miR‑328‑3p enhances the radiosensitivity of osteosarcoma and regulates apoptosis and cell viability via H2AX

Identification and verification of characteristic differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes in osteosarcoma using bioinformatics analysis

BACKGROUND

This study identified and verified the characteristic differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes (CDEFRGs) in osteosarcoma (OS).

METHODS

We extracted ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs), identified differentially expressed FRGs (DEFRGs) in OS, and conducted correlation analysis between DEFRGs. Next, we conducted GO and KEGG analyses to explore the biological functions and pathways of DEFRGs. Furthermore, we used LASSO and SVM-RFE algorithms to screen CDEFRGs, and evaluated its accuracy in diagnosing OS through ROC curves. Then, we demonstrated the molecular function and pathway enrichment of CDEFRGs through GSEA analysis. In addition, we evaluated the differences in immune cell infiltration between OS and NC groups, as well as the correlation between CDEFRGs expressions and immune cell infiltrations. Finally, the expression of CDEFRGs was verified through qRT-PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry experiments.

RESULTS

We identified 51 DEFRGs and the expression relationship between them. GO and KEGG analysis revealed their key functions and important pathways. Based on four CDEFRGs (PEX3, CPEB1, NOX1, and ALOX5), we built the OS diagnostic model, and verified its accuracy. GSEA analysis further revealed the important functions and pathways of CDEFRGs. In addition, there were differences in immune cell infiltration between OS group and NC group, and CDEFRGs showed significant correlation with certain infiltrating immune cells. Finally, we validated the differential expression levels of four CDEFRGs through external experiments.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has shed light on the molecular pathological mechanism of OS and has offered novel perspectives for the early diagnosis and immune-targeted therapy of OS patients.

Radiotherapy in bone sarcoma: the quest for better treatment option

Bone sarcomas are rare tumors representing 0.2% of all cancers. While osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma mainly affect children and young adults, chondrosarcoma and chordoma have a preferential incidence in people over the age of 40. Despite this range in populations affected, all bone sarcoma patients require complex transdisciplinary management and share some similarities. The cornerstone of all bone sarcoma treatment is monobloc resection of the tumor with adequate margins in healthy surrounding tissues. Adjuvant chemo- and/or radiotherapy are often included depending on the location of the tumor, quality of resection or presence of metastases. High dose radiotherapy is largely applied to allow better local control in case of incomplete primary tumor resection or for unresectable tumors. With the development of advanced techniques such as proton, carbon ion therapy, radiotherapy is gaining popularity for the treatment of bone sarcomas, enabling the delivery of higher doses of radiation, while sparing surrounding healthy tissues. Nevertheless, bone sarcomas are radioresistant tumors, and some mechanisms involved in this radioresistance have been reported. Hypoxia for instance, can potentially be targeted to improve tumor response to radiotherapy and decrease radiation-induced cellular toxicity. In this review, the benefits and drawbacks of radiotherapy in bone sarcoma will be addressed. Finally, new strategies combining a radiosensitizing agent and radiotherapy and their applicability in bone sarcoma will be presented.

c-Myb-mediated inhibition of miR-601 in facilitating malignance of osteosarcoma via augmentation of PKMYT1

The crosstalk between osteosarcoma (OS) development and abnormally expressed microRNA (miR)-601 is not explored explicitly. Here, we identified the downregulated miR-601 in osteosarcoma (OS) through a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of GEO Datasets. The results indicated that miR-601 was downregulated in both OS cells and tissues. The OS patients with reduced expression of miR-601 displayed worse prognosis. The results of in vitro and in vivo assay revealed that elevated miR-601 inhibited the proliferative, migratory and invasive capacities in OS cells. Mechanically, miR-601 exerted its function via targeting oncogene protein kinase membrane associated tyrosine/threonine 1 (PKMYT1) at post-transcriptional level. Moreover, miR-601 was attenuated by c-Myb at transcriptional level. Taken together, our studies reveal that miR-601 is a suppressive gene negatively correlated with malignancy of OS.

Hsa-miR-557 Inhibits Osteosarcoma Growth Through Targeting KRAS

Objective: Osteosarcoma is the most common malignancy in the skeletal system; studies showed an important role of miRNAs in tumorigenesis, indicating miRNAs as possible therapeutic molecules. This study found abnormal hsa-miR-557 expression levels in osteosarcoma and tried to explore the potential function and the mechanism.

