FTO downregulation mediated by hypoxia facilitates colorectal cancer metastasis.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ruan DY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8376648 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Background: Metastasis is the major reason for the high mortality of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the molecular mechanism underlying CRC metastasis remains unclear. Here, we report a novel role of homeobox B5 (HOXB5), a member of the HOX family, in promoting CRC metastasis. Method: The expression of HOXB5 and its target genes were examined by immunohistochemistry in human CRC. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assays were performed to measure the transcriptional regulation of target genes by HOXB5. The metastatic capacities of CRC cells were evaluated by in vivo lung and liver metastatic models. Results: The elevated expression of HOXB5 was positively correlated with distant metastasis, higher AJCC stage, and poor prognosis in CRC patients. HOXB5 expression was an independent and significant risk factor for the recurrence and survival in CRC patients. Overexpression of HOXB5 promoted CRC metastasis by transactivating metastatic related genes, C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and integrin subunit beta 3 (ITGB3). C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12), which is the ligand of CXCR4, upregulated HOXB5 expression through the extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK)/ETS proto-oncogene 1, transcription factor (ETS1) pathway. The knockdown of HOXB5 decreased CXCL12-enhanced CRC metastasis. Furthermore, AMD3100, a specific CXCR4 inhibitor, significantly suppressed HOXB5-mediated CRC metastasis. HOXB5 expression was positively correlated with CXCR4 and ITGB3 expression in human CRC tissues, and patients with positive co-expression of HOXB5/CXCR4, or HOXB5/ITGB3 exhibited the worst prognosis. Conclusion: Our study implicates HOXB5 as a prognostic biomarker in CRC, and defines a CXCL12-HOXB5-CXCR4 positive feedback loop that plays an important role in promoting CRC metastasis.
| S-EPMC7806482 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Inflammation is frequently associated with initiation, progression, and metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, we unveil a CRC-specific metastatic programme that is triggered via the transcriptional repressor, GFI1. Using data from a large cohort of clinical samples including inflammatory bowel disease and CRC, and a cellular model of CRC progression mediated by cross-talk between the cancer cell and the inflammatory microenvironment, we identified GFI1 as a gating regulator responsible for a constitutively activated signalling circuit that renders CRC cells competent for metastatic spread. Further analysis of mouse models with metastatic CRC and human clinical specimens reinforced the influence of GFI1 downregulation in promoting CRC metastatic spread. The novel role of GFI1 is uncovered for the first time in a human solid tumour such as CRC. Our results imply that GFI1 is a potential therapeutic target for interfering with inflammation-induced CRC progression and spread.
| S-EPMC5423119 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hypoxia is an extensively investigated condition due to its contribution to various pathophysiological processes including cancer progression and metastasis formation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well-known post-transcriptional gene expression regulators. However, their contribution to molecular response to hypoxia is highly dependent on cell/tissue types and causes of hypoxia. One of the most important examples is colorectal cancer, where no consensus on hypoxia-regulated miRNAs has been reached so far. In this work, we applied integrated mRNA and small RNA sequencing, followed by bioinformatics analysis, to study the landscape of hypoxia-induced miRNA and mRNA expression alterations in human colorectal cancer cell lines (HT-29 and Caco-2). A hypoxic microenvironment was chemically modeled using two different treatments: cobalt(II) chloride and oxyquinoline. Only one miRNA, hsa-miR-210-3p, was upregulated in all experimental conditions, while there were nine differentially expressed miRNAs under both treatments within the same cell line. Further bioinformatics analysis revealed a complex hypoxia-induced regulatory network: hypoxic downregulation of hsa-miR-148a-3p led to the upregulation of its two target genes, ITGA5 and PRNP, which was shown to be a factor contributing to tumor progression and poor survival in colorectal cancer patients.
| S-EPMC8202010 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Kinesin family member 4A (KIF4A) was found to be implicated in the regulation of chromosome condensation and segregation during mitotic cell division, which is essential for eukaryotic cell proliferation. However, little is known about the role of KIF4A in colorectal carcinoma (CRC). This study explored the biological function of KIF4A in CRC progression and investigated the potential molecular mechanisms involved. Here, we found that KIF4A was remarkably upregulated in primary CRC tissues and cell lines compared with paired non-cancerous tissues and normal colorectal epithelium. Elevated expression of KIF4A in CRC tissues was significantly correlated with clinicopathological characteristics in patients as well as with shorter overall and disease-free cumulative survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that KIF4A was an independent prognostic factor for poor survival in human CRC patients. Functional assays, including a CCK-8 cell proliferation assay, colony formation analysis, cancer xenografts in nude mice, cell cycle and apoptosis analysis, indicated that KIF4A obviously enhanced cell proliferation by promoting cell cycle progression in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, gene set enrichment analysis, Luciferase reporter assays, and ChIP assays revealed that KIF4A facilitates cell proliferation via regulating the p21 promoter, whereas KIF4A had no effect on cell apoptosis. In addition, Transwell analysis indicated that KIF4A promotes migration and invasion in CRC. Taken together, these findings not only demonstrate that KIF4A contributes to CRC proliferation via modulation of p21-mediated cell cycle progression but also suggest the potential value of KIF4A as a clinical prognostic marker and target for molecular treatments.
