Dynamic epigenetic regulation of the microRNA-200 family mediates epithelial and mesenchymal transitions in human tumorigenesis

Epithelial-mesenchymal (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial (MET) transitions occur in the development of human tumorigenesis and are part of the natural history of the process to adapt to the changing microenvironment. In this setting, the miR-200 family is recognized as a master regulator of the epithelial phenotype by targeting ZEB1 and ZEB2, two important transcriptional repressors of the cell adherence (E-cadherin) and polarity (CRB3 and LGL2) genes. Recently, the putative DNA methylation associated inactivation of various miR-200 members has been described in cancer. Herein, we show that the miR-200ba429 and miR-200c141 transcripts undergo a dynamic epigenetic regulation linked to EMT or MET phenotypes in tumor progression. The 5′-CpG islands of both miR-200 loci were found unmethylated and coupled to the expression of the corresponding miRNAs in human cancer cell lines with epithelial features, such as low levels of ZEB1/ZEB2 and high expression of E-cadherin, CRB3 and LGL2, while CpG island hypermethylation-associated silencing was observed in transformed cells with mesenchymal characteristics. The recovery of miR-200ba429 and miR-200c141 expression by stable transfection in the hypermethylated cells restored the epithelial markers and inhibited migration in cell culture and tumoral growth and metastasis formation in nude mice. We also discovered, using both cell culture and animal models, that the miR-200 epigenetic silencing is not an static and fixed process but it can be shifted to hypermethylated or unmethylated 5′-CpG island status corresponding to the EMT and MET phenotypes, respectively. In fact, careful laser microdissection in human primary colorectal tumorigenesis unveiled that in normal colon mucosa crypts (epithelia) and stroma (mesenchyma) already are unmethylated and methylated at these loci, respectively; and that the colorectal tumors undergo selective miR-200 hypermethylation of their epithelial component. These findings indicate that the epigenetic silencing plasticity of the miR-200 family contributes to the evolving and adapting phenotypes of human tumors

Suspensión del tratamiento con inhibidores de BCR-ABL en los pacientes con leucemia mieloide crónica en respuesta molecular profunda dentro de la práctica clínica asistencial: Experiencia española en un total de 236 casos

Oral Presentation [CO-092] Introducción: La mitad de los pacientes con leucemia mieloide crónica (LMC) en respuesta molecular profunda no pierde la respuesta molecular mayor (RMM) tras la suspensión del tratamiento con inhibidores de BCR-ABL (ITC). Esta estrategia ha demostrado ser segura en ensayos clínicos pero hay poca información acerca de su aplicabilidad en la práctica clínica asistencial. El objetivo del estudio fue analizar la experiencia con la suspensión del tratamiento fuera de ensayo clínico en España. Métodos: Se analizan los resultados de 236 pacientes con LMC en fase crónica que suspendieron el tratamiento fuera de ensayo clínico en 33 hospitales. Criterios de inclusión: a) tratamiento con ITC >3 años, b) respuesta molecular grado 4.5 durante >2 años (se permitió una única determinación de RM4 durante ese período). Se excluyeron los pacientes trasplantados. Resultados: Las características de la serie se muestran en la tabla 1. Los motivos principales para suspender el tratamiento fueron los efectos secundarios (n=66), lograr la remisión libre de tratamiento (n=166) y el embarazo (n=4). La mediana de seguimiento tras la suspensión fue de 21, 5 meses y 5 pacientes fallecieron por causas no relacionadas con la LMC. Durante este periodo, 67 pacientes reiniciaron el tratamiento por recaída molecular (pérdida de RMM: n=52, aumento de tránscritos >1 log en dos controles sucesivos sin pérdida de RMM: n=12), decisión del paciente (n=2) o síndrome de discontinuación (n=1). Un paciente perdió la RMM a los 20 meses y decidió no tratarse, recuperando la RMM espontáneamente. Cuarenta y nueve recaídas (75% del total) ocurrieron en los primeros 6 meses, 8 entre los meses 7-12, y 8 tras los 12 meses, produciéndose la pérdida de RMM más tardía a los 30 meses. La supervivencia libre de reinicio del tratamiento (figura 1) y de recaída molecular fue del 66, 8% y del 67, 5% a los 3 años, respectivamente. Los factores asociados a mayor supervivencia libre de recaída fueron la duración del tratamiento con ITC >5 años (p=0.01) y la RM4.5 >4 años antes de la suspensión (p=0.017). Un total de 51 pacientes (22%) desarrollaron dolor osteomuscular tras la suspensión. No se registró ningún caso de progresión a fases avanzadas. El valor mediano de la carga de BCR-ABL al reinicio del tratamiento fue del 0, 3% (>5% en 7 casos). La mediana de seguimiento tras reinicio del tratamiento fue de 20 meses; 46 de 52 casos (88%) recuperaron la RMM tras una mediana de tiempo de 3 meses; 50 de 64 recuperaron la RM4 (mediana 3, 5 meses) y 47 de 64 recuperaron la MR4.5 (mediana 5 meses). En el último control, el estado de la respuesta fue: RM4.5 (n=195), RM4 (n=15), RMM (n=14), respuesta citogenética completa (n=10), otros (n=2). Conclusiones: los resultados confirman que la suspensión del tratamiento es factible en la práctica clínica asistencial en España. La duración del tratamiento y de la respuesta molecular profunda se asociaron con la supervivencia libre de recaída. Esta información puede ser útil para establecer recomendaciones generales acerca de la discontinuación del tratamiento de la LMC en nuestro medio

