Divergent Androgen Receptor and Beta-Catenin Signaling in Prostate Cancer Cells

Despite decades of effort to develop effective therapy and to identify promising new drugs, prostate cancer is lethal once it progresses to castration-resistant disease. Studies show mis-regulation of multiple pathways in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), reflecting the heterogeneity of the tumors and also hinting that targeting androgen receptor (AR) pathway alone might not be sufficient to treat CRPC. In this study, we present evidence that the Wnt/β-catenin pathway might be activated in prostate cancer cells after androgen-deprivation to promote androgen-independent growth, partly through enhanced interaction of β-catenin with TCF4. Androgen-independent prostate cancer cells were more prone to activate a Wnt-reporter, and inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway increased sensitivity of these cells to the second-generation antiandrogen, enzalutamide. Combined treatment of enzalutamide and Wnt/β-catenin inhibitor showed increased growth repression in both androgen-dependent and -independent prostate cancer cells, suggesting therapeutic potential for this approach.     

乳腺癌致病microRNA调控网络的识别与生物信息学分析

目的:构建并解析乳腺癌致病microRNA(miRNA)调控网络,探究其在乳腺癌发生发展中的调控机制。方法:整合TCGA、ENCODE、Fantom等公共数据库资源,得到miRNA、转录因子和基因候选调控关系数据,结合差异表达、变异系数与PCA,构建乳腺癌miRNA调控网络,解析调控网络的度中心性与聚类系数,使用DAVID进行功能富集分析,构建Cox回归模型作生存曲线。结果:共识别miRNA调控网络262个,其中包含5个显著差异表达miRNA,8个转录因子和130个基因。通过功能富集分析发现这些miRNA靶基因显著参与细胞周期、细胞分化、细胞生长、转移等转录后调控的肿瘤生物进程,并与FoxO信号通路、p53信号通路、基因监测通路等信号通路高度相关。通过分析生存曲线发现hsa-mir-144与hsa-mir-133a-2显著与乳腺癌患者生存相关。结论:识别的乳腺癌致病miRNA调控网络中miRNA之间有相互作用,且网络整体功能不仅受hub网络影响,也受元件自身特性影响,这些miRNA靶基因显著富集于肿瘤相关生物学进程与信号通路中。     

新型冠状病毒PLpro蛋白酶结构与功能的生物信息学分析

2019年12月,由新型冠状病毒(SARS-CoV-2)引起的新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)在中国武汉暴发。SARS-CoV-2的基因组编码2种病毒蛋白酶,即木瓜样蛋白酶(Papain-like protease,PLpro)和3C样蛋白酶(3C-like protease)。其中PLpro是SARS-CoV-2复制酶复合体(RC)形成的重要调节蛋白分子,对于病毒基因组转录和复制至关重要。因此,将SARS-CoV-2 PLpro作为药物的靶点对COVID-19的治疗具有积极意义。本研究应用生物信息学工具分析新型冠状病毒的木瓜样蛋白酶的结构和功能,首先利用BLAST和BioEdit获取SARS-CoV-2 PLpro蛋白酶(SC2-PLpro)及其同源蛋白的氨基酸序列,并利用BLAST和MEGA 6.0进行同源性分析。之后,利用ProParam和Proscale分别对SC2-PLpro蛋白酶的理化性质、亲水性和疏水性进行分析。然后,通过SOMPA、ScanProsite和InterPro分别预测SC2-PLpro蛋白酶的二级结构和功能区域,进一步利用SignalP 4.0和TMHMM对SC2-PLpro蛋白酶的信号肽和跨膜区进行分析。最后,通过SWISS-MODEL对SARS-CoV-2 PLpro蛋白酶进行三级结构同源建模。结果显示,对SARS-CoV-2 PLpro蛋白酶与已报道的PLpro蛋白酶进行多序列比对后,发现SARS-CoV-2 nsp3的746~1063段氨基酸与多种冠状病毒PLpro蛋白酶氨基酸序列高度相似。同时,同源性分析发现SARS-CoV-2与蝙蝠冠状病毒的PLpro蛋白酶具有同源性,其中与QHR63299、AVP78030相似性最高。对SC2-PLpro进行理化性质预测结果显示,其由318个氨基酸所组成,为稳定亲水性蛋白。二级结构预测结果显示SC2-PLpro主要含有α-螺旋、延伸链、β-转角、无规卷曲,四种结构贯穿整条氨基酸链。进一步进行功能分析,发现其具有完整的催化三联体、锌结合域、泛素样N末端结构域,故推测该蛋白具有去泛素化的功能。然后,信号肽假说和跨膜结构域分析结果表明,SC2-PLpro既不是分泌蛋白,也不属于跨膜蛋白。本研究提示,生物信息学分析SC2-PLpro为稳定性亲水蛋白,属于非跨膜蛋白,比较保守,具有去泛素化的功能,利用此功能可以进一步规避宿主的固有免疫反应。通过制备PLpro蛋白酶小分子抑制剂,可能有助于治疗新型冠状病毒肺炎。     

