CD86 gene variants and susceptibility to pancreatic cancer

IL1RN and PRRX1 as a Prognostic Biomarker Correlated with Immune Infiltrates in Colorectal Cancer: Evidence from Bioinformatic Analysis

The extensive morbidity of colorectal cancer (CRC) and the inferior prognosis of terminal CRC urgently call for reliable prognostic biomarkers. For this, we identified 704 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by intersecting three datasets, GSE41328, GSE37364, and GSE15960 from Gene Expression Omnibus database, to maximize the accuracy of the results. Preliminary analysis of the DEGs was then performed using online gene analysis datasets, such as DAVID, UCSC Cancer Genome Browser, CBioPortal, STRING, and UCSC Cancer Genome Browser. Cytoscape was utilized to visualize the protein perception interaction network of DEGs, and the bubble map of GO and KEGG enrichment function was demonstrated using the R package. The Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE), Biological Network Gene Oncology (BiNGO) plug-in in Cytoscape, was applied to further screen the DEGs to obtain 15 seed genes, which were IL1RN, GALNT12, ADH6, SCN7A, CXCL1, FGF18, SOX9, ACACB, PRRX1, MZB1, SLC22A3, CNNM4, LY6E, IFITM2, and GDPD3. Among them, IL1RN, ADH6, SCN7A, ACACB, MZB1, and GDPD3 exhibited statistically significant survival differences, whereas limited studies were conducted in CRC. Based on the enrichment results of the "Gene Ontology"(GO) and "Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and genomes "(KEGG) as well as documented findings of key genes, we further emphasized the potential of IL1RN and PRRX1 as markers of immune infiltrates in CRC and confirmed our hypothesis by compiling data from the UALCAN, Tumor Immune Estimation Resource, and TISIDB databases for these two genes. The above-mentioned genes might offer a valuable insight into the diagnosis, immunotherapeutic targets, and prognosis of CRC.

PDZ Proteins SCRIB and DLG1 Regulate Myeloma Cell Surface CD86 Expression, Growth, and Survival

Despite advances in the treatment of multiple myeloma in the past decades, the disease remains incurable, and understanding signals and molecules that can control myeloma growth and survival are important for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. One such molecule, CD86, regulates multiple myeloma cell survival via its interaction with CD28 and signaling through its cytoplasmic tail. Although the CD86 cytoplasmic tail has been shown to be involved in drug resistance and can induce molecular changes in multiple myeloma cells, its function has been largely unexplored. Here, we show that CD86 cytoplasmic tail has a role in trafficking CD86 to the cell surface. This is due in part to a PDZ-binding motif at its C-terminus which is important for proper trafficking from the Golgi apparatus. BioID analysis revealed 10 PDZ domain-containing proteins proximal to CD86 cytoplasmic tail in myeloma cells. Among them, we found the planar cell polarity proteins, SCRIB and DLG1, are important for proper CD86 surface expression and the growth and survival of myeloma cells. These findings indicate a mechanism by which myeloma cells confer cellular survival and drug resistance and indicate a possible motif to target for therapeutic gain.

IMPLICATIONS

These findings demonstrate the importance of proper trafficking of CD86 to the cell surface in myeloma cell survival and may provide a new therapeutic target in this disease.

A PD-L2-based immune marker signature helps to predict survival in resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) is a key immune checkpoint that regulates peripheral tolerance and protects against autoimmunity. Programmed death ligand-2 (PD-L2) is a less studied ligand to PD-1 and has yet to be fully explored, especially in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS

In this study, we performed immunohistochemistry to detect the PD-L2, CD3, CD8, transforming growth factor-β2 (TGF-β2) and FOXP3 levels in paraffin sections from 305 patients with resected PDAC as a training set. Expression levels of intratumoral and stromal immune markers were compared in relation to survival using Kaplan-Meier curves, random survival forest model and survival tree analysis. A multivariable Cox proportional-hazards model of associated markers was used to calculate the risk scores.

