Association between microRNA-527 and glypican-3 in hepatocellular carcinoma

The present study aimed to identify the specific microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) and their corresponding target genes involved in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Microarray analysis was performed to examine the miRNA expression profiles of four paired HCC and corresponding non-cancerous (N) liver tissues using 985 miRNA probes. The Human miRNA Target database was used to identify the target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs between the HCC and N tissues. The protein expression levels of target genes in the HCC tissues and cell lines were evaluated using western blotting. miRNA-mediated suppression of target gene expression was evaluated by transiently transfecting the miRNA into the HCC cell lines. Of the 985 miRNAs evaluated, four miRNAs were differentially expressed (three upregulated and one downregulated miRNAs). Of these four miRNAs, miRNA-527 was highly downregulated in the HCC tissues. Glypican-3 (GPC-3) was predicted as a target gene of miRNA-527. Western blotting revealed that GPC-3 protein is highly expressed in the HCC tissues and HCC cell lines compared with N and normal cell lines. Transfection with miR-527 resulted in suppression of GPC-3 protein expression in the Cos7 cells. Furthermore, transfection with miR-527 also inhibited the intrinsic expression of GPC-3 in the Huh-7 cell line. This indicated that miR-527 in the HCC tissues may be an important novel miRNA that targets the GPC-3 gene expression. GPC-3, whose expression is regulated by miR-527, may be involved in the development and progression of HCC.     

miR-454 functions as an oncogene by inhibiting CHD5 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Previous studies showed that miR-454 acted as an oncogene or tumor suppressor in cancer. However, its function in HCC remains unknown. In this study, we found that miR-454 expression was upregulated in HCC cell lines and tissues. Knockdown of miR-454 inhibited HCC cell proliferation and invasion and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), whereas overexpression of miR-454 promoted HCC cell proliferation and invasion and EMT. Furthermore, we identified the CHD5 as a direct target of miR-454. CHD5 was downregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines and the expression level of CHD5 was inversely correlated with the expression of miR-454 in HCC tissues. In addition, knockdown of miR-454 inhibited the growth of HepG2-engrafted tumors in vivo. Taken together, these results indicated that miR-454 functioned as an oncogene in HCC.     

MicroRNA-543 acts as an oncogene by targeting PAQR3 in hepatocellular carcinoma

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that can act as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes in human cancer. Increasing evidences indicate that deregulation of miRNAs contributes to the hepatocarcinogenesis. In this study, we demonstrated that the levels of miR-543 were dramatically increased in clinical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and cell lines. Moreover, forced expression of miR-543 promoted the proliferative and invasive potential of HepG2. We also identified PAQR3 as a direct target gene for miR-543 using a fluorescent reporter assay and western blot. The levels of PAQR3 were dramatically decreased in clinical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and cell lines. The mRNA levels of PAQR3 were inversely correlated with the miR-543 expression level.Thus, our finding provides a new insight into the mechanism of hepatocarcinogenesis, indicating a therapeutic potential of miR-543 in the treatment of HCC.     

Serum microRNA-1 and microRNA-122 are prognostic markers in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

BackgroundThe identification of new biomarkers to predict the aggressiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and supplement the current set of prognosis and treatment algorithms is an important clinical need. Extracellular microRNAs (miRNAs) circulating in the blood are a new class of highly promising disease markers.AimHere we investigated the prognostic potential of miR-1 and miR-122 in sera from patients with HCC.MethodsRNA was extracted from 195 sera of HCC patients and 54 patients with liver cirrhosis, obtained at the time of study enrolment. miR-1 and miR-122 levels were correlated with overall survival (OS), Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) score, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage, clinical chemistry parameters and tumor specific treatment.ResultsPatients with higher miR-1 and miR-122 serum levels showed longer OS than individuals with lower miR-1 and miR-122 serum concentrations (hazard ratio [HR] 0.440, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.233–0.831, P = 0.011 for miR-1 and HR 0.493, 95% CI 0.254–0.956, P = 0.036 for miR-122, respectively). Serum miR-1 and miR-122 concentrations did not differ significantly between patients with HCC and liver cirrhosis. An age-, sex-, tumor stage and treatment-adjusted multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that miR-1 serum levels (HR 0.451, 95% CI 0.228–0.856, P = 0.015) were independently associated with OS, whereas serum miR-122 was not. miR-1 serum levels showed no relevant correlation with clinical chemistry liver parameters, whereas serum miR-122 correlated with clinical chemistry parameters of hepatic necroinflammation, liver function and synthetic capacity.ConclusionOur data indicate that serum miR-1 is a new independent parameter of OS in HCC patients and may therefore improve the predictive value of classical HCC staging scores.     

