TYK2 promotes malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor progression through inhibition of cell death

BACKGROUND: Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are aggressive sarcomas that arise most commonly in the setting of the Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) cancer predisposition syndrome. Despite aggressive multimodality therapy, outcomes are dismal and most patients die within 5 years of diagnosis. Prior genomic studies in our laboratory identified tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) as a frequently mutated gene in MPNST. Herein, we explored the function of TYK2 in MPNST pathogenesis. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was utilized to examine expression of TYK2 in MPNSTs and other sarcomas. To establish a role for TYK2 in MPNST pathogenesis, murine and human TYK2 knockdown and knockout cells were established using shRNA and CRISPR/Cas9 systems, respectively. RESULTS: We have demonstrated that TYK2 was highly expressed in the majority of human MPNSTs examined. Additionally, we demonstrated that knockdown of Tyk2/TYK2 in murine and human MPNST cells significantly increased cell death in vitro. These effects were accompanied by a decrease in the levels of activated Stats and Bcl-2 as well as an increase in the levels of Cleaved Caspase-3. In addition, Tyk2-KD cells demonstrated impaired growth in subcutaneous and metastasis models in vivo. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data illustrate the importance of TYK2 in MPNST pathogenesis and suggest that the TYK2 pathway may be a potential therapeutic target for these deadly cancers

Loss‐of‐Function Genetic Screening Identifies Aldolase A as an Essential Driver for Liver Cancer Cell Growth Under Hypoxia

Background and aims: Hypoxia is a common feature of the tumor microenvironment (TME), which promotes tumor progression, metastasis, and therapeutic drug resistance through a myriad of cell activities in tumor and stroma cells. While targeting hypoxic TME is emerging as a promising strategy for treating solid tumors, preclinical development of this approach is lacking in the study of HCC. Approach and results: From a genome-wide CRISPR/CRISPR-associated 9 gene knockout screening, we identified aldolase A (ALDOA), a key enzyme in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, as an essential driver for HCC cell growth under hypoxia. Knockdown of ALDOA in HCC cells leads to lactate depletion and consequently inhibits tumor growth. Supplementation with lactate partly rescues the inhibitory effects mediated by ALDOA knockdown. Upon hypoxia, ALDOA is induced by hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and fat mass and obesity-associated protein-mediated N6 -methyladenosine modification through transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation, respectively. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas shows that elevated levels of ALDOA are significantly correlated with poor prognosis of patients with HCC. In a screen of Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs based on structured hierarchical virtual platforms, we identified the sulfamonomethoxine derivative compound 5 (cpd-5) as a potential inhibitor to target ALDOA, evidenced by the antitumor activity of cpd-5 in preclinical patient-derived xenograft models of HCC. Conclusions: Our work identifies ALDOA as an essential driver for HCC cell growth under hypoxia, and we demonstrate that inhibition of ALDOA in the hypoxic TME is a promising therapeutic strategy for treating HCC

RNA-binding protein RALY reprogrammes mitochondrial metabolism via mediating miRNA processing in colorectal cancer

Objective: Dysregulated cellular metabolism is a distinct hallmark of human colorectal cancer (CRC). However, metabolic programme rewiring during tumour progression has yet to be fully understood. Design: We analysed altered gene signatures during colorectal tumour progression, and used a complex of molecular and metabolic assays to study the regulation of metabolism in CRC cell lines, human patient-derived xenograft mouse models and tumour organoid models. Results: We identified a novel RNA-binding protein, RALY (also known as hnRNPCL2), that is highly associated with colorectal tumour aggressiveness. RALY acts as a key regulatory component in the Drosha complex, and promotes the post-transcriptional processing of a specific subset of miRNAs (miR-483, miR-676 and miR-877). These miRNAs systematically downregulate the expression of the metabolism-associated genes (ATP5I, ATP5G1, ATP5G3 and CYC1) and thereby reprogramme mitochondrial metabolism in the cancer cell. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) reveals that increased levels of RALY are associated with poor prognosis in the patients with CRC expressing low levels of mitochondrion-associated genes. Mechanistically, induced processing of these miRNAs is facilitated by their N6-methyladenosine switch under reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. Inhibition of the m6A methylation abolishes the RALY recognition of the terminal loop of the pri-miRNAs. Knockdown of RALY inhibits colorectal tumour growth and progression in vivo and in organoid models. Conclusions: Collectively, our results reveal a critical metabolism-centric role of RALY in tumour progression, which may lead to cancer therapeutics targeting RALY for treating CRC

Residue analysis of a CTL epitope of SARS-CoV spike protein by IFN-gamma production and bioinformatics prediction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV. The T cell epitopes of the SARS CoV spike protein are well known, but no systematic evaluation of the functional and structural roles of each residue has been reported for these antigenic epitopes. Analysis of the functional importance of side-chains by mutational study may exaggerate the effect by imposing a structural disturbance or an unusual steric, electrostatic or hydrophobic interaction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We demonstrated that N50 could induce significant IFN-gamma response from SARS-CoV S DNA immunized mice splenocytes by the means of ELISA, ELISPOT and FACS. Moreover, S366-374 was predicted to be an optimal epitope by bioinformatics tools: ANN, SMM, ARB and BIMAS, and confirmed by IFN-gamma response induced by a series of S358-374-derived peptides. Furthermore, each of S366-374 was replaced by alanine (A), lysine (K) or aspartic acid (D), respectively. ANN was used to estimate the binding affinity of single S366-374 mutants to H-2 Kd. Y367 and L374 were predicated to possess the most important role in peptide binding. Additionally, these one residue mutated peptides were synthesized, and IFN-gamma production induced by G368, V369, A371, T372 and K373 mutated S366-374 were decreased obviously.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrated that S366-374 is an optimal H-2 Kd CTL epitope in the SARS CoV S protein. Moreover, Y367, S370, and L374 are anchors in the epitope, while C366, G368, V369, A371, T372, and K373 may directly interact with TCR on the surface of CD8-T cells.</p

Synthesis of tyrocidine A and its analogues by spontaneous cyclization in aqueous solution

[GRAPHIC] Head-to-tail cyclization of peptides is a multistep process involving tedious C-terminal activation and side chain protection. Here we report a facile, quantitative cyclization method in aqueous ammonia solution for the total syntheses of the cyclic decapeptide antibiotic Tyrocidine A and its analogues from their fully deprotected linear thioester precursors on a solid support. This novel aqueous method is conformation-dependent and may be applicable to syntheses of other natural cyclic peptides

An improved deblocking agent for direct Fmoc solid-phase synthesis of peptide thioesters

To synthesize peptide thioesters directly on a solid support for use as substrate analogues for thioesterases in non-ribosomal peptide synthases, we modified a reagent compatible with Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis that efficiently removes the protecting group while keeping the thioester intact. The deprotecting reagent, consisting of DBU and HOBt, was successfully used to prepare a decapeptide in high yield. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved