BACKGROUND: CIC-mutant oligodendroglial tumours linked to better prognosis. We aim to investigate associations between CIC gene mutation status, MR characteristics and clinical features.
METHODS: Imaging and genomic data from the Cancer Genome Atlas and the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCGA/TCIA) for 59 patients with oligodendroglial tumours were used. Differences between CIC mutation and CIC wild-type were tested using Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS: In univariate analysis, the clinical variables and MR features, which consisted 3 selected features (subventricular zone[SVZ] involvement, volume and seizure history) were associated with CIC mutation status (all p < 0.05). A multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that seizure history (no vs. yes odd ratio [OR]: 28.960, 95 confidence interval [CI]:2.625-319.49, p = 0.006) and SVZ involvement (SVZ- vs. SVZ+ OR: 77.092, p = 0.003; 95% CI: 4.578-1298.334) were associated with a higher incidence of CIC mutation status. The nomogram showed good discrimination, with a C-index of 0.906 (95% CI: 0.812-1.000) and was well calibrated. SVZ- group has increased (SVZ- vs. SVZ+, hazard ratio [HR]: 4.500, p = 0.04; 95% CI: 1.069-18.945) overall survival.
CONCLUSIONS: Absence of seizure history and SVZ involvement (-) was associated with a higher incidence of CIC mutation.

Capicua (Cic) is a transcriptional repressor mutated in the brain cancer oligodendroglioma. Despite its cancer link, little is known of Cic's function in the brain. We show that nuclear Cic expression is strongest in astrocytes and neurons but weaker in stem cells and oligodendroglial lineage cells. Using a new conditional Cic knockout mouse, we demonstrate that forebrain-specific Cic deletion increases proliferation and self-renewal of neural stem cells. Furthermore, Cic loss biases neural stem cells toward glial lineage selection, expanding the pool of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). These proliferation and lineage effects are dependent on de-repression of Ets transcription factors. In patient-derived oligodendroglioma cells, CIC re-expression or ETV5 blockade decreases lineage bias, proliferation, self-renewal, and tumorigenicity. Our results identify Cic as an important regulator of cell fate in neurodevelopment and oligodendroglioma, and suggest that its loss contributes to oligodendroglioma by promoting proliferation and an OPC-like identity via Ets overactivity.

BACKGROUND: RASSF1A, a tumor suppressor gene, is frequently inactivated in lung cancer leading to a YAP-dependent epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Such effects are partly due to the inactivation of the anti-migratory RhoB GTPase via the inhibitory phosphorylation of GEF-H1, the GDP/GTP exchange factor for RhoB. However, the kinase responsible for RhoB/GEF-H1 inactivation in RASSF1A-depleted cells remained unknown.
METHODS: NDR1/2 inactivation by siRNA or shRNA effects on epithelial-mesenchymal transition, invasion, xenograft formation and growth in SCID-/- Beige mice, apoptosis, proliferation, cytokinesis, YAP/TAZ activation were investigated upon RASSF1A loss in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC).
RESULTS: We demonstrate here that depletion of the YAP-kinases NDR1/2 reverts migration and metastatic properties upon RASSF1A loss in HBEC. We show that NDR2 interacts directly with GEF-H1 (which contains the NDR phosphorylation consensus motif HXRXXS/T), leading to GEF-H1 phosphorylation. We further report that the RASSF1A/NDR2/GEF-H1/RhoB/YAP axis is involved in proper cytokinesis in human bronchial cells, since chromosome proper segregation are NDR-dependent upon RASSF1A or GEF-H1 loss in HBEC.
CONCLUSION: To summarize, our data support a model in which, upon RASSF1A silencing, NDR2 gets activated, phosphorylates and inactivates GEF-H1, leading to RhoB inactivation. This cascade induced by RASSF1A loss in bronchial cells is responsible for metastasis properties, YAP activation and cytokinesis defects.

