Deciphering molecular mechanisms of metastasis: novel insights into targets and therapeutics

Natural Products as New Approaches for Treating Bladder Cancer: From Traditional Medicine to Novel Drug Discovery

Bladder cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease that a tumor develops in the bladder lining and in some cases, the bladder muscle. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are commonly used to treat bladder cancer. However, chemotherapy can cause burning and irritation in the bladder while BCG immunotherapy, which is the main type of intravesical immunotherapy for bladder cancer, can also cause burning in the bladder and flu-like symptoms. Thus, drugs originating from natural products have attracted much attention due to the reports that they have anti-cancer properties with low adverse effects. In this study, eighty-seven papers that dealt with natural products preventing or treating bladder cancer were reviewed. The studies were classified into the following mechanism: 71 papers on cell death, 5 papers on anti-metastasis, 3 papers on anti-angiogenesis, 1 paper on anti-resistance, and 7 papers on clinical trials. Most of the natural products that induced apoptosis up-regulated proteins such as caspase-3 and caspase-9. Regarding anti-metastasis, MMP-2 and MMP-9 are regulated frequently. Regarding anti-angiogenesis, HIF-1α and VEGF-A are down-regulated frequently. Nevertheless, the number of papers regarding anti-resistance and clinical trial are too few, so more studies are needed. In conclusion, this database will be useful for future in vivo studies of the anti-bladder cancer effect of natural products, in the process of selecting materials used for the experiment.

An immune-related signature for optimizing prognosis prediction and treatment decision of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

An immune-related gene signature (IGS) was established for discriminating prognosis, predicting benefit of immunotherapy, and exploring therapeutic options in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS

Based on Immune-related hub genes and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) LIHC dataset (n = 363), an immune-related gene signature (IGS) was established by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis. The prognostic significance and clinical implications of IGS were verified in International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and Chinese HCC (CHCC) cohorts. The molecular and immune characteristics and the benefit of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in IGS-defined subgroups were analyzed. In addition, by leveraging the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP) and PRISM Repurposing datasets, we determined the potential therapeutic agents for high IGS-risk patients.

RESULTS

The IGS was constructed based on 8 immune-related hub genes with individual coefficients. The IGS risk model could robustly predict the survival of HCC patients in TCGA, ICGC, and CHCC cohorts. Compared with 4 previous established immune genes-based signatures, IGS exhibited superior performance in survival prediction. Additionally, for immunological characteristics and enriched pathways, a low-IGS score was correlated with IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signaling, inflammatory response and interferon α/γ response pathways, low TP53 mutation rate, high infiltration level, and more benefit from ICI therapy. In contrast, high IGS score manifested an immunosuppressive microenvironment and activated aggressive pathways. Finally, by in silico screening potential compounds, vindesine, ispinesib and dasatinib were identified as potential therapeutic agents for high-IGS risk patients.

CONCLUSIONS

This study developed a robust IGS model for survival prediction of HCC patients, providing new insights into integrating tailored risk stratification with precise immunotherapy and screening potentially targeted agents.

Biglycan Promotes Cancer Stem Cell Properties, NFκB Signaling and Metastatic Potential in Breast Cancer Cells

Simple Summary

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are a small sub-population of cells within tumors with high metastatic potential. We identified biglycan (BGN) as a prospective molecular target in BCSCs that regulates the aggressive phenotypes of these cells. These findings establish a foundation for the development of therapeutics against BGN to eliminate BCSCs and prevent metastatic breast cancer.

Abstract

It is a major challenge to treat metastasis due to the presence of heterogenous BCSCs. Therefore, it is important to identify new molecular targets and their underlying molecular mechanisms in various BCSCs to improve treatment of breast cancer metastasis. Here, we performed RNA sequencing on two distinct co-existing BCSC populations, ALDH⁺ and CD29^hi CD61⁺ from PyMT mammary tumor cells and detected upregulation of biglycan (BGN) in these BCSCs. Genetic depletion of BGN reduced BCSC proportions and tumorsphere formation. Furthermore, BCSC associated aggressive traits such as migration and invasion were significantly reduced by depletion of BGN. Glycolytic and mitochondrial metabolic assays also revealed that BCSCs exhibited decreased metabolism upon loss of BGN. BCSCs showed decreased activation of the NFκB transcription factor, p65, and phospho-IκB levels upon BGN ablation, indicating regulation of NFκB pathway by BGN. To further support our data, we also characterized CD24⁻/CD44⁺ BCSCs from human luminal MCF-7 breast cancer cells. These CD24⁻/CD44⁺ BCSCs similarly exhibited reduced tumorigenic phenotypes, metabolism and attenuation of NFκB pathway after knockdown of BGN. Finally, loss of BGN in ALDH⁺ and CD29^hi CD61⁺ BCSCs showed decreased metastatic potential, suggesting BGN serves as an important therapeutic target in BCSCs for treating metastasis of breast cancer.

Targeting CD82/KAI1 for Precision Therapeutics in Surmounting Metastatic Potential in Breast Cancer

Metastasis is the main cause of mortality in breast cancer patients. There is an unmet need to develop therapies that can impede metastatic spread. Precision oncology has shown great promise for the treatment of cancers, as the therapeutic approach is tailored to a specific group of patients who are likely to benefit from the treatment, rather than the traditional approach of "one size fits all". CD82, also known as KAI1, a glycoprotein belonging to the tetraspanin family and an established metastasis suppressor, could potentially be exploited to hinder metastases in breast cancer. This review explores the prospect of targeting CD82 as an innovative therapeutic approach in precision medicine for breast cancer patients, with the goal of preventing cancer progression and metastasis. Such an approach would entail the selection of a subset of breast cancer patients with low levels of CD82, and instituting an appropriate treatment scheme tailored towards restoring the levels of CD82 in this group of patients. Proposed precision treatment regimens include current modalities of treating breast cancer, in combination with either clinically approved drugs that could restore the levels of CD82, CD82 peptide mimics or non-coding RNA-based therapeutics.