microRNA-148a dysregulation discriminates poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in association with USP4 overexpression

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is classified as a poor prognostic tumor, and becomes frequently aggressive. MicroRNAs emerge as key contributors to tumor progression. This study investigated whether miR-148a dysregulation differentiates poor prognosis of HCC, exploring new targets of miR-148a. miR-148a dysregulation discriminated not only the overall survival and recurrence free survival rates of HCC, but the microvascular invasion. In the human HCC samples, ubiquitin specific protease 4 (USP4) and sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) were up-regulated as the new targets of miR-148a. USP4 and S1P1 were up-regulated in mesenchymal-type liver-tumor cells with miR-148a dysregulation, facilitating migration and proliferation of tumor cells. The inverse relationship between miR-148a and the identified targets was verified in a tumor xenograft model. In the analysis of human samples, the expression of USP4, but not S1P1, correlated with the decrease of miR-148a. In a heterotropic patient-derived HCC xenograft model, USP4 was also overexpressed in G1 and G2 tumors when miR-148a was dysregulated, reflecting the closer link between miR-148a and USP4 for a shift in the expansion phase of tumorgraft. In conclusion, miR-148a dysregulation affects the poor prognosis of HCC. Of the identified targets of miR-148a, USP4 overexpression may contribute to HCC progression towards more aggressive feature.     

microRNA-7 as a tumor suppressor and novel therapeutic for adrenocortical carcinoma

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) has a poor prognosis with significant unmet clinical need due to late diagnosis, high rates of recurrence/metastasis and poor response to conventional treatment. Replacing tumor suppressor microRNAs (miRNAs) offer a novel therapy, however systemic delivery remains challenging. A number of miRNAs have been described to be under-expressed in ACC however it is not known if they form a part of ACC pathogenesis. Here we report that microRNA-7–5p (miR-7) reduces cell proliferation in vitro and induces G₁ cell cycle arrest. Systemic miR-7 administration in a targeted, clinically safe delivery vesicle (^EGFREDV^TM nanocells) reduces ACC xenograft growth originating from both ACC cell lines and primary ACC cells. Mechanistically, miR-7 targets Raf-1 proto-oncogene serine/threonine kinase (RAF1) and mechanistic target of rapamycin (MTOR). Additionally, miR-7 therapy in vivo leads to inhibition of cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1). In patient ACC samples, CDK1 is overexpressed and miR-7 expression inversely related. In summary, miR-7 inhibits multiple oncogenic pathways and reduces ACC growth when systemically delivered using EDV^TM nanoparticles. This data is the first study in ACC investigating the possibility of miRNAs replacement as a novel therapy.     

Comprehensive profiling of novel microRNA-9 targets and a tumor suppressor role of microRNA-9 via targeting IGF2BP1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

MicroRNA-9 (miR-9) dysregulation is implicated in a variety of human malignancies including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its role remains contradictory. In this study, we explored the expression and methylation status of miR-9 in HCC samples, as well as the tumor-related functions of miR-9 in vitro. Bioinformatics analysis, array-based RNA expression profile, and literature retrieval were used to identify miR-9 targets in HCC. The potential downstream candidates were then validated by luciferase reporter assay, real-time quantitative PCR, and western blot or enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expression status and clinicopathologic significances of miR-9 target genes in clinical samples were further explored. The results showed that miR-9 was frequently downregulated in primary HCC. Its silencing was largely contributed by a high frequency (42.5%) of mir-9-1 hypermethylation, which was correlated with bigger tumor size (P = 0.0234). In vitro functional studies revealed that miR-9 restoration retarded HCC cell proliferation and migration. IL-6, AP3B1, TC10, ONECUT2, IGF2BP1, MYO1D, and ANXA2 were confirmed to be miR-9 targets in HCC. Among them, ONECUT2, IGF2BP1, and ANXA2 were confirmed to be aberrantly upregulated in HCC. Moreover, upregulation of ONECUT2, IGF2BP1, and IL-6 were significantly associated with poor post-surgery prognosis (P = 0.0458, P = 0.0037 and P = 0.0461, respectively). Mechanically, miR-9 plays a tumor suppressive role partially through a functional miR-9/IGF2BP1/AKT&ERK axis. Our study suggests that miR-9 functions as a tumor suppressor in HCC progression by inhibiting a series of target genes, including the newly validated miR-9/IGF2BP1/AKT&ERK axis, thus providing potential therapeutic targets and novel prognostic biomarkers for HCC patients.     

