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High-Content Drug Discovery Targeting Molecular Bladder Cancer Subtypes. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms231810605. [PMID: 36142576 PMCID: PMC9506379 DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular subtypes of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) display differential survival and drug sensitivities in clinical trials. To date, they have not been used as a paradigm for phenotypic drug discovery. This study aimed to discover novel subtype-stratified therapy approaches based on high-content screening (HCS) drug discovery. Transcriptome expression data of CCLE and BLA-40 cell lines were used for molecular subtype assignment in basal, luminal, and mesenchymal-like cell lines. Two independent HCSs, using focused compound libraries, were conducted to identify subtype-specific drug leads. We correlated lead drug sensitivity data with functional genomics, regulon analysis, and in-vitro drug response-based enrichment analysis. The basal MIBC subtype displayed sensitivity to HDAC and CHK inhibitors, while the luminal subtype was sensitive to MDM2 inhibitors. The mesenchymal-like cell lines were exclusively sensitive to the ITGAV inhibitor SB273005. The role of integrins within this mesenchymal-like MIBC subtype was confirmed via its regulon activity and gene essentiality based on CRISPR–Cas9 knock-out data. Patients with high ITGAV expression showed a significant decrease in the median overall survival. Phenotypic high-content drug screens based on bladder cancer cell lines provide rationales for novel stratified therapeutic approaches as a framework for further prospective validation in clinical trials.
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2
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You S, Kim M, Hoi XP, Lee YC, Wang L, Spetzler D, Abraham J, Magee D, Jain P, Galsky MD, Chan KS, Theodorescu D. Discoidin Domain Receptor-Driven Gene Signatures as Markers of Patient Response to Anti-PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Therapy. J Natl Cancer Inst 2022; 114:1380-1391. [PMID: 35918812 PMCID: PMC9552307 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djac140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anti-programmed cell death 1 (anti-PD-1) and PD ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint therapies (ICTs) provided durable responses only in a subset of cancer patients. Thus, biomarkers are needed to predict nonresponders and offer them alternative treatments. We recently implicated discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (DDR2) as a contributor to anti-PD-1 resistance in animal models; therefore, we sought to investigate whether this gene family may provide ICT response prediction. METHODS We assessed mRNA expression of DDR2 and its family member DDR1. Transcriptome analysis of bladder cancer (BCa) models in which DDR1 and 2 were perturbed was used to derive DDR1- and DDR2-driven signature scores. DDR mRNA expression and gene signature scores were evaluated using BCa-The Cancer Genome Atlas (n = 259) and IMvigor210 (n = 298) datasets, and their relationship to BCa subtypes, pathway enrichment, and immune deconvolution analyses was performed. The potential of DDR-driven signatures to predict ICT response was evaluated and independently validated through a statistical framework in bladder and lung cancer cohorts. All statistical tests were 2-sided. RESULTS DDR1 and DDR2 showed mutually exclusive gene expression patterns in human tumors. DDR2high BCa exhibited activation of immune pathways and a high immune score, indicative of a T-cell-inflamed phenotype, whereas DDR1high BCa exhibited a non-T-cell-inflamed phenotype. In IMvigor210 cohort, tumors with high DDR1 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16 to 2.06; P = .003) or DDR2 (HR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.92; P = .04) scores had poor overall survival. Of note, DDR2high tumors from IMvigor210 and CheckMate 275 (n = 73) cohorts exhibited poorer overall survival (HR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.20 to 2.06; P < .001) and progression-free survival (HR = 1.77 95%, CI = 1.05 to 3.00; P = .047), respectively. This result was validated in independent cancer datasets. CONCLUSIONS These findings implicate DDR1 and DDR2 driven signature scores in predicting ICT response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sungyong You
- Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Minhyung Kim
- Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Xen Ping Hoi
- Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Yu Cheng Lee
- Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Li Wang
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Dan Magee
- Caris Life Sciences, Irving, TX, USA
| | | | - Matthew D Galsky
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | - Keith Syson Chan
- Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Dan Theodorescu
- Correspondence to: Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA (e-mail: )
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3
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Guo C, Shao T, Wei D, Li C, Liu F, Li M, Gao Z, Bao G. Bioinformatic Identification of Potential Hub Genes in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma. Cell Transplant 2021; 29:963689720965178. [PMID: 33035117 PMCID: PMC7784563 DOI: 10.1177/0963689720965178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite aggressive treatment approaches, muscle-invasive bladder urothelial carcinoma (MIBC) patients still have a 50% chance of developing general incurable metastases. Therefore, there is an urgent need for candidate markers to enhance diagnosis and generate effective treatments for this disease. We evaluated four mRNA microarray datasets to find differences between non-MIBC (NMIBC) and MIBC tissues. Through a gene expression profile analysis via the Gene Expression Omnibus database, we identified 56 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Enrichment analysis of gene ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, and Reactome pathways revealed the interactions between these DEGs. Next, we established a protein-protein interaction network to determine the interrelationship between the DEGs and selected 10 hub genes accordingly. Bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) patients with COL1A2, COL5A1, and COL5A2 alterations showed poor disease-free survival rates, while BLCA patients with COL1A1 and LUM alterations showed poor overall survival rates. Oncomine analysis of MIBC versus NMIBC tissues showed that COL1A1, COL5A2, COL1A2, and COL3A1 were consistently among the top 20 overexpressed genes in different studies. Using the TCGAportal, we noted that the high expression of each of the four genes led to shorter BLCA patient overall survival. It was evident that BLCA patients with an elevated high combined gene expression had significantly shorter overall survival and relapse-free survival than those with low combined gene expression using PROGgeneV2. Using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis, we noted that COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1, and COL5A2 were positively correlated with each other in BLCA. These genes are considered as clinically relevant genes, suggesting that they may play an important role in the carcinogenesis, development, invasion, and metastasis of MIBC. However, considering we adopted a bioinformatic approach, more research is crucial to confirm our results. Nonetheless, our findings may have important prospective clinical implementations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changgang Guo
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China.,Urology Research Center, 382124Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Ting Shao
- Department of Gynecology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Dadong Wei
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Chunsheng Li
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China.,Urology Research Center, 382124Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Fengjun Liu
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Minghui Li
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Zhiming Gao
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China.,Urology Research Center, 382124Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
| | - Guochang Bao
- Department of Urology, 382124Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University, Chifeng, China.,Urology Research Center, 382124Chifeng University, Chifeng, China
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4
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Apken LH, Oeckinghaus A. The RAL signaling network: Cancer and beyond. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2020; 361:21-105. [PMID: 34074494 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ircmb.2020.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
The RAL proteins RALA and RALB belong to the superfamily of small RAS-like GTPases (guanosine triphosphatases). RAL GTPases function as molecular switches in cells by cycling through GDP- and GTP-bound states, a process which is regulated by several guanine exchange factors (GEFs) and two heterodimeric GTPase activating proteins (GAPs). Since their discovery in the 1980s, RALA and RALB have been established to exert isoform-specific functions in central cellular processes such as exocytosis, endocytosis, actin organization and gene expression. Consequently, it is not surprising that an increasing number of physiological functions are discovered to be controlled by RAL, including neuronal plasticity, immune response, and glucose and lipid homeostasis. The critical importance of RAL GTPases for oncogenic RAS-driven cellular transformation and tumorigenesis still attracts most research interest. Here, RAL proteins are key drivers of cell migration, metastasis, anchorage-independent proliferation, and survival. This chapter provides an overview of normal and pathological functions of RAL GTPases and summarizes the current knowledge on the involvement of RAL in human disease as well as current therapeutic targeting strategies. In particular, molecular mechanisms that specifically control RAL activity and RAL effector usage in different scenarios are outlined, putting a spotlight on the complexity of the RAL GTPase signaling network and the emerging theme of RAS-independent regulation and relevance of RAL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa H Apken
