NR4A3

Gene Summary

Gene:NR4A3; nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A member 3
Aliases: CHN, TEC, CSMF, NOR1, MINOR
Location:9q31.1
Summary:This gene encodes a member of the steroid-thyroid hormone-retinoid receptor superfamily. The encoded protein may act as a transcriptional activator. The protein can efficiently bind the NGFI-B Response Element (NBRE). Three different versions of extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas (EMCs) are the result of reciprocal translocations between this gene and other genes. The translocation breakpoints are associated with Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 3 (on chromosome 9) and either Ewing Sarcome Breakpoint Region 1 (on chromosome 22), RNA Polymerase II, TATA Box-Binding Protein-Associated Factor, 68-KD (on chromosome 17), or Transcription factor 12 (on chromosome 15). Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2010]
Databases:OMIM, HGNC, Ensembl, GeneCard, Gene
Protein:nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A member 3
Source:NCBIAccessed: 31 August, 2019

Ontology:

What does this gene/protein do?
Show (25)

Cancer Overview

Research Indicators

Publications Per Year (1994-2019)
Graph generated 31 August 2019 using data from PubMed using criteria.

Literature Analysis

Mouse over the terms for more detail; many indicate links which you can click for dedicated pages about the topic.

Tag cloud generated 31 August, 2019 using data from PubMed, MeSH and CancerIndex

Specific Cancers (5)

Data table showing topics related to specific cancers and associated disorders. Scope includes mutations and abnormal protein expression.

Entity Topic PubMed Papers
Soft Tissue SarcomaNR4A3 and Soft Tissue Cancers View Publications17
Bone Cancer (primary)NR4A3 and Bone Cancer View Publications7
Cervical CancerNR4A3 and Cervical Cancer View Publications1
Chondrosarcomat(9;22)(q22;q12) in Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma
Chondrosarcomat(9;17)(q22;q11) in Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma

Note: list is not exhaustive. Number of papers are based on searches of PubMed (click on topic title for arbitrary criteria used).

Latest Publications: NR4A3 (cancer-related)

Hadj-Ahmed M, Ghali RM, Bouaziz H, et al.
Transforming growth factor beta 1 polymorphisms and haplotypes associated with breast cancer susceptibility: A case-control study in Tunisian women.
Tumour Biol. 2019; 41(8):1010428319869096 [PubMed] Related Publications
Variable association of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1) in breast cancer (BC) pathogenesis was documented, and the contribution of specific

Arozarena I, Wellbrock C
Phenotype plasticity as enabler of melanoma progression and therapy resistance.
Nat Rev Cancer. 2019; 19(7):377-391 [PubMed] Related Publications
Malignant melanoma is notorious for its inter- and intratumour heterogeneity, based on transcriptionally distinct melanoma cell phenotypes. It is thought that these distinct phenotypes are plastic in nature and that their transcriptional reprogramming enables heterogeneous tumours both to undergo different stages of melanoma progression and to adjust to drug exposure during treatment. Recent advances in genomic technologies and the rapidly expanding availability of large gene expression datasets have allowed for a refined definition of the gene signatures that characterize these phenotypes and have revealed that phenotype plasticity plays a major role in the resistance to both targeted therapy and immunotherapy. In this Review we discuss the definition of melanoma phenotypes through particular transcriptional states and reveal the prognostic relevance of the related gene expression signatures. We review how the establishment of phenotypes is controlled and which roles phenotype plasticity plays in melanoma development and therapy. Because phenotype plasticity in melanoma bears a great resemblance to epithelial-mesenchymal transition, the lessons learned from melanoma will also benefit our understanding of other cancer types.

Dai J, Gao H, Xue J, et al.
The Association Between
Genet Test Mol Biomarkers. 2019; 23(6):393-400 [PubMed] Related Publications

Zakrzewski F, Gieldon L, Rump A, et al.
Targeted capture-based NGS is superior to multiplex PCR-based NGS for hereditary BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene analysis in FFPE tumor samples.
BMC Cancer. 2019; 19(1):396 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
BACKGROUND: With the introduction of Olaparib treatment for BRCA-deficient recurrent ovarian cancer, testing for somatic and/or germline mutations in BRCA1/2 genes in tumor tissues became essential for treatment decisions. In most cases only formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, containing fragmented and chemically modified DNA of minor quality, are available. Thus, multiplex PCR-based sequencing is most commonly applied in routine molecular testing, which is predominantly focused on the identification of known hot spot mutations in oncogenes.
METHODS: We compared the overall performance of an adjusted targeted capture-based enrichment protocol and a multiplex PCR-based approach for calling of pathogenic SNVs and InDels using DNA extracted from 13 FFPE tissue samples. We further applied both strategies to seven blood samples and five matched FFPE tumor tissues of patients with known germline exon-spanning deletions and gene-wide duplications in BRCA1/2 to evaluate CNV detection based solely on panel NGS data. Finally, we analyzed DNA from FFPE tissues of 11 index patients from families suspected of having hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, of whom no blood samples were available for testing, in order to identify underlying pathogenic germline BRCA1/2 mutations.
RESULTS: The multiplex PCR-based protocol produced inhomogeneous coverage among targets of each sample and between samples as well as sporadic amplicon drop out, leading to insufficiently or non-covered nucleotides, which subsequently hindered variant detection. This protocol further led to detection of PCR-artifacts that could easily have been misinterpreted as pathogenic mutations. No such limitations were observed by application of an adjusted targeted capture-based protocol, which allowed for CNV calling with 86% sensitivity and 100% specificity. All pathogenic CNVs were confirmed in the five matched FFPE tumor samples from patients carrying known pathogenic germline mutations and we additionally identified somatic loss of the second allele in BRCA1/2. Furthermore we detected pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants in four the eleven FFPE samples from patients of whom no blood was available for analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that an adjusted targeted capture-based enrichment protocol is superior to commonly applied multiplex PCR-based protocols for reliable BRCA1/2 variant detection, including CNV-detection, using FFPE tumor samples.

