Articles

Regulatory mechanisms of immune checkpoints PD-L1 and CTLA-4 in cancer

The cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4)/B7 and programmed death 1 (PD-1)/ programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) are two most representative immune checkpoint pathways, which negatively regula...

Authors: Hao Zhang, Ziyu Dai, Wantao Wu, Zeyu Wang, Nan Zhang, Liyang Zhang, Wen-Jing Zeng, Zhixiong Liu and Quan Cheng

LINC00511 drives invasive behavior in hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating exosome secretion and invadopodia formation

Tumor cells are known to release large numbers of exosomes containing active substances that participate in cancer progression. Abnormally expressed long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been confirmed to regulat...

Authors: Xueqiang Peng, Xinyu Li, Shuo Yang, Mingyao Huang, Shibo Wei, Yingbo Ma, Yan Li, Bo Wu, Hongyuan Jin, Bowen Li, Shilei Tang, Qing Fan, Jingang Liu, Liang Yang and Hangyu Li

Group III phospholipase A2 downregulation attenuated survival and metastasis in ovarian cancer and promotes chemo-sensitization

Aberrant lipogenicity and deregulated autophagy are common in most advanced human cancer and therapeutic strategies to exploit these pathways are currently under consideration. Group III Phospholipase A2 (sPLA...

Authors: Upasana Ray, Debarshi Roy, Ling Jin, Prabhu Thirusangu, Julie Staub, Yinan Xiao, Eleftheria Kalogera, Andrea E. Wahner Hendrickson, Grace D. Cullen, Krista Goergen, Ann L. Oberg and Viji Shridhar

Correction to: Akt/FoxM1 signaling pathway-mediated upregulation of MYBL2 promotes progression of human glioma

Authors: Xue Zhang, Qiao-Li LV, Yuan-Tao Huang, Li-Hua Zhang and Hong-Hao Zhou

Cell surface Nucleolin represents a novel cellular target for neuroblastoma therapy

Neuroblastoma (NB) represents the most frequent and aggressive form of extracranial solid tumor of infants. Nucleolin (NCL) is a protein overexpressed and partially localized on the cell surface of tumor cells...

Authors: Chiara Brignole, Veronica Bensa, Nuno A. Fonseca, Genny Del Zotto, Silvia Bruno, Ana F. Cruz, Fabiana Malaguti, Barbara Carlini, Fabio Morandi, Enzo Calarco, Patrizia Perri, Vera Moura, Laura Emionite, Michele Cilli, Francesco De Leonardis, Annalisa Tondo…

Hypoxic tumor-derived exosomal miR-31-5p promotes lung adenocarcinoma metastasis by negatively regulating SATB2-reversed EMT and activating MEK/ERK signaling

Exosomes have emerged as critical mediators of intercellular communication. Hypoxia is widely recognized as a key regulator of tumor aggressiveness, and significantly affects exosome release by tumor cells. Ho...

Authors: Fengqiang Yu, Mingqiang Liang, Yu Huang, Weidong Wu, Bin Zheng and Chun Chen

Patient-derived tumor models: a more suitable tool for pre-clinical studies in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC), despite the advances in screening and surveillance, remains the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide. The biological inadequacy of pre-clinical models to fully recapitula...

Authors: Giulia Rizzo, Andrea Bertotti, Simonetta Maria Leto and Stefania Vetrano

Exosomal DLX6-AS1 from hepatocellular carcinoma cells induces M2 macrophage polarization to promote migration and invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma through microRNA-15a-5p/CXCL17 axis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells-secreted exosomes (exo) could stimulate M2 macrophage polarization and promote HCC progression, but the related mechanism of long non-coding RNA distal-less homeobox 6 anti...

