CD10蛋白在结直肠癌组织中的表达及其临床意义

目的：研究CD10蛋白在结直肠癌组织中的表达及其与结直肠癌的各临床病理指标之间的关系，探讨其在结直肠癌发生、发展中的作用。方法：收集78例结直肠癌组织标本及22例癌旁正常组织样本，运用免疫组化EliVision法检测CD10蛋白的表达，并采用卡方检验分析其表达强度及分布比例与结直肠癌临床病理指标的关系。结果：CD10蛋白在结直肠癌组织和正常结肠黏膜组织中的阳性表达率分别为46.2%（36/78）和0，差异有统计学意义（P < 0.01）。结直肠癌组织中CD10蛋白表达比例与各临床病理指标均无明显相关（P > 0.05）。结直肠癌组织中CD10蛋白表达强度与患者性别、年龄、肿瘤部位、分化程度、浸润深度无明显相关（P > 0.05），而与肿瘤的临床分期、有无脉管侵犯及淋巴结转移有关（P < 0.05），中晚期结直肠癌CD10蛋白表达强度高于早期肿瘤（P=0.033），周围淋巴结转移阳性的结直肠癌CD10蛋白表达强度高于淋巴结阴性病例（P=0.023），存在脉管受侵犯的结直肠癌CD10蛋白表达强度高于无脉管受侵病例（P=0.004）。结论：CD10蛋白在结直肠癌组织中呈高表达，且表达强度与肿瘤的临床分期、有无脉管侵犯及淋巴结转移有关，可能有促进结直肠癌发展和浸润转移的作用。     

CD109 promotes the tumorigenic ability and metastatic motility of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells

BackgroundAccumulating evidence indicates that CD109, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored glycoprotein, is highly expressed in human epithelial carcinomas of multiple organs including the pancreas, but its functional role in carcinoma development has not yet been fully clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of CD109 in the malignancy of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).MethodsPDAC specimens of 145 cases were immunostained for CD109, and correlations between CD109 expression and clinicopathological conditions were analyzed. CD109 expression in PANC-1 cells, a PDAC-derived cell line, was decreased by siRNA or shRNA and its effect on the malignancy of PANC-1 cells was examined.ResultsSuppression of CD109 expression in PANC-1 cells resulted in reduction of in vitro cell motility and tumorigenicity in xenografts. Based on these results, we investigated the relationship between CD109 expression and metastasis of PDAC using tumor tissue specimens. Among 106 recurrent cases of 145 PDAC, there was a tendency for CD109-positive cases to be accompanied by distant metastasis.ConclusionsCD109 plays a critical role in the promotion of tumorigenic ability and cellular motility relating to metastasis of PDAC cells.     

TIGIT and PD-1 may serve as potential prognostic biomarkers for gastric cancer

Gastric Cancer (GC) is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, and in urgent need of specific therapeutic targets to acquire prominent effectiveness. T-cell immunoglobulin and immunoreceptor tyrosine–based inhibitory motif (ITIM) domain (TIGIT) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are identified to be abnormally overexpressed in various types of cancers including GC. This study aimed to investigate whether TIGIT and PD-1 could serve as potential prognostic biomarkers for GC. Firstly, TCGA GC dataset analysis and correlation analysis were utilized to inspect the relationship between expression of TIGIT, PD-1 and CD8 + T cells in GC and adjacent normal tissues. Then, flow cytometry was used to verify the data after collecting the peripheral blood, GC and adjacent normal tissues from 150 GC patients. Lastly, quantitative RT-PCR was performed to detect the expression of CD155, CD113, CD112 and TIGIT in six human GC cell lines and 631 GC patients in KM Plotter Database to conduct prognostic analysis. As results, we found that TIGIT and PD-1 were upregulated in GC tissues with high CD8 + T cells infiltration, while correlation analysis indicated they were in high-positive correlation. In addition, the flow cytometry analysis further showed that the high-expression of TIGIT in tumor microenvironment of GC could suppress the function of infiltrative CD8 + T cells, which leads to the escape of GC cells from immune killing. Furthermore, CD155 and CD112 were found abnormally upregulated in GC tissues and cell lines and the high expression of CD155, CD112 and TIGIT demonstrated poor prognosis results. In conclusion, these results provided potential therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers for treatment of GC in clinic.     

CRACC-targeting Fc-fusion protein induces activation of NK cells and DCs and improves T cell immune responses to antigenic targets

The CD2-like receptor activating cytotoxic cell (CRACC) receptor is a member of the SLAM family of receptors that are found on several types of immune cells. We previously demonstrated that increasing the abundance of the adaptor protein EAT-2 during vaccination enhanced innate and adaptive immune responses to vaccine antigens. Engagement of the CRACC receptor in the presence of the EAT-2 adaptor generally results in immune cell activation, while activating CRACC signaling in cells that lack EAT-2 adaptor inhibits their effector and regulatory functions. As EAT-2 is the only SAP adaptor that interacts with the CRACC receptor, we hypothesized that technologies that specifically modulate CRACC signaling during vaccination may also improve antigen specific adaptive immune responses. To test this hypothesis, we constructed a CRACC-targeting Fc fusion protein and included it in vaccination attempts. Indeed, mice co-vaccinated with the CRACC-Fc fusion protein and an adenovirus vaccine expressing the HIV-Gag protein had improved Gag-specific T cell responses, as compared to control mice. These responses are characterized by increased numbers of Gag-specific tetramer+ CD8+ T cells and increases in production of IFNγ, TNFα, and IL2, by Gag-specific CD8+ T cells. Moreover, our results revealed that use of the CRACC-Fc fusion protein enhances vaccine-elicited innate immune responses, as characterized by increased dendritic cells (DCs) maturation and IFNγ production from NK cells. This study highlights the importance of CRACC signaling during the induction of an immune response generally, and during vaccinations specifically, and also lends insight into the mechanisms underlying our prior results noting EAT-2-dependent improvements in vaccine efficacy.     

Structural variations and expression profiles of the SARS-CoV-2 host invasion genes in lung cancer

Recent days have seen growing evidence of cancer's susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and of the effect of genomic differences on the virus' entrance genes in lung cancer. Genetic confirmation of the hypotheses regarding gene expression and mutation pattern of target genes, including angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), basigin (CD147/BSG) and paired basic amino acid cleaving enzyme (FURIN/PCSK3), as well as correlation analysis, was done in relation to lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) using in silico analysis. Not only were gene expression and mutation patterns detected, but also there were correlation and survival analysis between ACE2 and other target genes expression levels. The total genetic anomaly carrying rate of target genes, including ACE2, TMPRSS2, CD147/BSG, and FURIN/PCSK3, was determined as 8.1% and 21 mutations were detected, with 7 of these mutations having pathogenic features. p.H34N on the RBD binding residues for SARS-CoV-2 was determined in our LUAD patient group. According to gene expression analysis results, though the TMPRSS2 level was statistically significantly decreased in the LUSC patient group compared to healthy control, the ACE2 level was determined to be high in LUAD and LUSC groups. There were no meaningful differences in the expression of CD147 and FURIN genes. The challenge for today is building the assessment of genomic susceptibility to COVID-19 in lung cancer, requiring detailed experimental laboratory studies, in addition to in silico analyses, as a way of assessing the mechanism of novel virus invasion that can be used in the development of effective SARS-CoV-2 therapy.