| S-EPMC5924760 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant gastrointestinal cancers. Metastasis is a major leading of death in patients with CRC and many patients have metastatic disease at diagnosis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still elusive. Here, we showed that JMJD1C was overexpressed in colon cancer tissues compared to normal samples and was positively associated with metastasis and poor prognosis. Silencing JMJD1C strongly inhibits CRC migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo. Further, we found that knockdown of JMJD1C decreased the protein and mRNA levels of ATF2, mechanistically, and JMJD1C regulated the expression of ATF2 by modulating the H3K9me2 but not H3K9me1 activity. In addition, we further performed some "rescues experiments". We found that overexpression of ATF2 could reverse the abrogated migration and invasion ability by knockdown of JMJD1C in CRC. Our results demonstrated that an increase of JMJD1C was observed in colon cancer and knockdown of JMJD1C regulated CRC metastasis by inactivation of the ATF2 pathway. This novel JMJD1C/ATF2 signaling pathway may be a promising therapeutic target for CRC metastasis.
| S-EPMC5992515 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cancer cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been reported to promote the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC), although the regulatory mechanism remains uncharacterized. In this study, we investigated the role of microRNA-25 (miR-25)/sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) in the contribution of EVs derived from CRC cells to progression of CRC. In a co-culture system with EVs from HCT116 and NCM460 cells, the viability, migratory, and invasive properties of SW480 and SW620 cells were evaluated by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Transwell assays. Luciferase, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays were conducted to verify the interaction among miR-25, SIRT6, lin-28 homologB (Lin28b), and neuropilin-1 (NRP-1). It was established that HCT116 cell-derived EVs promoted the malignant properties of SW480 cells and SW620 cells by delivering miR-25. SIRT6 was targeted by miR-25, whereas SIRT6 inhibited NRP-1 through downregulation of Lin28b. The tumor-bearing nude mouse experiments substantiated that HCT116 cell-derived EVs transferred miR-25 to facilitate tumor formation and metastasis by inhibiting SIRT6. In summary, our study clarifies the involvement of miR-25-targeted SIRT6 inhibition and SIRT6-mediated inhibition of the Lin28b/NRP-1 axis in CRC cell-derived EVs to CRC progression and metastasis.
| S-EPMC7810909 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Phenotypic conversion of tumor cells through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) requires massive gene expression changes. How these are brought about is not clear. Here we examined the impact of the EMT master regulator SNAIL1 on the FOXA family of transcription factors which are distinguished by their particular competence to induce chromatin reorganization for the activation of transcriptional enhancer elements. We show that the expression of SNAIL1 and FOXA genes is anticorrelated in transcriptomes of colorectal tumors and cell lines. In cellular EMT models, ectopically expressed Snail1 directly represses FOXA1 and triggers downregulation of all FOXA family members, suggesting that loss of FOXA expression promotes EMT. Indeed, cells with CRISPR/Cas9-induced FOXA-deficiency acquire mesenchymal characteristics. Furthermore, ChIP-seq data analysis of FOXA chromosomal distribution in relation to chromatin structural features which characterize distinct states of transcriptional activity, revealed preferential localization of FOXA factors to transcriptional enhancers at signature genes that distinguish epithelial from mesenchymal colon tumors. To validate the significance of this association, we investigated the impact of FOXA factors on structure and function of enhancers at the CDH1, CDX2 and EPHB3 genes. FOXA-deficiency and expression of dominant negative FOXA2 led to chromatin condensation at these enhancer elements. Site-directed mutagenesis of FOXA binding sites in reporter gene constructs and by genome-editing in situ impaired enhancer activity and completely abolished the active chromatin state of the EPHB3 enhancer. Conversely, expression of FOXA factors in cells with inactive CDX2 and EPHB3 enhancers led to chromatin opening and de novo deposition of the H3K4me1 and H3K27ac marks. These findings establish the pioneer function of FOXA factors at enhancer regions of epithelial genes and demonstrate their essential role in maintaining enhancer structure and function. Thus, by repressing FOXA family members, SNAIL1 targets transcription factors at strategically important positions in gene-regulatory hierarchies, which may facilitate transcriptional reprogramming during EMT.