- Institute of Molecular Tumor Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Andrea Oeckinghaus
- Institute of Molecular Tumor Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
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5
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Tu MM, Abdel-Hafiz HA, Jones RT, Jean A, Hoff KJ, Duex JE, Chauca-Diaz A, Costello JC, Dancik GM, Tamburini BAJ, Czerniak B, Kaye J, Theodorescu D. Inhibition of the CCL2 receptor, CCR2, enhances tumor response to immune checkpoint therapy. Commun Biol 2020; 3:720. [PMID: 33247183 PMCID: PMC7699641 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01441-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunotherapies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis are now a mainstay in the clinical management of multiple cancer types, however, many tumors still fail to respond. CCL2 is highly expressed in various cancer types and has been shown to be associated with poor prognosis. Inhibition or blockade of the CCL2/CCR2 signaling axis has thus been an area of interest for cancer therapy. Here we show across multiple murine tumor and metastasis models that CCR2 antagonism in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy leads to sensitization and enhanced tumor response over anti-PD-1 monotherapy. We show that enhanced treatment response correlates with enhanced CD8+ T cell recruitment and activation and a concomitant decrease in CD4+ regulatory T cell. These results provide strong preclinical rationale for further clinical exploration of combining CCR2 antagonism with PD-1/PD-L1-directed immunotherapies across multiple tumor types especially given the availability of small molecule CCR2 inhibitors and antibodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan M Tu
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Hany A Abdel-Hafiz
- Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA
- Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Robert T Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Annie Jean
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Katelyn J Hoff
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Jason E Duex
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Ana Chauca-Diaz
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - James C Costello
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Garrett M Dancik
- Department of Computer Science, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, USA
| | - Beth A Jirón Tamburini
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Bogdan Czerniak
- Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Jonathan Kaye
- Research Division of Immunology, Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA
| | - Dan Theodorescu
- Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA.
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6
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Ushigome M, Shimada H, Nabeya Y, Shiratori F, Soda H, Takiguchi N, Hoshino I, Kuwajima A, Kaneko T, Funahashi K. Possible predictive significance of serum RalA autoantibodies on relapse-free survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Mol Clin Oncol 2020; 14:18. [PMID: 33363728 PMCID: PMC7725215 DOI: 10.3892/mco.2020.2180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
RalA protein, a member of the Ras superfamily of small GTPases, is a tumor antigen that induces serum RalA antibodies (s-RalA-Abs). The present study explored the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of s-RalA-Abs in patients with colorectal cancer. Serum samples were obtained from 314 patients with colorectal cancer at stage 0/I (n=71), stage II (n=86), stage III (n=78), stage IV (n=64) and recurrence (n=15). Samples were analyzed for the presence of s-RalA-Abs using ELISA. The cutoff optical density value was fixed at 0.324 (mean of heathy controls + 3 standard deviations). The overall positive rate for serum anti-RalA antibodies was 14%. The presence of s-RalA-Abs was not significantly associated with clinicopathological characteristic factors. Additionally, the s-RalA-Abs(+) group demonstrated significantly poor relapse-free survival rates. The s-RalA-Abs (+)/carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)(+) group exhibited the worst prognosis and s-RalA-Abs(+)/CEA(+) was an independent risk factor for poor relapse-free survival. Although the positive rate was not high, s-RalA-Abs may be a useful predictor of poor relapse-free survival in patients with colorectal cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitsunori Ushigome
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Hideaki Shimada
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Yoshihiro Nabeya
- Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Fumiaki Shiratori
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan.,Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Soda
- Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Nobuhiro Takiguchi
- Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Isamu Hoshino
- Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Akiko Kuwajima
- Medical and Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd, Naka-ku, Nagoya 460-0008, Japan
| | - Tomoaki Kaneko
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Kimihiko Funahashi
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
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7
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Khawaja H, Campbell A, Roberts JZ, Javadi A, O'Reilly P, McArt D, Allen WL, Majkut J, Rehm M, Bardelli A, Di Nicolantonio F, Scott CJ, Kennedy R, Vitale N, Harrison T, Sansom OJ, Longley DB, Evergren E, Van Schaeybroeck S. RALB GTPase: a critical regulator of DR5 expression and TRAIL sensitivity in KRAS mutant colorectal cancer. Cell Death Dis 2020; 11:930. [PMID: 33122623 PMCID: PMC7596570 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-020-03131-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Revised: 10/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
RAS mutant (MT) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is resistant to MEK1/2 inhibition and remains a difficult-to-treat group. Therefore, there is an unmet need for novel treatment options for RASMT mCRC. RALA and RALB GTPases function downstream of RAS and have been found to be key regulators of several cell functions implicated in KRAS-driven tumorigenesis. However, their role as regulators of the apoptotic machinery remains to be elucidated. Here, we found that inhibition of RALB expression, but not RALA, resulted in Caspase-8-dependent cell death in KRASMT CRC cells, which was not further increased following MEK1/2 inhibition. Proteomic analysis and mechanistic studies revealed that RALB depletion induced a marked upregulation of the pro-apoptotic cell surface TRAIL Death Receptor 5 (DR5) (also known as TRAIL-R2), primarily through modulating DR5 protein lysosomal degradation. Moreover, DR5 knockdown or knockout attenuated siRALB-induced apoptosis, confirming the role of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway as a regulator of siRALB-induced cell death. Importantly, TRAIL treatment resulted in the association of RALB with the death-inducing signalling complex (DISC) and targeting RALB using pharmacologic inhibition or RNAi approaches triggered a potent increase in TRAIL-induced cell death in KRASMT CRC cells. Significantly, high RALB mRNA levels were found in the poor prognostic Colorectal Cancer Intrinsic Subtypes (CRIS)-B CRC subgroup. Collectively, this study provides to our knowledge the first evidence for a role for RALB in apoptotic priming and suggests that RALB inhibition may be a promising strategy to improve response to TRAIL treatment in poor prognostic RASMT CRIS-B CRC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hajrah Khawaja
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Andrew Campbell
- Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Switchback Road, Bearsden, Glasgow, G61 1BD, UK
| | - Jamie Z Roberts
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Arman Javadi
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Paul O'Reilly
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Darragh McArt
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Wendy L Allen
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Joanna Majkut
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Markus Rehm
- Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 31, D-70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Alberto Bardelli
- Department of Oncology, University of Torino, Candiolo, TO, 10060, Italy
- Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO-IRCCS, Candiolo, TO, 10060, Italy
| | - Federica Di Nicolantonio
- Department of Oncology, University of Torino, Candiolo, TO, 10060, Italy
- Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO-IRCCS, Candiolo, TO, 10060, Italy
| | - Christopher J Scott
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Richard Kennedy
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Nicolas Vitale
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Strasbourg, Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, F-67000, Strasbourg, France
| | - Timothy Harrison
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Owen J Sansom
- Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Switchback Road, Bearsden, Glasgow, G61 1BD, UK
- Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Switchback Road, Glasgow, G61 1QH, UK
| | - Daniel B Longley
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Emma Evergren
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK
| | - Sandra Van Schaeybroeck
- Drug Resistance Group, Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AE, UK.