Lenvatinib as a therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction: Since 2007 Sorafenib has represented the only approved drug for first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Lenvatinib, an orally active inhibitor of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGFR 1–3, FGFR 1–4, PDGFRa, RET and KIT), showed preclinical and clinical activity in the treatment of solid tumors, including HCC.

Areas covered: In this review, we summarize the current therapeutic paradigm for the systemic treatment of advanced HCC, focusing on Lenvatinib pre-clinical and clinical development. Keywords ‘Lenvatinib’, ‘ Target therapy’, ‘REFLECT trial’, ‘Hepatocellular carcinoma’, ‘HCC’, ‘Sorafenib’ were used for literature search on PubMed.

Expert commentary: In Phase-III multicentric REFLECT trial Lenvatinib demonstrated a non-inferior overall survival (OS) compared to Sorafenib in the first-line treatment of advanced HCC, with a manageable toxicity profile, becoming a valid alternative option in the therapeutic repertoire of this disease. Nevertheless, the potential role of Lenvatinib in real-life clinical practice has still to be defined, especially in the light of the positive results that have been achieved with other new therapeutic agents (e.g. immunotherapy).     

Decreased expression of PBLD correlates with poor prognosis and functions as a tumor suppressor in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Recent accumulating genomic and proteomic data suggested that decreased expression of phenazine biosynthesis-like domain-containing protein (PBLD) was frequently involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there is lack of systematical investigation focusing on its expression pattern, clinical relevance, and biological function. Here, we found that PBLD was frequently decreased in HCC tissues relative to adjacent non-tumorigenic liver tissues. This decreased expression was significantly associated with poor tumor differentiation and advanced tumor stage. Kaplan–Meier analysis further showed that recurrence-free survival and overall survival were significantly worse among patients with low PBLD expression. Moreover, multivariate analyses revealed that PBLD was an independent predictor of OS and RFS. This prognostic value of PBLD was further validated in another independent cohort. We also found PBLD inhibited HCC cell growth and invasion in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, forced expression of PBLD influenced multiple downstream genes related to MAPK, NF-κB, EMT, and angiogenesis signaling pathways. PBLD deletion was an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with HCC. Elevated PBLD expression may reduce HCC cell growth and invasion via inactivation of several tumorigenesis-related signaling pathways.     

MicroRNA-100 acts as a tumor suppressor in human bladder carcinoma 5637 cells

Bladder carcinoma is one of the most common tumors in the world and despite the therapy currently available most of the patients relapse. Better understanding of the factors involved in disease pathogenesis would provide insights for the development of more effective strategies in treatment. Recently, differential miRNA expression profiles in bladder urothelial carcinomas identified miR-100 down-regulation and miR-708 up-regulation among the most common alterations, although the possible influence of these miRNAs in the control of basic mechanisms in bladder tumors has not been addressed. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the in vitro effects of miR-100 forced expression and miR-708 inhibition in the bladder carcinoma cell line 5637. Our results showed that overexpression of miR-100 significantly inhibited growth when compared to controls at both times tested (72 and 96 hours, p<0.01) with a maximum effect at 72 hours reducing proliferation in 29.6 %. Conversely, no effects on cell growth were observed after inhibition of miR-708. MiR-100 also reduced colony formation capacity of 5637 cells by 24.4%. No alterations in cell cycle progression or apoptosis induction were observed. The effects of miR-100 on growth and clonogenicity capacity in 5637 cells evince a possible role of this miRNA in bladder carcinoma pathogenesis. Further studies are necessary to corroborate our findings and examine the potential use of this microRNA in future therapeutic interventions.     

