Direct transformation of lung microenvironment by interferon-α treatment counteracts growth of lung metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Interferon Signaling in Estrogen Receptor-positive Breast Cancer: A Revitalized Topic

Cancer immunology is the most rapidly expanding field in cancer research, with the importance of immunity in cancer pathogenesis now well accepted including in the endocrine-related cancers. The immune system plays an essential role in the development of ductal and luminal epithelial differentiation in the mammary gland. Originally identified as evolutionarily conserved antipathogen cytokines, interferons (IFNs) have shown important immune-modulatory and antineoplastic properties when administered to patients with various types of cancer, including breast cancer. Recent studies have drawn attention to the role of tumor- and stromal-infiltrating lymphocytes in dictating therapy response and outcome of breast cancer patients, which, however, is highly dependent on the breast cancer subtype. The emerging role of tumor cell-inherent IFN signaling in the subtype-defined tumor microenvironment could influence therapy response with protumor activities in breast cancer. Here we review evidence with new insights into tumor cell-intrinsic and tumor microenvironment-derived IFN signaling, and the crosstalk of IFN signaling with key signaling pathways in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. We also discuss clinical implications and opportunities exploiting IFN signaling to treat advanced ER+ breast cancer.

Circulating Tumor Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Comprehensive Review and Critical Appraisal

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common neoplasm and a major cause of cancer-related death worldwide. There is no ideal biomarker allowing early diagnosis of HCC and tumor surveillance in patients receiving therapy. Liquid biopsy, and particularly circulating tumor cells (CTCs), have emerged as a useful tool for diagnosis and monitoring therapeutic responses in different tumors. In the present manuscript, we evaluate the current evidence supporting the quantitative and qualitative assessment of CTCs as potential biomarkers of HCC, as well as technical aspects related to isolation, identification, and classification of CTCs. Although the dynamic assessment of CTCs in patients with HCC may aid the decision-making process, there are still many uncertainties and technical caveats to be solved before this methodology has a true impact on clinical practice guidelines. More studies are needed to identify the optimal combination of surface markers, to increase the efficiency of ex-vivo expansion of CTCs, or even to target CTCs as a potential therapeutic strategy to prevent HCC recurrence after surgery or to hamper tumor progression and extrahepatic spreading.

RhoC Modulates Cell Junctions and Type I Interferon Response in Aggressive Breast Cancers

Metastases are the leading cause of death in cancer patients. RhoC, a member of the Rho GTPase family, has been shown to facilitate metastasis of aggressive breast cancer cells by influencing motility, invasion, and chemokine secretion, but as yet there is no integrated model of the precise mechanism of how RhoC promotes metastasis. A common phenotypic characteristic of metastatic cells influenced by these mechanisms is dysregulation of cell-cell junctions. Thus, we set out to study how RhoA- and RhoC-GTPase influence the cell-cell junctions in aggressive breast cancers. We demonstrate that CRISPR-Cas9 knockout of RhoC in SUM 149 and MDA 231 breast cancer cells results in increased normalization of junctional integrity denoted by junction protein expression/colocalization. In functional assessments of junction stability, RhoC knockout cells have increased barrier integrity and increased cell-cell adhesion compared to wild-type cells. Whole exome RNA sequencing and targeted gene expression profiling demonstrate decreased expression of Type I interferon-stimulated genes in RhoC knockout cells compared to wild-type, and subsequent treatment with interferon-alpha resulted in significant increases in adhesion and decreases in invasiveness of wild-type cells and a dampened response to interferon-alpha stimulation with respect to adhesion and invasiveness in RhoC knockout cells. We delineate a key role of RhoC-GTPase in modulation of junctions and response to interferon, which supports inhibition of RhoC as a potential anti-invasion therapeutic strategy.