Methods: Differential expression genes of osteosarcoma were analyzed using GSE28423 from the GEO database. Survival analysis of miRNAs was conducted with data obtained from the TARGET-OS database. STRING and miRDIP were used to predict target genes of hsa-miR-557; KRAS was then verified using dual-luciferase reporter assay. Expression of genes was detected by qPCR, and levels of proteins were detected by Western blot. The proliferation ability of cells was detected by CCK-8 and cell cycle analysis. Tumor formation assay in nude mice was used to detect the influence of osteosarcoma by hsa-miR-557 in vivo.

Results: Analysis from the GEO and TARGET databases found 12 miRNAs that are significantly related to the osteosarcoma prognosis, 7 downregulated (hsa-miR-140-3p, hsa-miR-564, hsa-miR-765, hsa-miR-1224-5p, hsa-miR-95, hsa-miR-940, and hsa-miR-557) and 5 upregulated (hsa-miR-362-3p, hsa-miR-149, hsa-miR-96, hsa-miR-744, and hsa-miR-769-5p). CCK-8 analysis and cell cycle analysis found that hsa-miR-557 could significantly inhibit the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells. The tumor formation assay in nude mice showed that tumor sizes and weights were inhibited by hsa-miR-557 transfection. Further studies also proved that hsa-miR-557 could target the 3′UTR of KRAS and modulate phosphorylation of downstream proteins.

Conclusion: This study showed that hsa-miR-557 could inhibit osteosarcoma growth both in vivo and in vitro, by modulating KRAS expression.

miR-328-3p promotes migration and invasion by targeting H2AFX in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Migration and invasion are the initial step in the metastatic process, while metastasis is responsible for the poor prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Since miRNA has been found as an important regulator of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in various diseases including carcinoma, exploring the role of miRNA in cancer metastasis will facilitate the target therapy of advanced HNSCC. MiR-328-3p has been reported to be an onco-miRNA or a tumor suppressor in several cancers. However, the role of miR-328-3p in HNSCC migration and invasion remains undefined. In this study, we first demonstrated that miR-328-3p enhanced migration and invasion of HNSCC in vitro, accompanying with a promotion of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mTOR activity. Meanwhile, we confirmed that miR-328-3p directly targeted the 3'UTR of H2A histone family, member X (H2AFX), which served as a tumor suppressor in migration and invasion of HNSCC. Moreover, H2AFX could partially reverse the migration and invasion of HNSCC caused by miR-328-3p. Overall, our results indicated that miR-328-3p enhanced migration and invasion of HNSCC through targeting H2AFX and activated the mTOR pathway.

LncRNA SNHG17 promotes tumor progression and predicts poor survival in human renal cell carcinoma via sponging miR-328-3p

Accumulating data shows that dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in human tumors' occurrence and progression. Small nucleolar RNA host genes (SNHGs) are recently revealed to play a carcinogenic role in various human neoplasms. However, the functions and underlying mechanisms of lncRNA SNHG17 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are still elusive. We analyzed the relationship between SNHG17 expression levels and clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis in patients with RCC according to TCGA RNA-sequencing data and our cohort data. Loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments were conducted to examine the biological behaviors of SNHG17 on RCC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, and tumor growth in vivo. The interaction between SNHG17, miR-328-3p, and Histone’sH2Avariant (H2AX) was verified by bioinformatics, dual-luciferase reporter gene, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP). Highly expressed SNHG17 was evident in RCC tissue samples and cell lines, and SNHG17 overexpression was related to advanced TNM stage and reduced relapse-free and overall survival of patients with RCC. Knockdown of SNHG17 prohibited malignant phenotypes, whereas ectopic SNHG17 expression showed the opposite effects. More importantly, SNHG17 could upregulate the expression of H2AX by acting as a miR-328-3p sponge. In vivo experiments confirmed that SNHG17 promoted the growth of RCC tumors. SNHG17/miR-328-3p/H2AXaxis might be involved in RCC progression, which provided a potential therapeutic target for RCC.