肝细胞癌组织microRNA-187-3p表达预后意义

目的 微小RNA (microRNA,miRNA)差异表达与多种肿瘤的发生发展密切相关,但微小RNA-187-3p(miR-187-3p)在肝细胞癌(hepatocellular carcinoma,HCC)中的表达及预后意义研究较少.本研究检测HCC组织中microRNA的表达谱,分析miR-187-3p在HCC组织中的表达及其与临床病理特征之间的关系,探讨miR-187-3p表达在其发生、发展及预后中的作用.方法 利用microRNA芯片杂交技术筛选5例HCC组织及相应癌旁组织中差异表达的microRNA,然后通过实时荧光定量PCR(real-time fuorescence quantitative-PCR,RFQ-PCR)法验证86例HCC组织及相应癌旁组织中miR-187-3p表达水平,并统计临床病理资料,随访生存期.结果 148个microRNAs在HCC组织中差异表达,其中102个microRNAs在HCC组织较相应癌旁组织表达下调,46个microRNAs在HCC组织较相应癌旁组织表达上调.RFQ-PCR结果显示,miR-187-3p在HCC组织中表达水平明显低于相应癌旁组织,差异有统计学意义,Z=-2.244,P=0.025.HCC中miR-187-3p表达状态与肿瘤大小(x2=5.031,P=0.025)相关,而与性别(x2=3.648,P=0.056)、年龄(x2=0.003,P=0.956)、是否转移(x2=0.005,P=0.943)、TNM分期(x2=0.129,P=0.719)、肿瘤数目(x2 =0.126,P=0.722)、乙肝表面抗原(x2=0.019,P=0.890)、AFP水平(x2=0.187,P=0.665)和Child分级(x2=1.665,P=0.197)无关.miR-187-3p低表达的HCC患者总生存期较高表达者明显缩短,x2=7.684,P=0.006.且多因素分析发现,miR-187-3p表达水平和TNM分期是影响HCC患者生存预后的独立危险因素.结论 miR-187-3p在一定程度上参与了HCC的发生发展,其有望成为HCC新的潜在的治疗靶点以及诊断、判断病情和预测预后的分子标志物.     

Circulating exosomal noncoding RNAs as prognostic biomarkers in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Exosomal noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have unique expression profiles reflecting the characteristics of a tumor, and their role in tumor progression and metastasis is emerging. However, the significance of circulating exosomal ncRNAs in the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be elucidated. We therefore determined the prognostic significance of circulating exosomal ncRNAs (miRNA-21 and lncRNA-ATB) for human HCC. This prospective study enrolled 79 HCC patients between October 2014 and September 2015. Exosomes were extracted from serum samples using the ExoQuick Exosome Precipitation Solution. To validate the isolation of the exosomes from serum, immunoblotting for exosome markers and characterization of nanoparticle using NanoSight were performed. NcRNAs were isolated from exosomes using the miRNeasy serum/plasma micro kit. Both circulating exosomal miRNA-21 and lncRNA-ATB were related to TNM stage and other prognostic factors, including the T stage and portal vein thrombosis. Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression test identified that both higher miRNA-21 and higher lncRNA-ATB were independent predictors of mortality and disease progression, along with larger tumor size and higher C-reactive protein (all p < 0.05). The overall survival and progression-free survival were significantly lower in patients with higher circulating levels of exosomal miRNA-21 (≥0.09) and lncRNA-ATB (≥0.0016) (log-rank test: p < 0.05). In conclusion, our study has provided strong evidence that circulating exosomal ncRNAs (miRNA-21 and lncRNA-ATB) are novel prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for HCC.     