Deciphering the role of interferon alpha signaling and microenvironment crosstalk in inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most rare and aggressive subtype of breast cancer characterized by clusters of tumor cells invading lymph vessels, high rates of metastasis, and resistance to systemic chemotherapy. While significant progress has been made in understanding IBC, survival among IBC patients is still only one half that among patients with non-IBC. A major limitation to the development of more specific and effective treatments for IBC is a lack of identifiable molecular alterations that are specific to IBC. Emerging evidence suggests that the aggressive nature of IBC is not specific to IBC cells but instead driven by the interplay between autonomous signaling and context-dependent cytokine networks from the surrounding tumor microenvironment. Recently, the type I interferon, specifically the interferon alpha signature, has been identified as a pathway upregulated in IBC but few studies have addressed its role. Activation of the interferon alpha signaling pathway has been shown to contribute to apoptosis and cellular senescence but is also attributed to increased migration and drug resistance depending on the interferon-stimulated genes transcribed. The mechanisms promoting the increase in interferon alpha expression and the role interferon alpha plays in IBC remain speculative. Current hypotheses suggest that immune and stromal cells in the local tumor microenvironment contribute to the interferon alpha signaling cascade within the tumor cell and that this activation may further alter the immune and stromal cells within the microenvironment. This review serves as an overview of the role of interferon alpha signaling in IBC. Ideally, future experiments should investigate the mechanistic interplay of interferons in IBC to develop more efficacious treatment strategies for IBC patients.

Reprogramming the lung microenvironment by inhaled immunotherapy fosters immune destruction of tumor

Due to their constant exposure to inhaled antigens, lungs represent a particularly immunosuppressive environment that limits excessive immune responses; however, cancer cells can exploit this unique environment for their growth. We previously described the ability of aerosolized CpG-ODN combined with Poly(I:C) (TLR9 and TLR3 agonists, respectively) to promote antitumor immunity in a B16 melanoma lung metastasis model. Here, we explored the possibility of improving the therapeutic efficacy of TLR9/TLR3 agonist combinations by including in the inhalant either an antibody directed to both Ly6G and Ly6C markers to locally deplete myeloid-derived suppressive cells (MDSCs) or IFNα to directly activate the natural killer (NK) and macrophage innate immune cells in the lung. Addition of nebulized anti-MDSC antibody RB6-8C5 to aerosolized CpG-ODN/Poly(I:C) resulted in reduced mRNA levels of immunsuppressive molecules (IL10, Arg-1, and Nos2), increased activation of resident NK cells and improved treatment outcome, with a significant reduction in established B16 melanoma lung metastases compared to treatment with CpG-ODN/Poly(I:C) alone. Likewise, addition of aerosolized IFNα led to increased mRNA levels of proinflammatory cytokines (IL15 and IFNγ) in the lung and recruitment of highly activated NK cells, with no evident signs of toxicity and with a significantly improved antitumor effect as compared with aerosolized CpG-ODN/Poly(I:C). Combining both IFNα and RB6-8C5 with CpG-ODN/Poly(I:C) did not produce an additive effect compared to IFNα + CpG-ODN/Poly(I:C) or RB6-8C5 + CpG-ODN/Poly(I:C). Our results indicate that the inhalation therapy is a feasible and non-invasive strategy to deliver immunodulatory molecules, including antibodies and cytokines that reprogram the lung tumor microenvironment to foster immune destruction of tumors.

Design, Synthesis, and Structure-Activity Relationship Study of Novel Indole-2-carboxamide Derivatives as Anti-inflammatory Agents for the Treatment of Sepsis

Sepsis is characterized by a systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Derivatives of indole have been reported to exhibit diverse biological activities. This study reports on the design and synthesis of a new series of indole-2-carboxamide derivatives, which are screened for their anti-inflammatory activities in RAW 264.7 macrophages. A majority of these derivatives effectively inhibited lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Preliminary structure-activity relationship analysis was also conducted. The results indicate that the most promising compounds in the prepared series were 14f and 14g. They were found to effectively reduce LPS-induced pulmonary inflammation and overexpression of a series of inflammatory mediators. Furthermore, in vivo administration of 14f and 14g resulted in remarkable lung histopathological improvements in mice without toxicity in organs. Taken together, these data indicate that the newly discovered indole-2-carboxamide derivatives could be particularly useful for further treatment in inflammatory diseases.