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8
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Chen Z, Zhou L, Liu L, Hou Y, Xiong M, Yang Y, Hu J, Chen K. Single-cell RNA sequencing highlights the role of inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts in bladder urothelial carcinoma. Nat Commun 2020; 11:5077. [PMID: 33033240 PMCID: PMC7545162 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18916-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 259] [Impact Index Per Article: 64.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Although substantial progress has been made in cancer biology and treatment, clinical outcomes of bladder carcinoma (BC) patients are still not satisfactory. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a potential target. Here, by single-cell RNA sequencing on 8 BC tumor samples and 3 para tumor samples, we identify 19 different cell types in the BC microenvironment, indicating high intra-tumoral heterogeneity. We find that tumor cells down regulated MHC-II molecules, suggesting that the downregulated immunogenicity of cancer cells may contribute to the formation of an immunosuppressive microenvironment. We also find that monocytes undergo M2 polarization in the tumor region and differentiate. Furthermore, the LAMP3 + DC subgroup may be able to recruit regulatory T cells, potentially taking part in the formation of an immunosuppressive TME. Through correlation analysis using public datasets containing over 3000 BC samples, we identify a role for inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts (iCAFs) in tumor progression, which is significantly related to poor prognosis. Additionally, we characterize a regulatory network depending on iCAFs. These results could help elucidate the protumor mechanisms of iCAFs. Our results provide deep insight into cancer immunology and provide an essential resource for drug discovery in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaohui Chen
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Lijie Zhou
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
- Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen, China
| | - Lilong Liu
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
- Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yaxin Hou
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
- Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ming Xiong
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Yu Yang
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Junyi Hu
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
- Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
| | - Ke Chen
- Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
- Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
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9
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Nanami T, Hoshino I, Ito M, Yajima S, Oshima Y, Suzuki T, Shiratori F, Nabeya Y, Funahashi K, Shimada H. Prevalence of autoantibodies against Ras-like GTPases, RalA, in patients with gastric cancer. Mol Clin Oncol 2020; 13:28. [PMID: 32765875 DOI: 10.3892/mco.2020.2098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Ras-like GTPases, RalA and RalB, are members of the Ras superfamily of small GTPases. RalA expression has been shown to be associated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics and progression in cancer. RalA protein has been shown to be involved in immune reactions in some patients with cancer; however, the clinicopathological significance of serum RalA antibody in patients with gastric cancer has not been investigated. Serum samples of 291 patients with gastric cancer and 73 healthy controls were analyzed for serum RalA antibody using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A cut-off optical density value was fixed at 0.255 (mean of control + 2 standard deviations). The clinicopathological and prognostic significance of s-RalA-Abs was evaluated. The positivity rate for serum RalA antibody (s-RalA-Abs) was 15%. The presence of serum RalA antibody was higher in younger patients compared with elderly patients, however this tendency was not statistically significant. s-RalA-Abs was not associated with tumor stage. Since s-RalA-Abs was independent of CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), the combination of s-RalA-Abs with CEA and CA19-9 significantly increased the detection rate of gastric cancer at each tumor stage. Patients who were tested positive for s-RalA-Abs showed poor long-term survival; however, this association was not statistically significant by multivariate analysis. In conclusion, s-RalA-Abs may be a candidate serum marker for gastric cancer, when used in combination with CEA and/or CA19-9. Additionally, the presence of s-RalA-Abs, in combination with CEA and/or CA19-9, was associated with poor survival in patients with gastric cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatsuki Nanami
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Isamu Hoshino
- Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Masaaki Ito
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Satoshi Yajima
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Yoko Oshima
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Takashi Suzuki
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Fumiaki Shiratori
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Yoshihiro Nabeya
- Division of Gastroenterological Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
| | - Kimihiko Funahashi
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
| | - Hideaki Shimada
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan.,Department of Gastroenterological Surgery and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan
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10
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Bioinformatics analysis of the genes involved in the extension of prostate cancer to adjacent lymph nodes by supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods: The role of SPAG1 and PLEKHF2. Genomics 2020; 112:3871-3882. [PMID: 32619574 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2020.06.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The present study aimed to identify the genes associated with the involvement of adjunct lymph nodes of patients with prostate cancer (PCa) and to provide valuable information for the identification of potential diagnostic biomarkers and pathological genes in PCa metastasis. The most important candidate genes were identified through several machine learning approaches including K-means clustering, neural network, Naïve Bayesian classifications and PCA with or without downsampling. In total, 21 genes associated with lymph nodes involvement were identified. Among them, nine genes have been identified in metastatic prostate cancer, six have been found in the other metastatic cancers and four in other local cancers. The amplification of the candidate genes was evaluated in the other PCa datasets. Besides, we identified a validated set of genes involved in the PCa metastasis. The amplification of SPAG1 and PLEKHF2 genes were associated with decreased survival in patients with PCa.
