endothelin-1 and Carcinoma--Hepatocellular

Social anxiety (SA) and depression are prevalent, often comorbid disorders, associated with poor psychosocial functioning. Experimental psychopathology approaches can clarify the transdiagnostic mechanisms underlying these disorders, but most laboratory tasks are limited. We developed and validated the Audio-Dialogue Inductions of Social Stress (A-DISS) experimental task to model real-time rejection sensitivity in a realistic and developmentally relevant context. Participants are asked to imagine overhearing peers at a party talking badly about them (Rejection) or a teacher at their school (Neutral).. The Rejection condition elicited higher negative affect/lower positive affect while the Neutral condition sustained stable affect. Findings were consistent across gender and race/ethnicity. Moderation analyses were statistically significant; participants with elevated SA or depression reported feeling more rejected, insecure, and anxious after Rejection than those with below average symptoms.. Findings provide preliminary validation of a novel peer rejection task for research on understanding the affective experience of real-time rejection overall, especially for those with elevated SA and depression. SA and depression symptoms each uniquely moderating the effects of Rejection exposure on similar affective states, suggests individuals with SA or depression may benefit from interventions targeting specific reactions to rejection/stress and transdiagnostic risk factors.. Our results suggest that T lymphocyte immune dysfunction does exist in adult ITP patients and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ITP.. ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03575988.. Brown/beige adipocyte-specific h

Topics: A549 Cells; Acute Lung Injury; Adipose Tissue, Brown; Adipose Tissue, White; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Animals; Anthropometry; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Antiviral Agents; Arachidonic Acid; Archaeoglobus fulgidus; Australia; Blood Glucose; Blotting, Western; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cathartics; Cell Differentiation; Chemokine CCL2; Child; China; Colonoscopy; Crosses, Genetic; Cyclin B1; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Endothelin-1; Endothelium, Vascular; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Finland; Follow-Up Studies; Genes, Dominant; Glycated Hemoglobin; Hepatitis B e Antigens; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B, Chronic; Homeodomain Proteins; Humans; Hypothalamus; Incidence; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Interleukin-1beta; Interleukin-6; Italy; Lipopolysaccharides; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Lung; Male; Mice; MicroRNAs; Middle Aged; Motivational Interviewing; NAD; Neuroendocrine Tumors; NF-kappa B; Nitric Oxide; Nitriles; Outpatients; Oxidoreductases; Phenotype; Pilot Projects; Polyethylene Glycols; Polymorphism, Genetic; Prospective Studies; Protein Interaction Maps; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Shewanella; Signal Transduction; Spain; Sulfides; Sulfones; Thermogenesis; Transcription Factors; Treatment Outcome; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Uncoupling Protein 1; United Kingdom

Multikinase inhibitors, such as sorafenib, are used for the treatment of advanced carcinomas but the response shows limited efficacy or varies a lot with patients. Here we adopted the systems approach combined with high-throughput data analysis to discover key mechanism embedded in the drug response. When analyzing the transcriptomic data from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) database, endothelin 1 (EDN1) was enriched in cancer cells with low responsiveness to sorafenib. We found that the level of EDN1 is higher in the tissue and blood of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients showing poor response to sorafenib. In vitro experiment showed that EDN1 not only induces activation of angiogenic-promoting pathways in HCC cells but also stimulates proliferation and migration. Moreover, EDN1 is related with poor responsiveness to sorafenib by mitigating unfolded protein response (UPR), which was validated in both transcriptomic data analysis and in silico simulation. Finally, we found that endothelin receptor B (EDNRB) antagonists can enhance the efficacy of sorafenib in both HCC cells and xenograft mouse models. Our findings provide that EDN1 is a novel diagnostic marker for sorafenib responsiveness in HCC and a basis for testing macitentan, which is currently used for pulmonary artery hypertension, in combination with sorafenib in advanced HCC patients.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Endothelin-1; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Mice; Sorafenib; Systems Analysis; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Endothelin-1 (ET-1), a member of endothelins family, binds to ETA receptor (ETAR) and ETB receptor to exert its role in multiple cellular processes. Although ET-1 and its receptors has been reported to be overexpressed in many cancers, and overexpression of ET-1 is able to trigger hepatocarcinogenesis in zebrafish, the functions of ET-1 and its receptors in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell migration and invasion remain unclear. In the present study, we found that ETAR was greatly expressed in HCC cells and HCC tissues. ETAR expression as well as ET-1 expression was associated with vascular invasion and tumor stage in HCC. Activation of ETAR by ET-1 dose-dependently promoted cell migration and invasion of HCC cells, while silencing of ETAR by siRNA or blocking of ETAR by specific inhibitor resulted in significant reduction in ET-1-mediated migration and invasion. Furthermore, ET-1 induced activation of ERK1/2 and AKT and increased MMP-3 production via ETAR. In addition, using inhibitors of ERK1/2 and AKT, we found that ERK1/2 and AKT pathways were both involved in ETAR-mediated migration, invasion, and MMP-3 production. Taken together, our findings suggest that activation of ETAR by ET-1 promotes HCC cell migration and invasion via activating ERK1/2 and AKT signaling pathways and upregulating MMP-3 expression. Thus, ETAR may play an important role in the progress of HCC.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Endothelin-1; Female; Gene Expression; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Male; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Matrix Metalloproteinase 3; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Grading; Neoplasm Staging; Protein Isoforms; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Receptors, Endothelin; Signal Transduction; Tumor Burden

