Clinical significance and biological function of transcriptional repressor GATA binding 1 in gastric cancer: a study based on data mining, RT-qPCR, immunochemistry, and vitro experiment

TRPS1 is a Highly Sensitive Marker for Breast Cancer: A Tissue Microarray Study Evaluating More Than 19,000 Tumors From 152 Different Tumor Entities

Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome 1 (TRPS1) is a nuclear protein highly expressed in breast epithelial cells. TRPS1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) has been suggested as a breast cancer marker. To determine the diagnostic and prognostic utility of TRPS1 IHC, tissue microarrays containing 19,201 samples from 152 different tumor types and subtypes were analyzed. GATA3 IHC was performed in a previous study. TRPS1 staining was seen in 86 of 152 tumor categories with 36 containing at least one strongly positive case. TRPS1 staining predominated in various types of breast carcinomas (51%-100%), soft tissue tumors (up to 100%), salivary gland tumors (up to 46%), squamous cell carcinomas (up to 35%), and gynecological cancers (up to 40%). TRPS1 positivity occurred in 1.8% of 1083 urothelial neoplasms. In invasive breast carcinoma of no special type, low TRPS1 expression was linked to high grade ( P = 0.0547), high pT ( P < 0.0001), nodal metastasis ( P = 0.0571), loss of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor expression ( P < 0.0001 each), and triple-negative status ( P < 0.0001) but was unrelated to patient survival ( P = 0.8016). In squamous cell carcinomas from 11 different sites, low TRPS1 expression was unrelated to tumor phenotype. Positivity for both TRPS1 and GATA3 occurred in 47.4% to 100% of breast cancers, up to 30% of salivary gland tumors, and 29 (0.3%) of 9835 tumors from 134 other cancer entities. TRPS1 IHC has high utility for the identification of cancers of breast (or salivary gland) origin, especially in combination with GATA3. The virtual absence of TRPS1 positivity in urothelial neoplasms is useful for the distinction of GATA3-positive urothelial carcinoma from breast cancer.

Identification of ZIC2 as a Potential Biomarker Linked with the Clinical Progression and Immune Infiltration of Oral Cancer: A Multicenter Study

Aim

To investigate the specific expression profile, clinicopathological significance and mechanism of Zic family member 2 (ZIC2) in oral cancer were unclear. Patients and Methods. We explored the expression pattern and clinicopathological significance of ZIC2 in oral cancer through performing in-house tissue microarray and integrated analysis global RNA-seq and microarrays containing large samples. The molecular basis of ZIC2 in oral cancer was further investigated in the aspects of transcription network and immune correlations. We also performed in vitro experiments and calculated drug sensitivity of oral cancer with different ZIC2 expression levels in response to hundreds of compounds.

Results

All data unanimously proved the significant overexpression of ZIC2 in oral cancer. The upregulation of ZIC2 was remarkably associated with the malignant clinical progression of oral cancer. ZIC2 was predicted to be targeted by miRNAs such as miR-3140, miR-4999, and miR-1322. The infiltration level of CD8+ T and central memory cells was positively related to the overexpression of ZIC2. Oral cancer patients with higher ZIC2 expression showed higher drug sensitivity to two compounds including AZD8186 and ERK_2240.

Conclusions

We demonstrated the upregulation of ZIC2 in oral cancer and its promoting effect on the clinical advancement of oral cancer. The potential clinical value of ZIC2 in oral cancer deserves attention.

Functional mechanisms of TRPS1 in disease progression and its potential role in personalized medicine

The gene of transcriptional repressor GATA binding 1 (TRPS1), as an atypical GATA transcription factor, has received considerable attention in a plethora of physiological and pathological processes, and may become a promising biomarker for targeted therapies in diseases and tumors. However, there still lacks a comprehensive exploration of its functions and promising clinical applications. Herein, relevant researches published in English from 2000 to 2022 were retrieved from PubMed, Google Scholar and MEDLINE, concerning the roles of TRPS1 in organ differentiation and tumorigenesis. This systematic review predominantly focused on summarizing the structural characteristics and biological mechanisms of TRPS1, its involvement in tricho-rhino-phalangeal syndrome (TRPS), its participation in the development of multiple tissues, the recent advances of its vital features in metabolic disorders as well as malignant tumors, in order to prospect its potential applications in disease detection and cancer targeted therapy. From the clinical perspective, the deeply and thoroughly understanding of the complicated context-dependent and cell-lineage-specific mechanisms of TRPS1 would not only gain novel insights into the complex etiology of diseases, but also provide the fundamental basis for the development of therapeutic drugs targeting both TRPS1 and its critical cofactors, which would facilitate individualized treatment.

Five hypoxia and immunity related genes as potential biomarkers for the prognosis of osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma accounts for a frequently occurring cancer of the primary skeletal system. In osteosarcoma cells, a hypoxic microenvironment is commonly observed that drives tumor growth, progression, and heterogeneity. Hypoxia and tumor-infiltrating immune cells might be closely related to the prognosis of osteosarcoma. In this study, we aimed to determine the biomarkers and therapeutic targets related to hypoxia and immunity through bioinformatics methods to improve the clinical prognosis of patients. We downloaded the gene expression data of osteosarcoma samples and normal samples in the UCSC Xena database and GTEx database, respectively, and downloaded the validation dataset (GSE21257) in the GEO database. Subsequently, we performed GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis on the data of the extracted osteosarcoma hypoxia-related genes. Through univariate COX regression analysis, lasso regression analysis, multivariate COX regression analysis, etc., we established a predictive model for the prognosis of osteosarcoma. Five genes, including ST3GAL4, TRIM8, STC2, TRPS1, and FAM207A, were found by screening. In particular, we analyzed the immune cell composition of each gene based on the five genes through the CIBERSORT algorithm and verified each gene at the cell and tissue level. Our findings are valuable for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Expression Landscape and Functional Roles of HOXA4 and HOXA5 in Lung Adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

The role of HOXA family genes in the occurrence and progression of a variety of human cancers has been scatteredly reported. However, there is no systematic study on the differential expression, prognostic significance and potential molecular mechanism of HOXA4 and HOXA5 in LUAD.

METHODS

In-house immunohistochemistry (IHC), multi-center microarrays, RT-qPCR and RNA-seq data were incorporated for comprehensively evaluating the expression and prognostic value of HOXA4 and HOXA5 in LUAD. The mechanism of HOXA4 and HOXA5 in the formation and development of LUAD was analyzed from multiple aspects of immune correlations, upstream transcriptional regulation, functional states of single cells and co-expressed gene network. The functional roles of HOXA4 and HOXA5 in LUAD were validated by in vitro experiments.

RESULTS

As a result, in 3201 LUAD samples and 2494 non-cancer lung samples, HOXA4 and HOXA5 were significantly downexpressed (P < 0.05). The aberrant expression of HOXA5 was significantly correlated with the clinical progression of LUAD (P < 0.05). HOXA5 showed remarkable prognostic value for LUAD patients (P < 0.05). The expression of HOXA4 and HOXA5 in LUAD were negatively correlated with tumor purity and positively correlated with the infiltration of various immune cells such as B cells, T cells and macrophages. HOXA4 and HOXA5 overexpression had notable inhibitory effect on the proliferation, migration and invasion of LUAD cells.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, the identified downexpressed HOXA4 and HOXA5 had significant distinguishing ability for LUAD samples and affected the cellular functions of LUAD cells. The low expression of HOXA5 indicated worse overall survival of LUAD patients. Therefore, the two HOXA family genes especially HOXA5 may serve as potential biomarkers for LUAD.