Large-scale human tissue analysis identifies Uroplakin 1b as a putative diagnostic marker in surgical pathology

Characterizing the toxicological responses to inorganic arsenicals and their metabolites in immortalized human bladder epithelial cells

Arsenic is highly toxic to the human bladder. In the present study, we established a human bladder epithelial cell line that closely mimics normal human bladder epithelial cells by immortalizing primary uroplakin 1B-positive human bladder epithelial cells with human telomerase reverse transcriptase (HBladEC-T). The uroplakin 1B-positive human bladder epithelial cell line was then used to evaluate the toxicity of seven arsenicals (iAsV, iAsIII, MMAV, MMAIII, DMAV, DMAIII, and DMMTAV). The cellular uptake and metabolism of each arsenical was different. Trivalent arsenicals and DMMTAV exhibited higher cellular uptake than pentavalent arsenicals. Except for MMAV, arsenicals were transported into cells by aquaglyceroporin 9 (AQP9). In addition to AQP9, DMAIII and DMMTAV were also taken up by glucose transporter 5. Microarray analysis demonstrated that arsenical treatment commonly activated the NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response pathway. ROS production increased with all arsenicals, except for MMAV. The activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) was commonly upregulated in response to oxidative stress in HBladEC-T cells: ATF3 is an important regulator of necroptosis, which is crucial in arsenical-induced bladder carcinogenesis. Inorganic arsenics induced apoptosis while MMAV and DMAIII induced necroptosis. MMAIII, DMAV, and DMMTAV induced both cell death pathways. In summary, MMAIII exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity, followed by DMMTAV, iAsIII, DMAIII, iAsV, DMAV, and MMAV. The cytotoxicity of the tested arsenicals on HBladEC-T cells correlated with their cellular uptake and ROS generation. The ROS/NRF2/ATF3/CHOP signaling pathway emerged as a common mechanism mediating the cytotoxicity and carcinogenicity of arsenicals in HBladEC-T cells.

Loss of Upk1a and Upk1b expression is linked to stage progression in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

BACKGROUND

Uroplakin-1a (Upk1a) and uroplakin-1b (Upk1b) have recently been identified as diagnostic markers for the distinction of urothelial carcinomas from other solid tumor entities. Both proteins play an important role in the stabilization and strengthening of epithelial cells that line the bladder.

METHODS

To evaluate the prognostic role of uroplakin expression in urothelial carcinomas, more than 2700 urothelial neoplasms were analyzed in a tissue microarray format by immunohistochemistry. To further assess the diagnostic role of uroplakin immunohistochemistry, results were compared with preexisting GATA3 data.

RESULT

The fraction of Upk1a/Upk1b positive cases decreased slightly from pTaG2 low-grade (88% positive for Upk1a/87% positive for Upk1b) and pTaG2 high-grade (92%/89%) to pTaG3 (83%/88%; p > 0.05) and was lower in muscle-invasive (pT2-4) carcinomas (42%/64%; p < 0.0001/p < 0.0001 for pTa vs. pT2-4). Within pT2-4 carcinomas, high expression of Upk1a and Upk1b was linked to nodal metastasis and lymphatic vessel infiltration (p < 0.05) but unrelated to patient outcome. There were significant associations between Upk1a, Upk1b and GATA3 immunostaining (p < 0.0001 each), but 11% of GATA3 negative cancers were Upk1a/b positive and 8% of Upk1a/b negative cancers were GATA3 positive. Absence of GATA3/Upk1a/b staining was significantly linked to poor patient survival in the subgroup of 126 pT4 carcinomas (p = 0.0004) but not in pT2 and pT3 cancers.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, the results of our study demonstrate that Upk1a and/or Upk1b immunohistochemistry can complement GATA3 for the distinction of urothelial carcinomas. Furthermore, a progressive loss of Upk1a/b expression during stage progression and a prognostic role of the combination GATA3/Upk1a/Upk1b in pT4 carcinomas is evident.

A Six-gene Prognostic Model Based on Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs)-related Gene Signature for Lung Adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the most common malignant cancers. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have been discovered to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of LUAD. We aimed to establish an innovative prognostic model for LUAD based on the distinct expression patterns of NETs-related genes.

METHODS

The TCGA LUAD dataset was utilized as the training set, while GSE31210, GSE37745, and GSE50081 were undertaken as the verification sets. The patients were grouped into clusters based on the expression signature of NETs-related genes. Differentially expressed genes between clusters were identified through the utilization of the random forest and LASSO algorithms. The NETs score model for LUAD prognosis was developed by multiplying the expression levels of specific genes with their corresponding LASSO coefficients and then summing them. The validity of the model was confirmed by analysis of the survival curves and ROC curves. Additionally, immune infiltration, GSEA, mutation analysis, and drug analysis were conducted. Silencing ABCC2 in A549 cells was achieved to investigate its effect.

RESULTS

We identified six novel NETs-related genes, namely UPK1B, SFTA3, GGTLC1, SCGB3A1, ABCC2, and NTS, and developed a NETs score signature, which exhibited a significant correlation with the clinicopathological and immune traits of the LUAD patients. High-risk patients showed inhibition of immune-related processes. Mutation patterns exhibited variability among the different groups. AZD3759, lapatinib, and dasatinib have been identified as potential candidates for LUAD treatment. Moreover, the downregulation of ABCC2 resulted in the induction of apoptosis and suppression of migration and invasion in A549 cells.

CONCLUSION

Altogether, this study has identified a novel NET-score signature based on six novel NET-related genes to predict the prognosis of LUAD and ABCC2 and has also explored a new method for personalized chemo-/immuno-therapy of LUAD.

KRT13 and UPK1B for differential diagnosis between metastatic lung carcinoma from oral squamous cell carcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinomas unusually show distant metastasis to the lung after primary treatment, which can be difficult to differentiate from primary squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. While the location and number of tumor nodules is helpful in diagnosing cases, differential diagnosis may be difficult even with histopathological examination. Therefore, we attempted to identify molecules that can facilitate accurate differential diagnosis. First, we performed a comprehensive gene expression analysis using microarray data for OSCC-LM and LSCC, and searched for genes showing significantly different expression levels. We then identified KRT13, UPK1B, and nuclear receptor subfamily 0, group B, member 1 (NR0B1) as genes that were significantly upregulated in LSCC and quantified the expression levels of these genes by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of KRT13 and UPK1B proteins were then examined by immunohistochemical staining. While OSCC-LM showed no KRT13 and UPK1B expression, some tumor cells of LSCC showed KRT13 and UPK1B expression in 10 of 12 cases (83.3%). All LSCC cases were positive for at least one of these markers. Thus, KRT13 and UPK1B might contribute in differentiating OSCC-LM from LSCC.