1
|
Liu Y, Guerrero DQ, Lechuga-Ballesteros D, Tan M, Ahmad F, Aleiwi B, Ellsworth EL, Chen B, Chua MS, So S. Lipid-Based Self-Microemulsion of Niclosamide Achieved Enhanced Oral Delivery and Anti-Tumor Efficacy in Orthotopic Patient-Derived Xenograft of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Mice. Int J Nanomedicine 2024; 19:2639-2653. [PMID: 38500681 PMCID: PMC10946447 DOI: 10.2147/ijn.s442143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction We previously identified niclosamide as a promising repurposed drug candidate for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment. However, it is poorly water soluble, limiting its tissue bioavailability and clinical application. To overcome these challenges, we developed an orally bioavailable self-microemulsifying drug delivery system encapsulating niclosamide (Nic-SMEDDS). Methods Nic-SMEDDS was synthesized and characterized for its physicochemical properties, in vivo pharmacokinetics and absorption mechanisms, and in vivo therapeutic efficacy in an orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX)-HCC mouse model. Niclosamide ethanolamine salt (NEN), with superior water solubility, was used as a positive control. Results Nic-SMEDDS (5.6% drug load) displayed favorable physicochemical properties and drug release profiles in vitro. In vivo, Nic-SMEDDS displayed prolonged retention time and plasma release profile compared to niclosamide or NEN. Oral administration of Nic-SMEDDS to non-tumor bearing mice improved niclosamide bioavailability and Cmax by 4.1- and 1.8-fold, respectively, compared to oral niclosamide. Cycloheximide pre-treatment blocked niclosamide absorption from orally administered Nic-SMEDDS, suggesting that its absorption was facilitated through the chylomicron pathway. Nic-SMEDDS (100 mg/kg, bid) showed greater anti-tumor efficacy compared to NEN (200 mg/kg, qd); this correlated with higher levels (p < 0.01) of niclosamide, increased caspase-3, and decreased Ki-67 in the harvested PDX tissues when Nic-SMEDDS was given. Biochemical analysis at the treatment end-point indicated that Nic-SMEDDS elevated lipid levels in treated mice. Conclusion We successfully developed an orally bioavailable formulation of niclosamide, which significantly enhanced oral bioavailability and anti-tumor efficacy in an HCC PDX mouse model. Our data support its clinical translation for the treatment of solid tumors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yi Liu
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - David Quintanar Guerrero
- Laboratorio de Investigación y Posgrado en Tecnologías Farmacéuticas, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Cuautitlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuautitlán Izcalli, CP, 54745, Mexico
| | | | - Mingdian Tan
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Faiz Ahmad
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Bilal Aleiwi
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Edmund Lee Ellsworth
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Bin Chen
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Samuel So
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Ahmad F, Ma L, Wei W, Liu Y, Hakim I, Daugherty A, Mujahid S, Radin AA, Chua MS, So S. Identification and validation of microtubule depolymerizing agent, CYT997, as a potential drug candidate for hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver Int 2023; 43:2794-2807. [PMID: 37833852 DOI: 10.1111/liv.15756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a typically fatal malignancy with limited treatment options and poor survival rates, despite recent FDA approvals of newer treatment options. We aim to address this unmet need by using a proprietary computational drug discovery platform that identifies drug candidates with the potential to advance rapidly and successfully through preclinical studies. METHODS We generated an in silico model of HCC biology to identify the top 10 small molecules with predicted efficacy. The most promising candidate, CYT997, was tested for its in vitro effects on cell viability and cell death, colony formation, cell cycle changes, and cell migration/invasion in HCC cells. We used an HCC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse model to assess its in vivo efficacy. RESULTS CYT997 was significantly more cytotoxic against HCC cells than against primary human hepatocytes, and sensitized HCC cells to sorafenib. It arrested cell cycle at the G2/M phase with associated up-regulations of p21, p-MEK1/2, p-ERK, and down-regulation of cyclin B1. Cell apoptosis and senescence-like morphology were also observed. CYT997 inhibited HCC cell migration and invasion, and down-regulated the expressions of acetylated tubulins, β-tubulin, glypican-3 (GPC3), β-catenin, and c-Myc. In vivo, CYT997 (20 mg/kg, three times weekly by oral gavage) significantly inhibited PDX growth, while being non-toxic to mice. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the down-regulation of GPC3, c-Myc, and Ki-67, supporting its anti-proliferative effect. CONCLUSION CYT997 is a potentially efficacious and non-toxic drug candidate for HCC therapy. Its ability to down-regulate GPC3, β-catenin, and c-Myc highlights a novel mechanism of action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Faiz Ahmad
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Li Ma
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Yi Liu
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Isaac Hakim
- Aria Pharmaceuticals, Palo Alto, California, USA
| | | | - Sana Mujahid
- Aria Pharmaceuticals, Palo Alto, California, USA
| | | | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Samuel So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sukumaran S, Tan M, Ben-Uliel SF, Zhang H, De Zotti M, Chua MS, So SK, Qvit N. Rational design, synthesis and structural characterization of peptides and peptidomimetics to target Hsp90/Cdc37 interaction for treating hepatocellular carcinoma. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2023; 21:3159-3172. [PMID: 37304004 PMCID: PMC10250827 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.05.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) and cell division cycle 37 (Cdc37) work together as a molecular chaperone complex to regulate the activity of a multitude of client protein kinases. These kinases belong to a wide array of intracellular signaling networks that mediate multiple cellular processes including proliferation. As a result, Hsp90 and Cdc37 represent innovative therapeutic targets in various cancers (such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)) in which their expression levels are elevated. Conventional small molecule Hsp90 inhibitors act by blocking the conserved adenosine triphosphate (ATP) binding site. However, by targeting less conserved sites in a more specific manner, peptides and peptidomimetics (modified peptides) hold potential as more efficacious and less toxic alternatives to the conventional small molecule inhibitors. Using a rational approach, we herein developed bioactive peptides targeting Hsp90/Cdc37 interaction. A six amino acid linear peptide derived from Cdc37, KTGDEK, was designed to target Hsp90. We used in silico computational docking to first define its mode of interaction, and binding orientation, and then conjugated the peptide with a cell penetrating peptide, TAT, and a fluorescent dye to confirm its ability to colocalize with Hsp90 in HCC cells. Based on the parent linear sequence, we developed a peptidomimetics library of pre-cyclic and cyclic derivatives. These peptidomimetics were evaluated for their binding affinity to Hsp90, and bioactivity in HCC cell lines. Among them, a pre-cyclic peptidomimetic demonstrates high binding affinity and bioactivity in HCC cells, causing reduced cell proliferation that is associated with induction of cell apoptosis, and down-regulation of phosphorylated MEK1/2. Overall, this generalized approach of rational design, structural optimization, and cellular validation of 'drug-like' peptidomimetics against Hsp90/Cdc37 offers a feasible and promising way to design novel therapeutic agents for malignancies and other diseases that are dependent on this molecular chaperone complex.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Surya Sukumaran
- The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Bar-Ilan University, Henrietta Szold St. 8, Safed 1311502, Israel
| | - Mingdian Tan
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1201 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
| | - Shulamit Fluss Ben-Uliel
- The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Bar-Ilan University, Henrietta Szold St. 8, Safed 1311502, Israel
| | - Hui Zhang
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1201 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
| | - Marta De Zotti
- Department of Chemistry, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1201 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
| | - Samuel K. So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1201 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
| | - Nir Qvit
- The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Bar-Ilan University, Henrietta Szold St. 8, Safed 1311502, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Xing J, Shankar R, Ko M, Zhang K, Zhang S, Drelich A, Paithankar S, Chekalin E, Chua MS, Rajasekaran S, Kent Tseng CT, Zheng M, Kim S, Chen B. Deciphering COVID-19 host transcriptomic complexity and variations for therapeutic discovery against new variants. iScience 2022; 25:105068. [PMID: 36093376 PMCID: PMC9439871 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The molecular manifestations of host cells responding to SARS-CoV-2 and its evolving variants of infection are vastly different across the studied models and conditions, imposing challenges for host-based antiviral drug discovery. Based on the postulation that antiviral drugs tend to reverse the global host gene expression induced by viral infection, we retrospectively evaluated hundreds of signatures derived from 1,700 published host transcriptomic profiles of SARS/MERS/SARS-CoV-2 infection using an iterative data-driven approach. A few of these signatures could be reversed by known anti-SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors, suggesting the potential of extrapolating the biology for new variant research. We discovered IMD-0354 as a promising candidate to reverse the signatures globally with nanomolar IC50 against SARS-CoV-2 and its five variants. IMD-0354 stimulated type I interferon antiviral response, inhibited viral entry, and down-regulated hijacked proteins. This study demonstrates that the conserved coronavirus signatures and the transcriptomic reversal approach that leverages polypharmacological effects could guide new variant therapeutic discovery.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jing Xing
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Rama Shankar
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Meehyun Ko
- Zoonotic Virus Laboratory, Institut Pasteur Korea, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, 13488, Korea
| | - Keke Zhang
- Drug Discovery and Design Center, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Sulin Zhang
- Drug Discovery and Design Center, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Aleksandra Drelich
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
| | - Shreya Paithankar
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Eugene Chekalin
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Surender Rajasekaran
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
- Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
| | - Chien-Te Kent Tseng
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
- Center of Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
| | - Mingyue Zheng
- Drug Discovery and Design Center, State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Seungtaek Kim
- Zoonotic Virus Laboratory, Institut Pasteur Korea, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, 13488, Korea
| | - Bin Chen
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Lerner Y, Sukumaran S, Chua MS, So SK, Qvit N. Exploring Biomolecular Interaction Between the Molecular Chaperone Hsp90 and Its Client Protein Kinase Cdc37 using Field-Effect Biosensing Technology. J Vis Exp 2022. [DOI: 10.3791/63495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022] Open
|
6
|
Shi H, Huttad LV, Tan M, Liu H, Chua MS, Cheng Z, So S. NIR-II imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma based on a humanized anti-GPC3 antibody. RSC Med Chem 2022; 13:90-97. [PMID: 35224499 PMCID: PMC8792977 DOI: 10.1039/d1md00313e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Liver cancer, of which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form, is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide. The five-year survival rate for HCC is below 9%, which can be attributed to late diagnosis and limited treatment options at the late stage. Therefore, safe and efficient imaging strategies are urgently needed to facilitate HCC diagnosis and stage evaluation. The development of the second near infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) fluorescence imaging offers the advantages of enhanced resolutions, deeper penetration depth, and less autofluorescence compared to traditional NIR-I window (700-900 nm) imaging. Herein, an HCC targeted NIR-II fluorescent probe, GPC-ICG, was developed by labelling a humanized anti-GPC3 monoclonal antibody with indocyanine green (ICG). Compared to the negative control IgG-ICG probe, the GPC3-ICG probe demonstrated specific GPC3 targeting capability in vitro. And for GPC3 positive Huh-7 tumor bearing mice, the GPC3-ICG probe specifically accumulated in subcutaneous xenografts, with a tumor-background ratio (TBR) of up to 3. The NIR-II imaging of mice organs ex vivo also indicated that GPC3-ICG specifically targeted Huh-7 tumor tissue. Overall, GPC3-ICG is a promising NIR-II probe for GPC3 targeted imaging of HCC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hui Shi