胰腺癌中CDK1的表达与预后的生物信息学分析

为探讨胰腺癌的发病机制并为胰腺癌的防治提供生物信息学依据,用GEO2R在线工具分析GSE16515中胰腺癌患者肿瘤组织和相应正常组织的差异表达基因(differentially expressed genes, DEGs),通过DAVID数据库对DEGs进行GO分析和KEGG通路富集分析,然后通过STRING数据库构建蛋白质相互作用(protein-protein interaction, PPI)网络,用Cytoscape软件进行关键基因(hub基因)筛选和功能模块分析,并在GEPIA数据库对hub基因进行验证,用CCLE数据库检测靶基因在胰腺癌组织及细胞系中的表达水平。分析结果显示胰腺癌中筛选出的376个DEGs主要涉及细胞周期、p53信号通路、蛋白质消化吸收、ECM-受体相互作用、PI3K-Akt信号通路、血小板激活信号通路。GEPIA数据库验证结果显示10个hub基因均在胰腺癌组织中高表达,其中8个hub基因与胰腺癌患者的不良预后有关。CCLE数据库检测结果显示周期蛋白依赖性激酶1 (cyclin-dependent kinase 1, CDK1)在胰腺癌组织和细胞中均有较高的表达水平。本研究结果表明CDK1可能与胰腺癌的发生发展最为相关,为进一步探究胰腺癌的发病机制提供了生物信息学依据。     

Visualization Analysis of CRISPR Gene-editing Knowledge Map based on Citespace

Biology Bulletin - CRISPR is an adaptive immune defense system found in bacteria and archaea that is resistant to heterologous invasive genetic material. Later studies showed that the CRISPR system...     

大肠癌转移相关基因表达调控的生物信息学分析

大肠癌是常见的消化道恶性肿瘤,在中国呈逐年上升的趋势。对大肠癌发生发展转移的研究能够指导临床治疗,对研发新药也有着重要意义。本文通过对表达谱数据进行分析,通过表达谱差异数据进行功能富集,研究了大肠癌转移前的早期原发肿瘤的转录调控特点以及远隔器官转移后的大肠癌的转录调控特点,筛选出了部分能够受到多重调控并在转移后肿瘤组织中高表达的关键基因,通过对这些基因相互作用关系研究,构建出转移后关键基因相互作用调控网络,为大肠癌的治疗提供更多潜在靶点。     

生物信息学在新基因全长cDNA序列分析及功能预测中的应用

差异表达基因的检测与分析已成为研究具有差异的生物学表型的常规策略.对通过实验所获得的差异基因片段进行生物信息学分析,主要包括基于国际互联网的序列相似性分析、片段重叠群分析和全长cDNA序列分析,以及如何构建局域网并采用本地服务器进行规模化的数据分析,从而为研究人员提供可参考的生物信息学数据分析方案.     

基于生物信息学分析KCNQ1OT1在胃癌中的作用

长非编码RNA KCNQ1OT1在多种肿瘤中高表达,但是在胃癌中的研究较少并且研究结果不一致,其在胃癌中具体的作用机制也缺乏相关研究。通过癌症基因组图谱(The Cancer Genome Atlas, TCGA)公共数据库分析发现:KCNQ1OT1在胃癌中普遍高表达,且高表达KCNQ1OT1的胃癌病人预后不良,它与胃癌多种临床因素密切相关,尤其是与TP53的突变有明显的相关性,而且其表达与免疫细胞浸润明显相关;KCNQ1OT1在胃癌肿瘤细胞系中普遍高表达,敲低后可抑制胃癌肿瘤细胞的增殖能力,共表达网络分析发现,其表达与肿瘤代谢有密切的相关性;谷氨酰胺酶1(glutaminase 1, GLS1)在胃癌中普遍高表达,与预后不良密切相关,KCNQ1OT1与GLS1的表达具有明显的相关性,敲低KCNQ1OT1的表达可抑制GLS1 mRNA的表达,而过表达GLS1可以部分逆转敲低KCNQ1OT1造成的胃癌细胞增殖能力的下降,因此推测KCNQ1OT1可能通过GLS1调控胃癌肿瘤细胞的生长。本研究通过大数据及实验验证了KCNQ1OT1在胃癌中的表达及功能,提示KCNQ1OT1有可能通过调控谷氨酰胺代谢来促进了胃癌的发生发展,这为分子靶向治疗胃癌的临床研究提供了新的靶点和思路。     

Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis of DNA Methylation Biomarkers in Thyroid Cancer Based on TCGA Database

Biochemical Genetics - Previous studies have reported a cluster of aberrant promoter methylation changes associated with silencing of tumor suppressor genes in thyroid cancer (TC), but these...     

