1 3605 167 IMPROVING PARP INHIBITOR EFFICACY IN HIGH-GRADE SEROUS OVARIAN CARCINOMA: A FOCUS ON THE IMMUNE SYSTEM. HIGH-GRADE SEROUS OVARIAN CARCINOMA (HGSOC) IS A GENOMICALLY UNSTABLE MALIGNANCY RESPONSIBLE FOR OVER 70% OF ALL DEATHS DUE TO OVARIAN CANCER. WITH ROUGHLY 50% OF ALL HGSOC HARBORING DEFECTS IN THE HOMOLOGOUS RECOMBINATION (HR) DNA REPAIR PATHWAY (E.G., BRCA1/2 MUTATIONS), THE INTRODUCTION OF POLY ADP-RIBOSE POLYMERASE INHIBITORS (PARPI) HAS DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED OUTCOMES FOR WOMEN WITH HR DEFECTIVE HGSOC. BY BLOCKING THE REPAIR OF SINGLE-STRANDED DNA DAMAGE IN CANCER CELLS ALREADY LACKING HIGH-FIDELITY HR PATHWAYS, PARPI CAUSES THE ACCUMULATION OF DOUBLE-STRANDED DNA BREAKS, LEADING TO CELL DEATH. THUS, THIS SYNTHETIC LETHALITY RESULTS IN PARPI SELECTIVELY TARGETING CANCER CELLS, RESULTING IN IMPRESSIVE EFFICACY. DESPITE THIS, RESISTANCE TO PARPI COMMONLY DEVELOPS THROUGH DIVERSE MECHANISMS, SUCH AS THE ACQUISITION OF SECONDARY BRCA1/2 MUTATIONS. PERHAPS LESS WELL DOCUMENTED IS THAT PARPI CAN IMPACT BOTH THE TUMOUR MICROENVIRONMENT AND THE IMMUNE RESPONSE, THROUGH UPREGULATION OF THE STIMULATOR OF INTERFERON GENES (STING) PATHWAY, UPREGULATION OF IMMUNE CHECKPOINTS SUCH AS PD-L1, AND BY STIMULATING THE PRODUCTION OF PRO-INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES. WHILST TARGETED IMMUNOTHERAPIES HAVE NOT YET FOUND THEIR PLACE IN THE CLINIC FOR HGSOC, THE EVIDENCE ABOVE, AS WELL AS ONGOING STUDIES EXPLORING THE SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS OF PARPI WITH IMMUNE AGENTS, INCLUDING IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS, SUGGESTS POTENTIAL FOR TARGETING THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN HGSOC. ADDITIONALLY, COMBINING PARPI WITH EPIGENETIC-MODULATING DRUGS MAY IMPROVE PARPI EFFICACY, BY INDUCING A BRCA-DEFECTIVE PHENOTYPE TO SENSITISE RESISTANT CANCER CELLS TO PARPI. FINALLY, INVIGORATING AN IMMUNE RESPONSE DURING PARPI THERAPY MAY ENGAGE ANTI-CANCER IMMUNE RESPONSES THAT POTENTIATE EFFICACY AND MITIGATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF PARPI RESISTANCE. HERE, WE WILL REVIEW THE EMERGING PARPI LITERATURE WITH A FOCUS ON PARPI EFFECTS ON THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN HGSOC, AS WELL AS THE POTENTIAL OF EPIGENETIC COMBINATION THERAPIES. WE HIGHLIGHT THE POTENTIAL OF TRANSFORMING HGSOC FROM A LETHAL TO A CHRONIC DISEASE AND INCREASING THE LIKELIHOOD OF CURE. 2022 2 3143 41 GLOBAL MIRNA/PROTEOMIC ANALYSES IDENTIFY MIRNAS AT 14Q32 AND 3P21, WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO FEATURES OF CHRONIC IRON-EXPOSED FALLOPIAN TUBE EPITHELIAL CELLS. MALIGNANT TRANSFORMATION OF FALLOPIAN TUBE SECRETORY EPITHELIAL CELLS (FTSECS) IS A KEY CONTRIBUTING EVENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-GRADE SEROUS OVARIAN CARCINOMA (HGSOC). OUR RECENT FINDINGS IMPLICATE ONCOGENIC TRANSFORMATIVE EVENTS IN CHRONIC IRON-EXPOSED FTSECS, INCLUDING INCREASED EXPRESSION OF ONCOGENIC MEDIATORS, INCREASED TELOMERASE TRANSCRIPTS, AND INCREASED GROWTH/MIGRATORY POTENTIAL. HEREIN, WE EXTEND THESE STUDIES BY IMPLEMENTING AN INTEGRATED TRANSCRIPTOMIC AND MASS SPECTROMETRY-BASED PROTEOMICS APPROACH TO IDENTIFY GLOBAL MIRNA AND PROTEIN ALTERATIONS, FOR WHICH WE ALSO INVESTIGATE A SUBSET OF THESE TARGETS TO IRON-INDUCED FUNCTIONAL ALTERATIONS. PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS IDENTIFIED > 4500 PROTEINS, OF WHICH 243 TARGETS WERE DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED. SIXTY-FIVE DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED MIRNAS WERE IDENTIFIED, OF WHICH 35 WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE "TOP" PROTEOMIC MOLECULES (> FOURFOLD CHANGE) IDENTIFIED BY INGENUITY PATHWAY ANALYSIS. TWENTY OF THESE 35 MIRNAS ARE AT THE 14Q32 LOCUS (ENCODING A CLUSTER OF 54 MIRNAS) WITH POTENTIAL TO BE REGULATED BY DNA METHYLATION AND HISTONE DEACETYLATION. AT 14Q32, MIR-432-5P AND MIR-127-3P WERE ~ 100-FOLD DOWNREGULATED WHEREAS MIR-138-5P WAS 16-FOLD DOWNREGULATED AT 3P21 IN CHRONIC IRON-EXPOSED FTSECS. COMBINATORIAL TREATMENT WITH METHYLTRANSFERASE AND DEACETYLATION INHIBITORS REVERSED EXPRESSION OF THESE MIRNAS, SUGGESTING CHRONIC IRON EXPOSURE ALTERS MIRNA EXPRESSION VIA EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS. IN ADDITION, PAX8, AN IMPORTANT TARGET IN HGSOC AND A POTENTIAL MIRNA TARGET (FROM IPA) WAS EPIGENETICALLY DEREGULATED IN IRON-EXPOSED FTSECS. HOWEVER, BOTH PAX8 AND ALDH1A2 (ANOTHER IPA-PREDICTED TARGET) WERE EXPERIMENTALLY IDENTIFIED TO BE INDEPENDENTLY REGULATED BY THESE MIRNAS ALTHOUGH TERT RNA WAS PARTIALLY REGULATED BY MIR-138-5P. INTERESTINGLY, OVEREXPRESSION OF MIR-432-5P DIMINISHED CELL NUMBERS INDUCED BY LONG-TERM IRON EXPOSURE IN FTSECS. COLLECTIVELY, OUR GLOBAL PROFILING APPROACHES UNCOVERED PATTERNS OF MIRNA AND PROTEOMIC ALTERATIONS THAT MAY BE REGULATED BY GENOME-WIDE EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS AND CONTRIBUTE TO FUNCTIONAL ALTERATIONS INDUCED BY CHRONIC IRON EXPOSURE IN FTSECS. THIS STUDY MAY PROVIDE A PLATFORM TO IDENTIFY FUTURE BIOMARKERS FOR EARLY OVARIAN CANCER DETECTION AND NEW TARGETS FOR THERAPY. 