DNA Vaccination: Using the Patient's Immune System to Overcome Cancer

Cancer is one of the most challenging diseases of today. Optimization of standard treatment protocols consisting of the main columns of chemo- and radiotherapy followed or preceded by surgical intervention is often limited by toxic side effects and induction of concomitant malignancies and/or development of resistant mechanisms. This requires the development of therapeutic strategies which are as effective as standard therapies but permit the patients a life without severe negative side effects. Along this line, the development of immunotherapy in general and the innovative concept of DNA vaccination in particular may provide a venue to achieve this goal. Using the patient's own immune system by activation of humoral and cellular immune responses to target the cancer cells has shown first promising results in clinical trials and may allow reduced toxicity standard therapy regimen in the future. The main challenge of this concept is to transfer the plethora of convincing preclinical and early clinical results to an effective treatment of patients

Artificial neural network (ANN) velocity better identifies benign prostatic hyperplasia but not prostate cancer compared with PSA velocity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To validate an artificial neural network (ANN) based on the combination of PSA velocity (PSAV) with a %free PSA-based ANN to enhance the discrimination between prostate cancer (PCa) and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study comprised 199 patients with PCa (n = 49) or BPH (n = 150) with at least three PSA estimations and a minimum of three months intervals between the measurements. Patients were classified into three categories according to PSAV and ANN velocity (ANNV) calculated with the %free based ANN "ProstataClass". Group 1 includes the increasing PSA and ANN values, Group 2 the stable values, and Group 3 the decreasing values.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>71% of PCa patients typically have an increasing PSAV. In comparison, the ANNV only shows this in 45% of all PCa patients. However, BPH patients benefit from ANNV since the stable values are significantly more (83% vs. 65%) and increasing values are less frequently (11% vs. 21%) if the ANNV is used instead of the PSAV.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PSAV has only limited usefulness for the detection of PCa with only 71% increasing PSA values, while 29% of all PCa do not have the typical PSAV. The ANNV cannot improve the PCa detection rate but may save 11–17% of unnecessary prostate biopsies in known BPH patients.</p

Integrated microRNA and mRNA Signature Associated with the Transition from the Locally Confined to the Metastasized Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Exemplified by miR-146-5p

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by interfering translation or stability of target transcripts. This interplay between miRNA and their mRNA has been proposed as an important process in cancer development and progression. We have investigated molecular networks impacted by predicted mRNA targets of differentially expressed miRNAs in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) diagnosed with or without metastasis. Material and Methods miRNA and mRNA microarray expression profiles derived from primary ccRCC from patients with (16 samples) or without diagnosed metastasis (22 samples) were used to identify anti-correlated miRNA-mRNA interaction in ccRCC. For this purpose, Ingenuity pathway analysis microRNA Target Filter, which enables prioritization of experimentally validated and predicted mRNA targets was used. By applying an expression pairing tool, the analysis was focused on targets exhibiting altered expression in our analysis, finding miRNAs and their target genes with opposite or same expression. The resulting identified interactions were revalidated by RT-qPCR in another cohort of ccRCC patients. A selection of the predicted miRNA-mRNA interactions was tested by functional analyses using miRNA knockdown and overexpression experiments in renal cancer cell lines. Results Among the significantly differentially expressed miRNAs, we have identified three miRNAs (miR-146a-5p, miR-128a-3p, and miR-17-5p) that were upregulated in primary tumors from patients without metastasis and downregulated in primary tumors from patients with metastasis. We have further identified mRNA targets, which expression were inversely correlated to these 3 miRNAs, and have been previously experimentally demonstrated in cancer setting in humans. Specifically, we showed that CXCL8/IL8, UHRF1, MCM10, and CDKN3 were downregulated and targeted by miR- 146a-5p. The interaction between miR-146a-5p and their targets CXCL8 and UHRF1 was validated in cell culture experiments. Conclusions We identified novel target genes of dysregulated miRNAs, which are involved in the transition from primary RCC without metastases into tumors generating distant metastasis

The FUSE binding proteins FBP1 and FBP3 are potential c-myc regulators in renal, but not in prostate and bladder cancer