BACKGROUND: RNA sequencing is a widely used technology for differential expression analysis. However, the RNA-Seq do not provide accurate absolute measurements and the results can be different for each pipeline used. The major problem in statistical analysis of RNA-Seq and in the omics data in general, is the small sample size with respect to the large number of variables. In addition, experimental design must be taken into account and few tools consider it.
RESULTS: We propose OMICfpp, a method for the statistical analysis of RNA-Seq paired design data. First, we obtain a p-value for each case-control pair using a binomial test. These p-values are aggregated using an ordered weighted average (OWA) with a given orness previously chosen. The aggregated p-value from the original data is compared with the aggregated p-value obtained using the same method applied to random pairs. These new pairs are generated using between-pairs and complete randomization distributions. This randomization p-value is used as a raw p-value to test the differential expression of each gene. The OMICfpp method is evaluated using public data sets of 68 sample pairs from patients with colorectal cancer. We validate our results through bibliographic search of the reported genes and using simulated data set. Furthermore, we compared our results with those obtained by the methods edgeR and DESeq2 for paired samples. Finally, we propose new target genes to validate these as gene expression signatures in colorectal cancer. OMICfpp is available at http://www.uv.es/ayala/software/OMICfpp_0.2.tar.gz .
CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that OMICfpp is an accurate method for differential expression analysis in RNA-Seq data with paired design. In addition, we propose the use of randomized p-values pattern graphic as a powerful and robust method to select the target genes for experimental validation.

PURPOSE: Recent studies revealed divergent gene expression patterns in Ewing sarcoma (EwS) with canonical EWSR1-ETS gene fusions and undifferentiated round cell sarcomas (URCS) with EWSR1 rearrangements fused to the non-ETS gene NFATc2. Thus, the question arises whether the latter tumors really belong to EwS.
METHODS: We collected five cases matching the group of URCS with EWSR1-NFATc2 fusion and performed DNA methylation and copy number profiling. Results were compared to methylation data of 30 EwS with various EWSR1-ETS fusions and one EwS with FUS-ERG fusion, 16 URCS with CIC rearrangement and 10 URCS with BCOR alteration and a total of 81 EWSR1-associated soft tissue sarcomas including 7 angiomatoid fibrous histiocytomas, 7 clear cell sarcomas of the soft tissue, 28 desmoplastic small round cell tumors, 10 extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas and 29 myxoid liposarcomas.
RESULTS: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding analysis of DNA methylation data revealed a homogeneous methylation cluster for URCS with EWSR1-NFATc2 fusion, which clearly segregated from EwS and the other subtypes. Copy number profiles of EWSR1-NFATc2 cases showed recurrent losses on chromosome 9q and segmental gains on 20q13 and 22q12 involving the EWSR1 and NFATc2 loci, respectively.
CONCLUSION: In summary, URCS with EWSR1-NFATc2 fusion share a distinct DNA methylation signature and carry characteristic copy number alterations, which emphasizes that these sarcomas should be considered separately from EwS.

BACKGROUND: Cancer-initiating cell (CIC) exosomes (CIC-TEX) are suggested reprogramming Non-CIC. Mode of message transfer and engagement of CIC-markers being disputed, we elaborated the impact of CD44v6 and Tspan8 on the response of Non-CIC.
METHODS: Non-metastasizing CD44v6- and Tspan8-knockdown (kd) pancreatic cancer cells served as Non-CIC. CIC-TEX coculture-induced changes were evaluated by deep-sequencing and functional assays. Tumor progression was surveyed during in vivo CIC-TEX treatment.
RESULTS: Deep-sequencing of CIC-TEX-cocultured CD44v6kd-Non-CIC revealed pronounced mRNA changes in signaling, transport, transcription and translation; altered miRNA affected metabolism, signaling and transcription. CIC-TEX coculture-induced changes in Tspan8kd-Non-CIC mostly relied on CIC-TEX-Tspan8 being required for targeting. CIC-TEX transfer supported apoptosis resistance and significantly promoted epithelial mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion and (lymph)angiogenesis of the kd Non-CIC in vitro and in vivo, deep-sequencing allowing individual mRNA and miRNA assignment to altered functions. Importantly, CIC-TEX act as a hub, initiated by CD44v6-dependent RTK, GPCR and integrin activation and involving CD44v6-assisted transcription and RNA processing. Accordingly, a kinase inhibitor hampered CIC-TEX-fostered tumor progression, which was backed by an anti-Tspan8 blockade of CIC-TEX binding.
CONCLUSIONS: This in depth report on the in vitro and in vivo impact of CIC-TEX on CD44v6kd and Tspan8kd Non-CIC unravels hub CIC-TEX activity, highlighting a prominent contribution of the CIC-markers CD44v6 to signaling cascade activation, transcription, translation and miRNA processing in Non-CIC and of Tspan8 to CIC-TEX targeting. Blocking CIC-TEX binding/uptake and uptake-initiated target cell activation significantly mitigated the deleterious CIC-TEX impact on CD44v6kd and Tspan8kd Non-CIC.

