β-Catenin/LEF-1 transcription complex is responsible for the transcriptional activation of LINC01278

WNT/β-catenin signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma: The aberrant activation, pathogenic roles, and therapeutic opportunities

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a liver cancer, highly heterogeneous both at the histopathological and molecular levels. It arises from hepatocytes as the result of the accumulation of numerous genomic alterations in various signaling pathways, including canonical WNT/β-catenin, AKT/mTOR, MAPK pathways as well as signaling associated with telomere maintenance, p53/cell cycle regulation, epigenetic modifiers, and oxidative stress. The role of WNT/β-catenin signaling in liver homeostasis and regeneration is well established, whereas in development and progression of HCC is extensively studied. Herein, we review recent advances in our understanding of how WNT/β-catenin signaling facilitates the HCC development, acquisition of stemness features, metastasis, and resistance to treatment. We outline genetic and epigenetic alterations that lead to activated WNT/β-catenin signaling in HCC. We discuss the pivotal roles of CTNNB1 mutations, aberrantly expressed non-coding RNAs and complexity of crosstalk between WNT/β-catenin signaling and other signaling pathways as challenging or advantageous aspects of therapy development and molecular stratification of HCC patients for treatment.

N-acetyl-L-cysteine attenuated the toxicity of ZIF-8 on EA.hy926 endothelial cells by wnt/β-catenin pathway

As kinds of porous crystalline compounds, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) have been developed quickly and attracted considerable attention for use in nano drug delivery systems, which raised concerns about cardiovascular disorders. At the present, the cytotoxic mechanism of ZIFs in cardiovascular disorders was still unclear. Our experiment explored the toxicity of ZIF-8, a typical kind of ZIFs, on human EA.hy926 vascular endothelial cells. The cell viability, ROS formation, apoptosis level, inflammatory response level, wound healing ability and atherosclerosis-related indicators of EA.hy926 endothelial cells were analyzed after ZIF-8 treatment. Meanwhile, we evaluated the ability of antioxidant N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) to attenuate the toxicity of ZIF-8 on EA.hy926 endothelial cells. As results, NAC attenuated ROS formation, cell apoptosis, LDH formation and endothelial dysfunction caused by ZIF-8. As the Wnt/β-catenin pathway was involved in endothelial cell dysfunction, we also studied the expression level of β-catenin and LEF1 in ZIF-8 and/or NAC treated EA.hy926 cells. As expected, ZIF-8 increased the protein expressions of β-catenin and LEF1in the IC50 group, which was significantly inhibited by co-treatment with NAC. Taken together, this study could help improve our understanding about the mechanism of ZIF-8-induced endothelial cells injury and NAC had therapeutic potential in preventing ZIF-8-associated endothelial dysfunction by wnt/β-catenin pathway.

A transcriptomics-based meta-analysis identifies a cross-tissue signature for sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease of unknown etiology, immunologically characterized by a Th1 immune response. Transcriptome-wide expression studies in various types of sarcoid tissues contributed to better understanding of disease mechanisms. We performed a systematic database search on Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and utilized transcriptomic data from blood and sarcoidosis-affected tissues in a meta-analysis to identify a cross-tissue, cross-platform signature. Datasets were further separated into training and testing sets for development of a diagnostic classifier for sarcoidosis. A total of 690 differentially expressed genes were identified in the analysis among various tissues. 29 of the genes were robustly associated with sarcoidosis in the meta-analysis both in blood and in lung-associated tissues. Top genes included LINC01278 (P = 3.11 × 10^–13), GBP5 (P = 5.56 × 10^–07), and PSMB9 (P = 1.11 × 10^–06). Pathway enrichment analysis revealed activated IFN-γ, IL-1, and IL-18, autophagy, and viral infection response. IL-17 was observed to be enriched in peripheral blood specific signature genes. A 16-gene classifier achieved excellent performance in the independent validation data (AUC 0.711–0.964). This study provides a cross-tissue meta-analysis for expression profiles of sarcoidosis and identifies a diagnostic classifier that potentially can complement more invasive procedures.

Role of the Long Intergenic Non-Protein-Coding RNA 1278/miR-185-5p/Cystatin SN Axis in Laryngeal Cancer Cells

Laryngeal cancer accounts for 25%–30% of tumors in the head and neck. Cystatin SN (CST1) was revealed to show upregulated expression in this cancer, while its functions and upstream pathway remain unknown and need investigation. The current study was designed to solve this problem. We designed short hairpin RNAs targeting CST1 for the loss-of-function assays to probe the influences of CST1 in laryngeal cancer cell proliferation and motility. The upstream competitive endogenous RNA pattern of CST1 was searched using bioinformatics analysis and confirmed by luciferase reporter assays. The experimental results demonstrated that CST1 is a tumor facilitator in laryngeal cancer by stimulating cellular proliferative, migrative, and invasive abilities. CST1 is regulated by the long intergenic non-protein-coding RNA 1278 (LINC01278)/miR-185-5p axis. LINC01278 knockdown and miR-185-5p overexpression exert the same functions as CST1 knockdown to repress cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In conclusion, LINC01278 plays an oncogenic role in laryngeal cancer by suppressing miR-185-5p to enhance CST1 expression, which enriches the molecular mechanism for the carcinogenesis of laryngeal cancer.

Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Tankyrases as Prospective Therapeutics for Cancer

Tankyrases are multifunctional poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerases that regulate diverse biological processes including telomere maintenance and cellular signaling. These processes are often implicated in a number of human diseases, with cancer being the most prevalent example. Accordingly, tankyrase inhibitors have gained increasing attention as potential therapeutics. Since the discovery of XAV939 and IWR-1 as the first tankyrase inhibitors over two decades ago, tankyrase-targeted drug discovery has made significant progress. This review starts with an introduction of tankyrases, with emphasis placed on their cancer-related functions. Small-molecule inhibitors of tankyrases are subsequently delineated based on their distinct modes of binding to the enzymes. In addition to inhibitors that compete with oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) for binding to the catalytic domain of tankyrases, non-NAD⁺-competitive inhibitors are detailed. This is followed by a description of three clinically trialled tankyrase inhibitors. To conclude, some of challenges and prospects in developing tankyrase-targeted cancer therapies are discussed.