Background:Cancer cells reprogram metabolism for proliferation.Phosphoglycerate kinase 1(PGK1),as a glycolytic enzyme and newly identified protein kinase,coordinates glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism.However,the...Background:Cancer cells reprogram metabolism for proliferation.Phosphoglycerate kinase 1(PGK1),as a glycolytic enzyme and newly identified protein kinase,coordinates glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism.However,the clini-cal significance of PGK1 expression and function in cancer progression is unclear.Here,we investigated the relation-ship between the progression and prognosis of multiple cancer types and PGK1 expression and its function in the mitochondrial metabolism regulation.Methods:We performed pan-cancer analyses of PGK1 mRNA level and DNA methylation in 11,908 tumor tissues and 1582 paired normal tissues across 34 cancer types in The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets.Using specific antibodies against PGK1 S203 and PDHK1 T338 phosphorylation,we performed immunohistochemistry with tissue microarray assay in additional 818 cancer cases with 619 paired normal tissues from five cancer types.Results:The PGK1 mRNA level was significantly elevated with hypomethylation in promotor regions and associated with advanced TNM stage in 15 and four cancer types,respectively.In breast carcinoma,elevated PGK1 mRNA level and promoter hypomethylation were associated with poor prognosis.Positively correlated PGK1 S203 and PDHK1 T338 phosphorylation levels were significantly associated with short overall survival(OS)in cancers of the breast,liver,lung,stomach,and esophagus and with advanced TNM stage in breast and esophageal cancers.PGK1 pS203 and PDHK1 pT338 were also independent predictors of short OS in liver,lung,and stomach cancer.Conclusions:The elevated expression,promoter hypomethylation,and phosphorylation of PGK1 and PDHK1 were related with disease progression and short OS in diverse types of cancer.PGK1 and PDHK1 phosphorylation may be potential prognostic biomarkers.展开更多
目的探究肝癌患者的差异基因表达量与预后的相关性,以及差异基因在多种癌症的调控作用,并寻找潜在的治疗靶点以及对应中药,为临床中药的使用、中医药组方及加减用药提供依据。方法从TCGA数据库下载肿瘤患者的转录组数据以及相应临床数据...目的探究肝癌患者的差异基因表达量与预后的相关性,以及差异基因在多种癌症的调控作用,并寻找潜在的治疗靶点以及对应中药,为临床中药的使用、中医药组方及加减用药提供依据。方法从TCGA数据库下载肿瘤患者的转录组数据以及相应临床数据,使用R语言的edgeR包分析得出差异表达基因,并筛选、分析关键基因在泛癌的表达量及共表达情况;进一步筛选得到核心基因,研究其在泛癌中具体肿瘤的表达情况,以及肝癌临床相关性分析,并将核心基因提交至TIMER、THPA数据库,研究免疫细胞相关性和病理学情况;最后通过Coremine数据库查找核心基因对应中药,使用TCMSP、BATMAN-TCM数据库查找中药有效成分,利用Cytoscape软件制作药物-核心基因网络图,并进行京都基因与基因组百科全书(Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes,KEGG)通路富集分析。结果共筛选出10个关键基因,选取其中5个核心基因CCNB1、TOP2A、CCNA2、CDK1、CDC20,进行后续分析得出其与肝癌的预后生存呈负相关,与肝癌的免疫细胞呈正相关,并得到基因过表达病理学图片。其对应中药为丹参、枳实、枳壳、人参叶、人参芦、甘草、人参、蜂蜜。KEGG富集分析显示中药除调控核心基因外仍通过多靶点起作用。结论通过生物信息学技术分析得到肝癌核心基因及相关信号通路与治疗靶点,并得到调控中药名称及其有效成分。为治疗肝癌以及其他癌症的中药复方研发提供思路。展开更多
Background:To date,there is no approved blood-based biomarker for breast cancer detection.Herein,we aimed to assess semaphorin 4C(SEMA4C),a pivotal protein involved in breast cancer progression,as a serum diagnostic b...Background:To date,there is no approved blood-based biomarker for breast cancer detection.Herein,we aimed to assess semaphorin 4C(SEMA4C),a pivotal protein involved in breast cancer progression,as a serum diagnostic biomarker.Methods:We included 6,213 consecutive inpatients from Tongji Hospital,Qilu Hospital,and Hubei Cancer Hospital.Training cohort and two validation cohorts were introduced for diagnostic exploration and validation.A pan-cancer cohort was used to independently explore the diagnostic potential of SEMA4C among solid tumors.Breast cancer patients who underwent mass excision prior to modified radical mastectomy were also analyzed.We hypothesized that increased pretreatment serum SEMA4C levels,measured using optimized in-house enzymelinked immunosorbent assay kits,could detect breast cancer.The endpoints were diagnostic performance,including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC),sensitivity,and specificity.Post-surgery pathological diagnosis was the reference standard and breast cancer staging followed the TNM classification.There was no restriction on disease stage for eligibilities.Results:We included 2667 inpatients with breast lesions,2378 patients with other solid tumors,and 1168 healthy participants.Specifically,118 patients with breast cancer were diagnosed with stage 0(5.71%),620 with stage I(30.00%),966 with stage II(46.73%),217 with stage III(10.50%),and 8 with stage IV(0.39%).Patients with breast cancer had significantly higher serum SEMA4C levels than benign breast tumor patients and normal controls(P<0.001).Elevated serum SEMA4C levels had AUC of 0.920(95%confidence interval[CI]:0.900–0.941)and 0.932(95%CI:0.911–0.953)for breast cancer detection in the two validation cohorts.The AUCs for detecting early-stage breast cancer(n=366)and ductal carcinoma in situ(n=85)were 0.931(95%CI:0.916–0.946)and 0.879(95%CI:0.832–0.925),respectively.Serum SEMA4C levels significantly decreased after surgery,and the reduction was more striking after modified radical mastectomy,展开更多
