CTSB
Gene Summary
Gene: CTSB; cathepsin B
Aliases: APPS, CPSB, RECEUP
Location: 8p23.1
Summary: This gene encodes a member of the C1 family of peptidases. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants. At least one of these variants encodes a preproprotein that is proteolytically processed to generate multiple protein products. These products include the cathepsin B light and heavy chains, which can dimerize to form the double chain form of the enzyme. This enzyme is a lysosomal cysteine protease with both endopeptidase and exopeptidase activity that may play a role in protein turnover. It is also known as amyloid precursor protein secretase and is involved in the proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Incomplete proteolytic processing of APP has been suggested to be a causative factor in Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia. Overexpression of the encoded protein has been associated with esophageal adenocarcinoma and other tumors. Multiple pseudogenes of this gene have been identified. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2015]
Databases: OMIM, HGNC, Ensembl, GeneCard, Gene
Protein: cathepsin B
Source: NCBIAccessed: 31 August, 2019
Ontology:
What does this gene/protein do?
CTSB is implicated in:
- apical plasma membrane
- autophagy
- caveola
- cellular response to thyroid hormone stimulus
- cysteine-type endopeptidase activity
- cysteine-type peptidase activity
- endolysosome lumen
- external side of plasma membrane
- extracellular space
- innate immune response
- intracellular
- intracellular membrane-bounded organelle
- kininogen binding
- lysosome
- melanosome
- mitochondrion
- negative regulation of cell death
- nucleolus
- peptidase activity
- peptide binding
- perinuclear region of cytoplasm
- protein binding
- proteolysis
- regulation of apoptotic process
- regulation of catalytic activity
- response to amine stimulus
- response to ethanol
- response to glucose stimulus
- response to interleukin-4
- response to mechanical stimulus
- response to organic cyclic compound
- response to peptide hormone stimulus
- response to wounding
- sarcolemma
- skeletal muscle tissue development
Data from Gene Ontology via CGAP [Hide]
Pathways: What pathways are this gene/protein implicaed in?
CTSB is involved in:
- Antigen processing and presentation KEGG
Data from KEGG and BioCarta [BIOCARTA terms] via CGAP [Hide]
Cancer Overview
Specific Cancers (6)
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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.
Tumor Burden
Vorinostat
Cancer Gene Expression Regulation
Immunoblotting
Cancer DNA
Cathepsin B
Neoplasm Invasiveness
Salivary Cystatins
bcl-X Protein
Tumor Suppressor Proteins
Toll-Like Receptor 2
Gene Amplification
Biomarkers, Tumor
Xenograft Models
Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases
Cell Movement
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Tag cloud generated 31 August, 2019 using data from PubMed, MeSH and CancerIndex
Data table showing topics related to specific cancers and associated disorders. Scope includes mutations and abnormal protein expression.
Entity Topic PubMed Papers
Esophageal Cancer CTSB and Esophageal Cancer View Publications 7
Stomach Cancer CTSB and Stomach Cancer View Publications 5
Breast Cancer CTSB and Breast Cancer View Publications 10
Cervical Cancer CTSB and Cervical Cancer View Publications 3
Prostate Cancer CTSB and Prostate Cancer View Publications 4
Thyroid Cancer CTSB and Thyroid Cancer View Publications 3
Note: list is not exhaustive. Number of papers are based on searches of PubMed (click on topic title for arbitrary criteria used).
OMIM, Johns Hopkin University
Referenced article focusing on the relationship between phenotype and genotype.
International Cancer Genome Consortium.
Summary of gene and mutations by cancer type from ICGC
Cancer Genome Anatomy Project, NCI
COSMIC, Sanger Institute
Somatic mutation information and related details
GEO Profiles, NCBI
Search the gene expression profiles from curated DataSets in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository.
Latest Publications: CTSB (cancer-related)
Wu JS, Li ZF, Wang HF, et al.
Cathepsin B defines leader cells during the collective invasion of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma.
Int J Oncol. 2019; 54(4):1233-1244 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Cathepsin B (CTSB) has been reported to be involved in cancer metastasis by altering extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and facilitating invasion. However, the contribution of CTSB to collective cell invasion in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study demonstrated that collective cell invasion is commonly observed in SACC without a complete epithelial‑mesenchymal transition signature. CTSB was found to be overexpressed in the invasive front of SACC compared to the tumor center, and was associated with a poor prognosis of patients with SACC. Subsequently, a 3D spheroid invasion assay was established in order to recapitulate the collective cell invasion of SACC and the results revealed that CTSB was only expressed in leader cells. The knockdown of CTSB by siRNA inhibited the migration and invasion of SACC‑83 cells and impaired the formation of leader cells. CTSB knockdown also disrupted cytoskeletal organization, altered cell morphology and inhibited ECM remodeling by downregulating matrix metalloproteinase‑9, focal adhesion kinase and Rho/ROCK function. Therefore, the present study provides evidence that CTSB may define leader cells in SACC and is required for collective cell invasion as a potential key regulator of ECM remodeling.
Related: Salivary Gland Cancer
Brix DM, Tvingsholm SA, Hansen MB, et al.
Release of transcriptional repression via ErbB2-induced, SUMO-directed phosphorylation of myeloid zinc finger-1 serine 27 activates lysosome redistribution and invasion.
