Endothelial cells-directed angiogenesis in colorectal cancer: Interleukin as the mediator and pharmacological target

The role of IL-33/ST2 axis in esophageal inflammatory diseases and cancers: implications for the immunopathogenesis and immunotherapeutic target?

Considerable scientific evidence confirms that interleukin (IL)-33 and its main receptor, suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2), form a functional axis to modulate the development of esophageal inflammatory disorders, such as eosinophilic esophagitis and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Recently, studies have also revealed that the IL-33/ST2 axis is implicated in the immunopathogenesis of both esophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. In view of the importance of the IL-33/ST2 axis in the immunopathogenesis of esophageal inflammatory diseases and cancers, this review summarizes recent progress in this research field based on current published data. Moreover, the translational potential of the IL-33/ST2 axis as a promising immunotherapeutic target in esophageal inflammatory disorders and cancers was discussed.

Immunotherapy and the ovarian cancer microenvironment: Exploring potential strategies for enhanced treatment efficacy

Despite progress in cancer immunotherapy, ovarian cancer (OC) prognosis continues to be disappointing. Recent studies have shed light on how not just tumour cells, but also the complex tumour microenvironment, contribute to this unfavourable outcome of OC immunotherapy. The complexities of the immune microenvironment categorize OC as a 'cold tumour'. Nonetheless, understanding the precise mechanisms through which the microenvironment influences the effectiveness of OC immunotherapy remains an ongoing scientific endeavour. This review primarily aims to dissect the inherent characteristics and behaviours of diverse cells within the immune microenvironment, along with an exploration into its reprogramming and metabolic changes. It is expected that these insights will elucidate the operational dynamics of the immune microenvironment in OC and lay a theoretical groundwork for improving the efficacy of immunotherapy in OC management.

IL-22 activates the PI3K-AKT pathway to promote colorectal cancer cell proliferation and metastasis

BACKGROUND

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent malignancy with high morbidity and mortality rates. Previous studies have demonstrated that interleukin (IL)-22 is involved in CRC progression; however, the exact mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of IL-22 on CRC cell proliferation and metastasis.

METHODS

IL-22 levels in the serum and tissues of CRC patients were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to detect the viability of CRC (HCT116) cells treated with different IL-22 concentrations. Colony formation, Transwell invasion, and scratch assays were employed to assess the effects of IL-22 on cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Western blotting was performed to measure the expression levels of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), p-PI3K, p-AKT, E-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, SNAI1, and TWIST1 in HCT116 cells treated with IL-22 or a PI3K inhibitor.

RESULTS

ELISA results showed that the expression of IL-22 was significantly increased in the serum and tissues of CRC patients compared to controls. IL-22 treatment increased cell viability and colony formation in a concentration-dependent manner and enhanced cell invasion and migration. Western blotting analysis revealed that IL-22 stimulation upregulated p-PI3K and p-AKT expression, while total PI3K and AKT levels remained unchanged. Additionally, IL-22 also decreased E-cadherin expression and increased the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, SNAI1, and TWIST1.

CONCLUSIONS

IL-22 activates the PI3K-AKT pathway and promotes HCT116 cell proliferation and metastasis. Targeting the regulation of the PI3K/AKT pathway may be a potential therapeutic strategy for CRC.

Serum Interleukins 8, 17, and 33 as Potential Biomarkers of Colon Cancer

This research investigated the serum levels of three interleukins (IL8, IL17A, and IL33) and the possible relationships between them in healthy people and colon cancer patients at different stages. This study involved 82 participants, 42 of whom had colon cancer and 40 were healthy individuals. The cancer patients were classified into four groups according to the TNM staging classification of colon and rectal cancer. Serum levels of the interleukins were measured by the ELISA test. The data were analyzed statistically to compare the demographic characteristics, the interleukin levels across cancer stages, and the correlation between interleukins in both groups. The results showed that women had more early-stage colon cancer diagnoses, while men had more advanced-stage cancer diagnoses. Stage two colon cancer was more common in older people. Younger people, men, and those with early-stage colon cancer had higher levels of interleukins. The levels of IL8 and IL17A were higher in the cancer group, while the level of IL33 was higher in the healthy group. There was a strong correlation between IL8 and IL17A levels in both groups (p = 0.001). IL17A influenced the level of IL33 in the cancer group (p = 0.007). This study suggested that cytokine variation profiles could be useful for detecting colon cancer and predicting its outcome.

A Lower IL-34 Expression Is Associated with Non-Healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers

BACKGROUND

The non-healing of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) is a major cause of high disability, morbidity, and mortality. Thus, new therapeutic targets and methods to help healing in patients with DFUs are major research hotspots.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the molecular differences between healing and non-healing DFUs to identify genes associated with DFU healing.

METHODS

Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by bioinformatics. Samples were collected from patients with healing (n=10) and non-healing (n=10) DFUs from September 2021 to September 2022. Interleukin (IL)-34 expression was measured by ELISA and qRT-PCT. The fibroblasts from healing and non-healing DFU were divided according to their gene signatures and subdivided based on their gene expression profile differences.

RESULTS

A comparison of fibroblast subpopulation characteristics revealed that the proportion of subpopulation 4 was significantly higher in non-healing DFUs than in healing DFUs. Subpopulation 4 had 254 upregulated genes and 2402 downregulated genes in the non-healing compared with the healing DFUs. The DEGs were involved in several biological functions, including cytokine activity, receptor-ligand activity, signaling receptor activator activity, and receptor regulator activity. IL-34 was downregulated in non-healing compared with healing DFUs, suggesting a possible role of IL-34 in DFU healing. In the clinical specimens, IL-34 was significantly downregulated in non-healing DFUs, consistent with the bioinformatics results.

