Background:Melatonin,a natural hormone secreted by the pineal gland,has been reported to exhibit antitumor properties through diverse mechanisms of action.However,the oncostatic function of melatonin on esophageal squ...Background:Melatonin,a natural hormone secreted by the pineal gland,has been reported to exhibit antitumor properties through diverse mechanisms of action.However,the oncostatic function of melatonin on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) remains elusive.This study was conducted to investigate the potential effect and underlying molecular mechanism of melatonin as single anticancer agent against ESCC cells.Methods:ESCC cell lines treated with or without melatonin were used in this study.In vitro colony formation and 5-Ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine(EdU) incorporation assays,and nude mice tumor xenograft model were used to confirm the proliferative capacities of ESCC cells.RNA-seq,qPCR,Western blotting,recombinant lentivirus-mediated target gene overexpression or knockdown,plasmids transfection and co-IP were applied to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism by which melatonin inhibited ESCC cell growth.IHC staining on ESCC tissue microarray and further survival analyses were performed to explore the relationship between target genes’ expression and prognosis of ESCC.Results:Melatonin treatment dose-dependently inhibited the proliferative ability and the expression of histone deacetylase 7(HDAC7),c-Myc and ubiquitin-specific peptidase 10(USP10) in ESCC cells(P<0.05).The expressions of HDAC7,c-Myc and USP10 in tumors were significantly higher than the paired normal tissues from 148 ESCC patients(P<0.001).Then,the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis suggested that ESCC patients with high HDAC7,c-Myc or USP10levels predicted worse overall survival(log-rank P<0.001).Co-IP and Western blotting further revealed that HDAC7physically deacetylated and activated β-catenin thus promoting downstream target c-Myc gene transcription.Notably,our mechanistic study validated that HDAC7/β-catenin/c-Myc could form the positive feedback loop to enhance ESCC cell growth,and USP10 could deubiquitinate and stabilize HDAC7 protein in the ESCC cells.Additionally,we verified that inhibition of the HDAC7/β-catenin/c-Myc axis and USP10/HDAC7 pathway mediated the anti-proliferative action of melatonin on ESCC cells.Conclusions:Our findings elucidate that melatonin mitigates the HDAC7/β-catenin/c-Myc positive feedback loop and inhibits the USP10-maintained HDAC7 protein stability thus suppressing ESCC cell growth,and provides the reference for identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ESCC.展开更多
Objective:Increasing evidence has demonstrated that ZNF292 plays a suppressive role in cancer,however,little is known about its function and exact mechanism in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods:Bioinfor...Objective:Increasing evidence has demonstrated that ZNF292 plays a suppressive role in cancer,however,little is known about its function and exact mechanism in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods:Bioinformatic analysis and immunohistochemistry(IHC)were performed to analyze the role of ZNF292 in affecting the prognosis of ESCC.Cell proliferation and colony formation ability assays were performed to analyze cell growth after inferring the expression of ZNF292.Flow cytometry was used to analyze changes in the cell cycle upon the depletion of ZNF292.Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR)and western blot analysis were used to determine the alteration of cell cycle related RNAs and proteins after knocking down ZNF292.MG-132,cycloheximide(CHX)treatment experiments were performed to analyze the change and half-life time of P27 after knockdown of ZNF292.Chromatin immunoprecipitation(Ch IP)and luciferase reporter assays were used to analyze the transcriptional regulation of SKP2 by ZNF292.Results:We report that low expression of ZNF292 is associated with poor prognosis,and ZNF292 emerges to be highly expressed in adjacent and normal tissues rather than tumor tissues in ESCC.Knockdown of ZNF292 significantly boosts cell growth and S phase entry in ESCC cells.ZNF292 depletion will decrease the expression and half-life time of P27,while knockdown of SKP2 will result in elevated expression of P27.ZNF292 can bind to the promoter region of SKP2,and knockdown of ZNF292 will boost the expression of SKP2.Conclusions:Knockdown of ZNF292 mediates G1/S cell cycle procession by activating SKP2/P27 signaling in ESCC cells.ZNF292 knockdown promotes SKP2 expression at the transcriptional level,thereby boosting P27 ubiquitin-degradation,and eventually facilitating the S phase entrance.展开更多
Objective： The aim of the study was to investigate the association of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） genetic susceptibility with the single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） rs679620 （-Lys45Glu-） in exon...Objective： The aim of the study was to investigate the association of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） genetic susceptibility with the single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） rs679620 （-Lys45Glu-） in exon 2 of the romp3 gene, and the population in high incidence region of Henan （China） was selected for exploring the mechanism by case-control study, Methods： The romp3 SNP was genotyped by PCR-RFLP analysis in total 605 cases of Henan population, in which there were 227 ESCC cases and 197 controls of An-yang in Henan plus 181 controls of emigrants in Hubei from Xi-chuan of Henan, China. Results： The statistic data showed that GIG and G/A genotype frequencies of SNP rs679620 were significantly different between the controls of emigrants of Xi-chuan in Hubei and controls of An-yang in Henan （P 〈 0.01） also the ESCC cases of An-yang in Henan （P 〈 0.01）, respectively. Conclusion： This study suggests that the SNP rs679620 （-Lys45Glu-） in exon 2 of the mmp3 gene might be associated with ESCC genetic susceptibility.展开更多