Oncogene. 2019; 38(17):3170-3184 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
HER2/ErbB2 activation turns on transcriptional processes that induce local invasion and lead to systemic metastasis. The early transcriptional changes needed for ErbB2-induced invasion are poorly understood. Here, we link ErbB2 activation to invasion via ErbB2-induced, SUMO-directed phosphorylation of a single serine residue, S27, of the transcription factor myeloid zinc finger-1 (MZF1). Utilizing an antibody against MZF1-pS27, we show that the phosphorylation of S27 correlates significantly (p < 0.0001) with high-level expression of ErbB2 in primary invasive breast tumors. Phosphorylation of MZF1-S27 is an early response to ErbB2 activation and results in increased transcriptional activity of MZF1. It is needed for the ErbB2-induced expression of MZF1 target genes CTSB and PRKCA, and invasion of single-cells from ErbB2-expressing breast cancer spheroids. The phosphorylation of MZF1-S27 is preceded by poly-SUMOylation of K23, which can make S27 accessible to efficient phosphorylation by PAK4. Based on our results, we suggest for an activation mechanism where phosphorylation of MZF1-S27 triggers MZF1 dissociation from its transcriptional repressors such as the CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF). Our findings increase understanding of the regulation of invasive signaling in breast cancer by uncovering a detailed biological mechanism of how ErbB2 activation can rapidly lead to its invasion-promoting target gene expression and invasion.
Related: Breast Cancer
Maacha S, Hong J, von Lersner A, et al.
AXL Mediates Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Cell Invasion through Regulation of Extracellular Acidification and Lysosome Trafficking.
Neoplasia. 2018; 20(10):1008-1022 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy that is characterized by resistance to chemotherapy and a poor clinical outcome. The overexpression of the receptor tyrosine kinase AXL is frequently associated with unfavorable prognosis in EAC. Although it is well documented that AXL mediates cancer cell invasion as a downstream effector of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, the precise molecular mechanism underlying this process is not completely understood. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time that AXL mediates cell invasion through the regulation of lysosomes peripheral distribution and cathepsin B secretion in EAC cell lines. Furthermore, we show that AXL-dependent peripheral distribution of lysosomes and cell invasion are mediated by extracellular acidification, which is potentiated by AXL-induced secretion of lactate through AKT-NF-κB-dependent MCT-1 regulation. Our novel mechanistic findings support future clinical studies to evaluate the therapeutic potential of the AXL inhibitor R428 (BGB324) in highly invasive EAC.
Related: Cancer of the Esophagus Esophageal Cancer AXL
Zhang X, Wang X, Xu S, et al.
Cathepsin B contributes to radioresistance by enhancing homologous recombination in glioblastoma.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2018; 107:390-396 [PubMed] Related Publications
Resistance to adjuvant radiotherapy is a major cause of treatment failure in patients with glioblastoma (GBM). Recently, the role of lysosome, especially lysosomal proteases, in radioresistance is being paid more and more attention to. Here, we investigated the radioresistant role of Cathepsin B (CTSB), one important member of cysteine proteases, in GBM cell lines. A protease array kit was used to test GBM cells before and after irradiation. Nude mice were implanted with GBM cells to generate orthotopic xenografts for in vivo studies. Response of U87 and U251 cells to treatment was examined using cell viability, flow cytometry. Cells were transfected with siRNA knockdown and gene expression constructs and molecules potentially mediating response were examined through western blot analysis, PCR and EdU assay. The results from protease array kit showed that CTSB was up-regulated the most among all proteases after irradiation. And this was verified by western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry of tumor samples both from in vivo study and clinical patients. Compared to negative control group, knocking down CTSB led to radiosensitivity. And this radiosensitive effect was achieved by decreasing homologous recombination (HR) efficiency. Further study showed that knocking down CTSB caused cell cycle arrested in G0/G1 phases, in which HR efficiency was impaired. Knocking down CTSB contributed to radiosensitivity in GBM cells by causing cell cycle arrest and down-regulating HR efficiency.
Breznik B, Limbaeck Stokin C, Kos J, et al.
Cysteine cathepsins B, X and K expression in peri-arteriolar glioblastoma stem cell niches.
J Mol Histol. 2018; 49(5):481-497 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal brain tumor also due to malignant and therapy-resistant GBM stem cells (GSCs) that are localized in protecting hypoxic GSC niches. Some members of the cysteine cathepsin family of proteases have been found to be upregulated in GBM. Cathepsin K gene expression is highly elevated in GBM tissue versus normal brain and it has been suggested to regulate GSC migration out of the niches. Here, we investigated the cellular distribution of cathepsins B, X and K in GBM tissue and whether these cathepsins are co-localized in GSC niches. Therefore, we determined expression of these cathepsins in serial paraffin sections of 14 human GBM samples and serial cryostat sections of two samples using immunohistochemistry and metabolic mapping of cathepsin activity using selective fluorogenic substrates. We detected cathepsins B, X and K in peri-arteriolar GSC niches in 9 out of 16 GBM samples, which were defined by co-expression of the GSC marker CD133, the niche marker stromal-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) and smooth muscle actin as a marker for arterioles. The expression of cathepsin B and X was detected in stromal cells and cancer cells throughout the GBM sections, whereas cathepsin K expression was more restricted to arteriole-rich regions in the GBM sections. Metabolic mapping showed that cathepsin B, but not cathepsin K is active in GSC niches. On the basis of these findings, it is concluded that cathepsins B, X and K have distinct functions in GBM and that cathepsin K is the most likely GSC niche-related cathepsin of the three cathepsins investigated.
Kumar A, Dhar S, Campanelli G, et al.
MTA1 drives malignant progression and bone metastasis in prostate cancer.
Mol Oncol. 2018; 12(9):1596-1607 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Prostate cancer often metastasizes to the bone, leading to morbidity and mortality. While metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) is highly overexpressed in metastatic tumors and bone metastatic lesions, its exact role in the development of metastasis is unknown. Here, we report the role of MTA1 in prostate cancer progression and bone metastasis in vitro and in vivo. We found that MTA1 silencing diminished formation of bone metastases and impaired tumor growth in intracardiac and subcutaneous prostate cancer xenografts, respectively. This was attributed to reduced colony formation, invasion, and migration capabilities of MTA1 knockdown cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that MTA1 silencing led to a significant decrease in the expression of cathepsin B (CTSB), a cysteine protease critical for bone metastasis, with an expected increase in the levels of E-cadherin in both cells and xenograft tumors. Moreover, meta-analysis of clinical samples indicated a positive correlation between MTA1 and CTSB. Together, these results demonstrate the critical role of MTA1 as an upstream regulator of CTSB-mediated events associated with cell invasiveness and raise the possibility that targeting MTA1/CTSB signaling in the tumor may prevent the development of bone metastasis in prostate cancer.
