Chengle Zhuang

Tetracycline-inducible shRNA targeting long non-coding RNA PVT1 inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in bladder cancer cells

Recent studies show that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be significant functional regulators in tumor development, including bladder cancer. Here, we found that PVT1 was upregulated in bladder cancer tissues and cells. Further experiments revealed that PVT1 promoted cell proliferation and suppressed cell apoptosis. Furthermore we also used the emerging technology, synthetic biology, to create tetracycline-inducible small hairpin RNA (shRNA) vectors which silenced PVT1 in a dosage-dependent manner to inhibit the progression of bladder cancer. In conclusion, data suggest that PVT1 could be an oncogene and may be a therapeutic target in bladder cancer. Synthetic “tetracycline-on” switch system can be used to quantitatively control the expression of PVT1 in bladder cancer in response to different concentration of doxycycline to suppress the progression of bladder cancer.

shRNA targeting long non-coding RNA CCAT2 controlled by tetracycline-inducible system inhibits progression of bladder cancer cells

Recent reports show that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as significant functional regulators in the development of tumors, including bladder cancer. Here, we found that CCAT2 was upregulated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. Through the statistical analyses, we also found that the high expression level of CCAT2 was positively correlated with histological grade and TNM stage of bladder cancer. Further experimental results revealed that knockdown of CCAT2 could decrease cell proliferation and migration as well as induce apoptosis in bladder cancer cells. Besides, using the post-transcriptional device of synthetic biology, we create the tetracycline-inducible double small hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) vector to control the expression level of CCAT2 which was induced by doxycycline in a dosage-dependent manner. In summary, our data indicated that CCAT2 may be an oncogene and a therapeutic target in bladder cancer. The expression of CCAT2 can be quantitatively controlled by the synthetic “tetracycline-on” switch system in bladder cancer in response to different concentrations of doxycycline to inhibit the development of bladder cancer cells.

Up-regulation of long non-coding RNA PANDAR is associated with poor prognosis and promotes tumorigenesis in bladder cancer.

BackgroundLong non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as biomarkers and important regulators of tumor development and progression. PANDAR (promoter of CDKN1A antisense DNA damage activated RNA) is a novel long non-coding RNA that acts as a potential biomarker and involves in development of multiple cancers. However, the clinical significance and molecular mechanism of PANDAR in bladder cancer is still unknown. In this study, we aimed to figure out the role of PANDAR in bladder cancer.MethodsThe relative expression level of lncRNA PANDAR was determined by Real-Time qPCR in a total of 55 patients with urothelial bladder cancer and in different bladder cancer cell lines. We inhibited PANDAR expression by transfecting PANDAR specific siRNA and enhanced PANDAR expression by transfecting a PANDAR expression vector (pcDNA3.1-PANDAR). Cell proliferation was determined by using both CCK-8 assay and Edu assay. Cell apoptosis was determined by using ELISA assay, Hoechst 33342 staining and Flow cytometry. Cell migration was determined by using transwell assay. All experimental data from three independent experiments were analyzed by χ2 test or Student’s t-test and results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation.ResultsWe found that PANDAR was significantly up-regulated in bladder cancer tissues compared with paired-adjacent nontumorous tissues in a cohort of 55 bladder cancer patients. Moreover, increased PANDAR expression was positively correlated with higher histological grade (P < 0.05) and advanced TNM stage (P < 0.05). Further experiments demonstrated that inhibited cell proliferation/migration and induced apoptosis by silencing PANDAR were also observed in bladder cancer cells. Furthermore, over expression of PANDAR in bladder cancer cells promoted the proliferation/migration and suppressed apoptosis.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that PANDAR plays oncogenic roles in bladder cancer and PANDAR may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target of bladder cancer.

