High CXCR4 Expression Predicts a Poor Prognosis in Resected Lung Adenosquamous Carcinoma

CXCR4/CXCL12 blockade therapy; a new horizon in TNBC therapy

The only subtype of breast cancer (BC) without specific therapy is triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which represents 15-20% of incidence cases of BC. TNBC encompasses transformed and nonmalignant cells, including cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF), endothelial vasculature, and tumor-infiltrating cells. These nonmalignant cells, soluble factors (e.g., cytokines), and the extracellular matrix (ECM) form the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME is made up of these nonmalignant cells, ECM, and soluble components, including cytokines. Direct cell-to-cell contact and soluble substances like cytokines (e.g., chemokines) may facilitate interaction between cancer cells and the surrounding TME. Through growth-promoting cytokines, TME not only enables the development of cancer but also confers therapy resistance. New treatment targets will probably be suggested by comprehending the processes behind tumor development and progression as well as the functions of chemokines in TNBC. In this light, several investigations have shown the pivotal function of the C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12 or SDF-1) axis and chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in the pathophysiology of TNBC. This review provides an overview of the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis' function in TNBC development, metastasis, angiogenesis, and treatment resistance. A synopsis of current literature on targeting the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis for treating and managing TNBC has also been provided.

Acalabrutinib as a novel hope for the treatment of breast and lung cancer: an in-silico proof of concept

Drug repurposing is proved to be a groundbreaking concept in the field of cancer research, accelerating the pace of de novo drug discovery by investigating the anti-cancer activity of the already approved drugs. On the other hand, it got highly benefitted from the advancement in the in-silico tools and techniques, which are used to build up the initial "proof of concept" based on the drug-target interaction. Acalabrutinib (ACL) is a well-known drug for the treatment of hematological malignancies. But, the therapeutic ability of ACL against solid tumors is still unexplored. Thereby, the activity of ACL on breast cancer and lung cancer was evaluated utilizing different computational methods. A series of proteins such as VEGFR1, ALK, BCL2, CXCR-4, mTOR, AKT, PI3K, HER-2, and Estrogen receptors were selected based on their involvement in the progression of the breast as well as lung cancer. A multi-level computational study starting from protein-ligand docking to molecular dynamic (MD) simulations were performed to detect the binding potential of ACL towards the selected proteins. Results of the study led to the identification of ACL as a ligand that showed a high docking score and binding energy with HER-2, mTOR, and VEGFR-1 successively. Whereas, the MD simulations study has also shown good docked complex stability of ACL with HER2 and VEGFR1. Our findings suggest that interaction with those receptors can lead to preventive action on both breast and lung cancer, thus it can be concluded that ACL could be a potential molecule for the same purpose.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Development of an adenosquamous carcinoma histopathology - selective lung metastasis model

Preclinical tumor models with native tissue microenvironments provide essential tools to understand how heterogeneous tumor phenotypes relate to drug response. Here we present syngeneic graft models of aggressive, metastasis-prone histopathology-specific NSCLC tumor types driven by KRAS mutation and loss of LKB1 (KL): adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) and adenocarcinoma (AC). We show that subcutaneous injection of primary KL; ASC cells results in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tumors with high levels of stromal infiltrates, lacking the source heterogeneous histotype. Despite forming subcutaneous tumors, intravenously injected KL;AC cells were unable to form lung tumors. In contrast, intravenous injection of KL;ASC cells leads to their lung re-colonization and lesions recapitulating the mixed AC and SCC histopathology, tumor immune suppressive microenvironment and oncogenic signaling profile of source tumors, demonstrating histopathology-selective phenotypic dominance over genetic drivers. Pan-ERBB inhibition increased survival, while selective ERBB1/EGFR inhibition did not, suggesting a role of the ERBB network crosstalk in resistance to ERBB1/EGFR. This immunocompetent NSCLC lung colonization model hence phenocopies key properties of the metastasis-prone ASC histopathology, and serves as a preclinical model to dissect therapy responses and metastasis-associated processes.