Related: Prostate Cancer Signal Transduction CDH1 MTA1
Zacharakis N, Chinnasamy H, Black M, et al.
Immune recognition of somatic mutations leading to complete durable regression in metastatic breast cancer.
Nat Med. 2018; 24(6):724-730 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Immunotherapy using either checkpoint blockade or the adoptive transfer of antitumor lymphocytes has shown effectiveness in treating cancers with high levels of somatic mutations-such as melanoma, smoking-induced lung cancers and bladder cancer-with little effect in other common epithelial cancers that have lower mutation rates, such as those arising in the gastrointestinal tract, breast and ovary
Apps JR, Carreno G, Gonzalez-Meljem JM, et al.
Tumour compartment transcriptomics demonstrates the activation of inflammatory and odontogenic programmes in human adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma and identifies the MAPK/ERK pathway as a novel therapeutic target.
Acta Neuropathol. 2018; 135(5):757-777 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (ACPs) are clinically challenging tumours, the majority of which have activating mutations in CTNNB1. They are histologically complex, showing cystic and solid components, the latter comprised of different morphological cell types (e.g. β-catenin-accumulating cluster cells and palisading epithelium), surrounded by a florid glial reaction with immune cells. Here, we have carried out RNA sequencing on 18 ACP samples and integrated these data with an existing ACP transcriptomic dataset. No studies so far have examined the patterns of gene expression within the different cellular compartments of the tumour. To achieve this goal, we have combined laser capture microdissection with computational analyses to reveal groups of genes that are associated with either epithelial tumour cells (clusters and palisading epithelium), glial tissue or immune infiltrate. We use these human ACP molecular signatures and RNA-Seq data from two ACP mouse models to reveal that cell clusters are molecularly analogous to the enamel knot, a critical signalling centre controlling normal tooth morphogenesis. Supporting this finding, we show that human cluster cells express high levels of several members of the FGF, TGFB and BMP families of secreted factors, which signal to neighbouring cells as evidenced by immunostaining against the phosphorylated proteins pERK1/2, pSMAD3 and pSMAD1/5/9 in both human and mouse ACP. We reveal that inhibiting the MAPK/ERK pathway with trametinib, a clinically approved MEK inhibitor, results in reduced proliferation and increased apoptosis in explant cultures of human and mouse ACP. Finally, we analyse a prominent molecular signature in the glial reactive tissue to characterise the inflammatory microenvironment and uncover the activation of inflammasomes in human ACP. We validate these results by immunostaining against immune cell markers, cytokine ELISA and proteome analysis in both solid tumour and cystic fluid from ACP patients. Our data support a new molecular paradigm for understanding ACP tumorigenesis as an aberrant mimic of natural tooth development and opens new therapeutic opportunities by revealing the activation of the MAPK/ERK and inflammasome pathways in human ACP.
Related: Cytokines Pituitary Tumors
Luan H, Mohapatra B, Bielecki TA, et al.
Loss of the Nuclear Pool of Ubiquitin Ligase CHIP/STUB1 in Breast Cancer Unleashes the MZF1-Cathepsin Pro-oncogenic Program.
Cancer Res. 2018; 78(10):2524-2535 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
CHIP/STUB1 ubiquitin ligase is a negative co-chaperone for HSP90/HSC70, and its expression is reduced or lost in several cancers, including breast cancer. Using an extensive and well-annotated breast cancer tissue collection, we identified the loss of nuclear but not cytoplasmic CHIP to predict more aggressive tumorigenesis and shorter patient survival, with loss of CHIP in two thirds of ErbB2
Related: Signal Transduction
Liu G, Feng S, Jia L, et al.
Lung fibroblasts promote metastatic colonization through upregulation of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 in tumor cells.
Oncogene. 2018; 37(11):1519-1533 [PubMed] Related Publications
As a rate-limiting step in metastasis, metastatic colonization requires survival signals from supportive stroma. However, the mechanisms driving this process are incompletely understood. Here, we showed that the proliferation of B16F10 cells was promoted when cocultured with lung fibroblasts. Meanwhile, co-injection of B16F10 tumor cells with mouse lung fibroblasts significantly increased lung metastasis. Based on GEO database, we identified stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) as a novel factor promoting metastatic colonization. Importantly, we found that fibroblast-secreted cathepsin B (CTSB) induced the upregulation of SCD1 in B16F10 through Annexin A2 (ANXA2) and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. The elevated SCD1 induced a higher ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids in B16F10 cells. The changes in fatty acid composition contributed to tumor cell proliferation and metastatic colonization. Furthermore, targeting SCD1 effectively inhibited lung metastasis and prolonged the overall survival of mice. Meanwhile, the expression of SCD1 was negatively correlated with disease-free survival in five types of cancer patients. Collectively, our study identifies SCD1 as a critical modulator of tumor cell proliferation that is activated by cathepsin B, secreted by lung fibroblasts at the metastatic niche. Our novel findings provide potential therapeutic targets to prevent tumor metastasis.
Related: Cancer Prevention and Risk Reduction
Gonzalez-Meljem JM, Haston S, Carreno G, et al.
Stem cell senescence drives age-attenuated induction of pituitary tumours in mouse models of paediatric craniopharyngioma.