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Regulatory feedback from nascent RNA to chromatin and transcription

Transcription and chromatin function are regulated by proteins that bind to DNA, nucleosomes or RNA polymerase II, with specific non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) functioning to modulate their recruitment or activity. Unlike ncRNAs, nascent pre-mRNA was considered to be primarily a passive player in these processes. In this Opinion article, we describe recently identified interactions between nascent pre-mRNAs and regulatory proteins, highlight commonalities between the functions of nascent pre-mRNA and nascent ncRNA, and propose that both types of RNA have an active role in transcription and chromatin regulation

Multi-domain model of healthy ageing: The experience of the H2020 NESTORE project

Ageing is a complex multidimensional and multifactorial process associated with the decline in multiple physiological systems which can lead to frailties and disabilities over the lifespan. With the aim of supporting healthy older adults in order to sustain their wellbeing and capacity to live independently, the NESTORE project was recently funded by the EU Commission. In order to take into account the complex interactions among different aspects involved in the ageing processes, a model of healthy ageing was developed in NESTORE. This model included three core dimensions related to older people wellbeing (Physical/Physiological, Nutritional, Cognitive/Mental/Social). The NESTORE model was intended to provide a structured arrangement of the knowledge coming from such different domains in order to provide a simplified pool of information for: (i) the characterization of the older adults, (ii) the personalization of the coaching plans and (iii) the implementation of an effective ICT system

Dynamic decision support system for personalised coaching to support active ageing

Physiological status and physical activity, social interaction, cognitive and emotional status, and nutrition in older people are the key target areas addressed by the NESTORE project. It is aimed at developing a multi-domain solution for users, able to prolong their functional, social, and cognitive capacity by empowering, stimulating, and unobtrusively monitoring, in other words, "coaching" the user's daily activities according to a well-defined "Active and Healthy Ageing" life-style protocols. Besides the key features of NESTORE in terms of technological solutions, this work focus on the preliminary research carried out in the context of algorithms for modelling and profiling target individuals with the aim of developing an effective dynamic Decision Support System

CIZ gene rearrangements in acute leukemia: report of a diagnostic FISH assay and clinical features of nine patients

CIZ rearrangements appear to emerge as the genetic marker of a subset of early pre-B ALL without ALL1/AF4+ or BCR/ABL1+ that is characterized by the expression of myeloid antigens and reasonably good prognosis