Authors: Lin-pei Wang, Jing Lin, Xiao-qiu Ma, Dong-yao Xu, Chun-feng Shi, Wei Wang and Xiao-jie Jiang

Correction to: Linc-SCRG1 accelerates progression of hepatocellular carcinoma as a ceRNA of miR26a to derepress SKP2

Authors: Jun-Jie Hu, Cui Zhou, Xin Luo, Sheng-Zheng Luo, Zheng-Hong Li, Zi-Xin Xu and Ming-Yi Xu

Deciphering the temporal heterogeneity of cancer-associated fibroblast subpopulations in breast cancer

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) comprise a heterogeneous population of stromal cells within the tumour microenvironment. CAFs exhibit both tumour-promoting and tumour-suppressing functions, making them ex...

Authors: Freja Albjerg Venning, Kamilla Westarp Zornhagen, Lena Wullkopf, Jonas Sjölund, Carmen Rodriguez-Cupello, Pontus Kjellman, Mikkel Morsing, Morteza Chalabi Hajkarim, Kyoung Jae Won, Janine Terra Erler and Chris Denis Madsen

Super-enhancers: a new frontier for epigenetic modifiers in cancer chemoresistance

Although new developments of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy treatments for cancer have improved patient survival, the emergence of chemoresistance in cancer has significant impacts on t...

Authors: Guo-Hua Li, Qiang Qu, Ting-Ting Qi, Xin-Qi Teng, Hai-Hong Zhu, Jiao-Jiao Wang, Qiong Lu and Jian Qu

Targeting SERT promotes tryptophan metabolism: mechanisms and implications in colon cancer treatment

Serotonin signaling has been associated with tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Targeting the serotonin transporter to block serotonin cellular uptake confers antineoplastic effects in various tumors, includ...

Authors: Di Ye, Huanji Xu, Hongwei Xia, Chenliang Zhang, Qiulin Tang and Feng Bi

Advances in drug development for hepatocellular carcinoma: clinical trials and potential therapeutic targets

Although hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest health burdens worldwide, few drugs are available for its clinical treatment. However, in recent years, major breakthroughs have been made in the...

Authors: Xiang-Yuan Luo, Kong-Ming Wu and Xing-Xing He

Splicing factor SRSF1 promotes breast cancer progression via oncogenic splice switching of PTPMT1

Intensive evidence has highlighted the effect of aberrant alternative splicing (AS) events on cancer progression when triggered by dysregulation of the SR protein family. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanism ...

Authors: Jun-Xian Du, Yi-Hong Luo, Si-Jia Zhang, Biao Wang, Cong Chen, Gui-Qi Zhu, Ping Zhu, Cheng-Zhe Cai, Jing-Lei Wan, Jia-Liang Cai, Shi-Ping Chen, Zhi Dai and Wei Zhu

HSP90-dependent PUS7 overexpression facilitates the metastasis of colorectal cancer cells by regulating LASP1 abundance

Pseudouridine synthase (PUS) 7 is a member of the PUS family that catalyses pseudouridine formation. It has been shown to be involved in intellectual development and haematological malignancies. Nevertheless, ...

Authors: Dan Song, Ming Guo, Shuai Xu, Xiaotian Song, Bin Bai, Zhengyan Li, Jie Chen, Yanxin An, Yongzhan Nie, Kaichun Wu, Shiqi Wang and Qingchuan Zhao

Inhibition of DEC2 is necessary for exiting cell dormancy in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma

Patients were prone to have poor prognosis once dormant tumor cells being reactivated. However, the molecular mechanism of tumor cell dormancy remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the fun...

Authors: Xiao Yang, Jia-shun Wu, Mao Li, Wei-long Zhang, Xiao-lei Gao, Hao-fan Wang, Xiang-hua Yu, Xin Pang, Mei Zhang, Xin-hua Liang and Ya-ling Tang

SLC6A8-mediated intracellular creatine accumulation enhances hypoxic breast cancer cell survival via ameliorating oxidative stress

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Hypoxia is a key hallmark of TNBC. Metabolic adaptation promotes progres...