Nat Commun. 2017; 8(1):1819 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Senescent cells may promote tumour progression through the activation of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), whether these cells are capable of initiating tumourigenesis in vivo is not known. Expression of oncogenic β-catenin in Sox2+ young adult pituitary stem cells leads to formation of clusters of stem cells and induction of tumours resembling human adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP), derived from Sox2- cells in a paracrine manner. Here, we uncover the mechanisms underlying this paracrine tumourigenesis. We show that expression of oncogenic β-catenin in Hesx1+ embryonic precursors also results in stem cell clusters and paracrine tumours. We reveal that human and mouse clusters are analogous and share a common signature of senescence and SASP. Finally, we show that mice with reduced senescence and SASP responses exhibit decreased tumour-inducing potential. Together, we provide evidence that senescence and a stem cell-associated SASP drive cell transformation and tumour initiation in vivo in an age-dependent fashion.
Related: Childhood Craniopharyngioma Pituitary Tumors CTNNB1
Januario T, Ye X, Bainer R, et al.
PRC2-mediated repression of SMARCA2 predicts EZH2 inhibitor activity in SWI/SNF mutant tumors.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017; 114(46):12249-12254 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Subunits of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex are frequently mutated in human cancers leading to epigenetic dependencies that are therapeutically targetable. The dependency on the polycomb repressive complex (PRC2) and EZH2 represents one such vulnerability in tumors with mutations in the SWI/SNF complex subunit, SNF5; however, whether this vulnerability extends to other SWI/SNF subunit mutations is not well understood. Here we show that a subset of cancers harboring mutations in the SWI/SNF ATPase, SMARCA4, is sensitive to EZH2 inhibition. EZH2 inhibition results in a heterogenous phenotypic response characterized by senescence and/or apoptosis in different models, and also leads to tumor growth inhibition in vivo. Lower expression of the SMARCA2 paralog was associated with cellular sensitivity to EZH2 inhibition in SMARCA4 mutant cancer models, independent of tissue derivation. SMARCA2 is suppressed by PRC2 in sensitive models, and induced SMARCA2 expression can compensate for SMARCA4 and antagonize PRC2 targets. The induction of SMARCA2 in response to EZH2 inhibition is required for apoptosis, but not for growth arrest, through a mechanism involving the derepression of the lysomal protease cathepsin B. Expression of SMARCA2 also delineates EZH2 inhibitor sensitivity for other SWI/SNF complex subunit mutant tumors, including SNF5 and ARID1A mutant cancers. Our data support monitoring SMARCA2 expression as a predictive biomarker for EZH2-targeted therapies in the context of SWI/SNF mutant cancers.
Related: Apoptosis Ovarian Cancer Signal Transduction ARID1A SMARCB1 EZH2
Sun H, Huang M, Yao N, et al.
The cycloartane triterpenoid ADCX impairs autophagic degradation through Akt overactivation and promotes apoptotic cell death in multidrug-resistant HepG2/ADM cells.
Biochem Pharmacol. 2017; 146:87-100 [PubMed] Related Publications
Multidrug resistance is the main obstacle in cancer chemotherapy. Emerging evidence demonstrates the important role of autophagy in cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy. Therefore, autophagy inhibition by natural compounds may be a promising strategy for overcoming drug resistance in liver cancer cells. Here, we found that ADCX, a natural cycloartane triterpenoid extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) source Cimicifugae rhizoma (Shengma), impaired autophagic degradation by suppressing lysosomal cathepsin B (CTSB) expression in multidrug-resistant liver cancer HepG2/ADM cells, thereby leading to autophagic flux inhibition. Moreover, impairing autophagic flux promoted ADCX-induced apoptotic cell death in HepG2/ADM cells. Interestingly, Akt was overactivated by ADCX treatment, which downregulated CTSB and inhibited autophagic flux. Together, our results provide the first demonstration that an active TCM constituent can overcome multidrug resistance in liver cancer cells via Akt-mediated inhibition of autophagic degradation.
Related: Apoptosis Liver Cancer AKT1
Stone TJ, Keeley A, Virasami A, et al.
Comprehensive molecular characterisation of epilepsy-associated glioneuronal tumours.
Glioneuronal tumours are an important cause of treatment-resistant epilepsy. Subtypes of tumour are often poorly discriminated by histological features and may be difficult to diagnose due to a lack of robust diagnostic tools. This is illustrated by marked variability in the reported frequencies across different epilepsy surgical series. To address this, we used DNA methylation arrays and RNA sequencing to assay the methylation and expression profiles within a large cohort of glioneuronal tumours. By adopting a class discovery approach, we were able to identify two distinct groups of glioneuronal tumour, which only partially corresponded to the existing histological classification. Furthermore, by additional molecular analyses, we were able to identify pathogenic mutations in BRAF and FGFR1, specific to each group, in a high proportion of cases. Finally, by interrogating our expression data, we were able to show that each molecular group possessed expression phenotypes suggesting different cellular differentiation: astrocytic in one group and oligodendroglial in the second. Informed by this, we were able to identify CCND1, CSPG4, and PDGFRA as immunohistochemical targets which could distinguish between molecular groups. Our data suggest that the current histological classification of glioneuronal tumours does not adequately represent their underlying biology. Instead, we show that there are two molecular groups within glioneuronal tumours. The first of these displays astrocytic differentiation and is driven by BRAF mutations, while the second displays oligodendroglial differentiation and is driven by FGFR1 mutations.
Related: Childhood Brain Tumours Childhood Brain Tumors BRAF FGFR1
Donson AM, Apps J, Griesinger AM, et al.
