Expression of Eps8 correlates with poor survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma

The combined prognostic model of copper-dependent to predict the prognosis of pancreatic cancer

Purpose: To assess the prognostic value of copper-dependent genes, copper-dependent-related genes (CDRG), and CDRG-associated immune-infiltrating cells (CIC) for pancreatic cancer.

Methods: CDRG were obtained by single-cell analysis of the GSE156405 dataset in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. In a ratio of 7:3, we randomly divided the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort into a training cohort and a test cohort. Tumor samples from the GSE62452 dataset were used as the validation cohort. CIBERSORT was used to obtain the immune cell infiltration. We identified the prognostic CDRG and CIC by Cox regression and the least absolute selection operator (LASSO) method. The clinical significance of these prognostic models was assessed using survival analysis, immunological microenvironment analysis, and drug sensitivity analysis.

Results: 536 CDRG were obtained by single-cell sequencing analysis. We discovered that elevated LIPT1 expression was associated with a worse prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients. EPS8, CASC8, TATDN1, NT5E, and LDHA comprised the CDRG-based prognostic model. High infiltration of Macrophages.M2 in pancreatic cancer patients results in poor survival. The combined prognostic model showed great predictive performance, with the area under the curve (AUC) values being basically between 0.7 and 0.9 in all three cohorts.

Conclusion: We found a cohort of CDRG and CIC in patients with pancreatic cancer. The combined prognostic model provided new insights into the prognosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Effects and mechanisms of Eps8 on the biological behaviour of malignant tumours (Review)

Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate 8 (Eps8) was initially identified as the substrate for the kinase activity of EGFR, improving the responsiveness of EGF, which is involved in cell mitosis, differentiation and other physiological functions. Numerous studies over the last decade have demonstrated that Eps8 is overexpressed in most ubiquitous malignant tumours and subsequently binds with its receptor to activate multiple signalling pathways. Eps8 not only participates in the regulation of malignant phenotypes, such as tumour proliferation, invasion, metastasis and drug resistance, but is also related to the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients. Therefore, Eps8 is a potential tumour diagnosis and prognostic biomarker and even a therapeutic target. This review aimed to describe the structural characteristics, role and related molecular mechanism of Eps8 in malignant tumours. In addition, the prospect of Eps8 as a target for cancer therapy is examined.

Molecular mechanisms of tobacco induced oral and oropharyngeal cancer: Results of a tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry-based study from a tertiary cancer center in India

BACKGROUND

It is well established that chronic exposure to tobacco induces head and neck cancers but the exact etiopathogenesis is not known. Though studies have shown expression of TIMP1, EPS8 and AXL in cancers, their role in tobacco-induced cancers is not known. We aimed this study to evaluate the role of these molecules in oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell cancers (SCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this single institutional study, 31 patients of oral and oropharyngeal SCC with history of chewing tobacco were included. Smokers were excluded from the study. After informed consent biopsies were taken from affected and contralateral normal mucosa. Paraffin blocks were made and tissue microarray (TMA) were constructed using these blocks. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for TIMP1, EPS8, AXL kinase was carried out on these tissue microarrays. The intensity of staining was scored from 0 to 3+, related to expression of each of the three molecules.

RESULTS

The expression of TIMP1, EPS8 and AXL kinase was significantly more in the cancerous mucosa versus non-cancerous mucosa (P = 0.000 in all three) in oral and oropharyngeal SCC exposed to chewing tobacco.

CONCLUSION

Immunohistochemical expression of these molecular markers in oral and oropharyngeal SCC correlated with their molecular based studies. Significant IHC expression of TIMP1, EPS8 and AXL establishes their role in the pathogenesis of oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas. Novel targeted therapies may be researched that can detect and target these molecules at an earlier stage of pathogenesis of these tumors.

Eps8 expression is significantly lower in p16+ head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) compared with p16- HNSCCs

In vitro head and neck cancer studies have demonstrated that epidermal growth factor receptor kinase substrate 8 (Eps8) overexpression contributes to squamous carcinogenesis. Oral squamous cell carcinoma studies have correlated Eps8 expression with metastatic disease and poor prognosis. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) studies comparing its expression by anatomic site or in in vivo regional metastases have not been performed. In this study, we compared Eps8 expression in HNSCCs arising in the oral cavity (OCSCC) and oropharynx (OPSCC) along with their corresponding regional lymph node (LN) metastases. We then correlated our findings with clinicopathologic data including tumor-node-metastasis stage, p16 status, age, sex, and smoking and alcohol history. Eps8 immunohistochemistry was performed on 69 archived OCSCCs and OPSCCs, and 24 paired and 4 unpaired LNs. Expression was scored from 0 to 3. Eps8 expression was detected in 49% of combined OCSCC and OPSCC cases. We found that expression correlated with advanced tumor stage (P = .022) and p16 status (P = .032) but not with anatomic site. Notably, p16⁺ HNSCCs had significantly lower Eps8 expression than p16^- HNSCCs. No significant difference was observed between primary HNSCCs and their corresponding metastatic LNs. Neither p16 status nor anatomic site influenced Eps8 expression in regional LN metastases. In conclusion, our data offer in vivo support that, in HNSCCs, Eps8 is involved in tumor invasion but not necessarily the development of regional LN metastasis. The association between low Eps8 expression and p16⁺ HNSCCs suggests that alternative signaling pathways may be used for their tumorigenesis.

