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Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Dysregulation of protein synthesis plays a major role in carcinogenesis, a process regulated at multiple levels, including translation of mRNA into proteins. Ribosome assembly requires correct association of ribosome subunits, which is ensured by eukaryotic translation initiation factors (eIFs). eIFs have become targets in cancer therapy studies, and promising data on eIF6 in various cancer entities have been reported. Therefore, we hypothesised that eIF6 represents a crossroad for pulmonary carcinogenesis. High levels of eIF6 are associated with shorter patient overall survival in adenocarcinoma (ADC), but not in squamous cell carcinoma (SQC) of the lung. We demonstrate significantly higher protein expression of eIF6 in ADC and SQC than in healthy lung tissue based on immunohistochemical data from tissue microarrays (TMAs) and on fresh frozen lung tissue. Depletion of eIF6 in ADC and SQC lung cancer cell lines inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. Knockdown of eIF6 led to pre-rRNA processing and ribosomal 60S maturation defects. Our data indicate that eIF6 is upregulated in NSCLC, suggesting an important contribution of eIF6 to the development and progression of NSCLC and a potential for new treatment strategies against NSCLC., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: miR-196b-5p has been previously implicated in malignant transformation; however, its role in colorectal cancer has not been fully explored. In this study, we examine the clinical and biological relevance of miR-196b-5p, and the molecular pathways regulated by miR-196b-5p in colorectal cancer. Experimental Design: miR-196b-5p expression was quantitated by qRT-PCR in 2 independent cohorts composed of 292 patients with colorectal cancer in total, to explore its biomarker potential. Transient and stable gain- and loss-of-function experiments were conducted in a panel of colorectal cancer cell lines and mice, to evaluate the impact of miR-196b-5p on proliferation, chemosensitivity, migration/invasion, and metastases formation in vitro and in vivo The molecular pathways influenced by miR-196b-5p were characterized using whole transcriptome profiling, in silico target prediction tools, luciferase interaction assays, and phenocopy/rescue gene knockdown experiments. Results: Low miR-196b-5p expression was significantly associated with metastases and poor outcomes in 2 independent colorectal cancer patient cohorts ( P < 0.05, log-rank test). miR-196b-5p inhibition led to significantly increased colorectal cancer cell migration/invasion and metastases formation in mice, whereas ectopic overexpression showed the opposite phenotype. Molecular profiling and target confirmation identified an interaction between miR-196b-5p and HOXB7 and GALNT5, which in turn regulated colorectal cancer cell migration. Conclusions: The association of low levels of miR-196b-5p and poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer can be explained by its influence on cancer cell migration and metastases formation. miR-196b-5p has an impact on colorectal cancer progression pathways through direct interaction with genes involved in cancer cell migration. Clin Cancer Res; 23(17); 5255-66. ©2017 AACR ., (©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are master regulators of drug resistance and have been previously proposed as potential biomarkers for the prediction of therapeutic response in colorectal cancer (CRC). Sorafenib, a multi-kinase inhibitor which has been approved for the treatment of liver, renal and thyroid cancer, is currently being studied as a monotherapy in selected molecular subtypes or in combination with other drugs in metastatic CRC. In this study, we explored sorafenib-induced cellular effects in Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog olog (KRAS) wild-type and KRAS-mutated CRC cell lines (Caco-2 and HRT-18), and finally profiled expression changes of specific miRNAs within the miRNome (>1000 human miRNAs) after exposure to sorafenib. Overall, sorafenib induced a time- and dose-dependent growth-inhibitory effect through S-phase cell cycle arrest in KRAS wild-type and KRAS-mutated CRC cells. In HRT-18 cells, two human miRNAs (hsa-miR-597 and hsa-miR-720) and two small RNAs (SNORD 13 and hsa-miR-3182) were identified as specifically sorafenib-induced. In Caco-2 cells, nine human miRNAs (hsa-miR-3142, hsa-miR-20a, hsa-miR-4301, hsa-miR-1290, hsa-miR-4286, hsa-miR-3182, hsa-miR-3142, hsa-miR-1246 and hsa-miR-720) were identified to be differentially regulated post sorafenib treatment. In conclusion, we confirmed sorafenib as a potential anti-neoplastic treatment strategy for CRC cells by demonstrating a growth-inhibitory and cell cycle-arresting effect of this drug. Changes in the miRNome indicate that some specific miRNAs might be relevant as indicators for sorafenib response, drug resistance and potential targets for combinatorial miRNA-based drug strategies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.