Capicua (CIC) is a transcriptional repressor that counteracts activation of genes downstream of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)/Ras/ERK signaling. It is well-established that tumorigenesis, especially in glioblastoma (GBM), is attributed to hyperactive RTK/Ras/ERK signaling. While CIC is mutated in other tumors, here we show that CIC has a tumor suppressive function in GBM through an alternative mechanism. We find that CIC protein levels are negligible in GBM due to continuous proteasome-mediated degradation, which is mediated by the E3 ligase PJA1 and show that this occurs through binding of CIC to its DNA target and phosphorylation on residue S173. PJA1 knockdown increased CIC stability and extended survival using in-vivo models of GBM. Deletion of the ERK binding site resulted in stabilization of CIC and increased therapeutic efficacy of ERK inhibition in GBM models. Our results provide a rationale to target CIC degradation in Ras/ERK-driven tumors, including GBM, to increase efficacy of ERK inhibitors.

Increased cancer stem cell content during development of resistance to tamoxifen in breast cancer is driven by multiple signals, including Sox2-dependent activation of Wnt signalling. Here, we show that Sox2 increases and estrogen reduces the expression of the transcription factor Sox9. Gain and loss of function assays indicate that Sox9 is implicated in the maintenance of human breast luminal progenitor cells. CRISPR/Cas knockout of Sox9 reduces growth of tamoxifen-resistant breast tumours in vivo. Mechanistically, Sox9 acts downstream of Sox2 to control luminal progenitor cell content and is required for expression of the cancer stem cell marker ALDH1A3 and Wnt signalling activity. Sox9 is elevated in breast cancer patients after endocrine therapy failure. This new regulatory axis highlights the relevance of SOX family transcription factors as potential therapeutic targets in breast cancer.

Prohibitin 1 (PHB1) is a mitochondrial chaperone whose expression is dysregulated in cancer. In liver cancer, PHB1 acts as a tumor suppressor, but the mechanisms of tumor suppression are incompletely understood. Here we aimed to determine PHB1 target genes to better understand how PHB1 influences liver tumorigenesis. Using RNA-Seq analysis, we found interleukin-8 (IL-8) to be one of the most highly up-regulated genes following PHB1 silencing in HepG2 cells. Induction of IL-8 expression also occurred in multiple liver and nonliver cancer cell lines. We examined samples from 178 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and found that

