Activation of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway is rare in canine malignant melanoma tissue and cell lines

Survivin, β-catenin, and ki-67 immunohistochemical expression in canine perivascular wall tumors: Preliminary assessment of prognostic significance

High survivin expression has been correlated with poor outcomes in several canine tumors but not in soft tissue tumors (STTs). Survivin is a target gene of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which is involved in human STT oncogenesis. Immunohistochemistry for survivin, β-catenin, and Ki-67 was performed on 41 canine perivascular wall tumors (cPWTs), and statistical associations of protein expression and histopathologic and clinical variables with clinical outcomes were investigated. Immunohistochemically, there was nuclear positivity (0.9%-12.2% of tumor cells) for survivin in 41/41 (100%), cytoplasmic positivity (0 to > 75% of tumor cells) for survivin in 31/41 (76%), nuclear positivity (2.9%-67.2% of tumor cells) for β-catenin in 24/41 (59%), and cytoplasmic positivity (0% to > 75% of tumor cells) for β-catenin in 23/41 (56%) of cPWTs. All tumors expressed nuclear Ki-67 (2.2%-23.5%). In univariate analysis and multivariate analysis (UA and MA, respectively), every 1% increase of nuclear survivin was associated with an increase of the instantaneous death risk by a factor of 1.15 [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.15; P = .007]. Higher nuclear survivin was associated with grade II/III neoplasms (P = .043). Expression of cytoplasmic survivin, nuclear and cytoplasmic β-catenin, and nuclear Ki-67 were not significantly associated with prognosis in UA nor MA. Tumor size was a significant prognostic factor for local recurrence in UA [subdistribution HR (SDHR) = 1.19; P = .02] and for reduced overall survival time in MA. According to UA and MA, a unitary increase of mitotic count was associated with an increase of the instantaneous death risk by a factor of 1.05 (HR = 1.05; P = .014). Nuclear survivin, mitotic count, and tumor size seem to be potential prognostic factors for cPWTs. In addition, survivin and β-catenin may represent promising therapeutic targets for cPWTs.

Elevated expression of miR-301a and its functional roles in canine oral melanoma

miR-301a is one of numerous dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) in canine oral melanoma (COM), one of which is miR-301a (upregulated). Its biological role has been described in various human cancer types, including malignant melanoma, but not in COM. Accordingly, in this study, we investigated miR-301a expression in COM in greater detail to ascertain whether it could serve as a diagnostic biomarker, elucidate its functional roles in this cancer, and predict the possible pathways by which it exerts its effects. Relative expression of miR-301a was investigated in clinical oral tissue and plasma samples and COM cell (KMeC and LMeC) lines using qRT-PCR. Knockdown of miR-301a was also validated for KMeC and LMeC cells using qRT-PCR. We performed CCK-8 assays to assess cell proliferation, monolayer wound-healing, and transwell migration assays to assess cell migration, a colony-formation assay to assess clonogenicity, a TUNEL assay and flow cytometry to assess apoptosis-related effects, and gene enrichment analyses to predict possible related pathways. miR-301a was markedly upregulated in COM oral tissue and plasma clinically, suggesting its potential as a diagnostic biomarker for COM diagnosis. In vitro assays demonstrated that miR-301 significantly inhibited apoptosis in COM cells while promoting cell migration, proliferation, and clonogenicity. We also predicted that miR-301 exerts cancer-promoting effects through the Wnt signalling pathway for COM. Our findings suggest that miR-301a is a COM oncomiR that regulates several oncogenic phenotypes with the potential to be a diagnostic biomarker.