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11
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Uegaki M, Kita Y, Shirakawa R, Teramoto Y, Kamiyama Y, Saito R, Yoshikawa T, Sakamoto H, Goto T, Akamatsu S, Yamasaki T, Inoue T, Suzuki A, Horiuchi H, Ogawa O, Kobayashi T. Downregulation of RalGTPase-activating protein promotes invasion of prostatic epithelial cells and progression from intraepithelial neoplasia to cancer during prostate carcinogenesis. Carcinogenesis 2020; 40:1535-1544. [PMID: 31058283 DOI: 10.1093/carcin/bgz082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
RalGTPase-activating protein (RalGAP) is an important negative regulator of small GTPases RalA/B that mediates various oncogenic signaling pathways in various cancers. Although the Ral pathway has been implicated in prostate cancer (PCa) development and progression, the significance of RalGAP in PCa has been largely unknown. We examined RalGAPα2 expression using immunohistochemistry on two independent tissue microarray sets. Both datasets demonstrated that the expression of RalGAPα2 was significantly downregulated in PCa tissues compared to adjacent benign prostatic epithelia. Silencing of RalGAPα2 by short hairpin RNA enhanced migration and invasion abilities of benign and malignant prostate epithelial cell lines without affecting cell proliferation. Exogenous expression of wild-type RalGAP, but not the GTPase-activating protein activity-deficient mutant of RalGAP, suppressed migration and invasion of multiple PCa cell lines and was phenocopied by pharmacological inhibition of RalA/B. Loss of Ralgapa2 promoted local microscopic invasion of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia without affecting tumor growth in a Pten-deficient mouse model for prostate tumorigenesis. Our findings demonstrate the functional significance of RalGAP downregulation to promote invasion ability, which is a property necessary for prostate carcinogenesis. Thus, loss of RalGAP function has a distinct role in promoting progression from prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive adenocarcinoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masayuki Uegaki
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yuki Kita
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Ryutaro Shirakawa
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
| | - Yuki Teramoto
- Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yuki Kamiyama
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Ryoichi Saito
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takeshi Yoshikawa
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Hiromasa Sakamoto
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takayuki Goto
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Shusuke Akamatsu
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Toshinari Yamasaki
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takahiro Inoue
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Akira Suzuki
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
| | - Hisanori Horiuchi
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
| | - Osamu Ogawa
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takashi Kobayashi
- Department of Urology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
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12
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Li J, Dai L, Lei N, Xing M, Li P, Luo C, Casiano CA, Zhang JY. Evaluation and characterization of anti-RalA autoantibody as a potential serum biomarker in human prostate cancer. Oncotarget 2017; 7:43546-43556. [PMID: 27286458 PMCID: PMC5190043 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.9869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2016] [Accepted: 05/05/2016] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Autoantibodies against intracellular tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) are commonly found in human cancers. In this study, we characterized the serum autoantibody response to the RalA, Ras-like GTPase, in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). The autoantibodies were detected by immunofluorescence assay in PCa cell lines, ELISA, and immunoblotting in 339 serum samples from patients with PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and in normal human sera (NHS). The expression of RalA in prostate tumor tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in tumor microarrays. The autoantibody level to RalA (median) in NHS was significantly lower than in PCa (0.053 vs 0.138; P < 0.001) and BPH (0.053 vs 0.132; P < 0.005) groups. The circulating anti-RalA autoantibody could distinguish PCa patients from normal individuals with the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) performing at 0.861, with sensitivity of 52.9% and specificity of 91.0%. Elevation in serum immunoreactivity was observed in PCa patients after radical prostatectomy. The combined use of both anti-RalA autoantibody and PSA showed a significantly higher discriminatory ability compared with either of those markers alone. RalA protein expression was detected by IHC in 85.3% of tumor tissues from PCa patients, but without significant difference compared to BPH or normal control tissues. Together, our study shows the additional benefits of anti-RalA autoantibody as a potential serological biomarker for PCa, particularly in patients with normal PSA, and further demonstrate the utility of biomarker combinations in the immunodiagnosis of PCa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jitian Li
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
| | - Liping Dai
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.,Henan Key Laboratory of Tumor Epidemiology and Henan Academy of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China
| | - Ningjing Lei
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
| | - Mengtao Xing
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
| | - Pei Li
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
| | - Chenglin Luo
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
| | - Carlos A Casiano
- Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine, Department of Basic Sciences, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA
| | - Jian-Ying Zhang
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.,Henan Key Laboratory of Tumor Epidemiology and Henan Academy of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China
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13
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Yan C, Theodorescu D. RAL GTPases: Biology and Potential as Therapeutic Targets in Cancer. Pharmacol Rev 2017; 70:1-11. [PMID: 29196555 DOI: 10.1124/pr.117.014415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
More than a hundred proteins comprise the RAS superfamily of small GTPases. This family can be divided into RAS, RHO, RAB, RAN, ARF, and RAD subfamilies, with each shown to play distinct roles in human cells in both health and disease. The RAS subfamily has a well-established role in human cancer with the three genes, HRAS, KRAS, and NRAS being the commonly mutated in tumors. These RAS mutations, most often functionally activating, are especially common in pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancers. Efforts to inhibit RAS and related GTPases have produced inhibitors targeting the downstream effectors of RAS signaling, including inhibitors of the RAF-mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK)-ERK kinase pathway and the phosphoinositide-3-kinase-AKT-mTOR kinase pathway. A third effector arm of RAS signaling, mediated by RAL (RAS like) has emerged in recent years as a critical driver of RAS oncogenic signaling and has not been targeted until recently. RAL belongs to the RAS branch of the RAS superfamily and shares a high structural similarity with RAS. In human cells, there are two genes, RALA and RALB, both of which have been shown to play roles in the proliferation, survival, and metastasis of a variety of human cancers, including lung, colon, pancreatic, prostate, skin, and bladder cancers. In this review, we summarize the latest knowledge of RAL in the context of human cancer and the recent advancements in the development of cancer therapeutics targeting RAL small GTPases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China (C.Y.); Departments of Surgery (Urology) and Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado (D.T.); and University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado (D.T.)
| | - Dan Theodorescu
- State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China (C.Y.); Departments of Surgery (Urology) and Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado (D.T.); and University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado (D.T.)
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14
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Duex JE, Owens C, Chauca-Diaz A, Dancik GM, Vanderlinden LA, Ghosh D, Leivo MZ, Hansel DE, Theodorescu D. Nuclear CD24 Drives Tumor Growth and Is Predictive of Poor Patient Prognosis. Cancer Res 2017; 77:4858-4867. [PMID: 28674079 PMCID: PMC5600841 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-17-0367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2017] [Revised: 04/03/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Elevated tumor expression of the cell surface GPI-linked CD24 protein signals poor patient prognosis in many tumor types. However, some cancer cells selected to be negative for surface CD24 (surCD24-) still retain aggressive phenotypes in vitro and in vivo Here, we resolve this apparent paradox with the discovery of biologically active, nuclear CD24 (nucCD24) and finding that its levels are unchanged in surCD24- cells. Using the complementary techniques of biochemical cellular fractionation and immunofluorescence, we demonstrate a signal for CD24 in the nucleus in cells from various histologic types of cancer. Nuclear-specific expression of CD24 (NLS-CD24) increased anchorage-independent growth in vitro and tumor formation in vivo Immunohistochemistry of patient tumor samples revealed the presence of nucCD24, whose signal intensity correlated positively with the presence of metastatic disease. Analysis of gene expression between cells expressing CD24 and NLS-CD24 revealed a unique nucCD24 transcriptional signature. The median score derived from this signature was able to stratify overall survival in four patient datasets from bladder cancer and five patient datasets from colorectal cancer. Patients with high scores (more nucCD24-like) had reduced survival. These findings define a novel and functionally important intracellular location of CD24; they explain why surCD24- cells can remain aggressive, and they highlight the need to consider nucCD24 in both fundamental research and therapeutic development. Cancer Res; 77(18); 4858-67. ©2017 AACR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason E Duex
- Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Charles Owens
- Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Ana Chauca-Diaz
- Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Garrett M Dancik
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut
| | - Lauren A Vanderlinden
- Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Debashis Ghosh
- Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Mariah Z Leivo
- Department of Pathology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California
| | - Donna E Hansel
- Department of Pathology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California
| | - Dan Theodorescu
- Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado.
