A Synthetic CPP33-Conjugated HOXA9 Active Domain Peptide Inhibits Invasion Ability of Non-Small Lung Cancer Cells

Therapeutic Peptides for Treatment of Lung Diseases: Infection, Fibrosis, and Cancer

Various lung diseases endanger people's health. Side effects and pharmaceutical resistance complicate the treatment of acute lung injury, pulmonary fibrosis, and lung cancer, necessitating the development of novel treatments. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered to serve as a viable alternative to conventional antibiotics. These peptides exhibit a broad antibacterial activity spectrum as well as immunomodulatory properties. Previous studies have shown that therapeutic peptides including AMPs had remarkable impacts on animal and cell models of acute lung injury, pulmonary fibrosis, and lung cancer. The purpose of this paper is to outline the potential curative effects and mechanisms of peptides in the three types of lung diseases mentioned above, which may be used as a therapeutic strategy in the future.

Enhanced lysosomal escape of cell penetrating peptide-functionalized metal-organic frameworks for co-delivery of survivin siRNA and oridonin

In recent years, small interfering RNA (siRNA) has been widely used in the treatment of human diseases, especially tumors, and has shown great appeal. However, the clinical application of siRNA faces several challenges. Insufficient efficacy, poor bioavailability, poor stability, and lack of responsiveness to a single therapy are the main problems affecting tumor therapy. Here, we designed a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)-modified metal organic framework nanoplatform (named PEG-CPP33@ORI@survivin siRNA@ZIF-90, PEG-CPP33@NPs) for targeted co-delivery of oridonin (ORI), a natural anti-tumor active ingredient) and survivin siRNA in vivo. This can improve the stability and bioavailability of siRNA and the efficacy of siRNA monotherapy. The high drug-loading capacity and pH-sensitive properties of zeolite imidazolides endowed the PEG-CPP33@NPs with lysosomal escape abilities. The Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated CPP (PEG-CPP33) coating significantly improved the uptake in the PEG-CPP33@NPs in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that the co-delivery of ORI and survivin siRNA greatly enhanced the anti-tumor effect of PEG-CPP33@NPs, demonstrating the synergistic effect between ORI and survivin siRNA. In summary, the novel targeted nanobiological platform loaded with ORI and survivin siRNA presented herein showed great advantages in cancer therapy, and provides an attractive strategy for the synergistic application of chemotherapy and gene therapy.

LINC00961 functions as an anti-oncogene in non-small cell lung carcinoma by regulation of miR-3127

BACKGROUND

This study set out to explore the regulatory relationship between LINC00961/miR-3127 axis and non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), so as to provide a new and effective molecular target for targeted therapy of NSCLC.

METHODS

RNA-seq and miRNA-seq data of NSCLC and normal samples were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database for analyzing LINC00961 and miR-3127 expression. Eighty-six pairs of clinical NSCLC tissues and adjacent normal tissues as well as NSCLC cell lines were obtained. Measurements of LINK00961 and miR-3127 levels were done using real-time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Furthermore, LINK00961 and miR-3127 in NSCLC cell were regulated respectively. The NSCLC cell proliferation, invasion and migration were determined with MTT assay, Transwell and wound healing assays, respectively. The levels of invasion- and apoptosis-related proteins were detected using western blots, and the connection of LINC00961 and miR-3127 was identified using dual luciferase reporter (DLR) assay.

RESULTS

Differential analysis results of TCGA databases identified that LINC00961 was ubiquitously expressed at low levels in NSCLC, while miR-3127 was highly expressed. Similar expression trends of LINC00961 and miR-3127 were observed in clinical NSCLC samples and cell lines. Overexpression of LINC00961 and knockdown of miR-3127 significantly reduced NCI-H1299 cell migration, invasiveness, and multiplication, decreased MMP-2, MMP-9 and Bcl-2 protein levels, and increased E-cadherin, Bax and Caspase-3 protein levels. The DLR assay confirmed that miR-3127 can be targeted by LINC00961.

CONCLUSION

LINC00961 functions as an anti-oncogene in NSCLC by modulating miR-3127.

MicroRNA-1301-3p promotes the progression of non-small cell lung cancer by targeting Thy-1 and predicts poor prognosis of patients

The role of microRNA (miR)-1301-3p has been investigated in breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Dysregulation of miR-1301-3p expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is speculated to be associated with tumor progression, which was systemically investigated in the present study. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis was performed to detect miR-1301-3p expression in 124 paired tissue samples and cultured cell lines. The results demonstrated that miR-1301-3p expression was regulated by transfection with miR-1301-3p mimic or inhibitor, and the proliferation, migration and invasion of the transfected cells were assessed via the Cell Counting Kit-8 and Transwell assays. In addition, miR-1301-3p expression was significantly upregulated in NSCLC tissues and cells compared with normal tissues and normal cells, respectively. Notably, upregulated miR-1301-3p expression in NSCLC tissues was significantly associated with the TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Furthermore, upregulated miR-1301-3p expression in NSCLC cells promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion, the effects of which were reversed following miR-1301-3p knockdown. Thy-1 was identified as a direct target of miR-1301-3p, which serves as a tumor promoter in the progression of NSCLC. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that upregulated miR-1301-3p expression in NSCLC acts as an independent prognostic factor and a tumor promoter by targeting thy-1, thus provides a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC.