Activation of miR-9 by human papillomavirus in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide, leading to about 300,000 deaths each year. Most cervical cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. However, persistent transcriptional activity of HPV oncogenes, which indicates active roles of HPV in cervical cancer maintenance and progression, has not been well characterized. Using our recently developed assays for comprehensive profiling of HPV E6/E7 transcripts, we have detected transcriptional activities of 10 high-risk HPV strains from 87 of the 101 cervical tumors included in the analysis. These HPV-positive patients had significantly better survival outcome compared with HPV-negative patients, indicating HPV transcriptional activity as a favorable prognostic marker for cervical cancer. Furthermore, we have determined microRNA (miRNA) expression changes that were correlated with tumor HPV status. Our profiling and functional analyses identified miR-9 as the most activated miRNA by HPV E6 in a p53-independent manner. Further target validation and functional studies showed that HPV-induced miR-9 activation led to significantly increased cell motility by downregulating multiple gene targets involved in cell migration. Thus, our work helps to understand the molecular mechanisms as well as identify potential therapeutic targets for cervical cancer and other HPV-induced cancers

Integrating imaging and RNA-seq improves outcome prediction in cervical cancer

Approaches using a single type of data have been applied to classify human tumors. Here we integrate imaging features and transcriptomic data using a prospectively collected tumor bank. We demonstrate that increased maximum standardized uptake value on pretreatment 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography correlates with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) gene expression. We derived and validated 3 major molecular groups, namely squamous epithelial, squamous mesenchymal, and adenocarcinoma, using prospectively collected institutional (n = 67) and publicly available (n = 304) data sets. Patients with tumors of the squamous mesenchymal subtype showed inferior survival outcomes compared with the other 2 molecular groups. High mesenchymal gene expression in cervical cancer cells positively correlated with the capacity to form spheroids and with resistance to radiation. CaSki organoids were radiation-resistant but sensitive to the glycolysis inhibitor, 2-DG. These experiments provide a strategy for response prediction by integrating large data sets, and highlight the potential for metabolic therapy to influence EMT phenotypes in cervical cancer