Niu Haiyu, Wei Hanwen, Zhou Xiaochun, Liu Yating, Yang Luxi, Wang Qi, Luo Benxin, Luo Qingping, Song Feixue
Department of Oncology, The Second Hospital & Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730030, China.
Department of Cardiology, The First People's Hospital of Lanzhou, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
Biochem Genet. 2025 Feb 4. doi: 10.1007/s10528-025-11043-0.
BRD4, part of the bromodomain and extra terminal domain (BET) protein family, plays a pivotal role in gene transcription, DNA replication, and repair via transcription regulators. Despite its established involvement in various human diseases, its function in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not been fully explored. Our research investigated the association of BRD4 in ESCC and its underlying molecular mechanisms. The findings revealed that BRD4 knockdown notably diminished the cells' proliferation, migration, invasion capabilities and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Conversely, overexpression of BRD4 can reverse these phenotypes. Pearson correlation and enrichment analyses indicated that BRD4 expression was associated with the cell cycle and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Further validation confirmed that reduced BRD4 expression downregulates Cyclin D1 and c-Myc, and suppresses epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Furthermore, rescue experiments showed that overexpressing c-Myc significantly mitigated the inhibitory impact of BRD4. Moreover, by employing single-cell transcriptome sequencing, we explored the impact of the tumor microenvironment on BRD4 overexpression in ESCC cells. These insights confirmed BRD4's potential as a therapeutic target, suggesting that modulating its expression could yield promising strategies for ESCC treatment.
BRD4是溴结构域和额外末端结构域(BET)蛋白家族的一部分,通过转录调节因子在基因转录、DNA复制和修复中发挥关键作用。尽管其已被证实与多种人类疾病有关,但其在食管鳞状细胞癌(ESCC)中的功能尚未得到充分研究。我们的研究调查了BRD4在ESCC中的关联及其潜在分子机制。研究结果显示,敲低BRD4显著降低了细胞的增殖、迁移、侵袭能力,并诱导了细胞凋亡和细胞周期停滞。相反,BRD4的过表达可以逆转这些表型。Pearson相关性和富集分析表明,BRD4表达与细胞周期和Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路相关。进一步验证证实,BRD4表达降低会下调细胞周期蛋白D1和c-Myc,并抑制上皮-间质转化(EMT)和Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路。此外,挽救实验表明,过表达c-Myc可显著减轻BRD4的抑制作用。此外,通过单细胞转录组测序,我们探索了肿瘤微环境对ESCC细胞中BRD4过表达的影响。这些见解证实了BRD4作为治疗靶点的潜力,表明调节其表达可能为ESCC治疗带来有前景的策略。