Peng Hou

TERT promoter mutations and long telomere length predict poor survival and radiotherapy resistance in gliomas

1. CYP1A2 is a highly polymorphic gene and CYP1A2 enzyme results in broad inter-individual variability in response to certain pharmacotherapies, while little is known about the genetic variation of CYP1A2 in Uyghur Chinese population. The aim of the present study was to screen Uyghur volunteers for CYP1A2 genetic polymorphisms. 2. We used DNA sequencing to investigate promoter, exons, introns, and 3’ UTR of the CYP1A2 gene in 96 unrelated healthy Uyghur individuals. We also used SIFT (Sorting Intolerant From Tolerant) and PolyPhen-2 (Polymorphism Phenotyping v2) to predict the protein function of the novel non-synonymous mutation in CYP1A2 coding regions. 3. We identified 20 different CYP1A2 polymorphisms in the Uyghur Chinese population, including two novel variants (119A > G and 2410G > A). Variant 119A > G was predicted to be probably damaging on protein function by PolyPhen-2, by contrast, 2410G > A was identified as benign. The allele frequencies of CYP1A2*1A, *1B, *1F, *1G, *1J, *1M, *4, and *9 were 23.4%, 53.1%, 3.7%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 13.5%, 0.5%, and 0.5%, respectively. The frequency of *1F, a putative high inducibility allele, was higher in our sample population compared with that in the Caucasian population (p < 0.05). The most common genotype combinations were *1A/*1B (46.9%) and *1B/*1M (27.1%). 4. Our results provide basic information on CYP1A2 polymorphisms in Uyghur individuals and suggest that the enzymatic activities of CYP1A2 may differ among the diverse ethnic populations of the world.

Sulforaphane inhibits thyroid cancer cell growth and invasiveness through the reactive oxygen species-dependent pathway

5-Methylcytosine (5mC) can be converted to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in mammalian DNA by the ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes. Traditional bisulfite-based DNA methylation analysis techniques have been widely used in the detection of 5mC. However, they can not discriminate 5hmC from 5mC, leading to overestimate 5mC levels. We here introduce a strategy, combination of selective oxidation and bisulfite pyrosequencing (BS-Pyroseq), for quantification of both 5mC and 5hmC at CpG sites within the promoters of CDH1, DAPK, RARβ and RUNX3 genes in a panel of cell lines and clinical samples. As expected, oxidative bisulfite pyrosequencing (oxBS-Pyroseq) assay decreased overall or site-specific methylation levels of three of these genes in most cell lines as compared with BS-Pyroseq assay. Similarly, decreased overall or site-specific methylation levels of DAPK, RARβ and RUNX3 genes in laryngeal, gastric and thyroid cancer and their matched normal tissues, respectively, were also found by a comparison between these two techniques, particularly in cancerous tissues. In addition, by using this combined strategy and hydroxymethylcytosine DNA immunoprecipitation (hMeDIP) assay, we demonstrated that TET1 up-regulated DAPK expression through promoter demethylation. Collectively, this strategy is easy to establish and accurately discriminates and quantifies 5mC and 5hmC at CpG sites within selected gene promoters.

Frequent amplification of AIB1 , a critical oncogene modulating major signaling pathways, is associated with poor survival in gastric cancer Frequent amplification of AIB1, a critical oncogene modulating major signaling pathways, is associated with poor survival in gastric cancer

The protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a non-transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatase, has been implicated in gastric pathogenesis. Several lines of recent evidences have shown that PTP1B is highly amplified in breast and prostate cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate PTP1B amplification in gastric cancer and its association with poor prognosis of gastric cancer patients, and further determine the role of PTP1B in gastric tumorigenesis. Our data demonstrated that PTP1B was significantly up-regulated in gastric cancer tissues as compared with matched normal gastric tissues by using quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) assay. In addition, copy number analysis showed that PTP1B was amplified in 68/131 (51.9%) gastric cancer cases, whereas no amplification was found in the control subjects. Notably, PTP1B amplification was positively associated with its protein expression, and was significantly related to poor survival of gastric cancer patients. Knocking down PTP1B expression in gastric cancer cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, and induced cell cycle arrested and apoptosis. Mechanically, PTP1B promotes gastric cancer cell proliferation, survival and invasiveness through modulating Src-related signaling pathways, such as Src/Ras/MAPK and Src/phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathways. Collectively, our data demonstrated frequent overexpression and amplification PTP1B in gastric cancer, and further determined the oncogenic role of PTP1B in gastric carcinogenesis. Importantly, PTP1B amplification predicts poor survival of gastric cancer patients.

Periostin is usually considered as an oncogene in diverse human cancers, including breast, prostate, colon, esophagus, and pancreas cancers, whereas it acts as a tumor suppressor in bladder cancer. In gastric cancer, it has been demonstrated that periglandular periostin expression is decreased whereas stromal periostin expression is significantly increased as compared with normal gastric tissues. Moreover, periostin produced by stromal myofibroblasts markedly promotes gastric cancer cell growth. These observations suggest that periostin derived from different types of cells may play distinct biological roles in gastric tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to explore the biological functions and related molecular mechanisms of epithelial cell-derived periostin in gastric cancer. Our data showed that periglandular periostin was significantly down-regulated in gastric cancer tissues as compared with matched normal gastric mucosa. In addition, its expression in metastatic lymph nodes was significantly lower than that in their primary cancer tissues. Our data also demonstrated that periglandular periostin expression was negatively associated with tumor stage. More importantly, restoration of periostin expression in gastric cancer cells dramatically suppressed cell growth and invasiveness. Elucidation of the mechanisms involved revealed that periostin restoration enhanced Rb phosphorylation and sequentially activated the transcription of E2F1 target gene p14(ARF), leading to Mdm2 inactivation and the stabilization of p53 and E-cadherin proteins. Strikingly, these effects of periostin were abolished upon Rb deletion. Collectively, we have for the first time demonstrated that epithelial cell-derived periostin exerts tumor-suppressor activities in gastric cancer through stabilizing p53 and E-cadherin proteins via the Rb/E2F1/p14(ARF)/Mdm2 signaling pathway.