Background:Immune checkpoint blockade(ICB)has revolutionized the treatment of various cancer types.Despite significant preclinical advancements in understanding mechanisms,identifying the molecular basis and predictiv...Background:Immune checkpoint blockade(ICB)has revolutionized the treatment of various cancer types.Despite significant preclinical advancements in understanding mechanisms,identifying the molecular basis and predictive biomarkers for clinical ICB responses remains challenging.Recent evidence,both preclinical and clinical,underscores the pivotal role of the extracellular matrix(ECM)in modulating immune cell infiltration and behaviors.This study aimed to create an innovative classifier that leverages ECM characteristics to enhance the effectiveness of ICB therapy.Methods:We analyzed transcriptomic collagen activity and immune signatures in 649 patients with cancer undergoing ICB therapy.This analysis led to the identification of three distinct immuno-collagenic subtypes predictive of ICB responses.We validated these subtypes using the transcriptome data from 9,363 cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)dataset and 1,084 inhouse samples.Additionally,novel therapeutic targets were identified based on these established immuno-collagenic subtypes.Results:Our categorization divided tumors into three subtypes:“soft&hot”(low collagen activity and high immune infiltration),“armored&cold”(high collagen activity and low immune infiltration),and“quiescent”(low collagen activity and immune infiltration).Notably,“soft&hot”tumors exhibited the most robust response to ICB therapy across various cancer types.Mechanistically,inhibiting collagen augmented the response to ICB in preclinical models.Furthermore,these subtypes demonstrated associations with immune activity and prognostic predictive potential across multiple cancer types.Additionally,an unbiased approach identified B7 homolog 3(B7-H3),an available drug target,as strongly expressed in“armored&cold”tumors,relating with poor prognosis.Conclusion:This study introduces histopathology-based universal immunocollagenic subtypes capable of predicting ICB responses across diverse cancer types.These findings offer insights that could contribute to tai展开更多
Background:Human epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)is an oncogenic gene and one of top targets of precision therapy in lung cancer with EGFR mutations.Although there are many reports for some individual cancers,co...Background:Human epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)is an oncogenic gene and one of top targets of precision therapy in lung cancer with EGFR mutations.Although there are many reports for some individual cancers,comprehensive profiling of EGFR mutations,overexpression,amplification,DNA methylation,and their clinical associations across many different cancers simultaneously was not available.This study aimed to fill the gap and provide insights to the alteration spectrum of EGFR and its therapeutic and prognostic implications.Methods:The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)datasets for 32 cancer types involving 11,314 patients were analyzed for alterations(mutations and amplification/deletion),abnormal expression and DNA methylation in EGFR gene.Mutation frequency,genomic location distribution,functional impact,and clinical targeted therapy implication were compared among different cancer types,and their associations with patient survival were analyzed.Results:EGFR alteration frequency,mutation sites across functional domains,amplification,overexpression,and DNA methylation patterns differed greatly among different cancer types.The overall mutation frequency in all cancers combined was relatively low.Targetable mutations,mainly in lung cancer,were primarily found in the Pkinase_Tyr domain.Glioblastoma multiforme had the highest rate of alterations,but it was dominated by gene amplification and most mutations were in the Furin-like domain where targeted therapy was less effective.Low-grade glioma often had gene amplification and increased EGFR expression which was associated with poor outcome.Colon and pancreatic adenocarcinoma had very few EGFR mutations;however,high EGFR expression was significantly associated with short patient survival.Squamous cell carcinoma regardless of their sites(the head and neck,lung,or esophagus)exhibited similar characteristics with an alteration frequency of about 5.0%,was dominated by gene amplification,and had increased EGFR expression generally associated with short patient survival.DNA me展开更多
Background:Doublecortin(DCX),a microtubule-associated protein,is best known for its critical role in neuronal migration during neural development,where it stabilizes microtubules and guides neurons to their proper pos...Background:Doublecortin(DCX),a microtubule-associated protein,is best known for its critical role in neuronal migration during neural development,where it stabilizes microtubules and guides neurons to their proper positions.Recently,DCX has been implicated in various cancer processes,suggesting it may influence tumor progression and the tumor microenvironment.Emerging evidence indicates that DCX can modulate cell migration,invasion,and interaction with immune cells,making it a potential player in oncogenesis.However,the role of DCX across different cancer types and its potential as a prognostic biomarker remain underexplored,necessitating a comprehensive analysis.Methods:We utilized The Cancer Genome Atlas to extract data on DCX expression in tumor and adjacent normal tissues across diverse cancer types.Differential expression analysis was conducted using differential expression sequencing 2.Survival analysis was performed with Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards models.Correlations between DCX expression and tumor mutational burden,microsatellite instability,and immune infiltration were examined using Spearman’s correlation.Results:DCX showed variable expression across cancer types,with significant overexpression in certain tumors such as liver and lung cancer and downexpression in others like breast cancer.High DCX expression was correlated with poor prognosis in adrenocortical carcinoma but with better outcomes in low-grade glioma.Additionally,DCX expression was significantly associated with various immune markers and chemokines,suggesting a role in modulating the immune microenvironment.Conclusion:Our findings highlight the complex role of DCX in cancer,underlining its potential as a prognostic marker and its involvement in immune-related pathways.Targeting DCX could represent a novel approach to modulating tumor behavior and enhancing immune response in cancer therapy.展开更多