- University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado
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15
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Tyrosine phosphorylation of RalGDS by c-Met receptor blocks its interaction with Ras. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2016; 480:468-473. [PMID: 27773821 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.10.074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
RalGDS is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that promotes the active GTP-bound form of Ral GTPases, RalA and RalB. GTP-bound Ras has the capacity to activate Ral GTPases at least in part by binding to the C-terminal Ras-binding domain (RBD) of RalGDS and directing the protein to Ral GTPases in the plasma membrane. In many cases, activation of Ral proteins complements other Ras effector pathways to carry out a cell function, but in others it opposes them. Moreover, in many cases activation of Ral proteins contributes to the oncogenic potential of Ras. However, in some cell types Ral proteins suppresses tumor formation, suggesting oncogenic stimuli that function through Ras may need to suppress Ral activation in order to transform cells. In this paper, we demonstrate a potential biochemical mechanism for such phenomena by showing that c-Met receptors promote the tyrosine phosphorylation of RalGDS at Y752 in its RBD, which blocks the binding of Ras to RalGDS.
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16
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Synthesis of novel Ral inhibitors: An in vitro and in vivo study. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2016; 26:5815-5818. [PMID: 27825764 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2016.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2016] [Accepted: 10/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Chemical synthesis was performed to produce a series of 6-amino-1,3-disubstituted-4-phenyl-1,4-dihydro pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole-5-carbonitrile compounds (14-57) which were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and LC/MS-MS. These compounds were assessed for their effect on the in vitro anchorage independent growth of human lung cancer cell line H2122 and IC50 values calculated. Two of the more potent compounds, BQU057 40 and BQU082 57 also displayed a dose dependent effect on RalA and RalB activity in H2122 spheroids using the common RalBP1 pull-down assay. Mouse PK and tissue distribution studies on 40 and 57 were performed and demonstrated that parent drug was present in tumor 3.0h post ip (50mg/Kg) dose.
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17
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Kobayashi T. Understanding the biology of urothelial cancer metastasis. Asian J Urol 2016; 3:211-222. [PMID: 29264189 PMCID: PMC5730871 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajur.2016.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2016] [Revised: 09/02/2016] [Accepted: 09/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Management of unresectable urothelial cancer (UC) has been a clinical challenge for decades. While drug resistance is a key issue, precise understanding of biology of UC metastasis is another challenge for the improvement of treatment outcome of UC patients. Introduction of the cell biology concepts including epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stemness seems to explain UC metastasis. Molecular genetics based on gene expression profiling, next generation sequencing, and explosion of non-coding RNA world has opened the door to intrinsic molecular subtyping of UC. Next steps include, based on the recently accumulated understanding, the establishment of novel disease models representing UC metastasis in various experimental platforms, particularly in vivo animal systems. Indeed, novel knowledge molecular genetics has not been fully linked to the modeling of UC metastasis. Further understanding of bladder carcinogenesis is needed particularly with regard to cell of origin related to tumor characteristics including driver gene alterations, pathological differentiations, and metastatic ability. Then we will be able to establish better disease models, which will consequently lead us to further understanding of biology and eventually the development of novel therapeutic strategies for UC metastasis.
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18
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Ginn KF, Fangman B, Terai K, Wise A, Ziazadeh D, Shah K, Gartrell R, Ricke B, Kimura K, Mathur S, Borrego-Diaz E, Farassati F. RalA is overactivated in medulloblastoma. J Neurooncol 2016; 130:99-110. [PMID: 27566179 DOI: 10.1007/s11060-016-2236-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Medulloblastoma (MDB) represents a major form of malignant brain tumors in the pediatric population. A vast spectrum of research on MDB has advanced our understanding of the underlying mechanism, however, a significant need still exists to develop novel therapeutics on the basis of gaining new knowledge about the characteristics of cell signaling networks involved. The Ras signaling pathway, one of the most important proto-oncogenic pathways involved in human cancers, has been shown to be involved in the development of neurological malignancies. We have studied an important effector down-stream of Ras, namely RalA (Ras-Like), for the first time and revealed overactivation of RalA in MDB. Affinity precipitation analysis of active RalA (RalA-GTP) in eight MDB cell lines (DAOY, RES256, RES262, UW228-1, UW426, UW473, D283 and D425) revealed that the majority contained elevated levels of active RalA (RalA-GTP) as compared with fetal cerebellar tissue as a normal control. Additionally, total RalA levels were shown to be elevated in 20 MDB patient samples as compared to normal brain tissue. The overall expression of RalA, however, was comparable in cancerous and normal samples. Other important effectors of RalA pathway including RalA binding protein-1 (RalBP1) and protein phosphatase A (PP2A) down-stream of Ral and Aurora kinase A (AKA) as an upstream RalA activator were also investigated in MDB. Considering the lack of specific inhibitors for RalA, we used gene specific silencing in order to inhibit RalA expression. Using a lentivirus expressing anti-RalA shRNA we successfully inhibited RalA expression in MDB and observed a significant reduction in proliferation and invasiveness. Similar results were observed using inhibitors of AKA and geranyl-geranyl transferase (non-specific inhibitors of RalA signaling) in terms of loss of in vivo tumorigenicity in heterotopic nude mouse model. Finally, once tested in cells expressing CD133 (a marker for MDB cancer stem cells), higher levels of RalA activation was observed. These data not only bring RalA to light as an important contributor to the malignant phenotype of MDB but introduces this pathway as a novel target in the treatment of this malignancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin F Ginn
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA.,Division of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Ben Fangman
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Kaoru Terai
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Amanda Wise
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Daniel Ziazadeh
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Kushal Shah
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Robyn Gartrell
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Brandon Ricke
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Kyle Kimura
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Sharad Mathur
- Research Service (151), Kansas City Veteran Affairs Medical Center & Midwest Biomedical Research Foundation-Saint Luke's Marion Bloch Brain Tumor Research Program, 4801 E Linwood Blvd, F5-123, Kansas City, MO, 64128, USA
| | - Emma Borrego-Diaz
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Faris Farassati
- Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical School, Kansas City, KS, USA. .,Research Service (151), Kansas City Veteran Affairs Medical Center & Midwest Biomedical Research Foundation-Saint Luke's Marion Bloch Brain Tumor Research Program, 4801 E Linwood Blvd, F5-123, Kansas City, MO, 64128, USA.