RESULTS

PD-L2 was expressed in 71.5% of PDAC samples and showed strong correlations with CD3+, CD8+ T cells and FOXP3+ regulatory T cell densities. High levels of intratumoral PD-L2 and FOXP3 were related to poor survival; only stromal FOXP3 overexpression was associated with worse prognosis. Four patterns generated from survival tree analysis demonstrated that PD-L2lowstromalFOXP3low patients had the longest survival, while PD-L2highintratumoralCD3low patients had the shortest survival (P <  0.001). The area under the curve was 0.631(95% confidence interval (CI): 0.447-0.826) for the immune marker-based signature and 0.549 (95% CI: 0.323-0.829; P <  0.001) for the clinical parameter-based signature, which was consistent with the results in the validation set including 150 patients (P <  0.001). A higher risk score indicated shorter survival and could serve as an independent prognostic factor. PD-L2 was also showed associated with TGF-β2 and other immune molecules based on bioinformatics analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our work highlighted PD-L2 as a promising immunotherapeutic target with prognostic value combined with complex tumor infiltrating cells in PDAC.

Genetic association between CD86 polymorphisms and the risk of sepsis in a Chinese Han population

BACKGROUND

Sepsis is a clinical syndrome that is frequently observed after injury or infection, representing a leading cause of mortality worldwide. CD86 (B7-2) is a co-stimulatory molecule on antigen-presenting cells, and plays critical roles in immune responses.

METHODS

A total of 135 sepsis patients and 151 healthy controls were recruited in the current case-control study. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) conformity was examined to assess the representativeness of the study population. CD86 gene polymorphisms were genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. The relative expression of CD86 mRNA was estimated via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Chi-square test was performed to estimate the associations between CD86 gene polymorphisms and sepsis risk, and the results were presented through odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

The genotype distributions of CD86 polymorphisms in the case and control groups conformed to HWE. The GA genotype of the polymorphism rs1129055 was significantly correlated with an increased risk of sepsis (OR = 2.540, 95%CI = 1.288-5.008). The TT genotype of rs1915087 was a risk factor for sepsis (OR = 2.769, 95%CI = 1.292-5.935). High linkage disequilibrium was observed between the two polymorphisms (D' = 1.0, r² = 0.955). However, no significant association was observed between CD86 polymorphisms and its gene expressions (P > 0.05 for all).

CONCLUSION

CD86 gene polymorphisms rs1129055 and rs1915087 may increase the risk of sepsis.

The Influence of Genetic Variations in the CD86 Gene on the Outcome after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

CD86 molecule is the ligand for both costimulatory (CD28) and coinhibitory (CTLA-4) molecules, and it regulates immune response after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT). Therefore, we postulate that CD86 gene variations might influence the outcome after alloHSCT. Altogether, 295 adult patients (pts) undergoing related (105 pts) and unrelated (190 pts) donor-matched HSCT were genotyped for the following CD86 gene polymorphisms: rs1129055, rs9831894, and rs2715267. Moreover, the donors' rs1129055 polymorphism was determined. None of the investigated SNPs alone were associated with aGvHD and rate of relapse. However, we showed that rs2715267 SNP influenced overall survival (OS) after alloHSCT. The 24-month OS for the rs271526GG recipients was worse than that for the recipients possessing T allelle (TT or GT genotypes) (p = 0.009). Moreover, analysis of gene-gene interaction between CD86 and CTLA-4 showed that having both the A allele for CD86 rs1129055 and the CTLA-4 CT60GG genotype in recipients increased the risk of aGvHD about 3.5 times. Interestingly, the donors' rs1129055GG genotype and the recipients' CT60GG genotype also increased the risk of aGvHD about 2.7-fold. We postulate that recipients' CD86 gene polymorphisms influence the overall survival after alloHSCT and, together with CTLA-4 polymorphisms, might be considered a risk factor for aGvHD.

CD86 regulates myeloma cell survival

Although prognosis for patients with multiple myeloma has improved over the past decade, research toward discovery of new therapeutic avenues is important and could lead to a cure for this plasma cell malignancy. Here we show that blocking the CD28-CD86 pathway via silencing of either CD28 or CD86 leads to myeloma cell death. Inhibiting this pathway leads to downregulation of integrins and IRF4, a known myeloma survival factor. Our data also indicate that CD86, the canonical ligand in this pathway, has prosurvival activity that is dependent on its cytosolic domain. These findings indicate that targeting of this pathway is a promising therapeutic avenue for myeloma, because it leads to modulation of different processes important in cell viability.

Pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus determined by CD86 and CTLA4 polymorphisms

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF) are rare autoimmune blistering diseases with presumed T-cell-dependent pathology. Activation of naïve T cells is dependent on antigen recognition, subsequent signaling through the T-cell receptor complex (signal 1), and various other interactions of T cells with antigen presenting cells that may be collectively designated as signal 2, which is unconditionally required for T-cell activation both in response to infection and to autoantigens. Among the best described interactions contributing to signal 2 are those mediated by B7 family molecules, such as CD80 and CD86 with their ligands; CD28, providing activation signals; and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), conferring inhibition. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within genes encoding those molecules may alter the signaling process. It is not known whether functional genetic polymorphisms within genes encoding the aforementioned proteins may increase risk for developing PV and PF and, if so, whether they might serve as biomarkers for susceptibility to these diseases. To address those questions, we examined functional single nucleotide polymorphisms within CD86 (rs1129055) and CTLA4 (rs733618 and rs5742909) genes in 61 pemphigus patients and 486 healthy controls. We found statistically significant differences in allele and genotype frequencies between PV patients and controls for rs1129055, as well as for rs5742909 among PV and PF patients. Namely, the rs1129055 A allele was significantly more common in PV patients compared with controls (35.4% versus 25.7%, respectively; P = .040), whereas the rs5742909 T allele was significantly more common in PF compared with PV patients (19.2% versus 5.2%, respectively; P = .035). The frequency of the rs5742909 T allele did not, however, differ significantly in PF or in PV compared with controls (10.5%; P = .187 and P = .100, respectively). We report a novel association of SNPs within CD86 and CTLA4 genes with pemphigus. The CD86 rs1129055 A allele appears to confer susceptibility to PV but not to PF. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

CD86 polymorphism affects pneumonia-induced sepsis by decreasing gene expression in monocytes

Sepsis, a clinical syndrome occurring in patients following infection or injury, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. CD86 (B7-2) is a costimulatory molecule on antigen-presenting cells and plays critical roles in immune responses. In the current study, we investigated the association of two CD86 polymorphisms, rs1129055G/A and rs17281995G/C, with susceptibility to pneumonia-induced sepsis and examined the effects of these two polymorphisms on gene expression in monocytes. CD86 rs1129055G/A and rs17281995G/C were identified in 192 pneumonia-induced septic patients and 201 healthy controls. Data showed that frequencies of the rs1129055GA and AA genotypes were significantly lower in patients than in controls (odds ratio [OR]=0.57, 95 % confidence interval [CI], 0.35-0.93, p=0.023, and OR=0.40, 95 % CI, 0.23-0.71, p=0.002). Interestingly, the other polymorphism, rs17281995G/C, revealed significantly increased numbers in pneumonia-induced sepsis compared to controls (OR=1.85, 95 % CI, 1.07-3.20, p=0.025). Further analyses about CD86 gene expression revealed that both messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels of CD86 were downregulated in monocytes from controls carrying rs17281995GC genotype than those carrying wild-type rs17281995GG genotype (p=0.022 and p=0013). These results suggest that polymorphisms in CD86 gene have diverse effects on the pathogenesis of pneumonia-induced sepsis, in which rs17281995G/C may increase the risk of the disease by interfering gene expression of CD86 in monocytes.

Impact of population admixture on the distribution of immune response co-stimulatory genes polymorphisms in a Brazilian population

Co-stimulatory molecules are essential in the orchestration of immune response and polymorphisms in their genes are associated with various diseases. However, in the case of variable allele frequencies among continental populations, this variation can lead to biases in genetic studies conducted in admixed populations such as those from Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of genomic ancestry on distributions of co-stimulatory genes polymorphisms in an admixed Brazilian population. A total of 273 individuals from the north of Brazil participated in this study. Nine single nucleotide polymorphisms in 7 genes (CD28, CTLA4, ICOS, CD86, CD40, CD40L and BLYS) were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. We also investigated 48 insertion/deletion ancestry markers to characterize individual African, European and Amerindian ancestry proportions in the samples. The analysis showed that the main contribution was European (43.9%) but also a significant contribution of African (31.6%) and Amerindian (24.5%) ancestry. ICOS, CD40L and CD86 polymorphisms were associated with genomic ancestry. However there were no significant differences in the proportions of ancestry for the other SNPs and haplotypes studied. Our findings reinforce the need to apply AIMs in genetic association studies involving these polymorphisms in the Brazilian population.