Habel AF, Ghali RM, Bouaziz H, et al.
Common matrix metalloproteinase-2 gene variants and altered susceptibility to breast cancer and associated features in Tunisian women.
Tumour Biol. 2019; 41(4):1010428319845749 [PubMed] Related Publications
A role for matrix metalloproteinase polymorphisms in breast cancer development and progression was proposed, but with inconclusive results. We assessed the relation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 variants with breast cancer and related phenotypes in Tunisians. This case-control retrospective study involved 430 women with breast cancer and 498 healthy controls. Genotyping of matrix metalloproteinase-2 rs243866, rs243865, rs243864, and rs2285053 was analyzed by allelic exclusion. The minor allele frequency of rs2285053 was significantly lower in women with breast cancer cases as compared to control women; minor allele frequencies of the remaining single-nucleotide polymorphisms were similar between cases and control women. The distribution of rs243865 and rs2285053 genotypes was significantly different between breast cancer patients and control subjects. This persisted when key covariates were controlled for. None of the matrix metalloproteinase-2 variants were associated with estrogen receptor positivity, progesterone receptor positivity, or with double estrogen receptor-progesterone receptor positivity in breast cancer patients. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 rs243866, rs243865, and rs243864 were positively associated with menstrual irregularity and histological type, while rs243866 and rs2285053 were negatively associated with menarche and nodal status. In addition, rs2285053 was negatively associated with triple negativity, tumor size, distance metastasis, molecular type, and chemotherapy. Haploview analysis revealed high linkage disequilibrium between matrix metalloproteinase-2 variants. Four-locus Haploview analysis identified haplotypes GCTT and GTTC to be negatively associated with breast cancer, which remained statistically after controlling for key covariates. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 alleles and genotypes, along with four-locus haplotypes, are related to reduced susceptibility to breast cancer in Tunisian women, suggesting a protective effect.

Piotrowska A, Wierzbicka J, Rybarczyk A, et al.
Vitamin D and its low calcemic analogs modulate the anticancer properties of cisplatin and dacarbazine in the human melanoma A375 cell line.
Int J Oncol. 2019; 54(4):1481-1495 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Melanoma represents a significant challenge in cancer treatment due to the high drug resistance of melanomas and the patient mortality rate. This study presents data indicating that nanomolar concentrations of the hormonally active form of vitamin D, 1α,25‑dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1α,25(OH)2D3], its non‑calcemic analogues 20S‑hydroxyvitamin D3 and 21‑hydroxypregnacalciferol, as well as the low‑calcemic synthetic analog calcipotriol, modulate the efficacy of the anticancer drugs cisplatin and dacarbazine. It was observed that vitamin D analogs sensitized melanoma A375 cells to hydrogen peroxide used as an inducer of oxidative stress. On the other hand, only 1α,25(OH)2D3 resulted in a minor, but significant effect on the proliferation of melanoma cells treated simultaneously with dacarbazine, but not cisplatin. Notably, cisplatin (300 µM) exhibited a higher overall antiproliferative activity than dacarbazine. Cisplatin treatment of melanoma cells resulted in an induction of apoptosis as demonstrated by flow cytometry (accumulation of cells at the subG1 phase of the cell cycle), whereas dacarbazine caused G1/G0 cell cycle arrest, with the effects being improved by pre‑treatment with vitamin D analogs. Treatment with cisplatin resulted in an initial increase in the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Dacarbazine caused transient stimulation of ROS levels and the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) (after 1 or 3 h of treatment, respectively), but the effect was not detectable following prolonged (24 h) incubation with the drug. Vitamin D exhibited modulatory effects on the cells treated with dacarbazine, decreasing the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) for the drug, stimulating G1/G0 arrest and causing a marked decrease in Δψm. Finally, cisplatin, dacarbazine and 1α,25(OH)2D3 displayed modulatory effects on the expression of ROS and vitamin D‑associated genes in the melanoma A375 cells. In conclusion, nanomolar concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D3 only had minor effects on the proliferation of melanoma cells treated with dacarbazine, decreasing the relative IC50 value. However, co‑treatment with vitamin D analogs resulted in the modulation of cell cycle and ROS responses, and affected gene expression, suggesting possible crosstalk between the signaling pathways of vitamin D and the anticancer drugs used in this study.