BACKGROUND The pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunitβ(PDHB)gene which regulates energy metabolism is located in mitochondria.However,few studies have elucidated the role and mechanism of PDHB in different cancers.AIM To ...BACKGROUND The pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunitβ(PDHB)gene which regulates energy metabolism is located in mitochondria.However,few studies have elucidated the role and mechanism of PDHB in different cancers.AIM To comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of PDHB was performed based on bioinformatics approaches to explore its tumor diagnostic and prognostic value and tumor immune relevance in cancer.In vitro experiments were performed to examine the biological regulation of PDHB in liver cancer.METHODS Pan-cancer data related to PDHB were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database.Analysis of the gene expression profiles of PDHB was based on TCGA and Genotype Tissue Expression Dataset databases.Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier methods were used to assess the correlation between PDHB expression and survival prognosis in cancer patients.The correlation between PDHB and receiver operating characteristic diagnostic curve,clinicopathological staging,somatic mutation,tumor mutation burden(TMB),microsatellite instability(MSI),DNA methylation,and drug susceptibility in pan-cancer was also analyzed.Various algorithms were used to analyze the correlation between PDHB and immune cell infiltration and tumor chemotaxis environment,as well as the co-expression analysis of PDHB and immune checkpoint(ICP)genes.The expression and functional phenotype of PDHB in single tumor cells were studied by single-cell sequencing,and the functional enrichment analysis of PDHB-related genes was performed.The study also validated the level of mRNA or protein expression of PDHB in several cancers.Finally,in vitro experiments verified the regulatory effect of PDHB on the proliferation,migration,and invasion of liver cancer.RESULTS PDHB was significantly and differently expressed in most cancers.PDHB was significantly associated with prognosis in patients with a wide range of cancers,including kidney renal clear cell carcinoma,kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma,breast invasive carcinoma,and brain lower grade glioma.In some cancers,展开更多
The identification of tumor driver genes facilitates accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment,playing a key role in precision oncology,along with gene signaling,regulation,and their interaction with protein complexes.T...The identification of tumor driver genes facilitates accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment,playing a key role in precision oncology,along with gene signaling,regulation,and their interaction with protein complexes.To tackle the challenge of distinguishing driver genes from a large number of genomic data,we construct a feature extraction framework for discovering pan-cancer driver genes based on multi-omics data(mutations,gene expression,copy number variants,and DNA methylation)combined with protein–protein interaction(PPI)networks.Using a network propagation algorithm,we mine functional information among nodes in the PPI network,focusing on genes with weak node information to represent specific cancer information.From these functional features,we extract distribution features of pan-cancer data,pan-cancer TOPSIS features of functional features using the ideal solution method,and SetExpan features of pan-cancer data from the gene functional features,a method to rank pan-cancer data based on the average inverse rank.These features represent the common message of pan-cancer.Finally,we use the lightGBM classification algorithm for gene prediction.Experimental results show that our method outperforms existing methods in terms of the area under the check precision-recall curve(AUPRC)and demonstrates better performance across different PPI networks.This indicates our framework’s effectiveness in predicting potential cancer genes,offering valuable insights for the diagnosis and treatment of tumors.展开更多