Bioinformatics Analysis of Lactoferrin Gene for Several Species

Much attention has been focused on the study of lactoferrin due to its function in antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and immunomodulatory activities. A total of 60 lactoferrin (LF) gene sequences with the complete coding regions (CDS) and corresponding amino acids belonging to 11 species were analyzed, and the differentiation within and among the species was also studied. The results showed that most of the species have the stop codon TAA, with the variation of TGA for Mus musculus. The length of the LF gene with the complete CDS varies greatly, from 2,055 to 2,190 bp, due to deletion, insertion, and stop codon mutation resulting in elongation. Observed genetic diversity was higher among species than within species, and Sus scrofa had more polymorphisms than any other species. Novel amino acid variation sites were detected within several species (8 in Homo sapiens, 6 in Mus musculus, 6 in Capra hircus, 10 in Bos taurus, and 20 in Sus scrofa), which might be used to illustrate the functional variation. Differentiation of the LF gene was obvious among species, and the clustering result was consistent with the taxonomy in the National Center for Biotechnology Information.     

Identification of Plasma Lipid Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer by Lipidomics and Bioinformatics

Background

Lipids have critical functions in cellular energy storage, structure and signaling. Many individual lipid molecules have been associated with the evolution of prostate cancer; however, none of them has been approved to be used as a biomarker. The aim of this study is to identify lipid molecules from hundreds plasma apparent lipid species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Using lipidomics, lipid profiling of 390 individual apparent lipid species was performed on 141 plasma samples from 105 patients with prostate cancer and 36 male controls. High throughput data generated from lipidomics were analyzed using bioinformatic and statistical methods. From 390 apparent lipid species, 35 species were demonstrated to have potential in differentiation of prostate cancer. Within the 35 species, 12 were identified as individual plasma lipid biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity above 80%, specificity above 50% and accuracy above 80%. Using top 15 of 35 potential biomarkers together increased predictive power dramatically in diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity of 93.6%, specificity of 90.1% and accuracy of 97.3%. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) demonstrated that patient and control populations were visually separated by identified lipid biomarkers. RandomForest and 10-fold cross validation analyses demonstrated that the identified lipid biomarkers were able to predict unknown populations accurately, and this was not influenced by patient''s age and race. Three out of 13 lipid classes, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine (ePE) and ether-linked phosphatidylcholine (ePC) could be considered as biomarkers in diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Conclusions/Significance

Using lipidomics and bioinformatic and statistical methods, we have identified a few out of hundreds plasma apparent lipid molecular species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy.     

Beta-Catenin Is Vital for the Integrity of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

β-catenin mediated Wnt-signaling is assumed to play a major function in embryonic stem cells in maintaining their stem cell character and the exit from this unique trait. The complexity of β-catenin action and conflicting results on the role of β-catenin in maintaining the pluripotent state have made it difficult to understand its precise cellular and molecular functions. To attempt this issue we have generated new genetically modified mouse embryonic stem cell lines allowing for the deletion of β-catenin in a controlled manner by taking advantage of the Cre-ER-T2 system and analyzed the effects in a narrow time window shortly after ablation. By using this approach, rather then taking long term cultured β-catenin null cell lines we demonstrate that β-catenin is dispensable for the maintenance of pluripotency associated genes. In addition we observed that the removal of β-catenin leads to a strong increase of cell death, the appearance of multiple clustered functional centrosomes most likely due to a mis-regulation of the polo-like-kinase 2 and furthermore, alterations in chromosome segregation. Our study demonstrates the importance of β-catenin in maintaining correct cellular functions and helps to understand its role in embryonic stem cells.     