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University Shenyang 110000 China
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Lakshmi Vageesh Huttad
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Mingdian Tan
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Hongguang Liu
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University Shenyang 110000 China
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Zhen Cheng
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
- Molecular Imaging Center, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 201203 China
- Bohai rim Advanced Research Institute for Drug Discovery Yantai 264000 China
| | - Samuel So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine Stanford CA 94305 USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Hakim I, Chua MS, Wei W, Ma L, Noblin E, So S, Daugherty AC, Heuer TS. Abstract LB-110: Computational discovery and preclinical validation of therapeutic leads with novel MOAs for hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancer Res 2020. [DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.am2020-lb-110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) have among the lowest 5-year survival rates of all cancer types at 18% and 9%, respectively. Treatment options for patients with liver or pancreatic cancer are relatively unchanged over the past 10 years. HCC has seen the recent FDA-approval of multi-kinase inhibitor therapies with similar mechanisms of action, including cabozantinib, regorafenib, and lenvatinib, and the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (conditionally). Despite these advances, the survival rate and median survival time for HCC patients remain poor. The picture for PDAC patients is similar, although with even greater need for new therapies. We present results from a powerful and efficient computational drug discovery platform that produces drug discovery hits with first-in-class mechanisms of action that can advance rapidly and successfully through preclinical validation studies. The twoXAR discovery platform uses an artificial-intelligence framework to integrate diverse patient-derived data sets and build holistic and unbiased models of human disease biology. The utilization of diverse, proprietary algorithms and deep learning principles provides a highly sensitive platform to elucidate detailed disease-specific associations between biology and biomedical data that are integrated with a library of existing drug molecules to deliver novel, high-value drug discovery hits. The twoXAR platform delivers drug discovery hits with known pharmacological properties and preserves the data-driven links to disease biology; this facilitates validation and optimization studies. We employed the twoXAR platform to build in-silico disease models of HCC and PDAC using disease-specific data and generated a set of 10 molecules with predicted efficacy in HCC and a second, independent set of 11 molecules with predicted efficacy in PDAC. These independent sets of disease-specific drug discovery hits represented novel mechanisms of action that had not been tested previously as potential clinical therapies for HCC or PDAC, respectively. TXR-311 and TXR-312, and TXR-405 and TXR-411 were discovered as validated hits for HCC and PDAC, respectively, using in vitro cell proliferation and viability assays with HCC and PDAC tumor cell lines. In these studies, TXR-311 inhibited proliferation and viability of five different HCC tumor cell lines with IC50 values that were 70-fold lower than IC50 values for sorafenib and displayed greater than 500-fold selectivity against primary human hepatocytes. In subsequent in vivo efficacy studies using two HCC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor models, TXR-311 showed excellent tolerability and displayed significant tumor growth inhibition efficacy compared to vehicle-treated controls. TXR-311 presents a first-in-class lead for further development as a potential HCC therapy.
Citation Format: Isaac Hakim, Mei-Sze Chua, Wei Wei, Li Ma, Elizabeth Noblin, Samuel So, Aaron C. Daugherty, Timothy S. Heuer. Computational discovery and preclinical validation of therapeutic leads with novel MOAs for hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-110.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- 2Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Wei Wei
- 2Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Li Ma
- 2Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | | | - Samuel So
- 2Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Xing J, Shankar R, Drelich A, Paithankar S, Chekalin E, Dexheimer T, Chua MS, Rajasekaran S, Tseng CTK, Chen B. Analysis of Infected Host Gene Expression Reveals Repurposed Drug Candidates and Time-Dependent Host Response Dynamics for COVID-19. bioRxiv 2020:2020.04.07.030734. [PMID: 32511305 PMCID: PMC7217282 DOI: 10.1101/2020.04.07.030734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The repurposing of existing drugs offers the potential to expedite therapeutic discovery against the current COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We have developed an integrative approach to predict repurposed drug candidates that can reverse SARS-CoV-2-induced gene expression in host cells, and evaluate their efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. We found that 13 virus-induced gene expression signatures computed from various viral preclinical models could be reversed by compounds previously identified to be effective against SARS- or MERS-CoV, as well as drug candidates recently reported to be efficacious against SARS-CoV-2. Based on the ability of candidate drugs to reverse these 13 infection signatures, as well as other clinical criteria, we identified 10 novel candidates. The four drugs bortezomib, dactolisib, alvocidib, and methotrexate inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection-induced cytopathic effect in Vero E6 cells at < 1 µM, but only methotrexate did not exhibit unfavorable cytotoxicity. Although further improvement of cytotoxicity prediction and bench testing is required, our computational approach has the potential to rapidly and rationally identify repurposed drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2. The analysis of signature genes induced by SARS-CoV-2 also revealed interesting time-dependent host response dynamics and critical pathways for therapeutic interventions (e.g. Rho GTPase activation and cytokine signaling suppression).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jing Xing
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Rama Shankar
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Aleksandra Drelich
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
| | - Shreya Paithankar
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Evgenii Chekalin
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Thomas Dexheimer
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA
| | - Surender Rajasekaran
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
- Helen Devos Children Hospital, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Chien-Te Kent Tseng
- Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
- Center of Biodefense and Emerging Disease, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
| | - Bin Chen
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignancy of the liver worldwide and surgical resection remains the most effective treatment. However, it is still a great challenge to locate small lesions and define the border of diffused HCC even with the help of preoperative imaging examination. Here, we reported a rare-earth-doped nanoparticle NaGdF4:Nd 5%@NaGdF4@Lips (named Gd-REs@Lips), which simultaneously performed powerful functions in both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and second near-infrared fluorescence window imaging (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm). Imaging studies on orthotopic models with xenografts established from HCC patients indicated that Gd-REs@Lips efficiently worked as a T2-weighted imaging contrast agent to increase the signal intensity difference between liver cancer tissues and surrounding normal liver tissues on MRI, and it can also serve as a negative NIR-II imaging contrast enabling the precise detection of liver cancer. More importantly, benefiting from the high sensitivity of NIR-II imaging, Gd-REs@Lips allowed the visualization of tiny metastasis lesions (2 mm) on the liver surface. It is expected that the dual NIR-II/MRI modal nanoprobe developed holds high potential to fill the gap between the preoperative imaging detection of cancer lesions and intra-operative guidance, and it further brings new opportunities to address HCC-related medical challenges.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ying Ren
- Department of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110004, P. R. China. and Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Bio-X Program, and Department of Radiology, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5344, USA.
| | - Shuqing He
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Bio-X Program, and Department of Radiology, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5344, USA. and Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Lakshmi Huttad
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Samuel K So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Qiyong Guo
- Department of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110004, P. R. China.
| | - Zhen Cheng
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Bio-X Program, and Department of Radiology, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5344, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Chen B, Garmire L, Calvisi DF, Chua MS, Kelley RK, Chen X. Publisher Correction: Harnessing big 'omics' data and AI for drug discovery in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2020:10.1038/s41575-020-0288-6. [PMID: 32161375 PMCID: PMC7483291 DOI: 10.1038/s41575-020-0288-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bin Chen
- Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
| | - Lana Garmire
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Diego F Calvisi
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
- Institute of Pathology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, Asian Liver Center, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Robin K Kelley
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Xin Chen
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Zhang M, Chua MS, Hu J, Li H, Zhang S, Wu L, Han B. High Inflammatory Factor Grading Predicts Poor Disease-Free Survival in AJCC Stage I-II Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients After R0 Resection. Cancer Manag Res 2019; 11:10623-10632. [PMID: 31908534 PMCID: PMC6927565 DOI: 10.2147/cmar.s230386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose In this study, we established the inflammatory factor grade system (IFGs) based on the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) microenvironment to investigate the role of inflammatory factor grade (IFG) in predicting the prognosis of patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage I-II. Patients and methods We enrolled 87 HCC patients with AJCC stage I-II who underwent R0 resection between 2000 and 2012 and had paraffin-embedded specimens. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to investigate the expression of 12 inflammatory factors and then to establish the IFGs (grade A or B) based on the IHC data. Subsequently, Kaplan-Meier and Cox univariate/multivariate survival analyses were performed to examine the potential prognostic significance. Results Higher IFG (IFG-B) is significantly associated with greater tumor size (P=0.037), and IFG-B predicts a worse disease-free survival (DFS, P<0.001). Moreover, a platelet count (PLT) ≤100×109/L, tumor size ≥5 cm, poor tumor differentiation, and IFG-B are independent risk factors for DFS. Conclusion Overall, by establishing a grading system for the level of inflammatory factors in the HCC microenvironment, IFG-B can effectively predict poor DFS in AJCC stage I-II HCC patients after R0 resection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mao Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jie Hu
- Department of General Surgery, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China
| | - Haoran Li
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Shun Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Liqun Wu
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| | - Bing Han
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Zhang M, Liu S, Chua MS, Li H, Luo D, Wang S, Zhang S, Sun C, Han B. Correction: SOCS5 inhibition induces autophagy to impair metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Cell Death Dis 2019; 10:799. [PMID: 31641102 PMCID: PMC6805927 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-019-2009-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mao Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Shihai Liu
- Medical Animal Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Haoran Li
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Dingan Luo
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Sheng Wang
- Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Shun Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Chuandong Sun
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China.
