Background Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression has been shown to associate with poor prognosis in a variety of solid tumors. However, the prognostic value of PD-L1 expression in cervical cancer is still controversial. Therefore, we carried a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic and clinicopathological impact of PD-L1 in cervical cancer. Methods A comprehensive literature search in was performed in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. The correlation between PD-L1 expression and overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and clinicopathological features was analyzed by hazard ratios (HR), odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Seven studies with 783 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The combined HR and 95% CI of OS was 2.52 (1.09–5.83), p = 0.031. The pooled results for PFS were HR = 2.07, 95% CI = 0.52–8.23, p = 0.302. The results of subgroup analysis showed that PD-L1 was a significant prognostic factor of poor OS in Asian patients (HR = 4.77, 95% CI = 3.02–7.54, p < 0.001) and of poor PFS in Asian patients (HR = 4.78, 95% CI = 1.77–12.91, p = 0.002). However, the pooled results suggested that PD-L1 was not significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, tumor size, FIGO stage, depth of invasion, lymph-vascular invasion, or age. Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis suggest that PD-L1 overexpression is related to poor OS in patients with cervical cancer and poor PFS in Asian patients with cervical cancer. This study also suggests that PD-L1 is a promising prognostic indicator for cervical cancer.

The occurrence of radioresistance is a clinical obstacle to endometrial cancer (EC) treatment and induces tumor relapse. In this study, we found that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) enriched in EC specimens were determined to present an M2-like phenotype. In vitro, the coculture of M2-polarized macrophages significantly downregulated the radiosensitivity of EC cells by releasing exosomes. Hsa_circ_0001610 was found to be abundant in exosomes derived from M2-polarized macrophages (EXOs), and hsa_circ_0001610 knockdown eliminated the reduction effect of EXOs on the radiosensitivity of EC cells. The following mechanism research revealed that hsa_circ_0001610 functioned as the competing endogenous RNA of miR-139-5p, thereby upregulating cyclin B1 expression, which is a vital pusher of radioresistance in several types of cancer by regulating the cell cycle. Hsa_circ_0001610 overexpression reduced the radiosensitivity of EC cells, which was then reversed by miR-139-5p overexpression. In vivo, the promotion effect of EXOs on xenograft tumor growth in nude mice treated with irradiation was further reinforced after hsa_circ_0001610 overexpression. In conclusion, TAM-derived exosomes transferred hsa_circ_0001610 to EC cells, and the overexpressed hsa_circ_0001610 in EC cells released cyclin B1 expression through adsorbing miR-139-5p, thereby weakening the radiosensitivity of EC cells.

Background: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) was the first identified ligand of programmed death-1 (PD-1). PD-1/PD-L1 interactions inhibit T cell-mediated immune responses, limit cytokine production, and promote tumor immune escape. Recently, many studies have investigated the prognostic value of PD-L1 expression in patients with melanoma. However, the results of these analyses remain a subject of debate. We have therefore carried out a metaanalysis to identify the prognostic role of PD-L1 in melanoma. Methods: A thorough medical literature search was performed in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase until October 2019. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to evaluate the correlation between PD-L1 overexpression and prognosis. Publication bias was evaluated using Begg's test and Egger's test. Results: Thirteen articles with 1062 enrolled patients were included in this meta-analysis. High PD-L1 expression did not correlate with overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.57-1.52, P = 0.781) or progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.43-1.54, P = 0.535). However, PD-L1 overexpression correlated with the absence of lymph node (LN) metastasis (OR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.22-0.95, P = 0.036). Further, there was no significant relationship between PD-L1 expression and sex (OR = 1.29, 95% CI 0.90-1.84, P = 0.159), age (OR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.51-1.57, P = 0.708), or Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (OR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.06-4.83, P = 0.592). Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggested that PD-L1 expression did not predict an inferior prognosis in patients with melanoma. However, high PD-L1 expression was associated with absence of LN metastasis in such patients.

Introduction: The present study aimed to explore the role of miR-499a-5p and its molecular mechanism in cervical cancer (CC). Methods: Quantitative real-time PCR (QRT-PCR) and Western blotting were performed to detect the expression of miR-499a-5p and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) in CC tissues and cell lines. The proliferation, migration, and invasion of CC cells were detected by MTT assay, wound healing assay, and Transwell assay. Apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry and alterations of apoptosis-related genes. The effect of miR-499a-5p on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was examined by determining the protein levels of EMT-associated genes. Then, colony formation assay was used to determine the radiosensitivity of CC cells. A dualluciferase reporter assay was performed to confirm the direct target of miR-499a-5p. Results: MiR-499a-5p was significantly downregulated in CC tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-499a-5p or eIF4E knockdown markedly inhibited cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and EMT, and enhanced apoptosis. eIF4E was predicted and verified as a target gene of miR-499a-5p. The influence of miR-499a-5p upregulation on proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration, EMT, and radiosensitivity was abrogated by eIF4E overexpression. Discussion: MiR-499a-5p promoted the apoptosis and radiosensitivity and inhibited proliferation, invasion, migration, and EMT by directly targeting eIF4E in CC cells.

The maintenance of the diverse cell types in a multicellular organism is one of the fundamental mysteries of biology. Modelling the dynamic regulatory relationships between the histone modifications and the gene expression across the diverse cell types is essential for the authors to understand the mechanisms of the epigenetic regulation. Here, the authors thoroughly assessed the histone modification enrichment profiles at the promoters and constructed quantitative models between the histone modification abundances and the gene expression in 12 human cell types. The author's results showed that the histone modifications at the promoters exhibited remarkably cell-type-dependent variability in the cell-type-specific (CTS) genes. They demonstrated that the variable profiles of the modifications are highly predictive for the dynamic changes of the gene expression across all the cell types. Their findings revealed the close relationship between the combinatorial patterns of the histone modifications and the CTS gene expression. They anticipate that the findings and the methods they used in this study could provide useful information for the future studies of the regulatory roles of the histone modifications in the CTS genes.