Epidermal growth factor receptor kinase substrate 8 promotes the metastasis of cervical cancer via the epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate 8 (Eps8) has been identified as a novel substrate for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase and is involved in EGFR-mediated signaling pathways correlated with tumorigenesis, proliferation and metastasis in various cancer types. However, the precise role of Eps8 in cervical cancer metastasis remains to be elucidated. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Eps8 was significantly increased in cervical cancer specimens compared with squamous intraepithelial lesion and normal cervical tissues. Additionally, it was revealed that Eps8 expression not only correlated with cervical cancer progression, but also exhibited a close correlation with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers, E-cadherin and vimentin. Furthermore, the present study focused predominantly on the EMT-associated role of Eps8 in the EMT, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Eps8-short hairpin (sh) RNA was transfected into HeLa and SiHa cells to deplete its expression, and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses were performed to confirm Eps8-knockdown and to investigate the influence of Eps8 on EMT markers. The present findings have revealed that Eps8 silencing led to the upregulation of the epithelial marker E-cadherin, while expression of the mesenchymal marker vimentin and the transcription factor snail was decreased at both mRNA and protein expression levels. Transwell cell migration and Matrigel invasion assays showed that downregulation of Eps8 significantly inhibited cell migration and invasion of HeLa and SiHa cells. Taken together, these results suggested that Eps8 promotes cervical cancer metastasis by orchestrating the EMT.

Eps8 controls Src- and FAK-dependent phenotypes in squamous carcinoma cells

Eps8 is an actin regulatory scaffold protein whose expression is increased in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells. It forms a complex with both focal adhesion kinase (FAK, also known as PTK2) and Src in SCC cells derived from skin carcinomas induced by administration of the chemical DMBA followed by TPA (the DMBA/TPA model). Here, we describe two new roles for Eps8. Firstly, it controls the spatial distribution of active Src in a FAK-dependent manner. Specifically, Eps8 participates in, and regulates, a biochemical complex with Src and drives trafficking of Src to autophagic structures that SCC cells use to cope with high levels of active Src when FAK is absent. Secondly, when FAK is expressed in SCC cells, thereby meaning active Src becomes tethered at focal adhesion complexes, Eps8 is also recruited to focal adhesions and is required for FAK-dependent polarization and invasion. Therefore, Eps8 is a crucial mediator of Src- and FAK-regulated processes; it participates in specific biochemical complexes and promotes actin re-arrangements that determine the spatial localization of Src, and modulates the functions of Src and FAK during invasive migration.

Eps8 regulates cellular proliferation and migration of breast cancer

The role of Eps8 in human breast cancer was studied, and we found that Eps8 was overexpressed in >60% of human breast cancer samples compared with adjacent normal breast tissues by immunohistochemical analysis. Eps8 was highly expressed in the highly invasive breast cancer cell line MDA-MB‑231 compared with the weakly invasive breast cancer cell lines MCF7 and MDA-MB‑468. MCF7 cell line stably expressing Eps8 was established by G418 screening, and the ectopic expression of Eps8 enhanced MCF7 breast cancer cell growth and survival as assessed by MTT analysis, cell viability and liquid colony formation, whereas the lentiviral expression of Eps8 shRNA in MDA-MB‑231 cells resulted in a significant reduction in cellular growth and proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, Eps8 knockdown inhibited breast cancer cell migration in wound healing assays, decreased the number and size of EGF-induced filopodia and increased the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to cisplatin analyzed by MTT assays. Eps8 knockdown decreased the levels of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and MMP9 but increased p53. Moreover, Eps8 knockdown suppressed a partial EMT-like transition and showed a significant increase in E-cadherin and decrease in N-cadherin and vimentin. These results suggest that Eps8 is overexpressed in human breast cancers, possibly by regulating ERK signaling, MMP9, p53 and EMT-like transition to affect breast cancer cell growth, migration and invasion. Therefore, Eps8 might represent a novel potential target in human breast cancer therapy.

Human CD117 (cKit)+ innate lymphoid cells have a discrete transcriptional profile at homeostasis and are expanded during filarial infection

Since innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have been found to play a role in the immune response to helminth parasites in rodents, we sought to determine their role in human helminth infection. By developing multicolor flow cytometry-based methods to identify and enumerate circulating ILCs and their subsets, we were able to identify a subset of cKit+ ILCs defined as Lineage (Lin)-/CD45+/cKit+/CD127+ that were significantly expanded in the filarial-infected individuals (p=0.0473) as were those cKit+ ILCs that produced IL-13. Additionally, the frequency of these cKit+ ILCs correlated with the frequency of IL-17 producing CD4+ T cells (Th17 cells; p=0.025). To investigate the function of cKit+ ILCs, sorted, highly purified human ILCs were subjected to transcriptional profiling by RNAseq and compared to appropriate control cells. These cKit+ ILCs expressed TLRs, a broad range of cytokines/cytokine receptors and MHC Class II molecules suggesting that these ILCs sense pathogens independent of other cell types. Functional analysis revealed expanded cKit+ ILC-specific transcription and ILC-specific microRNA precursors.

Novel oncoprotein EPS8: a new target for anticancer therapy

EPS8 was first identified as a tyrosine kinase substrate, that plays a role in EGFR-mediated mitogenic signaling. Recent research has shown that EPS8 is overexpressed in most types of cancer, for example breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer and even hematologic malignancies. EPS8 is involved in many signaling pathways related to tumorigenesis, proliferation, migration and metastasis, and is a biomarker for poor prognosis of cancer patients. This review aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the role of EPS8 in cellular processes and its significance to tumorigenesis. Furthermore, this review focuses on the potential role of EPS8 as a therapeutic cancer target.