Distinct role of CD86 polymorphisms (rs1129055, rs17281995) in risk of cancer: evidence from a meta-analysis

Background and Purpose

Previous studies concerning the role of CD86 polymorphisms (rs1129055 and rs17281995) in cancer fail to provide compelling evidence. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of common polymorphisms in the risk of cancer by meta-analysis.

Methods

By using the search terms Cluster of Differentiation 86/CD86/B7-2/polymorphism/polymorphisms/cancer, we searched PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Wanfang and identified four studies for rs1129055 (2137 subjects) and rs17281995 (2856 subjects) respectively. Cancer risk was estimated by odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Major Findings

Overall, we observed significant reduced risk of cancer in relation to rs1129055. Compared with the individuals with AA genotype, the individuals with GG genotype appeared to have 62% decreased risk to develop cancer (GG versus AA: OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.49–0.79; P_het., 0.996). Similar effects were indicated in the G versus A allele model and the GG versus GA+AA genetic model (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74–0.93; P_het., 0.987; OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.50–0.79; P_het., 0.973). In addition, we found genotypes of rs17281995 had a major effect on overall cancer risk (CC versus GG: OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.43–3.95; P_het., 0.433; C versus G: OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.06–1.43; P_het., 0.521; CC versus GC+GG: OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.45–3.93; P_het., 0.443). The association was also observed in Caucasians and colorectal cancer. No obvious publication bias was detected in this meta-analysis.

Conclusions

These data reveal that rs1129055 may have protective effects on cancer risk in Asians and that rs17281995 is likely to contribute to risk of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer in Caucasians.

Upregulation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in glioma

The immune system fails to eradicate established tumors partly due to the induction of immune tolerance within tumor microenvironment. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) play critical roles in regulating immune system. In this study, we investigated pDC in the peripheral blood of glioma. CD4 + CD123 + BDCA2+ pDCs were tested from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in 40 glioma patients and 40 healthy controls by flow cytometry. The results revealed that proportion of pDCs was significantly increased in cases than in controls (0.52 ± 0.07 versus 0.21 ± 0.02 %, p < 0.001), whereas myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) did not present any obvious difference between patients and healthy donors (0.25 ± 0.04 versus 0.18 ± 0.02 %, p = 0.217). We further studied pDCs in glioma patients with different clinical stages. Data showed that cases with smoking history had elevated level of pDCs than those non-smoker patients (0.91 ± 0.16 versus 0.48 ± 0.06 %, p = 0.004). Interestingly, we observed that patients with aphasia presented significantly elevated pDCs than those without aphasia (0.93 ± 0.12 versus 0.41 ± 0.07 %, p < 0.001). These data suggested that pDCs may be closely involved in the pathogenesis of glioma and may play roles in certain symptoms of the disease.

CD86 +1057G/A polymorphism and risk of chronic immune thrombocytopenia

The G to A transition at position +1057 single nucleotide polymorphism site in CD86 gene results in the alanine to threonine substitution, which further affects the antigen-presenting cells' signal transduction. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the association between CD86 +1057G/A polymorphism and the risk for chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP). The CD86 +1057G/A polymorphism in 158 cITP patients and 150 healthy controls were detected by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism and then confirmed by DNA sequencing. In the patients with cITP, the frequencies of GG, AG and AA genotypes and G and A alleles were 18.4%, 58.8%, 22.8%, 47.8% and 52.2%, respectively. No difference in genotype and allele frequencies was detected in total cITP patients and normal controls (p = 0.913 and 0.845, respectively). Cases were subsequently classified by age at diagnosis, gender or clinical responses to glucocorticoids, and still no obvious discrepancy of genotype and allele frequencies was found between each of the groups and normal controls. In conclusion, this study suggests that CD86 +1057G/A polymorphism may be not associated with the genetic susceptibility to cITP in a Chinese population.