Influence of a Polyherbal Choline Source in Dogs: Body Weight Changes, Blood Metabolites, and Gene Expression

Choline chloride is used to provide choline in dog foods; however, in other domestic species, it has been replaced with a polyherbal containing phosphatidylcholine. A polyherbal containing Achyrantes aspera, Trachyspermum ammi, Citrullus colocynthis, Andrographis paniculata, and Azadirachta indica was evaluated in adult dogs through body weight changes, subcutaneous fat thickness, blood metabolites, and gene expression. Forty dogs (4.6 ± 1.6 years old) who were individually housed in concrete kennels were randomly assigned to the following treatments: unsupplemented diet (377 mg choline/kg), choline chloride (3850 mg/kg equivalent to 2000 mg choline/kg diet), and polyherbal (200, 400, and 800 mg/kg) for 60 days. Blood samples were collected on day 59 for biochemistry, biometry, and gene expression analysis through microarray assays. Intake, final body weight, and weight changes were similar for the two choline sources. Feed intake variation among dogs (p = 0.01) and dorsal fat (p = 0.03) showed a quadratic response to herbal choline. Dogs that received the polyherbal diet had reduced blood cholesterol levels (Quadratic, p = 0.02). The gene ontology analysis indicated that 15 biological processes were modified (p ≤ 0.05) with implications for preventing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer prevention, inflammatory and immune response, and behavior and cognitive process. According to these results that were observed in a 60 day trial, the polyherbal form could replace choline chloride in dog diets at a concentration of 400 mg/kg.

Investigation of the effects of mTOR inhibitors rapamycin and everolimus in combination with carboplatin on canine malignant melanoma cells

Background

Malignant melanoma in dogs is considered to be largely resistant to conventional chemotherapy, although responses to carboplatin have been documented. Invasion and early metastasis are common features of certain melanoma subtypes that contribute to tumour progression despite aggressive local and systemic therapy. Upregulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway has been observed in canine malignant melanoma and may represent a potential target for therapy. Rapamycin (sirolimus) and everolimus are commercially available small molecule inhibitors that target mTOR and therefore may have anticancer activity in canine melanoma. It was hypothesized that there is synergism between rapamycin or everolimus and platinum chemotherapy, and that combination drug treatment would inhibit target/downstream proteins involved in cell viability/proliferation and increase cell death in canine melanoma cells. It was further hypothesized that rapamycin or everolimus would impact metabolism by reducing glycolysis in these cells. Four canine melanoma cell lines were treated in vitro with rapamycin and everolimus as sole treatment or combined with carboplatin. Cell viability, apoptosis, target modulation, and glycolytic metabolism were evaluated by crystal violet colourimetric assay, Annexin V/PI flow cytometry, western blotting, and Seahorse bioanalyzer, respectively.

Results

When combined with carboplatin chemotherapy, rapamycin or everolimus treatment was overall synergistic in reducing cell viability. Carboplatin-induced apoptosis was noted at 72 h after treatment compared to the vehicle control. Levels of phosphorylated mTOR were reduced by rapamycin and everolimus in all four cell lines, but activation of the downstream protein p70S6K was not consistently reduced by treatment in two of the cell lines. Both mTOR inhibitors decreased the extracellular acidification rate of canine melanoma cells, indicating reduced cancer cell glycolytic activity.

Conclusions

Inhibition of mTOR by rapalogs, such as rapamycin and everolimus combined with carboplatin chemotherapy may have activity in canine melanoma. Future mechanistic investigation is warranted, including in vivo assessment of this combination therapy.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12917-021-03089-0.

A Comparative View on Molecular Alterations and Potential Therapeutic Strategies for Canine Oral Melanoma

Canine oral melanoma (COM) is a highly aggressive tumour associated with poor prognosis due to metastasis and resistance to conventional anti-cancer therapies. As with human mucosal melanoma, the mutational landscape is predominated by copy number aberrations and chromosomal structural variants, but differences in study cohorts and/or tumour heterogeneity can lead to discordant results regarding the nature of specific genes affected. This review discusses somatic molecular alterations in COM that result from single nucleotide variations, copy number changes, chromosomal rearrangements, and/or dysregulation of small non-coding RNAs. A cross-species comparison highlights notable recurrent aberrations, and functionally grouping dysregulated proteins reveals unifying biological pathways that may be critical for oncogenesis and metastasis. Finally, potential therapeutic strategies are considered to target these pathways in canine patients, and the benefits of collaboration between science, medical, and veterinary communities are emphasised.