| | - Bing Han
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China. .,Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Zhang M, Liu S, Chua MS, Li H, Luo D, Wang S, Zhang S, Han B, Sun C. SOCS5 inhibition induces autophagy to impair metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Cell Death Dis 2019; 10:612. [PMID: 31406106 PMCID: PMC6690952 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-019-1856-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2019] [Revised: 07/25/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
SOCS5 is a member of the suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) protein family with important yet incompletely understood biological functions in cancer. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), controversial tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressive roles of SOCS5 have been reported. Our study aims to unravel novel functions of SOCS5 in HCC, especially that affecting metastasis. We examined the expression levels of SOCS5 in HCC using publicly available datasets, and in our patient cohort, using quantitative real-time PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. The association of SOCS5 expression with clinical pathological data of HCC patients was examined and that with the mTOR pathway was predicted. We further studied the effects of SOCS5 on PI3K/Akt/mTOR activity; HCC cell autophagy, migration, and invasion; and HCC cell metastasis in vitro and in vivo. We observed that SOCS5 was significantly overexpressed in HCC tissues, compared to adjacent non-tumor liver tissues, in both the public datasets and in our patient cohort. SOCS5 overexpression was significantly and inversely correlated with HCC patient prognosis. Moreover, SOCS5 overexpression promoted HCC cell migration and invasion in vitro by inactivating PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated autophagy. Conversely, SOCS5 inhibition suppressed HCC cell migration and invasion in vitro by activating PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated autophagy. Dual inhibition of SOCS5 and mTOR further enhanced autophagy and the subsequent anti-metastatic effects on HCC cells. In vivo, stable knockdown of SOCS5 reduced HCC cell metastasis. Overall, our study revealed a novel metastasis-promoting function of SOCS5 in HCC, acting via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated autophagy pathway. Combined inhibition of SOCS5 and mTOR may be a potential therapeutic approach to inhibit HCC metastasis and prolong patient survival.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mao Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Shihai Liu
- Medical Animal Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Haoran Li
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Dingan Luo
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Sheng Wang
- Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Shun Zhang
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China
| | - Bing Han
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China. .,Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Chuandong Sun
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, P. R. China.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Kim HK, Fuchs G, Wang S, Wei W, Zhang Y, Park H, Roy-Chaudhuri B, Li P, Xu J, Chu K, Zhang F, Chua MS, So S, Zhang QC, Sarnow P, Kay MA. A transfer-RNA-derived small RNA regulates ribosome biogenesis. Nature 2017; 552:57-62. [PMID: 29186115 PMCID: PMC6066594 DOI: 10.1038/nature25005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 321] [Impact Index Per Article: 45.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 11/07/2017] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs; also called tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs)) are an abundant class of small non-coding RNAs whose biological roles are not well defined. We show that inhibition of a specific tsRNA, LeuCAG3′tsRNA, induces apoptosis in rapidly dividing cells in vitro and in a patient-derived orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma model in mice. This tsRNA binds at least two ribosomal protein mRNAs (for RPS28 and RPS15) to enhance their translation. Reduction of RPS28 mRNA translation blocks pre-18S ribosomal RNA processing, resulting in a decrease in the number of 40S ribosomal subunits. These data establish another post-transcriptional mechanism that can fine-tune gene expression during different physiological states and provide a potential new target for treating cancer.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hak Kyun Kim
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Gabriele Fuchs
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Shengchun Wang
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Yue Zhang
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Hyesuk Park
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Biswajoy Roy-Chaudhuri
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Pan Li
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua-Peking Joint Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Jianpeng Xu
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Kirk Chu
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Feijie Zhang
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Samuel So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Qiangfeng Cliff Zhang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua-Peking Joint Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Peter Sarnow
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Mark A Kay
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Song CX, Yin S, Ma L, Wheeler A, Chen Y, Zhang Y, Liu B, Xiong J, Zhang W, Hu J, Zhou Z, Dong B, Tian Z, Jeffrey SS, Chua MS, So S, Li W, Wei Y, Diao J, Xie D, Quake SR. 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine signatures in cell-free DNA provide information about tumor types and stages. Cell Res 2017; 27:1231-1242. [PMID: 28820176 PMCID: PMC5630676 DOI: 10.1038/cr.2017.106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 170] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2017] [Revised: 07/23/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
5-Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is an important mammalian DNA epigenetic modification that has been linked to gene regulation and cancer pathogenesis. Here we explored the diagnostic potential of 5hmC in circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) using a sensitive chemical labeling-based low-input shotgun sequencing approach. We sequenced cell-free 5hmC from 49 patients of seven different cancer types and found distinct features that could be used to predict cancer types and stages with high accuracy. Specifically, we discovered that lung cancer leads to a progressive global loss of 5hmC in cfDNA, whereas hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer lead to disease-specific changes in the cell-free hydroxymethylome. Our proof-of-principle results suggest that cell-free 5hmC signatures may potentially be used not only to identify cancer types but also to track tumor stage in some cancers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chun-Xiao Song
- Departments of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Current address: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FZ, UK
| | - Senlin Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University and National Collaborative Innovation Center, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China.,Department of Neurosurgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Li Ma
- Asian Liver Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Amanda Wheeler
- Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Yu Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University and National Collaborative Innovation Center, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Yan Zhang
- Department of Thoracic Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Bin Liu
- Department of Thoracic Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China.,Department of Pulmonary Tumor Ward, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Junjie Xiong
- Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Weihan Zhang
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Jiankun Hu
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Zongguang Zhou
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Biao Dong
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University and National Collaborative Innovation Center, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Zhiqi Tian
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA
| | - Stefanie S Jeffrey
- Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Samuel So
- Asian Liver Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Weimin Li
- Center of Precision Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Yuquan Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University and National Collaborative Innovation Center, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Jiajie Diao
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA
| | - Dan Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University and National Collaborative Innovation Center, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China.,Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China.,Center of Precision Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
| | - Stephen R Quake
- Departments of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94518, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Chen B, Ma L, Paik H, Sirota M, Wei W, Chua MS, So S, Butte AJ. Reversal of cancer gene expression correlates with drug efficacy and reveals therapeutic targets. Nat Commun 2017; 8:16022. [PMID: 28699633 PMCID: PMC5510182 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms16022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2016] [Accepted: 05/17/2017] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The decreasing cost of genomic technologies has enabled the molecular characterization of large-scale clinical disease samples and of molecular changes upon drug treatment in various disease models. Exploring methods to relate diseases to potentially efficacious drugs through various molecular features is critically important in the discovery of new therapeutics. Here we show that the potency of a drug to reverse cancer-associated gene expression changes positively correlates with that drug's efficacy in preclinical models of breast, liver and colon cancers. Using a systems-based approach, we predict four compounds showing high potency to reverse gene expression in liver cancer and validate that all four compounds are effective in five liver cancer cell lines. The in vivo efficacy of pyrvinium pamoate is further confirmed in a subcutaneous xenograft model. In conclusion, this systems-based approach may be complementary to the traditional target-based approach in connecting diseases to potentially efficacious drugs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bin Chen
- Department of Pediatrics, Institute for Computational Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, California 94143, USA
| | - Li Ma
- Department of Surgery, Asian Liver Center, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Hyojung Paik
- Department of Pediatrics, Institute for Computational Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, California 94143, USA.,Biomedical HPC Technology Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, 245, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, South Korea
| | - Marina Sirota
- Department of Pediatrics, Institute for Computational Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, California 94143, USA
| | - Wei Wei
- Department of Surgery, Asian Liver Center, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, Asian Liver Center, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Samuel So
- Department of Surgery, Asian Liver Center, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Atul J Butte
- Department of Pediatrics, Institute for Computational Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, California 94143, USA
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Chen B, Wei W, Ma L, Yang B, Gill RM, Chua MS, Butte AJ, So S. Computational Discovery of Niclosamide Ethanolamine, a Repurposed Drug Candidate That Reduces Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells In Vitro and in Mice by Inhibiting Cell Division Cycle 37 Signaling. Gastroenterology 2017; 152:2022-2036. [PMID: 28284560 PMCID: PMC5447464 DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.02.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2017] [Accepted: 02/17/2017] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS Drug repositioning offers a shorter approval process than new drug development. We therefore searched large public datasets of drug-induced gene expression signatures to identify agents that might be effective against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS We searched public databases of messenger RNA expression patterns reported from HCC specimens from patients, HCC cell lines, and cells exposed to various drugs. We identified drugs that might specifically increase expression of genes that are down-regulated in HCCs and reduce expression of genes up-regulated in HCCs using a nonparametric, rank-based pattern-matching strategy based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic. We evaluated the anti-tumor activity of niclosamide and its ethanolamine salt (NEN) in HCC cell lines (HepG2, Huh7, Hep3B, Hep40, and PLC/PRF/5), primary human hepatocytes, and 2 mouse models of HCC. In one model of HCC, liver tumor development was induced by hydrodynamic delivery of a sleeping beauty transposon expressing an activated form of Ras (v12) and truncated β-catenin (N90). In another mouse model, patient-derived xenografts were established by implanting HCC cells from patients into livers of immunocompromised mice. Tumor growth was monitored by bioluminescence imaging. Tumor-bearing mice were fed a regular chow diet or a chow diet containing niclosamide or NEN. In a separate experiment using patient-derived xenografts, tumor-bearing mice were given sorafenib (the standard of care for patients with advanced HCC), NEN, or niclosamide alone; a combination of sorafenib and NEN; or a combination sorafenib and niclosamide in their drinking water, or regular water (control), and tumor growth was monitored. RESULTS Based on gene expression signatures, we identified 3 anthelmintics that significantly altered the expression of genes that are up- or down-regulated in HCCs. Niclosamide and NEN specifically reduced the viability of HCC cells: the agents were at least 7-fold more cytotoxic to HCCs than primary hepatocytes. Oral administration of NEN to mice significantly slowed growth of genetically induced liver tumors and patient-derived xenografts, whereas niclosamide did not, coinciding with the observed greater bioavailability of NEN compared with niclosamide. The combination of NEN and sorafenib was more effective at slowing growth of patient-derived xenografts than either agent alone. In HepG2 cells and in patient-derived xenografts, administration of niclosamide or NEN increased expression of 20 genes down-regulated in HCC and reduced expression of 29 genes up-regulated in the 274-gene HCC signature. Administration of NEN to mice with patient-derived xenografts reduced expression of proteins in the Wnt-β-catenin, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, AKT-mechanistic target of rapamycin, epidermal growth factor receptor-Ras-Raf signaling pathways. Using immunoprecipitation assays, we found NEN to bind cell division cycle 37 protein and disrupt its interaction with heat shock protein 90. CONCLUSIONS In a bioinformatics search for agents that alter the HCC-specific gene expression pattern, we identified the anthelmintic niclosamide as a potential anti-tumor agent. Its ethanolamine salt, with greater bioavailability, was more effective than niclosamide at slowing the growth of genetically induced liver tumors and patient-derived xenografts in mice. Both agents disrupted interaction between cell division cycle 37 and heat shock protein 90 in HCC cells, with concomitant inhibition of their downstream signaling pathways. NEN might be effective for treatment of patients with HCC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bin Chen
- Institute for Computational Health Sciences and Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center and Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Li Ma
- Asian Liver Center and Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Bin Yang
- Department of Interventional Radiology, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Ryan M. Gill
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center and Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
| | - Atul J. Butte
- Institute for Computational Health Sciences and Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA,corresponding authors: Mei-Sze Chua: 1201 Welch Road, MSLS Building, P228, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5655. Tel: (650) 566-8861. Fax: (650) 723-0006. . Atul J. Butte: Institute for Computational Health Sciences, 550 16th Street, Box 0110, Mission Hall 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94158-2549. Tel: (415) 514-0511. Fax: (650) 618-8605.
| | - Samuel So
- Asian Liver Center and Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Noblin ES, Daugherty AC, Farrington C, Hakim I, Radin AM, Chua MS, Rabe M, Fernald G, Ford D, Sirota M, Schaevitz L, Radin AA. An Integrative Bioinformatics Approach Identifies In Vivo Validated Drug Candidates with Novel Mechanisms of Action in Rheumatoid Arthritis. The Journal of Immunology 2017. [DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.198.supp.72.4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an area of active drug development, with over 100 candidates in clinical trials. However, most act on a small number of immunomodulatory targets. Drug candidates that act through new targets or mechanisms could expand treatment options for RA. We applied a data-driven bioinformatics approach and in vivo screen to identify and test new drug candidates and targets that could form the basis of future drug development in RA.
