Inhibition of IKKβ/NF-κB signaling pathway to improve Dasatinib efficacy in suppression of cisplatin-resistant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Inhibition of NF-κB signaling unveils novel strategies to overcome drug resistance in cancers

Drug resistance in cancer remains a major challenge in oncology, impeding the effectiveness of various treatment modalities. The nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway has emerged as a critical player in the development of drug resistance in cancer cells. This comprehensive review explores the intricate relationship between NF-κB and drug resistance in cancer. We delve into the molecular mechanisms through which NF-κB activation contributes to resistance against chemotherapeutic agents, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies. Additionally, we discuss potential strategies to overcome this resistance by targeting NF-κB signaling, such as small molecule inhibitors and combination therapies. Understanding the multifaceted interactions between NF-κB and drug resistance is crucial for the development of more effective cancer treatment strategies. By dissecting the complex signaling network of NF-κB, we hope to shed light on novel therapeutic approaches that can enhance treatment outcomes, ultimately improving the prognosis for cancer patients. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on NF-κB and its role in drug resistance, offering insights that may guide future research and therapeutic interventions in the fight against cancer.

Up-regulation of TNF-alpha/NFkB/SIRT1 axis drives aggressiveness and cancer stem cells accumulation in chemoresistant oral squamous cell carcinoma

Tumor resistance remains an obstacle to successfully treating oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Cisplatin is widely used as a cytotoxic drug to treat solid tumors, including advanced OSCC, but with low efficacy due to chemoresistance. Therefore, identifying the pathways that contribute to chemoresistance may show new possibilities for improving the treatment. This work explored the role of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)/NFkB signaling in driving the cisplatin resistance of OSCC and its potential as a pharmacological target to overcome chemoresistance. Differential accessibility analysis demonstrated the enrichment of opened chromatin regions in members of the TNF-alpha/NFkB signaling pathway, and RNA-Seq confirmed the upregulation of TNF-alpha/NFkB signaling in cisplatin-resistant cell lines. NFkB was accumulated in cisplatin-resistant cell lines and in cancer stem cells (CSC), and the administration of TNF-alpha increased the CSC, suggesting that TNF-alpha/NFkB signaling is involved in the accumulation of CSC. TNF-alpha stimulation also increased the histone deacetylases HDAC1 and SIRT1. Cisplatin-resistant cell lines were sensitive to the pharmacological inhibition of NFkB, and low doses of the NFkB inhibitors, CBL0137, and emetine, efficiently reduced the CSC and the levels of SIRT1, increasing histone acetylation. The NFkB inhibitors decreased stemness potential, clonogenicity, migration, and invasion of cisplatin-resistant cell lines. The administration of the emetine significantly reduced the tumor growth of cisplatin-resistant xenograft models, decreasing NFkB and SIRT1, increasing histone acetylation, and decreasing CSC. TNF-alpha/NFkB/SIRT1 signaling regulates the epigenetic machinery by modulating histone acetylation, CSC, and aggressiveness of cisplatin-resistant OSCC and the NFkB inhibition is a potential strategy to treat chemoresistant OSCC.

Emerging tyrosine kinase inhibitors for head and neck cancer

INTRODUCTION

Conventional regimens for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are limited in efficacy and are associated with adverse toxicities. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved molecular targeting agents include the HER1 (EGFR)-directed monoclonal antibody cetuximab and the immune checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and pembrolizumab. However, clinical benefit is only seen in roughly 15-20% of HNSCC patients treated with these agents. New molecular targeting agents are needed that either act with monotherapeutic activity against HNSCC tumors or enhance the activities of current therapies, particularly immunotherapy. Small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) represent a viable option toward this goal.

AREAS COVERED

This review provides an update on TKIs currently under investigation in HNSCC. We focus our review on data obtained and trials underway in HNSCC, including salivary gland cancers and nasopharyngeal carcinomas, but excluding thyroid cancer and esophageal cancer.