BACKGROUND: The three far-upstream element (FUSE) binding proteins (FBP1, FBP2, and FBP3) belong to an ancient family of single-stranded DNA binding proteins which are required for proper regulation of the c-myc proto-oncogene. Whereas it is known that c-myc alterations play a completely different role in various carcinomas of the urogenital tract, the relevance of FBPs is unclear. Methods: FBP1, FBP3 and c-myc expression was studied in 105 renal cell, 95 prostate and 112 urinary bladder carcinomas by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays. High rates of FBP1 and FBP3 expression were observed in all cancer types. RESULTS: There was a concomitant up-regulation of FBP1 and FBP3 in renal cell and prostate carcinomas (p<0.001 both). C-myc expression was detectable in 21% of prostate, 30% of renal and 34% of urothelial carcinomas. Interestingly, strong FBP1 and FBP3 expression was associated with c-myc up-regulation in clear cell renal cell carcinomas (p<0.001 and 0.05 resp.), but not in bladder or prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The correlation between FBP1/FBP3, c-myc and high proliferation rate in renal cell carcinoma provides strong in vivo support for the suggested role of FBP1 and FBP3 as activators of c-myc. The frequent up-regulation of FBP1 and FBP3 in urothelial and prostate carcinoma suggests that FBPs also have an important function in gene regulation of these tumors

Reference miRNAs for miRNAome Analysis of Urothelial Carcinomas

Background/Objective: Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) is widely used in microRNA (miRNA) expression studies on cancer. To compensate for the analytical variability produced by the multiple steps of the method, relative quantification of the measured miRNAs is required, which is based on normalization to endogenous reference genes. No study has been performed so far on reference miRNAs for normalization of miRNA expression in urothelial carcinoma. The aim of this study was to identify suitable reference miRNAs for miRNA expression studies by RT-qPCR in urothelial carcinoma. Methods: Candidate reference miRNAs were selected from 24 urothelial carcinoma and normal bladder tissue samples by miRNA microarrays. The usefulness of these candidate reference miRNAs together with the commonly for normalization purposes used small nuclear RNAs RNU6B, RNU48, and Z30 were thereafter validated by RT-qPCR in 58 tissue samples and analyzed by the algorithms geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper. Principal Findings: Based on the miRNA microarray data, a total of 16 miRNAs were identified as putative reference genes. After validation by RT-qPCR, miR-101, miR-125a-5p, miR-148b, miR-151-5p, miR-181a, miR-181b, miR-29c, miR-324-3p, miR-424, miR-874, RNU6B, RNU48, and Z30 were used for geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper analyses that gave different combinations of recommended reference genes for normalization. Conclusions: The present study provided the first systematic analysis for identifying suitable reference miRNAs for miRNA expression studies of urothelial carcinoma by RT-qPCR. Different combinations of reference genes resulted in reliable expression data for both strongly and less strongly altered miRNAs. Notably, RNU6B, which is the most frequently used reference gene for miRNA studies, gave inaccurate normalization. The combination of four (miR-101, miR-125a-5p, miR-148b, and miR-151-5p) or three (miR-148b, miR-181b, and miR-874,) reference miRNAs is recommended for normalization

Identifizierung und Charakterisierung evolutionär konservierter Komponenten des Protein-Translokationsapparates im Endoplasmatischen Retikulum

Im Gegensatz zur den monomeren Leaderpeptidasen der bakteriellen Plasmamembran bestehen die eukaryotischen Signalpeptidasen der ER-Membran aus einem heteromeren Protein-Komplex. In der Hefe S. cerevisiae setzt sich die Signalpeptidase aus den vier Membranproteinen Sec11p, Spc1p, Spc2p und Spc3p zusammen. Neben der zur prokaryontischen Leaderpeptidase homologen Untereinheit Sec11p wird auch Spc3p benötigt um die Spaltungsfunktion in der Zelle auszuüben. Die Deletion von SPC3 führt zu einer lethalen Akkumulation von sekretorischen Vorstufenproteinen in vivo, sowie zum Verlust der Spaltungsaktivität in vitro. Spc1p und Spc2p sind nicht essentiell für die Hefe. Für Spc2p konnte jedoch gezeigt werden, daß die Signalpeptidase über die Spc2p Untereinheit mit den b-Untereinheiten des Sec61-Komplexes und des Ssh1-Komplexes interagiert. Vermutlich wird es so dem Komplex ermöglicht, während des Translokationsprozesses engen Kontakt zu der im Translokationskanal befindlichen Signalsequenz aufzunehmen. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wurden neue Komponenten aus der ER Membran von Säugern aufgereinigt. Dabei wurde ein ribosomenfreier Sec61-Komplex entdeckt, der mit zwei weiteren Membranproteinen assoziiert ist. Die beiden neuen Membranproteine weisen Homologien zu essentiellen Untereinheiten des postranslational aktiven Sec-Komplexes der Hefe S. cerevisiae auf. Die Rolle des neu entdeckten Säugerkomplexes während der Proteintranslokation ist noch unbekannt, in der Arbeit werden mögliche Funktionen des Komplexes diskutiert.In contrast to the monomer leaderpeptidase of the prokaryotic plasmamembrane, the eukaryotic signalpeptidase of the ER-membrane is a heteromer protein complex. In yeast the signalpeptidase consist of the four subunits Sec11p, Spc1p, Spc2p and Spc3p. Additional to Sec11p also Spc3p is essential for cell growth and cell life. The depletion of Spc3p cause lethal accumulation of precursor proteins in vivo and lost of cleavage activity in vitro. Spc1p and Spc2p are not essential for the cell. We show here, that the Spc2p subunit interacts with the ß-subunits of the Sec61- and the Ssh1-complex. These data implicate that Spc2p facilitates the interactions between different components of the translocation site. In yeast, efficient protein transport across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane may occurco-translationally or post-translationally. The latter process is mediated by a membrane protein complex that consists of the Sec61p complex and the Sec62p-Sec63p subcomplex. In contrast, in mammalian cells protein translocation is almost exclusively co-translational. This transport depends on the Sec61 complex, which is homologous to the yeast Sec61p complex and has been identified in mammals as a ribosome-bound pore-forming membrane protein complex. We report here the existence of ribosome-free mammalian Sec61 complexes that associate with two ubiquitous proteins of the ER membrane. According to primary sequence analysis both proteins display homology to the yeast proteins Sec62p and Sec63p and are therefore named Sec62 and Sec63, respectively. The probable function of the mammalian Sec61-Sec62-Sec63 complex is discussed with respect to its abundance in ER membranes, which, in contrast to yeast ER membranes, apparently lack efficient post-translational translocation activity

