横纹肌肉瘤中HMGA1和HMGA2的表达及其临床意义

目的 探讨高迁移率蛋白A1(HMGA1)和高迁移率蛋白A2(HMGA2)在横纹肌肉瘤(rhabdomyosarcoma,RMS)中的表达特点及其与临床病理参数、细胞增殖的关系.方法 应用免疫组化法分别检测39例RMS和10例正常横纹肌组织中HMGA1、HMGA2和Ki-67蛋白表达水平;原位杂交法分别检测39例RMS中HMGA1和HMGA2基因mRNA的表达.结果 HMGA1和HMGA2在RMS中的蛋白阳性表达率分别为76.9%(30/39)和64.1%(25/39),表达水平分别高于正常横纹肌组织(P<0.05);mRNA阳性表达率分别为69.2%(27/39)和66.7%(26/39),表达水平分别高于正常横纹肌组织(P<0.05).HMGA1、HMGA2在蛋白水平的表达与其各自的mRNA水平表达之间具有较好一致性.两者分别在胚胎型(ERMS)和腺泡型(ARMS)中的表达差异无统计学意义(P>0.05),而在不同分化程度之间的表达差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);在有复发或转移的病例与无复发或转移的病例中表达差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);在Ki-67阳性的高增殖组与Ki-67阴性的低增殖组之间的表达差异无统计学意义(P>0.05).结论 HMGA1和HMGA2过表达可能与RMS的发生、发展密切相关,有望成为判断该肿瘤预后的指标之一,并为靶向治疗提供依据.     

HMGA gene rearrangement is a recurrent somatic alteration in polypoid endometriosis

The pathogenesis of endometriosis is unclear, and several genetic, endocrine, immune, and environmental agents have been evaluated with no putative causative factors identified. Here, we show somatic genetic alterations involving HMGA1 (6p21) and HMGA2 (12q15) in 3 cases of polypoid endometriosis. The lesions involved the small bowel mesentery and perirectal soft tissue in 1 case and the posterior vaginal fornix and sigmoid colon serosa in 2 other cases, respectively. All had a polypoid configuration with cystically dilated irregular glands and fibrotic stroma, containing thick-walled vessels. Conventional cytogenetic analysis of 1 case showed 46,XX,t(5;12)(q13;q15) in all metaphases. Fluorescence in situ hybridization studies confirmed the balanced rearrangement of HMGA2. HMGA1 rearrangements were present in 2 additional cases. Rearrangements were exclusively found in the stromal component but not in the glandular component. These findings suggest that HMGA rearrangements likely contribute to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. However, additional studies are needed to better define the biologic role of this genetic alteration.     

Odontogenic myxofibroma with HMGA2 overexpression and HMGA2 rearrangement

Odontogenic myxofibromas are variants of odontogenic myxomas that contain considerable amounts of collagen fibers in the myxoid stroma. Cytogenetic studies of odontogenic myxomas/myxofibromas have rarely been reported. This report describes the first case of an odontogenic myxofibroma presenting with HMGA2 protein overexpression and HMGA2 rearrangement in a 40-year-old woman. A 2.7-cm tumor in the premolar region of the right mandible was curettaged. There was no evidence of recurrence or metastasis at 12 months after the surgery. Histological examination revealed that the tumor comprised spindle or stellate cells with mild nuclear pleomorphism, abundant myxoid matrix and partly dense collagen fibers. Mitotic figures were rarely observed. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were diffusely positive for vimentin and HMGA2. Less than 1% of the tumor cells were positive for Ki-67. We detected split signals by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in paraffin sections using HMGA2 break-apart probes. The breaks were certainly located within or near the HMGA2 gene. No rearrangement of the FUS gene was detected by FISH, implying discrimination from low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma. It is suggested that HMGA2 rearrangement and HMGA2 protein overexpression may be associated with the tumorigenesis of odontogenic myxomas/myxofibromas, similar to the case for many other benign mesenchymal tumors.     