Molecular Analyses Reveal Inflammatory Mediators in the Solid Component and Cyst Fluid of Human Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2017; 76(9):779-788 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Pediatric adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is a highly solid and cystic tumor, often causing substantial damage to critical neuroendocrine structures such as the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and optic apparatus. Paracrine signaling mechanisms driving tumor behavior have been hypothesized, with IL-6R overexpression identified as a potential therapeutic target. To identify potential novel therapies, we characterized inflammatory and immunomodulatory factors in ACP cyst fluid and solid tumor components. Cytometric bead analysis revealed a highly pro-inflammatory cytokine pattern in fluid from ACP compared to fluids from another cystic pediatric brain tumor, pilocytic astrocytoma. Cytokines and chemokines with particularly elevated concentrations in ACPs were IL-6, CXCL1 (GRO), CXCL8 (IL-8) and the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10. These data were concordant with solid tumor compartment transcriptomic data from a larger cohort of ACPs, other pediatric brain tumors and normal brain. The majority of receptors for these cytokines and chemokines were also over-expressed in ACPs. In addition to IL-10, the established immunosuppressive factor IDO-1 was overexpressed by ACPs at the mRNA and protein levels. These data indicate that ACP cyst fluids and solid tumor components are characterized by an inflammatory cytokine and chemokine expression pattern. Further study regarding selective cytokine blockade may inform novel therapeutic interventions.
Related: Childhood Craniopharyngioma Cytokines Pituitary Tumors
Wallin H, Apelqvist J, Andersson F, et al.
Low-level internalization of cystatin E/M affects legumain activity and migration of melanoma cells.
J Biol Chem. 2017; 292(35):14413-14424 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
The ratio between proteases and their inhibitors is unbalanced in cancer. The cysteine protease inhibitor cystatin C is internalized by some cancer cells, which affects cellular properties. Here we aimed to investigate if uptake of cystatin C and the related inhibitor cystatin E/M occur in melanoma cell lines and to evaluate to what extent the uptake affects the legumain activity that is typically increased in melanoma. First we studied the basic expression, secretion, and intracellular content of all type 2 cystatins as well as expression and activity of their possible target enzymes legumain and cathepsin B in MDA-MB-435S, A375, and C8161 melanoma cells. Legumain activity was measureable in all cell lines, and of the potential legumain inhibitors, cystatin C, E/M, and F, cystatin C was the one mainly produced. All cells internalized cystatin C added to culture media, leading to increased intracellular cystatin C levels by 120-200%. Cystatin E/M was internalized as well but at a modest rate. The effects on intracellular legumain activity were nevertheless pronounced, probably because the cells lacked this inhibitor, and its affinity for legumain is 100-fold higher than that of cystatin C. Likewise, the low-degree uptake resulted in reduced migration and invasion of A375 cells in Matrigel to an extent comparable with the W106F variant of cystatin C with optimal uptake properties and resulting in much higher intracellular levels. Thus, cystatin E/M appears to be a good candidate to efficiently down-regulate the increased legumain activity, possibly important for the malignant phenotype of melanoma cells.
Related: CST6 Melanoma
Haston S, Pozzi S, Carreno G, et al.
MAPK pathway control of stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the embryonic pituitary provides insights into the pathogenesis of papillary craniopharyngioma.
Development. 2017; 144(12):2141-2152 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Despite the importance of the RAS-RAF-MAPK pathway in normal physiology and disease of numerous organs, its role during pituitary development and tumourigenesis remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the over-activation of the MAPK pathway, through conditional expression of the gain-of-function alleles
Related: Pituitary Tumors BRAF SOX2
Abdulla MH, Valli-Mohammed MA, Al-Khayal K, et al.
Cathepsin B expression in colorectal cancer in a Middle East population: Potential value as a tumor biomarker for late disease stages.
Oncol Rep. 2017; 37(6):3175-3180 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Cathepsin B (CTSB), is a cysteine protease belonging to the cathepsin (Clan CA) family. The diagnostic and prognostic significance of increased CTSB in the serum of cancer patients have been evaluated for some tumor types. CTSB serum and protein levels have also been reported previously in colorectal cancer (CRC) with contradictory results. The aim of the present study was to investigate CTSB expression in CRC patients and the association of CTSB expression with various tumor stages in a Middle East population. Serum CTSB levels were evaluated in 70 patients and 20 healthy control subjects using enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) technique. CTSB expression was determined in 100 pairs of CRC tumor and adjacent normal colonic tissue using quantitative PCR for mRNA levels. Detection of CTSB protein expression in tissues was carried out using both immunohistochemistry and western blotting techniques. ELISA analysis showed that in sera obtained from CRC patients, the CTSB concentration was significantly higher in late stage patients with lymph node metastases when compared to early stage patients with values of 2.9 and 0.33 ng/ml, respectively (P=0.001). The majority of tumors studied had detectable CTSB protein expression with significant increased positive staining in tumors cells when compared with matched normal colon subjects (P=0.006). The mRNA expression in early stage CRC compared to late stage CRC was 0.04±0.01 and 0.07±0.02, respectively. Increased mRNA expression was more frequently observed in the advanced cancer stages with lymph node metastases when compared with the control (P=0.002). Mann-Whitney test and paired t-test were used to compare serum CTSB and mRNA levels in early and late tumor stage. A subset of four paired tissue extracts were analyzed by western blotting. The result confirmed a consistent increase in the CTSB protein expression level in tumor tissues compared with that noted in the adjacent normal mucosal cells. These findings indicate that CTSB may be an important prognostic biomarker for late stage CRC and cases with lymph node metastases in the Middle Eastern population. Monitoring serum CTSB in CRC patients may predict and/or diagnose cases with lymph node metastases.
Related: Colorectal (Bowel) Cancer
Pinheiro M, Drigo SA, Tonhosolo R, et al.
HABP2 p.G534E variant in patients with family history of thyroid and breast cancer.
