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Chang C, Chen YL, Wang YW, Chen HW, Hsu CW, Lin KC, Ou YC, Liu T, Chen WL, Chu CA, Ho CL, Lee CT, Chow NH. Aberrant trophoblastic differentiation in human cancer: An emerging novel therapeutic target (Review). Oncol Rep 2024; 51:43. [PMID: 38240107 PMCID: PMC10823338 DOI: 10.3892/or.2024.8701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Various types of human cancer may develop aberrant trophoblastic differentiation, including histological changes and altered expression of β‑human chorionic gonadotropin (β‑hCG). Aberrant trophoblastic differentiation in epithelial cancer is usually associated with poor differentiation, tumor metastasis, unfavorable prognosis and treatment resistance. Since β‑hCG‑targeting vaccines have failed in an early phase II trial, it is crucial to obtain a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of trophoblastic differentiation in human cancer. The present review summarizes the clinical and translational research on this topic with the aim of accelerating the development of an effective targeted therapy. Ectopic expression of β‑hCG promotes proliferation, migration, invasion, vasculogenesis and epithelial‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro, and enhances metastatic and tumorigenic capabilities in vivo. Signaling cascades modulated by β‑hCG include the TGF‑β receptor pathway, EMT‑related pathways, the c‑MET receptor tyrosine kinase and mitogen‑activated protein kinase/ERK pathways, and the SMAD2/4 pathway. Taken together, these findings indicated that TGF‑β receptors, c‑MET and ERK1/2 are potential therapeutic targets. Nevertheless, further investigation on the molecular basis of aberrant trophoblastic differentiation is mandatory to improve the design of precision therapy for this aggressive type of human cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Chang
- Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Yi-Lin Chen
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Medicine Core Laboratory, Research Center of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Yi-Wen Wang
- Department of Dental Technology, Shu-Zen Junior College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung 821, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Hui-Wen Chen
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Che-Wei Hsu
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Kun-Che Lin
- Department of Urology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Yin-Chien Ou
- Department of Urology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Tsunglin Liu
- The Institute of Bioinformatics and Biosignal Transduction, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Bioinformatics Core Laboratory, Research Center of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Wan-Li Chen
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Chien-An Chu
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Chung-Liang Ho
- Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Medicine Core Laboratory, Research Center of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Chung-Ta Lee
- Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
| | - Nan-Haw Chow
- Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Medicine Core Laboratory, Research Center of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan, R.O.C
- The Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, R.O.C
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Yordanov A, Karamanliev M, Karcheva M, Konsoulova A, Vasileva-Slaveva M, Strashilov S. Single-Center Study of Lymphoepithelioma-Like Carcinoma of Uterine Cervix over a 10-Year Period. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 55:medicina55120780. [PMID: 31835382 PMCID: PMC6955773 DOI: 10.3390/medicina55120780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2019] [Revised: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Background and objectives: Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a histological type of malignant tumor arising from the uncontrolled mitosis of transformed cells originating in epithelial tissue. It is a rare subtype of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. There are significant differences in frequency, mean age, viral status, and outcomes in Asian or Caucasian patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of all cases of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the cervix at the Clinic of Oncogynecology, University Hospital, Pleven, Bulgaria between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2016 was performed. All patients were followed-up till March 2019. We analyzed some clinical characteristics of the patients, calculated the frequency of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the cervix from all patients with stage I cervical cancer, and looked at the overall survival rate, the 5-year survival rate, and the correlation between overall survival, lymph node status, and the size of the tumor. Results: The frequency of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma was 3.3% for all cases with cervical carcinoma at stage I. The mean age of the patients with LELC was 49.6 years (range 32–67). Fourteen patients (82.4%) were in the FIGO IB1 stage, three patients (17.6%) were in the FIGO IB2 stage. Lymph nodes were metastatic in three patients (17.6%), non-metastatic in 13 patients (76.5%), and unknown in one patient. The overall survival rate was 76.47% for the study period and the 5-year survival rate of the patients that were followed-up until the 5th year (14 patients) was 69.23%. Conclusions: Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is a rare SCC subtype, but it could be more frequent among western patients than previously thought. Our results do not confirm the data showing low risk of lymph metastasis and good prognosis of LELC, which is why we think that the treatment in these cases has to be more aggressive than is reported in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angel Yordanov
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Medical University Pleven, 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +359-98-8767-1520
| | - Martin Karamanliev
- Department of Surgical Oncology, Medical University Pleven, 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria;
| | - Milena Karcheva
- Department of Epidemiology, Medical University Pleven, 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria;
| | | | - Mariela Vasileva-Slaveva
- EXTRO-Lab, Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria;
- Tyrolean Cancer Research Institute, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
- EORTC Pathobiology Group, 1200 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Strahil Strashilov
- Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, MU-Pleven, 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria;
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Bignold LP. Embryonic reversions and lineage infidelities in tumour cells: genome-based models and role of genetic instability. Int J Exp Pathol 2005; 86:67-79. [PMID: 15810978 PMCID: PMC2517406 DOI: 10.1111/j.0959-9673.2005.00421.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2004] [Accepted: 12/19/2004] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Reversions to "embryonic precursor"-type cells and infidelities of tumour cell lineage (including metaplasias) have been recognized as aspects of various tumour types since the 19th century. Since then, evidence of these phenomena has been obtained from numerous clinical, biochemical, immunological and molecular biological studies. In particular, microarray studies have suggested that "aberrant" expressions of relevant genes are common. An unexplained aspect of the results of these studies is that, in many tumour types, the embryonic reversion or lineage infidelity only occurs in a proportion of cases. As a parallel development during the molecular biological investigation of tumours over the last several decades, genetic instability has been found much more marked, at least in some preparations of tumour cells, than that identified by means of previous karyotypic investigations of tumours. This study reviews examples of embryonic reversion and lineage infidelity phenomena, which have derived from the various lines of investigation of cancer over the last 150 or so years. Four categories of circumstances of the occurrence of embryonic reversions or lineage infidelities have been identified - (i) as part of the defining phenotype of the tumour, and hence being presumably integral to the tumour type, (ii) present ab initio in only some cases of the tumour type, and presumably being regularly associated with, but incidental to, the essential features of the tumour type, (iii) occurring later in the course of the disease and thus being possibly a manifestation of in vivo genetic instability and "tumour progression" and (iv) arising probably by genetic instability, during the processes, especially cell culture, associated with ex vivo investigations. Genomic models are described which might account for the origin of these phenomena in each of these circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leon P Bignold
- Division of Tissue Pathology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, PO Box 14, Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA 5068, Australia.
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