EXPERT OPINION

While some emerging TKIs have shown clinical benefit, the positive effects have, largely, been modest. The design of clinical trials of TKIs has been hampered by a lack of understanding of biomarkers that can be used to define patient populations most likely to respond. Further preclinical and translational studies to define biomarkers of TKI response will be critically important.

MicroRNA-485-5p targets keratin 17 to regulate oral cancer stemness and chemoresistance via the integrin/FAK/Src/ERK/β-catenin pathway

Background

The development of drug resistance in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) that frequently leads to recurrence and metastasis after initial treatment remains an unresolved challenge. Presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) has been increasingly reported to be a critical contributing factor in drug resistance, tumor recurrence and metastasis. Thus, unveiling of mechanisms regulating CSCs and potential targets for developing their inhibitors will be instrumental for improving OSCC therapy.

Methods

siRNA, shRNA and miRNA that specifically target keratin 17 (KRT17) were used for modulation of gene expression and functional analyses. Sphere-formation and invasion/migration assays were utilized to assess cancer cell stemness and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) properties, respectively. Duolink proximity ligation assay (PLA) was used to examine molecular proximity between KRT17 and plectin, which is a large protein that binds cytoskeleton components. Cell proliferation assay was employed to evaluate growth rates and viability of oral cancer cells treated with cisplatin, carboplatin or dasatinib. Xenograft mouse tumor model was used to evaluate the effect of KRT17- knockdown in OSCC cells on tumor growth and drug sensitization.

Results

Significantly elevated expression of KRT17 in highly invasive OSCC cell lines and advanced tumor specimens were observed and high KRT17 expression was correlated with poor overall survival. KRT17 gene silencing in OSCC cells attenuated their stemness properties including markedly reduced sphere forming ability and expression of stemness and EMT markers. We identified a novel signaling cascade orchestrated by KRT17 where its association with plectin resulted in activation of integrin β4/α6, increased phosphorylation of FAK, Src and ERK, as well as stabilization and nuclear translocation of β-catenin. The activation of this signaling cascade was correlated with enhanced OSCC cancer stemness and elevated expression of CD44 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). We identified and demonstrated KRT17 to be a direct target of miRNA-485-5p. Ectopic expression of miRNA-485-5p inhibited OSCC sphere formation and caused sensitization of cancer cells towards cisplatin and carboplatin, which could be significantly rescued by KRT17 overexpression. Dasatinib treatment that inhibited KRT17-mediated Src activation also resulted in OSCC drug sensitization. In OSCC xenograft mouse model, KRT17 knockdown significantly inhibited tumor growth, and combinatorial treatment with cisplatin elicited a greater tumor inhibitory effect. Consistently, markedly reduced levels of integrin β4, active β-catenin, CD44 and EGFR were observed in the tumors induced by KRT17 knockdown OSCC cells.

Conclusions

A novel miRNA-485-5p/KRT17/integrin/FAK/Src/ERK/β-catenin signaling pathway is unveiled to modulate OSCC cancer stemness and drug resistance to the common first-line chemotherapeutics. This provides a potential new therapeutic strategy to inhibit OSCC stem cells and counter chemoresistance.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12929-022-00824-z.

Cancer-specific type-I interferon receptor signaling promotes cancer stemness and effector CD8+ T-cell exhaustion