Epigenetic regulation of CXCR4 signaling in cancer pathogenesis and progression

Signaling involving chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand SDF-1/CXL12 has been investigated for many years for its possible role in cancer progression and pathogenesis. Evidence emerging from clinical studies in recent years has further established diagnostic as well as prognostic importance of CXCR4 signaling. CXCR4 and SDF-1 are routinely reported to be elevated in tumors, distant metastases, which correlates with poor survival of patients. These findings have kindled interest in the mechanisms that regulate CXCR4/SDF-1 expression. Of note, there is a particular interest in the epigenetic regulation of CXCR4 signaling that may be responsible for upregulated CXCR4 in primary as well as metastatic cancers. This review first lists the clinical evidence supporting CXCR4 signaling as putative cancer diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarker, followed by a discussion on reported epigenetic mechanisms that affect CXCR4 expression. These mechanisms include regulation by non-coding RNAs, such as, microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs. Additionally, we also discuss the regulation of CXCR4 expression through methylation and acetylation. Better understanding and appreciation of epigenetic regulation of CXCR4 signaling can invariably lead to identification of novel therapeutic targets as well as therapies to regulate this oncogenic signaling.

The clinicopathological and prognostic value of CXCR4 expression in patients with lung cancer: a meta-analysis

Background

The C-X-C chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) has been suggested to play an important role in several types of cancers and is related to biological behaviors connected with tumor progression. However, the clinical significance and application of CXCR4 in lung cancer remain disputable. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the impact of CXCR4 expression on survival and clinicopathological features in lung cancer.

Methods

Comprehensive literature searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science for relevant studies. We pooled hazard ratios (HRs)/odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by STATA 12.0 to evaluate the potential value of CXCR4 expression.

Results

Twenty-seven relevant articles involving 2932 patients with lung cancer were included in our meta-analysis. The results revealed that CXCR4 expression was apparently associated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR 1.61, 95% CI 1.42–1.82) and disease-free survival (HR 3.39, 95% CI 2.38–4.83). Furthermore, a significant correlation with poor OS was obvious in non-small cell lung cancer patients (HR 1.59, 95% CI 1.40–1.81) and in patients showing CXCR4 expression in the cytoplasm (HR 2.10, 95% CI 1.55–2.84) and the membrane (HR 1.74, 95% CI 1.24–2.45). CXCR4 expression was significantly associated with men (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.08–1.61), advanced tumor stages (T3-T4) (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.28–4.28), advanced nodal stages (N > 0) (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.90–2.90), distant metastasis (OR 3.65, 95% CI 1.53–8.69), advanced TNM stages (TNM stages III, IV) (OR 3.10, 95% CI 1.95–4.93) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression (OR 2.44, 95% CI 1.44–4.12) but was not associated with age, smoking history, histopathology, differentiation, lymphatic vessel invasion or local recurrence.

Conclusion

High expression of CXCR4 is related to tumor progression and might be an adverse prognostic factor for lung cancer.

Estrogen receptor beta promotes lung cancer invasion via increasing CXCR4 expression

Lung cancer is one of the most lethal malignant tumors in the world. The high recurrence and mortality rate make it urgent for scientists and clinicians to find new targets for better treatment of lung cancer. Early studies indicated that estrogen receptor β (ERβ) might impact the progression of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the detailed mechanisms, especially its linkage to the CXCR4-mediated cell invasion, remain unclear. Here we found that ERβ could promote NSCLC cell invasion via increasing the circular RNA (circRNA), circ-TMX4, expression via directly binding to the 5′ promoter region of its host gene TMX4. ERβ-promoted circ-TMX4 could then sponge and inhibit the micro RNA (miRNA, miR), miR-622, expression, which can then result in increasing the CXCR4 messenger RNA translation via a reduced miRNA binding to its 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR). The preclinical study using an in vivo mouse model with orthotopic xenografts of NSCLC cells confirmed the in vitro data, and the human NSCLC database analysis and tissue staining also confirmed the linkage of ERβ/miR-622/CXCR4 signaling to the NSCLC progression. Together, our findings suggest that ERβ can promote NSCLC cell invasion via altering the ERβ/circ-TMX4/miR-622/CXCR4 signaling, and targeting this newly circ-TMX4/miR-622/CXCR4 signaling may help us find new treatment strategies to better suppress NSCLC progression.