CONCLUSION

IL-34 expression is downregulated in non-healing DFU. IL-34 appears to be involved in DFU healing, but the exact causal relationship remains to be explored.

Stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment: accomplices of tumor progression?

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is made up of cells and extracellular matrix (non-cellular component), and cellular components include cancer cells and non-malignant cells such as immune cells and stromal cells. These three types of cells establish complex signals in the body and further influence tumor genesis, development, metastasis and participate in resistance to anti-tumor therapy. It has attracted scholars to study immune cells in TME due to the significant efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) in solid tumors and hematologic tumors. After more than 10 years of efforts, the role of immune cells in TME and the strategy of treating tumors based on immune cells have developed rapidly. Moreover, ICI have been recommended by guidelines as first- or second-line treatment strategies in a variety of tumors. At the same time, stromal cells is another major class of cellular components in TME, which also play a very important role in tumor metabolism, growth, metastasis, immune evasion and treatment resistance. Stromal cells can be recruited from neighboring non-cancerous host stromal cells and can also be formed by transdifferentiation from stromal cells to stromal cells or from tumor cells to stromal cells. Moreover, they participate in tumor genesis, development and drug resistance by secreting various factors and exosomes, participating in tumor angiogenesis and tumor metabolism, regulating the immune response in TME and extracellular matrix. However, with the deepening understanding of stromal cells, people found that stromal cells not only have the effect of promoting tumor but also can inhibit tumor in some cases. In this review, we will introduce the origin of stromal cells in TME as well as the role and specific mechanism of stromal cells in tumorigenesis and tumor development and strategies for treatment of tumors based on stromal cells. We will focus on tumor-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), tumor-associated adipocytes (CAAs), tumor endothelial cells (TECs) and pericytes (PCs) in stromal cells.

T cells in abdominal aortic aneurysm: immunomodulation and clinical application

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is characterized by inflammatory cell infiltration, extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, and vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) dysfunction. The inflammatory cells involved in AAA mainly include immune cells including macrophages, neutrophils, T-lymphocytes and B lymphocytes and endothelial cells. As the blood vessel wall expands, more and more lymphocytes infiltrate into the outer membrane. It was found that more than 50% of lymphocytes in AAA tissues were CD3+ T cells, including CD4+, CD8+T cells, γδ T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs). Due to the important role of T cells in inflammatory response, an increasing number of researchers have paid attention to the role of T cells in AAA and dug into the relevant mechanism. Therefore, this paper focuses on reviewing the immunoregulatory role of T cells in AAA and their role in immunotherapy, seeking potential targets for immunotherapy and putting forward future research directions.

Circulating interleukins and risk of colorectal cancer: a Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have suggested a potential causal association between Interleukins (ILs) and Colorectal Cancer (CRC), and thus, it is important to examine the causal relationship between them using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.

METHODS

The instrumental variables were extracted for IL-1ra, IL-6, IL-6ra, IL-8, IL-16, IL-18, IL-27 from genome-wide association studies of European ancestry. Summary statistics of CRC were also retrieved. An inverse variance-weighted MR approach was implemented as the primary method to compute overall effects from multiple instruments. Additional MR approaches and sensitivity and heterogeneity pleiotropy analyses were also conducted respectively.

RESULTS

Our analysis suggested a causal effect between an increase of IL-8 and a reduced risk of CRC (odds ratio 0.65; 95% confidence interval, 0.43-0.98; p = 0.041) and did not provide evidence for causal effects of IL-1ra, IL-6, IL-6ra, IL-16, IL-18, IL-27. Sensitivity analyses suggested the robustness of MR results and that they were unlikely to be affected by unbalanced pleiotropy or significant heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS

This study investigated the role of ILs in the development of CRC and we found a causal effect between an increase of IL-8 and a reduced risk of CRC but not found evidence for causal effects of IL-1ra, IL-6, IL-6ra, IL-16, IL-18, IL-27. Sensitivity analyses suggested the robustness of MR results and that they were unlikely to be affected by unbalanced pleiotropy or significant heterogeneity.

IL-33-expressing microvascular endothelial cells in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Implications for pathological features and prognosis

Accumulating evidence suggests that interleukin (IL)-33 plays a critical role in regulating angiogenesis and cancer progression. In this study, we characterized the pathological importance of IL-33 deployed by tumor microvascular endothelial cells (ECs) in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The expression of IL-33 in microvascular ECs in 80 cases of ESCC was examined with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and double immunofluorescence. IHC results showed that strong IL-33-immunoreactivity (IR) in microvessels, which were confirmed to be ECs by double immunofluorescence staining with IL-33/CD31 antibodies. Moreover, high proliferative activity was shown in IL-33-positive ECs, and the IL-33 functional receptor ST2 was expressed in microvascular ECs. Clinicopathological analysis revealed that IL-33-positive microvessel density (MVD) was positively correlated with node involvement in patients with ESCC. A log rank test showed a highly significant inverse correlation between the densities of IL-33-positive MVDs and overall survival rate, and patients with higher IL-33-positive MVDs tended to have a lower survival rate (both p < 0.05). Therefore, we concluded that IL-33 deployed by microvascular ECs correlates with advanced pathological features and the long-term survival rate, which provides new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis in the tumor microenvironment and might serve as a promising target in patients with ESCC.