUS-GS) to diagnose peripheral lesions in patients with emphysema.

METHODS

This retrospective study was performed to identify the clinical outcomes of EBUS-GS in patients with pulmonary emphysema. This study included 393 consecutive patients who received EBUS-GS between February 2017 and April 2018. The patients were classified according to the severity of their emphysema, and factors possibly contributing to a successful EBUS-GS procedure were evaluated.

RESULTS

The overall diagnostic yield of EBUS-GS in patients with no or mild emphysema was significantly higher than in those with moderate or severe pulmonary emphysema (78% vs. 61%, P = 0.007). There were no procedure-related complications. The presence of a bronchus sign on CT (P <  0.001) and a "within the lesion" status on EBUS (P = 0.009) were independently associated with a successful EBUS-GS procedure. Although the diagnostic yield of EBUS-GS in patients with moderate-to-severe emphysema was relatively low, a bronchus sign and "within the lesion" status on EBUS were contributing factors for a successful EBUS-GS.

CONCLUSIONS

EBUS-GS is a safe procedure with an acceptable diagnostic yield, even when performed in patients with pulmonary emphysema. The presence of a bronchus sign and "within the lesion" status on EBUS were predictors of a successful procedure.

THAP7 promotes cell proliferation by regulating the G1/S phase transition via epigenetically silencing p21 in lung adenocarcinoma

PURPOSE

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. The THanatos-Associated Proteins (THAP) family plays an essential role in multiple cancers. However, the role of THAP7 in cancers has remained elusive.

METHODS

THAP7 expression status in LUAD tissues was analysed by using the Oncomine database and qRT-PCR, and its expression level in LUAD cell lines was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blotting. The role of THAP7 in LUAD cells was determined by proliferation, colony formation, and cell cycle analyses. In vivo role of THAP7 was studied on xenograft models. Luciferase reporter assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) were used to determine the activity and acetylation of the p21 promoter.

RESULTS

THAP7 expression was increased in LUAD tissues and cell lines. Moreover, the high expression of THAP7 was correlated with poor prognosis. The overexpression of THAP7 accelerated the G1/S phase transition and promoted tumour growth both in vitro and in vivo. A mechanistic study revealed that THAP7 reduced the acetylation of histone H3 on the p21 promoter to suppress p21 transcription.

CONCLUSION

For the first time, we demonstrated the function of THAP7 in LUAD, and our findings suggested that THAP7 may be a potential molecular therapy target in LUAD.

Basic fibroblast growth factor signalling regulates cancer stem cells in lung cancer A549 cells

OBJECTIVES

The basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)/fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signal transductional pathway plays an important role not only in tumour, but also in tumour stem cells. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the effects of bFGF signalling on cancer stem cells of lung cancer.

METHODS

We blocked bFGF/FGFR signalling in cisplatin (DDP) selected A549 by knocking down bFGF via RNA interference, and subsequently, the stem cell marker of OCT-4 was determined, and cell proliferation, clone formation, invasiveness, apoptosis and drug resistance abilities of DDP selected A549 cells were investigated.

KEY FINDINGS

The expressions of bFGF and OCT-4 in DDP selected A549 were higher than that of A549 cells. The findings suggested blocking of bFGF/FGFR signalling resulted in downregulation of bFGF, reduction in cell proliferation, clone formation, invasion and drug resistance abilities, and increase in cell apoptosis. Furthermore, our results also revealed OCT-4 was reduced after bFGF signalling blocking.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, our study suggested that bFGF/FGFR signalling plays an important role in maintaining lung cancer stem cell characteristics and regulating expression of cancer stem cell marker of OCT-4.

Feasibility of low dose chest CT for virtual bronchoscopy navigation in a porcine model

BACKGROUND

Virtual bronchoscopy navigation (VBN) is widely used for assistance in the histological examination of lung nodules. However, little is known about the optimal CT radiation dose for VBN. Therefore, we performed an animal study to evaluate the feasibility of low dose CT (LDCT) for VBN.

METHODS

Ten pigs underwent standard dose CT (as a reference) and four different LDCT protocols: LDCT 1, 120 kVp, 15 mAs; LDCT 2, 120 kVp, 8 mAs; LDCT 3, 100 kVp, 7 mAs; and LDCT 4, 100 kVp, 4 mAs. As targets for the VBN, 10 mm virtual lesions were created in the central and peripheral bronchi. To assess the performance of the VBN, the navigation direction (direction of reconstructed pathways to the target) and the number of branching's (the number of peripheral bronchi to the target) were evaluated.