2021 3 5803 32 STING SIGNALING ACTIVATION INHIBITS HBV REPLICATION AND ATTENUATES THE SEVERITY OF LIVER INJURY AND HBV-INDUCED FIBROSIS. THE COVALENTLY CLOSED CIRCULAR DNA (CCCDNA) OF HBV PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN VIRAL PERSISTENCE AND IS ALSO A RISK FACTOR FOR DEVELOPING HBV-INDUCED DISEASES, INCLUDING LIVER FIBROSIS. STIMULATOR OF INTERFERON GENES (STING), A MASTER REGULATOR OF DNA-MEDIATED INNATE IMMUNE ACTIVATION, IS A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR VIRAL INFECTION AND VIRUS-RELATED DISEASES. IN THIS STUDY, AGONIST-INDUCED STING SIGNALING ACTIVATION IN MACROPHAGES WAS REVEALED TO INHIBIT CCCDNA-MEDIATED TRANSCRIPTION AND HBV REPLICATION VIA EPIGENETIC MODIFICATION IN HEPATOCYTES. NOTABLY, STING ACTIVATION COULD EFFICIENTLY ATTENUATE THE SEVERITY OF LIVER INJURY AND FIBROSIS IN A CHRONIC RECOMBINANT CCCDNA (RCCCDNA) MOUSE MODEL, WHICH IS A PROVEN SUITABLE RESEARCH PLATFORM FOR HBV-INDUCED FIBROSIS. MECHANISTICALLY, STING-ACTIVATED AUTOPHAGIC FLUX COULD SUPPRESS MACROPHAGE INFLAMMASOME ACTIVATION, LEADING TO THE AMELIORATION OF LIVER INJURY AND HBV-INDUCED FIBROSIS. OVERALL, THE ACTIVATION OF STING SIGNALING COULD INHIBIT HBV REPLICATION THROUGH EPIGENETIC SUPPRESSION OF CCCDNA AND ALLEVIATE HBV-INDUCED LIVER FIBROSIS THROUGH THE SUPPRESSION OF MACROPHAGE INFLAMMASOME ACTIVATION BY ACTIVATING AUTOPHAGIC FLUX IN A CHRONIC HBV MOUSE MODEL. THIS STUDY SUGGESTS THAT TARGETING THE STING SIGNALING PATHWAY MAY BE AN IMPORTANT THERAPEUTIC STRATEGY TO PROTECT AGAINST PERSISTENT HBV REPLICATION AND HBV-INDUCED FIBROSIS. 2022 4 3636 34 INCREASED DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE ACTIVITY AND DNA METHYLATION FOLLOWING EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR STIMULATION IN OVARIAN CANCER CELLS. OVARIAN CANCER PROGRESSION IS CORRELATED WITH ACCUMULATION OF ABERRANT CPG ISLAND METHYLATION. IN OVARIAN CANCER, ASCITES FLUID CONTAINS NUMEROUS EPIDERMAL-GROWTH-FACTOR-RECEPTOR (EGFR) ACTIVATORS, WHICH COULD RESULT IN A TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT OF CONSTANT EGFR ACTIVATION. SIGNALING PATHWAYS DOWNSTREAM OF EGFR, SUCH AS RAS, REGULATE DNA METHYLATION. WE HYPOTHESIZED THAT CHRONIC EGFR ACTIVATION COULD ALTER DNA METHYLATION. WE FOUND THAT EGFR ACTIVATION INCREASED DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE (DNMT) ACTIVITY ACUTELY, AS WELL AS AFTER LONG-TERM EGF TREATMENT OR EXPRESSION OF A MUTATIONALLY ACTIVATED EGFR. FURTHERMORE, THIS INCREASE IN DNMT ACTIVITY WAS DEPENDENT ON EGFR CATALYTIC ACTIVITY AND RESULTED IN INCREASED GLOBAL DNA METHYLATION. ADDITIONALLY, TREATMENT WITH THE DNMT INHIBITOR/HYPOMETHYLATING AGENT 5-AZA-2'-DEOXYCYTIDINE (AZA) INHIBITED THE EGF INDUCED INCREASE OF BOTH DNMT ACTIVITY AND GLOBAL METHYLATION. THESE DATA SUPPORT A ROLE FOR EGFR IN THE PROCESS OF ACCUMULATED DNA METHYLATION DURING OVARIAN CANCER PROGRESSION AND SUGGEST THAT EPIGENETIC THERAPY MAY BE BENEFICIAL FOR THE TREATMENT OF OVARIAN CANCER. 2012 5 2326 30 EPIGENETIC REGULATION OF HOTAIR IN ADVANCED CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA. PURPOSE: CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA (CML) ACCOUNTS FOR ~10% OF LEUKEMIA CASES, AND ITS PROGRESSION INVOLVES EPIGENETIC GENE REGULATION. THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED EPIGENETIC REGULATION OF HOTAIR AND ITS TARGET MICRORNA, MIR-143, IN ADVANCED CML. PATIENTS AND METHODS: WE FIRST ISOLATED BONE MARROW MONONUCLEAR CELLS FROM 70 PATIENTS WITH DIFFERENT PHASES OF CML AND FROM HEALTHY DONORS AS NORMAL CONTROL; WE ALSO CULTURED K562 AND KCL22 CELLS, TREATED WITH DEMETHYLATION DRUG; MTT ASSAY, FLOW CYTOMETRY, QUANTITATIVE REAL-TIME POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (QPCR), METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (MSP), WESTERN BLOT, LUCIFERASE ASSAY, RNA PULL-DOWN ASSAY AND RNA-BINDING PROTEIN IMMUNOPRECIPITATION (RIP) ASSAY WERE PERFORMED. RESULT: AS MEASURED BY QPCR, HOTAIR EXPRESSION IN K562 CELLS, KCL22 CELLS, AND SAMPLES FROM CASES OF ADVANCED-STAGE CML INCREASED WITH LEVELS OF SEVERAL DNA METHYLTRANSFERASES AND HISTONE DEACETYLATES, INCLUDING DNMT1, DNMT3A, HDAC1, EZH2, AND LSD1, AND MIR-143 LEVELS WERE DECREASED AND HOTAIR LEVELS WERE INCREASED. TREATMENT WITH 5-AZACYTIDINE, A DNA METHYLATION INHIBITOR, DECREASED DNMT1, DNMT3A, HDAC1, EZH2, LSD1 MRNA, PROTEIN LEVELS, AND HOTAIR MRNA LEVELS BUT INCREASED MIR-143 LEVELS. HOTAIR KNOCKDOWN AND MIR-143 OVEREXPRESSION BOTH INHIBITED PROLIFERATION AND PROMOTED APOPTOSIS IN KCL22 AND K562 CELLS THROUGH THE PI3K/AKT PATHWAY. RNA PULL-DOWN, MASS SPECTROMETRY, AND RIP ASSAYS SHOWED THAT HOTAIR INTERACTED WITH EZH2 AND LSD1. A DUAL-LUCIFERASE ASSAY DEMONSTRATED THAT HOTAIR INTERACTED WITH MIR-143. CONCLUSION: OUR FINDINGS DEMONSTRATE THE KEY EPIGENETIC INTERACTIONS OF HOTAIR RELATED TO CML PROGRESSION AND SUGGEST HOTAIR AS A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR ADVANCED CML. FURTHERMORE, OUR RESULTS SUPPORT THE USE OF DEMETHYLATION DRUGS AS A CML TREATMENT STRATEGY. 