HMGA1 proteins in human atherosclerotic plaques

One of the major characteristics of atherosclerosis is the migration of smooth muscle cells (SMC) from the tunica media to the intima, caused by alterations in the environment, e.g. mechanical, chemical, or immunologic injuries of the arterial walls. A group of molecules that may act as a main regulator of SMC phenotype switching is formed by the so-called HMGA1 high-mobility group proteins. One target gene of the HMGA1 protein, playing a major role in the development of atherosclerotic lesions, is CD44. The expression of CD44 is regulated by IL-1beta, but binding of HMGA1 potentiates the transactivation of the CD44 promoter. In this study, the HMGA1 expression of human atherosclerotic plaque samples was examined. Compared to the non-active components, all major components of the well-developed atherosclerotic plaques showed strong positivity of the high-mobility group protein HMGA1 in their activated areas, e.g. neointimal SMCs, macrophages, newly built blood vessels. This report is the first to describe HMGA1 as one of the first mediators in the development of human atherosclerotic plaques.     

RNAi沉默HMGA1基因对肝癌细胞凋亡和细胞周期的影响

目的:筛选HMGA1基因沉默稳定转染肝癌细胞株,检测沉默后肿瘤细胞凋亡、周期和增殖的变化。方法:靶向HMGA1的RNAi载体转染肝癌细胞,G418筛选得到稳定转染细胞株并鉴定;MTT法和FACS检测细胞增殖、凋亡及细胞周期。结果:成功建立基因沉默HMGA1稳定细胞株;HMGA1基因沉默后,细胞凋亡百分率(29.46±3.04%)明显高于质粒对照组和空白对照组(1.96±0.76%和2.04±0.70%,P<0.01);G0-G1期细胞百分率(75.21±2.35%)明显高于质粒对照组和空白对照组(37.98±3.02%和39.23±3.63%,P<0.01),G2-S期(24.79±2.35%)显著低于质粒对照组和空白对照组(62.03±3.01%和60.77±3.63%,P<0.01);MTT检测显示,HMGA1沉默细胞增殖与质粒对照组和空白对照组相比显著降低(P<0.01或0.05)。结论:基因沉默HMGA1可促进肿瘤细胞凋亡,抑制细胞增殖。     

HMGA2 Is Confirmed To Be Associated with Human Adult Height

Recent genome-wide association studies have identified a novel polymorphism, rs1042725, in the HMGA2 gene for human adult height, a highly heritable complex trait. Replications in independent populations are needed to evaluate a positive finding and determine its generality. Thus, we performed a replication study to examine the associations between polymorphisms in HMGA2 and adult height in two US Caucasian populations (an unrelated sample of 998 subjects and a family-based sample of 8385 subjects) and a Chinese population (1638 unrelated Han subjects). We confirmed the association between rs1042725 in HMGA2 and adult height both in the unrelated and family-based Caucasian populations (overall P = 4.25 × 10⁻⁹). Another two SNPs (rs7968902 and rs7968682), which were in high linkage disequilibrium with rs1042725, also achieved the significance level in both Caucasian populations (overall P = 6.34 × 10⁻⁷, and 2.72 × 10⁻⁹, respectively). Our results provide strong support to the initial finding. Moreover, SNP rs1042725 was firstly found to be associated with adult height ( P = 0.008) in the Chinese population, and the effect is in the same direction as in the Caucasian populations, suggesting that it is a common variant across different populations. Our study further highlights the importance of the HMGA2 gene's involvement in normal growth.     

Molecular alterations of Ras‐Raf‐mitogen‐activated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase‐Akt signaling pathways in colorectal cancers from a tertiary hospital at Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

