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Liu L, Zhang M, Cui N, Liu W, Di G, Wang Y, Xi X, Li H, Shen Z, Gu M, Wang Z, Jiang S, Liu B. Integration of single-cell RNA-seq and bulk RNA-seq to construct liver hepatocellular carcinoma stem cell signatures to explore their impact on patient prognosis and treatment. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0298004. [PMID: 38635528 PMCID: PMC11025768 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is a prevalent form of primary liver cancer. Research has demonstrated the contribution of tumor stem cells in facilitating tumor recurrence, metastasis, and treatment resistance. Despite this, there remains a lack of established cancer stem cells (CSCs)-associated genes signatures for effectively predicting the prognosis and guiding the treatment strategies for patients diagnosed with LIHC. METHODS The single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and bulk RNA transcriptome data were obtained based on public datasets and computerized firstly using CytoTRACE package and One Class Linear Regression (OCLR) algorithm to evaluate stemness level, respectively. Then, we explored the association of stemness indicators (CytoTRACE score and stemness index, mRNAsi) with survival outcomes and clinical characteristics by combining clinical information and survival analyses. Subsequently, weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and Cox were applied to assess mRNAsi-related genes in bulk LIHC data and construct a prognostic model for LIHC patients. Single-sample gene-set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), Cell-type Identification By Estimating Relative Subsets Of RNA Transcripts (CIBERSORT) and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) analysis were employed for immune infiltration assessment. Finally, the potential immunotherapeutic response was predicted by the Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE), and the tumor mutation burden (TMB). Additionally, pRRophetic package was applied to evaluate the sensitivity of high and low-risk groups to common chemotherapeutic drugs. RESULTS A total of four genes (including STIP1, H2AFZ, BRIX1, and TUBB) associated with stemness score (CytoTRACE score and mRNAsi) were identified and constructed a risk model that could predict prognosis in LIHC patients. It was observed that high stemness cells occurred predominantly in the late stages of LIHC and that poor overall survival in LIHC patients was also associated with high mRNAsi scores. In addition, pathway analysis confirmed the biological uniqueness of the two risk groups. Personalized treatment predictions suggest that patients with a low risk benefited more from immunotherapy, while those with a high risk group may be conducive to chemotherapeutic drugs. CONCLUSION The current study developed a novel prognostic risk signature with genes related to CSCs, which provides novel ideas for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of LIHC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lixia Liu
- Department of Ultrasound and Hebei Key Laboratory of Precise Imaging of Inflammation Related Tumors, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Meng Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Naipeng Cui
- Department of Breast Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Wenwen Liu
- Department of Breast Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Guixin Di
- Department of Ultrasound, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Yanan Wang
- Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Xin Xi
- Central Laboratory, Hebei Key Laboratory of Cancer Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Hao Li
- Central Laboratory, Hebei Key Laboratory of Cancer Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Zhou Shen
- Central Laboratory, Hebei Key Laboratory of Cancer Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Miaomiao Gu
- Department of Ultrasound, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Zichao Wang
- Department of Ultrasound, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Shan Jiang
- Central Laboratory, Hebei Key Laboratory of Cancer Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
| | - Bin Liu
- Central Laboratory, Hebei Key Laboratory of Cancer Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, 071052, China
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An Y, Xia Y, Wang Z, Jin GZ, Shang M. Clinical significance of ribosome production factor 2 homolog in hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Res Hepatol Gastroenterol 2024; 48:102289. [PMID: 38307254 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinre.2024.102289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Dysregulation of ribosome biogenesis increases the risk of cancer. RPF2 (ribosome production factor 2 homolog), a member of the BRIX family, is involved in ribosome biogenesis. However, the biological functions of RPF2 in HCC remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate the function of RPF2 and its clinical significance in HCC. We collected 45 pairs of HCC/adjacent samples and 291 HCC samples. These samples were used to perform immunohistochemical analysis and western blot. Six cell lines were used to perform western blot, and two of cell lines, SMCC-7721 and SNU449, were subjected to CCK-8, wound healing and transwell assays. Immunofluorescence staining was executed in SMCC-7721 cells. The protein levels of RPF2 were higher in HCC tissues than in adjacent tissues. Immunofluorescence staining showed that the RPF2 protein was located in the nucleuses, especially the nucleolus. Furthermore, the immunohistochemical analysis showed that high expression levels of nuclear RPF2 correlated with poor prognosis, vascular invasion, liver cirrhosis and tumor size. Cell experiments showed that overexpression of RPF2 promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion, while knockdown of RPF2 tended to show the opposite effect. This is the first report that RPF2 is involved in HCC progression. The levels of RPF2 were significantly high in HCC tumors and had a side effect on prognosis in HCC patients. RPF2 has the potential to be a useful marker for HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan An
- Hongqiao International Institute of Medicine, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Yechen Xia
- Hongqiao International Institute of Medicine, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Zhengyang Wang
- Department of Oncology, Zhecheng People's Hospital, Henan, PR China
| | - Guang-Zhi Jin
- Department of Pathology, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200336, PR China.
