B-cell lymphoma-2-associated transcription factor 1 is overexpressed and contributes to sorafenib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma

Pan-Cancer Analysis Identifies BCLAF1 as a Potential Biomarker for Renal Cell Carcinoma

B-cell lymphoma-2-associated transcription factor 1 (BCLAF1) is a versatile protein involved in the regulation of gene transcription and post-transcriptional processing. Although BCLAF1 exerts a broad tumor suppressor effect or tumor promoter effect in many cancer types, the specific roles concerning its expression levels, and its impact on tumorigenesis in Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remain unclear. Here, we utilized the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx) datasets alongside R software and online tools to unravel the specific roles of BCLAF1 in 33 cancer types, including its expression levels, tumor immune and molecular subtypes, and its correlation with prognosis, diagnosis, DNA methylation, and immune microenvironment. Additionally, we carried out cell biology experiments to independently investigate the expression of BCLAF1 in RCC and its effects on tumor progression. BCLAF1 was differentially expressed in tumor tissues compared to normal tissues across various cancer types and was also differentially expressed in different immune and molecular subtypes. In RCC, patients with high BCLAF1 expression had a better prognosis and BCLAF1 was tightly correlated with the stage, gender, and histological grade of patients. Furthermore, BCLAF1 had higher DNA methylation levels and higher immune infiltration levels in tumor tissues. Additionally, cell functional experiments confirmed the low expression of BCLAF1 in RCC and that BCLAF1 significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion, while inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in RCC cells in vitro. Our study under-scored the potential of BCLAF1 as an important actor in tumorigenesis, especially concerning RCC where it may serve as an effective prognostic marker.

BCLAF1 is Expressed as a Potential Anti-oncogene in Bile Duct Cancer

Validating the role of BCLAF1 in the development of Bile Duct Cancer. Differential expression of BCLAF1 in Bile Duct Cancer and normal tissues was analyzed bioinformatically, and immuno-infiltration analysis was performed by R. We also derived the correlation between the expression of BCLAF1 and HIF-1α by bioinformatics analysis and validated it by Western Blotting, qRT-PCR and scratch assays before and after hypoxia. Through bioinformatics analysis, we found that BCLAF1 mRNA was significantly higher in the tumor tissues of Bile Duct Cancer. The high expression of BCLAF1 implied a more advanced stage but a lower mortality rate. KEGG and GO enrichment analysis showed that BCLAF1 overexpression in Bile Duct Cancer was mainly associated with histone modification, peptidyl lysine modification, and macromolecular methylation. We used the TIMER algorithm to show that BCLAF1 expression in Bile Duct Cancer is associated with immune cell infiltration, which affects tumor progression and patient prognosis. We confirmed by normoxia and hypoxia qRT-PCR, Western Blotting and scratch assays that BCLAF1 and HIF-1α expression are positively correlated and that BCLAF1 may be expressed as anti-oncogene in Bile Duct Cancer. These findings demonstrate that BCLAF1 may act as anti-oncogene in Bile Duct Cancer and may be involved in immune cell infiltration in Bile Duct Cancer, suppressing the expression of HIF-1α.

BCLAF1 drives esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression through regulation of YTHDF2-dependent SIX1 mRNA degradation