Molecular alterations in KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, and PTEN have been implicated in designing targeted therapy for colorectal cancer (CRC). The present study aimed to determine the status of these molecular alterations in Malaysian CRCs as such data are not available in the literature. We investigated the mutations of KRAS, BRAF, and PTEN, the gene amplification of PIK3CA, and the protein expression of PTEN and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) catalytic subunit (p110α) by direct DNA sequencing, quantitative real‐time PCR, and immunohistochemistry, respectively, in 49 CRC samples. The frequency of KRAS (codons 12, 13, and 61), BRAF (V600E), and PTEN mutations, and PIK3CA amplification was 25.0% (11/44), 2.3% (1/43), 0.0% (0/43), and 76.7% (33/43), respectively. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated loss of PTEN protein in 54.5% (24/44) of CRCs and no significant difference in PI3K p110α expression between CRCs and the adjacent normal colonic mucosa (p = 0.380). PIK3CA amplification was not associated with PI3K p110α expression level, but associated with male cases (100% of male cases vs 56% of female cases harbored amplified PIK3CA, p = 0.002). PI3K p110α expression was significantly higher (p = 0.041) in poorly/moderately differentiated carcinoma compared with well‐differentiated carcinoma. KRAS mutation, PIK3CA amplification, PTEN loss, and PI3K p110α expression did not correlate with Akt phosphorylation or Ki‐67 expression. KRAS mutation, PIK3CA amplification, and PTEN loss were not mutually exclusive. This is the first report on CRC in Malaysia showing comparable frequency of KRAS mutation and PTEN loss, lower BRAF mutation rate, higher PIK3CA amplification frequency, and rare PTEN mutation, as compared with published reports.     

Mycoplasma genitalium,an agent of reemerging sexually transmitted infections

M. genitalium is a reemerging microorganism, responsible for sexually transmissible infections (STIs), with prevalence which varies depending on the country and population group studied. We report here M. genitalium prevalence among the specimens received for STI diagnosis in our routine microbiological laboratory in the university hospital in Marseille, France. We tested 4 624 samples from 3 793 patients using qPCR for M. genitalium, C. trachomatis, N. gonorrheae, T. pallidum. Of these samples, 528 (13.6%) patients were tested positive for at least one pathogen and 126 (3.3%) were positive for M. genitalium. M. genitalium is the second most prevalent micro‐organism detected in women after C. trachomatis (10.4%) and the third most prevalent in men after C. trachomatis (5.1%) and N. gonorrhoeae (4.4%). We observed no significant differences between the prevalence of M. genitalium in vaginal, urethral and urine specimens (p = 0.9). Prevalence of M. genitalium is significantly higher in patients aged between 10–30 years (4.1%) compared to those aged between 30 and 50 years (2.7%) (p = 0.02, RR = 1.54 [1.06–2.24]) and patients over 50 years of age (1.1%) (p = 0.003, RR= 3.98 [1.47–10.8]). M. genitalium is a common agent of STI, therefore we suggest that this micro‐organism should be systematically tested during chronic, recurrent, or antibiotic resistant genital infections and in populations at high‐risk of STIs.     

Increased expression of HMGA1 correlates with tumour invasiveness and proliferation in human pituitary adenomas

Wang E L, Qian Z R, Rahman M M, Yoshimoto K, Yamada S, Kudo E & Sano T
(2010) Histopathology 56, 501–509 Increased expression of HMGA1 correlates with tumour invasiveness and proliferation in human pituitary adenomas Aims: High‐mobility group A1 (HMGA1) is highly expressed in various benign and malignant tumours. The development of pituitary adenoma in Hmga1 transgenic mice has been reported. However, no studies have investigated HMGA1 expression and its clinical significance in human pituitary adenomas. Methods and results: Immunohistochemical expression of HMGA1 was analysed with respect to various clinicopathological factors in 95 pituitary adenomas. Nuclear expression of HMGA1 was observed in 62% of pituitary adenomas, whereas normal adenohypophysial tissues were negative. Although HMGA1 expression was frequently detected in clinically non‐functioning adenomas – 90% of silent adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), 76.2% of follicle‐stimulating hormone/luteinizing hormone and 100% of null cell adenomas – it was also detected in 48.1% of growth hormone (GH), 60% of mixed GH/prolactin (PRL), 62.5% of PRL, 66.6% of thyroid‐stimulating hormone and 37.5% of ACTH adenomas. HMGA1 expression was significantly higher in invasive adenomas or macroadenomas than in non‐invasive adenomas or microadenomas (invasive versus non‐invasive, P < 0.05; macroadenoma versus microadenoma, P < 0.05). In addition, HMGA1 showed the highest level in grade IV, more aggressive pituitary adenomas, than in grades I, II and III (IV versus I, P = 0.01; IV versus II, P = 0.01; IV versus III, P = 0.07). Furthermore, a significant correlation between HMGA1 expression and MIB‐1 labelling index was observed (R = 0.368, P < 0.0002). Conclusions: These findings suggest that HMGA1 up‐regulation has an important oncogenic role in pituitary tumorigenesis, as well as being a novel molecular marker of tumour proliferation and invasiveness.     