Objective To determine HPV infection status and expression of p16, cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2), Cyclin D1 and epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in ESCC patients of Pakistan. Methods 51 ESCC patients treated at Aga Kh...Objective To determine HPV infection status and expression of p16, cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2), Cyclin D1 and epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in ESCC patients of Pakistan. Methods 51 ESCC patients treated at Aga Khan University Hospital(AKUH) were included. HPV infection status was confirmed via PCR while the expression of the four biomarkers was determined using immunohistochemistry. The correlation of all markers with patient clinicopathological features as well as each other was analyzed. Results HPV infection status and p16 overexpression was found to be negative in all the patients while COX-2, Cyclin D1 and EGFR were overexpressed in 56.9%, 62.7% and 49.0% of the patients respectively. COX-2 showed a significant correlation with tumor invasion while EGFR was shown to be significantly correlated with histological grading and COX-2 expression. Conclusion COX-2 and EGFR can be used as prognostic markers. HPV does not seem to be a causative agent for ESCC in Pakistan.展开更多
Cellular senescence provides a protective barrier against tumorigenesis in precancerous or normal tissues upon distinct stressors.However,the detailed mechanisms by which tumor cells evade premature senescence to mali...Cellular senescence provides a protective barrier against tumorigenesis in precancerous or normal tissues upon distinct stressors.However,the detailed mechanisms by which tumor cells evade premature senescence to malignant progression remain largely elusive.Here we reported that RBM4 adversely impacted cellular senescence to favor glutamine-dependent survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)cells by dictating the activity of LKB1,a critical governor of cancer metabolism.The level of RBM4 was specifically elevated in ESCC compared to normal tissues,and RBM4 overexpression promoted the malignant phenotype.RBM4 contributed to overcome H-RAS-or doxorubicin-induced senescence,while its depletion caused P27-dependent senescence and proliferation arrest by activating LKB1-AMPK-mTOR cascade.Mechanistically,RBM4 competitively bound LKB1 to disrupt the LKB1/STRAD/MO25 heterotrimeric complex,subsequently recruiting the E3 ligase TRIM26 to LKB1,promoting LKB1 ubiquitination and degradation in nucleus.Therefore,such molecular process leads to bypassing senescence and sustaining cell proliferation through the activation of glutamine metabolism.Clinically,the ESCC patients with high RBM4 and low LKB1 have significantly worse overall survival than those with low RBM4 and high LKB1.The RBM4 high/LKB1 low expression confers increased sensitivity of ESCC cells to glutaminase inhibitor CB-839,providing a novel insight into mechanisms underlying the glutamine-dependency to improve the efficacy of glutamine inhibitors in ESCC therapeutics.展开更多
Objective:To explore and analyze the expression and clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF),hypoxia-inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α),and metabolic indicators in esophageal squamous cell carcinom...Objective:To explore and analyze the expression and clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF),hypoxia-inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α),and metabolic indicators in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods:Sixty ESCC patients admitted to the hospital from October 2021 to October 2023 were selected as the ESCC group.Sixty normal healthy patients from the same period were chosen as the control group.Their serum samples and tissue samples were collected.Metabolic indicators of all study subjects were obtained based on the basic biochemical results upon admission.RT-PCR was utilized to detect the expression of VEGF and HIF-1αin ESCC tissues.Results:The expression of VEGF and HIF-1αin the ESCC T3+T4 group was significantly higher than that of the carcinoma in situ(Tis)group,T1+T2 group,and control group.Furthermore,the expression of HIF-1αwas found to be related to the expression of VEGF,showing a significant correlation between the quantities.Significant differences in the levels of metabolic indicators were observed between the ESCC group and the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:Metabolic indicators are associated with the onset of ESCC in patients.Abnormal lipid metabolism plays a crucial role in the occurrence and development of tumors.The expression of VEGF and HIF-1αin ESCC tissues significantly correlates with the tumor stage,providing a new reference for the diagnosis and treatment of ESCC.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82103508, 81871866, 82173252, 81672996)the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2022JQ?862)。