Esophageal cancer ranks among the most prevalent malignant tumors, and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) constitutes its predominant histological form. Despite its impact, a thorough insight into the molecular intricacies of ESCC's development is still incomplete, which hampers the advancement of targeted molecular diagnostics and treatments. Recently, B-cell lymphoma-2-associated transcription factor 1 (BCLAF1) has come under investigation for its potential involvement in tumor biology, yet its specific role and mechanism in ESCC remain unclear. In this study, we observed a marked increase in BCLAF1 expression in ESCC tissues, correlating with advanced tumor stages and inferior patient outcomes. Our comprehensive in vitro and in vivo studies show that BCLAF1 augments glycolytic activity and the proliferation, invasion, and spread of ESCC cells. By employing mass spectrometry, we identified YTHDF2 as a key protein interacting with BCLAF1 in ESCC, with further validation provided by colocalization, co-immunoprecipitation, and GST pull-down assay. Further investigations involving MeRIP-seq and RIP-seq, alongside transcriptomic analysis, highlighted SIX1 mRNA as a molecule significantly upregulated and modified by N6-methyladenosine (m6A) in BCLAF1 overexpressing cells. BCLAF1 was found to reduce the tumor-suppressive activities of YTHDF2, and its effects on promoting glycolysis and cancer progression were shown to hinge on SIX1 expression. This research establishes that BCLAF1 fosters glycolysis and tumor progression in ESCC through the YTHDF2-SIX1 pathway in an m6A-specific manner, suggesting a potential target for future therapeutic intervention.

Functions and Therapeutic Use of Heat Shock Proteins in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Heat shock proteins are intracellular proteins expressed in prokaryotes and eukaryotes that help protect the cell from stress. They play an important role in regulating cell cycle and cell death, work as molecular chaperons during the folding of newly synthesized proteins, and also in the degradation of misfolded proteins. They are not only produced under stress conditions like acidosis, energy depletion, and oxidative stress but are also continuously synthesized as a result of their housekeeping functions. There are different heat shock protein families based on their molecular weight, like HSP70, HSP90, HSP60, HSP27, HSP40, etc. Heat shock proteins are involved in many cancers, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma, the main primary tumor of the liver in adults. Their deregulations in hepatocellular carcinoma are associated with metastasis, angiogenesis, cell invasion, and cell proliferation and upregulated heat shock proteins can be used as either diagnostic or prognostic markers. Targeting heat shock proteins is a relevant strategy for the treatment of patients with liver cancer. In this review, we provide insights into heat shock proteins and heat shock protein-like proteins (clusterin) in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma and their use as therapeutic targets.

Identification of potentially functional modules and diagnostic genes related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis based on the WGCNA and LASSO algorithms

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous disease results in the loss of motor neurons. Mounting information points to involvement of other systems including cognitive impairment. However, neither the valid biomarker for diagnosis nor effective therapeutic intervention is available for ALS. The present study is aimed at identifying potentially genetic biomarker that improves the diagnosis and treatment of ALS patients based on the data of the Gene Expression Omnibus. We retrieved datasets and conducted a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify ALS-related co-expression genes. Functional enrichment analysis was performed to determine the features and pathways of the main modules. We then constructed an ALS-related model using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis and verified the model by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Besides we screened the non-preserved gene modules in FTD and ALS-mimic disorders to distinct ALS-related genes from disorders with overlapping genes and features. Altogether, 4198 common genes between datasets with the most variation were analyzed and 16 distinct modules were identified through WGCNA. Blue module had the most correlation with ALS and functionally enriched in pathways of neurodegeneration-multiple diseases', 'amyotrophic lateral sclerosis', and 'endocytosis' KEGG terms. Further, some of other modules related to ALS were enriched in 'autophagy' and 'amyotrophic lateral sclerosis'. The 30 top of hub genes were recruited to a LASSO regression model and 5 genes (BCLAF1, GNA13, ARL6IP5, ARGLU1, and YPEL5) were identified as potentially diagnostic ALS biomarkers with validating of the ROC curve and AUC value.

