Association of 5'UTR polymorphism of secretory phospholipase A2 group IIA (PLA2G2A) gene with prostate cancer metastasis

Phospholipase A2 enzymes PLA2G2A and PLA2G12B as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cholangiocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) enzymes are pivotal in various biological processes, such as lipid mediator production, membrane remodeling, bioenergetics, and maintaining the body surface barrier. Notably, these enzymes play a significant role in the development of diverse tumors.

AIM

To systematically and comprehensively explore the expression of the PLA2 family genes and their potential implications in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).

METHODS

We conducted an analysis of five CCA datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus. The study identified differentially expressed genes between tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues, with a focus on PLA2G2A and PLA2G12B. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis was utilized to pinpoint associated pathways. Moreover, relevant hub genes and microRNAs for PLA2G2A and PLA2G12B were predicted, and their correlation with the prognosis of CCA was evaluated.

RESULTS

PLA2G2A and PLA2G12B were discerned as differentially expressed in CCA, manifesting significant variations in expression levels in urine and serum between CCA patients and healthy individuals. Elevated expression of PLA2G2A was correlated with poorer overall survival in CCA patients. Additionally, the study delineated pathways and miRNAs associated with these genes.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that PLA2G2A and PLA2G12B may serve as novel potential diagnostic and prognostic markers for CCA. The increased levels of these genes in biological fluids could be employed as non-invasive markers for CCA, and their expression levels are indicative of prognosis, underscoring their potential utility in clinical settings.

The association of E2F1 and E2F2 single nucleotide polymorphisms with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma pathomorphological features

BACKGROUND

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is one of the most common types of cancer in the upper respiratory tract. It is well-known that it has a high mortality rate and poor prognosis in advanced stages. There are well-known risk factors for LSCC, though new specific and prognostic blood-based markers for LSCC development and prognosis are essential. The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of four different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), E2F1 (rs3213183 and rs3213180) and E2F2 (rs2075993 and rs3820028), on LSCC development, morphological features, and patient 5-year survival rate.

METHODS

A total of 200 LSCC patients and 200 controls were included in this study; both groups were matched by age and sex. In the present study, we analyzed four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes E2F1 (rs3213183 and rs3213180) and E2F2 (rs2075993 and rs3820028) and evaluated their associations with the risk of LSCC development, its clinical and morphological manifestation, and patients 5-year survival rate. Genotyping was carried out using RT-PCR.

RESULTS

None of the analyzed SNPs showed a direct association with LSCC development. E2F2 rs2075993 G allele carriers (OR = 4.589, 95% CI 1.050-20.051, p = 0.043) and rs3820028 A allele carriers (OR = 4.750, 95% CI 1.088-20.736, p = 0.038) had a statistically significantly higher risk for poor differentiated or undifferentiated LSCC than non-carriers. E2F1 rs3213180 GC heterozygotes were found to have a 3.7-fold increased risk for lymph node involvement (OR = 3.710, 95% CI 1.452-9.479, p = 0.006). There was no statistically significant association between investigated SNPs and patient 5-year survival rate.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study indicates that E2F2 rs2075993 and rs3820028 impact LSCC differentiation, whereas E2F1 rs3213180 - on lymph node involvement.

Stachydrine represses the proliferation and enhances cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of breast cancer cells via PLA2G2A/DCN axis

