JIANBO ZHOU^1,2,3, FENG WAN^2,4, BIN XIAO⁵, XIN LI¹, CHENG PENG^2,*, FU PENG^1,3,*

Oncology Research, Vol.32, No.5, pp. 943-953, 2024, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.044775

Abstract Breast and lung cancers are the leading causes of mortality and most frequently diagnosed cancers in women and men, respectively, worldwide. Although the antitumor activity of chalcones has been extensively studied, the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin analog 2', 4', 4-trihydroxychalcone (metochalcone; TEC) against carcinomas remain less well understood. In this study, we found that TEC inhibited cell proliferation of breast cancer BT549 cells and lung cancer A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. TEC induced cell cycle arrest in the S-phase, cell migration inhibition in vitro, and reduced tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, transcriptomic analysis revealed that TEC modulated the activity… More > Graphic Abstract

LIJUAN ZHANG^1,#, QINGYIN MENG^2,#, LI ZHUANG¹, QUAN GONG¹, XIANDA HUANG³, XUEQIN LI¹, SHIJUAN LI¹, GUOQIN WANG⁴, XICAI WANG^5,*

BIOCELL, Vol.48, No.4, pp. 581-590, 2024, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2024.047260

Abstract Background: Lung adenocarcinoma is a very pervasive histological form of lung cancers, and inhibiting metastasis is crucial for effective treatment. In this investigation, we explored the functional interaction of miR-30a-5p and the putative transcription factor 2 of the homeodomain (PHTF2) in dictating the aggressiveness and metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma. Method: We collected clinical samples to evaluate the expression patterns of miR-30a-5p and PHTF2 in lung adenocarcinoma along with normal tissues. Cellular experiments including cell count kit (CCK)-8 growth assay, apoptosis analysis, migration and invasion examinations were performed to assess the aggressiveness of lung adenocarcinoma cells. Furthermore, we examined tumorigenesis and… More > Graphic Abstract

SAMANEH MOSTAFAVI, ZUHAIR MOHAMMAD HASSAN^*

Oncology Research, Vol.32, No.3, pp. 477-487, 2024, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.043926

Abstract Intracellular communications between breast cancer and fibroblast cells were reported to be involved in cancer proliferation, growth, and therapy resistance. The hallmarks of cancer-fibroblast interactions, consisting of caveolin 1 (Cav1) and mono-carboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) (metabolic coupling markers), along with IL-6, TGFβ, and lactate secretion, are considered robust biomarkers predicting recurrence and metastasis. In order to promote a novel phenotype in normal fibroblasts, we predicted that breast cancer cells could be able to cause loss of Cav1 and increase of MCT4, as well as elevate IL-6 and TGFβ in nearby normal fibroblasts. We created a co-culture model using breast cancer… More >

WEILAN LIU, XIAOYAN DUAN, KAIYUN QIN, YAN JIANG, CAIFU ZHAO, CONGWEI DAI^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.11, pp. 2471-2484, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.029617

Abstract Introduction: Structural maintenance of chromosome 1A (SMC1A) is a crucial compound of the cohesin complex. It has been reported to regulate the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in multiple cancers. Objectives: The present study aims to further clarify the role of SMC1A in cervical cancer. Methods: We analyzed data from four datasets and confirmed that SMC1A showed high expression in cervical cancer samples and was related to poor prognosis of patients with cervical cancer. Cell proliferation of SiHa and C-33A with knockdown of SMC1A was assessed using CCK-8 and colony formation assay. The migration and invasion were estimated by wound healing… More > Graphic Abstract

EUN SOOK KIM¹, SANGHEE KIM², AREE MOON^1,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.6, pp. 867-875, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.030411

Abstract Invasion and metastasis are important hallmarks of breast cancer and are the leading cause of patient mortality. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer characterized by a poor prognosis and a lack of effective targeted therapies. The present study investigated the inhibitory effect of a novel FTY720 derivative on the invasive phenotype of TNBC cells. Here, we showed that a novel compound with an isoxazole ring, 4-(3-Decylisoxazol-5-yl)-1-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)butan-2-aminium chloride (CM2-II-173), significantly inhibited invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells. Expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and invasiveness of MCF10A normal breast cells induced by sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) were reduced by CM2-II-173… More >