Oncotarget. 2017; 8(25):40896-40905 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Familial Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) has been described as a hereditary predisposition cancer syndrome associated with mutations in candidate genes including HABP2. Two of 20 probands from families with history of PTC and breast carcinoma (BC) were evaluated by whole exome sequencing (WES) revealing HABP2 p.G534E. Sanger sequencing was used to confirm the involvement of this variant in three families (F1: 7 relatives; F2: 3 and F3: 3). The proband and his sister (with no malignant tumor so far) from F1 were homozygous for the variant whereas one relative with PTC from F2 was negative for the variant. Although the proband of the F3 with PTC was HABP2 wild type, three relatives presented the variant. Five of 170 healthy Brazilian individuals with no family history of BC or PTC and three of 50 sporadic PTC presented the p.G534E. These findings suggested no association of this variant with our familial PTC cases. Genes potentially associated with deregulation of the extracellular matrix organization pathway (CTSB, TNXB, COL4A3, COL16A1, COL24A1, COL5A2, NID1, LOXL2, MMP11, TRIM24 and MUSK) and DNA repair function (NBN and MSH2) were detected by WES, suggesting that other cancer-associated genes have pathogenic effects in the risk of familial PTC development.
Related: Breast Cancer Thyroid Cancer
Oh SS, Park S, Lee KW, et al.
Extracellular cystatin SN and cathepsin B prevent cellular senescence by inhibiting abnormal glycogen accumulation.
Cell Death Dis. 2017; 8(4):e2729 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Cystatin SN (CST1), a known inhibitor of cathepsin B (CatB), has important roles in tumor development. Paradoxically, CatB is a member of the cysteine cathepsin family that acts in cellular processes, such as tumor development and invasion. However, the relationship between CST1 and CatB, and their roles in tumor development are poorly understood. In this study, we observed that the knockdown of CST1 induced the activity of senescence-associated β-galactosidase, a marker of cellular senescence, and expression of senescence-associated secretory phenotype genes, including interleukin-6 and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20, in MDA-MB-231 and SW480 cancer cells. Furthermore, CST1 knockdown decreased extracellular CatB activity, and direct CatB inhibition, using specific inhibitors or shCatB, induced cellular senescence. Reconstitution of CST1 restored CatB activity and inhibited cellular senescence in CST1 knockdown cells. CST1 knockdown or CatB inhibition increased glycogen synthase (GS) kinase 3β phosphorylation at serine 9, resulting in the activation of GS and the induction of glycogen accumulation associated with cellular senescence. Importantly, CST1 knockdown suppressed cancer cell proliferation, soft agar colony growth and tumor growth in a xenograft model. These results indicate that CST1-mediated extracellular CatB activity enhances tumor development by preventing cellular senescence. Our findings suggest that antagonists of CST1 or inhibitors of CatB are potential anticancer agents.
Tang Z, Li C, Zhang K, et al.
GE-mini: a mobile APP for large-scale gene expression visualization.
Bioinformatics. 2017; 33(6):941-943 [PubMed] Related Publications
Summary: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) projects produced large-scale RNA sequencing data, which provides an opportunity for performing integrated expression analysis for all genes across tens of thousands of tumor and normal tissue specimens. Rapid access to and easy visualization of such valuable data could facilitate research in a wide biological area. Here, we present the GE-mini APP for smart phones, a mobile visualization tool for integrated gene expression data based on both TCGA and GTEx. This gene-centric expression viewer provides a convenient method for displaying expression profiles of all available tumor and tissue types, while allowing drilling down to detailed views for specific tissue types.
Availability and Implementation: Both the iOS and Android APPs are freely available to all non-commercial users in App Store and Google Play. The QR codes of App store and Google play are also provided for scanning and download. The GE-mini web server is also available at http://gemini.cancer-pku.cn/ .
Contacts: tangzefang@pku.edu.cn or huxueda@pku.edu.cn.
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Slemc L, Kunej T
Transcription factor HIF1A: downstream targets, associated pathways, polymorphic hypoxia response element (HRE) sites, and initiative for standardization of reporting in scientific literature.
Tumour Biol. 2016; 37(11):14851-14861 [PubMed] Related Publications
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) has crucial role in adapting cells to hypoxia through expression regulation of many genes. Identification of HIF-1α target genes (HIF-1α-TGs) is important for understanding the adapting mechanism. The aim of the present study was to collect known HIF-1α-TGs and identify their associated pathways. Targets and associated genomics data were retrieved using PubMed, WoS ( http://apps.webofknowledge.com/ ), HGNC ( http://www.genenames.org/ ), NCBI ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ ), Ensemblv.84 ( http://www.ensembl.org/index.html ), DAVID Bioinformatics Resources ( https://david.ncifcrf.gov /), and Disease Ontology database ( http://disease-ontology.org/ ). From 51 papers, we collected 98 HIF-1α TGs found to be associated with 20 pathways, including metabolism of carbohydrates and pathways in cancer. Reanalysis of genomic coordinates of published HREs (hypoxia response elements) revealed six polymorphisms within HRE sites (HRE-SNPs): ABCG2, ACE, CA9, and CP. Due to large heterogeneity of results presentation in scientific literature, we also propose a first step towards reporting standardization of HIF-1α-target interactions consisting of ten relevant data types. Suggested minimal checklist for reporting will enable faster development of a complete catalog of HIF-1α-TGs, data sharing, bioinformatics analyses, and setting novel more targeted hypotheses. The proposed format for data standardization is not yet complete but presents a baseline for further optimization of the protocol with additional details, for example, regarding the experimental validation.
Related: HIF1A Cancer Prevention and Risk Reduction
Nazarieh M, Wiese A, Will T, et al.
Identification of key player genes in gene regulatory networks.
BMC Syst Biol. 2016; 10(1):88 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Identifying the gene regulatory networks governing the workings and identity of cells is one of the main challenges in understanding processes such as cellular differentiation, reprogramming or cancerogenesis. One particular challenge is to identify the main drivers and master regulatory genes that control such cell fate transitions. In this work, we reformulate this problem as the optimization problems of computing a Minimum Dominating Set and a Minimum Connected Dominating Set for directed graphs.