| | - Mingyi Shang
- Department of Interventional Radiology, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, PR China.
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Toghrayee Z, Montazeri H. Uncovering hidden cancer self-dependencies through analysis of shRNA-level dependency scores. Sci Rep 2024; 14:856. [PMID: 38195844 PMCID: PMC10776685 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51453-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Large-scale short hairpin RNA (shRNA) screens on well-characterized human cancer cell lines have been widely used to identify novel cancer dependencies. However, the off-target effects of shRNA reagents pose a significant challenge in the analysis of these screens. To mitigate these off-target effects, various approaches have been proposed that aggregate different shRNA viability scores targeting a gene into a single gene-level viability score. Most computational methods for discovering cancer dependencies rely on these gene-level scores. In this paper, we propose a computational method, named NBDep, to find cancer self-dependencies by directly analyzing shRNA-level dependency scores instead of gene-level scores. The NBDep algorithm begins by removing known batch effects of the shRNAs and selecting a subset of concordant shRNAs for each gene. It then uses negative binomial random effects models to statistically assess the dependency between genetic alterations and the viabilities of cell lines by incorporating all shRNA dependency scores of each gene into the model. We applied NBDep to the shRNA dependency scores available at Project DRIVE, which covers 26 different types of cancer. The proposed method identified more well-known and putative cancer genes compared to alternative gene-level approaches in pan-cancer and cancer-specific analyses. Additionally, we demonstrated that NBDep controls type-I error and outperforms statistical tests based on gene-level scores in simulation studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohreh Toghrayee
- Department of Bioinformatics, Institute Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- Department of Bioinformatics, Kish International Campus University of Tehran, Kish, Iran
| | - Hesam Montazeri
- Department of Bioinformatics, Institute Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
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Zhang J, Xue Z, Zhao Q, Zhang K, Zhou A, Shi L, Liu Y. RNA-Sequencing Characterization of lncRNA and mRNA Functions in Septic Pig Liver Injury. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:genes14040945. [PMID: 37107704 PMCID: PMC10137529 DOI: 10.3390/genes14040945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
We assessed differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs and lncRNAs in the liver of septic pigs to explore the key factors regulating lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver injury. We identified 543 DE lncRNAs and 3642 DE mRNAs responsive to LPS. Functional enrichment analysis revealed the DE mRNAs were involved in liver metabolism and other pathways related to inflammation and apoptosis. We also found significantly upregulated endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-associated genes, including the receptor protein kinase receptor-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (EIF2S1), the transcription factor C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), and activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4). In addition, we predicted 247 differentially expressed target genes (DETG) of DE lncRNAs. The analysis of protein-protein interactions (PPI) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway detected key DETGs that are involved in metabolic pathways, such as N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 2 (GALNT2), argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1), and fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1). LNC_003307 was the most abundant DE lncRNA in the pig liver, with a marked upregulation of >10-fold after LPS stimulation. We identified three transcripts for this gene using the rapid amplification of the cDNA ends (RACE) technique and obtained the shortest transcript sequence. This gene likely derives from the nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) gene in pigs. According to the identified DETGs of LNC_003307, we hypothesize that this gene regulates inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum stress in LPS-induced liver damage in pigs. This study provides a transcriptomic reference for further understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying septic hepatic injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Zhang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Zhihui Xue
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Qingbo Zhao
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Keke Zhang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Ao Zhou
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Liangyu Shi
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
| | - Yulan Liu
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Hubei Provincial Center of Technology Innovation for Domestic Animal Breeding, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China
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