文摘Background:Melatonin,a natural hormone secreted by the pineal gland,has been reported to exhibit antitumor properties through diverse mechanisms of action.However,the oncostatic function of melatonin on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) remains elusive.This study was conducted to investigate the potential effect and underlying molecular mechanism of melatonin as single anticancer agent against ESCC cells.Methods:ESCC cell lines treated with or without melatonin were used in this study.In vitro colony formation and 5-Ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine(EdU) incorporation assays,and nude mice tumor xenograft model were used to confirm the proliferative capacities of ESCC cells.RNA-seq,qPCR,Western blotting,recombinant lentivirus-mediated target gene overexpression or knockdown,plasmids transfection and co-IP were applied to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism by which melatonin inhibited ESCC cell growth.IHC staining on ESCC tissue microarray and further survival analyses were performed to explore the relationship between target genes’ expression and prognosis of ESCC.Results:Melatonin treatment dose-dependently inhibited the proliferative ability and the expression of histone deacetylase 7(HDAC7),c-Myc and ubiquitin-specific peptidase 10(USP10) in ESCC cells(P<0.05).The expressions of HDAC7,c-Myc and USP10 in tumors were significantly higher than the paired normal tissues from 148 ESCC patients(P<0.001).Then,the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis suggested that ESCC patients with high HDAC7,c-Myc or USP10levels predicted worse overall survival(log-rank P<0.001).Co-IP and Western blotting further revealed that HDAC7physically deacetylated and activated β-catenin thus promoting downstream target c-Myc gene transcription.Notably,our mechanistic study validated that HDAC7/β-catenin/c-Myc could form the positive feedback loop to enhance ESCC cell growth,and USP10 could deubiquitinate and stabilize HDAC7 protein in the ESCC cells.Additionally,we verified that inhibition of the HDAC7/β-catenin/c-Myc axis and USP10/HDAC7 pathway mediated the anti-proliferative action of melatonin on ESCC cells.Conclusions:Our findings elucidate that melatonin mitigates the HDAC7/β-catenin/c-Myc positive feedback loop and inhibits the USP10-maintained HDAC7 protein stability thus suppressing ESCC cell growth,and provides the reference for identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ESCC.
基金supported by the National Natural Fund of China(No.81988101,81830086 and 81972318)the Doctoral Innovation Fund of Peking Union Medical College(No.2018071011)。
文摘Objective:Increasing evidence has demonstrated that ZNF292 plays a suppressive role in cancer,however,little is known about its function and exact mechanism in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods:Bioinformatic analysis and immunohistochemistry(IHC)were performed to analyze the role of ZNF292 in affecting the prognosis of ESCC.Cell proliferation and colony formation ability assays were performed to analyze cell growth after inferring the expression of ZNF292.Flow cytometry was used to analyze changes in the cell cycle upon the depletion of ZNF292.Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR)and western blot analysis were used to determine the alteration of cell cycle related RNAs and proteins after knocking down ZNF292.MG-132,cycloheximide(CHX)treatment experiments were performed to analyze the change and half-life time of P27 after knockdown of ZNF292.Chromatin immunoprecipitation(Ch IP)and luciferase reporter assays were used to analyze the transcriptional regulation of SKP2 by ZNF292.Results:We report that low expression of ZNF292 is associated with poor prognosis,and ZNF292 emerges to be highly expressed in adjacent and normal tissues rather than tumor tissues in ESCC.Knockdown of ZNF292 significantly boosts cell growth and S phase entry in ESCC cells.ZNF292 depletion will decrease the expression and half-life time of P27,while knockdown of SKP2 will result in elevated expression of P27.ZNF292 can bind to the promoter region of SKP2,and knockdown of ZNF292 will boost the expression of SKP2.Conclusions:Knockdown of ZNF292 mediates G1/S cell cycle procession by activating SKP2/P27 signaling in ESCC cells.ZNF292 knockdown promotes SKP2 expression at the transcriptional level,thereby boosting P27 ubiquitin-degradation,and eventually facilitating the S phase entrance.
基金Supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences Foundation of State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China (No. 07ZN09)
文摘Objective： The aim of the study was to investigate the association of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） genetic susceptibility with the single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） rs679620 （-Lys45Glu-） in exon 2 of the romp3 gene, and the population in high incidence region of Henan （China） was selected for exploring the mechanism by case-control study, Methods： The romp3 SNP was genotyped by PCR-RFLP analysis in total 605 cases of Henan population, in which there were 227 ESCC cases and 197 controls of An-yang in Henan plus 181 controls of emigrants in Hubei from Xi-chuan of Henan, China. Results： The statistic data showed that GIG and G/A genotype frequencies of SNP rs679620 were significantly different between the controls of emigrants of Xi-chuan in Hubei and controls of An-yang in Henan （P 〈 0.01） also the ESCC cases of An-yang in Henan （P 〈 0.01）, respectively. Conclusion： This study suggests that the SNP rs679620 （-Lys45Glu-） in exon 2 of the mmp3 gene might be associated with ESCC genetic susceptibility.