A computational model of RA was constructed by integrating patient gene expression data, molecular interactions, chemical structures, and clinical drug-disease associations. Candidates were scored based on their predicted efficacy in the computational model. FDA-approved treatments for RA were significantly enriched among the top-ranked candidates. Ten high scoring novel candidates were then screened in the collagen-induced arthritis model of RA in rats. Therapeutic treatment with three candidates significantly reduced ankle size, alleviated limb inflammation, improved joint histopathology, and reduced mobility impairments tracked by a novel digital motion endpoint. These candidates are currently approved for metabolic, allergic, and psychiatric indications, and do not act on common RA therapeutic targets. However, links between known candidate pharmacology and pathological processes in RA suggest hypothetical mechanisms that could contribute to efficacy.
Future studies will inform the druggable targets, pathways, and mechanisms that could contribute to each candidate’s efficacy in RA. The candidates could themselves be modified and optimized to increase efficacy in RA. Novel targets identified in these studies could also be the basis of new drug discovery initiatives.
Collapse
|
19
|
Lu WJ, Chua MS, So SK. Suppression of ATAD2 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma progression through activation of p53- and p38-mediated apoptotic signaling. Oncotarget 2016; 6:41722-35. [PMID: 26497681 PMCID: PMC4747184 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.6152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2015] [Accepted: 09/30/2015] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The ATPase family, AAA domain containing 2 (ATAD2) is highly expressed in multiple cancers. We aim to understand the clinical and biological significance of ATAD2 over-expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as a means to validate it as a therapeutic target in HCC. We demonstrated that ATAD2 was over-expressed in HCC patients, where high ATAD2 levels were significantly correlated with aggressive phenotypes such as high AFP levels, advanced tumor stages, and vascular invasion. Using RNA interference, suppression of ATAD2 in HCC cell lines decreased cell viability, migration, and invasion, and induced apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, we identified p53 and p38 as key proteins that mediate apoptosis induced by ATAD2 suppression. In HCC cells, we demonstrated that ATAD2 directly interacted with MKK3/6, which prevented p38 activation and therefore inhibited p38-mediated apoptosis. In vivo, suppression of ATAD2 impaired the growth of HepG2 and Hep3B subcutaneous xenografts, accompanied by enhanced apoptosis and p-p53 and p-p38 levels. Our results validate that ATAD2 is an important negative regulator of apoptosis, and that neutralizing its activity has promising anti-tumor effects in HCC cells.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Jing Lu
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Samuel K So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Lu WJ, Chua MS, Wei W, So SK. NDRG1 promotes growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by directly interacting with GSK-3β and Nur77 to prevent β-catenin degradation. Oncotarget 2016; 6:29847-59. [PMID: 26359353 PMCID: PMC4745767 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.4913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2015] [Accepted: 08/07/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) is significantly associated with advanced tumor stages and poor survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), thereby implicating it as a potential target for HCC treatment. We aim to further understand its biological roles in hepatocarcinogenesis, as a means to exploit it for therapeutic purposes. By screening using the ProtoArray® Human Protein Microarrays, we identified glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) and the orphan nuclear receptor (Nur77) as potential interaction partners of NDRG1. These interactions were confirmed in HCC cell lines in vitro by co-immunoprecipitation; and co-localizations of NDRG1 with GSK-3β and Nur77 were observed by immunofluorescence staining. Additionally, high levels of NDRG1 competitively bind to GSK-3β and Nur77 to allow β-catenin to escape degradation, with consequent elevated levels of downstream oncogenic genes. In vivo, we consistently observed that NDRG1 suppression in HCC xenografts decreased β-catenin levels and its downstream target Cyclin D1, with concomitant tumor growth inhibition. Clinically, the over-expression of NDRG1 in HCC patient samples is positively correlated with GSK-3β-9ser (| R | = 0.28, p = 0.01), Nur77 (| R | = 0.42, p < 0.001), and β-catenin (| R |= 0.32, p = 0.003) expressions. In conclusion, we identified GSK-3β and Nur77 as novel interaction partners of NDRG1. These protein-protein interactions regulate the turnover of β-catenin and subsequent downstream signaling mediated by β-catenin in HCC cells, and provides potential targets for future therapeutic interventions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Jing Lu
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Samuel K So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Wang Z, Wei W, Sun CK, Chua MS, So S. Suppressing the CDC37 cochaperone in hepatocellular carcinoma cells inhibits cell cycle progression and cell growth. Liver Int 2015; 35:1403-15. [PMID: 25098386 DOI: 10.1111/liv.12651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2014] [Accepted: 08/01/2014] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS The molecular cochaperone CDC37 regulates the activities of multiple protein kinases, and is an attractive broad-spectrum target in many types of cancers in which it is over-expressed. This study investigates the antitumour effects of inhibiting CDC37 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS A total of 91 patients were enrolled for CDC37 mRNA detection by using quantitative real-time PCR. Cell proliferation, gene expression changes and tumourigenicity were determined by targeting CDC37 using RNA interference in human hepatoma cell lines. RESULTS We confirmed the significant over-expression of CDC37 transcript and protein in HBV-associated HCC patients. Using a CDC37-specific small oligo-siRNA, we silenced CDC37 expression in HepG2 and Huh7 hepatoma cell lines, and observed inhibition of in vitro cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase, and enhanced apoptosis. Specifically, we found concomitant down-regulation of Cyclin D1, CDK4, and pRB (S807/811 and S795) upon CDC37 suppression, which could mediate the arrest of cell cycle progression at the G1 phase. Gene expression profiling further identified several genes involved in cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis that are regulated by CDC37 suppression. Huh7 cells with stable knockdown of CDC37 showed decreased in vitro colony formation ability, and significantly slowed xenograft growth in vivo. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of the observed antitumour effects of inhibiting CDC37 expression, we propose that CDC37 is a promising therapeutic target in HCC. Its ability to regulate multiple pathways makes it potentially valuable in treating the heterogeneous subtypes of this malignancy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhanhui Wang
- Hepatology Unit and Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
22
|
Yang X, Liu H, Sun CK, Natarajan A, Hu X, Wang X, Allegretta M, Guttmann RD, Gambhir SS, Chua MS, Cheng Z, So SK. Imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma patient-derived xenografts using ⁸⁹Zr-labeled anti-glypican-3 monoclonal antibody. Biomaterials 2014; 35:6964-71. [PMID: 24836949 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.04.089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2014] [Accepted: 04/19/2014] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Imaging probes for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are highly desired to overcome current diagnostic limitations which lead to poor prognosis. The membrane protein glypican-3 (GPC3) is a potential molecular target for early HCC detection as it is over-expressed in >50% of HCCs, and is associated with early hepatocarcinogenesis. We synthesized the positron emission tomography (PET) probe (89)Zr-DFO-1G12 by bioconjugating and radiolabeling the anti-GPC3 monoclonal antibody (clone 1G12) with (89)Zr, and evaluated its tumor-targeting capacity. In vitro, (89)Zr-DFO-1G12 was specifically taken up into GPC3-positive HCC cells only, but not in the GPC3-negative prostate cancer cell line (PC3). In vivo, (89)Zr-DFO-1G12 specifically accumulated in subcutaneous GPC3-positive HCC xenografts only, but not in PC3 xenografts. Importantly, (89)Zr-DFO-1G12 delineated orthotopic HCC xenografts from surrounding normal liver, with tumor/liver (T/L) ratios of 6.65 ± 1.33 for HepG2, and 4.29 ± 0.52 for Hep3B xenografts. It also delineated orthotopic xenografts derived from three GPC3-positive HCC patient specimens, with T/L ratios of 4.21 ± 0.64, 2.78 ± 0.26, and 2.31 ± 0.38 at 168 h p.i. Thus, (89)Zr-DFO-1G12 is a highly translatable probe for the specific and high contrast imaging of GPC3-positive HCCs, which may aid early detection of HCC to allow timely intervention.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyang Yang
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Hongguang Liu
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Chris K Sun
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Arutselvan Natarajan
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Xiang Hu
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Xiaolin Wang
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | | | - Sanjiv S Gambhir
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | - Zhen Cheng
- Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | - Samuel K So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
|
24
|
Ma L, Chua MS, Andrisani O, So S. Epigenetics in hepatocellular carcinoma: An update and future therapy perspectives. World J Gastroenterol 2014; 20:333-345. [PMID: 24574704 PMCID: PMC3923010 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i2.333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2014] [Revised: 01/01/2014] [Accepted: 01/05/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the predominant form of adult liver malignancies, is a global health concern. Its dismal prognosis has prompted recent significant advances in the understanding of its etiology and pathogenesis. The deregulation of epigenetic mechanisms, which maintain heritable gene expression changes and chromatin organization, is implicated in the development of multiple cancers, including HCC. This review summarizes the current knowledge of epigenetic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of HCC, with an emphasis on HCC mediated by chronic hepatitis B virus infection. This review also discusses the encouraging outcomes and lessons learnt from epigenetic therapies for hematological and other solid cancers, and highlights the future potential of similar therapies in the treatment of HCC.
