Gene expression in oligodendroglial tumors

The Chinese Medicine, Shezhi Huangling Decoction, Inhibits the Growth and Metastasis of Glioma Cells via the Regulation of miR-1298-5p/TGIF1 Axis

Purpose

In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has achieved good results in treating gliomas. This research aimed to reveal the effect of Shezhi Huangling decoction (SD) on glioma cell process.

Methods

U87 and U251 cells were treated with different concentrations (10, 30 and 50 μg/mL) of SD or transfected with miR-1298-5p mimic, inhibitor and siRNA targeting TGIF1. Cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis were detected. The expression of miR-1298-5p was measured by qRT-PCR, while TGIF1 expression was examined by immunohistochemical analysis and Western blot.

Results

SD treatment inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells and induced the apoptosis. In addition, SD treatment induced the expression of miR-1298-5p in glioma cells. The low expression of miR-1298-5p was examined in glioma tissues and was significantly related to the high histological grade of glioma patients and predicted a poor prognosis. MiR-1298-5p directly targeted the 3'-UTR of transforming growth factor β induced factor 1 (TGIF1) and reduced TGIF1 protein expression. MiR-1298-5p restricted the proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells and induced cell apoptosis by targeting TGIF1.

Conclusion

Our data reveal that SD acts as a cancer-inhibiting agent in glioma via miR-1298-5p/TGIF1 axis, suggesting a potential therapeutic application of SD in glioma.

A set of molecular markers predicts chemosensitivity to Mitomycin-C following cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for colorectal peritoneal metastasis

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is associated with significant perioperative morbidity and mortality. We aim to generate and validate a biomarker set predicting sensitivity to Mitomycin-C to refine selection of patients with colorectal peritoneal metastasis (CPM) for this treatment. A signature predicting Mitomycin-C sensitivity was generated using data from Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer and The Cancer Genome Atlas. Validation was performed on CPM patients who underwent CRS-HIPEC (n = 62) using immunohistochemistry (IHC). We determined predictive significance of our set using overall survival as a surrogate endpoint via a logistic regression model. Three potential biomarkers were identified and optimized for IHC. Patients exhibiting lower expression of PAXIP1 and SSBP2 had poorer survival than those with higher expression (p = 0.045 and 0.140, respectively). No difference was observed in patients with differing DTYMK expression (p = 0.715). Combining PAXIP1 and SSBP2 in a set, patients with two dysregulated protein markers had significantly poorer survival than one or no dysregulated marker (p = 0.016). This set independently predicted survival in a Cox regression model (HR 5.097; 95% CI 1.731–15.007; p = 0.003). We generated and validated an IHC prognostic set which could potentially identify patients who are likely to benefit from HIPEC using Mitomycin-C.

Prognostic Role of Chicken Ovalbumin Upstream Promoter Transcription Factor II in Isocitrate Dehydrogenase-Mutant Glioma with 1p19q Co-Deletion

BACKGROUND

Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II is known to play a crucial role in the tumor microenvironment. However, the role of NR2F2 in gliomas is unknown.

METHODS

The genomic and clinical data of 530 cases of lower grade gliomas (LGGs) patients and 167 cases of glioblastoma (GBM) patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were extracted for analysis. R2 and UCSC Xena browser were used for Kaplan-Meier survival in the GSE16011 dataset and TCGA dataset, respectively. GraphPad Prism 7 was used to compare the differences in NR2F2 expression between various groups and subtypes.

RESULTS

LGG patients with low NR2F2 expression had a significantly favorable outcome compared with those with high NR2F2 expression (p < 0.05). By matching histological subtypes and gene expression profiles of LGG patients, grade II glioma group showed lowest levels of NR2F2 expression compared with grade III gliomas and GBM. Patients diagnosed with astrocytoma have highest expression of NR2F2 but lowest OS (p < 0.05). In LGGs, NR2F2 expression was significantly downregulated in patient group with IDH mutation and 1p19q co-deletion (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our study suggests that NR2F2 can be used as a prognostic marker in LGG patients with IDH mutation and 1p19 co-deletion.

LGR5 is a proneural factor and is regulated by OLIG2 in glioma stem-like cells

The biological functional roles of LGR5 (leucine-rich repeat containing G protein-coupled receptor 5, also known as GPR49), a novel potential marker for stem-like cells in glioblastoma (GSCs), is poorly acknowledged. Here, we demonstrated that LGR5 was detected in glioblastoma tissues and GSCs. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that LGR5 is closely related to neurogenesis and neuronal functions, and preferentially expressed in Proneural subtype of GBMs. Furthermore, LGR5 is regulated by Proneural factor OLIG2, which is important for both neurogenesis and GSC maintenance. Biological experiments in GSC cells validated the bioinformatics analysis results and revealed that LGR5 regulated the tumor sphere formation capacity, an important stem cell property for GSCs. Therefore, LGR5 expression may be functionally correlated with the neurogenic competence, and be regulated by OLIG2 in GSCs.

SSBP2 variants are associated with survival in glioblastoma patients

PURPOSE

Glioblastoma is a devastating, incurable disease with few known prognostic factors. Here, we present the first genome-wide survival and validation study for glioblastoma.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Cox regressions for survival with 314,635 inherited autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) among 315 San Francisco Adult Glioma Study patients for discovery and three independent validation data sets [87 Mayo Clinic, 232 glioma patients recruited from several medical centers in Southeastern United States (GliomaSE), and 115 The Cancer Genome Atlas patients] were used to identify SNPs associated with overall survival for Caucasian glioblastoma patients treated with the current standard of care, resection, radiation, and temozolomide (total n = 749). Tumor expression of the gene that contained the identified prognostic SNP was examined in three separate data sets (total n = 619). Genotype imputation was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for SNPs that had not been directly genotyped.

RESULTS

From the discovery and validation analyses, we identified a variant in single-stranded DNA-binding protein 2 (SSBP2) on 5q14.1 associated with overall survival in combined analyses (HR, 1.64; P = 1.3 × 10(-6)). Expression of SSBP2 in tumors from three independent data sets also was significantly related to patient survival (P = 5.3 × 10(-4)). Using genotype imputation, the SSBP2 SNP rs17296479 had the strongest statistically significant genome-wide association with poorer overall patient survival (HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.45-2.22; P = 1.0 × 10(-7)).

CONCLUSION

The minor allele of SSBP2 SNP rs17296479 and the increased tumor expression of SSBP2 were statistically significantly associated with poorer overall survival among glioblastoma patients. With further confirmation, previously unrecognized inherited variations influencing survival may warrant inclusion in clinical trials to improve randomization. Unaccounted for genetic influence on survival could produce unwanted bias in such studies.