BACKGROUND: Identification of biomarkers associated with the prognosis of different cancer subtypes is critical to achieve better therapeutic assistance. In colorectal cancer (CRC) the discovery of stable and consistent survival markers remains a challenge due to the high heterogeneity of this class of tumors. In this work, we identified a new set of gene markers for CRC associated to prognosis and risk using a large unified cohort of patients with transcriptomic profiles and survival information.
RESULTS: We built an integrated dataset with 1273 human colorectal samples, which provides a homogeneous robust framework to analyse genome-wide expression and survival data. Using this dataset we identified two sets of genes that are candidate prognostic markers for CRC in stages III and IV, showing either up-regulation correlated with poor prognosis or up-regulation correlated with good prognosis. The top 10 up-regulated genes found as survival markers of poor prognosis (i.e. low survival) were: DCBLD2, PTPN14, LAMP5, TM4SF1, NPR3, LEMD1, LCA5, CSGALNACT2, SLC2A3 and GADD45B. The stability and robustness of the gene survival markers was assessed by cross-validation, and the best-ranked genes were also validated with two external independent cohorts: one of microarrays with 482 samples; another of RNA-seq with 269 samples. Up-regulation of the top genes was also proved in a comparison with normal colorectal tissue samples. Finally, the set of top 100 genes that showed overexpression correlated with low survival was used to build a CRC risk predictor applying a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. This risk predictor yielded an optimal separation of the individual patients of the cohort according to their survival, with a p-value of 8.25e-14 and Hazard Ratio 2.14 (95% CI: 1.75-2.61).
CONCLUSIONS: The results presented in this work provide a solid rationale for the prognostic utility of a new set of genes in CRC, demonstrating their potential to predict colorectal tumor progression and evolution towards poor survival stages. Our study does not provide a fixed gene signature for prognosis and risk prediction, but instead proposes a robust set of genes ranked according to their predictive power that can be selected for additional tests with other CRC clinical cohorts.

This commentary addresses the issue of the classification of sarcomas in the article written by Watson and colleagues published recently in this journal. The article delves into the molecular characterization and distinct phenotypes of some recently described entities (e.g. BCOR-rearranged sarcomas, CIC-fused sarcomas) and describes new groups with common characteristics. This commentary focuses on several questions raised in the article, such as what makes a group of sarcomas become a clinical entity, which should be the main driver of sarcoma classification, how the classification of small round cell sarcomas is expected to evolve and how high-throughput techniques could be applied to sarcoma diagnosis in the short term. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Since 2013 next-generation sequencing (NGS) targeting genes mutated in diffuse gliomas is part of routine diagnostics in our institute. In the present report, we evaluate the use of this custom tailored NGS platform on 434 samples. The NGS panel assesses mutations in ATRX, CIC, EGFR, FUBP1, NOTCH1, PTEN; H3F3A, IDH1/2, PIK3CA, and BRAF, amplifications in EGFR or MDM2 and copy number alterations (CNA) of chromosome 1p, 7, 10 and 19q. TERT promoter mutations were assessed separately when indicated. Of the 433 samples of individual tumors with NGS data available, 176 cases were diagnosed as grade 2 or 3 glioma (40.6) and in 201 patients a glioblastoma (46.4%). Of the remaining 56 patients, 22 had inconclusive histology. In 378 cases (87.1%) a diagnosis solely based on glioma-targeted NGS could be established and resulted in a different diagnosis in ~ 1/4 of the cases. In 17 out of 22 cases without a conclusive histological diagnosis NGS resulted in a molecular diagnosis.The current study on a large cohort of patients confirms the diagnostic strength of the platform we developed, with a clear separation of glioma subgroups with different outcomes. It demonstrates the diagnostic value and the efficiency of glioma-targeted NGS for routine glioma diagnostics allowing with a single assay a glioma diagnosis in the large majority of cases. It allows in one run the molecular assessments required for the WHO classification of diffuse gliomas, including the recent recommendations to assess copy number alterations of chromosome 7 and 10, and of the TERT promoter region in IDHwt lower grade glioma.

It is known strontium can both inhibit the osteoclast formation and stimulate the osteoblast maturation, so biomaterials containing this element can favour bone structure stabilisation. The addition of Sr to biomaterials could affect their interactions with proteins and cells. Here, a silica-hybrid sol-gel network doped with different amounts of SrCl