Authors: Qiao Li, Manran Liu, Yan Sun, Ting Jin, Pengpeng Zhu, Xueying Wan, Yixuan Hou and Gang Tu

Correction to: Downregulation of lncRNA ZNF582-AS1 due to DNA hypermethylation promotes clear cell renal cell carcinoma growth and metastasis by regulating the N(6)-methyladenosine modification of MT-RNR1

Authors: Wuping Yang, Kenan Zhang, Lei Li, Yawei Xu, Kaifang Ma, Haibiao Xie, Jingcheng Zhou, Lin Cai, Yanqing Gong and Kan Gong

MYLK4 promotes tumor progression through the activation of epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone cancer in adolescents and lung metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with OS. However, the molecular mechanisms that promote OS growth and metas...

Authors: Mengkai Yang, Tao Zhang, Yangfeng Zhang, Xiaojun Ma, Jing Han, Ke Zeng, Yafei Jiang, Zongyi Wang, Zhuoying Wang, Jing Xu, Yingqi Hua, Zhengdong Cai and Wei Sun

The potential role of the extracellular matrix in the activity of trabectedin in UPS and L-sarcoma: evidences from a patient‐derived primary culture case series in tridimensional and zebrafish models

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a rare group of solid neoplasm including among others liposarcoma, leiomyosarcoma (L-sarcoma) and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) entities. The current first-line trea...

Authors: Alessandro De Vita, Federica Recine, Giacomo Miserocchi, Federica Pieri, Chiara Spadazzi, Claudia Cocchi, Silvia Vanni, Chiara Liverani, Anna Farnedi, Francesco Fabbri, Valentina Fausti, Roberto Casadei, Francesca Brandolini, Giorgio Ercolani, Davide Cavaliere, Alberto Bongiovanni…

Warburg effect-promoted exosomal circ_0072083 releasing up-regulates NANGO expression through multiple pathways and enhances temozolomide resistance in glioma

Temozolomide (TMZ) resistance limits its application in glioma. Exosome can carry circular RNAs (circRNAs) to regulate drug resistance via sponging microRNAs (miRNAs). miRNAs can control mRNA expression by reg...

Authors: Chenyu Ding, Xuehan Yi, Xiangrong Chen, Zanyi Wu, Honghai You, Xiaoyong Chen, Gaoqi Zhang, Yong Sun, Xingyao Bu, Xiyue Wu, Zhangya Lin, Jianjun Gu, Yuanxiang Lin and Dezhi Kang

What are the applications of single-cell RNA sequencing in cancer research: a systematic review

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a tool for studying gene expression at the single-cell level that has been widely used due to its unprecedented high resolution. In the present review, we outline the ...

Authors: Lvyuan Li, Fang Xiong, Yumin Wang, Shanshan Zhang, Zhaojian Gong, Xiayu Li, Yi He, Lei Shi, Fuyan Wang, Qianjin Liao, Bo Xiang, Ming Zhou, Xiaoling Li, Yong Li, Guiyuan Li, Zhaoyang Zeng…

Activation of the clock gene TIMELESS by H3k27 acetylation promotes colorectal cancer tumorigenesis by binding to Myosin-9

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common tumor characterized by its high mortality. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that drive CRC tumorigenesis are unclear. Clock genes have important roles in tumor d...

Authors: Meng Cao, Yi Wang, Yijing Xiao, Dandan Zheng, Chunchun Zhi, Xin Xia and Xiaoqin Yuan

Interferon- and STING-independent induction of type I interferon stimulated genes during fractionated irradiation

Improvement of radiotherapy efficacy requires better insight in the dynamic responses that occur during irradiation. Here, we aimed to identify the molecular responses that are triggered during clinically appl...

Authors: Ruben S. A. Goedegebuure, Esther A. Kleibeuker, Francesca M. Buffa, Kitty C. M. Castricum, Syed Haider, Iris A. Schulkens, Luuk ten Kroode, Jaap van den Berg, Maarten A. J. M. Jacobs, Anne-Marie van Berkel, Nicole C. T. van Grieken, Sarah Derks, Ben J. Slotman, Henk M. W. Verheul, Adrian L. Harris and Victor L. Thijssen

EMP3 mediates glioblastoma‐associated macrophage infiltration to drive T cell exclusion

The immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment is a critical factor in the initiation and progression of glioblastoma (GBM), which is characterized by an abundance of tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) but a ...