Shahi RB, De Brakeleer S, Caljon B, et al.
Identification of candidate cancer predisposing variants by performing whole-exome sequencing on index patients from BRCA1 and BRCA2-negative breast cancer families.
BMC Cancer. 2019; 19(1):313 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
BACKGROUND: In the majority of familial breast cancer (BC) families, the etiology of the disease remains unresolved. To identify missing BC heritability resulting from relatively rare variants (minor allele frequency ≤ 1%), we have performed whole exome sequencing followed by variant analysis in a virtual panel of 492 cancer-associated genes on BC patients from BRCA1 and BRCA2 negative families with elevated BC risk.
METHODS: BC patients from 54 BRCA1 and BRCA2-negative families with elevated BC risk and 120 matched controls were considered for germline DNA whole exome sequencing. Rare variants identified in the exome and in a virtual panel of cancer-associated genes [492 genes associated with different types of (hereditary) cancer] were compared between BC patients and controls. Nonsense, frame-shift indels and splice-site variants (strong protein-damaging variants, called PDAVs later on) observed in BC patients within the genes of the panel, which we estimated to possess the highest probability to predispose to BC, were further validated using an alternative sequencing procedure.
RESULTS: Exome- and cancer-associated gene panel-wide variant analysis show that there is no significant difference in the average number of rare variants found in BC patients compared to controls. However, the genes in the cancer-associated gene panel with nonsense variants were more than two-fold over-represented in women with BC and commonly involved in the DNA double-strand break repair process. Approximately 44% (24 of 54) of BC patients harbored 31 PDAVs, of which 11 were novel. These variants were found in genes associated with known or suspected BC predisposition (PALB2, BARD1, CHEK2, RAD51C and FANCA) or in predisposing genes linked to other cancer types but not well-studied in the context of familial BC (EXO1, RECQL4, CCNH, MUS81, TDP1, DCLRE1A, DCLRE1C, PDE11A and RINT1) and genes associated with different hereditary syndromes but not yet clearly associated with familial cancer syndromes (ABCC11, BBS10, CD96, CYP1A1, DHCR7, DNAH11, ESCO2, FLT4, HPS6, MYH8, NME8 and TTC8). Exome-wide, only a few genes appeared to be enriched for PDAVs in the familial BC patients compared to controls.
CONCLUSIONS: We have identified a series of novel candidate BC predisposition variants/genes. These variants/genes should be further investigated in larger cohorts/case-control studies. Other studies including co-segregation analyses in affected families, locus-specific loss of heterozygosity and functional studies should shed further light on their relevance for BC risk.

Liang P, Zhang W, Wang W, et al.
Biomed Res Int. 2019; 2019:9765191 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
The reported risk susceptibility between

Irgam K, Reddy BM, Annamaneni S, Rayabarapu P
The genetic susceptibility profile of the South Indian women with polycystic ovary syndrome and the universality of the lack of association of type 2 diabetes genes.
Gene. 2019; 701:113-120 [PubMed] Related Publications
We explored genetic susceptibility profile of the South Indian women with a large set of SNPs and tested if the lack of association of type 2 diabetes genes with PCOS, recently observed in a number of studies, holds true for this Indian population and suggest probable universality of this phenomenon. A prioritized set of 92 SNPs that belong to important reproductive and metabolic pathway genes were genotyped on 250 PCOS cases and 299 ethnically matched controls, representing the southern Indian population of Hyderabad, using SEQUENOM MassARRAY iPLEX™ platform. These data were analyzed both for individual SNP association patterns as well as for gene-gene interactions, besides obtaining cumulative risk score and the ROC curve with the help of appropriate statistical packages such as PLINK, SNPAssoc of R-program, Haploview, GMDR and SPSS. The analysis of 72 of the 92 SNPs, after excluding 20 of those that showed either minor allele frequency < 1% and/or deviated from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (p < .001), suggested that only 13 were associated with PCOS at p ≤ .05, but none after correction for multiple testing. Further, neither any of the diabetic genes nor the interactions between diabetic and reproductive pathway genes were found to be significant even at p ≤ .05.The lack of association of any of the SNPs with PCOS and/or the gene-gene interactions among them may be because of the minor effects of each of them on the phenotype(OR < 2). Further, that none of the type 2 diabetes genes were associated with PCOS in the present study as well as in the earlier studies from different ethnic groups may indicate probable universality of this pattern. It is possible that there are still other genetic variants, novel as well as already known, which may confer greater risk than the ones considered in this study and further studies are warranted to ascertain this both in the present population as well as in other ethnic and/or geographic groups of the Indian subcontinent.

Wei L, Niu F, Wu J, et al.
Association study between genetic polymorphisms in folate metabolism and gastric cancer susceptibility in Chinese Han population: A case-control study.
Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2019; 7(5):e633 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC), the second leading cause of cancer mortality behind lung cancer worldwide, is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. In this study, we evaluated the association between the genetic polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), methionine synthesis reductase (MTR), and methyltransferase reductase (MTRR) genes and ischemic stroke risk in Chinese population.
METHODS: A case-control study was conducted including 681 patients with GC and 756 healthy controls. Chi-squared test/Fisher's exact test and genetic model were used to evaluate associations. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression.
RESULTS: In the allele model, using the chi-square test, we found that the rs1532268 in MTRR with a minor allele T was significantly associated with increased risk of GC (OR = 1.24, 95% CI, 1.00-1.53; p = 0.048). In the genetic model analysis, we identified that the single-nucleotide polymorphism of the rs1801133 in MTHFR could increase the GC risk in the recessive model (OR = 1.31, 95% CI, 1.01-1.70; p = 0.042) and log-additive model (OR = 1.19, 95% CI, 1.02-1.38; p = 0.025). In MTHFR, a strong linkage of rs2274976 and rs1801133 was detected. The haplotype "GC" in the MTHFR gene was found to prominently increase the risk of GC (OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.07-1.47; p = 0.005). Other haplotypes did not display the correlativity.
CONCLUSION: This study suggested that MTR and MTHFR polymorphisms may contribute to increase the risk of GC.

