Department of Pathology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Via Ripamonti 435, 20141, Milan, Italy.
Cell Death Dis. 2023 May 22;14(5):337. doi: 10.1038/s41419-023-05857-2.
Cyclin-dependent kinase 2-associated protein 1 (CDK2AP1; also known as deleted in oral cancer or DOC1) is a tumor suppressor gene known to play functional roles in both cell cycle regulation and in the epigenetic control of embryonic stem cell differentiation, the latter as a core subunit of the nucleosome remodeling and histone deacetylation (NuRD) complex. In the vast majority of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC), expression of the CDK2AP1 protein is reduced or lost. Notwithstanding the latter (and the DOC1 acronym), mutations or deletions in its coding sequence are extremely rare. Accordingly, CDK2AP1 protein-deficient oral cancer cell lines express as much CDK2AP1 mRNA as proficient cell lines. Here, by combining in silico and in vitro approaches, and by taking advantage of patient-derived data and tumor material in the analysis of loss of CDK2AP1 expression, we identified a set of microRNAs, namely miR-21-5p, miR-23b-3p, miR-26b-5p, miR-93-5p, and miR-155-5p, which inhibit its translation in both cell lines and patient-derived OSCCs. Of note, no synergistic effects were observed of the different miRs on the CDK2AP1-3-UTR common target. We also developed a novel approach to the combined ISH/IF tissue microarray analysis to study the expression patterns of miRs and their target genes in the context of tumor architecture. Last, we show that CDK2AP1 loss, as the result of miRNA expression, correlates with overall survival, thus highlighting the clinical relevance of these processes for carcinomas of the oral cavity.
细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶 2 相关蛋白 1(CDK2AP1;也称为口腔癌缺失或 DOC1)是一种肿瘤抑制基因,已知在细胞周期调控和胚胎干细胞分化的表观遗传控制中发挥功能作用,后者作为核小体重塑和组蛋白去乙酰化(NuRD)复合物的核心亚基。在绝大多数口腔鳞状细胞癌(OSCC)中,CDK2AP1 蛋白的表达减少或丢失。尽管存在后者(以及 DOC1 缩写),但其编码序列中的突变或缺失极为罕见。因此,CDK2AP1 蛋白缺陷的口腔癌细胞系表达的 CDK2AP1 mRNA 与功能正常的细胞系一样多。在这里,我们通过结合计算机模拟和体外方法,并利用患者衍生的数据和肿瘤材料分析 CDK2AP1 表达的缺失,鉴定了一组 microRNAs,即 miR-21-5p、miR-23b-3p、miR-26b-5p、miR-93-5p 和 miR-155-5p,它们在细胞系和患者衍生的 OSCC 中抑制其翻译。值得注意的是,不同的 miR 对 CDK2AP1-3-UTR 共同靶标没有协同作用。我们还开发了一种新的 ISH/IF 组织微阵列分析方法,以研究 miR 和其靶基因在肿瘤结构背景下的表达模式。最后,我们表明,miR 表达导致的 CDK2AP1 缺失与总生存期相关,从而突出了这些过程对口腔癌的临床相关性。