Authors: Qun Chen, Jing Jin, Xin Huang, Fan Wu, Hongguang Huang and Renya Zhan

Hypoxia-dependent drivers of melanoma progression

Hypoxia, a condition of low oxygen availability, is a hallmark of tumour microenvironment and promotes cancer progression and resistance to therapy. Many studies reported the essential role of hypoxia in regul...

Authors: Simona D’Aguanno, Fabiana Mallone, Marco Marenco, Donatella Del Bufalo and Antonietta Moramarco

ROC1 promotes the malignant progression of bladder cancer by regulating p-IκBα/NF-κB signaling

Regulator of cullins 1 (ROC1) is an important catalytic subunit of cullin–RING E3 ligase. Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling is closely related to tumor invasion and metastasis. Earlier, we reported that...

Authors: Qi Wu, Xiaoqing Zhou, Peng Li, Mao Ding, Shengjie You, Zhaoyu Xu, Junjie Ye, Xuedong Chen, Mingyue Tan, Jun Wang, Wei Wang and Jianxin Qiu

circPVT1 regulates medullary thyroid cancer growth and metastasis by targeting miR-455-5p to activate CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) represents 13.4 % of all thyroid cancers-related deaths. The treatments for MTC are very limited especially for patients with distal metastasis. Therefore, it is critical to unde...

Authors: Xun Zheng, Shu Rui, Xiao-Fei Wang, Xiu-He Zou, Yan-Ping Gong and Zhi-Hui Li

José Baselga M.D., Ph.D. (1959–2021) leading cancer researcher and oncologist

Authors: Moshe Elkabets and Giovanni Blandino

Correction to: Genistein inhibits stemness of SKOV3 cells induced by macrophages co-cultured with ovarian cancer stem-like cells through IL-8/STAT3 axis

Authors: Yingxia Ning, Weifeng Feng, Xiaocheng Cao, Kaiqun Ren, Meifang Quan, A. Chen, Chang Xu, Yebei Qiu, Jianguo Cao, Xiang Li and Xin Luo

The immune cell landscape of metastatic uveal melanoma correlates with overall survival

Uveal melanoma (UM) represents the most common primary intra-ocular malignancy in adults. Up to 50% of the patients develop distant metastases within 10 years from diagnosis, with the liver as the most common ...

Authors: Anna Tosi, Rocco Cappellesso, Angelo Paolo Dei Tos, Valentina Rossi, Camillo Aliberti, Jacopo Pigozzo, Alessio Fabozzi, Marta Sbaraglia, Stella Blandamura, Paola Del Bianco, Vanna Chiarion-Sileni and Antonio Rosato

Pyroptosis: a new paradigm of cell death for fighting against cancer

Unraveling the mystery of cell death is one of the most fundamental progresses of life sciences during the past decades. Regulated cell death (RCD) or programmed cell death (PCD) is not only essential in embry...

Authors: Yixin Tan, Quanzhu Chen, Xiaoling Li, Zhaoyang Zeng, Wei Xiong, Guiyuan Li, Xiayu Li, Jianbo Yang, Bo Xiang and Mei Yi

ROS and TGFβ: from pancreatic tumour growth to metastasis

Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) signalling pathway switches between anti-tumorigenic function at early stages of cancer formation and pro-tumorigenic effects at later stages promoting cancer metastasis. A ...

Authors: Chao-Hui Chang and Siim Pauklin

The lnc-CTSLP8 upregulates CTSL1 as a competitive endogenous RNA and promotes ovarian cancer metastasis

Ovarian cancer is highly lethal and has a poor prognosis due to metastasis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key regulators of tumor development, but their role in ovarian cancer metastasis remains unclear.