黑鲷ELO基因编码蛋白结构与功能的生物信息学分析

黑鲷是一种抗逆性强的海水经济鱼类,但在长江以北无法在室外自然越冬,每年进行室内越冬又耗时耗力。为了培育黑鲷耐低温品系,探究黑鲷低温耐受的分子机制,研究了黑鲷脂肪酸延长酶（fatty acid elongase,ELO）基因编码蛋白的结构和功能。首先,运用DNAman 8软件对黑鲷、金头鲷、鱖鱼、斜带石斑鱼、鲤鱼等5种鱼类的ELO蛋白进行氨基酸序列比对,分析其同源性和进化关系;随后,利用生物信息学工具对黑鲷ELO蛋白的理化性质、亚细胞定位、信号肽、跨膜区、剪切位点、蛋白磷酸化、糖基化、二级结构、结构域、分子功能及蛋白质相互作用等进行分析,并进行同源建模与三维结构预测。氨基酸序列比对结果显示,黑鲷与其他鱼类之间序列的同源性较高,在所分析的5种鱼类中,黑鲷与金头鲷亲缘关系最近,与鲤科鱼类亲缘关系最远。生物信息学分析结果表明,ELO蛋白为碱性、小分子、稳定、非分泌型亲水蛋白质,亚细胞定位于细胞质、细胞核和线粒体;该蛋白质中存在22个剪切位点、19个磷酸化位点和 9个赖氨酸糖化作用位点,没有糖基化位点和信号肽;其包含多种二级结构,其中以α-螺旋为主,存在1个结构域及7个跨膜区域;ELO蛋白与其他10个蛋白质可能存在直接的相互作用关系,有可能影响雌激素合成。通过对黑鲷ELO基因编码蛋白结构与功能的生物信息学分析,初步判定其与低温耐受相关。研究结果为黑鲷耐低温品系选育提供了基础理论依据。     

NAC家族生物信息学分析

目的:探讨NAC基因结构和分布特点,了解NAC基因之间的进化关系。方法:从NCBI下载获得目标序列,通过染色体定位、比对、拼接得到新的mRNA,翻译为蛋白质,得到保守基序,再比对,绘制系统发育树进行分析。结果:生物信息学分析发现NAC家族基因在5个物种的基因组中都有分布;大多数NAC基因都有3个以上的外显子,绝大多数NAC基因仅1个NAM结构域,大多数NAM结构域都具有两端的保守基序,大多数NAM结构域位于2个相邻外显子上;NAC蛋白在单、双子叶植物分化上已有功能上的分歧。结论:NAC家族基因分布广,结构多为3个外显子,1个拥有两端保守基序的NAM结构域位于2个相邻外显子上。该研究为鉴定并获得NAC全长序列奠定了基础。     

肺癌消减杂交文库中共同基因的生物信息学分析及验证

抑制性消减杂交(suppression subtractive hybridization,SSH)技术因操作简单、筛选效率高、假阳性率低等优点,被广泛用于生物与医学领域．该文拟找出用SSH所建立的10个肺癌差异表达基因文库中重复出现的基因,结果显示,其中6个正向杂交文库中,出现2次的基因有41个,出现3次的基因有4个;其中4个反向杂交文库中,出现2次的基因有6个．进一步用生物信息学分析发现,这些重复出现的差异表达基因参与了多种细胞功能,如基因转录、蛋白翻译、细胞粘附、DNA修复、氧化还原反应等,并涉及多条信号通路．值得注意的是,在这些差异表达基因中,核糖体蛋白相关基因占比最多．然后,用实时定量PCR检测文库中的TIMP3、GPX3、HSP90B1、CD9等基因的表达,结果显示,SSH文库中差异表达基因的上调和下调趋势具有较好的特异性．该研究为发现肺癌相关基因提供有价值的线索．     

细菌漆酶的生物信息学分析

漆酶是一种含铜的多酚氧化酶。本研究利用生物信息学分析工具对细菌的漆酶蛋白序列的基本性质、保守结构域、系统发育树以及结构等进行了分析。所分析细菌主要分布在变形菌门、放线菌和厚壁菌门。细菌漆酶的物理化学性质相似,但不同细菌来源的漆酶之间序列相似性较低,但其仍然具有容易识别的保守结构域特征。二级结构及三级结构具有明显的相似性。细菌漆酶的生物信息分析为其功能研究及在其他微生物中研究该类酶提供了基础。     

不同植物防御素的生物信息学分析

采用生物信息学的方法和工具对已在GenBank上注册的花生、鹰嘴豆、合欢、车前草、沙梨、辣椒等植物的防御素的核酸和氨基酸序列作了分析,并对其组成成分、翻译后修饰、导肽、跨膜结构域、疏水性,亲水性、蛋白质二级结构和功能结构域进行预测和推断的结果表明：此类蛋白可能是一具有信号肽的分泌型蛋白,α-螺旋和不规则卷曲是蛋白质二级结构中量最大的结构元件,β-转角和延伸链散布于整个蛋白质中,包含一个gamma-thionin功能结构域。