HNRNPA2B1, as a m6A Reader, Promotes Tumorigenesis and Metastasis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhu F
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8494978 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:RNA modification plays an essential function in regulating gene expression and diverse biological processes. RNA modification enzyme methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) affects tumor progression by regulating the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in the mRNAs of critical oncogenes or tumor suppressors, but its effect in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains unknown. In this study, we revealed that METTL3 was consistently upregulated in two OSCC cohorts, and high METTL3 expression was associated with poor prognosis. Functionally, cell proliferation, self-renewal, migration, and invasion ability in vitro and tumor growth and metastasis in vivo were decreased after METTL3 knockdown in OSCC cells. In contrast, the opposite results were obtained after METTL3 overexpression. In addition, the results obtained with the Mettl3 genetically modified mouse model validated the essential role of Mettl3 in chemical-induced oral carcinogenesis. In mechanism, methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq), MeRIP-quantitative real-time PCR, and luciferase reporter and mutagenesis assays identified that METTL3 mediates the m6A modification in the 3' UTR of BMI1 mRNA. METTL3 promotes BMI1 translation in OSCC under the cooperation with m6A reader IGF2BP1. Our findings revealed that METTL3 promotes OSCC proliferation and metastasis through BMI1 m6A methylation, suggesting that the METTL3-m6A-BMI1 axis may serve as a prognostic biomarker or therapeutic target in patients with OSCC.
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Project description:Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy of the head and neck worldwide. Dysbiosis of the microbiome has increasingly been linked to the development of different kinds of cancer. Applying 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and metatranscriptomic analyses, we characterized the longitudinal changes in the profiles and the function of the oral microbiome in a 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4-NQO)-induced model of OSCC in gnotobiotic mice. We characterized the dynamics of the oral microbiome in this model using two different microbiome inocula: one from healthy mice and the other from mice bearing a 4-NQO-induced tumor. Mice colonized with different oral microbiomes and exposed to 4-NQO had increased tumor numbers and sizes compared to controls exposed to 4-NQO but lacking a microbiome. We observed an overall increase in diversity in the tumorigenic samples compared to that in the nontumor group not exposed to 4-NQO. Despite the variability in community dynamics, specific patterns emerged during the progression of the disease. In the two groups that were inoculated with the OSCC-associated microbiome, we observed opposite profiles of abundance in Parabacteroides and Corynebacterium While the percentage of Parabacteroides bacteria decreased in the control group, it increased in the OSCC group, and the opposite was observed for Corynebacterium The metatranscriptomic analysis revealed overexpression of the same metabolic signatures associated with OSCC regardless of the community profile. These included nitrogen transport, response to stress, interspecies interactions, Wnt pathway modulation, and amino acid and lipid biosynthesis. Thus, these results seem to suggest that certain collective physiological activities are critical for microbiome-mediated OSCC progression.IMPORTANCE There is growing evidence that changes in the microbiome are associated with carcinogenesis. To date, no consistent oral microbiome composition associated with OSCC has been identified. Longitudinal and functional studies like the study presented here should yield a better understanding of the role that the oral microbiome plays in OSCC. Our findings, obtained using a germ-free mouse model, indicate that the presence of different oral microbiomes enhances tumorigenesis and increases the final number of tumors in mice. By studying community-wide expression profiles, we found that regardless of the phylogenetic composition of the microbiome, the same metabolic activities were consistently associated with OSCC. Therefore, due to the functional redundancy of the microbiome, the critical element in explaining the contribution of the microbiota in OSCC is the collective physiological activity of the community, thus accounting for the previous inability to identify a consensus community profile or etiologic agents for OSCC.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Inflammasomes are reported to be abnormally expressed and activated in several malignancies and play important roles in tumor development. The present study was designed to investigate the expression and function of the NLR family pyrin domain containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS:NLRP3 expression in OSCC cell lines and the normal human immortalized oral epithelial cells (HIOEC) was determined by real-time PCR and western blot. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of NLRP3 and IL-1β in the paraffin-embedded OSCC tissues. The proliferation of OSCC cells was detected by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and cell colony formation ability of the OSCC cells was also evaluated. Tumor cell migration or invasion was measured by the transwell assay and related protein markers were determined by western blot. A mouse xenograft model was established to investigate the OSCC tumor growth in vivo. RESULTS:Significant higher expression of NLRP3 was observed in the OSCC cells. Obvious expression of NLRP3 and IL-1β was found in the paraffin-embedded OSCC tissues, and the NLRP3 expression levels were correlated with the tumor size, lymphonode metastatic status and IL-1β expression. Downregulating NLRP3 expression markedly reduced the cleavage of caspase-1 and production of IL-1β in OSCC cells. NLRP3 knockdown also inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of OSCC cells. Further investigation indicated that expressions of E-cadherin and vimentin in OSCC cells were increased, while N-cadherin expression was decreased after NLRP3 knockdown. Downregulating NLRP3 expression in OSCC cells significantly reduced the tumor growth in vivo. CONCLUSIONS:Our data suggested that the increased expression of NLRP3 in OSCC was associated with tumor growth and metastasis. NLRP3 may be considered as a potential target for OSCC therapy.