Authors: Xinjing Wang, Xiaoduan Li, Feikai Lin, Huizhen Sun, Yingying Lin, Ziliang Wang and Xipeng Wang

ZBTB28 induces autophagy by regulation of FIP200 and Bcl-XL facilitating cervical cancer cell apoptosis

Among the common preventable cancers of women, cervical cancer has the highest morbidity. It is curable if detected at an early stage. However, reliable diagnostic and prognostic markers, which relate to physi...

Authors: Li Li, Yijia Gong, Ke Xu, Weihong Chen, Jiuyi Xia, Zhaobo Cheng, Lili Li, Renjie Yu, Junhao Mu, Xin Le, Qin Xiang, Weiyan Peng, Junying Tang and Tingxiu Xiang

ALG3 contributes to stemness and radioresistance through regulating glycosylation of TGF-β receptor II in breast cancer

Radiotherapy is a conventional and effective local treatment for breast cancer. However, residual or recurrent tumors appears frequently because of radioresistance. Novel predictive marker and the potential th...

Authors: Xiaoqing Sun, Zhenyu He, Ling Guo, Caiqin Wang, Chuyong Lin, Liping Ye, Xiaoqing Wang, Yue Li, Meisongzhu Yang, Sailan Liu, Xin Hua, Wen Wen, Chao Lin, Zhiqing Long, Wenwen Zhang, Han Li…

KLF5-induced BBOX1-AS1 contributes to cell malignant phenotypes in non-small cell lung cancer via sponging miR-27a-5p to up-regulate MELK and activate FAK signaling pathway

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major histological subtype of lung cancer with high mortality and morbidity. A substantial amount of evidence demonstrates long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) as critical regu...

Authors: Jiang Shi, Chao Yang, Jinlu An, Dexun Hao, Cong Liu, Jumin Liu, Jing Sun and Junguang Jiang

The emerging role of β-secretases in cancer

BACE1 and BACE2 belong to a class of proteases called β-secretases involved in ectodomain shedding of different transmembrane substrates. These enzymes have been extensively studied in Alzheimer's disease as t...

Authors: Francesco Farris, Vittoria Matafora and Angela Bachi

N6-methyladenosine-dependent signalling in cancer progression and insights into cancer therapies

The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is a dynamic and reversible epigenetic modification, which is co-transcriptionally deposited by a methyltransferase complex, removed by a demethylase, and recognized b...

Authors: Fenghua Tan, Mengyao Zhao, Fang Xiong, Yumin Wang, Shanshan Zhang, Zhaojian Gong, Xiayu Li, Yi He, Lei Shi, Fuyan Wang, Bo Xiang, Ming Zhou, Xiaoling Li, Yong Li, Guiyuan Li, Zhaoyang Zeng…

Correction to: TRIM29 facilitates the epithelial-tomesenchymal transition and the progression of colorectal cancer via the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Juntao Sun, Tianyu Zhang, Mengmeng Cheng, Liwen Hong, Chen Zhang, Mengfan Xie, Peijun Sun, Rong Fan, Zhengting Wang, Lei Wang and Jie Zhong

Tankyrases as modulators of pro-tumoral functions: molecular insights and therapeutic opportunities

Tankyrase 1 (TNKS1) and tankyrase 2 (TNKS2) are two homologous proteins that are gaining increasing importance due to their implication in multiple pathways and diseases such as cancer. TNKS1/2 interact with a...

Authors: Esteban Zamudio-Martinez, Ana Belén Herrera-Campos, Alberto Muñoz, José Manuel Rodríguez-Vargas and F. Javier Oliver

Correction to: MicroRNA-224 sustains Wnt/β-catenin signaling and promotes aggressive phenotype of colorectal cancer

Authors: Tingting Li, Qiuhua Lai, Shuyang Wang, Juanjuan Cai, Zhiyuan Xiao, Danling Deng, Liuqing He, Hongli Jiao, Yaping Ye, Li Liang, Yanqing Ding and Wenting Liao

Comprehensive description of the current breast cancer microenvironment advancements via single-cell analysis

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with a complex microenvironment consisting of tumor cells, immune cells, fibroblasts and vascular cells. These cancer-associated cells shape the tumor microenvironment ...