RESULTS: Both MDS and MCDS are applied to the well-studied gene regulatory networks of the model organisms E. coli and S. cerevisiae and to a pluripotency network for mouse embryonic stem cells. The results show that MCDS can capture most of the known key player genes identified so far in the model organisms. Moreover, this method suggests an additional small set of transcription factors as novel key players for governing the cell-specific gene regulatory network which can also be investigated with regard to diseases. To this aim, we investigated the ability of MCDS to define key drivers in breast cancer. The method identified many known drug targets as members of the MDS and MCDS.
CONCLUSIONS: This paper proposes a new method to identify key player genes in gene regulatory networks. The Java implementation of the heuristic algorithm explained in this paper is available as a Cytoscape plugin at http://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/mcds . The SageMath programs for solving integer linear programming formulations used in the paper are available at https://github.com/maryamNazarieh/KeyRegulatoryGenes and as supplementary material.
Sigloch FC, Knopf JD, Weißer J, et al.
Proteomic analysis of silenced cathepsin B expression suggests non-proteolytic cathepsin B functionality.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016; 1863(11):2700-2709 [PubMed] Related Publications
Cathepsin B (CTSB) is a lysosomal endo- and exopeptidase that is also secreted in high amounts by malignant and non-malignant cells. We determined the effect of CTSB on the tumor cell secretome by shRNA-mediated silencing of CTSB mRNA expression and subsequent proteomic LC-MS/MS analysis of the cell supernatants. We identified significant protein changes of 17 secreted or shed proteins. Notably, we found a general reduction in protein abundance of ADAM10 substrates and lysosomal proteins. We corroborated reduced amounts of soluble ADAM10 (sADAM10) and soluble APP (sAPP) in the two cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and U2OS by immunoblotting. Interestingly, reductions in sADAM10 and sAPP could be reversed by re-introducing a catalytically inactive variant of CTSB, suggesting a formerly unknown non-catalytic function of the protease.
Related: Cancer Prevention and Risk Reduction Signal Transduction
Cresswell GD, Apps JR, Chagtai T, et al.
Intra-Tumor Genetic Heterogeneity in Wilms Tumor: Clonal Evolution and Clinical Implications.
EBioMedicine. 2016; 9:120-129 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
The evolution of pediatric solid tumors is poorly understood. There is conflicting evidence of intra-tumor genetic homogeneity vs. heterogeneity (ITGH) in a small number of studies in pediatric solid tumors. A number of copy number aberrations (CNA) are proposed as prognostic biomarkers to stratify patients, for example 1q+ in Wilms tumor (WT); current clinical trials use only one sample per tumor to profile this genetic biomarker. We multisampled 20 WT cases and assessed genome-wide allele-specific CNA and loss of heterozygosity, and inferred tumor evolution, using Illumina CytoSNP12v2.1 arrays, a custom analysis pipeline, and the MEDICC algorithm. We found remarkable diversity of ITGH and evolutionary trajectories in WT. 1q+ is heterogeneous in the majority of tumors with this change, with variable evolutionary timing. We estimate that at least three samples per tumor are needed to detect >95% of cases with 1q+. In contrast, somatic 11p15 LOH is uniformly an early event in WT development. We find evidence of two separate tumor origins in unilateral disease with divergent histology, and in bilateral WT. We also show subclonal changes related to differential response to chemotherapy. Rational trial design to include biomarkers in risk stratification requires tumor multisampling and reliable delineation of ITGH and tumor evolution.
Related: Chromosome 11 Kidney Cancer Wilms' Tumour Wilms Tumour
Cheng YC, Ding YM, Hueng DY, et al.
Caffeine suppresses the progression of human glioblastoma via cathepsin B and MAPK signaling pathway.
J Nutr Biochem. 2016; 33:63-72 [PubMed] Related Publications
Glioblastoma has aggressive proliferative and invasive properties. We investigated the effect of caffeine on the invasion and the anti-cancer effect in human glioblastomas. Caffeine reduced the invasion in U-87MG, GBM8401 and LN229 cells. Caffeine decreased mRNA, protein expression, and activity of cathepsin B. Besides, mRNA and protein expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) was upregulated by caffeine treatment, whereas matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) was downregulated. The expression of Ki67, p-p38, phospforylated extracellular regulated protein kinases (p-ERK), and membranous integrin β1 and β3 was decreased by caffeine. The Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, Y27632, blocked the caffeine-mediated reduction of cathepsin B, phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase (p-FAK), and p-ERK, and invasion. Moreover, caffeine decreased the tumor size, cathepsin B and Ki67 expression in animal model. Caffeine reduced the invasion of glioma cells through ROCK-cathepsin B/FAK/ERK signaling pathway and tumor growth in orthotopic xenograft animal model, supporting the anti-cancer potential in glioma therapy.