The CIC-DUX4 sarcoma is a small round blue cell sarcoma which presents like extraskeletal Ewing sarcoma, but is negative for the EWSR1 gene translocation. The recognition of CIC-DUX4 sarcomas as an aggressive sarcoma may be challenging in fine needle aspirates or small needle core biopsies. We present a case of a 13-year-old female with a fine needle aspiration (FNA) and core needle biopsy (CNB) of a thigh mass showing CIC-DUX4 sarcoma. Cytologic findings include tumor cells with high nuclear to cytoplasmic (N:C) ratio, eccentric nuclei and small nucleoli. The tumor cells were arranged in sheets and singly dispersed with background necrosis. Mitotic figures and apoptosis were present. These findings are similar to cases previously reported. Other reported findings of spindled nuclei, clear cell change and lobular growth pattern were not seen in our case. Immunohistochemical stains showed tumor cells positive for CD99, WT1, vimentin and negative for pancytokeratin, desmin and myogenin, which is the pattern similar to cases previously reported. However, our case was also positive for BCL-2. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was negative for EWSR1 and SS18 (SYT) rearrangements and positive for CIC gene rearrangement. On balance, if the following features are seen: (1) a small round blue cell tumor with histomorphology more atypical than that of Ewing sarcoma, (2) cytoplasmic CD99 staining, nuclear WT1 positivity, negative keratin, desmin and myogenin; and (3) EWSR1 rearrangement negative by FISH, then molecular testing for CIC-DUX4 sarcoma should be considered.

BACKGROUND: Testicular germ cell tumor such as seminoma is strongly associated with male reproductive problems commonly associated with the alteration of sperm parameters as described in testicular dysgenesis syndrome. Interestingly, numerous studies have reported that the precursor of germ cell cancer, germ cell neoplasia in situ (GCNIS), present similarities to fetal gonocytes, specifically characterized by global DNA hypomethylation particularly on imprinting sequences. These disorders may have a common origin derived from perturbations of embryonal programming during fetal development. Presently, there is no available information concerning the sperm DNA methylation patterns of testicular cancer patients. For the first time, we evaluated the sperm imprinting of seminoma patients. A total of 92 cryopreserved sperm samples were included, 31 before seminoma treatment (S): 23 normozoospermic (SN) and 8 oligozoospermic (SO) and 61 sperm controls samples: 31 normozoospermic (N) and 30 oligozoospermic (O). DNA methylation levels of seven differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of imprinted genes [H19/IGF2: IG-DMR (CTCF3 and CTCF6 of H19 gene); IGF2-DMRs (DMR0 and DMR2); MEG3/DLK1:IG-DMR; SNURF:TSS-DMR; KCNQ1OT1:TSS-DMR] were assessed by pyrosequencing. All comparative analyses were adjusted for age.
RESULTS: Comparisons of sperm DNA methylation levels between seminoma (S) and normozoospermic (N) samples showed a significant difference for the SNURF sequence (p = 0.017), but after taking into account the sperm parameters, no difference was observed. However, we confirmed a significant association between oligozoospermia (O) and imprinting defects for H19/IGF2-CTCF6 (p = 0.001), MEG3/DLK1 (p = 0.017), IGF2-DMR2 (p = 0.022), and SNURF (p = 0.032) in comparison with control groups (N).
CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the high risk of sperm imprinting defects in cases of oligozoospermia and shows for the first time that seminoma patients with normal spermatogenesis present sperm imprinting integrity. These data suggest a low probability of the involvement of a common imprinting defect in fetal cells leading to both TGCT and subfertility.

In addition to germ cell tumors and tumors of the sex cord stroma, the WHO classification of testis and paratesticular tumors also contains malignant soft tissue tumors. Among them, liposarcomas of the spermatic cord are the most common entities. Other mesenchymal tumors with smooth muscle, skeletal muscle, fibroblastic/myofibroblastic, or nerve sheath differentiation are rare. Ewing sarcoma is composed of uniform small round cells and typically characterized by translocations of the EWSR1 gene. In rare cases, Ewing sarcoma-like tumors lack an EWSR1 gene fusion. Some of these tumors harbor a specific CIC translocation. However, Ewing-like sarcoma has up to now never been described in the testis or spermatic cord. The present case describes the first EWSR1-negative, undifferentiated round cell sarcoma with CIC translocation of the spermatic cord. Potential differential diagnoses are discussed.