Hsu PC, Pei JS, Chen CC, et al.
Association of
Anticancer Res. 2019; 39(3):1185-1190 [PubMed] Related Publications
BACKGROUND/AIM: The association of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) genotypes with adult leukemia has been reported only once, but never for childhood leukemia. This study aimed to determine the role of MMP-2 promoter -1306 (rs243865) and -735 (rs2285053) genotypes in childhood leukemia risk.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This case-control study included 266 patients and 266 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. The polymorphic sites of MMP-2 were genotyped by typical polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.
RESULTS: The CC, CT and TT of rs243865 genotype were 75.2, 23.7 and 1.1% in the case group and 69.2, 28.9 and 1.9% in the control group, respectively. The CT and TT genotypes caused a 0.75- and 0.55-fold increase in the risk of childhood leukemia, respectively. There was no differential distribution of rs2285053 genotypes. Allelic frequency analysis showed that the T allele of MMP-2 promoter -1306 and -735 conferred lower susceptibility than the C allele.
CONCLUSION: The MMP-2 promoter genotypes play a minor role in determining personal susceptibility to childhood leukemia among the Taiwanese.

Zhuo H, Zhao Y, Cheng X, et al.
Tumor endothelial cell-derived cadherin-2 promotes angiogenesis and has prognostic significance for lung adenocarcinoma.
Mol Cancer. 2019; 18(1):34 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
In lung cancer, antiangiogenic strategies targeting tumor-derived endothelial cells (TECs) afford a survival advantage, but the characteristics of TECs have not been comprehensively elucidated. Herein, high-purity (> 98%) TECs were obtained, and these cells retained expression of EC markers and exhibited high viability. ITRAQ-2DLC-MS/MS was performed to profile the proteome and the heterogeneity of ECs. Only 31 of 1820 identified proteins were differentially expressed between adenocarcinoma (ADC)- and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)-derived TECs (TEC-A and TEC-S, respectively), and cadherin-2 (CDH2) was the most significantly upregulated protein in TEC-A samples. Positive immunostaining for CDH2 (score > 3) was significantly more frequent in the endothelium of ADC tissues than in that of SCC tissues. Loss- or gain-of-function analysis showed that CDH2 significantly promoted in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis and sensitivity to the antagonist exherin. The MAPK/ERK and MAPK/JNK signaling pathways may play crucial roles in CDH2-induced HIF-1α/VEGF-mediated angiogenesis. Moreover, high CDH2 expression in TECs was significantly associated with tumor stage, visceral pleural metastasis, and decreased overall survival in patients with ADC but not SCC. Together, these data indicate the importance of CDH2 in angiogenesis and highlight its potential both for antiangiogenic therapy and as a candidate prognostic marker for ADC.

Myers MB, McKim KL, Banda M, et al.
Low-Frequency Mutational Heterogeneity of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Subtypes: Information to Direct Precision Oncology.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019; 20(5) [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Information regarding the role of low-frequency hotspot cancer-driver mutations (CDMs) in breast carcinogenesis and therapeutic response is limited. Using the sensitive and quantitative Allele-specific Competitor Blocker PCR (ACB-PCR) approach, mutant fractions (MFs) of six CDMs (

Pineda B, Diaz-Lagares A, Pérez-Fidalgo JA, et al.
A two-gene epigenetic signature for the prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer patients.
Clin Epigenetics. 2019; 11(1):33 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) varies between 30 and 40% approximately. To provide further insight into the prediction of pCR, we evaluated the role of an epigenetic methylation-based signature.
METHODS: Epigenetic assessment of DNA extracted from biopsy archived samples previous to NAC from TNBC patients was performed. Patients included were categorized according to previous response to NAC in responder (pCR or residual cancer burden, RCB = 0) or non-responder (non-pCR or RCB > 0) patients. A methyloma study was performed in a discovery cohort by the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (450K array) from Illumina. The epigenetic silencing of those methylated genes in the discovery cohort were validated by bisulfite pyrosequencing (PyroMark Q96 System version 2.0.6, Qiagen) and qRT-PCR in an independent cohort of TN patients and in TN cell lines.
RESULTS: Twenty-four and 30 patients were included in the discovery and validation cohorts, respectively. In the discovery cohort, nine genes were differentially methylated: six presented higher methylation in non-responder patients (LOC641519, LEF1, HOXA5, EVC2, TLX3, CDKL2) and three greater methylation in responder patients (FERD3L, CHL1, and TRIP10). After validation, a two-gene (FER3L and TRIP10) epigenetic score predicted RCB = 0 with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) = 0.905 (95% CI = 0.805-1.000). Patients with a positive epigenetic two-gene score showed 78.6% RCB = 0 versus only 10.7% RCB = 0 if signature were negative.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that pCR in TNBC could be accurately predicted with an epigenetic signature of FERD3L and TRIP10 genes. Further prospective validation of these findings is warranted.