Type-I interferon (IFN-I) signaling is critical to maintaining antigen-presenting cell function for anti-tumor immunity. However, recent studies have suggested that IFN-I signaling may also contribute to more aggressive phenotypes, raising the possibility that IFN-I downstream signaling in cancer and myeloid cells may exert dichotomous functions.We analyzed the clinicopathologic correlation of cancer-specific IFN-I activation in 195 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients. We also characterized the immune impact of IFN-I receptor (IFNAR1)-deficiency in syngeneic tumor models using biochemistry, flow cytometry, and single-cell RNA-Seq. We stained HNSCC tissue microarrays with a sensitive IFN-I downstream signaling activation marker, MX1, and quantitated cancer cell-specific MX1 staining. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that MX1-high tumors exhibited worse survival, a phenotype that depends on the number of CD8⁺ intratumoral T-cells. We found that cancer-specific IFNAR1 engagement promotes cancer stemness and higher expression levels of suppressive immune checkpoint receptor ligands in cancer-derived exosomes. Notably, mice bearing Ifnar1-deficient tumors exhibited lower tumor burden, increased T-cell infiltration, reduced exhausted CD4⁺PD1^high T-cells, and increased effector population CD8⁺IFN-γ⁺ T-cells. Then, we performed single-cell RNA-sequencing and discovered that cancer-specific IFN-I signaling not only restricts effector cells expansion but also dampens their functional fitness.The beneficial role of IFN-I activation is largely dependent on the myeloid compartment. Cancer-specific IFN-I receptor engagement promotes cancer stemness and the release of cancer-derived exosomes with high expression levels of immune checkpoint receptor ligands. Cancer-specific IFN-I activation is associated with poor immunogenicity and worse clinical outcomes in HNSCC.

Prevalence of HPV in Mexican Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Carcinoma and Identification of Potential Prognostic Biomarkers

Simple Summary

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms that show diverse clinical and biological characteristics associated with human papillomavirus (HPV). Biological and clinical characterization is essential to stratify patients based on prognostic and predictive factors. The biological features of HNSCC may change according to geography and population characteristics. Studies on the molecular biology of HNSCC in Mexico are scarce. In the present study, we analyzed 414 Mexican patients with HNSCC and determined the presence and genotype of HPV, p16 expression, and global gene expression profiles. Twenty-two percent of total cases were HPV+, and 32% were p16+. We identified genes associated with survival, such as SLIRP, KLF10, AREG, ACT1, and LIMA. In addition, CSF1R, MYC, and SRC genes were identified as potential therapeutic targets. This study offers information that may be relevant for our understanding of the biology of HNSCC and the development of therapeutic strategies.

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) show a variety of biological and clinical characteristics that could depend on the association with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Biological and clinical characterization is essential to stratify patients based on prognostic and predictive factors. Reports on HNSCC are scarce in Mexico. Herein, we analyzed 414 Mexican patients with HNSCC, including oropharynx (OPSCC), larynx (LASCC), and oral cavity (OCSCC), and identified HPV DNA and p16 expression. Global gene expression profiles were analyzed in 25 HPV+/p16+ vs. HPV−/p16− cases. We found 32.3% p16+ and 22.3% HPV+ samples, HPV 16, 18, 39, 52, and 31 being the most frequent genotypes. For OPSCC, LASCC and OCSCC, 39.2, 14.7, and 9.6% were HPV+/p16+, respectively. High expression of SLIRP, KLF10, AREG, and LIMA was associated with poor survival; in contrast, high expression of MYB and SYCP2 correlated with better survival. In HPV+ cases, high expression of SLC25A39 and GJB2 was associated with poor survival. Likewise, EGFR, IL-1, IL-6, JAK-STAT, WNT, NOTCH, and ESR1 signaling pathways were downregulated in HPV+ cases. CSF1R, MYC, and SRC genes were identified as key hubs and therapeutic targets. Our study offers information regarding the molecular and clinical characteristics of HNSCC in Mexican patients.