RESULTS

The mean effective doses significantly differed across the four LDCTs (P <  0.001). For both central and peripheral virtual targets, there were significant differences in the accuracy of the navigation direction and the number of branching's of the VBNs across the four LDCTs (P <  0.001 for all). Regarding the accuracy of the navigation direction and the number of branching's, the areas under the curves of the ROCs were 0.9352 and 0.9324, respectively, for central virtual targets, and 0.8696 and 0.8783, respectively, for peripheral virtual targets. Youden's index indicated that the optimal effective CT scan dose for both central and peripheral virtual targets was 0.238 mSv.

CONCLUSIONS

LDCT is feasible for VBN.

Identification of lung-adenocarcinoma-related long non-coding RNAs by random walking on a competing endogenous RNA network

Background

Identification of novel risk long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is still a significant challenge in cancer research.

Methods

In this study, we first constructed a LUAD-specific competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network using both experimental- and computational-supported datasets. Then, a random walking with restart method was performed to predict LUAD-associated risk lncRNAs based on the ceRNA network. The role of lncRNA MAPKAPK5-AS1 was assessed by siRNA transfection, followed by a colony formation assay, the CCK-8 assay, and immunofluorescence on A549 cells.

Results

Our method achieved an area under the curve (AUC) value of over 0.83. Of the several potential novel LUAD-related lncRNAs identified, the highest ranked lncRNA was SNHG12, which, interestingly, was also shown to promote tumorigenesis and metastasis in LUAD in a recent study. Furthermore, we found that the expression of MAPKAPK5-AS1, which was ranked second, was higher in both LUAD tissues and three LUAD cell lines. After the silencing of MAPKAPK5-AS1 by siRNA transfection, a colony formation assay revealed fewer colonies, and a CCK-8 assay revealed significantly suppressed growth of A549 cells. Moreover, immunofluorescence staining of Ki-67, a proliferation marker, revealed that the proliferation capability of A549 was dramatically reduced following MAPKAPK5-AS1 downregulation. AO/EB staining showed an increased proportion of apoptotic cells among A549 cells depleted of MAPKAPK5-AS1.

Conclusions

In brief, the lncRNAs were predicted to serve as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of LUAD.

C-Phycocyanin Suppresses the In Vitro Proliferation and Migration of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells through Reduction of RIPK1/NF-κB Activity

Phycocyanin, derived from Spirulina platensis, is a type of natural antineoplastic marine protein. It is known that phycocyanin exerts anticancer effects on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, but its underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. Herein, the antitumor function and regulatory mechanism of phycocyanin were investigated in three NSCLC cell lines for the first time: H358, H1650, and LTEP-a2. Cell phenotype experiments suggested that phycocyanin could suppress the survival rate, proliferation, colony formation, and migration abilities, as well as induce apoptosis of NSCLC cells. Subsequently, transcriptome analysis revealed that receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) was significantly down-regulated by phycocyanin in the LTEP-a2 cell, which was further validated by qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis in two other cell lines. Interestingly, similar to phycocyanin-treated assays, siRNA knockdown of RIPK1 expression also resulted in growth and migration inhibition of NSCLC cells. Moreover, the activity of NF-κB signaling was also suppressed after silencing RIPK1 expression, indicating that phycocyanin exerted anti-proliferative and anti-migratory function through down-regulating RIPK1/NF-κB activity in NSCLC cells. This study proposes a mechanism of action for phycocyanin involving both NSCLC apoptosis and down regulation of NSCLC genes.

Houttuynia cordata Thunb. and its bioactive compound 2-undecanone significantly suppress benzo(a)pyrene-induced lung tumorigenesis by activating the Nrf2-HO-1/NQO-1 signaling pathway

Background

Lung cancer remains the most common cause of cancer-related deaths, with a high incidence and mortality in both sexes worldwide. Chemoprevention has been the most effective strategy for lung cancer prevention. Thus, exploring novel and effective candidate agents with low toxicity for chemoprevention is essential and urgent. Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (Saururaceae) (H. cordata), which is a widely used herbal medicine and is also popularly consumed as a healthy vegetable, exhibits anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor activity. However, the chemopreventive effect of H. cordata against benzo(a)pyrene (B[a]P)-initiated lung tumorigenesis and the underlying mechanism remain unclear.

Methods

A B[a]P-stimulated lung adenocarcinoma animal model in A/J mice in vivo and a normal lung cell model (BEAS.2B) in vitro were established to investigate the chemopreventive effects of H. cordata and its bioactive compound 2-undecanone against lung tumorigenesis and to clarify the underlying mechanisms.

Results

H. cordata and 2-undecanone significantly suppressed B[a]P-induced lung tumorigenesis without causing obvious systemic toxicity in mice in vivo. Moreover, H. cordata and 2-undecanone effectively decreased B[a]P-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction and further notably protected BEAS.2B cells from B[a]P-induced DNA damage and inflammation by significantly inhibiting phosphorylated H2A.X overexpression and interleukin-1β secretion. In addition, H. cordata and 2-undecanone markedly activated the Nrf2 pathway to induce the expression of the antioxidative enzymes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1). Nrf2 silencing by transfection with Nrf2 siRNA markedly decreased the expression of HO-1 and NQO-1 to diminish the reductions in B[a]P-induced ROS overproduction, DNA damage and inflammation mediated by H. cordata and 2-undecanone.