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Project description:Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and with 354 864 new cases each year. Cancer metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance are the main causes to cripples and deaths of OSCC patients. As potent growth factors, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are frequently susceptible to being hijacked by cancer cells. In this study, we show that FGF8 is upregulated in OSCC tissues and high FGF8 expression is related with a set of clinicopathologic parameters, including age, drinking, and survival time. FGF8 treatment enhances the invasive capability of OSCC cells. Lentivirus-based FGF8 expression promotes OSCC metastasis in a mouse lung metastasis model. Further, mechanistic study demonstrates that FGF8 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in OSCC cells. These results highlight a pro-metastatic function of FGF8, and underscore the role of FGF8 in OSCC development.
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Project description:Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) represents 95% of oral malignancies and invasion, and metastasis underlies disease morbidity and mortality. We recently established a direct link between oral inflammation and cancer invasion by showing that neutrophils increase OSCC invasion through a tumor necrosis factor (TNFα)-dependent mechanism. The objective of this study was to characterize OSCC-associated inflammation and to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation-mediated OSCC invasion. Our results showed a significant increase in neutrophil infiltration, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in the OSCC microenvironment and increased inflammatory markers, particularly TNFα in saliva. We performed next-generation sequencing of the TNFα-treated OSCC cells and showed marked overexpression of over 180 genes distributed among clusters related to neutrophil recruitment, invasion, and invadopodia. At the molecular level, TNFα treatment increased phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-mediated invadopodia formation and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-dependent invasion. We show here that TNFα promotes a pro-inflammatory and pro-invasion phenotype leading to the recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells in a paracrine mechanism. Increased TNFα in the tumor microenvironment tips the balance towards invasion leading to decreased overall survival and disease-free survival. This represents a significant advancement of oral cancer research and will support new treatment approaches to control OSCC invasion and metastasis.
| S-EPMC6044370 | biostudies-literature
Project description:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is the most abundant modification on eukaryotic RNA. In recent years, lots of studies have reported that m6A modification and m6A RNA methylation regulators were involved in cancer progression. However, the m6A level and its regulators in esophageal cancer (ESCA) remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed the expression of m6A regulators using The Cancer Genome Atlas data and found 14 of 19 m6A regulators are significantly increased in ESCA samples. Then we performed a univariate Cox regression analysis and LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) Cox regression model to investigate the prognostic role of m6A regulators in ESCA, and the results indicated that a two-gene prognostic signature including ALKBH5 and HNRNPA2B1 could predict overall survival of ESCA patients. Moreover, HNRNPA2B1 is higher expressed in high-risk scores subtype of ESCA, indicating that HNRNPA2B1 may be involved in ESCA development. Subsequently, we confirmed that the level of m6A and HNRNPA2B1 was significantly increased in ESCA. We also found that HNRNPA2B1 expression positively correlated with tumor diameter and lymphatic metastasis of ESCA. Moreover, functional study showed that knockdown of HNRNPA2B1 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCA. Mechanistically, we found that knockdown of HNRNPA2B1 inhibited the expression of de novo fatty acid synthetic enzymes, ACLY and ACC1, and subsequently suppressed cellular lipid accumulation. In conclusion, our study provides critical clues to understand the role of m6A and its regulators in ESCA. Moreover, HNRNPA2B1 functions as an oncogenic factor in promoting ESCA progression via up-regulation of fatty acid synthesis enzymes ACLY and ACC1, and it may be a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for human ESCA.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Increasing studies have demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in tumor progression. However, the potential biological functions and clinical importance of Linc01234 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unclear. METHODS:We evaluated the expression profile and prognostic value of Linc01234 in OSCC tissues by RT-qPCR. Then, functional in vitro experiments were performed to investigate the effects of Linc01234 on tumor growth, migration and invasion in OSCC. Mechanistically, RT-qPCR, bioinformatic analysis and dual luciferase reporter assays were performed to identify a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) mechanism involving Linc01234, miR-433-3p and PAK4. RESULTS:We found that Linc01234 was clearly upregulated in OSCC tissues and cell lines, and its level was positively associated with T stage, lymph node metastasis, differentiation and poor prognosis of patients with OSCC. Our results shown that Linc01234 inhibited cell proliferation and metastatic abilities in CAL27 and SCC25 cells following its knockdown. Mechanistic analysis indicated that Linc01234 may act as a ceRNA (competing endogenous RNA) of miR-433-3p to relieve the repressive effect of miR-433-3p on its target PAK4. CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicated that Linc01234 promotes OSCC progression through the Linc01234/miR-433/PAK4 axis and might be a potential therapeutic target for OSCC.
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Project description:Oral microbiota can alter cancer susceptibility and progression by modulating metabolism and inflammation. We assessed the association between the oral microbiome and lymph node (LN) metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We collected a total of 54 saliva samples from patients with OSCC before surgery. LN metastasis was assessed based on postoperative pathological examination. We used QIIME2, linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe), and PICRUSt2 methods to analyze microbial dysbiosis. A random forest classifier was used to assess whether the oral microbiome could predict LN metastasis. Among the 54 OSCC samples, 20 had LN metastasis, and 34 had no evidence of metastasis. There was a significant difference in β-diversity between the metastasis and no metastasis groups. Through LEfSe analysis, the metastasis group was enriched in the genera Prevotella, Stomatobaculum, Bifidobacterium, Peptostreptococcaceae, Shuttleworthia and Finegoldia. Pathways related to signal peptidase II were predominant in the no metastasis group. The RF model showed a modestly high accuracy for predicting metastasis. Differences in microbial community composition and functions were observed in the oral microbiome of patients with OSCC with and without LN metastasis. However, the finding that specific taxa may be associated with LN metastasis should be verified in a further prospective study.
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