Analyzing tyrosine kinase activity in head and neck cancer by functional kinomics: Identification of hyperactivated Src family kinases as prognostic markers and potential targets

Signal transduction via protein kinases is of central importance in cancer biology and treatment. However, the clinical success of kinase inhibitors is often hampered by a lack of robust predictive biomarkers, which is also caused by the discrepancy between kinase expression and activity. Therefore, there is a need for functional tests to identify aberrantly activated kinases in individual patients. Here we present a systematic analysis of the tyrosine kinases in head and neck cancer using such a test-functional kinome profiling. We detected increased tyrosine kinase activity in tumors compared with their corresponding normal tissue. Moreover, we identified members of the family of Src kinases (Src family kinases [SFK]) to be aberrantly activated in the majority of the tumors, which was confirmed by additional methods. We could also show that SFK hyperphosphorylation is associated with poor prognosis, while inhibition of SFK impaired cell proliferation, especially in cells with hyperactive SFK. In summary, functional kinome profiling identified SFK to be frequently hyperactivated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. SFK may therefore be potential therapeutic targets. These results furthermore demonstrate how functional tests help to increase our understanding of cancer biology and support the expansion of precision oncology.

Phthalates promote the invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by enhancing the interaction between Pregnane X receptor and E26 transformation specific sequence 1

Phthalates (PAEs) are considered endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), a series of compounds able to disrupt the normal regulation of the human endocrine-system. In the present study, we investigated the roles of four PAEs, butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), dimethyl phthalate (DMP), and diethyl phthalate (DEP), in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. We define novel roles for the PAEs on the migration of HCC cells via their enhancing of the interaction between the pregnane X receptor (PXR) and E26 transformation specific sequence 1 (ETS-1). Our results indicate that PAEs induced the transcriptional activation of ETS-1 and PXR. PXR activated by PAEs could bind to ETS-1 directly and enhanced the activity of ETS-1, which resulted in the induction of invasion-related ETS-1 target genes. The "LXXLL" motif in the ETS-1C-terminal was essential for the interaction between PXR and ETS-1 induced by PAEs. Treatment of PAEs promoted the nuclear accumulation of ETS-1 or the recruitment of ETS-1, but not in cells expressing ETS-1 with a mutated LXXLL motif in its downstream gene promoter region, or following transfection of PXR siRNA. Treatment with the PXR antagonist ketoconazole almost completely inhibited the effects of PAEs. Moreover, PAEs enhanced the in vitro or in vivo invasion of HCC cells via PXR/ETS-1. Therefore, our results not only contribute to a better understanding of HCC, but also extended the roles of EDCs regulating human malignancies.

TGF-β1 and IL-17A comediate the protumor phenotype of neutrophils to regulate the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in oral squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND

The role of neutrophils in cancer has been the subject of intense research in recent years. One major theme that has emerged is that not all neutrophils are equal in the field of cancer. However, it remains unclear what induces the protumorigenic or antitumorigenic phenotype predominate in tumor. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate what factors induce which of these two phenotypes of neutrophil predominate in OSCC and to explore the role of neutrophil polarization on tumor.

METHODS

Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry staining were used to observe neutrophil infiltration and the expression of TGF-β1 and IL-17A in OSCC tissues. Recombinant human TGF-β1 and IL-17A were used to modulate neutrophil polarization. OSCC cell (SCC9 and SAS cell lines) migration, proliferation, invasion, stemness, and EMT were analyzed after treatment with conditioned medium from TGF-β1/IL-17A-activated neutrophils. The levels of neutrophil-associated markers in OSCC tissues and peripheral blood were examined by immunofluorescence staining and quantitative PCR.

RESULTS

Our data showed neutrophil infiltration and elevated expression of TGF-β1 and IL-17A in OSCC tissues. The cooperative effect of TGF-β1 and IL-17A promoted neutrophils to take on a protumor phenotype in vitro. TGF-β1/IL-17A-activated neutrophils remarkably induced cell migration, proliferation, invasion, stemness, and EMT in OSCC cells. Additionally, OSCC patients showed increased expression of MMP9 and decreased expression of CCL3 in circulating neutrophils.

CONCLUSION

TGF-β1 and IL-17A cooperated to augment the protumor functions of neutrophils, thereby promoting the progression of OSCC cells. In addition, the combination of neutrophil-associated markers may serve as a predictive method to screen for patients with OSCC.