Studies on DNA Damage Repair and Precision Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer

The signature of extracellular vesicles in hypoxic breast cancer and their therapeutic engineering

Breast cancer (BC) currently ranks second in the global cancer incidence rate. Hypoxia is a common phenomenon in BC. Under hypoxic conditions, cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) secrete numerous extracellular vesicles (EVs) to achieve intercellular communication and alter the metabolism of primary and metastatic tumors that shape the TME. In addition, emerging studies have indicated that hypoxia can promote resistance to tumor treatment. Engineered EVs are expected to become carriers for cancer treatment due to their high biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, high drug delivery efficiency, and ease of modification. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of EVs in the primary TME and distant metastasis of BC under hypoxic conditions. Additionally, we highlight the potential applications of engineered EVs in mitigating the malignant phenotypes of BC cells under hypoxia.

miRNAs in radiotherapy resistance of cancer; a comprehensive review

While intensity-modulated radiation therapy-based comprehensive therapy increases outcomes, cancer patients still have a low five-year survival rate and a high recurrence rate. The primary factor contributing to cancer patients' poor prognoses is radiation resistance. A class of endogenous non-coding RNAs, known as microRNAs (miRNAs), controls various biological processes in eukaryotes. These miRNAs influence tumor cell growth, death, migration, invasion, and metastasis, which controls how human carcinoma develops and spreads. The correlation between the unbalanced expression of miRNAs and the prognosis and sensitivity to radiation therapy is well-established. MiRNAs have a significant impact on the regulation of DNA repair, the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and stemness in the tumor radiation response. But because radio resistance is a complicated phenomena, further research is required to fully comprehend these mechanisms. Radiation response rates vary depending on the modality used, which includes the method of delivery, radiation dosage, tumor stage and grade, confounding medical co-morbidities, and intrinsic tumor microenvironment. Here, we summarize the possible mechanisms through which miRNAs contribute to human tumors' resistance to radiation.

Biodegradable Nanoprobe for NIR-II Fluorescence Image-Guided Surgery and Enhanced Breast Cancer Radiotherapy Efficacy

Positive resection margin frequently exists in breast-conserving treatment (BCT) of early-stage breast cancer, and insufficient therapeutic efficacy is common during radiotherapy (RT) in advanced breast cancer patients. Moreover, a multimodal nanotherapy platform is urgently required for precision cancer medicine. Therefore, a biodegradable cyclic RGD pentapeptide/hollow virus-like gadolinium (Gd)-based indocyanine green (R&HV-Gd@ICG) nanoprobe is developed to improve fluorescence image-guided surgery and breast cancer RT efficacy. R&HV-Gd exhibits remarkably improved aqueous stability, tumor retention, and target specificity of ICG, and achieves outstanding magnetic resonance/second near-infrared (NIR-II) window multimodal imaging in vivo. The nanoprobe-based NIR-II fluorescence image guidance facilitates complete tumor resection, improves the overall mouse survival rate, and effectively discriminates between benign and malignant breast tissues in spontaneous breast cancer transgenic mice (area under the curve = 0.978; 95% confidence interval: 0.952, 1.0). Moreover, introducing the nanoprobe to tumors generated more reactive oxygen species under X-ray irradiation, improved RT sensitivity, and reduced mouse tumor progression. Notably, the nanoprobe is biodegradable in vivo and exhibits accelerated bodily clearance, which is expected to reduce the potential long-term inorganic nanoparticle toxicity. Overall, the nanoprobe provides a basis for developing precision breast cancer treatment strategies.

Mitochondrial dysfunction induces radioresistance in colorectal cancer by activating [Ca2+]m-PDP1-PDH-histone acetylation retrograde signaling