Merino D, Weber TS, Serrano A, et al.
Barcoding reveals complex clonal behavior in patient-derived xenografts of metastatic triple negative breast cancer.
Nat Commun. 2019; 10(1):766 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Primary triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) are prone to dissemination but sub-clonal relationships between tumors and resulting metastases are poorly understood. Here we use cellular barcoding of two treatment-naïve TNBC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) to track the spatio-temporal fate of thousands of barcoded clones in primary tumors, and their metastases. Tumor resection had a major impact on reducing clonal diversity in secondary sites, indicating that most disseminated tumor cells lacked the capacity to 'seed', hence originated from 'shedders' that did not persist. The few clones that continued to grow after resection i.e. 'seeders', did not correlate in frequency with their parental clones in primary tumors. Cisplatin treatment of one BRCA1-mutated PDX model to non-palpable levels had a surprisingly minor impact on clonal diversity in the relapsed tumor yet purged 50% of distal clones. Therefore, clonal features of shedding, seeding and drug resistance are important factors to consider for the design of therapeutic strategies.

Arnoldussen YJ, Kringlen Ervik T, Samulin Erdem J, et al.
Mechanisms of Toxicity of Industrially Relevant Silicomanganese Dust on Human 1321N1 Astrocytoma Cells: An In Vitro Study.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019; 20(3) [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Tremendous efforts are applied in the ferroalloy industry to control and reduce exposure to dust generated during the production process, as inhalable Mn-containing particulate matter has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases. This study aimed to investigate the toxicity and biological effects of dust particles from laboratory-scale processes where molten silicomanganese (SiMn) was exposed to air, using a human astrocytoma cell line, 1321N1, as model system. Characterization of the dust indicated presence of both nano-sized and larger particles averaging between 100 and 300 nm. The dust consisted mainly of Si, Mn and O. Investigation of cellular mechanisms showed a dose- and time-dependent effect on cell viability, with only minor changes in the expression of proteins involved in apoptosis. Moreover, gene expression of the neurotoxic biomarker

Kojima Y, Tanabe M, Kato I, et al.
Myoepithelioma-like tumor of the vulvar region showing infiltrative growth and harboring only a few estrogen receptor-positive cells: A case report.
Pathol Int. 2019; 69(3):172-176 [PubMed] Related Publications
Recently, a new entity "myoepithelioma-like tumor of the vulvar region (MELTVR)" was proposed as a rare mesenchymal neoplasm arising in vulvar regions of adult women. While MELTVRs morphologically resemble soft tissue myoepitheliomas and extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas, they have a unique immunohistochemical profile (positive for epithelial membrane antigen and estrogen receptor, negative for S100 protein and glial fibrillary acidic protein, and loss of INI1/SMARCB1 expression), and lack EWSR1 and NR4A3 gene rearrangement, as seen by fluorescence in situ hybridization. MELTVRs are usually well-demarcated tumors, with no reports of extensive infiltrative growth. In the current report, we present an unusual case of MELTVR showing infiltrative growth and harboring only a few estrogen receptor-positive cells, which might indicate a variation in this rare tumor.

Starrett GJ, Serebrenik AA, Roelofs PA, et al.
Polyomavirus T Antigen Induces
MBio. 2019; 10(1) [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
APOBEC3B is a single-stranded DNA cytosine deaminase with beneficial innate antiviral functions. However, misregulated APOBEC3B can also be detrimental by inflicting APOBEC signature C-to-T and C-to-G mutations in genomic DNA of multiple cancer types. Polyomavirus and papillomavirus oncoproteins induce APOBEC3B overexpression, perhaps to their own benefit, but little is known about the cellular mechanisms hijacked by these viruses to do so. Here we investigate the molecular mechanism of APOBEC3B upregulation by the polyomavirus large T antigen. First, we demonstrate that the upregulated APOBEC3B enzyme is strongly nuclear and partially localized to virus replication centers. Second, truncated T antigen (truncT) is sufficient for APOBEC3B upregulation, and the RB-interacting motif (LXCXE), but not the p53-binding domain, is required. Third, genetic knockdown of RB1 alone or in combination with RBL1 and/or RBL2 is insufficient to suppress truncT-mediated induction of

Dallel M, Sghaier I, Finan RR, et al.
Circulating leptin concentration, LEP gene variants and haplotypes, and polycystic ovary syndrome in Bahraini and Tunisian Arab women.
Gene. 2019; 694:19-25 [PubMed] Related Publications
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Epidemiological studies suggested that ethnic/racial background influences the associations of altered leptin secretion and leptin gene (LEP) polymorphisms with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We investigated the association between LEP variants and plasma leptin levels with PCOS in Tunisian and Bahraini Arab women.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Retrospective case-control study, involving 255 PCOS cases and 253 control subjects from Bahrain, and 320 women PCOS cases and 447 controls from Tunisia. LEP genotyping was done by allele exclusion on real-time PCR.
RESULTS: Minor allele frequencies of rs10487506, rs7799039, rs2167270, rs12706832, and rs10954173 LEP variants were not significantly different between PCOS cases and control women among Bahraini and Tunisians, even before applying the Bonferroni correction. Similarly, the genotype distribution of the tested LEP variants was comparable between women with PCOS and control women among Bahraini and Tunisian subjects. None of the tested LEP variants was linked with altered leptin serum concentrations. However, five-locus haplotype analysis identified GGGGG and GAGGG haplotypes to be positively, and haplotype AAGGG to be negatively associated with PCOS in Bahraini women, after adjusting for HOMA-IR. No LEP haplotype associated with PCOS was identified in Tunisians.
CONCLUSION: This is the first study to document differential contribution of LEP gene variants with PCOS according to ethnic/racial background of study subjects, highlighting the need for controlling for ethnicity in genetic association studies.

