Identification of RECK as a protective prognostic indicator and a tumor suppressor through regulation of the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway in gastric cancer

Tumor dormancy and relapse: understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer recurrence

Cancer recurrence, driven by the phenomenon of tumor dormancy, presents a formidable challenge in oncology. Dormant cancer cells have the ability to evade detection and treatment, leading to relapse. This review emphasizes the urgent need to comprehend tumor dormancy and its implications for cancer recurrence. Despite notable advancements, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying dormancy and the lack of reliable biomarkers for predicting relapse. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the cellular, angiogenic, and immunological aspects of dormancy. It highlights the current therapeutic strategies targeting dormant cells, particularly combination therapies and immunotherapies, which hold promise in preventing relapse. By elucidating these mechanisms and proposing innovative research methodologies, this review aims to deepen our understanding of tumor dormancy, ultimately facilitating the development of more effective strategies for preventing cancer recurrence and improving patient outcomes.

Pan-cancer multi-omics analysis to identify the potential pro-oncogenic properties of GREM1 as a promising targets for cancer prognosis and therapeutics

We aimed to investigate the potential pro-oncogenic properties of GREM1 by Pan-cancer multi-omics analysis. Accumulating evidence has highlighted that GREM1 (Gremlin 1), serves as an inhibitor of BMP (Bone Morphogenetic Protein) family, involve in bone related diseases, carcinogenesis, cell stemness, and cell differentiation. However, the effect and underlying mechanism of GREM1 on the cancer biology remain largely elusive. The mRNA expression of GREM1 were extracted from GTEx (Genotype-Tissue Expression) and TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database. Analysis of OS (Overall Survival), PFI (Progression Free Interval), DSS (Disease-Specific Survival), and ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) were performed to predicted prognostic value of GREM1 in various cancers. The TIMER (Tumor Immune Estimation Resource) online tool was used to investigate the relationship between GREM1 transcriptional level and infiltration of immune cells. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) analysis and GO (Gene Ontology) analysis were used to investigate the GREM1 related molecular events, and then constructed a PPI (Protein-Protein Interaction) network via the STRING (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interaction Genes/Proteins) online tool. Western blot was performed to investigate the indicated protein expression. In the present study, our results showed that GREM1 tended to be upregulated in various cancers, which would correlate with the poor prognosis. Mechanistically, our results showed that GREM1 involve in regulating the ECM-receptor interaction pathway, upregulation of MMP activity, angiogenesis, and immune cell infiltration. In vitro studies, our results further showed that BMP agonist significantly decreased the protein level of GREM1 in GES-1 cells and BGC cells, which accompanied by inhibiting migration and proliferation in GES-1 cells and BGC cells. BMP inhibitor significantly promoted GREM1 expression and migration in BGC cells, but not GES-1 cells. GREM1 might serve as a potential and promising prognostic biomarker for drug development and cancer treatment.

The dysregulation of PARP9 expression is linked to apoptosis and DNA damage in gastric cancer cells

BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer (GC) is a highly malignant gastrointestinal tumor characterized by difficult early diagnosis and poor prognosis. Therefore, it is imperative to explore potential therapeutic targets for gastric cancer. PARP9 is abnormally expressed in a variety of tumors and is associated with tumor cell apoptosis and DNA damage. However, its relationship with GC has not been fully studied.

METHODS

The expression and prognostic significance of PARP9 in gastric cancer (GC) were examined using bioinformatics approaches. Cell lines with either knockdown or overexpression of PARP9 were established through lentiviral transduction, and the role of PARP9 in the malignant phenotypes of GC cells was validated via CCK8 assays, wound healing assays, clonogenic assays, and Transwell migration experiments. Finally, alterations in downstream targets and signaling pathways following changes in PARP9 expression were analyzed through RNA sequencing.

RESULTS

PARP9 is highly expressed in GC tissues and is associated with poor prognosis. PARP9 knockdown can significantly inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migration of GC cells, and increase the apoptosis and DNA damage of GC cells. The therapeutic process of PARP9 in GC may be realized by synergistic interaction with SOX6 through MAPK signaling pathway.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study reveals a potential link between PARP9 and GC, providing a new target for the treatment of GC.

RECK/GPR124-driven WNT signaling in pancreatic and gastric cancer cells

RECK has been described to modulate extracellular matrix components through negative regulation of MMP activities. Recently, RECK was demonstrated to bind to an orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR124 to mediate WNT7 signaling in nontumor contexts. Here, we attempted to clarify the role of RECK in driving WNT signaling in cancer cells. RECK and GPR124 formed a complex in 293T cells, and when both were expressed, WNT signaling was significantly enhanced in a WNT7-dependent manner. This cooperation was abolished when RECK mutants unable to bind to GPR124 were transduced. RECK stimulated the growth of KRAS-mutated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells with increased sensitivity to WNT inhibitor in a GPR124-dependent manner. A gastric cancer cell line SH10TC endogenously expresses both RECK and GPR124 under regular culture conditions. In this cell line, inhibited cell growth and WNT signaling as well as increased apoptosis in the GPR124 depletion was dominantly found over those in the RECK deletion. These findings suggest that RECK promotes tumor cell growth by positively modulating WNT signaling through GPR124. This study proposes that the RECK/GPR124 complex might be a good therapeutic target in PDAC and gastric cancer.

Upregulation of CALD1 predicted a poor prognosis for platinum-treated ovarian cancer and revealed it as a potential therapeutic resistance target

BACKGROUND

Ovarian cancer (OC) has the worst prognosis among gynecological malignancies, most of which are found to be in advanced stage. Cell reduction surgery based on platinum-based chemotherapy is the current standard of treatment for OC, but patients are prone to relapse and develop drug resistance. The objective of this study was to identify a specific molecular target responsible for platinum chemotherapy resistance in OC.

RESULTS

We screened the protein-coding gene Caldesmon (CALD1), expressed in cisplatin-resistant OC cells in vitro. The prognostic value of CALD1 was evaluated using survival curve analysis in OC patients treated with platinum therapy. The diagnostic value of CALD1 was verified by drawing a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve using clinical samples from OC patients. This study analyzed data from various databases including Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Human Protein Atlas (HPA), The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), GEPIA 2, UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier (KM) plotter, LinkedOmics database, and String. Different expression genes (DEGs) between cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant cells were acquired respectively from 5 different datasets of GEO. CALD1 was selected as a common gene from 5 groups DEGs. Online data analysis of HPA and CCLE showed that CALD1 was highly expressed in both normal ovarian tissue and OC. In TCGA database, high expression of CALD1 was associated with disease stage and venous invasion in OC. Patients with high CALD1 expression levels had a worse prognosis under platinum drug intervention, according to Kaplan-Meier (KM) plotter analysis. Analysis of clinical sample data from GEO showed that CALD1 had superior diagnostic value in distinguishing patients with platinum "resistant" and platinum "sensitive" (AUC = 0.816), as well as patients with worse progression-free survival (AUC = 0.741), and those with primary and omental metastases (AUC = 0.811) in ovarian tumor. At last, CYR61 was identified as a potential predictive molecule that may play an important role alongside CALD1 in the development of platinum resistance in OC.

CONCLUSIONS

CALD1, as a member of cytoskeletal protein, was associated with poor prognosis of platinum resistance in OC, and could be used as a target protein for mechanism study of platinum resistance in OC.