[Tumor microenvironment--the critical element of tumor metastasis]

肿瘤转移是癌症治疗失败和患者死亡的主要原因，其分子机制复杂，涉及多步骤、多阶段、多基因的变化。作为肿瘤细胞赖以生存的场所，肿瘤微环境在肿瘤转移过程中起到至关重要的作用。因此，研究肿瘤微环境与肿瘤转移的动态关系，阐明微环境中不同因子在转移过程中的分子机制是抑制肿瘤转移的关键。

Gastroprotective effect of andrographolide sodium bisulfite against indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration in rats

Andrographolide sodium bisulfite (ASB), a water-soluble sulfonate of andrographolide has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic activities. However, there is no report on the gastroprotective effect of ASB against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer. Here we investigated the possible anti-ulcerogenic potential of ASB and the underlying mechanism against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats. The ulcer area, histopathological assessment, contents of gastric mucosal glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malonaldehyde (MDA) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were examined. In addition, cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA expression and immunohistochemical evaluation of HSP70, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins were also investigated. Results indicated that ASB pre-treatment significantly reduced the ulcer areas induced by indomethacin compared with the vehicle group. The gastric levels of GSH, CAT and SOD were markedly increased by ASB while the level of MDA was decreased. In addition, ASB pretreatment significantly promoted the gastric PGE2 levels and up-regulated the COX-1 and COX-2 mRNA expression in comparison with the vehicle group. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed obvious up-regulation of HSP70 and Bcl-2 protein expression while suppression of Bax protein in the gastric tissue of ASB-pretreated group. Taken together, these findings indicated that the gastroprotective effect of ASB might be associated with the improvement of antioxidative status, activation of COX-mediated PGE2 synthesis, down-regulation of Bax proteins and up-regulation of Bcl-2 and HSP70 proteins. ASB might have the potential for further development as a promising alternative for antiulcer treatment.

Macrophage plasticity and polarization in liver homeostasis and pathology

Resident and recruited macrophages are key players in the homeostatic function of the liver and in its response to tissue damage. In response to environmental signals, macrophages undergo polarized activation to M1 or M2 or M2-like activation states. These are extremes of a spectrum in a universe of activation states. Progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the polarized activation of mononuclear phagocytes. Resident and recruited macrophages are a key component of diverse homeostatic and pathological responses of hepatic tissue. Polarized macrophages interact with hepatic progenitor cells, integrate metabolic adaptation, mediate responses to infectious agents, orchestrate fibrosis in a yin-yang interaction with hepatic stellate cells, and are a key component of tumor-promoting inflammation.

CONCLUSION

A better understanding of macrophage diversity and plasticity in liver homeostasis and pathology may pave the way to innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Interferon-alpha-2b induces autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma cells through Beclin1 pathway

Objective

To determine whether Interferon-alpha-2b (IFN-α2b) can modulate the autophagic response in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Methods

Hepatocellular carcinoma cells were treated with IFN-α2b. Autophagy was assessed by acridine orange staining, GFP-LC3 dotted assay, transmission electron microscopy and immunoblotting.

Results

Acridine orange staining showed that IFN-α2b triggered the accumulation of acidic vesicular and autolysosomes in HepG2 cells. The acridine orange HepG2 cell ratios were (4.3±1.0)%, (6.9±1.4)%, and (13.1±2.3)%, respectively, after treatment with 100, 1,000, and 10,000 IU/mL IFN-α2b for 48 h. A markedly punctate pattern was observed in HepG2 cells treated with 10,000 IU/mL IFN-α2b for 48 h, but only diffuse and weakly fluorescent GFP-LC3 puncta was observed in control cells. HepG2 cells treated with 10,000 IU/mL IFN-α2b for 48 h developed autophagosome-like characteristics, including single- or double-membrane vacuoles containing intact and degraded cellular debris. The Beclin1 and LC3-II protein expression was up-regulated by IFN-α2b treatment.

Conclusion

Autophagy can be induced in a dose-dependent manner by treatment with IFN-α2b in HepG2 cells, and the Beclin1 signaling pathway was stimulated by IFN-α2b.