BackgroundFocal adhesion plays an essential role in tumour invasiveness and metastasis. Hippo component YAP has been widely reported to be involved in many aspects of tumour biology. However, its role in focal adhesion regulation in breast cancer remains unexplored.MethodsTissue microarray was used to evaluate YAP expression in clinical breast cancer specimens by immunohistochemical staining. Cell migration and invasion abilities were measured by Transwell assay. A cell adhesion assay was used to measure the ability of cell adhesion to gelatin. The focal adhesion was visualized through immunofluorescence. Phosphorylated FAK and other proteins were detected by Western blot analysis. Gene expression profiling was used to screen differently expressed genes, and gene ontology enrichment was performed using DAVID software. The gene mRNA levels were measured by quantitative real-time PCR. The activity of the THBS1-promoter was evaluated by dual luciferase assay. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was used to verify whether YAP could bind to the THBS1-promoter region. The prediction of potential protein-interaction was performed with the String program. The ChIP sequence data of TEAD was obtained from the ENCODE database and analysed via the ChIP-seek tool. The gene expression dataset (GSE30480) of purified tumour cells from primary breast tumour tissues and metastatic lymph nodes was used in the gene set enrichment analysis. Prognostic analysis of the TCGA dataset was performed by the SurvExpress program. Gene expression correlation of the TCGA dataset was analysed via R2: Genomics Analysis and Visualization Platform.ResultsOur study provides evidence that YAP acts as a promoter of focal adhesion and tumour invasiveness via regulating FAK phosphorylation in breast cancer. Further experiments reveal that YAP could induce FAK phosphorylation through a TEAD-dependent manner. Using gene expression profiling and bioinformatics analysis, we identify the FAK upstream gene, thrombospondin 1, as a direct transcriptional target of YAP-TEAD. Silencing THBS1 could reverse the YAP-induced FAK activation and focal adhesion.ConclusionOur results unveil a new signal axis, YAP/THBS1/FAK, in the modulation of cell adhesion and invasiveness, and provides new insights into the crosstalk between Hippo signalling and focal adhesion.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-018-0850-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Despite advances in DNA methylome analyses of cells and tissues, current techniques for genome-scale profiling of DNA methylation in circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) remain limited. Here we describe a methylated CpG tandems amplification and sequencing (MCTA-Seq) method that can detect thousands of hypermethylated CpG islands simultaneously in ccfDNA. This highly sensitive technique can work with genomic DNA as little as 7.5 pg, which is equivalent to 2.5 copies of the haploid genome. We have analyzed a cohort of tissue and plasma samples (n = 151) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and control subjects, identifying dozens of high-performance markers in blood for detecting small HCC (≤ 3 cm). Among these markers, 4 (RGS10, ST8SIA6, RUNX2 and VIM) are mostly specific for cancer detection, while the other 15, classified as a novel set, are already hypermethylated in the normal liver tissues. Two corresponding classifiers have been established, combination of which achieves a sensitivity of 94% with a specificity of 89% for the plasma samples from HCC patients (n = 36) and control subjects including cirrhosis patients (n = 17) and normal individuals (n = 38). Notably, all 15 alpha-fetoprotein-negative HCC patients were successfully identified. Comparison between matched plasma and tissue samples indicates that both the cancer and noncancerous tissues contribute to elevation of the methylation markers in plasma. MCTA-Seq will facilitate the development of ccfDNA methylation biomarkers and contribute to the improvement of cancer detection in a clinical setting.
Phenolic estrogen pollutants, a class of typical endocrinedisrupting chemicals, have attracted public attention due to their estrogenic activities of imitating steroid hormone 17b-estradiol (E 2 ) effects. Exposure to these pollutants may disrupt insulin secretion and be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. In this study, we investigated the direct effects of phenolic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES), octylphenol (OP), nonylphenol (NP), and bisphenol A (BPA) on rat pancreatic islets in vitro, whose estrogenic activities were DESONPOOPOBPA. Isolated b-cells were exposed to E 2 , DES, OP, NP, or BPA (0, 0 . 1, 0 . 5, 2 . 5, 25, and 250 mg/l) for 24 h. Parameters of insulin secretion, content, and morphology of b-cells were measured. In the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion test, E 2 and DES increased insulin secretion in a dose-dependent manner in a 16 . 7 mM glucose condition. However, for BPA, NP, or OP with lower estrogenic activity, the relationship between the doses and insulin secretion was an inverted U-shape. Moreover, OP, NP, or BPA (25 mg/l) impaired mitochondrial function in b-cells and induced remarkable swelling of mitochondria with loss of distinct cristae structure within the membrane, which was accompanied by disruption of mRNA expression of genes playing a key role in b-cell function (Glut2 (Slc2a2), Gck, Pdx1, Hnf1a, Rab27a, and Snap25), and mitochondrial function (Ucp2 and Ogdh). Therefore, these phenolic estrogens can disrupt islet morphology and b-cell function, and mitochondrial dysfunction is suggested to play an important role in the impairment of b-cell function.
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