2018 6 3188 33 HBV-SPECIFIC CD8+ T-CELL TOLERANCE IN THE LIVER. HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) REMAINS A LEADING CAUSE OF LIVER-RELATED MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY THROUGH CHRONIC HEPATITIS THAT MAY PROGRESS TO LIVER CIRRHOSIS AND CANCER. THE CENTRAL ROLE PLAYED BY HBV-SPECIFIC CD8+ T CELLS IN THE CLEARANCE OF ACUTE HBV INFECTION, AND HBV-RELATED LIVER INJURY IS NOW WELL ESTABLISHED. VIGOROUS, MULTIFUNCTIONAL CD8+ T CELL RESPONSES ARE USUALLY INDUCED IN MOST ADULT-ONSET HBV INFECTIONS, WHILE CHRONIC HEPATITIS B (CHB) IS CHARACTERIZED BY QUANTITATIVELY AND QUALITATIVELY WEAK HBV-SPECIFIC CD8+ T CELL RESPONSES. THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF THIS DICHOTOMY IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD. GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF DYSFUNCTIONAL HBV-SPECIFIC CD8+ T CELLS IN CHB PATIENTS AND VARIOUS MOUSE MODELS SUGGEST THAT MULTIFACETED MECHANISMS INCLUDING NEGATIVE SIGNALING AND METABOLIC ABNORMALITIES COOPERATIVELY ESTABLISH CD8+ T CELL DYSFUNCTION. IMMUNOREGULATORY CELL POPULATIONS IN THE LIVER, INCLUDING LIVER RESIDENT DENDRITIC CELLS (DCS), HEPATIC STELLATE CELLS (HSCS), MYELOID-DERIVED SUPPRESSOR CELLS (MDSCS), MAY CONTRIBUTE TO INTRAHEPATIC CD8+ T CELL DYSFUNCTION THROUGH THE PRODUCTION OF SOLUBLE MEDIATORS, SUCH AS ARGINASE, INDOLEAMINE 2,3-DIOXYGENASE (IDO) AND SUPPRESSIVE CYTOKINES AND THE EXPRESSION OF CO-INHIBITORY MOLECULES. A SERIES OF RECENT STUDIES WITH MOUSE MODELS OF HBV INFECTION SUGGEST THAT GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN DYSFUNCTIONAL CD8+ T CELLS ARE THE MANIFESTATION OF PROLONGED ANTIGENIC STIMULATION, AS WELL AS THE ABSENCE OF CO-STIMULATORY OR CYTOKINE SIGNALING. THESE NEW FINDINGS MAY PROVIDE POTENTIAL NEW TARGETS FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY AIMING AT INVIGORATING HBV-SPECIFIC CD8+ T CELLS, WHICH HOPEFULLY CURES CHB. 2021 7 4357 36 MIR-30E* IS OVEREXPRESSED IN PROSTATE CANCER AND PROMOTES NF-KAPPAB-MEDIATED PROLIFERATION AND TUMOR GROWTH. ACCORDING TO THE CDC PROSTATE CANCER (CAP) HAS THE HIGHEST INCIDENCE AND SECOND HIGHEST MORTALITY RATE AMONGST CANCERS IN AMERICAN MEN. CONSTITUTIVE NF-KAPPAB ACTIVATION IS A HALLMARK OF CAP AND THIS PATHWAY DRIVES MANY PRO-TUMORIGENIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CAP CELLS, INCLUDING CELL PROLIFERATION AND SURVIVAL. AN ACTIVATED NF-KAPPAB GENE SIGNATURE IS PREDICTIVE OF CAP PROGRESSION AND BIOCHEMICAL RECURRENCE FOLLOWING THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION. HOWEVER, THE MECHANISMS THAT PERPETUATE NF-KAPPAB ACTIVATION ARE INCOMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD. GENES THAT CONTROL NF-KAPPAB ACTIVITY ARE RARELY MUTATED IN CAP SUGGESTING THAT EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS MAY CONTRIBUTE TO CONSTITUTIVE NF-KAPPAB ACTIVATION. MICRORNAS (MIRS) EPIGENETICALLY REGULATE MANY GENES INVOLVED WITH NF-KAPPAB ACTIVATION. IKAPPABALPHA IS A DIRECT INHIBITOR OF NF-KAPPAB; IT BINDS TO AND SEQUESTERS NF-KAPPAB IN THE CYTOPLASM RESULTING IN FUNCTIONAL INHIBITION. IKAPPABALPHA IS A TARGET GENE OF MIR-30E* YET THE EXPRESSION AND ONCOLOGICAL IMPACT OF MIR-30E* IN CAP IS UNKNOWN. WE REPORT THAT MIR-30E* EXPRESSION IS ELEVATED IN MULTIPLE MURINE MODELS OF CAP AND IS MOST PRONOUNCED IN LATE STAGE DISEASE. MIR-30E* DRIVES CAP PROLIFERATION AND TUMOR GROWTH THROUGH INHIBITION OF IKAPPABALPHA, WHICH RESULTS IN CHRONIC ACTIVATION OF NF-KAPPAB. ADDITIONALLY, WE SHOW THAT INHIBITION OF MIR-30E* IMPROVES CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC CONTROL OF CAP. THUS, MIR-30E* MAY PROVE TO BE A NOVEL CLINICAL TARGET WHOSE INHIBITION LEADS TO DECREASED CAP CELL PROLIFERATION AND SENSITIZATION OF CAP CELLS TO CHEMOTHERAPEUTICS. 