Mechanics shape cell and tissue plasticity and maintain their homeostasis.In cancers,mechanical signals regulate cancer hallmarks via mechanotransduction pathways,such as proliferation,metastasis and metabolic reprogr...Mechanics shape cell and tissue plasticity and maintain their homeostasis.In cancers,mechanical signals regulate cancer hallmarks via mechanotransduction pathways,such as proliferation,metastasis and metabolic reprogramming.However,comprehensive characterization of mechanotransduction pathway genes and their clinical relevance across different cancer types remains untouched.Herein,we systematically portrayed the alterations of mechanotransduction pathway genes across 31 cancer types using The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)databases.All the cancer types could be categorized into 6 subtypes based upon the transcriptional pattern of mechanics pathway genes.Each subtype has its own unique molecular expression pattern,mutation landscapes,immune infiltrates,and patient clinical outcome.We further found that the responses of two subtypes of cancers,one with the optimal outcome and the other with the worst prognosis,to a classical mechanotherapeutic agent(Fasudil,RhoA/ROCK inhibitor)were totally different,indicating that our cancer stratification system based upon mechanotransduction pathway genes could inform clinical responses of patients to mechanotherapeutic agents.Collectively,our study provides a novel pan-cancer landscape of the mechanotransduction pathways and underscores its potential clinical significance in the prediction of clinical prognosis and therapeutic responses to mechanotherapy among cancer patients.展开更多
Objective: DNA damage response(DDR) deficiency has emerged as a prominent determinant of tumor immunogenicity. This study aimed to construct a DDR-related immune activation(DRIA) signature and evaluate the predictive ...Objective: DNA damage response(DDR) deficiency has emerged as a prominent determinant of tumor immunogenicity. This study aimed to construct a DDR-related immune activation(DRIA) signature and evaluate the predictive accuracy of the DRIA signature for response to immune checkpoint inhibitor(ICI) therapy in gastrointestinal(GI) cancer.Methods: A DRIA signature was established based on two previously reported DNA damage immune response assays. Clinical and gene expression data from two published GI cancer cohorts were used to assess and validate the association between the DRIA score and response to ICI therapy. The predictive accuracy of the DRIA score was validated based on one ICI-treated melanoma and three pan-cancer published cohorts.Results: The DRIA signature includes three genes(CXCL10, IDO1, and IFI44L). In the discovery cancer cohort, DRIA-high patients with gastric cancer achieved a higher response rate to ICI therapy than DRIA-low patients(81.8% vs. 8.8%;P < 0.001), and the predictive accuracy of the DRIA score [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) = 0.845] was superior to the predictive accuracy of PD-L1 expression, tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability, and Epstein–Barr virus status. The validation cohort demonstrated that the DRIA score identified responders with microsatellite-stable colorectal and pancreatic adenocarcinoma who received dual PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade with radiation therapy. Furthermore, the predictive performance of the DRIA score was shown to be robust through an extended validation in melanoma, urothelial cancer, and pan-cancer.Conclusions: The DRIA signature has superior and robust predictive accuracy for the efficacy of ICI therapy in GI cancer and pancancer, indicating that the DRIA signature may serve as a powerful biomarker for guiding ICI therapy decisions.展开更多
Background:Both eczema and tumor are associated with immune disorders.Although several investigations have observed the rela-tionship between eczema and certain cancers,evidence for causality is lacking.Methods:We con...Background:Both eczema and tumor are associated with immune disorders.Although several investigations have observed the rela-tionship between eczema and certain cancers,evidence for causality is lacking.Methods:We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization(MR)study to examine and explore the genetic association between eczema and pan-cancers.Upon satisfying the three core assumptions of MR,we analyzed the causality between eczema and 15 site-specific cancers utilizing an inverse variance weighted method.We verified the results through a series of sensitivity and reverse direction analyses.The exposure and outcome datasets were substituted from the FinnGen and genome-wide association studies catalog data-bases.A meta-analysis on primary and validation analyses was performed to combine the estimates of MR study.Results:Based on the MR analysis results,eczema was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer(odds ratio[OR]=1.0427,95%confidence interval[CI]=1.0082–1.0783,P=0.0148)and brain cancer(OR=1.0285,95%CI=1.0120–1.0452,P=0.0007)and de-creased risk of colorectal cancer(OR=0.9324,95%CI=0.8774–0.9909,P=0.0242)and malignant neoplasm of the kidney(OR=0.9323,95%CI=0.8834–0.9839,P=0.0108).The sensitivity analysis indicated that the results were stable and reliable,and the reverse MR analyses demonstrated no causation between the cancers of interest and eczema.Conclusions:Our results identified eczema as a genetic risk factor for lung and brain cancer and a protective factor for colorectal cancer and malignant neoplasm of the kidney.No connection was observed between eczema and other cancers.Further evidence from epide-miological and mechanistic studies is needed to elucidate these findings in detail.展开更多
基金This study was funded by The National Key R&D Program of China(2017YFC1308702,2017YFC1311000,2018YFC1312100)the Beijing Municipal Science&Technology Commission(Z181100006218032,Z181100001918002)+1 种基金the CAMS Initiative for Innovative Medicine(2017-I2M-1-005,2017-I2M-2-003,2019-I2M-2-002)Non-profit Central Research Institute Fund of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences(2017PT32001,2017PT32017).
