CEP131 knockdown inhibits cell proliferation by inhibiting the ERK and AKT signaling pathways in non-small cell lung cancer

Study on the pathogenesis of MiR-6324 regulating diarrheal irritable bowel syndrome and bioinformatics analysis

Objective: To investigate the pathogenesis of IBS-D by bioinformatics analysis of the differential microRNAs in rat colon tissue and to analyze and predict the function of their target genes. Methods: Twenty male Wistar rats of SPF class were randomly divided into two groups, the model group was manipulated using the colorectal dilatation method + chronic restraint stress method to establish the IBS-D model; while the blank group stroked the perineum at the same frequency. Screening of differential miRNAs after High-throughput sequencing of rat colon tissue. GO and KEGG analysis of target genes using the DAVID website, further mapping using RStudio software; the STRING database and the Cytoscape software were used to obtain the protein interaction network (PPI) of the target genes as well as the core genes. Finally, qPCR was used to detect the expression of target genes in the colon tissue of two groups of rats. Results: After the screening, miR-6324 was obtained as the key of this study. The GO analysis of target genes of miR-6324 is mainly involved in protein phosphorylation, positive regulation of cell proliferation, and intracellular signal transduction; it affects a variety of cellular components such as cytoplasm, nucleus, and organelles on the intracellular surface; it is also involved in molecular functions such as protein binding, ATP binding, and DNA binding. KEGG analysis showed that the intersecting target genes were mainly enriched in cancer pathways, proteoglycans in cancer, neurotrophic signaling pathway, etc. The protein-protein interaction network screened out the core genes mainly Ube2k, Rnf41, Cblb, Nek2, Nde1, Cep131, Tgfb2, Qsox1, and Tmsb4x. The qPCR results showed that the expression of miR-6324 decreased in the model group, but the decrease was not significant. Conclusion: miR-6324 may be involved in the pathogenesis of IBS-D as a potential biological target and provide further ideas for research on the pathogenesis of the disease or treatment options.

Integrating the Epigenome and Transcriptome of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Identify Systematic Enhancer Aberrations and Establish an Aberrant Enhancer-Related Prognostic Signature

Recently, emerging evidence has indicated that aberrant enhancers, especially super-enhancers, play pivotal roles in the transcriptional reprogramming of multiple cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we performed integrative analyses of ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data to identify intergenic differentially expressed enhancers (DEEs) and genic differentially methylated enhancers (DMEs), along with their associated differentially expressed genes (DEE/DME-DEGs), both of which were also identified in independent cohorts and further confirmed by HiC data. Functional enrichment and prognostic model construction were conducted to explore the functions and clinical significance of the identified enhancer aberrations. We identified a total of 2,051 aberrant enhancer-associated DEGs (AE-DEGs), which were highly concurrent in multiple HCC datasets. The enrichment results indicated the significant overrepresentations of crucial biological processes and pathways implicated in cancer among these AE-DEGs. A six AE-DEG-based prognostic signature, whose ability to predict the overall survival of HCC was superior to that of both clinical phenotypes and previously published similar prognostic signatures, was established and validated in TCGA-LIHC and ICGC-LIRI cohorts, respectively. In summary, our integrative analysis depicted a landscape of aberrant enhancers and associated transcriptional dysregulation in HCC and established an aberrant enhancer-derived prognostic signature with excellent predictive accuracy, which might be beneficial for the future development of epigenetic therapy for HCC.

CEP131 Abrogates CHK1 Inhibitor-Induced Replication Defects and Is Associated with Unfavorable Outcome in Neuroblastoma

Checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) plays a key role in genome surveillance and integrity throughout the cell cycle. Selective inhibitors of CHK1 (CHK1i) are undergoing clinical evaluation for various human malignancies, including neuroblastoma. Recently, we reported that CHK1i, PF-477736, induced a p53-mediated DNA damage response. As a result, the cancer cells were able to repair DNA damage and became less sensitive to CHK1i. In this study, we discovered that PF-477736 increased expression of MDM2 oncogene along with CHK1i-induced replication defects in neuroblastoma NB-39-nu cells. A mass spectrometry analysis of protein binding to MDM2 in the presence of CHK1i identified the centrosome-associated family protein 131 (CEP131), which was correlated with unfavorable prognosis of neuroblastoma patients. We revealed that MDM2 was associated with CEP131 protein degradation, whereas overexpression of CEP131 accelerated neuroblastoma cell growth and exhibited resistance to CHK1i-induced replication defects. Thus, these findings may provide a future therapeutic strategy against centrosome-associated oncogenes involving CEP131 as a target in neuroblastoma.