基金supported by Seed Money Grant,Aga Khan University Hospital,awarded to Dr.Syed Muhammad Adnan Ali.Grant ID:80095
文摘Objective To determine HPV infection status and expression of p16, cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2), Cyclin D1 and epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in ESCC patients of Pakistan. Methods 51 ESCC patients treated at Aga Khan University Hospital(AKUH) were included. HPV infection status was confirmed via PCR while the expression of the four biomarkers was determined using immunohistochemistry. The correlation of all markers with patient clinicopathological features as well as each other was analyzed. Results HPV infection status and p16 overexpression was found to be negative in all the patients while COX-2, Cyclin D1 and EGFR were overexpressed in 56.9%, 62.7% and 49.0% of the patients respectively. COX-2 showed a significant correlation with tumor invasion while EGFR was shown to be significantly correlated with histological grading and COX-2 expression. Conclusion COX-2 and EGFR can be used as prognostic markers. HPV does not seem to be a causative agent for ESCC in Pakistan.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82225034,81830088 to Y.W.,82103148 to Y.Q.81872247 to W.Z.)+4 种基金the Department of Science and Technology of Liaoning Province (2021JH6/10500160 to Y.W.)the Basic Scientific Research Project of Education Department of Liaoning Province (LJKQZ2021104 to Y.Q.)the Science and Technology Innovation Talent Support Program of Dalian (2022RQ056 Y.Q.)the Science and Technology Innovation Foundation of Dalian (2022JJ11CG009 to Y.W.)Dalian High Level Talents Renovation Supporting Program (2019RQ097 to W.Z.).
文摘Cellular senescence provides a protective barrier against tumorigenesis in precancerous or normal tissues upon distinct stressors.However,the detailed mechanisms by which tumor cells evade premature senescence to malignant progression remain largely elusive.Here we reported that RBM4 adversely impacted cellular senescence to favor glutamine-dependent survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)cells by dictating the activity of LKB1,a critical governor of cancer metabolism.The level of RBM4 was specifically elevated in ESCC compared to normal tissues,and RBM4 overexpression promoted the malignant phenotype.RBM4 contributed to overcome H-RAS-or doxorubicin-induced senescence,while its depletion caused P27-dependent senescence and proliferation arrest by activating LKB1-AMPK-mTOR cascade.Mechanistically,RBM4 competitively bound LKB1 to disrupt the LKB1/STRAD/MO25 heterotrimeric complex,subsequently recruiting the E3 ligase TRIM26 to LKB1,promoting LKB1 ubiquitination and degradation in nucleus.Therefore,such molecular process leads to bypassing senescence and sustaining cell proliferation through the activation of glutamine metabolism.Clinically,the ESCC patients with high RBM4 and low LKB1 have significantly worse overall survival than those with low RBM4 and high LKB1.The RBM4 high/LKB1 low expression confers increased sensitivity of ESCC cells to glutaminase inhibitor CB-839,providing a novel insight into mechanisms underlying the glutamine-dependency to improve the efficacy of glutamine inhibitors in ESCC therapeutics.
文摘Objective:To explore and analyze the expression and clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF),hypoxia-inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α),and metabolic indicators in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods:Sixty ESCC patients admitted to the hospital from October 2021 to October 2023 were selected as the ESCC group.Sixty normal healthy patients from the same period were chosen as the control group.Their serum samples and tissue samples were collected.Metabolic indicators of all study subjects were obtained based on the basic biochemical results upon admission.RT-PCR was utilized to detect the expression of VEGF and HIF-1αin ESCC tissues.Results:The expression of VEGF and HIF-1αin the ESCC T3+T4 group was significantly higher than that of the carcinoma in situ(Tis)group,T1+T2 group,and control group.Furthermore,the expression of HIF-1αwas found to be related to the expression of VEGF,showing a significant correlation between the quantities.Significant differences in the levels of metabolic indicators were observed between the ESCC group and the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:Metabolic indicators are associated with the onset of ESCC in patients.Abnormal lipid metabolism plays a crucial role in the occurrence and development of tumors.The expression of VEGF and HIF-1αin ESCC tissues significantly correlates with the tumor stage,providing a new reference for the diagnosis and treatment of ESCC.