Myocardial infarction cardiomyocytes-derived exosomal miR-328-3p promote apoptosis via Caspase signaling

Exosomal miRNAs are used as novel non-invasive biomarkers for detection strategies of human disease. Here, we aimed to investigate the potential clinical value of exosomal miRNAs for myocardial infarction (MI) diagnosis and treatment. Differentially expressed miRNAs were obtained from normal cardiomyocytes, MI cardiomyocytes and adjacent normal cardiomyocytes using miRNA microarray analysis. Exosomes were isolated by centrifugation and identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and western blot. The expression of miR-328-3p in exosomes was then verified by qRT-PCR. Cell apoptosis was measured using flow cytometry and TUNEL analysis. The MI severity was confirmed by masson's trichrome staining and echocardiography. MiR-328-3p was significantly increased in the MI cardiomyocytes and adjacent normal cardiomyocytes. We further confirmed miR-328-3p increasing in the exosomes from MI cardiomyocytes, which can be taken into normal cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, exogenous exosomal miR-328-3p increased apoptosis of cardiomyocytes and promoted MI. Genes regulated by miR-328-3p are mainly enriched in Caspase signaling, which is an important apoptosis regulating signaling pathway. Additionally, Caspase-3 inhibitor, Z-DEVD-FMK, reversed apoptosis and MI promoting function of miR-328-3p. Exosomal miR-328-3p is a potential novel diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for MI, and Z-DEVD-FMK could reverse the apoptosis progression induced by miR-328-3p.

MicroRNA: a novel implication for damage and protection against ionizing radiation

Ionizing radiation (IR) is a form of high energy. It poses a serious threat to organisms, but radiotherapy is a key therapeutic strategy for various cancers. It is significant to reduce radiation injury but maximize the effect of radiotherapy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are posttranscriptionally regulatory factors involved in cellular radioresponse. In this review, we show how miRNAs regulate important genes on cellular response to IR-induced damage and how miRNAs participate in IR-induced carcinogenesis. Additionally, we summarize the experimental and clinical evidence for miRNA involvement in radiotherapy and discuss their potential for improvement of radiotherapy. Finally, we highlight the role that miRNAs play in accident exposure to IR or radiotherapy as predictive biomarker. miRNA therapeutics have shown great perspective in radiobiology; miRNA may become a novel strategy for damage and protection against IR.

MiR-183-5p Promotes Tumor Progression of Osteosarcoma and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients

Background

Although miRNA-183-5p plays a critical role in many cancer types, including gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate cancer, renal cell cancer and breast cancer, its role in osteosarcoma remains unclear.

Methods

Expression levels of miR-183-5p were detected in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines using qRT-PCR. The effect of miR-183-5p on the survival and recurrence of osteosarcoma patients was analyzed in a cohort of 80 patients using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analysis. Effects of miR-183-5p on cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities were evaluated using CCK-8, crystal violet and transwell assays.

Results

The expression of miR-183-5p was found to be upregulated in human osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines. Moreover, miR-183-5p expression was observed to be closely associated with tumor size, TNM stage and lung metastasis. Notably, high expression of miR-183-5p was shown to be able to predict unfavorable clinical prognosis in osteosarcoma patients. Additionally, whilst overexpression of miR-183-5p was observed to significantly promote the proliferation, migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells; an inhibitory effect was observed with knockdown of miR-183-5p.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that miR-183-5p acts as an oncogene and plays a critical role in the regulation of osteosarcoma tumor progression, and our results suggest a novel potential prognostic and therapeutic value of miR-183-5p in osteosarcoma.

Advances in the role of miRNAs in the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the skeletal system in the clinic. It mainly occurs in adolescent patients and the pathogenesis of the disease is very complicated. The distant metastasis may occur in the early stage, and the prognosis is poor. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs of about 18–25 nt in length that are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of genes. miRNAs can regulate target gene expression by promoting the degradation of target mRNAs or inhibiting the translation process, thereby the proliferation of OS cells can be inhibited and the apoptosis can be promoted; in this way, miRNAs can affect the metabolism of OS cells and can also participate in the occurrence, invasion, metastasis, and recurrence of OS. Some miRNAs have already been found to be closely related to the prognosis of patients with OS. Unlike other reviews, this review summarizes the miRNA molecules closely related to the development, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of OS in recent years. The expression and influence of miRNA molecule on OS were discussed in detail, and the related research progress was summarized to provide a new research direction for early diagnosis and treatment of OS.

Upregulation of microRNA-328-3p by hepatitis B virus contributes to THLE-2 cell injury by downregulating FOXO4

Background

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major cause of chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and miRNAs play important roles in HBV pathogenesis. Our previous study has shown that miR-328-3p is upregulated in HBV-infected patients and serves as a potent predictor for the prognosis of HBV-related liver failure.

