Blood circulating exosomes carrying microRNA-423-5p regulates cell progression in prostate cancer via targeting FRMD3

This study explored the role of circulating exosomal microRNA-423-5p in the progression of PCa and its molecular mechanism. First, based on the microarray analysis, microRNA-423-5p was at a high expression level in PCa peripheral blood samples. It was demonstrated that microRNA-423-5p expression in serum exosomes of PCa patients was notably higher than that in healthy people as revealed by qRT-PCR. Further studies indicated that overexpressing microRNA-423-5p promoted cell progression of PCa. Microarray analysis and luciferase gene reporter assay illustrated that FRMD3 was targeted by microRNA-423-5p, and its expression was down-regulated by microRNA-423-5p. While FEMD3 knockdown would reverse the repressive effect of silencing microRNA-423-5p on PCa cell functions. In addition, it was exhibited that exosomes carrying microRNA-423-5p could internalize into PCa cells by labeling and tracing exosomes. Cell function assays and animal experiments manifested those exosomes carrying microRNA-423-5p could enhance PCa cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vivo. In conclusion, this study indicated that blood circulating exosomal microRNA-423-5p played important roles in PCa cell functions, and illustrated the molecular mechanism of microRNA-423-5p as an oncogene in PCa.

Roles of Cadherin2 in Thyroid Cancer

Background

The majority of drug-resistant cells in Thyroid cancer (THCA) tend to exhibit an Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype, and abnormal expression of the cell adhesion molecule Cadherin2 (CDH2) is a hallmark of EMT. However, the roles of CDH2 in THCA and its underlying mechanisms are unknown.

Methods

We analyzed the CDH2 expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and screened for genes positively associated with CDH2. Small interfering RNA and cell transfection were used for knocking down CDH2 in THCA cells, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and immunofluorescence to detect cell proliferation. Binding miRNAs of CDH2 and CDH2-associated genes were predicted using the Encyclopedia of RNA Interactomes (ENCORI) database. The expression of genes in clinical THCA tissues was investigated from the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database and validated by qRT-PCR. We conducted the cell functions pathways of CDH2 and CDH2-associated gene FRMD3 by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. We also showed the correlation between CDH2 and FRMD3 expression and tumor immune infiltration.

Results

The expression of CDH2 was significantly higher in THCA tumor tissues compared to normal tissues. Moreover, there were strongly associations of CDH2 expression with the stages T and N. Cellular function assays showed that CDH2 exerted its growth-promoting activity of THCA. To better understand how CDH2 was regulated in THCA, we sought genes associated with CDH2. Correlation analysis revealed that there were negative correlations between genes (CDH2, FRMD3) and miRNAs (hsa-miR-410-3p, hsa-miR-411-5p, hsa-miR-299-5p). Moreover, CDH2 and FRMD3 expression were significantly higher in tumor tissues than in normal tissues, while hsa-miR-410-3p, hsa-miR-411-5p and hsa-miR-299-5p were significantly decreased in tumor tissues compared with normal tissues in THCA. GO and KEEG results showed that CDH2 and FRMD3 were strongly associated with immune-related functions. High expression of CDH2 and FRMD3 was linked to the suppression of immune cells. There were strong negativity correlations between CDH2, FRMD3 and T-cell exhaustion factors.

Conclusion

Our data indicated that CDH2 and CDH2-related gene FRMD3 might have the critical effects on altering tumors becoming ‘cold tumors’ eventually leading to immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance.

Hsa-miR-3651 could serve as a novel predictor for in-breast recurrence via FRMD3

Background

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs with pivotal regulatory functions in multiple cellular processes. Their significance as molecular predictors for breast cancer was demonstrated in the past 15 years. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of hsa-miR-3651 for predicting of local control (LC) in early breast cancer.

Results

By means of high-throughput technology, hsa-miR-3651 was found to be differentially expressed between patients who experienced local relapse compared to those without (N  =  23; p  =  0.0035). This result could be validated in an independent cohort of 87 patients using RT-qPCR (p  <  0.0005). In a second analysis step with a chip-based microarray containing 70,523 probes of potential target molecules, FERM domain protein 3 (FRMD3) was found to be the most down-regulated protein (N  =  21; p  =  0.0016). Computational analysis employing different prediction algorithms revealed FRMD3 as a likely downstream target of hsa-miR-3651 with an 8mer binding site between the two molecules. This could be validated in an independent patient set (N  =  20, p  =  0.134).

Conclusion

The current study revealed that hsa-miR-3651 is a predictor of LC in early breast cancer via its putative target protein FRMD3. Since microRNAs interfere in multiple pathways, the results of this hypothesis generating study may contribute to the development of tailored therapies for breast cancer in the future.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12282-021-01308-y.

Association of single-nucleotide polymorphism on chromosome 9 and ischemic stroke in Heilongjiang province in China

There is a significant correlation between ischemic stroke (IS) and chromosome 9. However, its status was uncertain in China's cold regions. 1920 IS patients, and 1920 healthy individuals were included in the study. Blood samples were collected. The association of SNPs with IS was evaluated by Sequenom, and logistic regression models adjusted for known risk factors of IS were constructed to assess the SNPs' associations in cases and controls. We found rs1333040 and rs2383207 were associated with IS, compared with primitive genotypes. The genotype CT of rs7027526 has a protective role during IS development, while the effect of the genotype TT is still not clear. These results changed after stratification by age and sex. In conclusion, rs1333040 and rs2383207 SNPs in CDKN2BAS are associated with ischemic stroke in the Chinese Han population. This study confirms the association between 9p21.3 and IS.

High FRMD3 expression is prognostic for worse survival in rectal cancer patients treated with CCRT

BACKGROUND

Rectal cancer patients can conceivably obtain relief from neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for downstaging before resection, but the stratification of risk and clinical outcomes remains challenging. Therefore, identifying effective predictive biomarkers offers clinicians the opportunity to individually tailor early interventions, which would help optimize therapy.

METHODS

Using a public rectal cancer transcriptome dataset (GSE35452), we focused on cytoskeletal protein binding (GO: 0008092)-related genes and identified FERM domain containing 3 (FRMD3) as the most significant differentially expressed gene associated with CCRT resistance. We gathered 172 tumor samples from rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant CCRT accompanied by curative resection and estimated the expression level of FRMD3 using immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

The results revealed that high FRMD3 immunoexpression was remarkably associated with advanced pre-CCRT and post-CCRT tumor status (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001), pre-CCRT and post-CCRT lymph node metastasis (both p < 0.001), more perineurial invasion (p = 0.023), and a smaller extent of tumor regression (p = 0.018). High FRMD3 immunoexpression was remarkably correlated with inferior disease-specific survival (DSS) (p = 0.0001), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) (p = 0.0003), and metastasis-free survival (MeFS) (p = 0.0023) at the univariate level. Furthermore, in multivariate analysis, high FRMD3 immunoexpression remained independently predictive of inferior DSS (p = 0.002), LRFS (p = 0.005), and MeFS (p = 0.015).

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that high FRMD3 expression is related to advanced clinicopathological features and inferior therapeutic responses in rectal cancer patients treated with CCRT, validating the promising prognostic value of FRMD3 expression.