Authors: Xueqi Yan, Yinghong Xie, Fan Yang, Yijia Hua, Tianyu Zeng, Chunxiao Sun, Mengzhu Yang, Xiang Huang, Hao Wu, Ziyi Fu, Wei Li, Shiping Jiao and Yongmei Yin

Inhibition of retinoic acid receptor α phosphorylation represses the progression of triple-negative breast cancer via transactivating miR-3074-5p to target DHRS3

Retinoids are promising agents in the treatment of different types of neoplasia including estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers, whereas refractoriness/low sensitivity is observed in triple-negative breast...

Authors: Siyue Lou, Hang Gao, Huanwu Hong, Zhihui Zhu and Huajun Zhao

Current status of ctDNA in precision oncology for hepatocellular carcinoma

The conventional method used to obtain a tumor biopsy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is invasive and does not evaluate dynamic cancer progression or assess tumor heterogeneity. It is thus imperative to cre...

Authors: Yan Li, Yuanyuan Zheng, Liwei Wu, Jingjing Li, Jie Ji, Qiang Yu, Weiqi Dai, Jiao Feng, Jianye Wu and Chuanyong Guo

Glioma stem cells invasive phenotype at optimal stiffness is driven by MGAT5 dependent mechanosensing

Glioblastomas stem-like cells (GSCs) by invading the brain parenchyma, remains after resection and radiotherapy and the tumoral microenvironment become stiffer. GSC invasion is reported as stiffness sensitive ...

Authors: Emilie Marhuenda, Christine Fabre, Cunjie Zhang, Martà Martin-Fernandez, Thomas Iskratsch, Ali Saleh, Luc Bauchet, Julien Cambedouzou, Jean-Philippe Hugnot, Hugues Duffau, James W. Dennis, David Cornu and Norbert Bakalara

Chemotherapy-induced CDA expression renders resistant non-small cell lung cancer cells sensitive to 5′-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine (5′-DFCR)

Pemetrexed (MTA) plus cisplatin combination therapy is considered the standard of care for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, in advanced NSCLC, the 5-year survival rate is bel...

Authors: Yanyun Gao, Philipp Zens, Min Su, Camila Anna Gemperli, Haitang Yang, Haibin Deng, Zhang Yang, Duo Xu, Sean R. R. Hall, Sabina Berezowska, Patrick Dorn, Ren-Wang Peng, Ralph Alexander Schmid, Wenxiang Wang and Thomas Michael Marti

Correction to: Circ-ASH2L promotes tumor progression by sponging miR-34a to regulate Notch1 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Yan Chen, Zhonghu Li, Mengyun Zhang, Bo Wang, Jiaxin Ye, Yang Zhang, Di Tang, Dandan Ma, Weidong Jin, Xiaowu Li and Shuguang Wang

IκBα targeting promotes oxidative stress-dependent cell death

Oxidative stress is a hallmark of many cancers. The increment in reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting from an increased mitochondrial respiration, is the major cause of oxidative stress. Cell fate is known...

Authors: Giovanna Carrà, Giuseppe Ermondi, Chiara Riganti, Luisella Righi, Giulia Caron, Alessio Menga, Enrica Capelletto, Beatrice Maffeo, Marcello Francesco Lingua, Federica Fusella, Marco Volante, Riccardo Taulli, Angelo Guerrasio, Silvia Novello, Mara Brancaccio, Rocco Piazza…

Correction to: KIFC1 is activated by TCF-4 and promotes hepatocellular carcinoma pathogenesis by regulating HMGA1 transcriptional activity

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Kai Teng, Shi Wei, Chi Zhang, Jiewei Chen, Jinbin Chen, Kanghua Xiao, Jun Liu, Miaomiao Dai, Xinyuan Guan, Jingping Yun and Dan Xie