Miedl H, Lebhard J, Ehart L, Schreiber M
Association of the
Int J Mol Sci. 2019; 20(3) [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
SNP309T>G (rs2279744) and SNP285G>C (rs117039649) in the

Wang L, Liu Y, Zhao TL, et al.
Topotecan induces apoptosis via ASCT2 mediated oxidative stress in gastric cancer.
Phytomedicine. 2019; 57:117-128 [PubMed] Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Topotecan (TPT) is a Topo I inhibitor and shows obvious anti-cancer effects on gastric cancer. Cancer cells reprogram their metabolic pathways to increase nutrients uptake, which has already been a hallmark of cancer. But the effect of TPT on metabolism in gastric cancer remains unknown.
PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of TPT on metabolism in gastric cancer.
METHODS: ATP production was measured by ATP Assay kit. Glucose and glutamine uptake were measured by Glucose (HK) Assay Kit and Glutamine/Glutamate Determination Kit respectively. To detect glutathione (GSH) concentration and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, GSH and GSSG Assay Kit and ROS Assay Kit were adopted. Apoptosis rates, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were determined by flow cytometry and protein levels were analyzed by immumohistochemical staining and western blotting.
RESULTS: TPT increased ATP production. TPT promoted glucose uptake possibly via up-regulation of hexokinase 2 (HK2) or glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) expression, while decreased glutamine uptake by down-regulation of ASCT2 expression. ASCT2 inhibitor GPNA and ASCT2 knockdown significantly suppressed the growth of gastric cancer cells. Inhibition of ASCT2 reduced glutamine uptake which led to decreased production of GSH and increased ROS level. ASCT2 knockdown induced apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway and weakened anti-cancer effect of TPT.
CONCLUSION: TPT inhibits glutamine uptake via down-regulation of ASCT2 which causes oxidative stress and induces apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. Moreover, TPT inhibits proliferation partially via ASCT2. These observations reveal a previously undescribed mechanism of ASCT2 regulated gastric cancer proliferation and demonstrate ASCT2 is a potential anti-cancer target of TPT.

Haller F, Bieg M, Will R, et al.
Enhancer hijacking activates oncogenic transcription factor NR4A3 in acinic cell carcinomas of the salivary glands.
Nat Commun. 2019; 10(1):368 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
The molecular pathogenesis of salivary gland acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) is poorly understood. The secretory Ca-binding phosphoprotein (SCPP) gene cluster at 4q13 encodes structurally related phosphoproteins of which some are specifically expressed at high levels in the salivary glands and constitute major components of saliva. Here we report on recurrent rearrangements [t(4;9)(q13;q31)] in AciCC that translocate active enhancer regions from the SCPP gene cluster to the region upstream of Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4 Group A Member 3 (NR4A3) at 9q31. We show that NR4A3 is specifically upregulated in AciCCs, and that active chromatin regions and gene expression signatures in AciCCs are highly correlated with the NR4A3 transcription factor binding motif. Overexpression of NR4A3 in mouse salivary gland cells increases expression of known NR4A3 target genes and has a stimulatory functional effect on cell proliferation. We conclude that NR4A3 is upregulated through enhancer hijacking and has important oncogenic functions in AciCC.

Cannataro VL, Gaffney SG, Sasaki T, et al.
APOBEC-induced mutations and their cancer effect size in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Oncogene. 2019; 38(18):3475-3487 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Recent studies have revealed the mutational signatures underlying the somatic evolution of cancer, and the prevalences of associated somatic genetic variants. Here we estimate the intensity of positive selection that drives mutations to high frequency in tumors, yielding higher prevalences than expected on the basis of mutation and neutral drift alone. We apply this approach to a sample of 525 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma exomes, producing a rank-ordered list of gene variants by selection intensity. Our results illustrate the complementarity of calculating the intensity of selection on mutations along with tallying the prevalence of individual substitutions in cancer: while many of the most prevalently-altered genes were heavily selected, their relative importance to the cancer phenotype differs from their prevalence and from their P value, with some infrequent variants exhibiting evidence of strong positive selection. Furthermore, we extend our analysis of effect size by quantifying the degree to which mutational processes (such as APOBEC mutagenesis) contributes mutations that are highly selected, driving head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. We calculate the substitutions caused by APOBEC mutagenesis that make the greatest contribution to cancer phenotype among patients. Lastly, we demonstrate via in vitro biochemical experiments that the APOBEC3B protein can deaminate the cytosine bases at two sites whose mutant states are subject to high net realized selection intensities-PIK3CA E545K and E542K. By quantifying the effects of mutations, we deepen the molecular understanding of carcinogenesis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Shen Q, Yang H, Peng C, et al.
Capture and biological release of circulating tumor cells in pancreatic cancer based on peptide-functionalized silicon nanowire substrate.
Int J Nanomedicine. 2019; 14:205-214 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Background: Efficient and precise circulating tumor cells' (CTCs) capture and release with minimal effect on cell viability for CTCs' analysis are general requirements of CTCs' detection device in clinical application. However, these two essential factors are difficult to be achieved simultaneously.
Methods: In order to reach the aforementioned goal, we integrated multiple strategies and technologies of staggered herringbone structure, nanowires' substrate, peptides, enzymatic release, specific cell staining, and gene sequencing into microfluidic device and the sandwich structure peptide-silicon nanowires' substrate was termed as Pe-SiNWS.
Results: The Pe-SiNWS demonstrated excellent capture efficiency (95.6%) and high release efficiency (92.6%). The good purity (28.5%) and cell viability (93.5%) of CTCs could be obtained through specific capture and biological release by using Pe-SiNWS. The good purity of CTCs facilitated precise and quick biological analysis, and five types of KRAS mutation were detected in 16 pancreatic cancer patients but not in healthy donors.
Conclusion: The results proved that the effective capture, minor damage release, and precise analysis of CTCs could be realized simultaneously by our novel strategy. The successful clinical application indicated that our work was anticipated to open up new opportunities for the design of CTC microfluidic device.