Collapse
|
25
|
Lu WJ, Chua MS, So SK. Suppressing N-Myc downstream regulated gene 1 reactivates senescence signaling and inhibits tumor growth in hepatocellular carcinoma. Carcinogenesis 2013; 35:915-22. [PMID: 24302615 DOI: 10.1093/carcin/bgt401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most lethal malignancy worldwide with no curative therapies. To discover potentially novel therapeutic targets for HCC, we previously studied the gene expression profiles of HCC patients and identified that significant upregulation of N-Myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) is associated with more aggressive phenotypes and poorer overall survival of HCC patients. In this study, we further used a loss-of-function approach (RNA interference) to understand the role of NDRG1 in hepatocarcinogenesis. We found that suppression of NDRG1 significantly impaired HCC cell growth through inducing extensive cellular senescence of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo, accompanied by cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. The observed antitumor effects of NDRG1 suppression were correlated with activation of major senescence-associated signaling pathways, such as upregulation of tumor suppressors p53, p21 and p16, and decreased phosphorylated Rb. To obtain further insights into the clinical significance of NDRG1-modulated senescence in HCC patients, immunohistochemistry staining of 92 cases of HCC patients was done. We found that high NDRG1 expression (n = 66) is associated with low p21 (n = 82; P < 0.001) and low p16 (n = 86; P < 0.001) levels. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that NDRG1 is a potential therapeutic target for HCC because its suppression triggers senescence of HCC cells through activating glycogen synthase kinase-3β-p53 pathway, thereby inhibiting tumor progression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Jing Lu
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, P228, MSLS Building, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
26
|
Yang X, Hoppmann S, Liu H, Allegretta M, Chua MS, Cheng Z, So S. Abstract 715: Molecular imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma using radiolabeled monoclonal antibody PET probes targeting glypican-3. Cancer Res 2013. [DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.am2013-715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a cell-surface protein which is over-expressed in more than 50% of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, but is negligibly expressed in normal livers, benign liver lesions, and tissues adjacent to HCC. GPC3 is therefore a potential molecular target for HCC diagnosis.
Methods: Two radiotracers, 64Cu-DOTA-GPC3 and 89Zr-DFO-GPC3, were synthesized based on the human anti-GPC3 monoclonal antibody (MAb clone 1G12). These radiotracers were used for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of subcutaneous or orthotopic HCC xenografts in nude mice, generated from HCC cell lines expressing high (HepG2), moderate (Hep3B), or low (PLC/PRF/5) levels of GPC3. Biodistribution analysis and tumor-to-liver ratios were calculated to assess the performance and specificity of these radiotracers.
Results: The anti-GPC3 MAb showed high binding affinity to recombinant human GPC3 protein in vitro (KD = 0.40 ± 0.04 nM), and specifically identified HCC cell lines and human specimens with high GPC3 expression. In vivo, 64Cu-DOTA-GPC3 showed significantly higher uptake in HepG2 xenografts (17.05 ± 1.31% ID/g) compared with non-specific 18F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (18F-FDG) (3.17 ± 0.59% ID/g), and the non-targeting 64Cu-DOTA-IgG (5.10 ± 1.27% ID/g) at 72 h post-injection (p.i.) (p < 0.005). However, the tumor-to-liver ratio was only 0.46 ± 0.32 at 72 h p.i., due to high uptake of 64Cu-DOTA-GPC3 in the liver. To increase tumor-to-liver ratio, we synthesized the 89Zr-DFO-GPC3 radiotracer, which displayed specific cellular uptake in GPC3-positive cells in vitro, and also internalized over time in these cells. In vivo, 89Zr-DFO-GPC3 showed high and specific uptake in the subcutaneous HepG2 xenografts, but not in the non-HCC, GPC3-negative ones (PC3 and A375M). Consistently, in vivo biodistribution analysis demonstrated significantly higher uptake of 89Zr-DFO-GPC3 in HepG2 xenografts at 48 h p.i. (10.80 ± 1.69% ID/g, n=4) and 192 h p.i. (8.76 ± 1.12% ID/g, n=4), compared to 1.19 ± 0.27% ID/g in PC3 xenografts and 2.02 ± 0.58% ID/g in A375M xenografts at 192 h time point (p < 0.005) The tumor-to-liver ratios for HepG2 xenografts at 48 h and 192 h were 2.64 ± 0.20, and 4.10 ± 0.17, respectively. More importantly, 89Zr-DFO-GPC3 was able to delineate orthotopic HCC xenografts from the surrounding normal liver. Biodistribution analysis in these orthotopic xenografts showed uptake of 14.0 ± 2.50% ID/g for HepG2; 7.71 ± 1.64% ID/g for Hep3B; and 5.54 ± 1.00% ID/g for PLC/PRF/5 at 168 h p.i. The corresponding tumor-to-liver ratios were 6.65 ± 1.33 for HepG2, 6.15 ± 1.75 for PLC/PRF/5, and 4.29 ± 0.52 for Hep3B.
Conclusion: We demonstrate that anti-GPC3 MAb-based PET probes can detect GPC3-positive HCCs in subcutaneous and orthotopic animal models. Especially, 89Zr-DFO-GPC3 is a promising probe and clinically useful probe for the specific imaging of GPC3-positive HCCs.
Citation Format: Xiaoyang Yang, Susan Hoppmann, Hongguang Liu, Mark Allegretta, Mei-Sze Chua, Zhen Cheng, Samuel So. Molecular imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma using radiolabeled monoclonal antibody PET probes targeting glypican-3. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 715. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-715
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyang Yang
- 1Asian Liver Center, Dept. of Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | | | - Hongguang Liu
- 2Dept. of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | | | - Mei-Sze Chua
- 1Asian Liver Center, Dept. of Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Zhen Cheng
- 2Dept. of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Samuel So
- 1Asian Liver Center, Dept. of Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Bu L, Xie J, Chen K, Huang J, Aguilar ZP, Wang A, Sun KW, Chua MS, So S, Cheng Z, Eden HS, Shen B, Chen X. Assessment and comparison of magnetic nanoparticles as MRI contrast agents in a rodent model of human hepatocellular carcinoma. Contrast Media Mol Imaging 2012; 7:363-72. [PMID: 22649042 DOI: 10.1002/cmmi.494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to synthesize, characterize and tailor the surface properties of magnetic nanoparticles with biocompatible copolymer coatings and to evaluate the efficiency of the resulting nanoconjugates as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents for liver imaging. Magnetic nanoparticles with core diameters of 10 and 30 nm were synthesized by pyrolysis and were subsequently coated with a copolymer containing either carboxyl (SHP) or methoxy groups as termini. All four formulas, and ferumoxides (Feridex I.V.(®)), were individually injected intravenously into separate, normal Balb/C mice (at 2.5, 1.0 and 0.56 mg Fe kg(-1)), and the animals underwent T(2)-weighted MRI at multiple time points post injection (p.i.) to evaluate the hepatic uptake and clearance. Furthermore, we compared the abilities of the new formulas and Feridex to detect tumors in an orthotropic Huh7 tumor model. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed a narrow size distribution of both the 10 and 30 nm nanoparticles, in contrast to a wide size distribution of Feridex. MTT, apoptosis and cyclin/DNA flow cytometry assays showed that the polymer coated nanoparticles had no adverse effect on cell growth. Among all the tested formulas, including Feridex, SHP-30 showed the highest macrophage uptake at the in vitro level. In vivo MRI studies on normal mice confirmed the superiority of SHP-30 in inducing hypointensities in the liver tissue, especially at clinical dose (0.56 mg Fe kg(-1)) and 3 T field. SHP-30 showed better contrast-to-noise ratio than Feridex on the orthotropic Huh7 tumor model. SHP-30 was found to be an efficient contrast agent for liver MR imaging. The success of this study suggests that, by improving the synthetic approach and by tuning the surface properties of IONPs, one can arrive at better formulas than Feridex for clinical practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lihong Bu
- Department of Radiology, the Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Heilongjiang, China
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
28
|
Chung JL, Pollack J, Chua MS, So S, Lin CD, Lin AY. Identification of a 14-gene signature that predicts survival in colorectal cancer with liver metastasis. J Clin Oncol 2012. [DOI: 10.1200/jco.2012.30.15_suppl.e14037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
e14037 Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer death in men and women combined in the USA. Colorectal liver metastasis (CLM), the most common metastasis of CRC, accounts for at least two thirds of CRC deaths. The purpose of this study is to identify a gene signature that predicts patient survival in patients with CLM. Methods: We analyzed the gene expression profiles of specimens from 24 CLM patients (M:F = 14:10) who underwent metastatic liver resection and unmatched primary CRC specimens from an independent cohort of 30 patients (M:F = 14:16). The association between gene expression levels and survival outcome was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression. Random Forests and risk scores were used to construct a gene expression-based survival classifier. Results: Based on survival classifier of CLM patients, a 14-gene signature was developed. According to leave-one-out cross validation, all 24 CLM patients (median follow-up time of 25 months) were correctly assigned into high-risk or low-risk groups (p=0.001). This 14-gene signature was then validated in an independent cohort of 30 primary CRC patients (median follow-up time of 42.2 months; p= 0.03) and a subset of 11 patients who were diagnosed at presentation or follow-up with liver metastasis (M:F = 5:6; median follow-up time of 27.6 months; p=0.04). Conclusions: We have identified a 14-gene signature that predicts the survival of CLM patients after liver resection, with validation in an independent cohort. Although sample size is small, the significance level achieved with our survival analysis warrants further investigation of this 14-gene signature in a larger sample size.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jo L Chung
- San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
| | | | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
| | - Sam So
- Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
29
|
Willingham SB, Volkmer JP, Gentles AJ, Sahoo D, Dalerba P, Mitra SS, Wang J, Contreras-Trujillo H, Martin R, Cohen JD, Lovelace P, Scheeren FA, Chao MP, Weiskopf K, Tang C, Volkmer AK, Naik TJ, Storm TA, Mosley AR, Edris B, Schmid SM, Sun CK, Chua MS, Murillo O, Rajendran P, Cha AC, Chin RK, Kim D, Adorno M, Raveh T, Tseng D, Jaiswal S, Enger PØ, Steinberg GK, Li G, So SK, Majeti R, Harsh GR, van de Rijn M, Teng NNH, Sunwoo JB, Alizadeh AA, Clarke MF, Weissman IL. The CD47-signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPa) interaction is a therapeutic target for human solid tumors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012. [PMID: 22451913 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.11216231091121623109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/16/2023] Open
Abstract
CD47, a "don't eat me" signal for phagocytic cells, is expressed on the surface of all human solid tumor cells. Analysis of patient tumor and matched adjacent normal (nontumor) tissue revealed that CD47 is overexpressed on cancer cells. CD47 mRNA expression levels correlated with a decreased probability of survival for multiple types of cancer. CD47 is a ligand for SIRPα, a protein expressed on macrophages and dendritic cells. In vitro, blockade of CD47 signaling using targeted monoclonal antibodies enabled macrophage phagocytosis of tumor cells that were otherwise protected. Administration of anti-CD47 antibodies inhibited tumor growth in orthotopic immunodeficient mouse xenotransplantation models established with patient tumor cells and increased the survival of the mice over time. Anti-CD47 antibody therapy initiated on larger tumors inhibited tumor growth and prevented or treated metastasis, but initiation of the therapy on smaller tumors was potentially curative. The safety and efficacy of targeting CD47 was further tested and validated in immune competent hosts using an orthotopic mouse breast cancer model. These results suggest all human solid tumor cells require CD47 expression to suppress phagocytic innate immune surveillance and elimination. These data, taken together with similar findings with other human neoplasms, show that CD47 is a commonly expressed molecule on all cancers, its function to block phagocytosis is known, and blockade of its function leads to tumor cell phagocytosis and elimination. CD47 is therefore a validated target for cancer therapies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephen B Willingham
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
30
|
