Twist1, a bHLH transcription factor, promotes breast tumor cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasiveness and metastasis. However, the mechanisms responsible for regulating Twist1 stability are unknown in these cells. We identified the serine 68 (S68) as a major phosphorylation site of Twist1 by mass spectrometry and with specific antibodies. This S68 is phosphorylated by p38, JNK and ERK1/2 in vitro, and its phosphorylation levels positively correlate with Twist1 protein levels in HEK293 and breast cancer cells. Prevention of S68 phosphorylation by an alanine (A) mutation (S68A) dramatically accelerates Twist1 ubiquitination and degradation. Furthermore, activation of MAPKs by an active Ras protein or TGF-β treatment significantly increases S68 phosphorylation and Twist1 protein levels without altering Twist1 mRNA expression, while blocking of MAPK activities by either specific inhibitors or dominant negative inhibitory mutants effectively reduces the levels of both induced and un-induced S68 phosphorylation and Twist protein. Accordingly, the mammary epithelial cells expressing Twist1 exhibit much higher degrees of EMT and invasiveness upon stimulation with TGF-β or the active Ras as well as taxol resistance compared to same cells expressing the S68A-Twist1 mutant. Importantly, the levels of S68 phosphorylation in the invasive human breast ductal carcinomas positively correlate with the levels of Twist1 protein and JNK activity and are significantly higher in progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-positive breast cancers. These findings suggest that activation of MAPKs by tyrosine kinase receptors and Ras signaling pathways may substantially promote breast tumor cell EMT and metastasis via phoshorylation and stabilization of Twist1.

The ACE2 gene is a receptor of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). To analyze the expression profiles and clinical significances for this gene in humans, RNA-seq data representing 27 different tissues were analyzed using NCBI; total RNA was extracted from different tissues of mouse and semi-quantitative reverse transcriptional-polymerase chain reaction (Q-RT-PCR) was carried out. Immunohistochemistry expression profiles in normal tissues and cancer tissues and TCGA survival analysis in renal and liver cancer were conducted. ACE2 was highly conserved in different species. In normal tissues, ACE2 expression distributions were organ-specific, mainly in the kidney, male testis and female breast, and cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. High level of expression in testis, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal system indicated that SARS-CoV-2 might not only attack the lungs, but also affect other organs, particularly the testes, thus it may severely damage male sexual development for younger male and lead to infertility in an adult male, if he contracted COVID-19. On the other side, high expression of ACE2 was correlated with increased survival rate in renal and liver cancer, indicating that ACE2 is a prognostic marker in both renal cancer and liver cancers. Thus, the ACE2 is a functional receptor for SARS-CoV-2 and has a potential anti-tumor role in cancer. Taken together, this study may not only provide potential clues for further medical pathogenesis of COVID-19 and male fertility, but also indicate the clinical significance of the role of the ACE2 gene in cancer.

Steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3/AIB1) is an oncogene that is amplified and overexpressed in many human cancers. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate ‘activated SRC-3 oncoprotein’ turnover during tumorigenesis remain to be elucidated. Here we report thatspeckle-type POZ protein (SPOP), a cullin 3 (CUL3)-based ubiquitin ligase, is responsible for SRC-3 ubiquitination and proteolysis. SPOP interacts directly with an SRC-3 phospho-degron in a phosphorylation dependent manner. Casein kinase Iε phosphorylates the S102 in this degron and promotes SPOP-dependent turnover of SRC-3. shRNA knockdown and overexpression experiments substantiated that the SPOP/CUL3/Rbx1 ubiquitin ligase complex promotes SRC-3 turnover. A systematic analysis of the SPOP genomic locus revealed that a high percentage of genomic loss or LOH occurs at this locus in breast cancers. Furthermore, we demonstrate that restoration of SPOP expression inhibited SRC-3-mediated oncogenic signaling and tumorigenesis, thus positioning SPOP as a tumor suppressor.

Proteins that promote epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) are associated with cancer metastasis. Inhibition of EMT regulators may be a promising approach in cancer therapy. In this study, Thymoquinone (TQ) was used to treat cancer cell lines to investigate its effects on EMT-regulatory proteins and cancer metastasis. We show that TQ inhibited cancer cell growth, migration and invasion in a dose-dependent manner. At the molecular level, TQ treatment decreased the transcriptional activity of the TWIST1 promoter and the mRNA expression of TWIST1, an EMT-promoting transcription factor. Accordingly, TQ treatment also decreased the expression of TWIST1-upregulated genes such as N-Cadherin and increased the expression of TWIST1-repressed genes such as E-Cadherin, resulting in a reduction of cell migration and invasion. TQ treatment also inhibited the growth and metastasis of cancer cell-derived xenograft tumors in mice but partially attenuated the migration and invasion in TWIST1-overexpressed cell lines. Furthermore, we found that TQ treatment enhanced the promoter DNA methylation of the TWIST1 gene in BT 549 cells. Together, these results demonstrate that TQ treatment inhibits TWIST1 promoter activity and decreases its expression, leading to the inhibition of cancer cell migration, invasion and metastasis. These findings suggest TQ as a potential small molecular inhibitor of cancer growth and metastasis.