文摘Background:Cancer cells reprogram metabolism for proliferation.Phosphoglycerate kinase 1(PGK1),as a glycolytic enzyme and newly identified protein kinase,coordinates glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism.However,the clini-cal significance of PGK1 expression and function in cancer progression is unclear.Here,we investigated the relation-ship between the progression and prognosis of multiple cancer types and PGK1 expression and its function in the mitochondrial metabolism regulation.Methods:We performed pan-cancer analyses of PGK1 mRNA level and DNA methylation in 11,908 tumor tissues and 1582 paired normal tissues across 34 cancer types in The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets.Using specific antibodies against PGK1 S203 and PDHK1 T338 phosphorylation,we performed immunohistochemistry with tissue microarray assay in additional 818 cancer cases with 619 paired normal tissues from five cancer types.Results:The PGK1 mRNA level was significantly elevated with hypomethylation in promotor regions and associated with advanced TNM stage in 15 and four cancer types,respectively.In breast carcinoma,elevated PGK1 mRNA level and promoter hypomethylation were associated with poor prognosis.Positively correlated PGK1 S203 and PDHK1 T338 phosphorylation levels were significantly associated with short overall survival(OS)in cancers of the breast,liver,lung,stomach,and esophagus and with advanced TNM stage in breast and esophageal cancers.PGK1 pS203 and PDHK1 pT338 were also independent predictors of short OS in liver,lung,and stomach cancer.Conclusions:The elevated expression,promoter hypomethylation,and phosphorylation of PGK1 and PDHK1 were related with disease progression and short OS in diverse types of cancer.PGK1 and PDHK1 phosphorylation may be potential prognostic biomarkers.
文摘目的探究肝癌患者的差异基因表达量与预后的相关性,以及差异基因在多种癌症的调控作用,并寻找潜在的治疗靶点以及对应中药,为临床中药的使用、中医药组方及加减用药提供依据。方法从TCGA数据库下载肿瘤患者的转录组数据以及相应临床数据,使用R语言的edgeR包分析得出差异表达基因,并筛选、分析关键基因在泛癌的表达量及共表达情况;进一步筛选得到核心基因,研究其在泛癌中具体肿瘤的表达情况,以及肝癌临床相关性分析,并将核心基因提交至TIMER、THPA数据库,研究免疫细胞相关性和病理学情况;最后通过Coremine数据库查找核心基因对应中药,使用TCMSP、BATMAN-TCM数据库查找中药有效成分,利用Cytoscape软件制作药物-核心基因网络图,并进行京都基因与基因组百科全书(Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes,KEGG)通路富集分析。结果共筛选出10个关键基因,选取其中5个核心基因CCNB1、TOP2A、CCNA2、CDK1、CDC20,进行后续分析得出其与肝癌的预后生存呈负相关,与肝癌的免疫细胞呈正相关,并得到基因过表达病理学图片。其对应中药为丹参、枳实、枳壳、人参叶、人参芦、甘草、人参、蜂蜜。KEGG富集分析显示中药除调控核心基因外仍通过多靶点起作用。结论通过生物信息学技术分析得到肝癌核心基因及相关信号通路与治疗靶点,并得到调控中药名称及其有效成分。为治疗肝癌以及其他癌症的中药复方研发提供思路。
基金National Science and Technology Major Sub-Project,Grant/Award Number:2018ZX10301402-002National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant/Award Numbers:81772787,81902653,82072889+2 种基金Technical Innovation Special Project of Hubei Province,Grant/Award Number:2018ACA138Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,Grant/Award Number:2019kfyXMBZ024Municipal Health Commission Project ofWuhan,Grant/Award Number:WX18Q16。
文摘Background:To date,there is no approved blood-based biomarker for breast cancer detection.Herein,we aimed to assess semaphorin 4C(SEMA4C),a pivotal protein involved in breast cancer progression,as a serum diagnostic biomarker.Methods:We included 6,213 consecutive inpatients from Tongji Hospital,Qilu Hospital,and Hubei Cancer Hospital.Training cohort and two validation cohorts were introduced for diagnostic exploration and validation.A pan-cancer cohort was used to independently explore the diagnostic potential of SEMA4C among solid tumors.Breast cancer patients who underwent mass excision prior to modified radical mastectomy were also analyzed.We hypothesized that increased pretreatment serum SEMA4C levels,measured using optimized in-house enzymelinked immunosorbent assay kits,could detect breast cancer.The endpoints were diagnostic performance,including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC),sensitivity,and specificity.Post-surgery pathological diagnosis was the reference standard and breast cancer staging followed the TNM classification.There was no restriction on disease stage for eligibilities.Results:We included 2667 inpatients with breast lesions,2378 patients with other solid tumors,and 1168 healthy participants.Specifically,118 patients with breast cancer were diagnosed with stage 0(5.71%),620 with stage I(30.00%),966 with stage II(46.73%),217 with stage III(10.50%),and 8 with stage IV(0.39%).Patients with breast cancer had significantly higher serum SEMA4C levels than benign breast tumor patients and normal controls(P<0.001).Elevated serum SEMA4C levels had AUC of 0.920(95%confidence interval[CI]:0.900–0.941)and 0.932(95%CI:0.911–0.953)for breast cancer detection in the two validation cohorts.The AUCs for detecting early-stage breast cancer(n=366)and ductal carcinoma in situ(n=85)were 0.931(95%CI:0.916–0.946)and 0.879(95%CI:0.832–0.925),respectively.Serum SEMA4C levels significantly decreased after surgery,and the reduction was more striking after modified radical mastectomy,
基金National Key Research and Development Program of China,Grant/Award Number:ZDZX2017ZL-01National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant/Award Numbers:82073194,81972484+2 种基金High-level Innovation Team of Nanjing Medical University,Grant/Award Number:JX102GSP201727Precision Medicine Project ofWuxi Municipal Health Commission,Grant/Award Number:J202106Project ofWuxi Medical Center of Nanjing Medical University,Grant/Award Number:WMCC202319。