Darpolor MM, Yen YF, Chua MS, Xing L, Clarke-Katzenberg RH, Shi W, Mayer D, Josan S, Hurd RE, Pfefferbaum A, Senadheera L, So S, Hofmann LV, Glazer GM, Spielman DM. In vivo MRSI of hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]pyruvate metabolism in rat hepatocellular carcinoma. NMR Biomed 2011; 24:506-13. [PMID: 21674652 PMCID: PMC3073155 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.1616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2010] [Revised: 07/24/2010] [Accepted: 08/10/2010] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the primary form of human adult liver malignancy, is a highly aggressive tumor with average survival rates that are currently less than 1 year following diagnosis. Most patients with HCC are diagnosed at an advanced stage, and no efficient marker exists for the prediction of prognosis and/or response(s) to therapy. We have reported previously a high level of [1-(13)C]alanine in an orthotopic HCC using single-voxel hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]pyruvate MRS. In the present study, we implemented a three-dimensional MRSI sequence to investigate this potential hallmark of cellular metabolism in rat livers bearing HCC (n = 7 buffalo rats). In addition, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the mRNA levels of lactate dehydrogenase A, nicotinamide adenine (phosphate) dinucleotide dehydrogenase quinone 1 and alanine transaminase. The enzyme levels were significantly higher in tumor than in normal liver tissues within each rat, and were associated with the in vivo MRSI signal of [1-(13)C]alanine and [1-(13)C]lactate after a bolus intravenous injection of [1-(13)C]pyruvate. Histopathological analysis of these tumors confirmed the successful growth of HCC as a nodule in buffalo rat livers, revealing malignancy and hypervascular architecture. More importantly, the results demonstrated that the metabolic fate of [1-(13)C]pyruvate conversion to [1-(13)C]alanine significantly superseded that of [1-(13)C]pyruvate conversion to [1-(13)C]lactate, potentially serving as a marker of HCC tumors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Moses M Darpolor
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5488, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
31
|
Chua MS, Wang L. Recent advances into the molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targeting of hepatocellular carcinoma. Anticancer Agents Med Chem 2011; 11:491-2. [PMID: 21574957 DOI: 10.2174/187152011796011028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2011] [Accepted: 04/23/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
|
32
|
Ahn YT, Chua MS, Whitlock JP, Shin YC, Song WH, Kim Y, Eom CY, An WG. Rodent-specific hypoxia response elements enhance PAI-1 expression through HIF-1 or HIF-2 in mouse hepatoma cells. Int J Oncol 2011; 37:1627-38. [PMID: 21042733 DOI: 10.3892/ijo_00000817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is an important regulator of numerous pathophysiological processes such as inflammation, thrombosis, angiogenesis and tumor metastasis. Its expression is induced by hypoxia at the transcriptional level, via the hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) or -2 (HIF-2). In this study, we elucidated the mechanism of transcriptional regulation of mouse PAI-1 gene by hypoxia in mouse hepatoma cells. We searched for hypoxia response elements (HREs) of murine PAI-1 promoter using several molecular biological assays. DNAse I hypersensitivity assay first suggested that PAI-1 gene expression is up-regulated by protein-DNA interactions at the -3.6- and -3-kb upstream regions of the PAI-1 gene transcription start site. An approximately 6.4-kb region of DNA containing the 5'-flanking promoter region of the PAI-1 gene was isolated, mapped, and cloned into reporter gene assay vectors and sequenced. Luciferase reporter gene assay subsequently identified two functional HREs, located around -3.6 kb of the 5'-flanking promoter region of PAI-1 gene that were responsible for the enhancement of luciferase reporter gene activity. Mutation of the HREs in this fragment abolished luciferase reporter gene activity. Finally, in vitro and in vivo protein-DNA interaction assays confirmed binding of the two HREs to HIF-1 or HIF-2 protein. Our results show that two HREs located around -3.6 kb of the 5'-flanking promoter region of the mouse PAI-1 gene function as hypoxia enhancers, which, alongside other regulatory regions, control PAI-1 gene transcription by HIF-1 or HIF-2 under hypoxic environments in mouse hepatoma cells.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yong-Tae Ahn
- Departments of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Dr Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
33
|
Lin AY, Chua MS, Choi YL, Yeh W, Kim YH, Azzi R, Adams GA, Sainani K, van de Rijn M, So SK, Pollack JR. Comparative profiling of primary colorectal carcinomas and liver metastases identifies LEF1 as a prognostic biomarker. PLoS One 2011; 6:e16636. [PMID: 21383983 PMCID: PMC3044708 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2010] [Accepted: 01/03/2011] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose We sought to identify genes of clinical significance to predict survival and the risk for colorectal liver metastasis (CLM), the most common site of metastasis from colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients and Methods We profiled gene expression in 31 specimens from primary CRC and 32 unmatched specimens of CLM, and performed Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM) to identify genes differentially expressed between these two groups. To characterize the clinical relevance of two highly-ranked differentially-expressed genes, we analyzed the expression of secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1 or osteopontin) and lymphoid enhancer factor-1 (LEF1) by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray (TMA) representing an independent set of 154 patients with primary CRC. Results Supervised analysis using SAM identified 963 genes with significantly higher expression in CLM compared to primary CRC, with a false discovery rate of <0.5%. TMA analysis showed SPP1 and LEF1 protein overexpression in 60% and 44% of CRC cases, respectively. Subsequent occurrence of CLM was significantly correlated with the overexpression of LEF1 (chi-square p = 0.042), but not SPP1 (p = 0.14). Kaplan Meier analysis revealed significantly worse survival in patients with overexpression of LEF1 (p<0.01), but not SPP1 (p = 0.11). Both univariate and multivariate analyses identified stage (p<0.0001) and LEF1 overexpression (p<0.05) as important prognostic markers, but not tumor grade or SPP1. Conclusion Among genes differentially expressed between CLM and primary CRC, we demonstrate overexpression of LEF1 in primary CRC to be a prognostic factor for poor survival and increased risk for liver metastasis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Albert Y Lin
- Department of Medicine, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, California, United States of America.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
34
|
Wei W, Chua MS, Grepper S, So SK. Soluble Frizzled-7 receptor inhibits Wnt signaling and sensitizes hepatocellular carcinoma cells towards doxorubicin. Mol Cancer 2011; 10:16. [PMID: 21314951 PMCID: PMC3050858 DOI: 10.1186/1476-4598-10-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2010] [Accepted: 02/11/2011] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There are limited therapeutic options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common liver malignancy worldwide. Recent studies have identified the Frizzled-7 receptor (FZD7), important for activation of Wnt-mediated signaling, as a potential therapeutic target for HCC and other cancers. METHODS We hypothesized that the extracellular domain of FZD7 (sFZD7) would be a clinically more relevant therapeutic modality than previously studied approaches to target FZD7. We expressed and purified sFZD7 from E. coli, and tested its functional activity to interact with Wnt3, its ability to inhibit Wnt3-mediated signaling, and its potential for combinatorial therapy in HCC. RESULTS sFZD7 pulled down Wnt3 from Huh7 cells, and decreased β-catenin/Tcf4 transcriptional activity in HCC cells. In vitro, sFZD7 dose-dependently decreased viability of three HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep40, and Huh7, all with high FZD7 and Wnt3 mRNA), but had little effect on normal hepatocytes from three donors (all with low level FZD7 and Wnt3 mRNA). When combined with doxorubicin, sFZD7 enhanced the growth inhibitory effects of doxorubicin against HCC cells in vitro, and against Huh7 xenografts in vivo. Reduced expressions of c-Myc, cyclin D1, and survivin were observed in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, sFZD7 altered the levels of phosphorylated AKT and ERK1/2 induced by doxorubicin treatment in vitro, suggesting that several critical pathways are involved in the chemosensitizing effect of sFZD7. CONCLUSIONS We propose that sFZD7 is a feasible therapeutic agent with specific activity, which can potentially be combined with other chemotherapeutic agents for the improved management of HCC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Susan Grepper
- CellzDirect/Invitrogen, 4301 Emperor Blvd, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Samuel K So
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Wei W, Chua MS, Grepper S, So S. Small molecule antagonists of Tcf4/beta-catenin complex inhibit the growth of HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Int J Cancer 2010; 126:2426-36. [PMID: 19662654 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.24810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 5th most common cancer worldwide. It is intrinsically resistant toward standard chemotherapy, making it imperative to develop novel selective chemotherapeutic agents. The Wnt/beta-catenin pathway plays critical roles in development and oncogenesis, and is dysregulated in HCC. Our study aims to evaluate the activity of 3 small molecule antagonists of the Tcf4/beta-catenin complex (PKF118-310, PKF115-584 and CGP049090) on HCC cell lines in vitro and in vivo. All 3 chemicals displayed dose-dependent cytotoxicity in vitro against all 3 HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep40 and Huh7), but were at least 10 times less cytotoxic to normal hepatocytes (from 3 donors) by using ATP assay. In HepG2 and Huh7 cells, treatment with the antagonists decreased Tcf4/beta-catenin binding capability and transcriptional activity, associated with downregulation of the endogenous Tcf4/ beta-catenin target genes c-Myc, cyclin D1 and survivin. In HepG2 and Huh7 cells, treatment with the antagonists induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G1/S phase. All antagonists suppressed in vivo tumor growth in a HepG2 xenograft model, associated with apoptosis and reduced c-Myc, cyclin D1 and survivin expressions. Our results suggest that these 3 antagonists of the Tcf4/beta-catenin complex are potential chemotherapeutic agents which may offer a pathway specific option for the clinical management of HCC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5655, USA
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
36
|
Wei W, Chua MS, Grepper S, So SK. Blockade of Wnt-1 signaling leads to anti-tumor effects in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Mol Cancer 2009; 8:76. [PMID: 19778454 PMCID: PMC2759906 DOI: 10.1186/1476-4598-8-76] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2009] [Accepted: 09/24/2009] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive cancer, and is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Standard therapy is ineffective partly because HCC is intrinsically resistant to conventional chemotherapy. Its poor prognosis and limited treatment options make it critical to develop novel and selective chemotherapeutic agents. Since the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway is essential in HCC carcinogenesis, we studied the inhibition of Wnt-1-mediated signaling as a potential molecular target in HCC. RESULTS We demonstrated that Wnt-1 is highly expressed in human hepatoma cell lines and a subgroup of human HCC tissues compared to paired adjacent non-tumor tissues. An anti-Wnt-1 antibody dose-dependently decreased viability and proliferation of Huh7 and Hep40 cells over-expressing Wnt-1 and harboring wild type beta-catenin, but did not affect normal hepatocytes with undetectable Wnt-1 expression. Apoptosis was also observed in Huh7 and Hep40 cells after treatment with anti-Wnt-1 antibody. In these two cell lines, the anti-Wnt-1 antibody decreased beta-catenin/Tcf4 transcriptional activities, which were associated with down-regulation of the endogenous beta-catenin/Tcf4 target genes c-Myc, cyclin D1, and survivin. Intratumoral injection of anti-Wnt-1 antibody suppressed in vivo tumor growth in a Huh7 xenograft model, which was also associated with apoptosis and reduced c-Myc, cyclin D1, and survivin expressions. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that Wnt-1 is a survival factor for HCC cells, and that the blockade of Wnt-1-mediated signaling may offer a potential pathway-specific therapeutic strategy for the treatment of a subgroup of HCC that over-expresses Wnt-1.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wei
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
37
|