Granular cell astrocytoma (GCA) is a rare adult infiltrating glioma subtype. We studied a series of 39 GCAs. Median age of presentation was 57.8 years and most cases developed in the frontal or temporal lobes. Tumors included grade II (n = 14), grade III (n = 11), and grade IV (n = 14) by WHO criteria. Granular cell morphology was diffuse in 31 (79%) cases and partial in eight (21%). Immunohistochemistry showed frequent positivity for GFAP (28 of 31), OLIG2 (16 of 16), and CD68 (27 of 30), but HAM56, CD163, and IBA-1 histiocytic markers were all negative (22 of 22). IDH1(R132H) was negative in all the cases tested (16 of 16), while ATRX expression was retained (12 of 12). Cytogenetics demonstrated monosomy 10 (6 of 6) cases, +7 in 4 (of 6), -13q in 4 of 6, and -14 in 4 of 6. Next-generation sequencing demonstrated mutations in PTEN/PIK3 genes in 6/13 (46%), NF1 in 3 of 10 (30%), TP53 in 3 of 13 (23%), PALB2 in 3 of 10 (30%), STAG2 in 3 of 10 (30%), EGFR mutation/amplification in 3 of 13 (23%), and AR in 2 of 10 (20%). CDKN2A/B deletion was identified in 5 of 13 (30%) cases (homozygous deletion in 4). The TERT C228T mutation was identified in 9 of 13 (69%). No mutations were encountered in IDH1, IDH2, CIC, FUBP1, H3F3A, BRAF or ATRX genes. The mean overall survival was 11.3 months. Patients >60 years old at diagnosis had a worse survival than patients <60 years (P = 0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in survival by WHO grade, extent of granular cell change, sex or MIB-1 (P > 0.05). GCA is a variant of IDH-wildtype diffuse glioma with aggressive behavior irrespective of grade and extent of granular cell morphology, and with molecular genetic features corresponding to primary glioblastoma.

Intercellular communication via gap junction channels between oligodendrocytes and between astrocytes as well as between these cell types is essential to maintain the integrity of myelin in the central nervous system. Oligodendrocyte gap junction connexin-47 (Cx47) is a key element in this crosstalk and indeed, mutations in human Cx47 cause severe myelin disorders. However, the permeation properties of channels of Cx47 alone and in heterotypic combination with astrocyte Cx43 remain unclear. We show here that Cx47 contains three extra residues at 5' amino-terminus that play a critical role in the channel pore structure and account for relative low ionic conductivity, cationic permselectivity and voltage-gating properties of oligodendrocyte-oligodendrocyte Cx47 channels. Regarding oligodendrocyte-astrocyte coupling, heterotypic channels formed by Cx47 with Cx43 exhibit ionic and chemical rectification, which creates a directional diffusion barrier for the movement of ions and larger negatively charged molecules from cells expressing Cx47 to those with Cx43. The restrictive permeability of Cx47 channels and the diffusion barrier of Cx47-Cx43 channels was abolished by a mutation associated with leukodystrophy, the Cx47P90S, suggesting a novel pathogenic mechanism underlying myelin disorders that involves alterations in the panglial permeation.

Aberrations in Capicua (CIC) have recently been implicated as a negative prognostic factor in a multitude of cancer types through activation of the MAPK signalling cascade and derepression of oncogenic ETS transcription factors. The Ataxin-family protein ATXN1L has previously been reported to interact with CIC in developmental and disease contexts to facilitate the repression of CIC target genes. To further investigate this relationship, we performed functional in vitro studies utilizing ATXN1L

Cell-in-cell (CIC) structures are commonly seen in tumours. Their biological significance remains unclear, although they have been associated with more aggressive tumours. Here we report that mutant p53 promotes CIC via live cell engulfment. Engulfed cells physically interfere in cell divisions of host cells and for cells without p53 this leads to host cell death. In contrast, mutant p53 host cells survive, display aberrant divisions, multinucleation and tripolar mitoses. In xenograft studies, CIC-rich p53 mutant/null co-cultures show enhanced tumour growth. Furthermore, our results show that CIC is common within lung adenocarcinomas, is an independent predictor of poor outcome and disease recurrence, is associated with mutant p53 expression and correlated to measures of heterogeneity and genomic instability. These findings suggest that pro-tumorigenic entotic engulfment activity is associated with mutant p53 expression, and the two combined are a key factor in genomic instability.