Identification of Metastamirs as Metastasis-associated MicroRNAs in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinomas

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a pivotal role in cancerogenesis and cancer progression, but their specific role in the metastasis of clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCC) is still limited. Based on microRNA microarray analyses from normal and cancerous samples of ccRCC specimens and from bone metastases of ccRCC patients, we identified a set of 57 differentially expressed microRNAs between these three sample groups of ccRCC. A selected panel of 33 miRNAs was subsequently validated by RT-qPCR on total 57 samples. Then, 30 of the 33 examined miRNAs were confirmed to be deregulated. A stepwise down-regulation of miRNA expression from normal, over primary tumor to metastatic tissue samples, was found to be typical. A total of 23 miRNAs (miR-10b/-19a/-19b/-20a/-29a/-29b/-29c/-100/-101/-126/-127/-130/-141/-143/-145/-148a/-192/-194/-200c/-210/-215/-370/-514) were down-regulated in metastatic tissue samples compared with normal tissue. This down-regulated expression in metastatic tissue in comparison with primary tumor tissue was also present in 21 miRNAs. In cell culture experiments with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and trichostatin A, epigenetic modifications were shown as one reason of this down-regulation. The altered miRNA profiles, comprising newly identified metastasis-associated miRNAs, termed metastamir and the predicted miRNA-target interactions together with the significant correlations of miRNAs that were either lost or newly appeared in the studied sample groups, afford a solid basis for further functional analyses of individual miRNAs in RCC metastatic progression.</p

Expression of putative mRNAs targeted of miR-146a-5p.

<p>The relative mRNA expression levels of the potential miR-146a-5p targets BRCA1, MCM10, CDKN3, CXCL8/IL8, and UHRF1 were measured in duplicates in a pool of normal renal tissue and tissue samples from primary ccRCC-M0 and ccRCC-M1 patients by RT-qPCR. Data were normalized with PPIA reference gene [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0148746#pone.0148746.ref019" target="_blank">19</a>], (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0148746#pone.0148746.s002" target="_blank">S2 Fig</a>). BRCA1, CDKN3, MCM10, CXCL8/IL8, and UHRF1 are lower in tissue samples of ccRCC without metastasis compared to ccRCC with metastasis.</p

Expression of miR-146a-5p in ccRCC tissue samples.

<p>RT-qPCR analysis of the expression of miR-146a-5p in ccRCC tissue samples was performed. The data are represented in a scatter dot plots with means for normal, non-malignant renal tissue samples (N; n = 10), primary tumor samples without diagnosed metastasis (ccRCC-M0; n = 10), and primary tumor samples with diagnosed metastasis (ccRCC-M1; n = 10). Normalization was assessed with the reference miRNA combination miR-28, miR-103, and miR-106a [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0148746#pone.0148746.ref018" target="_blank">18</a>], (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0148746#pone.0148746.s002" target="_blank">S2 Fig</a>). Statistical differences were calculated using the Mann-Whitney U test between the groups.</p