文摘Background:Immune checkpoint blockade(ICB)has revolutionized the treatment of various cancer types.Despite significant preclinical advancements in understanding mechanisms,identifying the molecular basis and predictive biomarkers for clinical ICB responses remains challenging.Recent evidence,both preclinical and clinical,underscores the pivotal role of the extracellular matrix(ECM)in modulating immune cell infiltration and behaviors.This study aimed to create an innovative classifier that leverages ECM characteristics to enhance the effectiveness of ICB therapy.Methods:We analyzed transcriptomic collagen activity and immune signatures in 649 patients with cancer undergoing ICB therapy.This analysis led to the identification of three distinct immuno-collagenic subtypes predictive of ICB responses.We validated these subtypes using the transcriptome data from 9,363 cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)dataset and 1,084 inhouse samples.Additionally,novel therapeutic targets were identified based on these established immuno-collagenic subtypes.Results:Our categorization divided tumors into three subtypes:“soft&hot”(low collagen activity and high immune infiltration),“armored&cold”(high collagen activity and low immune infiltration),and“quiescent”(low collagen activity and immune infiltration).Notably,“soft&hot”tumors exhibited the most robust response to ICB therapy across various cancer types.Mechanistically,inhibiting collagen augmented the response to ICB in preclinical models.Furthermore,these subtypes demonstrated associations with immune activity and prognostic predictive potential across multiple cancer types.Additionally,an unbiased approach identified B7 homolog 3(B7-H3),an available drug target,as strongly expressed in“armored&cold”tumors,relating with poor prognosis.Conclusion:This study introduces histopathology-based universal immunocollagenic subtypes capable of predicting ICB responses across diverse cancer types.These findings offer insights that could contribute to tai
基金China Scholarship Council,Grant/Award Number:201806015028Chinese National Natural Science Foundation,Grant/Award Numbers:81101998,81872018,81372292+1 种基金Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology,Grant/Award Number:2017YFC0110200Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine。
文摘Background:Human epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)is an oncogenic gene and one of top targets of precision therapy in lung cancer with EGFR mutations.Although there are many reports for some individual cancers,comprehensive profiling of EGFR mutations,overexpression,amplification,DNA methylation,and their clinical associations across many different cancers simultaneously was not available.This study aimed to fill the gap and provide insights to the alteration spectrum of EGFR and its therapeutic and prognostic implications.Methods:The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)datasets for 32 cancer types involving 11,314 patients were analyzed for alterations(mutations and amplification/deletion),abnormal expression and DNA methylation in EGFR gene.Mutation frequency,genomic location distribution,functional impact,and clinical targeted therapy implication were compared among different cancer types,and their associations with patient survival were analyzed.Results:EGFR alteration frequency,mutation sites across functional domains,amplification,overexpression,and DNA methylation patterns differed greatly among different cancer types.The overall mutation frequency in all cancers combined was relatively low.Targetable mutations,mainly in lung cancer,were primarily found in the Pkinase_Tyr domain.Glioblastoma multiforme had the highest rate of alterations,but it was dominated by gene amplification and most mutations were in the Furin-like domain where targeted therapy was less effective.Low-grade glioma often had gene amplification and increased EGFR expression which was associated with poor outcome.Colon and pancreatic adenocarcinoma had very few EGFR mutations;however,high EGFR expression was significantly associated with short patient survival.Squamous cell carcinoma regardless of their sites(the head and neck,lung,or esophagus)exhibited similar characteristics with an alteration frequency of about 5.0%,was dominated by gene amplification,and had increased EGFR expression generally associated with short patient survival.DNA me
基金Tianjin Health Technology Project(Grant no.2022QN106).
文摘Background:Doublecortin(DCX),a microtubule-associated protein,is best known for its critical role in neuronal migration during neural development,where it stabilizes microtubules and guides neurons to their proper positions.Recently,DCX has been implicated in various cancer processes,suggesting it may influence tumor progression and the tumor microenvironment.Emerging evidence indicates that DCX can modulate cell migration,invasion,and interaction with immune cells,making it a potential player in oncogenesis.However,the role of DCX across different cancer types and its potential as a prognostic biomarker remain underexplored,necessitating a comprehensive analysis.Methods:We utilized The Cancer Genome Atlas to extract data on DCX expression in tumor and adjacent normal tissues across diverse cancer types.Differential expression analysis was conducted using differential expression sequencing 2.Survival analysis was performed with Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards models.Correlations between DCX expression and tumor mutational burden,microsatellite instability,and immune infiltration were examined using Spearman’s correlation.Results:DCX showed variable expression across cancer types,with significant overexpression in certain tumors such as liver and lung cancer and downexpression in others like breast cancer.High DCX expression was correlated with poor prognosis in adrenocortical carcinoma but with better outcomes in low-grade glioma.Additionally,DCX expression was significantly associated with various immune markers and chemokines,suggesting a role in modulating the immune microenvironment.Conclusion:Our findings highlight the complex role of DCX in cancer,underlining its potential as a prognostic marker and its involvement in immune-related pathways.Targeting DCX could represent a novel approach to modulating tumor behavior and enhancing immune response in cancer therapy.