Yan X, Chua MS, Sun H, So S. N-Myc down-regulated gene 1 mediates proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Cancer Lett 2008; 262:133-42. [DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2007.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2007] [Revised: 11/27/2007] [Accepted: 12/03/2007] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
|
38
|
Yan X, Chua MS, He J, So SK. Small interfering RNA targeting CDC25B inhibits liver tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Mol Cancer 2008; 7:19. [PMID: 18269767 PMCID: PMC2276234 DOI: 10.1186/1476-4598-7-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2007] [Accepted: 02/12/2008] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Using gene expression profiling, we previously identified CDC25B to be significantly highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared to non-tumor liver. CDC25B is a cell cycle-activating phosphatase that positively regulates the activity of cyclin-dependent kinases, and is over-expressed in a variety of human malignancies. In this study, we validated the over-expression of CDC25B in HCC, and further investigated its potential as a therapeutic target for the management of HCC. Results Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical staining of patient samples confirmed the significant over-expression of CDC25B in HCC compared to non-tumor liver samples (P < 0.001). Thus, intefering with the expression and activity of CDC25B may be a potential way to intervene with HCC progression. We used RNA interference to study the biological effects of silencing CDC25B expression in HCC cell lines (Hep3B and Hep40), in order to validate its potential as a therapeutic target. Using small oligo siRNAs targeting the coding region of CDC25B, we effectively suppressed CDC25B expression by up to 90%. This was associatetd with significant reductions in cell growth rate, cell migration and invasion through the matrigel membrane, and caused significant cell cycle delay at the G2 phase. Finally, suppression of CDC25B significantly slowed the growth of Hep40 xenografts in nude mice. Conclusion Our data provide evidence that the inhibition of CDC25B expression and activity lead to suppression of tumor cell growth and motility, and may therefore be a feasible approach in the clinical management of HCC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinrui Yan
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
39
|
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Effective treatment of HCC patients is hampered by the lack of sensitive and specific diagnostic markers of HCC. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), the currently used HCC marker, misses 30%-50% of HCC patients, who therefore remain undiagnosed and untreated. In order to identify novel diagnostic markers that can be used individually or in combination with AFP, we used an antibody array platform to detect the levels of candidate proteins in the plasma of HCC patients (n = 48) and patients with chronic hepatitis B or C viral infections (n = 19) (both of which are the major risk factors of HCC). We identified 7 proteins that significantly differentiate HCC patients from hepatitis patients (p < 0.05) (AFP, CTNNB, CSF1, SELL, IGFBP6, IL6R, and VCAM1). Importantly, we also identified 8 proteins that significantly differentiate HCC patients with 'normal' levels of AFP (< 20 ng/ml) from hepatitis patients (p < 0.05) (IL1RN, IFNG, CDKN1A, RETN, CXCL14, CTNNB, FGF2, and SELL). These markers are potentially important complementary markers to AFP. Using an independent immunoassay method in an independent group of 23 HCC patients and 22 hepatitis patients, we validated that plasma levels of CTNNB were significantly higher in the HCC group (p = 0.020). In conclusion, we used an antibody array platform to identify potential circulating diagnostic markers of HCC, some of which may be valuable when used in combination with AFP. The clinical utility of these newly identified HCC diagnostic markers needs to be systematically evaluated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hongbo Sun
- Asian Liver Center, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
40
|
Yao C, Lin Y, Chua MS, Ye CS, Bi J, Li W, Zhu YF, Wang SM. Interleukin-8 modulates growth and invasiveness of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cells. Int J Cancer 2007; 121:1949-1957. [PMID: 17621625 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.22930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Breast cancer, especially estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer, remains hard to treat despite major advances in surgery and adjuvant therapies. The deletion of ER has been consistently associated with tumor progression, recurrence, metastasis and poor prognosis. Among other differences in biological features, ER-negative breast cancers express high levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), whereas their ER-positive counterparts do not. IL-8 is a multi-functional cytokine with many important biological functions in tumor formation and development. We aimed to study the role(s) of IL-8 in ER-negative breast cancer progression by using RNA interference to specifically knockdown IL-8 expression in ER-negative breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468. In vitro, suppression of IL-8 led to significant reductions in cell invasion (p<0.001), but had no effects on cell proliferation or cell cycle. In vivo, suppression of IL-8 significantly reduced the microvessel density (p<0.05), and markedly reduced neutrophil infiltration into the tumors (p<0.05). In contrast to in vitro observations, suppression of IL-8 promoted tumor growth in nude mice (p<0.05). Our results imply that the complex roles of IL-8 in the regulation of ER-negative breast cancer progression may in part be related to its potent chemotactic effects on neutrophils, which in turn mediates many of the biological functions of IL-8.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chen Yao
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Ying Lin
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Cai-Sheng Ye
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiong Bi
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Wen Li
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi-Fan Zhu
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Shen-Ming Wang
- Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Chua MS, Sun H, Cheung ST, Mason V, Higgins J, Ross DT, Fan ST, So S. Overexpression of NDRG1 is an indicator of poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma. Mod Pathol 2007; 20:76-83. [PMID: 17170744 DOI: 10.1038/modpathol.3800711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is a highly lethal cancer that typically has poor prognosis. Prognostic markers can help in its clinical management and in understanding the biology of poor prognosis. Through an earlier gene expression study, we identified N-Myc downregulated gene 1 (NDRG1) to be significantly highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma compared to nontumor liver. As NDRG1 is a differentiation-related gene with putative metastasis suppressor activity, we investigated the clinical significance of its overexpression. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction using an independent set of patient samples confirmed the significant overexpression of NDRG1 in hepatocellular carcinoma compared to nontumor liver samples (P<0.001). Additionally, high levels of NDRG1 transcript correlated with shorter overall survival (P<0.001), late tumor stage (P=0.001), vascular invasion (P=0.003), large tumor size (P=0.011), and high Edmondson-Steiner histological grade (P=0.005). Using immunohistochemistry, NDRG1 protein was found to be significantly overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma samples compared to nontumor liver or cirrhotic and benign liver lesions (P<0.001). Among the hepatocellular carcinoma samples, those which are moderately and poorly differentiated express higher levels of NDRG1 protein than those which are well-differentiated (P<0.005). Additionally, hepatocellular carcinomas with vascular invasion also express elevated levels of NDRG1 protein compared to those without vascular invasion (significant at P<0.005). Our results suggest NDRG1 to be a likely tumor marker for hepatocellular carcinoma, the overexpression of which is correlated with tumor differentiation, vascular invasion, and overall survival. Its significantly elevated expression in hepatocellular carcinoma could be a useful indicator of tumor aggressiveness and therefore patient prognosis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery and Asian Liver Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
42
|
Lo TL, Fong CW, Yusoff P, McKie AB, Chua MS, Leung HY, Guy GR. Sprouty and cancer: The first terms report. Cancer Lett 2006; 242:141-50. [PMID: 16469433 DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2005.12.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2005] [Revised: 12/16/2005] [Accepted: 12/19/2005] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The Ras/Erk signaling pathway has a central role in development of multi-cellular organisms as well as in signal transmission in the mature individual. Recently, a family of genes, designated Sprouty, induced by the Ras/Erk pathway was found to specify proteins that inhibited the upstream pathway. Being in a position that is likely to control well-characterized oncogene products suggested that the expression levels of the Sprouty genes may be relevant in human carcinogenesis. Early data on the deregulation of Sprouty expression in breast, prostate and liver cancers is discussed along with the notion that some of them might have potential as tumour markers or that the derived proteins may act as tumour suppressors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ting Ling Lo
- Signal Transduction laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 61 Biopolis Drive, #6-01, Proteos, Singapore, 138673
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
43
|
Chua MS, Bernstein LR, Li R, So SKS. Gallium maltolate is a promising chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Anticancer Res 2006; 26:1739-43. [PMID: 16827101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a particularly lethal cancer with few treatment options. Since gallium is known to accumulate specifically in HCC tumors but not in non-tumor liver, we investigated two gallium compounds, gallium nitrate (GaN) and gallium maltolate (GaM), as potential new agents for treating HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS The anti-proliferative and apoptotic activities of GaN and GaM were assessed in vitro using four HCC cell lines. HCC gene expression data was analyzed to provide a mechanistic rationale for using gallium in the treatment of HCC. RESULTS Both compounds showed dose-dependent antiproliferative activity in all four HCC cell lines after 6-day drug exposure (IC50 values range from 60-250 microM for gallium nitrate and 25-35 microM for gallium maltolate). Gallium maltolate at 30 microM additionally induced apoptosis after 6 days. HCC gene expression data showed significantly elevated expression of the M2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, which is a target for the antiproliferative activity of gallium. CONCLUSION These data support clinical testing of gallium maltolate, an orally active compound, in the treatment of HCC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5655, USA.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
44
|
Fong CW, Chua MS, McKie AB, Ling SHM, Mason V, Li R, Yusoff P, Lo TL, Leung HY, So SKS, Guy GR. Sprouty 2, an inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, is down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Res 2006; 66:2048-58. [PMID: 16489004 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-05-1072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
The Sprouty proteins are increasingly being recognized to be deregulated in various types of cancers. This deregulation is often associated with aberrant signaling of receptor tyrosine kinases and its downstream effectors, leading to the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. In human hepatocellular carcinoma, where the MAPK activity is enhanced via multiple hepatocarcinogenic factors, we observed a consistent reduced expression of the sprouty 2 (Spry2) transcript and protein in malignant hepatocytes compared with normal or cirrhotic hepatocytes. The expression pattern of Spry2 in hepatocellular carcinoma resembles that of several potential tumor markers of hepatocellular carcinoma and also that of several angiogenic factors and growth factor receptors. In contrast to previous studies of Spry2 down-regulation in other cancers, we have ruled out loss of heterozygosity or the methylation of promoter sites, two common mechanisms responsible for the silencing of genes with tumor suppressor properties. Functionally, we show that Spry2 inhibits both extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling as well as proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, whereas knocking down Spry2 levels in NIH3T3 cells causes mild transformation. Our study clearly indicates a role for Spry2 in hepatocellular carcinoma, and an understanding of the regulatory controls of its expression could provide new means of regulating the angiogenic switch in this hypervascular tumor, thereby potentially controlling tumor growth.