2017 8 6599 28 TWIST1 AND TWIST2 INDUCE HUMAN MACROPHAGE MEMORY UPON CHRONIC INNATE RECEPTOR TREATMENT BY HDAC-MEDIATED DEACETYLATION OF CYTOKINE PROMOTERS. INTESTINAL TISSUES ARE CONTINUOUSLY EXPOSED TO MICROBIAL PRODUCTS THAT STIMULATE PATTERN-RECOGNITION RECEPTORS (PRRS). ONGOING PRR STIMULATION CAN CONFER EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN MACROPHAGES, WHICH CAN THEN REGULATE SUBSEQUENT IMMUNE OUTCOMES AND ADAPTATION TO THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT. MECHANISMS LEADING TO THESE CHANGES ARE INCOMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD. WE FOUND THAT SHORT-TERM STIMULATION OF THE PRR NOD2 IN PRIMARY HUMAN MONOCYTE-DERIVED MACROPHAGES RESULTED IN INCREASED H3 AND H4 ACETYLATION OF CYTOKINE PROMOTERS, CONSISTENT WITH THE INCREASED CYTOKINE SECRETION OBSERVED. HOWEVER, WITH PROLONGED NOD2 STIMULATION, BOTH THE ACETYLATION AND CYTOKINE SECRETION WERE DRAMATICALLY DECREASED. CHRONIC NOD2 STIMULATION UPREGULATED THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS TWIST1 AND TWIST2, WHICH BOUND TO THE PROMOTERS OF THE HISTONE DEACETYLASES HDAC1 AND HDAC3 AND INDUCED HDAC1 AND HDAC3 EXPRESSION. HDAC1 AND HDAC3 THEN MEDIATED HISTONE DEACETYLATION AT CYTOKINE PROMOTERS AND, IN TURN, CYTOKINE DOWNREGULATION UNDER THESE CONDITIONS. SIMILAR REGULATION WAS OBSERVED UPON CHRONIC STIMULATION OF MULTIPLE PRRS. CONSISTENT WITH THE CHRONIC MICROBIAL EXPOSURE IN THE INTESTINAL ENVIRONMENT, TWIST1, TWIST2, HDAC1, AND HDAC3 WERE UPREGULATED IN HUMAN INTESTINAL RELATIVE TO PERIPHERAL MACROPHAGES. IMPORTANTLY, COMPLEMENTING HDAC1 AND HDAC3 IN TWIST1/TWIST2-DEFICIENT MONOCYTE-DERIVED MACROPHAGES RESTORED THE REDUCED HISTONE ACETYLATION ON CYTOKINE PROMOTERS AND THE DECREASED CYTOKINE SECRETION WITH CHRONIC NOD2 STIMULATION. TAKEN TOGETHER, WE IDENTIFY MECHANISMS WHEREIN TWIST1 AND TWIST2 PROMOTE CHROMATIN MODIFICATIONS, RESULTING IN MACROPHAGE INSTRUCTION AND ADAPTATION TO CONDITIONS IN THE INTESTINAL MICROENVIRONMENT. 2019 9 5743 31 SMOKING SUPPRESSES THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF ADIPOSE STEM CELLS IN CROHN'S DISEASE PATIENTS THROUGH EPIGENETIC CHANGES. PATIENTS WITH CROHN'S DISEASE (CD) WHO SMOKE ARE KNOWN TO HAVE A WORSE PROGNOSIS THAN NEVER-SMOKERS AND A HIGHER RISK FOR POST-SURGICAL RECURRENCE, WHEREAS PATIENTS WHO QUIT SMOKING AFTER SURGERY HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER POST-OPERATIVE RECURRENCE. THE HYPOTHESIS WAS THAT SMOKING INDUCES EPIGENETIC CHANGES THAT IMPAIR THE CAPACITY OF ADIPOSE STEM CELLS (ASCS) TO SUPPRESS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM. IT WAS ALSO QUESTIONED WHETHER THIS IMPAIRMENT REMAINS IN EX-SMOKERS WITH CD. ASCS WERE ISOLATED FROM NON-SMOKERS, SMOKERS AND EX-SMOKERS WITH CD AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH IMMUNE CELLS WERE STUDIED. THE ASCS FROM BOTH SMOKERS AND EX-SMOKERS PROMOTED MACROPHAGE POLARIZATION TO AN M1 PRO-INFLAMMATORY PHENOTYPE, WERE NOT ABLE TO INHIBIT T- AND B-CELL PROLIFERATION IN VITRO AND ENHANCED THE GENE AND PROTEIN EXPRESSION OF INFLAMMATORY MARKERS INCLUDING INTERLEUKIN-1B. GENOME-WIDE EPIGENETIC ANALYSIS USING TWO DIFFERENT BIOINFORMATIC APPROACHES REVEALED SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE METHYLATION PATTERNS OF GENES THAT ARE CRITICAL FOR WOUND HEALING, IMMUNE AND METABOLIC RESPONSE AND P53-MEDIATED DNA DAMAGE RESPONSE IN ASCS FROM SMOKERS AND EX-SMOKERS WITH CD. IN CONCLUSION, CIGARETTE SMOKING INDUCES A PRO-INFLAMMATORY EPIGENETIC SIGNATURE IN ASCS THAT LIKELY COMPROMISES THEIR THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL. 2023 10 1826 31 EFFECTS OF HISTONE DEACETYLASE INHIBITOR ON EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX PRODUCTION IN HUMAN NASAL POLYP ORGAN CULTURES. BACKGROUND: NASAL POLYPOSIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH A CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY CONDITION OF THE SINONASAL MUCOSA AND INVOLVES MYOFIBROBLAST DIFFERENTIATION AND EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX (ECM) ACCUMULATION. EPIGENETIC MODULATION BY HISTONE DEACETYLASE (HDAC) INHIBITORS INCLUDING TRICHOSTATIN A (TSA) HAS BEEN REPORTED TO HAVE INHIBITORY EFFECTS ON MYOFIBROBLAST DIFFERENTIATION IN LUNG AND RENAL FIBROBLASTS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE INHIBITORY EFFECT OF TSA ON MYOFIBROBLAST DIFFERENTIATION AND ECM PRODUCTION IN NASAL POLYP ORGAN CULTURES. METHODS: NASAL POLYP TISSUES FROM 18 PATIENTS WERE ACQUIRED DURING ENDOSCOPIC SINUS SURGERY. AFTER ORGAN CULTURE, NASAL POLYPS WERE STIMULATED WITH TGF-BETA1 AND THEN TREATED WITH TSA. ALPHA-SMOOTH MUSCLE ACTIN (ALPHA-SMA), FIBRONECTIN, AND COLLAGEN TYPE I EXPRESSION LEVELS WERE EXAMINED BY REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION-POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR), REAL-TIME PCR, WESTERN BLOT, AND IMMUNOFLUORESCENT STAINING. HDAC2, HDAC4, AND ACETYLATED H4 EXPRESSION LEVELS WERE ASSAYED BY WESTERN BLOT. CYTOTOXICITY WAS ANALYZED BY THE TERMINAL DEOXYNUCLEOTIDYL TRANSFERASE BIOTIN-DUTP NICK END LABELING ASSAY. RESULTS: THE EXPRESSION LEVELS OF ALPHA-SMA, FIBRONECTIN, AND COLLAGEN TYPE 1 WERE INCREASED IN NASAL POLYP AFTER TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR (TGF) BETA1 TREATMENT. TSA-INHIBITED TGF-BETA1 INDUCED THESE GENE AND PROTEIN EXPRESSION LEVELS. FURTHERMORE, TSA SUPPRESSED PROTEIN EXPRESSION LEVELS OF HDAC2 AND HDAC4. HOWEVER, TSA INDUCED HYPERACETYLATION OF HISTONES H4. TREATMENT WITH TGF-BETA1 WITH OR WITHOUT TSA DID NOT HAVE CYTOTOXIC EFFECT. CONCLUSION: THESE FINDINGS PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO THE EPIGENETIC REGULATION IN MYOFIBROBLAST DIFFERENTIATION AND ECM PRODUCTION OF NASAL POLYP. TSA COULD BE A CANDIDATE OF A THERAPEUTIC AGENT FOR REVERSING THE TGF-BETA1-INDUCED ECM SYNTHESIS THAT LEADS TO NASAL POLYP DEVELOPMENT. 