肝细胞癌组织中miR-203a和其靶基因的表达及其临床意义

目的：探讨肝细胞癌（HCC）患者血清及癌组织中miR-203a和其靶基因的表达及其与患者临床病理特征和预后的关系。方法：利用生物信息学方法从TargetScan、miRDB和PicTar网站预测HCC组织中miR-203a的靶基因,通过双荧光素酶报告基因实验进行验证。选取2018年1月至2019年6月在常州市金坛区第二人民医院手术切除的96例HCC患者的癌和癌旁组织标本、血清和临床资料,以及90例健康体检者的血清作为对照。qPCR法检测血清miR-203a水平,以及HCC组织和癌旁组织中miR-203a及其靶基因表达,比较分析不同临床病理特征HCC患者miR-203a及其靶基因表达。随访3年,采用Kaplan-Meier法进行生存（OS）分析。结果：从数据库筛选出HCC中miR-203a相关的靶基因共10个,包括APC、CDK6、GATA6、HOXD3、IGF1R、IGFBP5、KCNE2、PAQR3、PRMT5和SOSC3。HCC组织中mi R-203a和APC、PAQR3 mRNA表达水平均显著低于癌旁组织（均P<0.01）,CDK6、GATA6、HOXD3、IGF1R、IG...     

miR-149 represses metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting actin-regulatory proteins PPM1F

microRNAs have been implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis, which is predominant cause of high mortality in these patients. Although an increasing body of evidence indicates that miR-149 plays an important role in the growth and metastasis of multiple types of cancers, its role in the progression of HCC remains unknown. Here, we demonstrated that miR-149 was significantly down-regulated in HCC, which was correlated with distant metastasis and TNM stage with statistical significance. A survival analysis showed that decreased miR-149 expression was correlated with a poor prognosis of HCC as well. We found that over-expression of miR-149 suppressed migration and invasion of HCC cells in vitro. In addition, we identified PPM1F (protein phosphatase, Mg²⁺/Mn²⁺-dependent, 1F) as a direct target of miR-149 whose expression was negatively correlated with the expression of miR-149 in HCC tissues. The re-expression of PPM1F rescued the miR-149-mediated inhibition of cell migration and invasion. miR-149 regulated formation of stress fibers to inhibit migration, and re-expression of PPM1F reverted the miR-149-mediated loss of stress fibers. Moreover, we demonstrated that over-expression of miR-149 reduced pMLC2, a downstream effector of PPM1F, in MHCC-97H cells. In vivo studies confirm inhibition of HCC metastasis by miR-149. Taken together, our findings indicates that miR-149 is a potential prognostic biomarker of HCC and that the miR-149/PPM1F regulatory axis represents a novel therapeutic target for HCC treatment.     

Downregulation of microRNA-100 enhances the ICMT-Rac1 signaling and promotes metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Metastasis is responsible for rapid recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and poor survival of HCC patients. Here we showed that miR-100 downregulation in HCC tissues was significantly associated with venous invasion, advanced TNM stage, tumor nodule without complete capsule, poorer cell differentiation, and shorter recurrence-free survival. Both gain- and loss-of-function studies showed that miR-100 dramatically suppressed the ability of HCC cells to migrate and to invade through Matrigel in vitro. Analyses using mouse orthotopic xenograft model further revealed that xenografts of miR-100-stable-expressing HCC cells displayed a significant reduction in pulmonary metastasis, compared with control group. Subsequent investigations revealed that miR-100 directly inhibited the expression of isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase (ICMT) and ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1) by binding to their 3′-UTRs, and in turn suppressed lamellipodia formation and matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2) activation. Furthermore, knockdown of ICMT and Rac1 phenocopied the anti-metastasis effect of miR-100, whereas overexpression of the constitutively active Rac1 (Q61L) antagonized the function of miR-100. Taken together, miR-100 represses metastasis of HCC cells by abrogating the ICMT-Rac1 signaling. Downregulation of miR-100 contributes to HCC metastasis and the restoration of miR-100 is a potential strategy for cancer therapy.     

抑癌基因P53在中晚期肝细胞癌中的表达及预后意义

目的探讨抑癌基因P53在中晚期肝细胞癌中的表达及其预后价值。方法应用免疫组化法(LSAB法)检测P53在45例肝癌组织中表达。结果P53在肝癌细胞中的阳性表达率为44.4%(20/45),癌旁组织无表达;P53在肝癌细胞高中分化组中阳性率为34.3%(12/35),而低分化组中为80%(8/10),两者差异显著(P<0.05);肝癌术后生存期≤1年组中P53阳性率为65%(11/17),而>1年组为32%(9/28),两者差异显著(P<0.05)。结论抑癌基因P53的突变是部分肝细胞癌变原因之一,且P53的检测可为临床评价肝癌细胞分化程度和患者的预后提供客观参考