The BCOR-CCNB3 positive sarcoma is a recently identified sarcoma morphologically and clinically similar to Ewing sarcoma in adolescents and young adults. The BCOR-CCNB3 fusion transcript originates from a paracentric inversion on the X chromosome with an in-frame fusion between the last codon of BCOR and the exon 5 of CCNB3 gene. We report morphological and molecular genetic analysis of 8 undifferentiated sarcomas positive for the BCOR-CCNB3 fusion. Six of the eight BCOR-CCNB3 positive sarcoma patients were male. Five of the eight patients were in their second decade of life (median of all patients 14 years at diagnosis). The bone marrow involvement was demonstrated in 2 of 4 patients tested. Detection of the fusion transcripts BCOR-CCNB3 in the bone marrow suggests that patients with positive findings are at high risk of the tumor progression.

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) has a poor prognosis and is largely resistant to standard treatments, so it is important to seek novel therapeutic strategies for this disease. Cancer-initiating cells (CICs) were previously identified in MM using stem cell-associated markers in combination with spheroid cultures. However, the mechanisms underlying the induction and maintenance of CICs in MM remain to be fully explored. Here we showed that the CICs, which had high aldehyde dehydrogenase levels (ALDH

Homotypic cell-in-cell (CIC) structures forming between cancer cells were proposed to promote tumor evolution via entosis, a nonapoptotic cell death process. However, the mechanisms underlying their formation remained poorly understood. We performed a microarray analysis to identify genes associated with homotypic CIC formation. Cancer cells differing in their ability to form homotypic CIC structures were selected for the study. Association analysis identified 73 probe sets for 62 candidate genes potentially involved in CIC formation. Among them, twenty-one genes were downregulated while 41 genes were upregulated. Pathway analysis identified a gene interaction network centered on IL-8, which was upregulated in high CIC cells. Remarkably, CIC formation was significantly inhibited by IL-8 knockdown and enhanced upon recombinant IL-8 treatment, which correlated with altered cell-cell adhesion and expression of adhesive molecules such as P-cadherin and γ-catenin. Together, our work identified IL-8 as a positive regulator of homotypic CIC formation via enhancing intercellular adhesion. [BMB Reports 2018; 51(8): 412-417].

BACKGROUND: Genome editing technologies offers new opportunities for tackling diseases such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that have been beyond the reach of previous therapies.
RESULTS: We show how the recent availability of genome-editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas9 are an important means of advancing functional studies of ALL through the incorporation, elimination and modification of somatic mutations and fusion genes in cell lines and mouse models. These tools not only broaden the understanding of the involvement of various genetic alterations in the pathogenesis of the disease but also identify new therapeutic targets for future clinical trials.
CONCLUSIONS: New approaches including CRISPR-Cas9 are crucial for functional studies of genetic aberrations driving cancer progression, and that may be responsible for treatment resistance and relapses. By using this approach, diseases can be more faithfully reproduced and new therapeutic targets and approaches found.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Accumulated data suggested that Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor is a major mediator in vasculogenesis, angiogenesis and recently in tumorigenesis. Therefore, we aimed to investigate for the first time the association between VEGF gene variants (-2549I/D (rs35569394), -2578C/A (rs699947), and +936C/T (rs3025039)) with urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) in Tunisian population.
METHODS: A total of 218 UBC patients and 204 controls were recruited and genotyped by Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to access the association between the VEGFA gene polymorphisms and UBC.
RESULTS: We found a significant decreased risk association of -2578 C/A polymorphism with UBC (OR (95% CI), 0.62 (0.41-0.94), P = .026) for CA genotype and (OR (95% CI), 0.40 (0.21-0.76), P = .005) for double homozygous mutant genotype. No associations were found in case of both polymorphic sites of VEGF, vis. -2549I/D and +936C/T, respectively. Haplotype analysis revealed a strong linkage disequilibrium between -2578C/A and -2549I/D and CIC combination is the significant haplotype associated with increased risk of UBC (OR (95% CI), 3.63 (1.47-8.97), P = .005). Regarding tumor grade/stage and family history of cancer, no associations were found for -2578C/A polymorphism.
CONCLUSION: CIC haplotype of VEGF gene may be important risk factor for UBC development in Tunisia.