Considering the therapeutic efficacy of Stachydrine on breast cancer (BC), this study aims to decipher the relevant mechanism. The effects of Stachydrine on BC cell viability, proliferation and apoptosis were firstly investigated. Then, Bioinformatics was applied to sort out the candidate interacting with Stachydrine as well as its expression and downstream target in BC. Relative expressions of genes of interest as well as proliferation- and apoptosis-related factors in BC cells were quantified through quantitative reverse-transcription PCR and western blot as appropriate. As a result, Stachydrine inhibited the proliferation, down-regulated the expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and CyclinD1, enhanced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and up-regulated the levels of Cleaved caspase-3 and Cleaved caspase-9 in BC cells. Phospholipase A2 Group IIA (PLA2G2A) was predicted as the candidate interacting with Stachydrine and to be lowly expressed in BC. PLA2G2A silencing reversed while PLA2G2A overexpression reinforced the effects of Stachydrine. Decorin (DCN) was the downstream target of PLA2G2A and also lowly expressed in BC. PLA2G2A silencing counteracted yet overexpressed PLA2G2A strengthened the promoting effects of Stachydrine on DCN level. Collectively, Stachydrine inhibits the growth of BC cells to promote cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via PLA2G2A/DCN axis.

Untargeted lipidomic analysis and network pharmacology for parthenolide treated papillary thyroid carcinoma cells

BACKGROUND

With fast rising incidence, papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common head and neck cancer. Parthenolide, isolated from traditional Chinese medicine, inhibits various cancer cells, including PTC cells. The aim was to investigate the lipid profile and lipid changes of PTC cells when treated with parthenolide.

METHODS

Comprehensive lipidomic analysis of parthenolide treated PTC cells was conducted using a UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS platform, and the changed lipid profile and specific altered lipid species were explored. Network pharmacology and molecular docking were performed to show the associations among parthenolide, changed lipid species, and potential target genes.

RESULTS

With high stability and reproducibility, a total of 34 lipid classes and 1736 lipid species were identified. Lipid class analysis indicated that parthenolide treated PTC cells contained higher levels of fatty acid (FA), cholesterol ester (ChE), simple glc series 3 (CerG3) and lysophosphatidylglycerol (LPG), lower levels of zymosterol (ZyE) and Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) than controlled ones, but with no significant differences. Several specific lipid species were changed significantly in PTC cells treated by parthenolide, including the increasing of phosphatidylcholine (PC) (12:0e/16:0), PC (18:0/20:4), CerG3 (d18:1/24:1), lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) (18:0), phosphatidylinositol (PI) (19:0/20:4), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) (28:0), ChE (22:6), and the decreasing of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) (16:1/17:0), PC (34:1) and PC (16:0p/18:0). Four key targets (PLA2G4A, LCAT, LRAT, and PLA2G2A) were discovered when combining network pharmacology and lipidomics. Among them, PLA2G2A and PLA2G4A were able to bind with parthenolide confirmed by molecular docking.

CONCLUSIONS

The changed lipid profile and several significantly altered lipid species of parthenolide treated PTC cells were observed. These altered lipid species, such as PC (34:1), and PC (16:0p/18:0), may be involved in the antitumor mechanisms of parthenolide. PLA2G2A and PLA2G4A may play key roles when parthenolide treated PTC cells.

Effect of copy number variation of PLA2G2A gene to growth traits in Chinese cattle

