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Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant and common tumor. Many biomarkers have been identified for HCC. However, the available ones are not accurate enough in term of prognostic value and new markers are needed for the prognosis of this disease. Sirtuins are NAD(+)-dependent histone deacetylases involved in many biological processes of cancers, consisting of family members SIRT1-SIRT7. However, the prognostic value of the SIRTs in HCC remains largely unknown. Methods: Differential expression of SIRTs and survival analysis were assessed in patients with HCC using Oncomine and UALCAN databases. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used for pathway analysis. Metascape software was used to construct gene ontologies, metabolic pathways and protein-protein interaction networks. Moreover, a HCC murine model was used to validate the expression levels of SIRT3/6/7 expression. Results: Differential expression analysis suggested that SIRT2-7, not SIRT1, were expressed at higher levels in HCC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. These SIRTs showed some similarities, as revealed by GO and KEGG pathway. Higher SIRT3/6/7 mRNA expression levels were found to be significantly associated with shorter overall survival (OS) in HCC patients. Both SIRT3/6/7 mRNA and protein levels were highly expressed in HCC. In addition, over-expression of SIRT3/6/7 was associated with tumor stage and grade in HCC patients. Univariate analysis showed that SIRT 6/7 expressions were linked to a shorter OS of HCC patients. Multivariate analysis showed that SIRT7 levels were independently associated with a significantly shorter OS in HCC patients. Conclusion: Differentially expressed SIRT3/6/7 were significantly associated with tumor stage, grade and OS in HCC patients. In addition, SIRT7 were independently associated with a significantly shorter OS in HCC patients. Thus, SIRT3/6/7 can be used as prognostic biomarkers to predict the survival of HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive malignancy that accounts for 5– 10% of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. MiRNA-223-3p has been demonstrated to be down-regulated in MCL and is a useful prognostic factor. However, little is known about underlying molecular mechanism of miRNA-233-3p in MCL. Methods: The expression levels of miRNA-223-3p and CHUK mRNA in MCL cells were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The effects of miRNA-223-3p/CHUK overexpression/knockdown on MCL cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured by CCK-8 assay and annexin V PE/7-AAD-based flow cytometry/TUNEL assay, respectively. A nude mouse subcutaneous xenograft model was used to further evaluate the potential effects in vivo. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the inhibitory effect of miRNA-223-3p on CHUK. Furthermore, the regulatory function of miRNA-223-3p on the CHUK/NF-ƘB2 axis was assessed by RT-qPCR, western blot and immunofluorescence. Results: In the present study, miRNA-223-3p overexpression inhibited proliferation and accelerated apoptosis of MCL cells in vitro and in vivo. The results of Luciferase reporter assay showed that CHUK was a direct target of miRNA-223-3p in HEK293T cells. Furthermore, the results of RT-qPCR, western blot confirmed that CHUK was targeted and negatively regulated by miRNA-223-3p for repressing NF-ƘB2 pathway activation in MCL cells. Importantly, CHUK overexpression promoted proliferation and suppressed apoptosis of MCL cells, whereas CHUK knockdown reversed down-regulated miRNA-223-3p -accelerated cell proliferation in vitro. Conclusion: In conclusion, miRNA-223-3p affects MCL development by regulating the CHUK/NF-ƘB2 signaling pathway, which is crucial to provide a novel therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: PTC is not generally considered a lethal disease, but prone to recurrence as the prognosis. Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is an important factor that affects the prognosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). It is crucial to find biomarkers to identify the combination of HT with PTC and to predict the prognosis. Methods: RNASeq data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of PTC with HT via the edgeR package of R software version 3.3.0. Also, the DEGs were applied to the DAVID web-based tool to determine the enrichment of gene functions via Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and to identify associated pathways in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. By constructing protein interaction networks within Cytoscape software, we screened candidate genes and explored possible relationships with the clinical phenotype of PTC. Finally, additional thyroid tissue samples were collected to verify the results above. Results: After analyzing the RNA-Seq data of PTC patients from the Cancer Genomic Atlas, 497 differentially expressed PTC genes were found to be associated with HT, of which protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type C (PTPRC), KIT, and COL1A1 were associated with tumor size and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Verification of these results with another 30 thyroid tissues of clinical PTC patients revealed that the expression level of PTPRC in the PTC with HT group was higher than that in the PTC without HT group (p < 0.05) and the ROC curve showed a good discrimination (area under the curve = 0.846). However, the correlation with the clinical phenotype was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Discussion: These data suggest that upregulation of PTPRC enhances the incidence of HT associated with PTC and is also predictive of a poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease with a worse prognosis. However, current therapies have rarely improved the outcome of patients with TNBC. Here we sought to identify novel biomarkers or targets for TNBC. Materials and methods: Patients GSE76275 clinic traits and their corresponding mRNA profiles for 198 TNBC and 67 non-TNBC were obtained from the GEO database. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of the GSE76275 keyed out hub genes, and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified with the cut-off of adjusted P (adj. P) <0.01 and |log2 fold-change (FC)| > 1.5. The hub - DEGs overlapping genes, as key genes, were considered for further study using Kaplan-Meier plotter online analysis. Subsequently, Breast Cancer Gene-Expression Miner v4.0 and tissue microarray analysis were applied to determine the transcriptional and translational levels of every key gene. Following plasmid transfection for overexpression, the proliferation of TNBC cells was determined by CCK8 and colony formation assay. Moreover, xenograft tumor models were canvassed to investigate their effect upon in vivo tumor growth. Results: Four genes (SIDT1, ANKRD30A, GPR160, and CA12) were found to be associated with relapse-free survival (RFS) in TNBC through WGCNA and DEGs integrated analysis. Patients with a higher level of SIDT1 had significantly better RFS compared to those with lower levels. The transcriptional and translational levels of SIDT1 were validated as downregulated in patients with triple-negative status, negative estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Furthermore, SIDT1 inhibited proliferation of breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468) and xenograft studies demonstrated that SIDT1 can suppress tumor growth in vivo. Conclusion: This study suggests that SIDT1 may play a crucial role in TNBC progression and has the potential as a prognostic biomarker of TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The oncogenicity of neural precursor cell-expressed developmentally down-regulated 9 (NEDD9) has been demonstrated in multiple cancer types. However, the prognostic value of NEDD9 in some solid cancers remains controversial. Thus, this meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between NEDD9 expression survival rates in solid tumors. Method: Our meta-analysis included studies searched from various search engines with specific inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. Combined HRs for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) or progression-free survival (PFS) or recurrence-free survival (RFS) or cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed using fixed-effects and random-effects models. The source of heterogeneity was identified by subgroup analysis. Additionally, publication bias was assessed using funnel plot and Egger's regression asymmetry test. Result: Eighteen studies with a total of 2,476 patients were retrieved for analysis. Pooled HRs and 95% CIs were calculated. Both OS (HR=1.82; 95% CI: 1.43–2.31) and DFS/PFS/RFS/CSS (HR=2.54; 95% CI: 1.93–3.33) indicated that NEDD9 overexpression is associated with poor OS in cancer patients with solid tumors. Conclusion: NEDD9 overexpression might be a potential marker to predict prognosis in solid cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has one of the highest mortality rates among cancers worldwide, with a poor prognosis. Previous studies have reported that melittin, an active component of apitoxin, exerts anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects via vascular endothelial growth factor or FoxO1. Methods: CCK8, flow cytometry assay and Western blotting were performed to evaluate the effect of melittin on NSCLC. Results: The present study demonstrates that melittin activated caspase-2 by inhibiting miR-183 expression and, thus, induced NSCLC apoptosis in both NCI-H441 cancer cell line assays and an in vivo xenograft model. The results of the cell-based assays showed that melittin (2 µg/mL) robustly suppressed miR-183 expression level and resulted in decreased invasion and migration abilities of NCI-H441 cells. Additionally, a flow cytometry assay and Western blotting showed that melittin induced NSCLC NCI-H441 cell apoptosis along with significant elevation of caspase-2 and Bax, which are regulators of cell apoptosis, and reduced Bcl-2 protein expression compared with dimethyl sulfoxide control. Furthermore, subcutaneous injection of melittin (5 mg/kg) significantly suppressed NSCLC tumor growth compared with vehicle group tumors, determined through tumor size and weight. Conclusion: Taken together, the aforementioned findings contribute to identification of a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of NSCLC, in patients diagnosed with a high expression of miR-183. Moreover, this article provides solid evidence for the inhibitory effect of melittin on NSCLC cancer cell growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) is considered a putative tumor stem cell (TSC) marker and a promising therapeutic target, as DCLK1+ progeny cells exhibit high expres-sion in tumors. However, the biological function of DCLK1+ cells in tumorigenesis and tumor progression remains unclear. Materials and methods: We generated rabbit monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against DCLK1, DCLK1-42, and DCLK1-87 mAbs, using a novel chip-based immunospot array assay on a chip system. First, the specificity of two mAbs to DCLK1 was confirmed by Western blot, which were bound to DCLK1-long in normal colon cells and to DCLK1-short in a cancer cell line as well as colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Results: Precise localization analysis using immunofluorescence revealed that both mAbs had cytoplasmic signal and exhibited a high degree of