Methods

Here, the role of miR-328-3p in modulating cell injury in HBV-infected liver cells THLE-2 was investigated in detail. MiR-328-3p expression was examined using qRT-PCR. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured using ELISA. HBV RNA and HBV DNA levels were quantified. The interactions between STAT3 and miR-328-3p promoter as well as miR-328-3p and FOXO4 were analyzed using chromatin immunoprecipitation (CHIP) assay and luciferase reporter assay, respectively. THLE-2 cell injury was evaluated by examining cell viability and apoptosis.

Results

HBV promoted expression of miR-328-3p through the STAT3 signal pathway and that increasingly expressed miR-328-3p downregulated its target FOXO4, leading to the promotion of cell injury in HBV-infected liver cells THLE-2.

Conclusion

These data demonstrate that HBV-STAT3-miR-328-3p-FOXO4 regulation pathway may play an important role in the pathogenesis of HBV infection.

Circular RNA hsa_circRNA_002178 silencing retards breast cancer progression via microRNA-328-3p-mediated inhibition of COL1A1

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNAs implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer progression, which exert their functions via regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and genes. The present study uses gain- and loss-of-function approaches to evaluate the functions of hsa_circRNA_002178 in angiogenesis along with energy metabolism and underlying downstream signals. The expression pattern of hsa_circRNA_002178 in clinical breast cancer tissues and its association with prognosis were characterized at first. Next, the energy metabolism and angiogenesis as well as cell viability were evaluated when the expression of hsa_circRNA_002178 in breast cancer cells was knocked down by siRNA. The interaction between hsa_circRNA_002178 and its downstream miR-328-3p was identified, followed by the analysis of their functions in regulation of breast cancer cellular behaviours. The target gene of miR-328-3p was predicted and verified, followed by identifying its role in the breast cancer progression. Higher expression of hsa_circRNA_002178 shared an association with worse prognosis in breast cancer. The inhibition of hsa_circRNA_002178 resulted in reductions in cell viability, energy metabolism and tube formation ability. Hsa_circRNA_002178 could competitively bind to miR-328-3p and down-regulated its expression. Restoration of miR-328-3p eliminated the tumour-promoting effects of hsa_circRNA_002178. COL1A1, as a target of miR-328-3p, could be up-regulated by overexpression of hsa_circRNA_002178. In vivo experiments further confirmed the inhibition of tumour growth and inflammation by silencing hsa_circRNA_002178 or up-regulating miR-328-3p. Taken together, hsa_circRNA_002178 is highlighted as a promising target for breast cancer due to the anti-tumour effects achieved by silencing hsa_circRNA_002178.

Bioengineered miR-328-3p modulates GLUT1-mediated glucose uptake and metabolism to exert synergistic antiproliferative effects with chemotherapeutics

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are small noncoding RNAs derived from genome to control target gene expression. Recently we have developed a novel platform permitting high-yield production of bioengineered miRNA agents (BERA). This study is to produce and utilize novel fully-humanized BERA/miR-328-3p molecule (hBERA/miR-328) to delineate the role of miR-328-3p in controlling nutrient uptake essential for cell metabolism. We first demonstrated successful high-level expression of hBERA/miR-328 in bacteria and purification to high degree of homogeneity (>98%). Biologic miR-328-3p prodrug was selectively processed to miR-328-3p to suppress the growth of highly-proliferative human osteosarcoma (OS) cells. Besides glucose transporter protein type 1, gene symbol solute carrier family 2 member 1 (GLUT1/SLC2A1), we identified and verified large neutral amino acid transporter 1, gene symbol solute carrier family 7 member 5 (LAT1/SLC7A5) as a direct target for miR-328-3p. While reduction of LAT1 protein levels by miR-328-3p did not alter homeostasis of amino acids within OS cells, suppression of GLUT1 led to a significantly lower glucose uptake and decline in intracellular levels of glucose and glycolytic metabolite lactate. Moreover, combination treatment with hBERA/miR-328 and cisplatin or doxorubicin exerted a strong synergism in the inhibition of OS cell proliferation. These findings support the utility of novel bioengineered RNA molecules and establish an important role of miR-328-3p in the control of nutrient transport and homeostasis behind cancer metabolism.

miRNA signatures in childhood sarcomas and their clinical implications

Progresses in multimodal treatments have significantly improved the outcomes for childhood cancer. Nonetheless, for about one-third of patients with Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, or osteosarcoma steady remission has remained intangible. Thus, new biomarkers to improve early diagnosis and the development of precision-targeted medicine remain imperative. Over the last decade, remarkable progress has been made in the basic understanding of miRNAs function and in interpreting the contribution of their dysregulation to cancer development and progression. On this basis, this review focuses on what has been learned about the pivotal roles of miRNAs in the regulation of key genes implicated in childhood sarcomas.