基金Supported by The 2021 Central-Guided Local Science and Technology Development FundLanzhou COVID-19 Prevention and Control Technology Research Project,No.2020-XG-1Gansu Province Outstanding Graduate Student"Innovation Star"Project,No.2022CXZX-748,No.2022CXZX-746.
文摘BACKGROUND The pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunitβ(PDHB)gene which regulates energy metabolism is located in mitochondria.However,few studies have elucidated the role and mechanism of PDHB in different cancers.AIM To comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of PDHB was performed based on bioinformatics approaches to explore its tumor diagnostic and prognostic value and tumor immune relevance in cancer.In vitro experiments were performed to examine the biological regulation of PDHB in liver cancer.METHODS Pan-cancer data related to PDHB were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database.Analysis of the gene expression profiles of PDHB was based on TCGA and Genotype Tissue Expression Dataset databases.Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier methods were used to assess the correlation between PDHB expression and survival prognosis in cancer patients.The correlation between PDHB and receiver operating characteristic diagnostic curve,clinicopathological staging,somatic mutation,tumor mutation burden(TMB),microsatellite instability(MSI),DNA methylation,and drug susceptibility in pan-cancer was also analyzed.Various algorithms were used to analyze the correlation between PDHB and immune cell infiltration and tumor chemotaxis environment,as well as the co-expression analysis of PDHB and immune checkpoint(ICP)genes.The expression and functional phenotype of PDHB in single tumor cells were studied by single-cell sequencing,and the functional enrichment analysis of PDHB-related genes was performed.The study also validated the level of mRNA or protein expression of PDHB in several cancers.Finally,in vitro experiments verified the regulatory effect of PDHB on the proliferation,migration,and invasion of liver cancer.RESULTS PDHB was significantly and differently expressed in most cancers.PDHB was significantly associated with prognosis in patients with a wide range of cancers,including kidney renal clear cell carcinoma,kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma,breast invasive carcinoma,and brain lower grade glioma.In some cancers,
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant/Award Numbers:61902215,61902216,61972226。
文摘The identification of tumor driver genes facilitates accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment,playing a key role in precision oncology,along with gene signaling,regulation,and their interaction with protein complexes.To tackle the challenge of distinguishing driver genes from a large number of genomic data,we construct a feature extraction framework for discovering pan-cancer driver genes based on multi-omics data(mutations,gene expression,copy number variants,and DNA methylation)combined with protein–protein interaction(PPI)networks.Using a network propagation algorithm,we mine functional information among nodes in the PPI network,focusing on genes with weak node information to represent specific cancer information.From these functional features,we extract distribution features of pan-cancer data,pan-cancer TOPSIS features of functional features using the ideal solution method,and SetExpan features of pan-cancer data from the gene functional features,a method to rank pan-cancer data based on the average inverse rank.These features represent the common message of pan-cancer.Finally,we use the lightGBM classification algorithm for gene prediction.Experimental results show that our method outperforms existing methods in terms of the area under the check precision-recall curve(AUPRC)and demonstrates better performance across different PPI networks.This indicates our framework’s effectiveness in predicting potential cancer genes,offering valuable insights for the diagnosis and treatment of tumors.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82325039,82273255,81822034,81821002)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFA1106600)+3 种基金Sichuan Science-Technology Project(2022ZYD0054,2019YFH0144)Direct Scientific Research Grants from West China Second Hospital,Sichuan University(KS021,K1907)Young Investigator Award in Glioblastoma from ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation(ASCO2018JS)RSNA Research Resident Grant(RR2166).
文摘Mechanics shape cell and tissue plasticity and maintain their homeostasis.In cancers,mechanical signals regulate cancer hallmarks via mechanotransduction pathways,such as proliferation,metastasis and metabolic reprogramming.However,comprehensive characterization of mechanotransduction pathway genes and their clinical relevance across different cancer types remains untouched.Herein,we systematically portrayed the alterations of mechanotransduction pathway genes across 31 cancer types using The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)databases.All the cancer types could be categorized into 6 subtypes based upon the transcriptional pattern of mechanics pathway genes.Each subtype has its own unique molecular expression pattern,mutation landscapes,immune infiltrates,and patient clinical outcome.We further found that the responses of two subtypes of cancers,one with the optimal outcome and the other with the worst prognosis,to a classical mechanotherapeutic agent(Fasudil,RhoA/ROCK inhibitor)were totally different,indicating that our cancer stratification system based upon mechanotransduction pathway genes could inform clinical responses of patients to mechanotherapeutic agents.Collectively,our study provides a novel pan-cancer landscape of the mechanotransduction pathways and underscores its potential clinical significance in the prediction of clinical prognosis and therapeutic responses to mechanotherapy among cancer patients.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81972761 and 82202837)the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFC1303200 and 2022YFC2505100)。
文摘Objective: DNA damage response(DDR) deficiency has emerged as a prominent determinant of tumor immunogenicity. This study aimed to construct a DDR-related immune activation(DRIA) signature and evaluate the predictive accuracy of the DRIA signature for response to immune checkpoint inhibitor(ICI) therapy in gastrointestinal(GI) cancer.Methods: A DRIA signature was established based on two previously reported DNA damage immune response assays. Clinical and gene expression data from two published GI cancer cohorts were used to assess and validate the association between the DRIA score and response to ICI therapy. The predictive accuracy of the DRIA score was validated based on one ICI-treated melanoma and three pan-cancer published cohorts.Results: The DRIA signature includes three genes(CXCL10, IDO1, and IFI44L). In the discovery cancer cohort, DRIA-high patients with gastric cancer achieved a higher response rate to ICI therapy than DRIA-low patients(81.8% vs. 8.8%;P < 0.001), and the predictive accuracy of the DRIA score [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) = 0.845] was superior to the predictive accuracy of PD-L1 expression, tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability, and Epstein–Barr virus status. The validation cohort demonstrated that the DRIA score identified responders with microsatellite-stable colorectal and pancreatic adenocarcinoma who received dual PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade with radiation therapy. Furthermore, the predictive performance of the DRIA score was shown to be robust through an extended validation in melanoma, urothelial cancer, and pan-cancer.Conclusions: The DRIA signature has superior and robust predictive accuracy for the efficacy of ICI therapy in GI cancer and pancancer, indicating that the DRIA signature may serve as a powerful biomarker for guiding ICI therapy decisions.
文摘脊髓灰质炎病毒受体(poliovirus receptor,PVR)基因与肿瘤的发生发展密切相关,然而PVR在肿瘤免疫中的调控作用及机制尚未阐明。研究从泛癌角度分析PVR在不同类型癌症组织中的表达及与患者预后和免疫水平的关联。通过癌症基因组图谱(The Cancer Genome Atlas,TCGA)和TIMER数据库完成了PVR在癌症和正常组织中表达差异的分析,利用生存分析工具评估了PVR与癌症患者预后的关联。通过TIMER数据库和R软件包评估了PVR在泛癌中与免疫细胞浸润、免疫检查点(immune checkpoint,ICP)基因的共表达关系及癌症基质/免疫评分。为进一步了解PVR基因在不同癌症中的潜在生物学作用机制,对PVR进行了单细胞水平测序分析和基因集富集分析(Gene Set Enrichment Analysis,GSEA);通过qRT-PCR对PVR在多种癌症细胞系中的表达进行验证。结果显示,PVR在肿瘤组织与正常组织中表达具有显著差异,如膀胱尿路上皮癌、胆管癌、结肠癌、食管癌和头颈部癌等。PVR的异常表达与多种癌症的不良预后有关,如肾上腺皮质癌、膀胱尿路上皮癌、乳腺癌和宫颈癌等。PVR的表达水平与泛癌中免疫细胞浸润、基质/免疫评分和ICP基因的表达调控显著相关(均P<0.05,具体见正文)。单细胞测序结果显示,PVR与肿瘤细胞的分化、基因沉默和DNA修复等多种细胞生物学功能和表型有关。GSEA结果发现,PVR与多种肿瘤细胞的免疫相关功能和信号通路有关。qRT-PCR结果显示,相较于健康细胞,PVR在胃癌、结肠癌和肝癌细胞系中表达较高。较全面的泛癌分析表明,PVR是一种癌症组织中高表达并导致较差预后的癌基因,PVR可能是新的免疫依赖的预后预测标志物,能为癌症的靶向治疗提供新方向。
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(no.82374229 and 82172839).
文摘Background:Both eczema and tumor are associated with immune disorders.Although several investigations have observed the rela-tionship between eczema and certain cancers,evidence for causality is lacking.Methods:We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization(MR)study to examine and explore the genetic association between eczema and pan-cancers.Upon satisfying the three core assumptions of MR,we analyzed the causality between eczema and 15 site-specific cancers utilizing an inverse variance weighted method.We verified the results through a series of sensitivity and reverse direction analyses.The exposure and outcome datasets were substituted from the FinnGen and genome-wide association studies catalog data-bases.A meta-analysis on primary and validation analyses was performed to combine the estimates of MR study.Results:Based on the MR analysis results,eczema was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer(odds ratio[OR]=1.0427,95%confidence interval[CI]=1.0082–1.0783,P=0.0148)and brain cancer(OR=1.0285,95%CI=1.0120–1.0452,P=0.0007)and de-creased risk of colorectal cancer(OR=0.9324,95%CI=0.8774–0.9909,P=0.0242)and malignant neoplasm of the kidney(OR=0.9323,95%CI=0.8834–0.9839,P=0.0108).The sensitivity analysis indicated that the results were stable and reliable,and the reverse MR analyses demonstrated no causation between the cancers of interest and eczema.Conclusions:Our results identified eczema as a genetic risk factor for lung and brain cancer and a protective factor for colorectal cancer and malignant neoplasm of the kidney.No connection was observed between eczema and other cancers.Further evidence from epide-miological and mechanistic studies is needed to elucidate these findings in detail.