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19
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Song LJ, Liu Q, Meng XR, Li SL, Wang LX, Fan QX, Xuan XY. DLC-1 is an independent prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target in hepatocellular cancer. Diagn Pathol 2016; 11:19. [PMID: 26846339 PMCID: PMC4743322 DOI: 10.1186/s13000-016-0470-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2015] [Accepted: 01/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The 5-year survival rate of patients with hepatocellular cancer (HCC) was very low because of invasion and metastasis in the early stage. Biomarkers might help predict early occurrence of invasion and metastasis. Accumulating evidence has shown that deleted in liver cancer-1 (DLC1) may be considered as a metastasis suppressor gene in numerous solid and hematological cancers. However, its prognostic role and mechanisms that regulate and coordinate these activities remain poorly understood. METHODS With the method of immunohistochemistry, the expression of DLC-1 as well as Rho A, ROCK2, moesin had been characterized in 80 HCC tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues. The correlation between their expression and their relationships with clinicopathological characteristics of HCC were also investigated. In addition, the prognostic value of DLC1 expression within the tumor tissues was assessed by Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS DLC1 expression was significantly lower in HCC tissues than in adjacent noncancerous tissues, and DLC-1 expression was found to be negatively correlated with tumor differentiation, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, DLC-1 expression was found to inversely correlate with Rho A, ROCK2 and moesin which were all highly expressed in HCC tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that significantly longer 5-year survival rate was seen in HCC patients with higher DLC1 expression, compared to those with lower expression of DLC1. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses revealed that DLC1 was an independent factor affecting the overall survival probability. CONCLUSION DLC1 could be served as a tumor suppressor gene in the progression especially in the invasion and metastasis of HCC. DLC1 perhaps played its role by regulating the expression of Rho A, ROCK2 and moesin. Evaluation of the expression of DLC-1 might be a good prognostic marker for patients with HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- L J Song
- Department of Oncology, the first affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, 450000, China.
| | - Q Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, the fifth affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, 450000, China.
| | - X R Meng
- Department of Oncology, the first affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, 450000, China.
| | - Sh L Li
- Department of Pathology, the first affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, 450000, China.
| | - L X Wang
- Department of Oncology, the first affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, 450000, China.
| | - Q X Fan
- Department of Oncology, the first affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, 450000, China.
| | - X Y Xuan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Basic Medical School of Zhengzhou University, 100 Kexue Road, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, China.
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20
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Zhang P, Wang X. Suppression of SIPA-1 expression may reduce bladder cancer invasion and metastasis via the downregulation of E-cadherin and ZO-1. Exp Ther Med 2015; 11:213-217. [PMID: 26889242 DOI: 10.3892/etm.2015.2891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2014] [Accepted: 06/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the capacity of signal-induced proliferation-associated protein 1 (SIPA-1) to regulate bladder cancer cell invasion and metastasis. BIU-87 and T24 cells were transfected with the SIPA gene and SIPA short hairpin (sh)RNA, respectively. Western blot analysis was conducted to analyze the expression levels of SIPA-1, Ras-related protein 1 (Rap1), Rap1 guanosine triphosphate (Rap1GTP), E-cadherin and zona occludens-1 (ZO-1). Cell motility and invasion were evaluated in vitro using wound and Transwell assays. Transfected cells were inoculated into the pelvic region of BALB/c nude mice, and the number of resulting tumors was recorded after 6 weeks. Western blot analysis revealed that expression levels of E-cadherin and ZO-1 were reduced in the cells with enhanced levels of SIPA-1. By contrast, the levels of E-cadherin and ZO-1 were elevated in the cells in which SIPA-1 was knocked down. In comparison with untransfected cells, the cells with reduced levels of SIPA-1 exhibited reduced wound closure and fewer cells crossed the chamber in the Transwell experiment, whereas the cells with enhanced levels of SIPA-1 exhibited increased migration and invasion In vivo, an increased tumor count was obtained in the mice with elevated levels of SIPA-1. Therefore, the results of the present study indicate that SIPA-1 is able to regulate bladder cancer cell metastasis and invasion by reducing the expression of E-cadherin and ZO-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ping Zhang
- Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, P.R. China; Department of Urology, Yichang Central People's Hospital, The First Clinical Medical College, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei 443003, P.R. China
| | - Xinghuan Wang
- Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, P.R. China
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21
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Clinical significance of serum autoantibodies against Ras-like GTPases, RalA, in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Esophagus 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10388-015-0510-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/30/2023]
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Dancik GM. An online tool for evaluating diagnostic and prognostic gene expression biomarkers in bladder cancer. BMC Urol 2015; 15:59. [PMID: 26126604 PMCID: PMC4487975 DOI: 10.1186/s12894-015-0056-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [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: 01/28/2015] [Accepted: 06/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the past ~15 years, the identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers from gene expression data has increased our understanding of cancer biology and has led to advances in the personalized treatment of many cancers. A diagnostic biomarker is indicative of tumor status such as tumor stage, while a prognostic biomarker is indicative of disease outcome. Despite these advances, however, there are no clinically approved biomarkers for the treatment of bladder cancer, which is the fourth most common cancer in males in the United States and one of the most expensive cancers to treat. Although gene expression profiles of bladder cancer patients are publicly available, biomarker identification requires bioinformatics expertise that is not available to many research laboratories. DESCRIPTION We collected gene expression data from 13 publicly available patient cohorts (N = 1454) and developed BC-BET, an online Bladder Cancer Biomarker Evaluation Tool for evaluating candidate diagnostic and prognostic gene expression biomarkers in bladder cancer. A user simply selects a gene, and BC-BET evaluates the utility of that gene's expression as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. Specifically, BC-BET calculates how strongly a gene's expression is associated with tumor presence (distinguishing tumor from normal samples), tumor grade (distinguishing low- from high-grade tumors), tumor stage (distinguishing non-muscle invasive from muscle invasive samples), and patient outcome (e.g., disease-specific survival) across all patients in each cohort. Patients with low-grade, non-muscle invasive tumors and patients with high-grade, muscle invasive tumors are also analyzed separately in order to evaluate whether the biomarker of interest has prognostic value independent of grade and stage. CONCLUSION Although bladder cancer gene expression datasets are publicly available, their analysis is computationally intensive and requires bioinformatics expertise. BC-BET is an easy-to-use tool for rapidly evaluating bladder cancer gene expression biomarkers across multiple patient cohorts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Garrett M Dancik
- Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Eastern Connecticut State University, Science Building, Rm. 257, Willimantic, CT, 06226, USA.