overlap with microtubules. Furthermore, bacterial display technology indicated that the antigenic epitope region of DCLK1-87 mAb was consistent with that of a commercial anti-DCLK1 polyclonal antibody. In addition, DCLK1-42 mAb has the common polyclonal antibody characteristic of binding to more than one site on DCLK1. By immunohistochemistry, it was found that DCLK1-87 mAb was more specific for DCLK1+ cell labeling than a commercial anti-DCLK1 polyclonal antibody. DCLK1 labeled with DCLK1-87 mAb might be a potential TSC marker because the tissue expression site covers the ALDH1 area in CRC tissues. Finally, we analyzed 100 pairs of cancer tissues and matching paracancerous tissue samples from patients with CRC who received 100 months of follow-up with the DCLK1-87 mAb. The results showed that patients with high DCLK1 expression exhibited a longer survival time than that of patients with low DCLK1 expression (P=0.0029). Discussion: Our results indicated that we successfully generated an efficient tool for the precise detection of DCLK1+ cells in cancer tissues. Moreover, we found that high DCLK1 expression in CRC patients appears to play a protective role against tumor progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths, with limited improvement in its clinical outcome worldwide. Aberrant mucin-type O-glycosylation is a critical event widespread in the development of GC. Polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (GALNTs) regulate the initial step and determine the sites of mucin-type O-glycoprotein biosynthesis. GALNT6 has considerable potential as a biomarker in various cancers. The roles of GALNT6 in GC were analyzed, and the results showed that GALNT6 expression markedly increased in GC tissues compared with those in adjacent gastric tissues. High intratumoral GALNT6 density was associated with the clinicopathological parameters of TNM stage and distant metastasis. GALNT6 was identified as an independent prognosticator for the poor prognosis of GC patients. Moreover, the high expression level of GALNT6 was significantly associated with the low expression levels of E-cadherin and β-catenin and the high expression levels of MMP9. These findings indicated that GALNT6 could provide new insights into the characterization of GC as well as contribute to the development of an efficient prognostic indicator and novel therapeutic modalities for GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: HER2 overexpression is associated with aggressive phenotypes in breast cancer, including increased tumor proliferation, greater invasiveness, and reduced overall survival. The overall response rate to HER2-targeted therapies remains <30%. There is an urgent need for the identification of efficient markers to predict patients with a poor prognosis. This study was designed to investigate the correlation between EphB4 and EphrinB2 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of HER2-positive breast cancer. Materials and methods: A total of 111 primary HER2-positive breast cancer patients were enrolled in this study (diagnosed since December 2005 to November 2010 from the Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University). The protein expression of EphB4 and EphrinB2 was examined by immunohistochemistry using paraffin-embedded tumor tissues. Results: There was a significant correlation between EphB4 and EphrinB2 expression (P=0.013, r=0.255). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the prognosis of patients with a high expression of both EphB4 and EphrinB2 was significantly worse than the prognosis of patients with either EphB4 or EphrinB2 expression and patients with negative expression (hazard ratio [HR] =1.935, P=0.0224). However, high expression of EphB4 or EphrinB2 alone was not an independent prognostic factor to predict worse overall survival. To summarize, HER2-positive breast cancer patients with overexpression of both EphB4 and EphrinB2 were associated with the worst prognosis. Conclusion: High expression of EphB4 and EphrinB2 correlated with poor overall survival, which can serve as an independent prognostic indicator in primary HER2-positive breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prognostic significance of claudin 4 (CLDN4) in patients with gastric cancer (GC) is controversial. This meta-analysis aims to assess the correlation between CLDN4 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and assess the prognostic significance of CLDN4 in GC. Methods: We searched the PubMed and Embase databases. We performed the meta-analysis with odds ratio (OR), hazard ratio (HR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) as effect values. Results: Fourteen studies containing 2,106 patients with GC were analyzed. The overall analysis showed that CLDN4 expression was associated with increasing pT category, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis in patients with GC (pT3-T4 vs pT1-T2: OR =1.56, 95% CI =1.13-2.16; P<0.01; large tumor size vs small tumor size: OR =1.64, 95% CI =1.15-2.34; P<0.01; positive lymph node metastasis vs negative lymph node metastasis: OR =1.49, 95% CI =1.12-1.97; P<0.01). CLDN4 expression was associated with histological differentiation (differentiated type vs undifferentiated type: OR =2.90, 95% CI =1.32-6.37; P=0.01; Lauren intestinal type vs diffuse type: OR =3.51,95% CI =1.48-8.28; P<0.01). CLDN4 expression was also strongly associated with sex and age. This meta-analysis found no significant association between CLDN4 expression and prognosis for overall survival in patients with GC (HR =0.74, 95% CI =0.43-1.27; P=0.28). Conclusion: Present study indicates that aberrant CLDN4 expression plays an important role in the clinicopathological characteristics of GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]