Hori Kazumi, Tanaka Ichidai, Sato Tatsuhiro, Sato Mika, Kodama Yuta, Itoigawa Hideyuki, Abe Yuichi, Kato Taketo, Taguchi Ayumu, Sato Mitsuo, Sekido Yoshitaka, Chen-Yoshikawa Toyofumi Fengshi, Ishii Makoto
Department of Respiratory Medicine Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
Division of Cancer Biology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan.
Cancer Sci. 2025 Sep;116(9):2413-2426. doi: 10.1111/cas.70124. Epub 2025 Jun 24.
Mesothelioma is one of the most aggressive neoplasms worldwide that has a particularly poor prognosis. We have previously discovered that oxytocin receptors (OXTR) are highly expressed in mesothelioma and that OXTR knockdown significantly decreases the proliferation of mesothelioma cells with high OXTR expression. In this study, we performed quantitative proteomic profiling of two mesothelioma cell lines with high OXTR expression using mass spectrometry to investigate the downstream signals of OXTR in mesothelioma cells. We found that OXTR knockdown significantly downregulated PDZ-binding kinase (PBK)-a serine/threonine protein kinase belonging to the bispecific MAPKK family. PBK knockdown significantly suppressed proliferation, migration, and colony formation in mesothelioma cells with high PBK expression and decreased Akt and MAPK phosphorylation levels. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis of PBK in surgical specimens obtained from patients with mesothelioma showed that high PBK expression was strongly associated with poor overall survival (log-rank test p = 0.0031; hazard ratio 3.339 and 95% confidence interval 1.12-10.00) and recurrence-free survival (log-rank test p = 0.0024; hazard ratio 3.355 and 95% confidence interval 1.25-9.04). In addition, the clinical significance of PBK expression was validated in mesothelioma using datasets from TCGA. Multivariable Cox regression analysis, incorporating stage and OXTR mRNA expression, demonstrated that PBK mRNA expression was the strongest independent predictor of OS. Our findings indicate that PBK plays a crucial role in the aggressiveness of mesothelioma, making it a promising therapeutic target and potential prognostic biomarker for mesothelioma.
间皮瘤是全球侵袭性最强的肿瘤之一,预后特别差。我们之前发现,催产素受体(OXTR)在间皮瘤中高表达,且OXTR基因敲低可显著降低OXTR高表达的间皮瘤细胞的增殖。在本研究中,我们使用质谱对两种OXTR高表达的间皮瘤细胞系进行了定量蛋白质组分析,以研究间皮瘤细胞中OXTR的下游信号。我们发现,OXTR基因敲低显著下调了PDZ结合激酶(PBK)——一种属于双特异性丝裂原活化蛋白激酶激酶(MAPKK)家族的丝氨酸/苏氨酸蛋白激酶。PBK基因敲低显著抑制了PBK高表达的间皮瘤细胞的增殖、迁移和集落形成,并降低了Akt和MAPK的磷酸化水平。此外,对间皮瘤患者手术标本中PBK的免疫组化分析表明,PBK高表达与总生存期差(对数秩检验p = 0.0031;风险比3.339,95%置信区间1.12 - 10.00)和无复发生存期差(对数秩检验p = 0.0024;风险比3.355,95%置信区间1.25 - 9.04)密切相关。此外,使用来自癌症基因组图谱(TCGA)的数据集在间皮瘤中验证了PBK表达的临床意义。纳入分期和OXTR mRNA表达的多变量Cox回归分析表明,PBK mRNA表达是总生存期最强的独立预测因子。我们的研究结果表明,PBK在间皮瘤的侵袭性中起关键作用,使其成为间皮瘤有前景的治疗靶点和潜在的预后生物标志物。
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