All in for nuclear PFKP-induced CXCR4 metastasis: a T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia prognostic marker

Phosphofructokinase 1 (PFK1) is expressed in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), where its upregulation is linked with cancer progression. While PFK1 functions in the glycolysis pathway within the cytoplasm, it is also present in the nucleus where it regulates gene transcription. In this issue of the JCI, Xueliang Gao, Shenghui Qin, et al. focus their mechanism-based investigation on the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling aspect of the PFK1 platelet isoform, PFKP. Functional nuclear export and localization sequences stimulated CXC chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) expression to promote T-ALL invasion that involved cyclin D3/CDK6, c-Myc, and importin-9. Since the presence of nuclear PFKP is associated with poor survival in T-ALL, nuclear PFKP-induced CXCR4 expression might serve as a prognostic marker for T-ALL. More promising, though, are the mechanistic insights suggesting that approaches to dampening metastatic migration may have application to benefit patients with T-ALL.

Targeted dendrimers for antagonizing the migration and viability of NALM-6 lymphoblastic leukemia cells

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or white blood cell cancer is one of the major causes that kills many children worldwide. Although various therapeutic agents are available for ALL treatment, the new drug discovery and drug delivery system are needed to improve their effectiveness, to reduce the toxicity and side-effect, and to enhance their selectivity to target cancer cells. CXCR4 is a protein expressed on the surface of various types of cancer cell including ALL. In this work, the CXCR4-targeted PAMAM dendrimer was constructed by conjugating G5 PAMAM with a CXCR4 antagonist, LFC131. The results revealed that the LFC131-conjugated G5 PAMAM selectively targeted CXCR4 expressing leukemic precursor B cells (NALM-6) and the migration of NALM-6 cells induced by SDF-1α was inhibited at non-cytotoxic concentration. Further research based on this findings may contribute to potential anti-metastatic drugs for lymphoblastic leukemia.

Significance of hub genes and immune cell infiltration identified by bioinformatics analysis in pelvic organ prolapse

Objective

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) refers to the decline of pelvic organ position and dysfunction caused by weak pelvic floor support. The aim of the present study was to screen the hub genes and immune cell infiltration related to POP disease.

Methods

Microarray data of 34 POP tissues in the GSE12852 gene expression dataset were used as research objects. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to elucidate the hub module and hub genes related to POP occurrence. Gene function annotation was performed using the DAVID tool. Differential analysis based on the GSE12852 dataset was carried out to explore the expression of the selected hub genes in POP and non-POP tissues, and RT-qPCR was used to validate the results. The differential immune cell infiltration between POP and non-POP tissues was investigated using the CIBERSORT algorithm.

Results

WGCNA revealed the module that possessed the highest correlation with POP occurrence. Functional annotation indicated that the genes in this module were mainly involved in immunity. ZNF331, THBS1, IFRD1, FLJ20533, CXCR4, GEM, SOD2, and SAT were identified as the hub genes. Differential analysis and RT-qPCR demonstrated that the selected hub genes were overexpressed in POP tissues as compared with non-POP tissues. The CIBERSORT algorithm was employed to evaluate the infiltration of 22 immune cell types in POP tissues and non-POP tissues. We found greater infiltration of activated mast cells and neutrophils in POP tissues than non-POP tissues, while the infiltration of resting mast cells was lower in POP tissues. Moreover, we investigated the relationship between the type of immune cell infiltration and hub genes by Pearson correlation analysis. The results indicate that activated mast cells and neutrophils had a positive correlation with the hub genes, while resting mast cells had a negative correlation with the hub genes.

Conclusions

Our research identified eight hub genes and the infiltration of three types of immune cells related to POP occurrence. These hub genes may participate in the pathogenesis of POP through the immune system, giving them a certain diagnostic and therapeutic value.