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Thymoquinone is an anticancer phytochemical commonly found in black cumin. In this review, we discuss the potential of thymoquinone as anticancer molecule, its mechanism of action and future usage in clinical applications. Thymoquinone exhibits anticancer activity via numerous mechanisms of action, specifically by showing selective antioxidant and oxidant activity, interfering with DNA structure, affecting carcinogenic signaling molecules/pathways and immunomodulation. In vitro activity of thymoquinone has been further implicated in animal models of cancer; however, no clinical application has been proven yet. This is the optimum time to focus on clinical trials for developing thymoquinone as a future drug in cancer therapeutics.

MicroRNA-34a (miR-34a) plays an essential role against tumorigenesis and progression of cancer metastasis. Here, we analyzed the expression, targets and functional effects of miR-34a on epithelial to mesenchymal transition-inducing transcription factors (EMT-TFs), such as TWIST1, SLUG and ZEB1/2, and an EMT-inducing protein NOTCH1 in breast cancer (BC) cell migration and invasion and its correlation with tumorigenesis and clinical outcomes. Expression of miR-34a is downregulated in human metastatic breast cancers (MBC) compared to normal breast tissues and is negatively correlated with clinicopathological features of MBC patients. Ectopic expression of miR-34a in MBC cell-line BT-549 significantly inhibits cell migration and invasion, but exhibits no clear effect on BC cell growth. We found that miR-34a is able to inactivate EMT signaling pathway with mediatory of NOTCH1, TWIST1, and ZEB1 upon 3′-UTR activity in MBC cell lines, but has no inhibitory effects on SLUG and ZEB2. Furthermore, we investigated the synergistic effects of Thymoquinone (TQ) and miR-34a together on the expression of EMT-associated proteins. Results showed that co-delivery of miR-34a and TQ is able to inactivate EMT signaling pathway by directly targeting TWIST1 and ZEB1 in BT-549 cell line, indicating that they might be a promising therapeutic combination against breast cancer metastasis. Epigenetic inactivation of the EMT-TFs/miR-34a pathway can potentially alter the equilibrium of these regulations, facilitating EMT and metastasis in BC. Altogether, our findings suggest that miR-34a alone could serve as a potential therapeutic agent for MBC, and together with TQ, their therapeutic potential is synergistically enhanced.

P-TEFb, comprised of CDK9 and a cyclin T subunit, is a global transcriptional elongation factor important for most RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcription. P-TEFb facilitates transcription elongation in part by phosphorylating Ser2 of the heptapeptide repeat of the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of pol II. Previous studies have shown that P-TEFb is subjected to negative regulation by forming an inactive complex with 7SK small RNA and HEXIM1. In an effort to investigate the molecular mechanism by which corepressor N-CoR mediates transcription repression, we identified HEXIM1 as an N-CoR-interacting protein. This finding led us to test whether the P-TEFb complex is regulated by acetylation. We demonstrate that CDK9 is an acetylated protein in cells and can be acetylated by p300 in vitro. Through both in vitro and in vivo assays, we identified lysine 44 of CDK9 as a major acetylation site. We present evidence that CDK9 is regulated by N-CoR and its associated HDAC3 and that acetylation of CDK9 affects its ability to phosphorylate the CTD of pol II. These results suggest that acetylation of CDK9 is an important posttranslational modification that is involved in regulating P-TEFb transcriptional elongation function.Transcription by RNA polymerase II (pol II) is a multistep process including preinitiation, initiation, promoter clearance, elongation, and termination (48). Phosphorylation of the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of pol II plays a critical role in transition from transcriptional initiation to elongation as well as in coordinating transcription elongation and RNA maturation (7, 30). P-TEFb, a positive transcription elongation factor originally identified based on its ability to stimulate 5,6-dichloro-1-␤-D-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole-sensitive transcription of long transcripts in vitro (36), stimulates transcription elongation by preferentially phosphorylating Ser2 of the heptapeptide repeat of the CTD of the largest subunit of pol II (35). P-TEFb is a heterodimeric complex comprised of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) and a regulatory cyclin subunit of the T family, namely T1, T2, or K1 (13, 43). CDK9 is a cdc2-related, ubiquitously expressed kinase protein (8). P-TEFb also enhances transcriptional elongation by phosphorylating and counteracting the inhibitory factors DSIF and NELF (5,24,51,54).In addition to its function as a global transcriptional elongation factor important for most pol II transcription (3, 47), activation of CDK9 kinase activity has also been linked to specific events such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication (20, 65), cardiac hypertrophy (45), and activation of lymphocytes (19). In this regard, P-TEFb is also known as TAK, an HIV Tat-associated kinase (20). Regulation of HIV transcription is primarily mediated by the HIV Tat protein, which recruits TAK/P-TEFb to enhance productive elongation of viral transcripts (11,12,64). Activation of P-TEFb induces heart hypertrophy in transgenic mice and induces myocyte enlargement in tissu...