SIMPLE SUMMARY

As a member of genetic polymorphism, copy number variation has been a commonly used method in the world for investigating effect of genetic polymorphism on gene expression. Effect of genetic polymorphism made on livestock development has been more and more important in beef cattle molecular breeding. The characteristics of Chinese cattle are excellent meat quality, tolerant to rough feeding, good environmental adaptability and so on. But there are some obvious weaknesses still exist in the process of cattle growth and development, such as weak hindquarters and growth slowly. To improve the growth performance and market competitiveness of Chinese cattle, a lot of studies have been made about finding and investigating effective molecular marker. In this study, Q-PCR and data association analysis were used for PLA2G2A gene copy number variation detection and related effect analysis in Chinese cattle. Results showed that PLA2G2A gene has a significant effect on two breeds of Chinese cattle on growth traits, which could be a basic materials and effective information of cattle molecular markers breeding. PLA2G2A, member of secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2) in superfamily of phospholipase A2, could catalyze the process of glycerophospholipids hydrolysis from position of sn-2 acyl with the release of free fatty acids and lysophospholipids. Researches about PLA2G2A gene are mostly focus on disease, including tumors and diabetes, the number of study occurred on animal breeding is weak. In this study, blood samples were collected from five breeds of Chinese cattle (Qingchuan cattle, Xianan cattle, Yunling cattle, Pinan cattle and Guyuan cattle) for PLA2G2A gene CNV type detection. SPSS 20.0 software and method of ANOVA were used to analyzed the association between types of CNV and growth traits. Results reveal that the distribution of different copy number types in different cattle breeds is different. In QC, XN and GY cattle, the frequencies of Deletion and Duplication are about 40%; in YL cattle, the frequency of Deletion type exceeds 60%; in PN cattle, the frequency of Duplication is closed to 80%. Association analysis indicate that CNV of PLA2G2A gene showed a positive effect in cattle growth: in QC cattle, Chest depth with Normal type copy number possess a increased trend (P < 0.05); individuals with Deletion type copy number have better performance on Height at sacrum, Heart girth and Body height in GY cattle (P < 0.05). The functional role and molecular mechanism of PLA2G2A gene in animal growth and development are still unclear, and it is necessary for processing a further research. This research aims to provide basic materials for molecular breeding of Chinese cattle.

A Personalized Genomics Approach of the Prostate Cancer

Decades of research identified genomic similarities among prostate cancer patients and proposed general solutions for diagnostic and treatments. However, each human is a dynamic unique with never repeatable transcriptomic topology and no gene therapy is good for everybody. Therefore, we propose the Genomic Fabric Paradigm (GFP) as a personalized alternative to the biomarkers approach. Here, GFP is applied to three (one primary—“A”, and two secondary—“B” & “C”) cancer nodules and the surrounding normal tissue (“N”) from a surgically removed prostate tumor. GFP proved for the first time that, in addition to the expression levels, cancer alters also the cellular control of the gene expression fluctuations and remodels their networking. Substantial differences among the profiled regions were found in the pathways of P53-signaling, apoptosis, prostate cancer, block of differentiation, evading apoptosis, immortality, insensitivity to anti-growth signals, proliferation, resistance to chemotherapy, and sustained angiogenesis. ENTPD2, AP5M1 BAIAP2L1, and TOR1A were identified as the master regulators of the “A”, “B”, “C”, and “N” regions, and potential consequences of ENTPD2 manipulation were analyzed. The study shows that GFP can fully characterize the transcriptomic complexity of a heterogeneous prostate tumor and identify the most influential genes in each cancer nodule.

A New Group II Phospholipase A2 from Walterinnesia aegyptia Venom with Antimicrobial, Antifungal, and Cytotoxic Potential

Many venomous species, especially snakes, contain a variety of secreted phospholipases A2 that contribute to venom toxicity and prey digestion. We characterized a novel highly toxic phospholipase A2 of group II, WaPLA2-II, from the snake venom of Saudi Walterinnesia aegyptia (W. aegyptia). The enzyme was purified using a reverse phase C18 column. It is a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of approximately 14 kDa and an NH2-terminal amino acid sequence exhibiting similarity to the PLA2 group II enzymes. WaPLA2-II, which contains 2.5% (w/w) glycosylation, reached a maximal specific activity of 1250 U/mg at pH 9.5 and 55 °C in the presence of Ca2+ and bile salts. WaPLA2-II was also highly stable over a large pH and temperature range. A strong correlation between antimicrobial and indirect hemolytic activities of WaPLA2 was observed. Additionally, WaPLA2-II was found to be significantly cytotoxic only on cancerous cells. However, chemical modification with para-Bromophenacyl bromide (p-BPB) inhibited WaPLA2-II enzymatic activity without affecting its antitumor effect, suggesting the presence of a separate ‘pharmacological site’ in snake venom phospholipase A2 via its receptor binding affinity. This enzyme is a candidate for applications including the treatment of phospholipid-rich industrial effluents and for the food production industry. Furthermore, it may represent a new therapeutic lead molecule for treating cancer and microbial infections.