The biological effect and mechanism of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway on malignant melanoma A375 cells

The present study aimed to determine the influence of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway on the proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis of malignant melanoma (MM) A375 cells. β-catenin interfering lentivirus liquid (β-catenin-RNAi-LV) and empty vector lentivirus liquid (β-catenin-negative-LV) were used to infect A375 cells. Infected cells were obtained and marked as A375-RNA interference (A375-RNAi) or A375-negative, respectively. Western blotting was used to measure the expression of β-catenin in infected cells and uninfected cells were utilized as a control. An MTT assay was adopted to measure cell proliferation and the clone formation of cells was assessed. In addition, the Transwell method was used to detect cell invasion and migration in vitro and flow cytometry was utilized to determine cell apoptosis. Western blot analysis demonstrated that β-catenin was highly expressed in uninfected A375 cells but exhibited reduced expression in A375-RNAi cells. These results indicate that β-catenin expression is effectively silenced by β-catenin-RNAi-LV. The proliferative and clone forming abilities of A375-RNAi cells were impaired compared with A375-negative and A375 cells. Additionally, the apoptosis rate was increased and the invasion and migration of A375-RNAi cells was decreased. However, no significant differences were identified in the proliferation, clone formation, apoptosis rate, invasion and migration of A375-negative cells compared with A375 cells. Therefore, the current study demonstrated that the inhibition of β-catenin expression or activity inhibits cell proliferation and invasion and migration, further downregulating the expression of anti-apoptotic genes and accelerating cellular apoptosis.

Expression of Wnt/β-catenin related genes after skeletal muscle contusion

BACKGROUND

It was aimed to determine expressions of genes related to Wnt/β-catenin signaling for evaluating time duration after skeletal muscle contusion.

METHODS

Pathological change of skeletal muscle was observed after H-E staining. mRNA of respective genes was quantified with real-time quantitative PCR. Expression of β-catenin was further characterized with immunostaining and quantified as intensity/area and further immune blotting and quantified as grey intensity normalized to loading control (GADPH).

RESULTS

After injury, skeletal muscle exhibited prominent inflammatory response, hyperplasia and regeneration. Infiltration of inflammatory cell, formation of myotube and maturation of skeletal muscle fiber were observed under HE staining. Expression of FZD4, Myo D, Myf5 changed during early stages after injury and could serve to evaluate injury within 24 h; Expression of SFRP5 and Fra1 changed during early-to-intermediate stages after injury and could serve to evaluate injury within 12-48 h; Expression of MRF4 changed during intermediate stages after injury and could serve to evaluate injury within 36-48 h; Expression of β-catenin changed during intermediate stages after injury and could serve to evaluate injury within 36 h-3 d; Expression of MyoG changed during late stages after injury and could serve to evaluate injury within 48 h-7 d. Immunostaining experiments showed that 36 h after injury, membrane β-catenin decreased while nucleus β-catenin increased.

CONCLUSION

Wnt/β-catenin related genes are involved in regeneration of skeletal muscle after contusion. The sequential changes of gene expression can be used for evaluating the duration after contusion.

TNF receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) mediates the angiotensin-induced non-canonical TGF-β pathway activation of c-kit(+) cardiac stem cells

Cardiac stem cells (CSCs) can differentiate into cardiac muscle-like cells upon stimulation by angiotensin II (Ang II). TNF receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) has been shown to promote JNK- and p38-induced myogenic differentiation and mediate Smad-independent activation of TGF-β. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying the activation of these signaling pathways are not entirely known. Herein, we hypothesized that Ang II could promote the differentiation of CSCs into cardiac muscle-like cells by non-canonical TGF-β/TRAF6 signaling pathway, and sought to test the hypothesis. C-kit(+) CSCs were isolated from neonatal Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, and their c-kit status was confirmed with immunofluorescence staining. A TGF-β type I receptor inhibitor (SB431542) was used to inhibit SMAD2/3 phosphorylation. The small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of TRAF6 was used to investigate the role of TRAF6 in TGF-β signaling. Rescue of TRAF6 siRNA transfected cells with a 3'UTR-deleted siRNA insensitive construct was performed to rule out any off-target effects of the siRNA. TRAF6 dominant-negative (TRAF6DN) vector was constructed and used to infect c-kit(+) CSCs. Our results showed that the increase in JNK and p38 activation by Ang-II was blocked by siRNA. After transfection by TRAF6-siRNA or Ad-TRAF6, the cardiac specific markers and Wnt signaling proteins were tested by Western blotting. Physical interactions between TRAF6 and TGF-β receptors were studied by co-immunoprecipitation. Forced expression of TRAF6 enhanced the expression of cTnT and Cx-43 but inhibited the expression of Wnt3a.Our data suggested that TRAF6 mediated Ang II-induced differential responses in c-kit(+) CSCs via the non-canonical TGF-β signaling pathway.