Conclusions

H. cordata and 2-undecanone could effectively activate the Nrf2-HO-1/NQO-1 signaling pathway to counteract intracellular ROS generation, thereby attenuating DNA damage and inflammation induced by B[a]P stimulation and playing a role in the chemoprevention of B[a]P-induced lung tumorigenesis. These findings provide new insight into the pharmacological action of H. cordata and indicate that H. cordata is a novel candidate agent for the chemoprevention of lung cancer.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1255-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

STAT3-induced long noncoding RNA LINC00668 promotes migration and invasion of non-small cell lung cancer via the miR-193a/KLF7 axis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to play significant roles in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progression. Recently, a newly identified lncRNA, LncRNA LINC00668 (LINC00668), was reported to be involved in the regulation of progression of several tumors. However, the expression pattern and biological function of LINC00668 in NSCLC remains largely unclear. In this study, we found that LINC00668 expression was significantly up-regulated in both NSCLC tissues and cell lines. we also showed that LINC00668 upregulation was induced by transcription factor STAT3. Clinical investigation demonstrated that high expression level of LINC00668 was associated with advanced TNM stage, histological grade and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, multivariate analysis confirmed LINC00668 expression level to be an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival of NSCLC patients. Functional assays indicated that knockdown of LINC00668 suppressed NSCLC cells proliferation, migration and invasion, and promoted apoptosis. Mechanistic studies indicated that LINC00668 is a direct target of miR-193a, leading to down-regulation in the expression of its target gene KLF7. Our findings suggested that STAT3-induced LINC00668 contributed to NSCLC progression through upregulating KLF7 expression by sponging miR-193a, and may serve as a prognostic biomarker and a potential target for NSCLC.

LINC00702 suppresses proliferation and invasion in non-small cell lung cancer through regulating miR-510/PTEN axis

BACKGROUND

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been consistently reported to be involved in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we aimed to identify aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in NSCLC, in order to explore new therapeutic targets for NSCLC.

METHODS

Two pairs of NSCLC and adjacent normal tissues were first analyzed by RNA sequencing. The expressions of LINC00702 in 40 pairs patient samples and in 4 NSCLC cell lines was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Putative target miRNAs of LINC00702 were predicted by the bioinformatics tools. The effect of LINC00702 on tumor growth in vivo was evaluated.

RESULTS

LINC00702 was significantly down-regulated in patients with NSCLC, which was correlated with tumor size and metastasis. In addition, overexpression of LINC00702 markedly suppressed proliferation and metastasis in NSCLC cells via inducing apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that LINC00702 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-510 in NSCLC, and upregulated its target gene PTEN.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicated that LINC00702 modulated the expression of PTEN gene by acting as a ceRNA for miR-510 in NSCLC. Therefore, LINC00702 may serve as a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with NSCLC.

Long non-coding SNHG1 in cancer

OBJECTIVES

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) consist of a cluster of RNAs having >200 nucleotides lacking protein-coding function. Recent studies indicate that lncRNAs are involved in various cellular processes and their aberrant expression may lead to tumour development and progression. They may also serve as oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes in other diseases. In this review, we emphasize current investigations involving clinical management, tumour progression and the molecular mechanism of SNHG1 in human cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We investigate and summarize recent studies regarding the biologic functions and mechanisms of lncRNA SNHG1 in tumorigenesis. Related studies were obtained through a systematic search of google scholar, PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library.

RESULTS

SNHG1 is a novel oncogenic lncRNA aberrantly expressed in different diseases including colorectal, liver, lung, prostate, gastric and esophageal cancers as well as ischemic stroke, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, neuroblastoma, renal cell carcinoma and osteosarcoma. Upregulation of SNHG1 was significantly associated with advanced tumour stage, tumour size, TNM stage and decreased overall survival. Furthermore, aberrant expression of SNHG1 contributes to cell proliferation, metastasis, migration and invasion of cancer cells.

CONCLUSION

SNHG1 likely acts as a useful tumour biomarker for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

Crucial role of the pentose phosphate pathway in malignant tumors

Interest in cancer metabolism has increased in recent years. The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is a major glucose catabolism pathway that directs glucose flux to its oxidative branch and leads to the production of a reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate and nucleic acid. The PPP serves a vital role in regulating cancer cell growth and involves many enzymes. The aim of the present review was to describe the recent discoveries associated with the deregulatory mechanisms of the PPP and glycolysis in malignant tumors, particularly in hepatocellular carcinoma, breast and lung cancer.

The diagnostic value of circulating tumor cells for lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have become a potential diagnostic tumor marker and have the potential for wide clinical applications. However, the diagnostic parameters vary among previous studies. A systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis were conducted to assess the diagnostic value of CTCs for lung cancer.

METHODS

Eligible studies were searched in PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases. The included studies assessed the diagnostic value of CTCs in patients with lung cancer up to September 30, 2018. A total of 1601 patients in 8 studies were included in the meta-analysis. We calculated the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the curve (AUC) to investigate the diagnostic value of CTCs for lung cancer. STATA version 12.0 and Meta-DiSc version 1.4 software were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The pooled sensitivity was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.73-0.78), the specificity was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.86-0.92), the PLR was 6.29 (95% CI: 3.98-9.96), and the NLR was 0.24 (95% CI: 0.14-0.42). Furthermore, the pooled DOR of CTCs for lung cancer was 27.73 (95% CI: 12.99-59.23). The summarized area under the ROC curve was 0.93 (95% CI: 0.90-0.95). The meta-regression analysis suggested that the heterogeneity was mainly attributed to the experimental methods. The results of the clinical diagnosis efficiency show that the diagnostic efficiency has increased significantly by testing CTCs for diagnosing lung cancer.

CONCLUSION

The results of this meta-analysis suggest that CTCs are associated with a high diagnostic value for lung cancer. These findings require large-scale prospective studies to verify and evaluate the diagnostic value in the future.

Epidemiology of lung cancer in China

The incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in China, have significantly increased in recent years, and present geographic and gender differences as a result of diversity in lifestyles and socioeconomic development. A series of attribute risk analyses have shown that factors such as smoking, air pollution, and occupational factors are all related to lung cancer. Behavioral intervention, such as smoking cessation and screening, could effectively reduce lung cancer incidence and mortality.

Propofol suppresses growth, migration and invasion of A549 cells by down-regulation of miR-372

BACKGROUND

Propofol, a commonly used intravenous anesthetic during cancer resection surgery, has been found to exhibit tumor inhibitory effects in vitro and in vivo. The role of propofol in lung cancer has been previously reported, whereas its action mechanism remains unclear. This study further investigated the effects of propofol on lung cancer A549 cell growth, migration and invasion, as well as the underlying mechanisms.

METHODS

Cell viability, proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis were assessed by CCK-8 assay, BrdU assay, two chamber transwell assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The regulatory effect of propofol on microRNA-372 (miR-372) expression in A549 cells was analyzed by qRT-PCR. Cell transfection was used to change the expression of miR-372. The protein expression of key factors involving in cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion, as well as Wnt/β-catenin and mTOR pathways were analyzed by western blotting.

RESULTS

Propofol inhibited lung cancer A549 cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion, but promoted cell apoptosis. Moreover, miR-372 was down-regulated in propofol-treated A549 cells. Overexpression of miR-372 abrogated the effects of propofol on proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of A549 cells. Knockdown of miR-372 had opposite effects. Furthermore, propofol suppressed Wnt/β-catenin and mTOR signaling pathways by down-regulating miR-372.

CONCLUSION

Propofol inhibits growth, migration and invasion of lung cancer A549 cells at least in part by down-regulating miR-372 and then inactivating Wnt/β-catenin and mTOR pathways.

Programmed cell death protein-1/programmed death-ligand 1 blockade enhances the antitumor efficacy of adoptive cell therapy against non-small cell lung cancer

Background

Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells and natural killer (NK) cells are employed by two different approaches to adoptive cell immunotherapy for cancer. It has been reported that adoptive cell immunotherapy could prolong the overall survival (OS) of advanced cancer patients. The introduction of agents that induce immune checkpoint blockades has improved the efficacy of immune-mediated therapy for metastatic cancers. However, the effects of combining a checkpoint inhibitor with CIK cells or NK cells to target non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)remain unknown.

Methods

The present study investigated the effects of combining CIK cells with a programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitor (an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody). During the expansion cultivation, the addition of the PD-1 antibody promoted CIK-mediated cytotoxicity in H1975 lung adenocarcinoma cells. Co-cultivation of CIK cells with the PD-1 antibody for 6 days induced CD3⁺CD56⁺ T cell expansion, with increases in the levels of CD107a and interferon γ (IFN-γ).

Results

When NK cells were co-cultured with 5 µg/mL of an anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) mAb for 24 hours at an effector cell: target ratio of 10:1, it led to more potent cytotoxicity compared to other time points and concentrations. However, combining NK cells with the anti-PD-L1 mAb showed no significant advantages over treatment with NK cells alone.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that combining CIK cells with PD-1 blockade before transfusion might improve the efficiency of CIK therapy for NSCLC patients. This effect does not seem to occur for NK cell therapy.