Peng Wang

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a prevalent inflammatory disease where immunomodulation plays a pivotal role. However, immuno-transcriptomic characteristics and its clinical relevance remains largely known. We analyzed transcriptome data of 48 patients with CRSwNP and 34 healthy control subjects from different cohorts and investigated the immuno-transcriptomic characteristics. Differential immune-related genes (DIRGs) were identified and subjected to enrichment analysis. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed to identify hub genes. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model and multivariate support vector machine recursive feature elimination (mSVM-RFE) were used to identify potential biomarkers, which were validated using the real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Infiltration abundance of immune cells in the microenvironment were estimated using CIBERSORT algorithm. Our study identified a total of 660 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 81 differentially immune-related genes (DIRGs) in CRSwNP compared to controls. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the DIRGs were primarily associated with cell chemotaxis and leukocyte migration, and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. Through machine learning, we further identified five candidate genes, CXCR1, CCL13, CCR3, PPBP, and MMP9. These five potential CRSwNP biomarkers were experimentally verified in our in-house cohort. Analysis of immune cell infiltration landscape revealed significant variations in the abundance of macrophages and mast cells between CRSwNP and healthy control. Our findings illuminate the significance of immune characteristics in CRSwNP pathogenesis. Future studies focusing on these candidate genes can help elucidate the underlying mechanisms and identify potential therapeutic targets for CRSwNP.

Translation machinery associated 7 homolog (TMA7) is closely related to proliferation-related diseases. However, the function and regulatory mechanism of TMA7 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of TMA7 on the occurrence and development of LSCC and to study the mechanism of TMA7. TMA7 is upregulated in LSCC tissues and associated with poor prognosis. After TMA7 downregulation, the autophagy level was increased, and the proliferation, migration, and invasion of LSCC cells were inhibited. The m6A methylated reader IGF2BP3 enhanced the stability of TMA7 and reduced the level of autophagy. TMA7 interacted directly with UBA2. Furthermore, the activation of the IGF2BP3-regulated TMA7-UBA2-PI3K pathway is the primary mechanism by which TMA7 inhibits autophagy and promotes the progression of LSCC. The current study revealed that IGF2BP3-mediated TMA7 m6A modification promotes LSCC progression and cisplatin-resistance through UBA2-PI3K pathway, providing new insights into the autophagy-related mechanism, potential biomarkers, and therapeutic targets for LSCC.

It has been shown that N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) modification is involved in the development of complex human diseases, especially in the development of cancer. Our research investigated the role and mechanism of the m6A modification of lncRNA KCNQ1 overlapping transcript 1 (KCNQ1OT1) in Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) progression. Microarray analysis was used to quantitatively detect the m6A apparent transcriptional modification level of lncRNA in LSCC tissue. Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation‐qPCR (MeRIP‐qPCR), in situ hybridization (ISH) and quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR) were used to examine the m6A modification and expression of KCNQ1OT1. In addition, in vivo and in vitro experiments have tested the effects of KCNQ1OT1 knockdown on the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of LSCC. Mechanically, we found the N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) demethylase ALKBH5 mediates KCNQ1OT1 expression via an m6A‐YTHDF2‐dependent manner and KCNQ1OT1 could directly bind to HOXA9 to further regulate the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of LSCC cells. In general, our research indicates that ALKBH5‐mediated m6A modification of KCNQ1OT1 triggers the development of LSCC via upregulation of HOXA9.

Long noncoding RNA nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) plays key role in the progression of some human cancers. However, the role of NEAT1 in human laryngeal squamous cell cancer (LSCC) is still unknown. We therefore investigated the expression and function of NEAT1 in LSCC. NEAT1 level in LSCC and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues were detected by qRT-PCR. NEAT1 was knockdown in LSCC cells and cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle were examined. The growth of xenografts with NEAT1 knockdown LSCC cells was analyzed. NEAT1 level was significantly higher in LSCC than in corresponding adjacent non-neoplastic tissues, and patients with neck nodal metastasis or advanced clinical stage had higher NEAT1 expression. Moreover, siRNA mediated NEAT1 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G1 phase in LSCC cells. The growth of LSCC xenografts was significantly suppressed by the injection of NEAT1 siRNA lentivirus. Furthermore, NEAT1 regulated CDK6 expression in LSCC cells which was mediated by miR-107. NEAT1 plays an oncogenic role in the tumorigenesis of LSCC and may serve as a potential target for therapeutic intervention.