JUN SHEN^1,#, HONGFANG MA^2,#, YONGXIA CHEN³, JIANGUO SHEN^1,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.6, pp. 955-966, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.029638

Abstract The process of lymphatic metastasis was proved to be associated with podoplanin-expressing macrophages in breast cancer (BC). This study aimed to investigate the role of the M2 phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages and mine the key M2 macrophages-related genes for lymph node metastasis in BC. We downloaded the GSE158399 dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, which includes transcriptomic profiles of individual cells from primary tumors, negative lymph nodes (NLNs), and positive lymph nodes (PLNs) of breast cancer patients. The cell subsets were identified by clustering analysis after quality control of the scRNA-seq using Seurat. The activation and migration capability… More >

TING ZHOU^1,#, PEIYING FU^1,#, DONG CHEN², RONGHUA LIU^1,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.5, pp. 769-785, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.030166

Abstract Late-stage ovarian cancer (OC) has a poor prognosis and a high metastasis rate, but the underlying molecular mechanism is unclear. RNA binding proteins (RBPs) play important roles in posttranscriptional regulation in the contexts of neoplasia and tumor metastasis. In this study, we explored the molecular functions of a canonical RBP, Transformer 2β homolog (TRA2B), in cancer cells. TRA2B knockdown in HeLa cells and subsequent whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis revealed the TRA2B-regulated alternative splicing (AS) profile. We disrupted TRA2B expression in epithelial OC cells and performed a series of experiments to confirm the resulting effects on OC cell proliferation, apoptosis… More >

YANPING JIN¹, JIANPING QIU¹, XIUFANG LU¹, YAN MA¹, GUOWEI LI^2,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.2, pp. 169-179, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.027815

Abstract Previous study revealed that ferritin heavy chain-1 (FTH1) could regulate ferritinophagy and affect intracellular Fe²⁺ content in various tumors, while its N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation was closely related the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. However, little is known about the role of FTH1 m6A methylation in ovarian cancer (OC) and its possible action mechanisms. In this study we constructed FTH1 m6A methylation regulatory pathway (LncRNA CACNA1G-AS1/IGF2BP1) according to related bioinformatics analysis and research, through clinical sample detections we found that these pathway regulatory factors were significantly up-regulated in ovarian cancer tissues, and their expression levels were closely related to the… More >

XIAOSU SONG, FEN GAO, HONG LI, WEIWEI QIN, CHANJUAN CHAI, GUOJUAN SHI, HUIYU YANG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.4, pp. 849-858, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.026545

Abstract Background: Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) undergo a conversion from a contractile phenotype to a proliferative synthetic phenotype, contributing to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Semaphorin 7A (SEMA7A) is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored membrane protein that plays an important role in vascular homeostasis by regulating endothelial cell behaviors. However, the expression and role of SEMA7A in VSMCs remain unclear.Methods: In this study, we screened for VSMC-regulating genes in publicly available datasets and analyzed the expression of SEMA7A in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (hCASMCs) treated with platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB). The effects of SEMA7A overexpression and knockdown on hCASMC proliferation and… More >

Rui Jiang^1,3,*, Kaisheng Lai², Jianping Xu¹, Xiang Feng¹, Shaoye Wang¹, Xiaojian Wang³, Zhe Liu²

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.17, No.6, pp. 675-686, 2022, DOI:10.32604/chd.2022.021626

Abstract Background: The etiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease (PAHCHD) is complicated and the phenotype is heterogeneous. Genetic defects of NOTCH3 were associated with cerebral disease and pulmonary hypertension. However, the relationship between NOTCH3 mutations and the clinical phenotype has not been reported in CHD-PAH. Methods: We eventually enrolled 142 PAH-CHD patients from Fuwai Hospital. Whole exome sequencing (WES) was performed to screen the rare deleterious variants of NOTCH3 gene. Results: This PAH-CHD cohort included 43 (30.3%) men and 99 (69.7%) women with the mean age 29.8 ± 10.9 years old. The pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutations… More >