Aird D, Teng T, Huang CL, et al.
Sensitivity to splicing modulation of BCL2 family genes defines cancer therapeutic strategies for splicing modulators.
Nat Commun. 2019; 10(1):137 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Dysregulation of RNA splicing by spliceosome mutations or in cancer genes is increasingly recognized as a hallmark of cancer. Small molecule splicing modulators have been introduced into clinical trials to treat solid tumors or leukemia bearing recurrent spliceosome mutations. Nevertheless, further investigation of the molecular mechanisms that may enlighten therapeutic strategies for splicing modulators is highly desired. Here, using unbiased functional approaches, we report that the sensitivity to splicing modulation of the anti-apoptotic BCL2 family genes is a key mechanism underlying preferential cytotoxicity induced by the SF3b-targeting splicing modulator E7107. While BCL2A1, BCL2L2 and MCL1 are prone to splicing perturbation, BCL2L1 exhibits resistance to E7107-induced splicing modulation. Consequently, E7107 selectively induces apoptosis in BCL2A1-dependent melanoma cells and MCL1-dependent NSCLC cells. Furthermore, combination of BCLxL (BCL2L1-encoded) inhibitors and E7107 remarkably enhances cytotoxicity in cancer cells. These findings inform mechanism-based approaches to the future clinical development of splicing modulators in cancer treatment.

Bröer A, Gauthier-Coles G, Rahimi F, et al.
Ablation of the
J Biol Chem. 2019; 294(11):4012-4026 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 15/03/2020 Related Publications
The neutral amino acid transporter solute carrier family 1 member 5 (SLC1A5 or ASCT2) is overexpressed in many cancers. To identify its roles in tumors, we employed 143B osteosarcoma cells and HCC1806 triple-negative breast cancer cells with or without ASCT2 deletion. ASCT2ko 143B cells grew well in standard culture media, but ASCT2 was required for optimal growth at <0.5 mm glutamine, with tumor spheroid growth and monolayer migration of 143B ASCT2ko cells being strongly impaired at lower glutamine concentrations. However, the ASCT2 deletion did not affect matrix-dependent invasion. ASCT2ko 143B xenografts in nude mice exhibited a slower onset of growth and a higher number of small tumors than ASCT2wt 143B xenografts, but did not differ in average tumor size 25 days after xenotransplantation. ASCT2 deficiency was compensated by increased levels of sodium neutral amino acid transporter 1 (SNAT1 or SLC38A1) and SNAT2 (SLC38A2) in ASCT2ko 143B cells, mediated by a GCN2 EIF2α kinase (GCN2)-dependent pathway, but this compensation was not observed in ASCT2ko HCC1806 cells. Combined SNAT1 silencing and GCN2 inhibition significantly inhibited growth of ASCT2ko HCC1806 cells, but not of ASCT2ko 143B cells. Similarly, pharmacological inhibition of l-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) and GCN2 significantly inhibited growth of ASCT2ko HCC1806 cells, but not of ASCT2ko 143B cells. We conclude that cancer cells with reduced transporter plasticity are more vulnerable to disruption of amino acid homeostasis than cells with a full capacity to up-regulate redundant transporters by an integrated stress response.

Ng JCF, Quist J, Grigoriadis A, et al.
Pan-cancer transcriptomic analysis dissects immune and proliferative functions of APOBEC3 cytidine deaminases.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2019; 47(3):1178-1194 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 15/03/2020 Related Publications
APOBEC3 cytidine deaminases are largely known for their innate immune protection from viral infections. Recently, members of the family have been associated with a distinct mutational activity in some cancer types. We report a pan-tissue, pan-cancer analysis of RNA-seq data specific to the APOBEC3 genes in 8,951 tumours, 786 cancer cell lines and 6,119 normal tissues. By deconvolution of levels of different cell types in tumour admixtures, we demonstrate that APOBEC3B (A3B), the primary candidate as a cancer mutagen, shows little association with immune cell types compared to its paralogues. We present a pipeline called RESPECTEx (REconstituting SPecific Cell-Type Expression) and use it to deconvolute cell-type specific expression levels in a given cohort of tumour samples. We functionally annotate APOBEC3 co-expressing genes, and create an interactive visualization tool which 'barcodes' the functional enrichment (http://fraternalilab.kcl.ac.uk/apobec-barcodes/). These analyses reveal that A3B expression correlates with cell cycle and DNA repair genes, whereas the other APOBEC3 members display specificity for immune processes and immune cell populations. We offer molecular insights into the functions of individual APOBEC3 proteins in antiviral and proliferative contexts, and demonstrate the diversification this family of enzymes displays at the transcriptomic level, despite their high similarity in protein sequences and structures.