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de Matos Simoes R, Dalleau S, Williamson KE, Emmert-Streib F. Urothelial cancer gene regulatory networks inferred from large-scale RNAseq, Bead and Oligo gene expression data. BMC SYSTEMS BIOLOGY 2015; 9:21. [PMID: 25971253 PMCID: PMC4460634 DOI: 10.1186/s12918-015-0165-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2014] [Accepted: 04/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Urothelial pathogenesis is a complex process driven by an underlying network of interconnected genes. The identification of novel genomic target regions and gene targets that drive urothelial carcinogenesis is crucial in order to improve our current limited understanding of urothelial cancer (UC) on the molecular level. The inference of genome-wide gene regulatory networks (GRN) from large-scale gene expression data provides a promising approach for a detailed investigation of the underlying network structure associated to urothelial carcinogenesis. METHODS In our study we inferred and compared three GRNs by the application of the BC3Net inference algorithm to large-scale transitional cell carcinoma gene expression data sets from Illumina RNAseq (179 samples), Illumina Bead arrays (165 samples) and Affymetrix Oligo microarrays (188 samples). We investigated the structural and functional properties of GRNs for the identification of molecular targets associated to urothelial cancer. RESULTS We found that the urothelial cancer (UC) GRNs show a significant enrichment of subnetworks that are associated with known cancer hallmarks including cell cycle, immune response, signaling, differentiation and translation. Interestingly, the most prominent subnetworks of co-located genes were found on chromosome regions 5q31.3 (RNAseq), 8q24.3 (Oligo) and 1q23.3 (Bead), which all represent known genomic regions frequently deregulated or aberated in urothelial cancer and other cancer types. Furthermore, the identified hub genes of the individual GRNs, e.g., HID1/DMC1 (tumor development), RNF17/TDRD4 (cancer antigen) and CYP4A11 (angiogenesis/ metastasis) are known cancer associated markers. The GRNs were highly dataset specific on the interaction level between individual genes, but showed large similarities on the biological function level represented by subnetworks. Remarkably, the RNAseq UC GRN showed twice the proportion of significant functional subnetworks. Based on our analysis of inferential and experimental networks the Bead UC GRN showed the lowest performance compared to the RNAseq and Oligo UC GRNs. CONCLUSION To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating genome-scale UC GRNs. RNAseq based gene expression data is the data platform of choice for a GRN inference. Our study offers new avenues for the identification of novel putative diagnostic targets for subsequent studies in bladder tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo de Matos Simoes
- Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB), Queens University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK.
| | - Sabine Dalleau
- Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB), Queens University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK.
| | - Kate E Williamson
- Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB), Queens University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK.
| | - Frank Emmert-Streib
- Computational Medicine and Statistical Learning Laboratory, Department of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, 33720, Finland. .,Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology, Tampere, 33520, Finland.
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24
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The RAS-RAL axis in cancer: evidence for mutation-specific selectivity in non-small cell lung cancer. Acta Pharmacol Sin 2015; 36:291-7. [PMID: 25557115 DOI: 10.1038/aps.2014.129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2014] [Accepted: 10/30/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Activating RAS mutations are common in human tumors. These mutations are often markers for resistance to therapy and subsequent poor prognosis. So far, targeting the RAF-MEK-ERK and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways downstream of RAS is the only promising approach in the treatment of cancer patients harboring RAS mutations. RAL GTPase, another downstream effector of RAS, is also considered as a therapeutic option for the treatment of RAS-mutant cancers. The RAL GTPase family comprises RALA and RALB, which can have either divergent or similar functions in different tumor models. Recent studies on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have showed that different RAS mutations selectively activate specific effector pathways. This observation requires broader validation in other tumor tissue types, but if true, will provide a new approach to the treatment of RAS-mutant cancer patients by targeting specific downstream RAS effectors according to the type of RAS mutation. It also suggests that RAL GTPase inhibition will be an important treatment strategy for tumors harboring RAS glycine to cysteine (G12C) or glycien to valine (G12V) mutations, which are commonly found in NSCLC and pancreatic cancer.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION KRAS mutations are poor prognostic markers for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). RALA and RALB GTPases lie downstream of RAS and are implicated in RAS-mediated tumorigenesis. However, their biological or prognostic role in the context of KRAS mutation in NSCLC is unclear. METHODS Using expression analysis of human tumors and a panel of cell lines coupled with functional in vivo and in vitro experiments, we evaluated the prognostic and functional importance of RAL in NSCLC and their relationship to KRAS expression and mutation. RESULTS Immunohistochemical (N = 189) and transcriptomic (N = 337) analyses of NSCLC patients revealed high RALA and RALB expression was associated with poor survival. In a panel of 14 human NSCLC cell lines, RALA and RALB had higher expression in KRAS mutant cell lines whereas RALA but not RALB activity was higher in KRAS mutant cell lines. Depletion of RAL paralogs identified cell lines that are dependent on RAL expression for proliferation and anchorage independent growth. Overall, growth of NSCLC cell lines that carry a glycine to cystine KRAS mutation were more sensitive to RAL depletion than those with wild-type KRAS. The use of gene expression and outcome data from 337 human tumors in RAL-KRAS interaction analysis revealed that KRAS and RAL paralog expression jointly impact patient prognosis. CONCLUSION RAL GTPase expression carries important additional prognostic information to KRAS status in NSCLC patients. Simultaneously targeting RAL may provide a novel therapeutic approach in NSCLC patients harboring glycine to cystine KRAS mutations.
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Oeckinghaus A, Postler TS, Rao P, Schmitt H, Schmitt V, Grinberg-Bleyer Y, Kühn LI, Gruber CW, Lienhard GE, Ghosh S. κB-Ras proteins regulate both NF-κB-dependent inflammation and Ral-dependent proliferation. Cell Rep 2014; 8:1793-1807. [PMID: 25220458 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2013] [Revised: 06/19/2014] [Accepted: 08/06/2014] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The transformation of cells generally involves multiple genetic lesions that undermine control of both cell death and proliferation. We now report that κB-Ras proteins act as regulators of NF-κB and Ral pathways, which control inflammation/cell death and proliferation, respectively. Cells lacking κB-Ras therefore not only show increased NF-κB activity, which results in increased expression of inflammatory mediators, but also exhibit elevated Ral activity, which leads to enhanced anchorage-independent proliferation (AIP). κB-Ras deficiency consequently leads to significantly increased tumor growth that can be dampened by inhibiting either Ral or NF-κB pathways, revealing the unique tumor-suppressive potential of κB-Ras proteins. Remarkably, numerous human tumors show reduced levels of κB-Ras, and increasing the level of κB-Ras in these tumor cells impairs their ability to undergo AIP, thereby implicating κB-Ras proteins in human disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Oeckinghaus
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Thomas S Postler
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Ping Rao
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Heike Schmitt
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Verena Schmitt
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Yenkel Grinberg-Bleyer
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Lars I Kühn
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Christian W Gruber
- Center for Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Gustav E Lienhard
- Department of Biochemistry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
| | - Sankar Ghosh
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA.