2013 11 1646 31 DOES THE HEPATITIS B ANTIGEN HBX PROMOTE THE APPEARANCE OF LIVER CANCER STEM CELLS? HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) IS A MAJOR ETIOLOGIC AGENT OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE AND HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC). HBV-ENCODED X ANTIGEN, HBX, AND PATHWAYS IMPLICATED IN THE SELF-RENEWAL OF STEM CELLS CONTRIBUTE TO HCC, BUT IT IS NOT CLEAR WHETHER HBX EXPRESSION PROMOTES "STEMNESS." THUS, EXPERIMENTS WERE DESIGNED TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT HBX TRIGGERS MALIGNANT TRANSFORMATION BY PROMOTING PROPERTIES THAT ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF CANCER STEM CELLS (CSC). TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS, HEPG2 CELLS WERE STABLY TRANSDUCED WITH HBX AND THEN ASSAYED FOR PHENOTYPIC AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF "STEMNESS." THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HBX AND "STEMNESS"-ASSOCIATED MARKERS WAS ALSO EVALUATED BY IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STAINING OF LIVER AND TUMOR TISSUE SECTIONS FROM HBV-INFECTED PATIENTS. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT OCT-4, NANOG, KLF-4, BETA-CATENIN, AND EPITHELIAL CELL ADHESION MOLECULE (EPCAM) WERE ACTIVATED BY HBX IN VITRO AND IN VIVO. EPCAM WAS DETECTED IN THE NUCLEI OF HUMAN HCC CELLS FROM INFECTED PATIENTS. HBX PROMOTES "STEMNESS" BY ACTIVATING BETA-CATENIN AND EPIGENETIC UPREGULATION OF MIR-181, BOTH OF WHICH TARGET EPCAM. HBX EXPRESSION WAS ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH DEPRESSED LEVELS OF E-CADHERIN. MOREOVER, HBX STIMULATED CELL MIGRATION, GROWTH IN SOFT AGAR, AND SPHEROID FORMATION. THIS WORK IS THE FIRST TO PROPOSE THAT HBV PROMOTES "STEMNESS" IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF HCC. HBX-ASSOCIATED UPREGULATED EXPRESSION OF MULTIPLE "STEMNESS" MARKERS SUPPORTS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT HBX CONTRIBUTES TO HEPATOCARCINOGENESIS, AT LEAST IN PART, BY PROMOTING CHANGES IN GENE EXPRESSION THAT ARE CHARACTERISTICS OF CSCS. 2011 12 2302 37 EPIGENETIC REGULATION OF CANCER STEM CELL MARKER CD133 BY TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR-BETA. HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC) IS THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF CANCER MORTALITY WORLDWIDE. CD133, A TRANSMEMBRANE GLYCOPROTEIN, IS AN IMPORTANT CELL SURFACE MARKER FOR BOTH STEM CELLS AND CANCER STEM CELLS IN VARIOUS TISSUES INCLUDING LIVER. CD133 EXPRESSION HAS BEEN RECENTLY LINKED TO POOR PROGNOSIS IN HCC PATIENTS. CD133+ LIVER CANCER CELLS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY RESISTANCE TO CHEMOTHERAPY, SELF-RENEWAL, MULTILINEAGE POTENTIAL, INCREASED COLONY FORMATION, AND IN VIVO CANCER INITIATION AT LIMITED DILUTION. RECENT STUDIES DEMONSTRATE THAT CD133 EXPRESSION IS REGULATED BY DNA METHYLATION. IN THIS STUDY, WE EXPLORED THE ROLE OF TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR BETA (TGFBETA), A MULTIFUNCTIONAL CYTOKINE THAT PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN CHRONIC LIVER INJURY, IN THE REGULATION OF CD133 EXPRESSION. TGFBETA1 IS CAPABLE OF UP-REGULATING CD133 EXPRESSION SPECIFICALLY WITHIN THE HUH7 HCC CELL LINE IN A TIME- AND DOSE-DEPENDENT MANNER. MOST IMPORTANT, TGFBETA1-INDUCED CD133+ HUH7 CELLS DEMONSTRATE INCREASED TUMOR INITIATION IN VIVO. FORCED EXPRESSION OF INHIBITORY SMADS, INCLUDING SMAD6 AND SMAD7, ATTENUATED TGFBETA1-INDUCED CD133 EXPRESSION. WITHIN CD133- HUH7 CELLS, TGFBETA1 STIMULATION INHIBITED THE EXPRESSION OF DNA METHYLTRANSFERASES (DNMT) 1 AND DNMT3BETA, WHICH ARE CRITICAL IN THE MAINTENANCE OF REGIONAL DNA METHYLATION, AND GLOBAL DNMT ACTIVITY IN CD133- HUH7 CELLS WAS INHIBITED BY TGFBETA1. DNMT3BETA INHIBITION BY TGFBETA1 WAS PARTIALLY RESCUED WITH OVEREXPRESSION OF INHIBITORY SMADS. LASTLY, TGFBETA1 TREATMENT LED TO SIGNIFICANT DEMETHYLATION IN CD133 PROMOTER-1 IN CD133- HUH7 CELLS. CONCLUSION: TGFBETA1 IS ABLE TO REGULATE CD133 EXPRESSION THROUGH INHIBITION OF DNMT1 AND DNMT3BETA EXPRESSION AND SUBSEQUENT DEMETHYLATION OF PROMOTER-1. TGFBETA1-INDUCED CD133+ HUH7 CELLS ARE TUMORIGENIC. THE MECHANISM BY WHICH TGFBETA INDUCES CD133 EXPRESSION IS PARTIALLY DEPENDENT ON THE SMADS PATHWAY. 2010 13 3246 24 HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) INDUCES THE EXPRESSION OF INTERLEUKIN-8 THAT IN TURN REDUCES HBV SENSITIVITY TO INTERFERON-ALPHA. HIGH LEVELS OF SERUM INTERLEUKIN-8 (IL-8) HAVE BEEN DETECTED IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS B (CHB) PATIENTS DURING EPISODES OF HEPATITIS FLARES. WE INVESTIGATED WHETHER HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) MAY DIRECTLY INDUCE IL-8 PRODUCTION AND WHETHER IL-8 MAY ANTAGONIZE INTERFERON-ALPHA (IFN-ALPHA) ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY AGAINST HBV. WE SHOWED THAT CHB PATIENTS HAD SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IL-8 LEVELS BOTH IN SERUM AND IN LIVER TISSUE THAN CONTROLS. IN HBV-REPLICATING HEPG2 CELLS, IL-8 TRANSCRIPTION WAS SIGNIFICANTLY ACTIVATED. AP-1, C/EBP AND NF-KB TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS WERE CONCURRENTLY NECESSARY FOR MAXIMUM IL-8 INDUCTION. MOREOVER, HBX VIRAL PROTEIN WAS RECRUITED ONTO THE IL-8 PROMOTER AND THIS WAS PARALLELED BY IL8-BOUND HISTONE HYPERACETYLATION AND BY ACTIVE RECRUITMENT OF TRANSCRIPTIONAL COACTIVATORS. INHIBITION OF IL-8 INCREASES THE ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY OF IFN-ALPHA AGAINST HBV. OUR RESULTS INDICATE THAT HBV ACTIVATES IL-8 GENE EXPRESSION BY TARGETING THE EPIGENETIC REGULATION OF THE IL-8 PROMOTER AND THAT IL-8 MAY CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCE HBV SENSITIVITY TO IFN-ALPHA. 2013 14 4303 30 MICRORNA-223 INHIBITS TISSUE FACTOR EXPRESSION IN VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL CELLS. OBJECTIVE: ATHEROSCLEROSIS IS A CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY PROCESS, IN WHICH VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL CELLS (ECS) BECOME DYSFUNCTIONAL OWING TO THE EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES, SUCH AS INFLAMMATORY FACTOR AND GROWTH FACTORS. TISSUE FACTOR (TF) EXPRESSION IS INDUCED BY THE ABOVE CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES IN ACTIVATED ECS. TF INITIATES THROMBOSIS ON DISRUPTED ATHEROSCLEROTIC PLAQUES WHICH PLAYS AN ESSENTIAL ROLE DURING THE ONSET OF ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROMES (ACS). INCREASING EVIDENCES SUGGEST THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF MICRORNAS AS EPIGENETIC REGULATORS OF ATHEROSCLEROTIC DISEASE. THE AIM OF OUR STUDY IS TO IDENTIFY IF MICRORNA-223 (MIR-223) TARGETS TF IN ECS. METHODS AND RESULTS: BIOINFORMATIC ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT TF IS A TARGET CANDIDATE OF MIR-223. WESTERN BLOTTING ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA (TNF-ALPHA) INCREASED TF EXPRESSION IN AORTA OF C57BL/6J MICE AND CULTURED ECS (EA.HY926 CELLS AND HUVEC) AFTER 4 H TREATMENT. IN TNF-ALPHA TREATED ECS, TF MRNA WAS ALSO INCREASED MEASURED BY REAL-TIME PCR. REAL-TIME PCR RESULTS SHOWED THAT MIR-223 LEVELS WERE DOWNREGULATED IN TNF-ALPHA-TREATED AORTA OF C57BL/6J MICE AND CULTURED ECS. TRANSFECTION OF ECS WITH MIR-223 MIMIC OR MIR-223 INHIBITOR MODIFIED TF EXPRESSION BOTH IN MRNA AND PROTEIN LEVELS. LUCIFERASE ASSAYS CONFIRMED THAT MIR-223 SUPPRESSED TF EXPRESSION BY BINDING TO THE SEQUENCE OF TF 3'-UNTRANSLATED REGIONS (3'UTR). TF PROCOAGULANT ACTIVITY WAS INHIBITED BY OVEREXPRESSING MIR-223 WITH OR WITHOUT TNF-ALPHA STIMULATION. CONCLUSIONS: MIR-223-MEDIATED SUPPRESSION OF TF EXPRESSION PROVIDES A NOVEL MOLECULAR MECHANISM FOR THE REGULATION OF COAGULATION CASCADE, AND SUGGESTS A CLUE AGAINST THROMBOGENESIS DURING THE PROCESS OF ATHEROSCLEROTIC PLAQUE RUPTURE. 2014 15 3616 30 IN VITRO MODELING OF CD8 T CELL EXHAUSTION ENABLES CRISPR SCREENING TO REVEAL A ROLE FOR BHLHE40. IDENTIFYING NOVEL MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF EXHAUSTED CD8 T CELLS (T (EX) ) IS A KEY GOAL OF IMPROVING IMMUNOTHERAPY OF CANCER AND OTHER DISEASES. HOWEVER, HIGH-THROUGHPUT INTERROGATION OF IN VIVO T (EX) CAN BE COSTLY AND INEFFICIENT. IN VITRO MODELS OF T (EX) ARE EASILY CUSTOMIZABLE AND QUICKLY GENERATE HIGH CELLULAR YIELD, OFFERING AN OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM CRISPR SCREENING AND OTHER HIGH-THROUGHPUT ASSAYS. WE ESTABLISHED AN IN VITRO MODEL OF CHRONIC STIMULATION AND BENCHMARKED KEY PHENOTYPIC, FUNCTIONAL, TRANSCRIPTIONAL, AND EPIGENETIC FEATURES AGAINST BONA FIDE IN VIVO T (EX) . WE LEVERAGED THIS MODEL OF IN VITRO CHRONIC STIMULATION IN COMBINATION WITH POOLED CRISPR SCREENING TO UNCOVER TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATORS OF T CELL EXHAUSTION. THIS APPROACH IDENTIFIED SEVERAL TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS, INCLUDING BHLHE40. IN VITRO AND IN VIVO VALIDATION DEFINED A ROLE FOR BHLHE40 IN REGULATING A KEY DIFFERENTIATION CHECKPOINT BETWEEN PROGENITOR AND INTERMEDIATE SUBSETS OF T (EX) . BY DEVELOPING AND BENCHMARKING AN IN VITRO MODEL OF T (EX) , WE DEMONSTRATE THE UTILITY OF MECHANISTICALLY ANNOTATED IN VITRO MODELS OF T (EX) , IN COMBINATION WITH HIGH-THROUGHPUT APPROACHES, AS A DISCOVERY PIPELINE TO UNCOVER NOVEL T (EX) BIOLOGY. 