Collapse
MESH Headings
- Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
- Animals
- Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/genetics
- Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/metabolism
- Cell Line, Tumor
- Cell Transformation, Neoplastic/genetics
- Cell Transformation, Neoplastic/metabolism
- DNA Methylation
- Down-Regulation
- Fibroblast Growth Factors/pharmacology
- Gene Expression Profiling
- Genes, Tumor Suppressor
- Hepatocyte Growth Factor/pharmacology
- Humans
- Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
- Liver Cirrhosis/genetics
- Liver Cirrhosis/metabolism
- Liver Neoplasms/genetics
- Liver Neoplasms/metabolism
- Loss of Heterozygosity
- MAP Kinase Signaling System/physiology
- Membrane Proteins
- Mice
- Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/antagonists & inhibitors
- NIH 3T3 Cells
- Promoter Regions, Genetic
- Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
- Proteins/genetics
- Proteins/metabolism
- Proteins/physiology
- RNA, Messenger/biosynthesis
- RNA, Messenger/genetics
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chee Wai Fong
- Signal Transduction Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, Singapore
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
45
|
Patil MA, Chua MS, Pan KH, Lin R, Lih CJ, Cheung ST, Ho C, Li R, Fan ST, Cohen SN, Chen X, So S. An integrated data analysis approach to characterize genes highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncogene 2005; 24:3737-47. [PMID: 15735714 DOI: 10.1038/sj.onc.1208479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major causes of cancer deaths worldwide. New diagnostic and therapeutic options are needed for more effective and early detection and treatment of this malignancy. We identified 703 genes that are highly expressed in HCC using DNA microarrays, and further characterized them in order to uncover novel tumor markers, oncogenes, and therapeutic targets for HCC. Using Gene Ontology annotations, genes with functions related to cell proliferation and cell cycle, chromatin, repair, and transcription were found to be significantly enriched in this list of highly expressed genes. We also identified a set of genes that encode secreted (e.g. GPC3, LCN2, and DKK1) or membrane-bound proteins (e.g. GPC3, IGSF1, and PSK-1), which may be attractive candidates for the diagnosis of HCC. A significant enrichment of genes highly expressed in HCC was found on chromosomes 1q, 6p, 8q, and 20q, and we also identified chromosomal clusters of genes highly expressed in HCC. The microarray analyses were validated by RT-PCR and PCR. This approach of integrating other biological information with gene expression in the analysis helps select aberrantly expressed genes in HCC that may be further studied for their diagnostic or therapeutic utility.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mohini A Patil
- Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
46
|
Abstract
By rapidly generating global views of gene expression profiles, microarray technology offers a great advantage over traditional methods of studying gene expression. This technology is gaining rapid and widespread use in many areas of science and medicine because it can be easily adapted to study many experimental questions. This article will review the current applications of microarray technology in the field of renal transplantation, and discuss the potential impact of this technology on transplantation medicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, G320, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
47
|
Sarwal M, Chua MS, Kambham N, Hsieh SC, Satterwhite T, Masek M, Salvatierra O. Molecular heterogeneity in acute renal allograft rejection identified by DNA microarray profiling. N Engl J Med 2003; 349:125-38. [PMID: 12853585 DOI: 10.1056/nejmoa035588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 538] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The causes and clinical course of acute rejection vary, and it is not possible to predict graft outcome reliably on the basis of available clinical, pathological, and genetic markers. We hypothesized that previously unrecognized molecular heterogeneity might underlie some of the variability in the clinical course of acute renal allograft rejection and in its response to treatment. METHODS We used DNA microarrays in a systematic study of gene-expression patterns in biopsy samples from normal and dysfunctional renal allografts. A combination of exploratory and supervised bioinformatic methods was used to analyze these profiles. RESULTS We found consistent differences among the gene-expression patterns associated with acute rejection, nephrotoxic effects of drugs, chronic allograft nephropathy, and normal kidneys. The gene-expression patterns associated with acute rejection suggested at least three possible distinct subtypes of acute rejection that, although indistinguishable by light microscopy, were marked by differences in immune activation and cellular proliferation. Since the gene-expression patterns pointed to substantial variation in the composition of immune infiltrates, we used immunohistochemical staining to define these subtypes further. This analysis revealed a striking association between dense CD20+ B-cell infiltrates and both clinical glucocorticoid resistance (P=0.01) and graft loss (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Systematic analysis of gene-expression patterns provides a window on the biology and pathogenesis of renal allograft rejection. Biopsy samples from patients with acute rejection that are indistinguishable on conventional histologic analysis reveal extensive differences in gene expression, which are associated with differences in immunologic and cellular features and clinical course. The presence of dense clusters of B cells in a biopsy sample was strongly associated with severe graft rejection, suggesting a pivotal role of infiltrating B cells in acute rejection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Minnie Sarwal
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
48
|
Abstract
The advent of DNA microarray technology has greatly enhanced our potential to understand the molecular basis of human diseases and to aid in more accurate classification, diagnosis and/or prognosis. This powerful, flexible and highly informative technique has been adopted by many biomedical research disciplines. The use of DNA microarrays for gene expression profiling of patients undergoing organ transplantation has diagnostic and therapeutic potential. By generating global views of the gene expression changes in renal graft function post transplantation, DNA microarray technology will provide important information to improve our understanding of the molecular basis of various causes of graft dysfunction, and therefore suggest improved diagnosis, disease classification, and treatment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, G320, 300 Pasteur Drive, CA 94305, Stanford, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
49
|
Satterwhite T, Chua MS, Hsieh SC, Chang S, Scandling J, Salvatierra O, Sarwal MM. Increased expression of cytotoxic effector molecules: different interpretations for steroid-based and steroid-free immunosuppression. Pediatr Transplant 2003; 7:53-8. [PMID: 12581329 DOI: 10.1034/j.1399-3046.2003.02053.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effector molecules have been studied as markers of acute rejection in renal allograft recipients on steroid-based immunosuppression. We hypothesized that basal CTL gene expression may vary with time post-transplantation as well as with different immunosuppression protocols (steroid-based or steroid-free). Variations in CTL gene expression may thus impact on the ability to predict acute allograft rejection. We used the non-invasive method of quantitative competitive-reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (QC-RT-PCR) to quantify the amounts of CTL effector molecules (granulysin, GL; perforin, P; granzyme B, GB) in serial peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) samples from steroid-free and steroid-based adult and pediatric renal allograft recipients. Patients on both protocols were clinically monitored by protocol biopsies at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post-transplantation and for graft function at 1 yr post-transplantation in a separate clinical study. Steroid-free patients with stable graft function showed an increase in GL, P, and GB gene expression over time post-transplantation with the increase being seen largely by the first post-transplant month. A further increase in GL expression was noted at the end of the first post-transplant year in the absence of acute rejection, whereas GB and P levels were unchanged. At comparative time-points post-transplantation, CTL genes were found to be higher in steroid-free patients with stable graft function, compared to steroid-based recipients with either clinically stable graft function or acute rejection. This study suggests that levels of CTL gene expression, although important in a steroid-based regimen to monitor the risk of acute rejection, may not be similarly applied in patients on steroid-free immunosuppression. The early increase in levels seen in steroid-free patients appears to correlate with the total absence of steroids. As steroid-free patients seem to have a lower incidence of acute rejection and better long-term graft function at 1 yr, the early increase in CTL genes in the absence of acute rejection may suggest an early adaptive immune activation response, promoting early graft acceptance in this protocol.
Collapse
MESH Headings
- Adult
- Antibodies, Monoclonal/pharmacology
- Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
- Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte/genetics
- Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte/metabolism
- Child
- Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
- Daclizumab
- Gene Expression/drug effects
- Graft Rejection/metabolism
- Granzymes
- Humans
- Immunoglobulin G/pharmacology
- Immunosuppressive Agents/pharmacology
- Kidney Transplantation
- Membrane Glycoproteins/genetics
- Membrane Glycoproteins/metabolism
- Mycophenolic Acid/analogs & derivatives
- Mycophenolic Acid/pharmacology
- Perforin
- Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins
- Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Serine Endopeptidases/genetics
- Serine Endopeptidases/metabolism
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/drug effects
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/metabolism
- Tacrolimus/pharmacology
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Satterwhite
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 269 Campus Drive, CCSR, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
50
|
Abstract
Compromised renal function after renal allograft transplantation often results in anemia in the recipient. Molecular mechanisms leading to anemia during acute rejection are not fully understood; inadequate erythropoietin production and iron deficiency have been reported to be the main contributors. To increase our understanding of the molecular events underlying anemia in acute rejection, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from four pediatric renal allograft recipients with acute rejection and concurrent anemia, using DNA microarrays containing 9000 human cDNA clones (representing 7469 unique genes). In these anemic rejecting patients, an 'erythropoiesis cluster' of 11 down-regulated genes was identified, involved in hemoglobin transcription and synthesis, iron and folate binding and transport. Additionally, some alloimmune response genes were simultaneously down-regulated. An independent data set of 36 PBL samples, some with acute rejection and some with concurrence of acute rejection and anemia, were analyzed to support a possible association between acute rejection and anemia. In conclusion, analysis using DNA microarrays has identified a cluster of genes related to hemoglobin synthesis and/or erythropoeisis that was altered in kidneys with renal allograft rejection compared with normal kidneys. The possible relationship between alterations in the expression of this cluster, reduced renal function, the alloimmune process itself, and other influences on the renal transplant awaits further analysis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mei-Sze Chua
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, CCSR, Stanford CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|