Related: MMP2 TIMP1
Bhullar KS, Jha A, Rupasinghe HP
Novel carbocyclic curcumin analog CUR3d modulates genes involved in multiple apoptosis pathways in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
Chem Biol Interact. 2015; 242:107-22 [PubMed] Related Publications
Anticancer activity of a novel curcumin analog (E)-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)-5-((E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)acryloyl)cyclopentanone (CUR3d) was studied using a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2). The results showed that CUR3d completely inhibits the tumor cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. CUR3d at 100 μmol/L activated the pro-apoptotic caspase-3 along with downregulation of anti-apoptotic BIRC5 and Bcl2. CUR3d treatment controlled the cancer cell growth by downregulating the expression of PI3K/Akt (Akt1, Akt2) pathway along with NF-κB. CUR3d down-regulated the members of epidermal growth receptor family (EGFR, ERBB3, ERBB2) and insulin like growth receptors (IGF1, IGF-1R, IGF2). This correlated with the downregulation of G-protein (RHOA, RHOB) and RAS (ATF2, HRAS, KRAS, NRAS) pathway signaling. CUR3d also arrested cell cycle via inhibition of CDK2, CDK4, CDK5, CDK9, MDM2, MDM4 and TERT genes. Cell cycle essential aurora kinases (AURKα, AURKβ) and polo-like kinases (PLK1, PLK2, PLK3) were also modulated by CUR3d. Topoisomerases (TOP2α, TOP2β), important factors in cancer cell immortality, as well as HIF-1α were downregulated following CUR3d treatment. The expression of protein kinase-C family (PRKC-A, PRKC-D, PRKC-E) was also attenuated by CUR3d. The downregulation of histone deacetylases (Class I, II, IV) and PARP I further strengthened the anticancer efficacy of CUR3d. Downregulation of carcinogenic cathepsins (CTSB, CTSD) and heat shock proteins exhibited CUR3d's potency as a potential immunological adjuvant. Finally, the non-toxic manifestation of CUR3d in healthy liver and lung cells along with downregulation of drug resistant gene ABCC1 further warrant need for advance investigations.
Related: Apoptosis CASP3 Liver Cancer
You L, Wang Z, Li H, et al.
The role of STAT3 in autophagy.
Autophagy. 2015; 11(5):729-39 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process in eukaryotes that eliminates harmful components and maintains cellular homeostasis in response to a series of extracellular insults. However, these insults may trigger the downstream signaling of another prominent stress responsive pathway, the STAT3 signaling pathway, which has been implicated in multiple aspects of the autophagic process. Recent reports further indicate that different subcellular localization patterns of STAT3 affect autophagy in various ways. For example, nuclear STAT3 fine-tunes autophagy via the transcriptional regulation of several autophagy-related genes such as BCL2 family members, BECN1, PIK3C3, CTSB, CTSL, PIK3R1, HIF1A, BNIP3, and microRNAs with targets of autophagy modulators. Cytoplasmic STAT3 constitutively inhibits autophagy by sequestering EIF2AK2 as well as by interacting with other autophagy-related signaling molecules such as FOXO1 and FOXO3. Additionally, the mitochondrial translocation of STAT3 suppresses autophagy induced by oxidative stress and may effectively preserve mitochondria from being degraded by mitophagy. Understanding the role of STAT3 signaling in the regulation of autophagy may provide insight into the classic autophagy model and also into cancer therapy, especially for the emerging targeted therapy, because a series of targeted agents execute antitumor activities via blocking STAT3 signaling, which inevitably affects the autophagy pathway. Here, we review several of the representative studies and the current understanding in this particular field.
Related: Mitochondrial Mutations in Cancer Cancer Prevention and Risk Reduction
Imrichová H, Hulselmans G, Atak ZK, et al.
i-cisTarget 2015 update: generalized cis-regulatory enrichment analysis in human, mouse and fly.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2015; 43(W1):W57-64 [PubMed] Article available free on PMC after 01/10/2019 Related Publications
i-cisTarget is a web tool to predict regulators of a set of genomic regions, such as ChIP-seq peaks or co-regulated/similar enhancers. i-cisTarget can also be used to identify upstream regulators and their target enhancers starting from a set of co-expressed genes. Whereas the original version of i-cisTarget was focused on Drosophila data, the 2015 update also provides support for human and mouse data. i-cisTarget detects transcription factor motifs (position weight matrices) and experimental data tracks (e.g. from ENCODE, Roadmap Epigenomics) that are enriched in the input set of regions. As experimental data tracks we include transcription factor ChIP-seq data, histone modification ChIP-seq data and open chromatin data. The underlying processing method is based on a ranking-and-recovery procedure, allowing accurate determination of enrichment across heterogeneous datasets, while also discriminating direct from indirect target regions through a 'leading edge' analysis. We illustrate i-cisTarget on various Ewing sarcoma datasets to identify EWS-FLI1 targets starting from ChIP-seq, differential ATAC-seq, differential H3K27ac and differential gene expression data. Use of i-cisTarget is free and open to all, and there is no login requirement. Address: http://gbiomed.kuleuven.be/apps/lcb/i-cisTarget.
Related: Bone Cancers Ewing's Sarcoma
Lin L, Zheng Y, Tu Y, et al.
MicroRNA-144 suppresses tumorigenesis and tumor progression of astrocytoma by targeting EZH2.
Hum Pathol. 2015; 46(7):971-80 [PubMed] Related Publications
Our previous study demonstrated that enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) overexpression may be associated with aggressive tumor progression and poor prognosis in human astrocytoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying mechanisms of EZH2 on astrocytoma tumorigenesis. An online program miRWalk (http://www.umm.uni-heidelberg.de/apps/zmf/mirwalk/) was used to predict possible microRNAs (miRNAs) that might target EZH2 messenger RNA (mRNA). Then the functions of the miRNA-EZH2 mRNA axis in astrocytoma cell proliferation, invasion, and migration were also assessed. We further evaluated the clinical value of the miRNA-EZH2 mRNA axis in astrocytomas. As a result, we identified EZH2 as a target gene of miR-144. In addition, forced expression of miR-144 suppressed astrocytoma cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by down-regulating EZH2. Moreover, miR-144 down-regulation and EZH2 mRNA up-regulation were both significantly associated with advanced World Health Organization grades and low Karnofsky performance status score of astrocytoma patients. Importantly, survival analysis identified the combined expression of miR-144 and EZH2 (miR-144/EZH2) as an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in astrocytoma patients. In conclusion, miR-144 may function as a tumor suppressor by regulating EZH2 expression, and miR-144/EZH2 expression may be a highly sensitive marker for the prognosis in astrocytoma patients.
Related: MicroRNAs Signal Transduction EZH2
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