2023 16 6231 24 THE LONG NONCODING RNA MEG3 AND ITS TARGET MIR-147 REGULATE JAK/STAT PATHWAY IN ADVANCED CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA. BACKGROUND: LONG NON-CODING (LNC) RNAS PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA (CML). IN THIS STUDY, WE AIMED TO UNCOVER THE MECHANISM OF THE LNCRNA MATERNALLY EXPRESSED 3 (MEG3) AND ITS TARGET MICRORNA-147 (MIR-147) IN CML. METHODS: SIXTY CML PATIENTS AND 10 HEALTHY DONORS WERE INCLUDED IN THE STUDY. THE METHYLATION OF MEG3 AND MIR-147 PROMOTER WAS DETERMINED BY METHYLATION-SPECIFIC PCR. THE RELATIONSHIP OF MEG3 AND MIR-147 WAS EXPLORED BY LUCIFERASE ASSAY. THE INTERACTIONS OF PROTEINS WERE STUDIED BY RNA PULL-DOWN ASSAY, RNA IMMUNOPRECIPITATION AND CO-IMMUNOPRECIPITATION. FINDINGS: PATIENTS IN ACCELERATED PHASE CML (CML-AP) AND BLAST PHASE CML (CML-BP) SHOWED LOWER EXPRESSIONS OF MEG3 AND MIR-147 AND HIGHER EXPRESSIONS OF DNMT1, DNMT3B, MBD2, MECP2 AND HDAC1 COMPARED TO THE CONTROLS. THESE PATIENTS ALSO SHOWED A HIGHER DEGREE OF METHYLATION OF MEG3 AND MIR-147 WHILE THERE WAS A REDUCTION AFTER CHIDAMIDE TREATMENT. FURTHERMORE, THE OVEREXPRESSION OF MEG3 AND MIR-147 INHIBITED CELL PROLIFERATION BOTH IN VIVO AND IN VITRO, PROMOTED APOPTOSIS AND DECREASED THE EXPRESSIONS OF DNMT1, DNMT3A, DNMT3B, MBD2, HDAC1 AND MECP2. WE ALSO FOUND MEG3 INTERACTED WITH DNMT1, JAK2, STAT3, HDAC1, AND TYK2, AND JAK2 WAS BOUND TO STAT3, STAT5 AND MYC. MORE INTERESTINGLY, JAK2 WAS BOUND TO TYK2 BY THE BRIDGE OF MEG3. INTERPRETATION: LNCRNA MEG3 AND ITS TARGET MIR-147 MAY SERVE AS A NOVEL THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR CML BLAST CRISIS, AND CHIDAMIDE MIGHT HAVE A POTENTIAL CLINICAL APPLICATION IN TREATING CML BLAST CRISIS. 2018 17 4567 36 MYELOID-DERIVED SUPPRESSOR CELL FUNCTION AND EPIGENETIC EXPRESSION EVOLVES OVER TIME AFTER SURGICAL SEPSIS. BACKGROUND: SEPSIS IS AN INCREASINGLY SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AS ONE OF THE MAJOR CAUSES OF PATIENT MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY. CENTRAL TO THE HOST IMMUNOLOGIC RESPONSE TO SEPSIS IS THE INCREASE IN CIRCULATING MYELOID-DERIVED SUPPRESSOR CELLS (MDSCS), WHICH HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO BE PRESENT AND INDEPENDENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH POOR LONG-TERM CLINICAL OUTCOMES. MDSCS ARE PLASTIC CELLS AND POTENTIALLY MODIFIABLE, PARTICULARLY THROUGH EPIGENETIC INTERVENTIONS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE HOW THE SUPPRESSIVE PHENOTYPE OF MDSCS EVOLVES AFTER SEPSIS IN SURGICAL ICU PATIENTS, AS WELL AS TO IDENTIFY EPIGENETIC DIFFERENCES IN MDSCS THAT MAY EXPLAIN THESE CHANGES. METHODS: CIRCULATING MDSCS FROM 267 SURVIVORS OF SURGICAL SEPSIS WERE PHENOTYPED AT VARIOUS INTERVALS OVER 6 WEEKS, AND HIGHLY ENRICHED MDSCS FROM 23 OF THESE SAMPLES WERE CO-CULTURED WITH CD3/CD28-STIMULATED AUTOLOGOUS T CELLS. MICRORNA EXPRESSION FROM ENRICHED MDSCS WAS ALSO IDENTIFIED. RESULTS: WE OBSERVED THAT MDSC NUMBERS REMAIN SIGNIFICANTLY ELEVATED IN HOSPITALIZED SEPSIS SURVIVORS FOR AT LEAST 6 WEEKS AFTER THEIR INFECTION. HOWEVER, ONLY MDSCS OBTAINED AT AND BEYOND 14 DAYS POST-SEPSIS SIGNIFICANTLY SUPPRESSED T LYMPHOCYTE PROLIFERATION AND IL-2 PRODUCTION. THESE SAME MDSCS DISPLAYED UNIQUE EPIGENETIC (MIRNA) EXPRESSION PATTERNS COMPARED TO EARLIER TIME POINTS. CONCLUSIONS: WE CONCLUDE THAT IN SEPSIS SURVIVORS, IMMATURE MYELOID CELL NUMBERS ARE INCREASED BUT THE IMMUNE SUPPRESSIVE FUNCTION SPECIFIC TO MDSCS DEVELOPS OVER TIME, AND THIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH A SPECIFIC EPIGENOME. THESE FINDINGS MAY EXPLAIN THE CHRONIC AND PERSISTENT IMMUNE SUPPRESSION SEEN IN THESE SUBJECTS. 2019 18 6539 28 TRANSCRIPTIONAL VARIATIONS IN THE WIDER PERITUMORAL TISSUE ENVIRONMENT OF PANCREATIC CANCER. TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROFILING WAS PERFORMED ON 452 RNA PREPARATIONS ISOLATED FROM VARIOUS TYPES OF PANCREATIC TISSUE FROM TUMOUR PATIENTS AND HEALTHY DONORS, WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON PERITUMORAL SAMPLES. PANCREATIC DUCTAL ADENOCARCINOMAS (PDAC) AND CYSTIC TUMOURS WERE MOST DIFFERENT IN THESE NON-TUMOROUS TISSUES SURROUNDING THEM, WHEREAS THE ACTUAL TUMOURS EXHIBITED RATHER SIMILAR TRANSCRIPT PATTERNS. THE ENVIRONMENT OF CYSTIC TUMOURS WAS TRANSCRIPTIONALLY NEARLY IDENTICAL TO NORMAL PANCREAS TISSUE. IN CONTRAST, THE TISSUE AROUND PDAC BEHAVED A LOT LIKE THE TUMOUR, INDICATING SOME KIND OF FIELD DEFECT, WHILE SHOWING FAR LESS MOLECULAR RESEMBLANCE TO BOTH CHRONIC PANCREATITIS AND HEALTHY TISSUE. THIS