Curcumin induces mitochondrial apoptosis in human hepatoma cells through BCLAF1-mediated modulation of PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β signaling

Curcumin is a yellow pigment extracted from the rhizome of turmeric, a traditional Chinese medicine. Here, we tested the hypothesis that curcumin-mediated downregulation of BCLAF1 triggers mitochondrial apoptosis in hepatoma cells by inhibiting PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β signaling. Treatment of the human hepatoma cell lines, HepG2 and SK-Hep-1, with various concentrations of curcumin revealed a time-dependent and concentration-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation, increased apoptosis, cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase, reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, and reduced expression levels of PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT, p-AKT, GSK-3β, and p-GSK-3β. Additionally, curcumin suppressed the levels of apoptotic factors after treating the cells with LY294002, a PI3K inhibitor. Curcumin also suppressed the expression of BCLAF1. Treating stable BCLAF1 knockout HepG2 and SK-Hep-1 cells with curcumin further enhanced apoptosis and increased the number of cells in G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, while inhibiting the downregulation of PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β pathway-related proteins. Treatment of a nude mouse xenograft model bearing HepG2 cells with curcumin inhibited tumor growth, disrupted the cellular structure of the tumor tissue, and suppressed the expression of BCLAF1 and PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β proteins. In summary, our in vitro and in vivo analyses show that curcumin downregulates BCLAF1 expression, inhibits the activation of the PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β pathway, and triggers mitochondrial apoptosis in HCC. These findings uncover a potential therapeutic strategy leveraging the antitumor effects of curcumin against HCC.

Function of BCLAF1 in human disease

Originally identified as a regulator of apoptosis and transcription, B-cell lymphoma-2-associated transcription factor 1 (BCLAF1) has since been shown to be associated with a multitude of biological processes, such as DNA damage response, splicing and processing of pre-mRNA, T-cell activation, lung development, muscle cell proliferation and differentiation, autophagy, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and viral infection. In recent years, an increasing amount of evidence has shown that BCLAF1 acts as either a tumor promoter or tumor suppressor in tumorigenesis depending on the cellular context and the type of cancer. Even in the same tumor type, BCLAF1 may have opposite effects. In the present review, the subcellular localization, structural features, mutations within BCLAF1 will be described, then the regulation of BCLAF1 and its downstream targets will be analyzed. Furthermore, the different roles and possible mechanisms of BCLAF1 in tumorigenesis will also be highlighted and discussed. Finally, BCLAF1 may be considered as a potential target for cancer therapy in the future.

CD63 negatively regulates hepatocellular carcinoma development through suppression of inflammatory cytokine-induced STAT3 activation

Tetraspanin CD63 has been widely implicated in tumour progression of human malignancies. However, its role in the tumorigenesis and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear yet. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the specific function and underlying mechanisms of CD63 in HCC progression. CD63 expression in HCC tissues was detected using immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR analyses; effects of CD63 on HCC cell proliferation and migration were investigated by CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, transwell assay and a xenograft model of nude mice. RNA-sequencing, bioinformatics analysis, dual-luciferase reporter assay and Western blot analysis were performed to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Results of our experiments showed that CD63 expression was frequently reduced in HCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and decreased CD63 expression was significantly associated with larger tumour size, distant site metastasis and higher tumour stages of HCC. Overexpression of CD63 inhibited HCC cell proliferation and migration, whereas knockdown of CD63 promoted these phenotypes. IL-6, IL-27 and STAT3 activity was regulated by CD63, and blockade of STAT3 activation impaired the promotive effects of CD63 knockdown on HCC cell growth and migration. Our findings identified a novel CD63-IL-6/IL-27-STAT3 axis in the development of HCC and provided a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

The mechanisms of sorafenib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma: theoretical basis and therapeutic aspects

Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor capable of facilitating apoptosis, mitigating angiogenesis and suppressing tumor cell proliferation. In late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), sorafenib is currently an effective first-line therapy. Unfortunately, the development of drug resistance to sorafenib is becoming increasingly common. This study aims to identify factors contributing to resistance and ways to mitigate resistance. Recent studies have shown that epigenetics, transport processes, regulated cell death, and the tumor microenvironment are involved in the development of sorafenib resistance in HCC and subsequent HCC progression. This study summarizes discoveries achieved recently in terms of the principles of sorafenib resistance and outlines approaches suitable for improving therapeutic outcomes for HCC patients.