The recruitment of T-cells by bispecific antibodies secreted from adoptively transferred, gene-modified autologous cells has shown satisfactory results in preclinical cancer models. Even so, the approach's translation into the clinic will require incremental improvements to its efficacy and reduction of its toxicity. Here, we characterized a tandem T-cell recruiting bispecific antibody intended to benefit gene-based immunotherapy approaches, which we call the light T-cell engager (LiTE), consisting of an EGFR-specific single-domain V

Oligodendrogliomas are brain tumors accounting for approximately 10% of all central nervous system cancers. CIC is a transcription factor that is mutated in most patients with oligodendrogliomas; these mutations are believed to be a key oncogenic event in such cancers. Analysis of the

In gastric cancer, >15% of cases are associated with the amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which leads to poor clinical outcomes. Lapatinib, a potent ATP‑competitive inhibitor, is a small, orally active molecule, which inhibits the tyrosine kinases of HER2 and epidermal growth factor receptor type 1. The activation of receptor tyrosine kinases can contribute to lapatinib resistance in HER2‑positive gastric cancer. The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of miR‑494 and FGFR2 in regulation of cancer‑initiating cell phenotypes and therapeutic efficiency of lapatinib in HER2‑positive gastric cancer. Western blot analysis was used to identify that the expression of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), a receptor tyrosine kinase, was upregulated in gastric cancer tissues. Formation of cancer initiating cells (CICs) and resistance to lapatinib were determined using sphere growth assay and MTT assay, respectively. The overexpression of FGFR2 promoted the generation of cancer‑initiating cells (CICs) and resistance to lapatinib in HER2‑positive gastric cancer YCC1 cells. In addition, it was observed that overexpression of microRNA (miR)‑494 downregulated the protein expression of FGFR2, inhibited the formation of CICs and reversed lapatinib resistance in YCC1‑F cells (HER2‑positive, FGFR2 overexpressing and lapatinib‑resistant gastric cancer cells). Therefore, it was concluded that miR‑494 inhibited the CIC phenotype and reversed resistance to lapatinib by inhibiting FGFR2 in HER2‑positive gastric cancer.

The BCR-ABL oncogene, the hallmark of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), has been shown to activate several signaling pathways in leukemic cells. The natural history of this disease has been radically modified by tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, resistance to several lines of TKI therapies and progression to blast crisis (BC) remain significant concerns. To identify novel signaling pathways induced by BCR-ABL, we performed a transcriptome analysis in a BCR-ABL-expressing UT-7 cell line. More than 2000 genes differentially expressed between BCR-ABL-expressing and parental UT-7 cells were identified and ETS1 was found to be the most upregulated. ETS1 protein expression was also shown to be highly increased in UT-7 cells expressing BCR-ABL either constitutively or under the control of TET-inducible promoters. ETS1 expression is tyrosine-kinase dependent because it was reduced by TKIs. A significant increase of ETS1 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was observed in blood cells from CML patients at diagnosis compared with healthy controls. Integration of publicly available chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing and transcriptomic data with our results allowed us to identify potential ETS1 targets, some of which are involved in the progression of CML. The messenger RNA expression of two of these genes (DNM3 and LIMS1) was found to be associated with the absence of major cytogenetic response after 1 year of imatinib therapy. The present work demonstrates for the first time the involvement of the ETS1 transcriptional program in the experimental UT-7 model and a large cohort of CML patients.

Loss of monoubiquitination of histone H2B (H2Bub1) was found to be associated with poor-differentiation and enhanced malignancy of lung adenocarcinoma. This study investigated the association and impact of the ubiquitin-specific peptidase 22 (USP22), an H2Bub1 deubiquitinase, on stem cell-like characteristics and cisplatin resistance in cancer-initiating cells (CIC) from primary lung adenocarcinoma. CICs were isolated, enriched, and characterized from patient-derived cancer tissues using both