Zhai Mingzhu, Yang Shaomin, Lin Simin, Zhu Hanxu, Xu Lihong, Liao Huabao, Song Xue-Jun
School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education of China), Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, China.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2021 May 6;14:665085. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2021.665085. eCollection 2021.
Cancer and cancer pain processes a major clinical challenge and the underlined mechanisms of pathogenesis remain elusive. We examined the specific changes in the transcriptomic profiles in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons of rats with bone cancer and bone cancer pain (BCP) using RNA sequencing technology. The bone cancer and BCP was induced by tumor cells implantation (TCI) into the tibia bone cavity in adult female rats. One week after treatment, TCI caused up- and down-regulation of thousands of genes in DRG. These genes were mainly involved in the immune process, inflammatory response, and intracellular signaling transduction of carbohydrate and cytokine. The cAMP and calcium signaling pathways were the major processes in the initial responses. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis further showed that the genes for ion channels increased during day 1-7, while the genes for cytokine signaling pathways sustainedly increased during day 7-14 after TCI. The time courses of gene expression for ion channels and cytokines support their distinct roles in the early induction and late maintenance of BCP development. In addition, among the top 500 up- and down-regulated genes, 80-90% were unique for bone cancer pain as well as neuropathic and inflammatory pain, while less than 2% were shared among the three different forms of pain. This study reveals the uniqueness of mechanisms underlying bone cancer with pain, which is, to a large extent, differently from pain after acute inflammatory and nerve injury and provides novel potential targets of DEGs for bone cancer with pain.
癌症及癌症疼痛处理是一项重大临床挑战,其发病机制仍不明晰。我们运用RNA测序技术,研究了患有骨癌和骨癌疼痛(BCP)的大鼠背根神经节(DRG)神经元转录组图谱的特定变化。通过将肿瘤细胞植入(TCI)成年雌性大鼠的胫骨骨髓腔来诱导骨癌和BCP。治疗一周后,TCI导致DRG中数千个基因上调和下调。这些基因主要参与免疫过程、炎症反应以及碳水化合物和细胞因子的细胞内信号转导。cAMP和钙信号通路是初始反应中的主要过程。差异表达基因(DEG)分析进一步表明,离子通道相关基因在TCI后第1 - 7天增加,而细胞因子信号通路相关基因在第7 - 14天持续增加。离子通道和细胞因子基因表达的时间进程支持它们在BCP发展的早期诱导和晚期维持中发挥不同作用。此外,在上调和下调的前500个基因中,80 - 90%是骨癌疼痛以及神经性和炎性疼痛所特有的,而在这三种不同形式的疼痛中共享的基因不到2%。本研究揭示了骨癌伴疼痛潜在机制的独特性,在很大程度上不同于急性炎症和神经损伤后的疼痛,并为骨癌伴疼痛提供了新的DEG潜在靶点。