Lazarevic M, Milosevic M, Trisic D, et al.
Putative cancer stem cells are present in surgical margins of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
J BUON. 2018 Nov-Dec; 23(6):1686-1692 [PubMed] Related Publications
PURPOSE: Recent evidence suggests that small subpopulations of stem-like cells are accountable for tumour initiation, progression and metastasis. Until now, studies were focused exclusively on the characterization of these cell populations within the tumour itself, while tumour margins were neglected, although it is known that the histological and molecular status of tumour margins may play a significant role in the course of the disease. Therefore, the aims of the study were to isolate cells from oral squamous cell carcinomas and their respective margins, to characterize these cells using specific markers, to assess their self-renewal potential and determine their chemoresistance.
METHODS: Cell cultures were obtained from 12 tissue specimens (6 tumours and 6 margins). Total RNA was extracted and gene expression analysis was done by real-time PCR (RT-PCR). Flow cytometry, immunocytometry, sphere formation and MTT assays were also applied.
RESULTS: With minor differences, cells originating from both tumours and tumour margins showed the presence of stem cell markers CD133, Nanog, Sox2, CD44, and Oct4, had the capacity to form spheroids and showed chemoresistance.
CONCLUSIONS: Subpopulations of margin cells appeared to have stemness properties which might raise the question of re-evaluation of optimal surgical management.

Smal MP, Kuzhir TD, Savina NV, et al.
BER gene polymorphisms associated with key molecular events in bladder cancer.
Exp Oncol. 2018; 40(4):288-298 [PubMed] Related Publications
AIM: Base excision repair (BER) gene polymorphisms are known to play an independent role in predisposition to developing different cancers as well as to be associated with clinicopathological traits of the disease modifying its clinical outcomes. One of the underlying mechanisms is presumed to include interplay between BER gene polymorphisms and key mutational, epigenetic and chromosomal events in tumor tissues. The present study was aimed at elucidating potential gene-gene interaction and assessing their mutual effects in bladder cancer (BC).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The earlier obtained data on genotyping patients with verified diagnosis of BC for OGG1 rs1052133 (Ser326Cys) and XRCC1 rs25487 (Arg399Gln) polymorphisms were used for this study. The tumor tissue samples from the same patients were analyzed for mutations, epigenetic variations and losses of heterozygosity in some key genes involved in divergent pathogenic pathways of BC.
RESULTS: It was shown that the OGG1 (326 codon) heterozygous genotype as well as the minor 326Cys allele can intensify a mutational response of the RAS locus in urothelial carcinomas in the total cohort of patients simultaneously decreasing the mutation rates in the PIK3CA locus in smokers. The XRCC1 (399 codon) heterozygous genotype as well as the minor 399Gln allele reduced the frequency of LOH in the PTEN and TNKS genes, but did not affect the mutational variability in any locus tested. Both polymorphisms influenced the methylation status, carriers of OGG1 326Ser/Cys or Ser/Cys+Cys/Cys genotypes demonstrating increased frequency of methylated RUNX3 and ISL1 genes whereas the similar effect of XRCC1 polymorphism concerning methylation of p16 and TIMP3 genes. When dividing the total cohort into groups based on the extent of tumor spread, the observed associations were characteristic of non-muscle invasive BC.
CONCLUSION: The BER gene polymorphisms contributed to modification of key molecular events in urothelial carcinomas. Their mutual effects mainly manifested in non-muscle invasive BC. The underlying mechanisms as well as possible clinical outcomes need to be further explored to propose novel prognostic biomarkers for BC.

Sato K, Niida A, Masuda T, et al.
Multiregion Genomic Analysis of Serially Transplanted Patient-derived Xenograft Tumors.
Cancer Genomics Proteomics. 2019 Jan-Feb; 16(1):21-27 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 15/03/2020 Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) is a major cause underlying therapeutic difficulty of cancer. Although an understanding of ITH is critically important in order to develop novel therapeutic strategies, experimental models that enable the examination of ITH in a time series are lacking.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed an experimental approach based on patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mice and a multiregional sequencing approach (MRA). The multiple regions of primary colorectal cancer (CRC) and serially transplanted PDX tumors were analyzed via whole-exome sequencing and bioinformatic analyses.
RESULTS: Our PDX-MRA of CRC indicated the spatiotemporal genetic transition of ITH. It was found that the subclonal architecture of CRC dynamically changes during serial transplantation. Furthermore, our data suggest that environmental selective pressures drive the development of minor pre-existing subclones in PDX-MRA.
CONCLUSION: PDX-MRA is a useful tool for understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of ITH.

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