SUGGESTS THAT THE MAJOR PATHOGENIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CYSTIC AND DUCTAL TUMOURS MAY BE DUE TO THEIR CELLULAR ENVIRONMENT RATHER THAN THE FEW VARIATIONS BETWEEN THE TUMOURS. LACK OF CORRELATION BETWEEN DNA METHYLATION AND TRANSCRIPT LEVELS MAKES IT UNLIKELY THAT THE OBSERVED FIELD DEFECT IN THE PERITUMORAL TISSUE OF PDAC IS CONTROLLED TO A LARGE EXTENT BY SUCH EPIGENETIC REGULATION. FUNCTIONALLY, A STRIKINGLY LARGE NUMBER OF AUTOPHAGY-RELATED TRANSCRIPTS WAS CHANGED IN BOTH PDAC AND ITS PERITUMORAL TISSUE, BUT NOT IN OTHER PANCREATIC TUMOURS. A TRANSCRIPTION SIGNATURE OF 15 AUTOPHAGY-RELATED GENES WAS ESTABLISHED THAT PERMITS A PROGNOSIS OF SURVIVAL WITH HIGH ACCURACY AND INDICATES THE ROLE OF AUTOPHAGY IN TUMOUR BIOLOGY. 2018 19 5795 27 STAT3 INDUCTION OF MIR-146B FORMS A FEEDBACK LOOP TO INHIBIT THE NF-KAPPAB TO IL-6 SIGNALING AXIS AND STAT3-DRIVEN CANCER PHENOTYPES. INTERLEUKIN-6 (IL-6)-MEDIATED ACTIVATION OF SIGNAL TRANSDUCER AND ACTIVATOR OF TRANSCRIPTION 3 (STAT3) IS A MECHANISM BY WHICH CHRONIC INFLAMMATION CAN CONTRIBUTE TO CANCER AND IS A COMMON ONCOGENIC EVENT. WE DISCOVERED A PATHWAY, THE LOSS OF WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH PERSISTENT STAT3 ACTIVATION IN HUMAN CANCER. WE FOUND THAT THE GENE ENCODING THE TUMOR SUPPRESSOR MICRORNA MIR-146B IS A DIRECT STAT3 TARGET GENE, AND ITS EXPRESSION WAS INCREASED IN NORMAL BREAST EPITHELIAL CELLS BUT DECREASED IN TUMOR CELLS. METHYLATION OF THE MIR-146B PROMOTER, WHICH INHIBITED STAT3-MEDIATED INDUCTION OF EXPRESSION, WAS INCREASED IN PRIMARY BREAST CANCERS. MOREOVER, WE FOUND THAT MIR-146B INHIBITED NUCLEAR FACTOR KAPPAB (NF-KAPPAB)-DEPENDENT PRODUCTION OF IL-6, SUBSEQUENT STAT3 ACTIVATION, AND IL-6/STAT3-DRIVEN MIGRATION AND INVASION IN BREAST CANCER CELLS, THEREBY ESTABLISHING A NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP. IN ADDITION, HIGHER EXPRESSION OF MIR-146B WAS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH PATIENT SURVIVAL IN BREAST CANCER SUBTYPES WITH INCREASED IL6 EXPRESSION AND STAT3 PHOSPHORYLATION. OUR RESULTS IDENTIFY AN EPIGENETIC MECHANISM OF CROSSTALK BETWEEN STAT3 AND NF-KAPPAB RELEVANT TO CONSTITUTIVE STAT3 ACTIVATION IN MALIGNANCY AND THE ROLE OF INFLAMMATION IN ONCOGENESIS. 2014 20 1122 37 COMPARISON OF GENE EXPRESSION PROFILES IN CHROMATE TRANSFORMED BEAS-2B CELLS. BACKGROUND: HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM [CR(VI)] IS A POTENT HUMAN CARCINOGEN. OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED RISK OF RESPIRATORY CANCER. MULTIPLE MECHANISMS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO CONTRIBUTE TO CR(VI) INDUCED CARCINOGENESIS, INCLUDING DNA DAMAGE, GENOMIC INSTABILITY, AND EPIGENETIC MODULATION, HOWEVER, THE MOLECULAR MECHANISM AND DOWNSTREAM GENES MEDIATING CHROMIUM'S CARCINOGENICITY REMAIN TO BE ELUCIDATED. METHODS/RESULTS: WE ESTABLISHED CHROMATE TRANSFORMED CELL LINES BY CHRONIC EXPOSURE OF NORMAL HUMAN BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL BEAS-2B CELLS TO LOW DOSES OF CR(VI) FOLLOWED BY ANCHORAGE-INDEPENDENT GROWTH. THESE TRANSFORMED CELL LINES NOT ONLY EXHIBITED CONSISTENT MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES BUT ALSO ACQUIRED ALTERED AND DISTINCT GENE EXPRESSION PATTERNS COMPARED WITH NORMAL BEAS-2B CELLS AND CONTROL CELL LINES (UNTREATED) THAT AROSE SPONTANEOUSLY IN SOFT AGAR. INTERESTINGLY, THE GENE EXPRESSION PROFILES OF SIX CR(VI) TRANSFORMED CELL LINES WERE REMARKABLY SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER YET DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THAT OF EITHER CONTROL CELL LINES OR NORMAL BEAS-2B CELLS. A TOTAL OF 409 DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES WERE IDENTIFIED IN CR(VI) TRANSFORMED CELLS COMPARED TO CONTROL CELLS. GENES RELATED TO CELL-TO-CELL JUNCTION WERE UPREGULATED IN ALL CR(VI) TRANSFORMED CELLS, WHILE GENES ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CELLS AND THEIR EXTRACELLULAR MATRICES WERE DOWN-REGULATED. ADDITIONALLY, EXPRESSION OF GENES INVOLVED IN CELL PROLIFERATION AND APOPTOSIS WERE ALSO CHANGED. CONCLUSION: THIS STUDY IS THE FIRST TO REPORT GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING OF CR(VI) TRANSFORMED CELLS. THE GENE EXPRESSION CHANGES ACROSS INDIVIDUAL CHROMATE EXPOSED CLONES WERE REMARKABLY SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER BUT DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THE GENE EXPRESSION FOUND IN ANCHORAGE-INDEPENDENT CLONES THAT AROSE SPONTANEOUSLY. OUR ANALYSIS IDENTIFIED MANY NOVEL GENE EXPRESSION CHANGES THAT MAY CONTRIBUTE TO CHROMATE INDUCED CELL TRANSFORMATION, AND COLLECTIVELY THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION WILL PROVIDE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MECHANISM UNDERLYING CHROMATE CARCINOGENICITY. 2011