6-Bromoindirubin-3'oxime (BIO) decreases proliferation and migration of canine melanoma cell lines

Despite recent therapeutic advances, malignant melanoma is an aggressive tumor in dogs and is associated with a poor outcome. Novel, targeted agents are necessary to improve survival. In this study, 6-bromoindirubin-3'-oxime (BIO), a serine/threonine kinase inhibitor with reported specificity for glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) inhibition, was evaluated in vitro in three canine melanoma cell lines (CML-10C2, UCDK9M2, and UCDK9M3) for β-catenin-mediated transcriptional activity, Axin2 gene and protein expression levels, cell proliferation, chemotoxicity, migration and invasion assays. BIO treatment of canine malignant melanoma cell lines at 5 µM for 72 h enhanced β-catenin-mediated transcriptional activity, suggesting GSK-3β inhibition, and reduced cell proliferation and migration. There were no significant effects on invasion, chemotoxicity, or apoptosis. The results suggest that serine/threonine kinases may be viable therapeutic targets for the treatment of canine malignant melanoma.

Comparison of cancer stem cell antigen expression by tumor cell lines and by tumor biopsies from dogs with melanoma and osteosarcoma

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a small subpopulation of tumor cells that play a critical role in initiating and sustaining tumor growth. However, we currently have an incomplete understanding of the expression patterns of CSC antigens in tumors of dogs, nor do we understand how expression of these antigens vary between tumor cell lines and tumor biopsy specimens. Therefore, we used flow cytometry and commonly reported CSC surface and intracellular markers to evaluate the phenotype and overall frequency of CSC subpopulations in tumor cell lines and primary tumor biopsy samples from dogs with melanoma and osteosarcoma. We found that cells expressing common CSC antigens were rare in tumor cell lines, with the exception of tumor cells expressing CD44 and CD90. In contrast, tumor cells expressing conventional CSC antigens such as CD133, CD34, CD44, CD24 and Oct3/4 were much more common in tumor biopsy samples. Notably, the frequency and types of putative CSC subpopulations were very similar in biopsy samples from dogs with either melanoma or osteosarcoma. Our results suggest that the tumor microenvironment significantly influences CSC subpopulations within tumors and that tumor cell lines may not accurately reflect the actual frequency or types of CSC subpopulations present in tumor tissues in vivo.

β-Catenin transcriptional activity is minimal in canine osteosarcoma and its targeted inhibition results in minimal changes to cell line behaviour

Canine osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive malignancy associated with poor outcomes. Therapeutic improvements are likely to develop from an improved understanding of signalling pathways contributing to OS development and progression. The Wnt signalling pathway is of interest for its role in osteoblast differentiation, its dysregulation in numerous cancer types, and the relative frequency of cytoplasmic accumulation of β-catenin in canine OS. This study aimed to determine the biological impact of inhibiting canonical Wnt signalling in canine OS, by utilizing either β-catenin siRNA or a dominant-negative T-cell factor (TCF) construct. There were no consistent, significant changes in cell line behaviour with either method compared to parental cell lines. Interestingly, β-catenin transcriptional activity was three-fold higher in normal canine primary osteoblasts compared to canine OS cell lines. These results suggest canonical Wnt signalling is minimally active in canine OS and its targeted inhibition is not a relevant therapeutic strategy.