The new oncogene transmembrane protein 60 is a potential therapeutic target in glioma

Transcription Impairment of TMEM208 by ZBTB14 Suppresses Breast cancer Radiotherapy Resistance

Zinc finger and BTB domain-containing protein (ZBTB) proteins have been implicated in different cellular processes, including DNA damage responses and cell cycle progression. However, the mechanism by which ZBTB14 modulates radiotherapy (RT) radioresistance (RT-R) remains to be elucidated. We aimed to elucidate the regulation mechanism of ZBTB14 in breast cancer (BC) RT-R. Using integrated bioinformatics prediction, ZBTB14 was identified as a hub transcription factor related to RT-R in BC. ZBTB14 was significantly under-expressed in non-responders and RT-R/BC cells, whereas its target transmembrane protein 208 (TMEM208) was significantly overexpressed in non-responders and RT-R/BC cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-qPCR and luciferase reporter assays revealed that ZBTB14 downregulated TMEM208 expression through transcriptional repression. Overexpression of ZBTB14 significantly inhibited the malignant biological behavior of BC cells and tumor growth in vivo, and further upregulation of TMEM208 reversed the biological activity and radiotherapy resistance of RT-R/BC cells inhibited by overexpression of ZBTB14.

Unraveling the intricacies of glioblastoma progression and recurrence: insights into the role of NFYB and oxidative phosphorylation at the single-cell level

Background

Glioblastoma (GBM), with its high recurrence and mortality rates, makes it the deadliest neurological malignancy. Oxidative phosphorylation is a highly active cellular pathway in GBM, and NFYB is a tumor-associated transcription factor. Both are related to mitochondrial function, but studies on their relationship with GBM at the single-cell level are still scarce.

Methods

We re-analyzed the single-cell profiles of GBM from patients with different subtypes by single-cell transcriptomic analysis and further subdivided the large population of Glioma cells into different subpopulations, explored the interrelationships and active pathways among cell stages and clinical subtypes of the populations, and investigated the relationship between the transcription factor NFYB of the key subpopulations and GBM, searching for the prognostic genes of GBM related to NFYB, and verified by experiments.

Results

Glioma cells and their C5 subpopulation had the highest percentage of G2M staging and rGBM, which we hypothesized might be related to the higher dividing and proliferating ability of both Glioma and C5 subpopulations. Oxidative phosphorylation pathway activity is elevated in both the Glioma and C5 subgroup, and NFYB is a key transcription factor for the C5 subgroup, suggesting its possible involvement in GBM proliferation and recurrence, and its close association with mitochondrial function. We also identified 13 prognostic genes associated with NFYB, of which MEM60 may cause GBM patients to have a poor prognosis by promoting GBM proliferation and drug resistance. Knockdown of the NFYB was found to contribute to the inhibition of proliferation, invasion, and migration of GBM cells.

Conclusion

These findings help to elucidate the key mechanisms of mitochondrial function in GBM progression and recurrence, and to establish a new prognostic model and therapeutic target based on NFYB.

[TMEM64 is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and promotes tumor cell proliferation and invasion]

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the expression of TMEM64 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and investigate the effect of TMEM64 expression level on proliferation and invasion of HCC cells in vitro.

METHODS

We analyzed the expression level of TMEM64 in HCC and adjacent tissues based on data from TCGA and GTEx databases. The prognostic value of TMEM64 for HCC patients was examined using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and a Cox regression model, and a nomogram was constructed based on TMEM64 expression and clinical characteristics of the patients. Functional enrichment analysis was performed to explore the potential signaling pathways, and immune cell infiltration was assessed using single sample gene set enrichment analysis. We also performed cell experiment to observe the changes in proliferation, migration, and invasion in HCCLM3 cells with TMEM64 knockdown and in Huh7 cells with TMEM64 overexpression using CCK-8, EdU, colony formation, Transwell, and wound healing assays.

RESULTS

The expression level of TMEM64 was significantly higher in HCC than in the adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that a high expression of TMEM64 was associated with poor outcomes of the patients (P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that a high TMEM64 expression was an independent risk factor for overall survival of HCC patients (P < 0.05). TMEM64 expression level was negatively correlated with the levels of immune cell infiltration by NK cells, CD8 + T cells, and plasma pDCs cells (P < 0.05). GO, KEGG, and GSEA enrichment analyses showed that TMEM64 was significantly enriched with tumor invasion and metastasis pathways. The nomogram and calibration curves indicated a moderate prediction reliability of the model. In the cell experiment, TMEM64 knockdown obviously suppressed and TMEM64 overexpression markedly promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

A high TMEM64 expression may serve as an independent risk factor for poor prognosis of HCC and promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells in vitro.