Extracellular Vesicles in Modifying the Effects of Ionizing Radiation

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-coated nanovesicles actively secreted by almost all cell types. EVs can travel long distances within the body, being finally taken up by the target cells, transferring information from one cell to another, thus influencing their behavior. The cargo of EVs comprises of nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins derived from the cell of origin, thereby it is cell-type specific; moreover, it differs between diseased and normal cells. Several studies have shown that EVs have a role in tumor formation and prognosis. It was also demonstrated that ionizing radiation can alter the cargo of EVs. EVs, in turn can modulate radiation responses and they play a role in radiation-induced bystander effects. Due to their biocompatibility and selective targeting, EVs are suitable nanocarrier candidates of drugs in various diseases, including cancer. Furthermore, the cargo of EVs can be engineered, and in this way they can be designed to carry certain genes or even drugs, similar to synthetic nanoparticles. In this review, we describe the biological characteristics of EVs, focusing on the recent efforts to use EVs as nanocarriers in oncology, the effects of EVs in radiation therapy, highlighting the possibilities to use EVs as nanocarriers to modulate radiation effects in clinical applications.

MicroRNA Networks Modulate Oxidative Stress in Cancer

Imbalanced regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant factors in cells is known as "oxidative stress (OS)". OS regulates key cellular physiological responses through signal transduction, transcription factors and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Increasing evidence indicates that continued OS can cause chronic inflammation, which in turn contributes to cardiovascular and neurological diseases and cancer development. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small ncRNAs that produce functional 18-25-nucleotide RNA molecules that play critical roles in the regulation of target gene expression by binding to complementary regions of the mRNA and regulating mRNA degradation or inhibiting translation. Furthermore, miRNAs function as either tumor suppressors or oncogenes in cancer. Dysregulated miRNAs reportedly modulate cancer hallmarks such as metastasis, angiogenesis, apoptosis and tumor growth. Notably, miRNAs are involved in ROS production or ROS-mediated function. Accordingly, investigating the interaction between ROS and miRNAs has become an important endeavor that is expected to aid in the development of effective treatment/prevention strategies for cancer. This review provides a summary of the essential properties and functional roles of known miRNAs associated with OS in cancers.

miR-328-3p mediates the anti-tumor effect in osteosarcoma via directly targeting MMP-16

Background

Increasing reports demonstrated that dysregulated expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) leads to the progression of various tumors. Previous studies revealed that miR-328-3p exhibited dysregulated expression in various types of tumors. However, its function and underlying mechanism in osteosarcoma (OS) are still unexplored.

Methods

The expression of miR-328-3p in the tissues and OS cell lines was detected by qRT-PCR analysis. The effects of miR-328-3p in the proliferation were analyzed by MTT assay. The proliferation and apoptosis of OS cells were examined by colony formation assay and TUNEL staining respectively. The migration and tumor formation ability of OS cells were measured by wound healing assay and xenograft in vivo mice assay. Furthermore, the regulatory roles of miR-328-3p/MMP16 were determined by western blot and luciferase reporter assay.

Results

The expression of miR-328-3p was significantly decreased in OS tissues and cell lines. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-328-3p inhibited the cell proliferation and migration, but promoted the apoptosis of OS cells in vitro. Moreover, the analysis in vivo showed that miR-328-3p effectively suppressed the formation of tumors. According to the results of western blot analysis and luciferase reporter assay, we identified matrix metalloproteinase-16 (MMP-16) acted as a direct target of miR-328-3p. Moreover, the expression level of MMP-16, which participates in the occurrence and development of many cancers, was negatively correlated with the miR-328-3p expression in OS cells.

Conclusion

miR-328-3p inhibited the proliferation, migration but accelerated the apoptosis of OS by directly inhibiting MMP-16. And miR-328-3p/MMP-16 axis may be one of the mechanisms of OS development and a novel potential method for the treatment of OS in clinic.