Over-expression of long noncoding RNA BANCR inhibits malignant phenotypes of human bladder cancer

BackgroundAccumulating evidences indicated that lncRNAs play crucial regulatory roles in oncogenesis and progression of cancers. BRAF activated non-coding RNA (BANCR) has been identified to contribute to the progression of some human cancers. However, the relationship between BANCR and bladder cancer (BC) is largely unclear.MethodsBANCR expression levels in BC, paired non-cancer tissues and BC cell lines were detected by real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). The relationships between BANCR expression levels and the clinical characteristics were evaluated. BANCR expression was enhanced by transfecting a pcDNA-BANCR vector. We used both CCK-8 assay and Edu assay to detect cell proliferation. We also detect cell apoptosis and migration by using ELISA assay, Flow cytometry and transwell assay, respectively. All statistical analyses were executed by using the SPSS 20.0 software.ResultsBANCR expression levels were remarkably decreased in BC tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues. BANCR expression levels in two BC cell lines were also significantly down-regulated. Clinicopathologic analysis revealed that low BANCR expression was positively correlated with TNM stage, but not associated with other clinicopathological characteristics. BANCR has been successfully overexpressed in BC cell lines (T24 and SW780) by transfecting a pcDNA-BANCR vector. Cell proliferation inhibition, apoptosis induction and migration suppression were also observed in pCDNA-BANCR-transfected T24 and SW780 cells.ConclusionsThese data suggested that BANCR represents a tumor suppressor player in bladder cancer, contributes to tumor proliferation, apoptosis and migration, and may serve as a new candidate biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for patients with BC.

Inducing cell growth arrest and apoptosis by silencing long non-coding RNA PCAT-1 in human bladder cancer.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that play important roles in cancer development and progression. Prostate cancer-associated transcript 1 (PCAT-1) is a novel lncRNA that promotes cell proliferation in prostate cancer. We hypothesized that PCAT-1 also have roles in bladder cancer. In this study, we found that PCAT-1 was up-regulated in bladder cancer compared to paired normal urothelium. Cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction were also observed in PCAT-1 small hairpin RNA (shRNA)-transfected bladder cancer T24 and 5637 cells. Our data suggest that PCAT-1 plays oncogenic roles and can be used as a therapeutic target for treating human bladder cancer.

Increased expression of SUMO1P3 predicts poor prognosis and promotes tumor growth and metastasis in bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that play crucial roles in diverse biological processes. The pseudogene-expressed lncRNA is one major type of lncRNA family. Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) 1 pseudogene 3, (SUMO1P3) is a novel indentified lncRNA that was previously reported to be up-regulated in gastric cancer. However, we know nothing about the biological function and underlying mechanism of SUMO1P3 in tumor. Furthermore, the relationship between SUMO1P3 and bladder cancer is completely unknown. We hypothesized that SUMO1P3 also have roles in bladder cancer. In this study, we found that SUMO1P3 was significantly up-regulated in bladder cancer tissues compared with paired-adjacent nontumorous tissues in a cohort of 55 bladder cancer patients. Moreover, up-regulated SUMO1P3 expression was positively correlated with greater histological grade (P<0.05) and advanced TNM stage (P<0.05). Furthermore, we found cell proliferation / migration inhibition and apoptosis induction were also observed in SUMO1P3 siRNA-transfected bladder cancer cells. Our data suggest that SUMO1P3 plays oncogenic roles in bladder cancer and can be used as a potential prognostic and therapeutic target.

Synthetic miRNA sponges driven by mutant hTERT promoter selectively inhibit the progression of bladder cancer