| S-EPMC5714381 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionColorectal cancers (CRCs) deficient in the DNA mismatch repair protein MutL homolog 1 (MLH1) display distinct clinicopathological features and require a different therapeutic approach compared to CRCs with MLH1 proficiency. However, the molecular basis of this fundamental difference remains elusive. Here, we report that MLH1-deficient CRCs exhibit reduced levels of the cytoskeletal scaffolding protein non-erythroid spectrin αII (SPTAN1), and that tumor progression and metastasis of CRCs correlate with SPTAN1 levels.Methods and resultsTo investigate the link between MLH1 and SPTAN1 in cancer progression, a cohort of 189 patients with CRC was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Compared with the surrounding normal mucosa, SPTAN1 expression was reduced in MLH1-deficient CRCs, whereas MLH1-proficient CRCs showed a significant upregulation of SPTAN1. Overall, we identified a strong correlation between MLH1 status and SPTAN1 expression. When comparing TNM classification and SPTAN1 levels, we found higher SPTAN1 levels in stage I CRCs, while stages II to IV showed a gradual reduction of SPTAN1 expression. In addition, SPTAN1 expression was lower in metastatic compared with non-metastatic CRCs. Knockdown of SPTAN1 in CRC cell lines demonstrated decreased cell viability, impaired cellular mobility and reduced cell-cell contact formation, indicating that SPTAN1 plays an important role in cell growth and cell attachment. The observed weakened cell-cell contact of SPTAN1 knockdown cells might indicate that tumor cells expressing low levels of SPTAN1 detach from their primary tumor and metastasize more easily.ConclusionTaken together, we demonstrate that MLH1 deficiency, low SPTAN1 expression, and tumor progression and metastasis are in close relation. We conclude that SPTAN1 is a candidate molecule explaining the tumor progression and metastasis of MLH1-deficient CRCs. The detailed analysis of SPTAN1 is now mandatory to substantiate its relevance and its potential value as a candidate protein for targeted therapy, and as a predictive marker of cancer aggressiveness.
| S-EPMC6411122 | biostudies-literature
Project description:AimTo study the correlation between high metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) expression and lymphangiogenesis in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its role in production of vascular endothelial growth factor-C(VEGF-C).MethodsImpact of high MTA1 and VEGF-C expression levels on disease progression and lymphovascular density (LVD, D2-40-immunolabeled) in 81 cases of human CRC was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. VEGF-C mRNA and protein expressions in human LoVo and HCT116 cell lines were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, respectively, with a stable expression vector or siRNA.ResultsThe elevated MTA1 and VEGF-C expression levels were correlated with lymph node metastasis and Dukes stages (P < 0.05). Additionally, high MTA1 expression level was correlated with a large tumor size (P < 0.05). A significant correlation was found between MTA1 and VEGF-C protein expressions in tumor cells (r = 0.371, P < 0.05). Similar to the VEGF-C expression level, high MTA1 expression level was correlated with high LVD in CRC (P < 0.05). Furthermore, over-expression of MTA1 significantly enhanced the VEGF-C mRNA and protein expression levels, whereas siRNAs - knocked down MTA1 decreased the VEGF-C expression level.ConclusionMTA1, as a regulator of tumor-associated lymphangiogenesis, promotes lymphangiogenesis in CRC by mediating the VEGF-C expression.
| S-EPMC3063917 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundConflicting results regarding the role of DEAD-box polypeptide 3 (DDX3) are seen not only between cancer types but also within the same type of cancer. In this study, we aimed at clarifying the prognostic significance of DDX3 in patients of major cancer types through large cohort survival analysis and further investigated its effects on cancer progression.MethodsLarge cohort survival analysis of 7 cancer types, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, liver cancer, glioblastoma, and ovarian cancer, was performed using public database at RNA level and was further confirmed by IHC analysis at protein level. Phenotype parameters of DDX3 knockdown colon cancer cells and the mechanism of DDX3 regulated cancer progression were investigated in vitro and in vivo.ResultsIn large cohort survival analysis, DDX3 had a significant prognostic predictive power in colorectal cancer at both RNA and protein level. Patients with low DDX3 expression had poor prognosis and frequent distant metastasis. Knockdown of DDX3 enhanced the migration and invasion abilities of colon cancer cells and promoted tumor metastasis in vivo. Snail upregulation with decreased membranous E-cadherin expression and reduced cell aggregation were found after DDX3 downregulation.ConclusionsOur study revealed the strong prognostic effect of DDX3 on colorectal cancer among seven major cancer types through larger cohort survival analysis at RNA and protein level. Low DDX3 expression promotes Snail/E-cadherin pathway mediated cancer metastasis and poor clinical outcome in colorectal cancer patients.
| S-EPMC4621913 | biostudies-literature