Frontiers in cell and developmental biology
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Front Cell Dev Biol · Jan 2020
ReviewThe Potential Roles of RNA N6-Methyladenosine in Urological Tumors.
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is regarded as the most abundant, prevalent and conserved internal mRNA modification in mammalian cells. M6A can be catalyzed by m6A methyltransferases METTL3, METTL14 and WTAP (writers), reverted by demethylases ALKBH5 and FTO (erasers), and recognized by m6A -binding proteins such as YTHDF1/2/3, IGF2BP1/2/3 and HNRNPA2B1 (readers). Emerging evidence suggests that m6A modification is significant for regulating many biological and cellular processes and participates in the pathological development of various diseases, including tumors. This article reviews recent studies on the biological function of m6A modification and the methylation modification of m6A in urological tumors.
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Front Cell Dev Biol · Jan 2020
ReviewResistance Mechanisms of Anti-PD1/PDL1 Therapy in Solid Tumors.
In cancer-immunity cycle, the immune checkpoint PD1 and its ligand PDL1 act as accomplices to help tumors resist to immunity-induced apoptosis and promote tumor progression. Immunotherapy targeting PD1/PDL1 axis can effectively block its pro-tumor activity. Anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy has achieved great success in the past decade. ⋯ Some oncogenic signaling pathways also contribute to the primary resistance. Under the pressure applied by anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy, tumors experience immunoediting and preserve beneficial mutations, upregulate the compensatory inhibitory signaling and induce re-exhaustion of T cells, all of which may attenuate the durability of the therapy. Here we explore the underlying mechanisms in detail, review biomarkers that help identifying responders among patients and discuss the strategies that may relieve the anti-PD1/PDL1 resistance.
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Front Cell Dev Biol · Jan 2020
ReviewLaboratory Testing Methods for Novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Following the first reports of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) by China to the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31st December 2019, more than 4,302,774 novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases have been reported by authorities in 212 countries and territories by 12th May 2020. The outbreak and spread of COVID-19 worldwide, highlights the critical need for developing rapid and accurate diagnostic testing methods for emerging human coronavirus (CoV) infections. Testing is crucial to track the spread of disease during a pandemic, and to swiftly permit public health interventions including isolation, quarantine, and appropriate clinical management of afflicted individuals. ⋯ The challenges faced in developing a diagnostic test for a novel pathogen are the ability to measure low viral loads for early detection, to provide low or no cross-reactivity with other viral strains and to deliver results rapidly. Several point-of-care molecular devices are currently being integrated for fast and accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infections. This review discusses the current laboratory methods available to test for coronaviruses by focusing on the present COVID-19 outbreak.
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Front Cell Dev Biol · Jan 2020
ReviewRole of Non-coding RNAs on the Radiotherapy Sensitivity and Resistance of Head and Neck Cancer: From Basic Research to Clinical Application.
Head and neck cancers (HNCs) rank as the sixth common and the seventh leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with an estimated incidence of 600,000 cases and 40-50% mortality rate every year. Radiotherapy is a common local therapeutic modality for HNC mainly through the function of ionizing radiation, with approximately 60% of patients treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Although radiotherapy is more advanced and widely used in clinical practice, the 5-year overall survival rates of locally advanced HNCs are still less than 40%. ⋯ The implying mechanism for ncRNAs in regulating radiotherapy sensitivity may be due to its roles on affecting DNA damage sensation, inducing cell cycle arrest, regulating DNA damage repair, modulating cell apoptosis, etc. Additionally, clinical studies reported that in situ ncRNA expression in HNC tissues may predict the response of radiotherapy, and circulating ncRNA from body liquid serves as minimally invasive therapy-responsive and prognostic biomarkers in HNC. In this review, we aimed to summarize the current function and mechanism of ncRNAs in regulating the sensitivity of HNC cancer cells to radiotherapy and comprehensively described the state of the art on the role of ncRNAs in the prognosis prediction, therapy monitoring, and prediction of response to radiotherapy in HNC.