The Heat-Stable Enterotoxin Receptor, Guanylyl Cyclase C, as a Pharmacological Target in Colorectal Cancer Immunotherapy: A Bench-to-Bedside Current Report

Enterotoxin-related genes PPFIA4 and SCN3B promote colorectal cancer development and progression

To identify the role of enterotoxin-related genes in colorectal cancer (CRC) development and progression. Upregulated differentially expressed genes shared by three out of five Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets were included to screen the key enterotoxin-induced oncogenes (EIOGs) according to criteria oncogene definition, enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, followed by prognosis survival, immune infiltration, and protential drugs analyses was performed via integration of RNA-sequencing data and The Cancer Genome Atlas-derived clinical profiles. We screened nine common key EIOGs from at least three GEO data sets. A Cox proportional hazards regression models verified that more alive cases, decreased overall survival, and highest 4-year survival prediction in CRC patients with high-risk score. Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type F polypeptide-interacting protein alpha-4 (PPFIA4), STY11, SCN3B, and SPTBN5 were shared in the same PPI network. Immune infiltration results showed that SCN3B and synaptotagmin 11 expression were obviously associated with B cell, macrophage, myeloid dendritic cell, neutrophils, and T cell CD4+ and CD8+ in both colon adenocarcinoma and rectal adenocarcinoma. CHIR-99021, MLN4924, and YK4-279 were identified as the potential drugs for treatment. Finally, upregulated EIOGs genes PPFIA4 and SCN3B were found in colon adenocarcinoma and PPFIA4 and SCN3B were proved to promote cell proliferation and migration in vitro. We demonstrated here that EIOGs promoting a malignancy phenotype was related with poor survival and prognosis in CRC, which might be served as novel therapeutic targets in CRC management.

Guanylate cyclase-C Signaling Axis as a theragnostic target in colorectal cancer: a systematic review of literature

Introduction

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a devastating disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Recent research has highlighted the crucial role of the guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) signaling axis in CRC, from the early stages of tumorigenesis to disease progression. GC-C is activated by endogenous peptides guanylin (GU) and uroguanylin (UG), which are critical in maintaining intestinal fluid homeostasis. However, it has been found that these peptides may also contribute to the development of CRC. This systematic review focuses on the latest research on the GC-C signaling axis in CRC.

Methods

According to the aim of the study, a systematic literature search was conducted on Medline and PubMed databases. Ultimately, a total of 40 articles were gathered for the systematic review.

Results

Our systematic literature search revealed that alterations in GC-C signaling compartments in CRC tissue have demonstrated potential as diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic markers. This research highlights a potential treatment for CRC by targeting the GC-C signaling axis. Promising results from recent studies have explored the use of this signaling axis to develop new vaccines and chimeric antigen receptors that may be used in future clinical trials.

Conclusion

The findings presented in this review provide compelling evidence that targeting the GC-C signaling axis may be an advantageous approach for treating CRC.

Guanylyl cyclase C as a biomarker for immunotherapies for the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies

Gastrointestinal cancers encompass a diverse class of tumors arising in the GI tract, including esophagus, stomach, pancreas and colorectum. Collectively, gastrointestinal cancers compose a high fraction of all cancer deaths, highlighting an unmet need for novel and effective therapies. In this context, the transmembrane receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GUCY2C) has emerged as an attractive target for the prevention, detection and treatment of many gastrointestinal tumors. GUCY2C is an intestinally-restricted protein implicated in tumorigenesis that is universally expressed by primary and metastatic colorectal tumors as well as ectopically expressed by esophageal, gastric and pancreatic cancers. This review summarizes the current state of GUCY2C-targeted modalities in the management of gastrointestinal malignancies, with special focus on colorectal cancer, the most incident gastrointestinal malignancy.

Preclinical Chimeric Antibody Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Progress in Digestive System Cancers

Digestive system cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal and gastric tumors, are characterized by high rates of incidence and mortality. Digestive cancers are difficult to diagnose during the early stages, and the side effects of chemotherapy are often severe and may outweigh the therapeutic benefits. Chimeric antibody chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, a novel immunotherapy, has achieved excellent results for the treatment of hematological tumors. However, CAR-T treatment of solid tumors has struggled due to a lack of target specificity, a difficult tumor microenvironment, and T cell homing. Despite the challenges, CAR-T treatment of digestive cancers is progressing. Combining CAR-T with other targets and/or modifying the CAR may represent the most promising approaches for future treatment of digestive cancers.

TCR Retrogenic Mice as a Model To Map Self-Tolerance Mechanisms to the Cancer Mucosa Antigen GUCY2C

Characterizing self-tolerance mechanisms and their failure is critical to understand immune homeostasis, cancer immunity, and autoimmunity. However, examination of self-tolerance mechanisms has relied primarily on transgenic mice expressing TCRs targeting well-characterized, but nonphysiologic, model Ags, such as OVA and hemagglutinin. Identifying TCRs directed against bona fide self-antigens is made difficult by the extraordinary diversity of TCRs and the low prevalence of Ag-specific clones (<10-100 naive cells per organism), limiting dissection of tolerance mechanisms restricting immunity to self-proteins. In this study, we isolated and characterized TCRs recognizing the intestinal epithelial cell receptor and colorectal cancer Ag GUCY2C to establish a model to study self-antigen-specific tolerance mechanisms. GUCY2C-specific CD4+ effector T cells were isolated from immunized, nontolerant Gucy2c -/- mice. Next-generation sequencing identified GUCY2C-specific TCRs, which were engineered into CD4+ T cells in vitro to confirm TCR recognition of GUCY2C. Further, the generation of "retrogenic" mice by reconstitution with TCR-transduced hematopoietic stem cells resulted in normal CD4+ T cell development, responsiveness to immunization, and GUCY2C-induced tolerance in recipient mice, recapitulating observations in conventional models. This retrogenic model can be employed to define self-tolerance mechanisms restricting T and B cell responses to GUCY2C to optimize colorectal cancer immunotherapy without autoimmunity.