Mitochondrial retrograde signaling (mito-RTG) triggered by mitochondrial dysfunction plays a potential role in regulating tumor metabolic reprogramming and cellular sensitivity to radiation. Our previous studies showed phos-pyruvate dehydrogenase (p-PDH) and PDK1, which involved in aerobic glycolysis, were positively correlated with radioresistance, but how they initiate and work in the mito-RTG pathway is still unknown. Our further genomics analysis revealed that complex I components were widely downregulated in mitochondrial dysfunction model. In the present study, high expression of p-PDH was found in the complex I deficient cells and induced radioresistance. Mechanistically, complex I defects led to a decreased PDH both in cytoplasm and nucleus through [Ca2+]m-PDP1-PDH axis, and decreased PDH in nucleus promote DNA damage repair (DDR) response via reducing histone acetylation. Meanwhile, NDUFS1 (an important component of the complex I) overexpression could enhance the complex I activity, reverse glycolysis and resensitize cancer cells to radiation in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, low NDUFS1 and PDH expression were validated to be correlated with poor tumor regression grading (TRG) in local advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) patients underwent neoadjuvant radiotherapy. Here, we propose that the [Ca2+]m-PDP1-PDH-histone acetylation retrograde signaling activated by mitochondrial complex I defects contribute to cancer cell radioresistance, which provides new insight in the understanding of the mito-RTG. For the first time, we reveal that NDUFS1 could be served as a promising predictor of radiosensitivity and modification of complex I function may improve clinical benefits of radiotherapy in CRC.

Identifying Long Non-coding RNA of Prostate Cancer Associated With Radioresponse by Comprehensive Bioinformatics Analysis

Although radiotherapy is greatly successful in the treatment of prostate cancer (PCa), radioresistance is still a major challenge in the treatment. To our knowledge, this study is the first to screen long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) associated with radioresponse in PCa by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Bioinformatics methods were used to identify the differentially expressed lncRNAs and protein-coding genes (PCGs) between complete response (CR) and non-complete response (non-CR) groups in radiotherapy. Statistical methods were applied to identify the correlation between lncRNAs and radioresponse as well as lncRNAs and PCGs. The correlation between PCGs and radioresponse was analyzed using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The three online databases were used to predict the potential target miRNAs of lncRNAs and the miRNAs that might regulate PCGs. RT-qPCR was utilized to detect the expression of lncRNAs and PCGs in our PCa patients. A total of 65 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 468 differentially expressed PCGs were found between the two groups of PCa. After the chi-square test, LINC01600 was selected to be highly correlated with radioresponse from the 65 differentially expressed lncRNAs. Pearson correlation analysis found 558 PCGs co-expressed with LINC01600. WGCNA identified the darkred module associated with radioresponse in PCa. After taking the intersection of the darkred module of WGCNA, differentially expressed PCGs between the two groups of PCa, and the PCGs co-expressed with LINC01600, three PCGs, that is, JUND, ZFP36, and ATF3 were identified as the potential target PCGs of LINC01600. More importantly, we detected the expression of LINC01600 and three PCGs using our PCa patients, and finally verified that LINC01600 and JUND were differentially expressed between CR and non-CR groups, excluding ZFP36 and ATF3. Meantime, the potential regulation ability of LINC01600 for JUND in PCa cell lines was initially explored. In addition, we constructed the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network of LINC01600—miRNA—JUND. In conclusion, we initially reveal the association of LINC01600 with radioresponse in PCa and identify its potential target PCGs for further basic and clinical research.

Evaluation of the Major Steps in the Conventional Protocol for the Alkaline Comet Assay

Single cell gel electrophoresis, also known as the comet assay, has become a widespread DNA damage assessment tool due to its sensitivity, adaptability, low cost, ease of use, and reliability. Despite these benefits, this assay has shortcomings, such as long assay running time, the manipulation of multiple slides, individually, through numerous process steps, the challenge of working in a darkened environment, and reportedly considerable inter- and intra-laboratory variation. All researchers typically perform the comet assay based upon a common core approach; however, it appears that some steps in this core have little proven basis, and may exist, partly, out of convenience, or dogma. The aim of this study was to critically re-evaluate key steps in the comet assay, using our laboratory's protocol as a model, firstly to understand the scientific basis for why certain steps in the protocol are performed in a particular manner, and secondly to simplify the assay, and decrease the cost and run time. Here, the shelf life of the lysis and neutralization buffers, the effect of temperature and incubation period during the lysis step, the necessity for drying the slides between the electrophoresis and staining step, and the need to perform the sample workup and electrophoresis steps under subdued light were all evaluated.