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Yan C, Liu D, Li L, Wempe MF, Guin S, Khanna M, Meier J, Hoffman B, Owens C, Wysoczynski CL, Nitz MD, Knabe WE, Ahmed M, Brautigan DL, Paschal BM, Schwartz MA, Jones DNM, Ross D, Meroueh SO, Theodorescu D. Discovery and characterization of small molecules that target the GTPase Ral. Nature 2014; 515:443-7. [PMID: 25219851 DOI: 10.1038/nature13713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2013] [Accepted: 07/24/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The Ras-like GTPases RalA and RalB are important drivers of tumour growth and metastasis. Chemicals that block Ral function would be valuable as research tools and for cancer therapeutics. Here we used protein structure analysis and virtual screening to identify drug-like molecules that bind to a site on the GDP-bound form of Ral. The compounds RBC6, RBC8 and RBC10 inhibited the binding of Ral to its effector RALBP1, as well as inhibiting Ral-mediated cell spreading of murine embryonic fibroblasts and anchorage-independent growth of human cancer cell lines. The binding of the RBC8 derivative BQU57 to RalB was confirmed by isothermal titration calorimetry, surface plasmon resonance and (1)H-(15)N transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) NMR spectroscopy. RBC8 and BQU57 show selectivity for Ral relative to the GTPases Ras and RhoA and inhibit tumour xenograft growth to a similar extent to the depletion of Ral using RNA interference. Our results show the utility of structure-based discovery for the development of therapeutics for Ral-dependent cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Yan
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - Degang Liu
- Department of Biochemistry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA
| | - Liwei Li
- Department of Biochemistry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA
| | - Michael F Wempe
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - Sunny Guin
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - May Khanna
- Department of Biochemistry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA
| | - Jeremy Meier
- Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA
| | - Brenton Hoffman
- Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA
| | - Charles Owens
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | | | - Matthew D Nitz
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA
| | - William E Knabe
- Department of Biochemistry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA
| | - Mansoor Ahmed
- 1] Department of Cardiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA [2] Department of Cell Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - David L Brautigan
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA
| | - Bryce M Paschal
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA
| | - Martin A Schwartz
- 1] Department of Cardiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA [2] Department of Cell Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - David N M Jones
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - David Ross
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - Samy O Meroueh
- 1] Department of Biochemistry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA [2] Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA
| | - Dan Theodorescu
- 1] Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA [2] Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA [3] University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
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28
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Abstract
Recognition that Ral guanine nucleotide exchange factors (RalGEFs) are direct Ras effectors and that Ral G-protein activation is a direct consequence of Ras activation has spurred focused efforts to establish the contribution of RalGEF/Ral signaling to oncogenic transformation. Here, we provide a broad-strokes overview of the mechanistic organization of the RalGEF/Ral signaling network, evaluate the evidence for participation of this network in tumorigenic regulatory milieus, consider targeting strategies, and discuss the challenges to and opportunities for clinical development of these targeting strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan M Cooper
- Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Brian O Bodemann
- Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Michael A White
- Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
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29
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Ral GTPases in tumorigenesis: emerging from the shadows. Exp Cell Res 2013; 319:2337-42. [PMID: 23830877 DOI: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2013.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2013] [Revised: 06/18/2013] [Accepted: 06/26/2013] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Oncogenic Ras proteins rely on a series of key effector pathways to drive the physiological changes that lead to tumorigenic growth. Of these effector pathways, the RalGEF pathway, which activates the two Ras-related GTPases RalA and RalB, remains the most poorly understood. This review will focus on key developments in our understanding of Ral biology, and will speculate on how aberrant activation of the multiple diverse Ral effector proteins might collectively contribute to oncogenic transformation and other aspects of tumor progression.
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30
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Wang H, Ru Y, Sanchez-Carbayo M, Wang X, Kieft JS, Theodorescu D. Translation initiation factor eIF3b expression in human cancer and its role in tumor growth and lung colonization. Clin Cancer Res 2013; 19:2850-60. [PMID: 23575475 DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-12-3084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Discovery transcriptomic analyses suggest eukaryotic initiation factor 3b (eIF3b) is elevated in human bladder and prostate cancer, yet its role as a prognostic factor or its requirement in the maintenance or progression of human cancer is not established. Here, we determine the therapeutic potential of eIF3b by examining the clinical relevance of its expression in human cancer tissues and its role in experimental tumor models. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We examined mRNA expression of eIF3b in bladder (N = 317) and prostate (N = 566) tissue samples and protein expression by immunohistochemistry in 143 bladder tumor samples as a function of clinicopathologic features. The impact of eIF3b depletion by siRNA in human cancer lines was evaluated in regard to in vitro cell growth, cell cycle, migration, in vivo subcutaneous tumor growth, and lung colonization. RESULTS eIF3b mRNA expression correlated to tumor grade, stage, and survival in human bladder and prostate cancer. eIF3b protein expression stratified survival in human bladder cancer. eIF3b depletion reduced in vitro cancer cell growth; inhibited G1-S cell-cycle transition by changing protein but not RNA expression of cyclin A, E, Rb, and p27Kip1; inhibited migration; and disrupted actin cytoskeleton and focal adhesions. These changes were associated with decreased protein expression of integrin α5. Integrin α5 depletion phenocopied effects observed with eIF3b. eIF3b-depleted bladder cancer cells formed fewer subcutaneous tumors that grew more slowly and had reduced lung colonization. CONCLUSION eIF3b expression relates to human bladder and prostate cancer prognosis, is required for tumor growth, and thus a candidate therapeutic target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong Wang
- Department of Surgery (Urology), University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
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Thomas S, Harding MA, Smith SC, Overdevest JB, Nitz MD, Frierson HF, Tomlins SA, Kristiansen G, Theodorescu D. CD24 is an effector of HIF-1-driven primary tumor growth and metastasis. Cancer Res 2012; 72:5600-12. [PMID: 22926560 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-11-3666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Hypoxia drives malignant progression in part by promoting accumulation of the oncogenic transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in tumor cells. Tumor aggressiveness also relates to elevation of the cancer stem cell-associated membrane protein CD24, which has been causally implicated in tumor formation and metastasis in experimental models. Here, we link these two elements by showing that hypoxia induces CD24 expression through a functional hypoxia responsive element in the CD24 promoter. HIF-1α overexpression induced CD24 mRNA and protein under normoxic conditions, with this effect traced to a recruitment of endogenous HIF-1α to the CD24 promoter. Short hairpin RNA-mediated attenuation of HIF-1α or CD24 expression reduced cancer cell survival in vitro and in vivo at the levels of primary and metastatic tumor growth. CD24 overexpression in HIF-1α-depleted cancer cells rescued this decrease, whereas HIF-1α overexpression in CD24-depleted cells did not. Analysis of clinical tumor specimens revealed a correlation between HIF-1α and CD24 levels and an association of their coexpression to decreased patient survival. Our results establish a mechanistic linkage between 2 critically important molecules in cancer, identifying CD24 as a critical HIF-1α transcriptional target and biologic effector, strengthening the rationale to target CD24 for cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shibu Thomas
- Departments of Urology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
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