Semaphorin 4D and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α overexpression is related to prognosis in colorectal carcinoma

AIM:To investigate semaphorin 4D(Sema4D)and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α)expression in colorectal carcinoma and evaluate their clinicopathological and prognostic significance.METHODS:Eighty-six curatively resected colorectal carcinoma patients at different stages of disease were randomly selected from the group of patients who underwent surgery,and none of them received preoperative radiochemotherapy.Normal proximal adjacent bowel tissue,which served as an internal control,was obtained from 52 randomly selected patients.Immunohistochemistry was performed to analyze the expression of Sema4D and the tumor angiogenesisrelated protein HIF-1αin normal colorectal tissues and colorectal carcinoma tissues.The relationships between the expression and clinical characters and prognosis were analyzed.RESULTS:HIF-1αand Sema4D were positively expressed in 58%and 60%of colorectal carcinoma tissues,respectively.Significantly lower expression levels were observed in normal mucosa(8%and 12%,respectively).HIF-1αand Sema4D expression was closely correlated with histological tumor type,tumornode-metastasis(TNM)stage,and lymphatic metastasis(P<0.05),but not with age or tumor size(P>0.05).HIF-1αand Sema4D protein expression was significantly correlated with prognosis of colorectal carcinoma,as determined by Spearman rank correlation analysis(r=0.567;P<0.01).Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that only Sema4D expression played a significant role in predicting patient prognosis(P<0.05).CONCLUSION:These findings suggest that HIF-1αand Sema4D expression correlates with histological tumor type,TNM stage,and lymphatic metastasis in colorectal carcinoma and that Sema4D is a prognostic indicator of colorectal carcinoma.

LncRNA cancer susceptibility 20 regulates the metastasis of human gastric cancer cells via the miR-143-5p/MEMO1 molecular axis

BACKGROUND Gastric cancer(GC)is considered as one of the most widespread malignancies.Emerging evidence has shown that lncRNAs can function as important oncogenes or tumor suppressors during GC progression.AIM To investigate the effect and mechanism of lncRNA cancer susceptibility 20(CASC20)in the proliferation and metastasis of GC cells.METHODS Data mining and clinical samples were used to evaluate the expression of CASC20 in GC and adjacent tissues.CASC20 was down-regulated in GC cells by shortinterfering RNA.Cell proliferation was evaluated by CCK-8 assay,and cell migration and invasion were detected by wound healing and Transwell assays.The expressions of proteins related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition were detected by western blot assay.RESULTS The expression of CASC20 was increased in GC tumor tissues and various GC cell lines.High CASC20 expression was correlated with a high risk of lymphatic metastasis and poor prognosis in GC patients.In vitro assays showed that silencing CASC20 reduced cell proliferation,migration,and invasion in GC cells.Mechanistic studies revealed that CASC20 exhibits oncogenic functions by regulating MEMO1 expression through competitive endogenous binding to miR-143-5p,leading to induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition.CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that CASC20 serves as a tumor promoter by regulating metastasis in GC via the miR-143-5p/MEMO1 axis.CASC20 may be a potential therapeutic target for GC.