The mutant promoter of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) shows high transcriptional activity in bladder cancer cells. Some up-regulated microRNAs (miRNAs) are reported as oncogenic factors in bladder cancer. Previous studies report that miRNAs can be inhibited by base-pairing interactions. The purpose of this study is to construct a synthetic device driven by mutant hTERT promoter to suppress four up-regulated miRNAs and to verify its effects on phenotypes of bladder cancer cells and human normal cells. Tandem bulged miRNA binding sites targeting oncogenic miRNAs were inserted into the 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR) of mutant hTERT promoter-driven Renilla luciferase gene to construct a synthetic tumor-specific device, miRNA sponges. A negative control was generated by using tandem repeated sequences without targeting any known miRNA. Bladder cancer cells (T24, 5637, UM-UC-3) and human fiber cells (HFC) were transfected with devices. Various functional assays were used to detect the effects of this device. The activity of the mutant hTERT promoter detected by luciferase assay was about three times as large as the wild-type hTERT promoter in bladder cancer cells, while it could not be measured in HFC. Other assays indicated that the synthetic device can significantly inhibit cell growth, decrease motility, and induce apoptosis in bladder cancer cells but not in HFC. A synthetic biology platform is employed to construct tumor-specific miRNA sponges that can be used to target oncogenic miRNAs to inhibit the progression of bladder cancer cells without affecting normal cells.

Synthetic Tet-inducible artificial microRNAs targeting β-catenin or HIF-1α inhibit malignant phenotypes of bladder cancer cells T24 and 5637.

Ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) based on microRNA (miRNA) may provide efficient and safe therapeutic opportunities. However, natural microRNAs can not easily be regulated and usually cause few phenotypic changes. Using the engineering principles of synthetic biology, we provided a novel and standard platform for the generation of tetracycline (Tet)-inducible vectors that express artificial microRNAs in a dosage-dependent manner. The vector generates a Pol II promoter-mediated artificial microRNA which was flanked by ribozyme sequences. In order to prove the utility of this platform, we chose β-catenin and HIF-1α as the functional targets and used the bladder cancer cell lines 5637 and T24 as the test models. We found that the Tet-inducible artificial microRNAs can effectively silence the target genes and their downstream genes, and induce anti-cancer effects in the two bladder cancer cell lines. These devices can inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, and suppress migration of the bladder cancer cell lines 5637 and T24. The Tet-inducible synthetic artificial microRNAs may represent a kind of novel therapeutic strategies for treating human bladder cancer.

Theophylline controllable RNAi-based genetic switches regulate expression of lncRNA TINCR and malignant phenotypes in bladder cancer cells.

TINCR is a well-known lncRNA which acts as a master regulator in somatic differentiation development. However, it is still unclear whether TINCR is also involved in caner occurrence and progression. In this study, we observed that TINCR was up-regulated in bladder cancer tissues and cells and contributed to oncogenesis and cancer progression. Silencing TINCR expression inhibited cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis in vitro, indicating that TINCR may be the potential therapeutic target for treating bladder urothelial carcinoma. Thus we used the synthetic biology approach to create theophylline controllable RNAi-based genetic switches which silenced TINCR in a dosage-dependent manner. Both RNAi-OFF and ON switches can be used to quantitatively control the expression of TINCR in bladder cancer to suppress the progression of bladder cancer. These findings suggest that lncRNA-TINCR could promote bladder cancer development and progression and artificial control of its expression through inducible RNAi may represent a new kind of therapeutic strategy for treating human bladder cancer.

Synthetic Tet-inducible small hairpin RNAs targeting hTERT or Bcl-2 inhibit malignant phenotypes of bladder cancer T24 and 5637 cells

Small hairpin RNA (shRNA) can inhibit the malignant phenotypes of tumor cell through ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi). However, it is hardly to be regulated and it may induce few phenotypic changes. Here, we build a type of tetracycline (Tet)-inducible vectors which can achieve regulatable expression of shRNA in a time-dependent manner by using synthetic biology approach. In order to prove the effectiveness of this device, we chose hTERT and Bcl-2 as target genes and test the utility of the device on 5637 and T24 cell lines. The experiments show that the Tet-inducible small hairpin RNA can effectively suppress their target genes and generate anti-cancer effects on both 5637 and T24 cell lines. The device we build not only can inhibit proliferation but also can induce apoptosis and suppress migration of the bladder cancer cell lines 5637 and T24. The Tet-inducible small hairpin RNAs may provide a novel strategy for the treatment of human bladder cancer in the future.