We examine whether a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are associated with real activities earnings management (RAEM) based on stakeholder perspective. We also investigate whether corporate governance (CG) moderates the relationship between CSR and RAEM. Using a sample of 1432 firm-year observations of Korean-listed firms during 2005-2010, we find that socially responsible firms are significantly and negatively associated with RAEM. More importantly, we find that this relationship is moderated by CG as measured by a composite CG index. These results remain robust after we perform various sensitivity analyses. This study primarily contributes to the literature on CSR, CG, and RAEM by providing evidence for the moderating role of CG on the relationship between CSR and RAEM.

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising cancer treatment. However, the presence of immune-refractory tumor cells limits its clinical success by blocking amplification of anti-tumor immunity. Previously, we found that immune selection by immunotherapy drives the evolution of tumors toward multi-modal resistant and stem-like phenotypes via transcription induction of AKT co-activator TCL1A by NANOG. Here, we report a crucial role of HSP90A at the crossroads between NANOG-TCL1A axis and multi-aggressive properties of immune-edited tumor cells by identifying HSP90AA1 as a NANOG transcriptional target. Furthermore, we demonstrate that HSP90A potentiates AKT activation through TCL1Astabilization, thereby contributing to the multi-aggressive properties in NANOG high tumor cells. Importantly, HSP90 inhibition sensitized immune-refractory tumor to adoptive T cell transfer as well as PD-1 blockade, and re-invigorated the immune cycle of tumor-reactive T cells. Our findings implicate that the HSP90A-TCL1A-AKT pathway ignited by NANOG is a central molecular axis and a potential target for immune-refractory tumor.

Due to its tendency to recur and acquire chemoresistance quickly, bladder cancer (BC) remains to be an elusive and difficult disease. Patients with recurrent and chemoresistant BC have an extremely poor prognosis. One possible approach that may provide insightful and valuable information regarding resistance mechanisms is looking into the lipid metabolism of BC cells. Metabolism of lipids is essential for cancer cells and is associated with the regulation of a variety of key cellular processes and functions. This study conducted a comparative lipidomic profiling of two isogenic human T24 bladder cancer cell lines, one of which is clinically characterized as cisplatin-sensitive (T24S) and the other as cisplatin-resistant (T24R). Immunohistochemistry analysis revealed that expression of cytosolic acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2) is positively correlated with aggressive BC. Ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) analysis profiled a total of 1,864 lipids and levels of differentially expressed lipids suspected of being associated with cisplatin resistance were determined. In addition, we found that ACSS2 inhibition greatly perturbed levels of metabolites, including CE(18:1), CE(22:6), TG(49:1), and TG(53:2). This study broadens our current knowledge on the links between cisplatin resistance and lipid metabolism in aggressive BC and suggests potential biomarkers for identifying higher-risk patients.

Immune selection drives tumor cells to acquire refractory phenotypes. We previously demonstrated that cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated immune pressure enriches NANOG + tumor cells with stem-like and immune-refractory properties that make them resistant to CTLs. Here, we report that the emergence of refractory phenotypes is highly associated with an aberrant macroautophagic/autophagic state of the NANOG + tumor cells and that the autophagic phenotype arises through transcriptional induction of MAP1LC3B/LC3B by NANOG. Furthermore, we found that upregulation of LC3B expression contributes to an increase in EGF secretion. The subsequent hyperactivation of EGFR-AKT signaling rendered NANOG + tumor cells resistant to CTL killing. The NANOG-LC3B-p-EGFR axis was preserved across various types of human cancer and correlated negatively with the overall survival of cervical cancer patients. Inhibition of LC3B in immune-refractory tumor models rendered tumors susceptible to adoptive T-cell transfer, as well as PDCD1/PD-1 blockade, and led to successful, long-term control of the disease. Thus, our findings demonstrate a novel link among immune-resistance, stem-like phenotypes, and LC3B-mediated autophagic secretion in immune-refractory tumor cells, and implicate the LC3B-p-EGFR axis as a central molecular target for controlling NANOG + immune-refractory cancer.

Chronic inflammation is a potential systemic risk factor for many bladder dysfunctions, including interstitial cystitis (IC). However, the underlying mechanism through which a healthy bladder protects itself from inflammatory triggers remains unknown. In this study, we identified odor compounds in urine obtained from IC patients and healthy controls. Using comprehensive solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-TOF-MS) profiling and bioinformatics, we found that levels of urinary volatile metabolites, such as menthol, were significantly reduced in IC patients, compared to healthy controls. In an attempt to understand the mechanistic meaning of our volatile metabolites data and the role of menthol in the immune system, we performed two independent experiments: (a) cytokine profiling, and (b) DNA microarray. Our findings suggest that lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated inflammatory events, such as the production and secretion of inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β) and the activation of NF-κB and associated proteins within a large signaling network (e.g., Akt, TLR1, TNFAIP3, and NF-κB), are suppressed by the presence of menthol. These findings broaden our knowledge on the role of urinary menthol in suppressing inflammatory events and provide potential new strategies for alleviating both the odor and inflammation associated with IC.

This study on interstitial cystitis (IC) aims to identify a unique urine metabolomic profile associated with IC, which can be defined as an unpleasant sensation including pain and discomfort related to the urinary bladder, without infection or other identifiable causes. Although the burden of IC on the American public is immense in both human and financial terms, there is no clear diagnostic test for IC, but rather it is a disease of exclusion. Very little is known about the clinically useful urinary biomarkers of IC, which are desperately needed. Untargeted comprehensive metabolomic profiling was performed using gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry to compare urine specimens of IC patients or health donors. The study profiled 200 known and 290 unknown metabolites. The majority of the thirty significantly changed metabolites before false discovery rate correction were unknown compounds. Partial least square discriminant analysis clearly separated IC patients from controls. The high number of unknown compounds hinders useful biological interpretation of such predictive models. Given that urine analyses have great potential to be adapted in clinical practice, research has to be focused on the identification of unknown compounds to uncover important clues about underlying disease mechanisms.

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We report the synthesis of air-stable Pd(i) dimer complexes featuring biaryl phosphine ligands. Catalytic experiments suggest that these complexes are competent precatalysts that can mediate cross-coupling amination reactions between aryl halides with both aliphatic and aromatic amine nucleophiles. This work represents an expansion of the air-stable precatalyst toolbox for Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling transformations.