Mast cells impair melanoma cell homing and metastasis by inhibiting HMGA1 secretion

Metastatic disease is the major cause of death from cancer. From the primary tumour, cells remotely prepare the environment of the future metastatic sites by secreted factors and extracellular vesicles. During this process, known as pre-metastatic niche formation, immune cells play a crucial role. Mast cells are haematopoietic bone marrow-derived innate immune cells whose function in lung immune response to invading tumours remains to be defined. We found reduced melanoma lung metastasis in mast cell-deficient mouse models (Wsh and MCTP5-Cre-RDTR), supporting a pro-metastatic role for mast cells in vivo. However, due to evidence pointing to their antitumorigenic role, we studied the impact of mast cells in melanoma cell function in vitro. Surprisingly, in vitro co-culture of bone-marrow-derived mast cells with melanoma cells showed that they have an intrinsic anti-metastatic activity. Mass spectrometry analysis of melanoma-mast cell co-cultures secretome showed that HMGA1 secretion by melanoma cells was significantly impaired. Consistently, HMGA1 knockdown in B16-F10 cells reduced their metastatic capacity in vivo. Importantly, analysis of HMGA1 expression in human melanoma tumours showed that metastatic tumours with high HMGA1 expression are associated with reduced overall and disease-free survival. Moreover, we show that HMGA1 is reduced in the nuclei and enriched in the cytoplasm of melanoma metastatic lesions when compared to primary tumours. These data suggest that high HMGA1 expression and secretion from melanoma cells promote metastatic behaviour. Targeting HMGA1 expression intrinsically or extrinsically by mast cells actions reduce melanoma metastasis. Our results pave the way to the use of HMGA1 as anti-metastatic target in melanoma as previously suggested in other cancer types.     

Prognostic significance of the MDM2/HMGA2 ratio and histological tumor grade in dedifferentiated liposarcoma

Dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) is a relatively common soft tissue sarcoma that results from the progression of well‐differentiated liposarcoma (WDLPS). This study aimed to investigate the progression process and to clarify the pathological and genetic factors related to poor prognosis in DDLPS. In 32 DDLPS cases and five WDLPS cases, genetic factors were analyzed by custom comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array, which was designed to densely cover gene regions known to be frequently amplified in WD/DDLPS. The analyses comparing primary and metastatic lesions and those comparing histologically different areas in the same tumor revealed intra‐tumoral genetic heterogeneity and progression. According to a prognostic analysis comparing the good‐prognosis and the poor‐prognosis groups, we selected MDM2 and HMGA2 as candidate genes associated with poor and good prognosis, respectively. The ratios of the amplification or gain levels of MDM2 and HMGA2 expressed in log ratios (log[MDM2/HMGA2] = log[MDM2]‐log[HMGA2]) were significantly associated with prognosis. An amplification or gain level of MDM2 that was more than twice that of HMGA2 (MDM2/HMGA2 > 2, log[MDM2/HMGA2] > 1) was strongly related to poor OS (P < .001) and poor distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) (P < .001). In the pathological analysis of 44 cases of DDLPS, histological tumor grade, cellular atypia, and MDM2 immunoreactivity were related to overall survival (OS), while HMGA2 immunoreactivity tended to be associated with OS. Cellular atypia was also associated with DMFS. In conclusion, histological grade and MDM2 expression were determined to be prognostically important, and the MDM2/HMGA2 amplification or gain ratio was found to have significant prognostic value by the custom CGH array analysis.