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Multidimensional interactions of multiple factors are more important in promoting cancer initiation. Gene‐gene interactions between protein‐coding genes have been paid great attention, while rare studies refer to the interactions between encoding and noncoding genes. Our research group previously found encoding gene PGC polymorphisms could affect the susceptibility to atrophic gastritis (AG) and gastric cancer (GC). Interestingly, several SNPs in long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) genes, just adjacent to PGC, were found to be associated with AG risk and GC prognosis afterward. This study aims to explore the SNP interactions between PGC and its neighbor lncRNAs on the risk of AG and GC. Genotyping for seven PGC SNPs and seven lncRNA SNPs was conducted using Sequenom MassARRAY platform in a total of 2228 northern Chinese subjects, including 536 GC cases, 810 AG cases, and 882 controls. We found 15 pairwise PGC‐lncRNAs SNPs had interactions: Five pairs were associated with AG risk, and ten pairs were associated with GC risk. Moreover, two GC‐related interactions PGC rs6939861 with lnc‐C6orf‐132‐1 rs7749023 and rs7747696 survived the Bonferroni correction (Pcorrection = 0.049 and 0.007, respectively). Several combinations showed obvious epistasis and cumulative effects on disease risk. Some three‐way interactions of SNPs with smoking and drinking could also be observed. Besides, a few interacting SNPs showed correlations with the expression levels of PGC protein and related lncRNAs in serum. Our study would provide research clues for further screening combination biomarkers uniting both protein‐coding and noncoding genes with the potential in prediction of the susceptibility to GC and its precursor. In this study, we explored the SNP interactions between PGC and its neighbor lncRNAs on the risk of AG and GC, the modifying effects of environmental factors such as smoking, drinking, and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, and the influence of SNP interactions on the expression of PGC protein and related lncRNAs. Our study aims to provide research clues for the identification of combination biomarkers uniting both protein‐coding and noncoding genes with the potential in risk prediction of GC and its precursor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As an indispensable factor in DNA damage recognition step of nucleotide excision repair, XPA interacts with a series of proteins to initiate repair process. The expression characteristics of XPA in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its influence on CRC prognosis remain elusive. Tissue specimens of CRC and nontumor adjacent tissues from 283 patients were collected. XPA protein expressions were detected by immunohistochemistry staining. Nonparametric test was used to investigate the difference of XPA expression between CRC and nontumor adjacent tissues, as well as the correlation between XPA expression and clinicopathological parameters of CRC. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were applied to estimate the relationship between XPA expression and CRC prognosis. Meanwhile, we analyzed TCGA data to investigate the relation between XPA mRNA expression and survival of CRC. XPA protein expression was significantly decreased in CRC tissues compared with nontumor adjacent tissues (P = 0.001). Subgroup analysis indicated consistently significant down‐regulation of XPA in CRC tissues in age > 60 (P = 0.026), age ≤ 60 (P = 0.008), colon cancer (P = 0.009), and rectal cancer (P = 0.015) patients and males (P = 0.004). For clinicopathological parameters, CRC patients with drinking habits revealed XPA overexpression than nondrinkers (P = 0.032). For prognosis, CRC patients with high XPA protein expression had longer overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.62, 95%CI: 0.39–0.97, P = 0.037). Stratified analysis suggested a better prognosis in relation to high XPA protein expression in patients over 60 years (adjusted HR = 0.48, P = 0.021), with rectal cancer (HR = 0.56, P = 0.037), without distant metastasis (HR = 0.58, P = 0.033), without tumor deposits (HR = 0.40, P = 0.006; adjusted HR = 0.44, P = 0.028), and with tumor diameter over 4 cm (HR = 0.49, P = 0.023). DNA repair protein XPA is significantly decreased in colorectal cancer tissues than in adjacent nontumor tissues. High expression of XPA protein showed significant relationship with better survival of CRC, especially rectal cancer. XPA might be a novel biomarker but might not be an independent factor to predict prognosis of CRC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the regulation of a variety of cellular processes, including cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis and carcinogenesis. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which miR-148b acts as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer. The expression of miR-148b was significantly downregulated in 96 pairs of human colorectal cancer tissues ( p < 0.0001) and three cell lines ( p < 0.01) compared with non-tumor adjacent tissues by quantitative real-time PCR. The results of in situ hybridization highlighted that miR-148b was important in the cancer transformation process. Using statistical analysis, we found that the expression level of miR-148b was associated with tumor size ( p = 0.033) in colorectal cancer patients. Moreover, overexpression of miR-148b in HCT-116 and HT-29 cells could inhibit cell proliferation in vitro and suppress tumorigenicity in vivo. Importantly, the result of luciferase activity assay and western blot showed that the cholecystokinin-2 receptor gene (CCK2R) was a target of miR-148b and was downregulated by miR-148b at the translational level. Then, we used siRNA, radioimmunoassay and ELISA to demonstrate that miR-148b might have an effect on cell proliferation by regulating the expression of CCK2R which functioned depending on the gastrin in colorectal cancer. Taken together, our data provides the first evidences that miR-148b acts as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer and should be further evaluated as a biomarker and therapeutic tool against colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]