Hepatocarcinogenesis commonly involves the gradual progression from hepatitis to fibrosis and cirrhosis, and ultimately to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Endothelin 1 (Edn1) has been identified as a gene that is significantly up-regulated in HBx-induced HCC in mice. In this study, we further investigated the role of edn1 in hepatocarcinogenesis using a transgenic zebrafish model and a cell culture system. Liver-specific edn1 expression caused steatosis, fibrosis, glycogen accumulation, bile duct dilation, hyperplasia, and HCC in zebrafish. Overexpression of EDN1 in 293T cells enhanced cell proliferation and cell migration in in vitro and xenotransplantation assays and was accompanied with up-regulation of several cell cycle/proliferation- and migration-specific genes. Furthermore, expression of the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway-related mediators, such as spliced XBP1, ATF6, IRE1, and PERK, was also up-regulated at both the RNA and protein levels. In the presence of an EDN1 inhibitor or an AKT inhibitor, these increases were diminished and the EDN1-induced migration ability also was disappeared, suggesting that the EDN1 effects act through activation of the AKT pathway to enhance the UPR and subsequently activate the expression of downstream genes. Additionally, p-AKT is enhanced in the edn1 transgenic fish compared to the GFP-mCherry control. The micro RNA miR-1 was found to inhibit the expression of EDN1. We also observed an inverse correlation between EDN1 and miR-1 expression in HCC patients. In conclusion, our data suggest that EDN1 plays an important role in HCC progression by activating the PI3K/AKT pathway and is regulated by miR-1.

Topics: Animals; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Cycle; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Endothelin-1; Fatty Liver; Gene Expression; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; MicroRNAs; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; Protein Kinase Inhibitors; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Unfolded Protein Response; Zebrafish; Zebrafish Proteins

MicroRNA-1 (miR-1) has been demonstrated as a tumor-suppressive miRNA, which shows a down-regulated pattern in several human malignancies including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the pathophysiologic roles of miR-1 and their mechanisms in HCC tumorigenesis are still not totally elucidated.. Pre-miR-1 was cloned into pSuper plasmid to overexpress the miR-1 in hepatoma cells. Real-time PCR and Western blot were applied to detect miR-1, ET-1 mRNA and protein levels respectively. Dual luciferase reporter assay was conducted to investigate the binding site of miR-1 on 3'UTR of ET-1 mRNA. Proliferation of hepatoma cells was evaluated by MTT assay.. We observed that over-expression of miR-1 by miRNA-expressing plasmid transfection in HepG2 and Hep3B cells significantly reduced the proliferation of these cells. To explore the mechanism, we examined the potential target genes of miR-1 by bioinformatics. A potent mitogen, Endothelin-1 (ET-1), attracted our attention. Elevated expression of ET-1 but reduced miR-1 level was detected both in human liver cancer tissues and in hepatoma cell lines using Western Blot and miRNA real-time PCR respectively. By the over-expression and inhibition of miR-1 in HepG2 and Hep3B, we confirmed that miR-1 negatively regulated ET-1 expression in hepatoma cells. A luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-1 regulation was established by pairing to a complementary binding site within the ET-1 3'UTR. Finally, attenuated proliferation of hepatoma cells by over-expression of miR-1 could be partially restored by exogenous ET-1 treatment.. Our findings demonstrate that miR-1 could inhibit ET-1 expression to attenuate the proliferation of hepatoma cells.

Topics: Blotting, Western; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Proliferation; Endothelin-1; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Luciferases; MicroRNAs; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Topics: Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Endothelin-1; Female; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Male; Neovascularization, Pathologic; Nitric Oxide; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors

A balance between endothelins (ET) and nitric oxide (NO) might interfere with liver haemodynamics and disease progression in various liver diseases. Increased levels of endothelin 1 (ET-1) and nitrites and nitrates (NOx, the end products of NO metabolism) have been reported in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the balance has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to assess the ratio of NOx to ET-1 in patients with virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma and to investigate its correlation with the extent of the disease. Eighteen patients with virus-related HCC (six Okuda stage I, six Okuda stage II and six Okuda stage III) were included in the study and were compared with 22 patients with viral cirrhosis (14 decompensated, eight compensated) and seven normal controls. ET-1 was measured with an ELISA assay and NOx with a modification of the Griess reaction. Patients with virus-related HCC had the highest levels of circulating ET-1 and NOx (13.24 +/- 0.82 pg/ml and 112.28 +/- 18.56 micromol/l) compared to compensated cirrhosis (9.47 +/- 0.50 pg/ml, P < 0.004 and 54.47 +/- 2.36 micromol/l, P < 0.01), decompensated cirrhosis (9.57 +/- 0.32 pg/ml, P < 0.001 and 90.20 +/- 11.23 micromol/l, NS) and normal controls (8.84 +/- 0.61 pg/ml, P < 0.001 and 51.17 +/- 6.18 micromol/l, P < 0.01). There was a significant increase of ET-1 and NOx at HCC stage III compared to HCC stages I and II, cirhotics and controls. HCC stage III patients also had a NOx/ET-1 ratio that was higher than HCC stages I and II patients, normal controls and patients with compensated cirrhosis. Virus-related HCC patients have high levels of circulating ET-1, compared to compensated or decompensated cirrhosis. Highest levels of ET-1 are produced in Okuda III tumours. NOx are also increased but only in Okuda stage III tumours. The NOx/ET-1 ratio is increased in virus-related HCC and DC. This increase may account for the known increase in tumour blood flow.

Topics: Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Endothelin-1; Female; Hepacivirus; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis C; Humans; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Nitrates; Nitrites

In order to clarify the characteristics of cellular localization of ET-1/big ET-1 in liver tissues, we carried out immunohistochemical study on 30 normal, 87 cirrhosis (LC) and 55 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) liver specimens using anti-ET-1 antibody and anti-big ET-1 antibody and further performed in situ hybridization on 5 LC liver specimens. Positive immunostaining of hepatocytes of normal and LC livers, and tumor cells of HCC was obtained. The frequency of positive cells for ET-1 and big ET-1 of normal liver was very low. In contrast, LC hepatocytes were stained much more frequently for both ET-1 and big ET-1 than those of normal liver (P < 0.01). In the HCC livers hepatoma cells showed intermediate frequency of positive cells between normal and LC livers. Big ET-1, not ET-1, expression in HCC was significantly high compared with that of normal liver (P < 0.01). Specific signals for ET-mRNA were not detected in hepatocytes of LCs by in situ hybridization. ETs detected in hepatocytes by immunohistochemistry, therefore, seem not to have been synthesized locally. The origin of ETs is not clear but they might have been taken up from the circulation through ET receptors on hepatocytes. Although the clearance mechanism of ETs by ET-converting enzyme or other peptidases in liver has not been elucidated, the mechanisms seem to be absent or impaired in LC and/or HCC liver since the frequency and intensity of ET-positivity in the diseased hepatocytes are significantly high than those of normal liver. In addition, a disturbance of ET excretion into the bile may be also responsible for the ET storage. Elevation of serum ET levels in LC may be caused by disturbance of ET degradation and/or leakage of bile into the blood, as the ET is excreted through the biliary system.

Topics: Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Endothelin-1; Endothelins; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; In Situ Hybridization; Liver; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Protein Precursors; RNA, Messenger; RNA, Neoplasm

To clarify whether hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may produce and secrete endothelin (ET), we measured plasma levels of ET-1 and big ET-1, a precursor form of ET-1, in 30 patients with HCC. When compared to normal subjects, a substantial number of patients had elevated plasma ET-1 and big ET-1 levels, determined by specific enzyme immunoassays. The mean (+/- SD) plasma concentrations of ET-1 (1.7 +/- 0.9 pmol/L) and big ET-1 (6.1 +/- 4.8 pmol/L) in patients' group were significantly (P < 0.01) higher than those (1.0 +/- 0.3 and 2.0 +/- 0.8 pmol/L, respectively) in control group. There was a significant positive correlation between plasma big ET-1 and alpha-fetoprotein (r = 0.77, P < 0.01). Some of the 29 patients with liver cirrhosis also had modestly elevated plasma big ET-1 levels. The mean (+/- SD) plasma big ET-1 concentration (3.1 +/- 0.9 pmol/L) in patients with liver cirrhosis was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than that in control group, although there was no significant difference between the mean plasma ET-1 levels of both groups. Raised plasma big ET-1 and, less markedly, ET-1 levels in patients with HCC decreased after successful transcatheter arterial embolization concomitantly with a reduction in tumor sizes and a decrease in plasma alpha-fetoprotein levels. In six patients, an arteriovenous difference in ET-1 and big ET-1 levels across the tumor bed with a higher concentration in the venous circulation was found. Reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography revealed that major portions of immunoreactive ET-1 and big ET-1 in hepatic venous plasma coeluted with synthetic ET-1 and big ET-1, respectively. Immunohistochemistry of HCC tissues from two patients demonstrated HCC cells positive for ET-1 and big ET-1, whereas no ET immunoreactivity was found in adjacent nontumorous hepatocytes. We conclude from these results that ET is produced by and released from a substantial number of HCC, which may stimulate proliferation of carcinoma cells as an autocrine or paracrine growth factor.

Topics: Adult; Aged; alpha-Fetoproteins; Arteries; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Embolization, Therapeutic; Endothelin-1; Endothelins; Female; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Protein Precursors; Veins